"Now that I have you in my clutches, prepare for your... dinner!"
Dr. Evil: Scott, I want you to meet Daddy's nemesis, Austin Powers.
Scott Evil: What? Are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him?
Scott Evil: What? Are you feeding him? Why don't you just kill him?
— Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
The villain has the hero at his mercy, surrounded by armed goons. Does he just shoot him? Of course not. Does he take the hero prisoner to be strapped into an improbable torture device (from which he will immediately escape)? No, that comes later.
Instead, for a time, he treats the hero as a close friend and guest in his home, giving him a plush bedroom and a fine (if tense) dinner with A Glass of Chianti and the hero's favorite meal, made from ingredients grown in the villain's garden. If the food isn't spiked, the meal ends with a tour of the facility, then a sales pitch on the villain's scheme to remake the world Just Between You and Me. The hero will reply "You're Insane!" — and that's if he's polite. If he isn't, saying "I'm Not Hungry" dampens the festivities quite early. The hero might attempt to steal a Cutlery Escape Aid during the meal.
This differs from general Affably Evil villainy. Treating the hero as a guest is a demonstration of unassailable power, confidence and civility. It's not quite Go-Karting with Bowser, as it ratchets up the tension with the ever-present threat of unpleasantness should the hero step out of line — the conflict's not just a game. Nor is this Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?, which requires the villain to be genuinely friendly rather than just faking.
With the loonier sort of antagonist, the hero is forced to play along as the villain thinks the hero is his best friend and insists they act as such.
The hero may be provided with formal dining attire: a tux for the gent and a good-looking, well-fitting dress for the lady, with a bath if needed. This may explicitly be so the villain can ogle her. It will almost certainly be so that the audience can watch her kick his butt in said dress later. If the hero's family are present, this can lead to an amusing case of Villain Over for Dinner.
The paraphrased trope namer is the James Bond villain Goldfinger, who did later feed Bond. Also subverted the trope, as Goldfinger was initially going to simply kill Bond, before James bluffs Goldfinger into letting Bond live. These feasts are common in Bond films, which only really subverted it once. (see below)
Compare and contrast Captive Date, where one side of a romantic evening would rather not be there but isn't allowed to leave, and Enemy Eats Your Lunch, which is when one of the sides isn't keen on sharing food but the other takes it anyway.
Also compare and contrast Sacred Hospitality: The villain usually plans to torture the hero after the meal, or place him in some horrible death-trap. He is explicitly offering the hero the protection of guest-right but fully intending to violate that protection immediately thereafter. The villain thereby reveals himself to be totally without moral or ethical scruples.
The discount version of this trope is Kidnapper's KFC, when a kidnapper can only afford fast food for himself and his hostage because he's running from the cops.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Sumireko of Akuma no Riddle invites Haru and Tokaku to a formal dinner, which Otoya tries to crash. The fancy dining room reveals itself to be an armory and Sumireko proves to be a cyborg.
- In the Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch anime, when Caren enters Gaito's castle, he invites her for dancing and partying with Noel and Coco, the kidnapped princesses she was going to rescue. It's a trap, the real Noel and Coco being stuck in People Jars in his throne room, while these two are actually Mimi and Sheshe. Nice thought, though.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz: Relena is kidnapped and then treated like a queen by Mariemeia Kushrenada and her group.
- After War Gundam X has Imzat of the New Earth Federation treating Jamil and Tiffa to a nice dinner to discuss the old war and the place of Newtypes in the Federation's planned new world. Unsurprisingly, neither of them actually eat.
- Mazinger Z: In a storyline of the Gosaku Ota manga, Baron Ashura kidnaps Kouji Kabuto. Then Ashura treats him like a guest and invites him to have dinner with him to talk him into joining him (Kouji even was provided with a tuxedo). In one moment Ashura asks Kouji if the meal is to his liking and Kouji replies it would be more to his liking if he was not handcuffed. Ashura retorts he is not SO stupid to let him free.
- In Descendants of Darkness, Muraki kidnaps the shinigami Hisoka, then forces Hisoka's partner Tsuzuki to have dinner with him if he wants to see his partner again.
