In his brilliant book, The Witch Must Die: The Hidden Meaning of Fairytales, Sheldon Cashdan states that most fairytales consist of four basic parts: the crossing, an encounter, the conquest and a celebration. The creators of The 10th Kingdom have included all of these events.

The crossing allows the hero/heroine to "escape" into a world or land which is inhabited by odd creatures and wonderous happenings. In the 10th Kingdom "the crossing" happens twice. First in reverse when Prince Wendell, as a dog, tries to out run his captors by stepping through a travelling mirror he discovers in the basement of Snow White Memorial Prison. He is followed into this new world by a wolf/man and three trolls that his evil stepmother, the Queen has sent after him. The second crossing also takes place when the dog once again in order to avoid capture goes back through the mirror but this time accompanied by a waitress and her fugitive father. Once in the nine kingdoms, Tony and Virginia begin an adventure that leads them to meet with the descendents of Little Bo Peep, Snow White, eat with gypsies, try on magic slippers, golden fishes and talking birds. Not to mention a singing engagement ring and musical mushrooms. In the 10th Kingdom anything is possible.

The next stage is an encounter with an evil presence. This occurs when Prince Wendell, the dog, leads his new companions back to his step-mother's prison cell, where Virginia suddenly becomes disoriented and pale. Unbeknowst to her, she has just encountered the presence of her long lost mother, now the evil Queen who she will have to find and destroy if she wishes to make it home. She steps outside to regain her composure when she is suddenly hit with troll dust and abducted by the same trolls that are in pursuit of Prince Wendell. Tony and Wendell are left in the prison just in time to answer the governer's questions.

The conquest occurs when the hero/heroine finally meets face to face with the villian/villianess of the story., Only one must survive, and in order for there to be "a happily ever after" the evil in the tale must be eliminated. Virginia senses this which is why she ignores her father's pleas to return to New York once they find the travelling mirror in the evil Queen's chambers. She stays not just to demand an explaination from her mother about her absence during her childhood but also to save her mother from herself. Soon however, after her attempts have failed Virginia realizes that if her mother won't be saved she will have to be destroyed. Here is where The 10th Kingdom takes a detour from traditional fairytales. Matricide, or the killing of ones parent is not allowed. It crosses an unspoken family bond which states that children, at least fairytale children never kill their own flesh and blood.

Finally, the classic "happily ever after" or a celebration which signifies the victory over the villian/villianess of the story and the triumph of the hero/heroine. Like many fairytales, The 10th Kingdom ends with a banquet thrown by the newly crowned King Wendell, now back in human form, to reward his new friends Tony, Wolf and Virginia for helping him to save his kingdom. He proclaims Tony as Anthony the Valiant, decrees that wolves are no longer to be hunted in his kingdom and gives Virginia a dried rose, which had been a gift to Wendell from his grandmother Snow White. Virginia puts the flower with her mother's corpse where it proceeds to bloom, symbolizing the enternal promise of all fairytales... hope.