Basic Trope: A character kisses another one's feet as a sign of humility and submission.
- Straight: After Alice saves him from certain death, Bob expresses his gratitude by kissing her feet.
- Exaggerated: Alice takes off her footwear and tells the previously villainous Bob that he must kiss her feet as a proof of his humility. The problem is that, to Alice's surprise, Bob actually is enjoying his "punishment" and going way overboard with it, causing reactions of disgust among several present characters... And ovations among others!
- Downplayed: "Would a polite and respectful salute suffice?"
- Justified: Alice is revered as some kind of Goddess' avatar entity, and the foot-kissing gesture is a required ritual among those who worship her.
- Inverted: The powerful character kisses the subordinate's feet.
- Subverted: Alice discards her footwear, thrusts her soles towards Bob's face and says: "If you really love me, you got to kiss them." Bob kneels down and hesitantly prepares to do it, but Alice folds her legs and says: "Ha ha ha! I was just kidding you, I won't ever force you to do something as silly."
- Double Subverted: ...But then Bob takes one of her feet among his hands and says: "But I really don't mind doing it", then he kisses it in a gentle and sweet manner, making Alice smile.
- Parodied:
- "To prove your loyalty, you must kiss Alice's feet, Bob!" Bob focuses his gaze upon a beautiful girl with delicate feet. Bob kneels to her and prepares to kiss her foot, but it's stopped: "What are you doing you fool? She's not Alice; that one over there is Alice!" Cue the camera shift to an incredibly ugly woman with even nastier feet, complete with disturbing close-up. "NOOOOOOOoooooooo...!"
- Bob has a foot fetish, but keeps it a secret from everyone else, because he fears that it will ruin his life. When Alice tells him to do this, his face turns bright red and he begins stuttering up a storm, begging Alice to not tell a soul about his ... interest.Alice: Don't worry, your secret is safe with me...slave.
- Alice is very ticklish on her feet.
- Even though Bob is only kissing her feet, Alice strips completely nude.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Alice goes from demanding that Bob kiss her feet to not kissing her feet.
- Bob kisses the feet of only every other person who does him a favour to show his gratitude.
- Averted:
- The story uses other methods to show instances of humility and submission.
- Bob says he'd much prefer to kiss Alice elsewhere, and, offended, she smacks him.
- Enforced:
- "We wanted to show that Bob's regret and desire to change his arrogant ways were completely sincere; so this scene was a dramatic and effective way to deliver the message."
- "You can try to decipher the symbolism and messages behind this scene, but the flat truth is that it's just the director indulging once again in his 'usual deals.'"
- Lampshaded: "If I had known you'd end up doing this, Bob, I wouldn't have run in my sweaty sneakers all the morning."
- Invoked: As part of her evil queen image, Alice enjoys pulling this stunt upon her underlings to humiliate them... When she's feeling merciful.
- Exploited:
- Alice knows that Bob has a foot fetish and uses this technique to make Bob embarrassed, because he thought he did it very well.
- It starts with the feet, but passion soon overtakes the pair, and before long Bob kisses Alice elsewhere...
- Defied: Bob strongly refuses to humiliate himself that way. He might have renounced his previous ways, but he still has a deeply rooted sense of pride.
- Discussed: "That's it?! All he has to do is kiss Alice's feet and he's completely forgiven, while I have to slay half a dozen of dragons just to be accepted into this mediocre adventurer's party?! Why I couldn't do that myself?!" "What you did was way worse than any of Bob's deeds! Besides, no one is foolish enough to allow you to kiss Alice's feet; we all know you're into that kink."
- Conversed: "It's that really supposed to be a punishment?! I mean, lots of people would love to be on Bob's place right now... It's not like I have first hand knowledge of it or anything..."
- Deconstructed:
- This is done in a setting where there are no aristocrats present, and Alice making Bob do this is given a (minor) What the Hell, Hero?.
- Parodied 2, except Alice uses this knowledge to Blackmail Bob into doing whatever she wants in exchange for not revealing his fetish.
- Reconstructed: Later on, Alice and Bob start a D/s relationship with Bob as the sub, and it is revealed that Bob enjoys to do this.
- Played for Laughs: Bob is forced to kiss Alice's feet as part of a lost bet, but after doing it, he becomes strangely attached to them, up to the point he starts drawing happy faces on them, giving them affectionate nicknames and eventually falling in love with them... Much to Alice's annoyance!
- Played for Drama: Bob's utterly violent and humiliating defeat at Alice's hands is made even more pitiful when he's forced to lick his own blood out of Alice's dirty boots. Having finished, he's knocked out with a kick to the face and taken hostage to the villain's fortress.
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