- In Hoshin Engi, Choukoumei invites Taikobo and Supushan to dine with him before testing if Taikobo is worthy of being his rival with a fight against his sisters.
- In D.Gray-Man, Tyki invites Allen and his friends to sit down at the huge table and dine with him. Pity that none of them feel like eating, what with the whole place slowly disintegrating which would eventually lead to them dying.
- Late in the run of the original Lupin III manga series, Lupin encounters a scientist whose secrets he intends to steal. So, he invites him to dinner to discuss it.
- Miaka of Fushigi Yuugi falls victim to this twice. To be fair, she tries not to.
- During the rather light first instance, she broke into Kutou Palace with two Seishi to find the Shi Jin Ten Chi Sho and Tamahome; she is captured but manages to escape, and Yui lures her ex-best friend to her with food. Miaka tries to talk some sense into her, and the trope turns straight when Miaka sees Tamahome.
- The second instance is much darker. The Shinzahou had been stolen, and Miaka takes it upon herself to get it back from Nakago. When she arrives at the Seiryuu camp, she catches a delicious whiff of food and finds Nakago alone inside the tent with the item. He invites her to dinner, and things get worse after the conversation that ensues.
Nakago: You're welcome to join me if you want.
Miaka: Don't make fun of me! Give me back the Shinzahou you stole from us!
(Cut to Miaka eating dinner)
Miaka: ... is what I'd like to say, but my stomach takes over.
- Negima! Magister Negi Magi has Fate sit down for tea with Negi, although this quickly devolves into them berating the others' taste in beverages, until Negi throws the table and sucker punches him.
- Umineko: When They Cry: In the second arc's tea party, Beatrice captures Rosa and ties her to a chair before promising to grant anything for Rosa if she'll accept her existence. She then decides on her own that she knows what to grant Rosa and treats her to a lovely banquet... that is made from the remains of her siblings. She actually brags about it being made From Her Own Personal Compressor, among other things.
- Zigzagged in Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World: After a surprise encounter with Iska at a theater in a neutral nation Alice and Rin proceed to a pasta restaurant where they are seated at a table reserved by Iska. While the tension remains high, Alice and Iska make a connection based on their mutually shared preferences for pasta. They eventually part ways opting to pretend the diner never happened.
- In Monster, the Nazis attempting to use Nina as bait to lure Johan to them first treat her to a nice dinner at one of the members' mansion.
- In Until Death Do Us Part, after Orion captures Mamoru, he tells his second-in-command to invite him to dinner. Mamoru spends the time eating up because he didn't know when he'd be able to eat next.
- In episode 10 of Is This A Zombie?, the King of Night is preparing food, and when Ayumu and Haruna break into his apartment to try and rescue Yuu, he ends up making them stay for dinner, while also discussing with Ayumu if he likes being immortal.
- One episode of Monster Rancher has Gali feeding the heroes food and water. The meal isn't rigged, but he uses the distraction to sucker-punch them.
- In episode 6 of Crest of the Stars, Baron Febdash appears to be a hospitable host to Lafiel and Jinto until the dinner itself, where his villainous intentions are made known.
- Kirby: Right Back at Ya!: In the movie finale Fright to the Finish, King Dedede and Escargoon kidnap Tiff and try to make her tell them how to access the Warp Star, by trying to tempt her with lots of food.
- K has an interesting twist, with enemies who do end up as teammates - Kuroh follows his target, Yashiro, back to his room, intending to "fulfill [his] master's wishes and slay the evil king," (whose actions Shiro is framed for). After a chase scene, they realize they're hungry... and Kuroh cooks for them, and they all eat together.
- The anime series Spider Riders has Spider Rider Hunter Steele and spider Shadow being treated quite well when taken prisoner by the series Big Bad Mantid. Though it's later revealed to have all been a deception.
Comic Books
- Alan Ford notably spoofs this trope in the volume Rich Mission: the Villainous Glutton Mr Trip has just captured Alan and Count Oliver and invites them to join him in his private pool where he offers them a large plate full of pastries. Being perpetually broke and hungry, the two wolf down everything in seconds, much to Trip's dismay.
