Basic Trope: Brainwashing a hostage or Damsel in Distress, to make that character cooperative for the kidnapper's plans.
- Straight: Princess Mary is kidnapped and hypnotized, so that she will marry Baron Von Bloodlust.
- Exaggerated: Mary is hypnotized so that the word "kidnap" will put her into a trance.
- Downplayed: She's kind of drowsy from the method the baron used, but not under a trance.
- Justified:
- Mary knows self defense, so this makes kidnapping her easier.
- She secretly wanted to be kidnapped, and uses this to let him take her.
- The Baron makes it look like Mary went willingly.
- Inverted:
- Mary was already hypnotized, because she is in love with the Baron, and the King put her in a trance to keep her away. So the Baron kidnaps her to wake her up.
- Or....Princess Mary hypnotizes Baron Von Bloodlust!
- Subverted:
- Mary wasn't really hypnotized.
- Or she's able to resist the hypnosis.
- Pretend to Be Brainwashed.
- Double Subverted: ... except she still is under a post-hypnotic suggestion.
- Parodied: Her full name is Princess Maria Hypnotized.
- Zig Zagged: Mary is hypnotized, but then wakes up because she is immune to being hypnotized... because she's already hypnotized to be immune to being hypnotized.
- Averted:
- The Baron just kidnaps her.
- Alternatively, if the Baron really needs the Princess to cooperate, he blackmails or threatens her rather than hypnotizing her.
- Enforced: Executive Veto notes that having the Princess help the Baron would get lots of complaints. So it's written that she is under that Baron's control when doing this.
- Lampshaded: Mary complains of how cliche it is for villains to do this to the Damsel.
- Invoked: Mary knows just waiting for the Hero will just be boring, so she uses Reverse Psychology to get the Baron to hypnotize her. So not only does she wake up just after she is rescued, she gets to mess with the hero's head by not giving him the a Smooch of Victory, because she doesn't remember him doing anything worth of it.
- Exploited: After rescuing Mary, he gives her a few french kisses before waking her up, and she doesn't remember anything.
- Defied: Mary takes some mental control classes to be immune to this. She's hypnotized anyway, but she still tried.
- Discussed: So why does a villain end up doing this a lot anyway?
- Conversed: "Why do I always wake up in the Baron's castle without any memory?"
- Deconstructed: It's not easy to hypnotize people in Real Life, and the Baron just wastes a lot of time trying to put Mary under his spell.
- Reconstructed:
- The Baron finds a trance better than nothing, so uses at least that aspect to his advantage.
- This is a fantasy series where brainwashing is easy.
- Hypnosis may not be easy, but there are a number of drugs that leave a person amazingly open to suggestion, and the royal catering staff is quite receptive to bribery.
- Played For Laughs: Instead of magic, Princess Mary is "hypnotized" by Baron Von Bloodlust's ravishing looks and sexy leather pants, responding to all queries by drooling.
- Played For Drama:
- Mary is explicitly raped by Baron von Bloodlust after hypnosis. This is not subject to Double Standard: Rape, Sci-Fi, and the trauma is portrayed realistically.
- Baron von Bloodlust forced Mary to kill people who tried to oppose him. When she's brought back to reality, she is overcome with guilt, and probably will be for the rest of her life.
- The hypnosis is irreversible.
- Implied: After being rescued, Mary starts to say that she liked Baron von Bloodlust. It might just be stockholm syndrome. Maybe...
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