Ivan Tsarevich is one of the main heroes of Russian folklore

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

, usually a protagonist, often engaged in a struggle with Koschei

Koschei

In Slavic folklore, Koschei is an archetypal male antagonist, described mainly as abducting the hero's wife. None of the existing tales actually describes his appearance, though in book illustrations, cartoons and cinema he has been most frequently represented as a very old and ugly-looking man...

. Along with Ivan the Fool

Ivan the Fool

Ivan the Fool or Ivan the Ninny is a character used in Russian folklore, a very simple-minded, but nevertheless lucky young man. Ivan is described as a likeable fair-haired and blue-eyed youth....

, Ivan Tsarevich is a placeholder name

Placeholder name

Placeholder names are words that can refer to objects or people whose names are either temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown in the context in which they are being discussed...

 rather than a certain character.

He is often, but not always, the youngest son

Youngest son

The youngest son is a stock character in fairy tales, where he features as the hero. He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more brothers, and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters....

 of three. In the tale "The Three Kingdoms", he is a son of Nastasya the Golden Braid. Different legends describe Ivan as having various wives, including Yelena the Beautiful

Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf

Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.It is Aarne-Thompson type 550, the quest for the golden bird/firebird...

, Vasilisa the Wise and Marya Morevna.

Ivan is sometimes depicted with magic abilities and has the Sword Kladenets

Sword Kladenets

Kladenets is a fabulous magic sword in some Old Russian fairy tales. In the "Tale about the City of Babylon" the sword is called "Asp The Serpent" . In the "Tale about bogatyr Yeruslan Lazarevich" it is mentioned among the fire shield and fire spear...

.

Tales about Ivan Tsarevich include "Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf", "Tsarevna the Frog

The Frog Princess

The Frog Princess is a fairy tale that exists in many versions from several countries.Russian variants include the Frog Princess or Tsarevna Frog and also Vasilisa the Wise ; Alexander Afanasyev collected variants in his Narodnye russkie skazki...

", "The Sea King and Vasilisa the Wise", "The Tale about Rejuvenating Apples and the Life Water", and "The Death of Koschei the Immortal (also known as "Marya Morevna")."