"Mumble... I see that the local air helps you build up quite an appetite."
- Marvel Universe:
- Pictured above is a scene from issue #87 (1969) of Fantastic Four (1961) in which Crystal and Sue are trying to escape Doom's castle, only to run right into the dictator's personal dining room. Despite the fact that he was trying to kill them before, he now treats them as honored guests. Even Evil Has Standards, especially when it comes to getting three square meals, apparently.
- In one issue of Uncanny X-Men, a decade and a half later, an at-that-point deposed Doom has a run in with the X-Men. He asks Storm to have dinner with him. She agrees, as it's a distraction, something Doom knows (and is in fact checking on the other X-Men via screens at his end of the table), but both of them are actually enjoying the charade so much they almost don't want to end it.
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, when Spider-Man swings by the Kingpin's building for no reason while contemplating his life, Elektra shows up and invites him in... where Kingpin offers him pizza and a partnership.
- In Athena Voltaire and the Immortal Power, Major Klimt has dinner with a captured Athena and colleagues aboard her airship.
Athena: Why the fancy dinner now?
Klimt: We are nearing our destination. Perhaps I merely want to gloat. Or persuade Herr Lang to cooperate again. Or perhaps I just wanted a little "girl talk", as you Americans say.
Athena: [Sarcastically] Terrific. We can braid each other's hair later.
Fan Works
- A Growing Affection has the Blood Drinker Demon, Doraku, sits down for a nice meal with Naruto, Hinata, Sakura, and Lee, before he makes them his slaves. He even invites them to try and escape.
- In The Gods Awaken, Nyarlathotep arranges to have one of his servants make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Eda, Lilith, and King whilst they wait for Luz and Amity to return with the Necronomicon.
- Last Child of Krypton: Lampshaded by Fuyutsuki when Ra's Al Ghul is explaining his evil scheme:
Fuyutsuki: If you mean to detail your nefarious plan to me, shouldn't we be eating dinner? Or did you plan to aim a laser at my crotch?
- A Teacher's Glory has Zabuza sit down to a (non-poisoned) picnic with Asuma and Anko before they fight, because Asuma believes getting accurate information on Mist is more important than immediate killing Zabuza.
- The Ultimate Evil: While Valerie is recovering in Shendu's hideout, he makes her dine with him on Chinese takeout at one point.
Films — Animation
- After Mr. Incredible defeats the first Omnidroid in The Incredibles, Syndrome invites him to have dinner with Mirage, keeping his identity a secret for the time being. On the second flight to the island, he's provided with prawns in cocktail sauce and mimosa cocktails.
- Son of the White Horse: All three dragons offer to share their meals with Treeshaker before their fight to the death — the first two because he pretends to be a mere guest, the third because he's simply good-mannered despite knowing Treeshaker had killed his brothers. The first two times, Treeshaker sits down with the dragons but rejects their offer of eating rocks, crystals and ores. The third time, he drinks the dragon's wine before the monster even arrives, rendering his offer moot.
Films — Live-Action
- In the wuxia The Bells of Death, the protagonist, Wei-Fu, is invited by the main villain, Bandit Lord Tso, for a feast in the bandits' fortress, nevermind Wei-Fu had killed both of Tso's Co-Dragons prior to their meeting, since the Bandit Lord is offering Wei-Fu a We Can Rule Together deal. Things nearly turns ugly for the hero when Wei-Fu gets to meet the Bandit's leading concubine, which turns out to be Wei-Fu's sister that he thought was killed five years earlier.
- James Bond is particularly prone to this; perhaps he just seems a pleasant dinner companion.
- Dr. No. The Trope Maker. After Bond and Honey Ryder are captured by Dr. No's guards, Dr. No invites them to dine with him. He and Bond have a leisurely conversation, with Dr. No explaining his background and plans, complimenting Bond's intelligence and trying to recruit him to join SPECTRE. Bond responds by insulting him, so Dr. No orders his guards to torture him. Justified in this instance, since Dr. No is trying to understand Bond better.
