Basic Trope: The villain has ordered his underlings to take the lovely damsel off to be properly bathed and groomed in preparation for... Well, you know.
- Straight: Dirk Dastardly has some maidservants take Helpless Holly down to the bathing hall to be cleaned up after his goons captured her.
- Exaggerated:
- Dirk has Holly and numerous other damsels all being bathed at the same time, and all to be brought before him for inspection.
- Holly is subjected to ultraviolet sterilization, disinfectant baths, an ultraflash apparatus, total submersion in bleach and disinfectant, numerous injections of antibiotics and sulphanilamides, vigorous dental cleaning, emetic tablets, high-pressure water hosing, exposure to various wavelengths of radiation, hosing down with silver nitrate solution, baths in soap and shampoo, forced donning of an oxygen mask and exposure for 10 minutes to an atmosphere in which the air has been replaced by perfume, a broad spectrum of medical tests, a psychiatric evaluation, oral, nasal, aural, and ocular cleansing, gastric lavage, manicures and pedicures, and overall stricter sterilization procedures than a NASA cleanroom.
- Downplayed: Dirk has the servants wash Holly's feet.
- Justified:
- Holly attempted to flee from Dirk's men through the Swamp of Horrible Stench, and thus was covered in foul-smelling muck when she was captured. Also, in general, a pre-ravish cleansing combined with other precautions (such as using condoms if they're available in universe) might be a sensible practice for villains who engage in this kind of (sleazy) behavior.
- It's the Dung Ages.
- The bathing has an alternate motive, such as helping the prisoner relax via the scrubbing, or the shampoo having a brainwashing cranium rinse.
- Having Holly bathed and brought to his chambers is Dirk's (admittedly twisted) idea of "romance".
- Inverted:
- Dirk was the one taking a bath when he had Holly brought to him.
- Holly rants indignantly about Dirk's poor hygiene until he agrees to take a bath first.
- "Princess... So much trouble, and not a spot of dirt on you... Throw her in the mud pit, THEN bring her to my chambers for interrogation."
- Princess Holly is kidnapped by a barbarian tribe, and is dirtied up so she can be passed off as a commoner.
- Subverted:
- Bathing the damsel is instrumental to something else than lust or cleanliness issues. Like a pretense to check her clothes, or because the damsel could be some water-allergic shapechanger.
- He merely wishes to inform her of the necessity behind capturing her.note
- A hero or an Affably Evil villain asks their henchmen to bathe the damsel, but because she has been on a long journey/hopeless flight from Mooks and must be uncomfortably dirty.
- Double Subverted: The villain order the damsel to be bathed to see is she is a water-allergic shapechanger. A minion compliments the villain for his cleverness, but objects that just a little drop would have done the business. "I like both naked women and scented soap," replies the villain. "Now leave the room. No visitors for ten minutes."
- Parodied: The villain asks if his minions remembered to wash behind her ears.
- Zig Zagged: Dirk orders his latest female captive to be bathed, although his purpose is to keep disease and vermin in check in his VIP prisons. The captive is disappointed to be only given a pail of water and a bit of soap. Turns out she is an assassin whose plan was to get into Dirk's personal quarters as entertainment.
- Enforced: "We want Holly to be the show's Ms. Fanservice without her coming off as a whore. I know, we'll have Dirk's servants forcably strip and bathe her and then bring her to his bedchamber."
- Lampshaded: "The boss always keeps a special supply of bubble bath and shampoo on hand should any of the helpless maidens we capture catch his fancy."
- Invoked: Holly's fed up with constant adventures and lack of proper grooming, so she seducing Dick in hope for good bath.
- Exploited: Holly knows full well what Dirk has planned for her and intends to either seduce him or kill him at the first opportunity once she's brought to his chambers...
- Defied: "I already have a beautiful and loyal kept woman, why would I want to have a female prisoner cleaned up and brought to my bedchamber?"
- Discussed: "Oh, no... The bad going to have her bathed, for propriety reasons, and then she's going to be complaining about being dirty again after we've rescued her! She only just stopped!"
- Conversed: "Industrial quantities of soap must be one of the villain's biggest costs- he keeps bathing the heroine every time he captures her."
- Gender-Inverted: Princess Olga's personal guard capture Hans and she orders him to be cleaned and taken to her quarters.
- Deconstructed: The villain is a major power in his feud, and any woman crossing his road is in danger of being taken, bathed and groomed before being brought to his rooms. Being reported as smelly and dirty would result in a damaging reputation added to the already sad situation, so women bathes accurately when the villain's minion are in their village, and/or pay bribes to the servant to do a better work at grooming.
- Reconstructed: Dirk is in search of romance and after finding a suitable woman, offers her the chance to indulge in some luxury bathing before their dinner-for-two in hopes of making her more favourable.
- Played For Laughs: The villain has OCD, and can't stand to be in the same room as the heroine until she's extra squeaky clean, and thus keeps sending her back to the bath, over and over.
- Played For Drama: As a prelude to a Scarpia Ultimatum or any other Rape Trope.
- Implied: Helpless Holly looks cleaner after she is sent to Dirk Dastardly.
Back to Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me.