- As mentioned in the description above, Goldfinger. While Bond is being kept prisoner in Goldfinger's compound, he is brought out to Goldfinger's front porch and the two drink some Mint Julip. Justified in that Goldfinger is keeping Bond alive as part of a gambit to trick his handlers into thinking Bond has control of the situation. Thus the appearance of the two having a friendly chat over drinks keeps any investigators from looking any deeper into Bond's situation to realize he's being held captive.
- The Man with the Golden Gun. James Bond travels to Scaramanga's island with the intent of killing him and rescuing Bond's partner Miss Goodnight. Scaramanga welcomes him to the island, gives him a guided tour and invites him to lunch (with Miss Goodnight wearing a bikini rather than evening wear - which would be almost as absurd since they're not having dinner). During lunch, Scaramanga challenges Bond to a duel to the death, and Bond accepts.
- Octopussy. Over dinner Kamal Khan has an amiable discussion with Bond over how he's going interrogate him—he prefers a can't-miss Truth Serum combo that results in permanent brain damage. It's not this conversation but the stuffed sheep's head with the eyes still intact that puts Bond off his meal. That and how The Dragon is Death Glaring. "I lose my appetite which I get stared at."
- Subverted in The Spy Who Loved Me. Stromberg invites Bond to join him for dinner so that Bond will be sitting right in the sights of the gun attached to the underside of the table. Bond figures it out, gets clear in time and returns the favor down the firing tube.
- Parodied in the quote at the top of the page in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. Scott is baffled as to why his father is not shooting his Archenemy on the spot and is instead sharing a meal with him.
- In the James Bond parody If Looks Could Kill, Steranko insists on eating dinner with Michael after he's been captured. Unlike other examples, he is mostly serious because he does not need the hero dead, simply out of the way.
- The Empire Strikes Back: Darth Vader: "We would be honored if you would join us." Said after he casually blocks laser blasts with his hand. Laser blasts that Han shot first. With after-dinner torture, too! Though they don't end up having the dinner onscreen, Robot Chicken has a skit showing what happens when they do. It's awkward.
- Lampshaded in the RiffTrax:
Chad Vader: Brunch, anyone?
- Lampshaded in the RiffTrax:
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: Barbossa "asks" the captured Elizabeth to have dinner with him. While other villains might do this to take advantage of the heroine, to show that they are civilized, or to just plain gloat, Barbossa is pretty original in that he's so hungry due to his curse, he just wants to watch someone eat.
- The Quick and the Dead: Ellen (Sharon Stone) took up Herod's (Gene Hackman's) offer of dinner. She went, loaded for revenge but got spooked by Herod's Breaking Speech and the ultimate ramifications of succeeding.
- In Spy Kids, the spy parents eventually manage to escape from their cell and make their way to the main room, only to find Floop waiting there with a dinner and holding a timer:
Floop: Fifteen minutes to escape. With your reputations, I was expecting something a little more impressive. Finally, we can eat!
- Desire (1936): The Spanish criminals out for the stolen jewel, the American everyman in possession of the jewel, and the redeemed love interest who stole the jewel sit down for a classy meal. Each side suspects that the others know that it knows, so they have a nice chat about whether there has to be a war and if America will have the sense to stay out of it. Everyone's looking for an opportunity to turn it into a showdown.
- In the movie Hannibal, the serial-killing antagonist kidnaps Clarice Starling's antagonistic former boss. After drugging and subduing both the man and Starling, he dresses the woman up in an elegant gown and has a fancy candlelight dinner with both of them. Then again, he's actually removing portions of the man's brain, cooking them right there at the table, and feeding them to him.
- Inverted in the Infernal Affairs films, where top cop Wong has a habit of welcoming gangsters into custody with take-out.
- There's a scene from Snatch. that goes like this: protagonist Turkish has screwed up a deal he had with London Gangster Bricktop, which cost Bricktop a lot of money. Turkish runs back to his office, hoping he can get there and take all the money he has in his safe and flee the country. Bricktop and his goons are already there. Rather than killing Turkish, Bricktop has Turkish make everyone some tea, has a surprisingly civilized conversation where he explains what Turkish has to do to make up for this, and then, just before leaving, forces Turkish to open his safe and give everything inside to Bricktop.
- In The Black Hole, Dr. Reinhardt invites the visiting crew of the Palomino to dinner, although it's only a safe bet that he's a Mad Scientist at that point:
- Subverted in Captain America: The First Avenger. Colonel Philips brings Arnim Zola a steak dinner during his interrogation. Zola suspects that it might be drugged and refuses it, claiming vegetarianism on medical grounds. note Philips shrugs and eats it himself.
Zola: You are trying to intimidate me, Colonel.Philips: I bought you dinner.
- In Kingsman: The Secret Service, Valentine shares a lovely dinner with whatever guests he sways to his side. This helps the Prime Minister to follow him, while the Swedish Princess says he's completely insane. Later, Valentine more directly invokes the trope by eating with an undercover Harry. Their main course is... McDonald's. This dinner also has a practical side, as the wine Harry ingested contains a special gel that allows him to track Harry's movements.
- In The Shadow, the second time Lamont Cranston encounters Shiwan Khan, the villain is eating dinner at a small restaurant. He invites Lamont Cranston to eat, having already ordered for him. Inverted during their first meeting where Lamont is the host and offers Khan a drink while discussing murder and mayhem.
- Inverted in Miami Blues when Detective Hoke Moseley (Fred Ward) appears at suspect "Herman Gottlieb's" (Alec Baldwin) apartment to brace him, invites himself to dinner ("Pork Chops? I'll put my teeth in for that!") and proceeds to needle him throughout the meal. ("So — where'd you do your time?")
- The Legend of Tarzan: Rom invites Jane to dine with him while she is his captive on his riverboat; with the understanding that if she refuses, he will drop her friend into the river to be eaten by crocodiles.
- Subverted in Congo. Captain Wanta invites (then demands) that his prisoners partake of coffee and cake. They mostly ignore this and start 'negotiating' (e.g. bribing) their release, but when the universally despised Herkermer Homolka tries eating a slice of cake, Wanta not only orders him to stop, he makes him spit it out again.
Captain Wanta: Mister Homolka; stop eating my sesame cake. (Beat) Stop-eating-my-sesame-cake!
- In Snowpiercer Curtis is treated to this, at gunpoint, when he reaches the front of the eponymous train and confronts Wilford. A steak and a We Can Rule Together speech almost make him agreee to step into Wilford shoes.
- Frankenstein Island: Upon learning of the balloonists' presence on the island, Mad Scientist Sheila Frankenstein dispatches her henchmen to fetch them and bring them to her house. Upon their arrival, she shares a fine bottle of cognac with them (presumably the budge of the film didn't stretch to actual food).
- Death Ring: After abducting Matt, Vachs has him brought to a formal dinner so he can be introduced the the men who will be hunting him.
- Inverted in the campy Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. Captain Seas invites our heroes to dinner and only reveals himself as the villain after the meal.
Seas: Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed your dinner...because it's going to be your last. (waiters all produce guns)
Literature
- Alex Rider series: Alex dines with almost every one of the Big Bads in each book, mostly as a Faux Affably Evil gesture before they plan to kill him.
- Taken to its logical extreme in Skeleton Key where General Sarov more or less tries to adopt him and treats him like his now-dead biological son, after Alex ends up getting captured. Much of the book is the Big Bad letting (or rather, forcing) Alex to live with him in his luxury home, getting him to take part in various activities (like horse riding) and telling Alex We Can Rule Together. And dining with him. He even forbids his Mooks and The Dragon from harming him (the latter glefully disobeys). When Alex finally foils his Evil Plan and puts himself at his mercy, he chooses to shoot himself rather than kill him.
- In Bulldog Drummond, the chapter "In Which He Spends A Quiet Night At The Elms" has Drummond spending a night as the guest of the Big Bad. The invitation is issued rather forcefully (he's abducted at gunpoint), but the rest of the event is one of at least surface civility, because Drummond has something the Big Bad wants.
- In Halo: First Strike, the bridge crew and Spartans of the Gettysburg-Ascendant Justice are invited to refreshments by Governor Jiles, leader of an insurgent human community, while they discuss receiving repairs for their vessel. Also From My Own Personal Garden, as Jiles comments about the asteroid's hydroponic gardens. A subversion of the usual connotations, however, in that Jiles originally intended to just raid their ship, take anything valuable, and take them prisoner and/or kill them without a meal. The meal was meant more as a "peace offering" after Vice Admiral Whitcomb demonstrated the power of their ship's plasma weaponry and made it clear he was willing to blow the insurgents up before they got close (which he couldn't effectively do because he only had one or two working turrets, but Jiles didn't need to know that).
- Done in some versions of Robin Hood, when Robin's band kidnaps some unfortunate priest or sheriff and forces him to sit down and eat (and sometimes bunk) with them, after which they empty the man's wallet for payment.
- In Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, the legend of "Oriza" is that Oriza invited her father's murderer into her castle to talk peace over dinner. He's afraid she'll hide a weapon in her clothes, so she suggests that they dine naked (to which he immediately agrees: Oriza is a hottie). Midway through dinner, she throws a sharpened plate at him, severing his head (making this an inversion: she's considered the hero).
- In Tim Powers' Dinner at Deviant's Palace, the climactic sequence is a formal sit-down dinner for the villain, the hero, and a few dozen of the villain's underlings, complete with waiters and engraved invitations.
- Temeraire: In Empire of Ivory, after King Mokhachane has Laurence brutally beaten for refusing to give up intelligence on the Atlantic slave trade and the poor guy nearly dies of infection as a result, Prince Moshueshue tries a different tack—he waits for Laurence to heal up before calling for him again, and sits him down for drinks. Unlike most examples of this trope, Laurence willingly answers Moshueshue's questions, and so the prince gets quite a bit of valuable information that goes on to influence the events of later books.
- Used in the Ciaphas Cain (HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!) novel Duty Calls, as the antagonist, Radical Inquisitor Killian invites Ciaphas to dine with him and his ally Metheius, partially to boast but also to try to recruit him. Cain is understandably a little discomforted at eating with Killian, but plays along, commenting that Killian is the sort of megalomaniac who seems to need this sort of validation of his cleverness.
- Honor Harrington:
- Inverted: the protagonist hero in Honor Among Enemies not only invites captured enemy naval officers to dine with her, but actually involves one of them in a planning session to take out a pirate.
- In Storm From The Shadows, Mike Henke is invited to dinner with Eloise Pritchart, President of the Republic of Haven. As with the earlier example, it's a pleasant dinner, especially since it's a setup for Pritchart using Mike as her emissary to deliver a truce offering to Manticore.
- Used by the Macellarius bloodline in a Vampire The Requiem introduction short story. The Macellarius are uber-Affably Evil types who are enormously obese vampiric cannibals, gorging themselves on their enemies as they conquer the Requiem. In an odd twist, the Macellarius leader invites two potential converts to dinner, selects one to join the bloodline and has the other killed and eaten as a welcome feast.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- Although one of the most basic moral norms in the series' world is the "guest right" — that no matter how much you want someone dead, if he eats bread and salt at your table, you must not harm him — there is someone who doesn't care in the slightest about basic morality. Cue the Red Wedding, in which no less than a viewpoint character is murdered by her brother's new father-in-law, immediately after watching her son and all his guards brutally killed.
- Roose Bolton gives a travel-weary Brienne a clean change of clothes, a nice, warm meal, and polite conversation, and then, with just as much politeness, turns her over to be gang-raped and killed.
- The other dinner guest is Jaime, who Roose really does want to get on his side if possible, since he's been badly hurt while in the custody of some people technically working for Roose, and has the power to bring a whole lot of trouble down on Roose's head depending on what he says to who about it. Roose plays nice, but also makes the threat clear in some subtle ways, like serving food that Jaime can't eat without help because it's all stuff that requires two hands to cut.
- The Jennifer Morgue by Charles Stross has the secret agent protagonist captured by the evil billionaire who's trying to resurrect a shoggoth. The next morning, he and his lovely CIA agent contact are treated to breakfast by the billionaire and his wife. Justified as the billionaire has invoked the tropes of James Bond movies as a geas. He plans to keep the agent locked in the trope of the solitary agent going it alone against the megalomaniac until no one else can possibly intervene, at which point he breaks the geas, kills the agent, and takes over the world before anyone can stop him.
- In Ranger's Apprentice, in the fifth book Will stops Skandians from raiding by inviting them to a dinner with the lords and ladies at the castle.
- In The Dresden Files novel Death Masks, Harry is captured by the demonic Nicodemus. When he comes to, Nicodemus has set out a full breakfast spread... only Harry's tied up and suspended under a running stream (cutting him off from magical energy). Nicodemus prepares for things like this, and all Harry has to do to join him for breakfast is make a little arrangement.
- In Richard Connell's short story, The Most Dangerous Game, General Zaroff treats Rainsford to a glass of champagne and a filet mignon, although this is before he find out the Zaroff is a madman who hunts humans for sport.
- A very well justified example in the Replica series. The organization was very nice to Chris when they captured him. Because if they could corrupt him, they'd have an agent close to Amy and Andy. And if he uses the opportunity to escape, they really don't care. He's Not Worth Killing.
- A pervasive trope in The Hunger Games trilogy. Meals in the Capitol are so opulent that it would take days to gather the ingredients in Katniss' home district, where starvation is common. The implication is that the Capitol is so overwhelmingly powerful that any rebellion will be easily crushed, possibly by starvation. The delicious meals the Tributes are given are a reminder that they'd better play along.
- Older Than Feudalism: Joseph subjects his brothers to something rather like this in the Book of Genesis. Joseph is a good guy who intends his brothers no harm, but the brothers, who had previously sold him into slavery, think this is what happened when they realize who he was. It's also extended in time, with the brothers dining and staying with Joseph twice before he tells them who he is.
- Early in Dracula, Dracula plays host (and after Jonathan realizes he's a prisoner) and jailer to Jonathan Harker, and provides him with delicious meals. Although it's more than likely that Dracula does not eat... food, he's apparently a Supreme Chef (or else his "brides" are), since there are no human servants at the castle.
- In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, sworn brother of Liu Bei, is forced to surrender to Liu's enemy Cao Cao. Cao has Guan appointed to high rank of nobility and presents him with every gift imaginable in order to win him over. Eventually, however, after "thanking" Cao by defeating two generals serving another warlord, Yuan Shao, Guan leaves Cao's forces to rejoin Liu, killing several of Cao's men on the way.
- In Son of the Black Sword, this is inverted when Omand, the Grand Inquisitor, shows up uninvited for dinner at a minor nobleman's house, makes completely polite conversation, casually inquires after the nobleman's absent daughter, and her future career.
- The 1980s educational book Write Your Own Adventure Programs for Your Microcomputer suggests this as a puzzle in a spy-themed adventure game: the Big Bad has captured the protagonist, taken away their weapons, and invited them to dinner. Over dessert, he shows them the remote control for his world decimator weapon. The book's suggested solution: The player throws the dessert in the villain's face, grabs the remote control, and escapes.
- In the second Neogicia novel, the protagonist Saly gets abducted by the leader of an enemy faction who wants to find out more about one of her Bio-Augmentation induced powers. Since he wants her in top shape for this, he has her sleep in a nice room, has servants dress her in nice clothing and give her a good meal. The incentive he has in case Saly refuses to demonstrate? A Mercy Lead to escape his castle.
- "Heroic" example: when Nero Wolfe invites a suspect for interrogation or a police force rival who's interfering in his investigation, he usually makes sure to treat them to a meal, and maybe a visit to his orchids in the greenhouse. Differentiated in that Wolfe very much does believe in Sacred Hospitality, and generally only extends that kind of invitation - when it isn't entirely social - to people he honestly expects to be better off afterwards. (Whether they'll be happy about it being a quite different matter.) When a guest, he's equally careful to extricate himself before taking actions that may harm his host.
- An Older Than Steam "heroic" example: early in the Poem of the Cid (the epic on which El Cid is loosely based), the Cid invites the Count of Barcelona to eat dinner with him after the count is defeated and captured in battle. When the count says he isn't hungry, the Cid tells him that if he eats he will be given treasure and sent home on a fast horse, and if he does not eat he will not be ransomed and will languish in chains. He decides to eat.
- Young Sherlock Holmes: In Red Leech, Duke Balthassar has Sherlock, Virginia and Matty sit down with for an meal which, for the most part, proceeds quite civilly as he attempts to find out how much they know about his scheme. After the meal, he orders them thrown to his Komodo dragons.
- In volume 4 of The Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign, the Yandere Big Bad forces Kyousuke to eat breakfast with her. She is not at all concerned by the fact that she had to beat him into unconsciousness several times before he complied.
- Books of the Raksura has a decidedly dark variant when Moon and the Raksura-Fell hybrid Shade are stuck in a lair of the Always Chaotic Evil Fell: the "dinner" is a pile of corpses from the last town the Fell raided, and when Shade refuses to eat, the Faux Affably Evil captors offer to butcher Moon for their meal instead. Shade placates them by taking one bite, but is left traumatized by the experience.
- This happens in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. On "the island of the voices", the Narnians suddenly find themselves surrounded by invisible "dufflepuds", claiming to be holding weapons, who demand that Lucy goes into a magician's room to remove the enchantment making them invisible. When the Narnians agree to this, the dufflepuds warmly invite them into their house to dinner and to stay the night, before Lucy fulfils their demand the following morning.
- A Sorror Fierce And Falling: When Henrietta gets caught by R'hlem's army and taken to him, R'hlem treats Henrietta to a meal.
Live-Action TV
- In Batman (1966), Mr. Freeze forces Batman and Robin to dine with him before attempting to kill them.
- In Children of the Stones, Rafael Hendrick "invites" Matthew and his father to dinner before trying to brainwash them.
- Doctor Who:
- Inverted in "Boom Town", where it's the hero (The Doctor) who has the villain (Margaret Blon) cornered. She persuades him to take her to dinner at her favourite restaurant as a Last Request, and spends the evening pleading for his mercy while intermittently attempting to kill him.
- In "The End of Time", minor villain Joshua Naismith captures major villain the Master (being stupid enough to think he can hold an insane, genius, and at this point super-powered Time Lord captive) whom he treats to a Christmas dinner of turkey. Due to the unusual circumstances of the Master's recent resurrection, his intense hunger means he devours the whole turkey in a matter of seconds.
- When the Sheriff believes that Clara is the leader of the rebels in "Robot of Sherwood", he invites her to dinner. Over dinner, she persuades him to spill all the details of his plan.
- Game of Thrones: In "Kissed by Fire", Jaime Lannister knows what this trope implies after he's captured by Lord Bolton, a man not noted for his kind treatment of prisoners.
Bolton: I should send you back to Robb Stark.
Jaime: You should. Instead you're sitting here, watching me fail at dinner. Why might that be?
Bolton: Wars cost money. Many people would pay a great deal for you.
Jaime: We both know who would pay the most.note - Hawkeye (2021): In episode 5, "Ronin", Kate Bishop finds Yelena waiting for her in her apartment. Yelena offers her macaroni and cheese and, despite the tension (notably due to Yelena's stated goal to kill Clint), their conversation goes into Friendly Enemy territory.
- Heroes:
- Towards the end of season 2, Sylar breaks into Dr. Mohinder Suresh's apartment in an attempt to force the geneticist to find a cure for Sylar's loss of superpowers. Sylar takes Mohinder's adopted daughter hostage and gives Mohinder a suggestive phone call ("Hello, Mohinder..."), voicing vague threats. But when a horrified Mohinder arrives home, Sylar greets him amiably and pleasantly asks Mohinder to sit down and offers him breakfast.
- In season 4, Sylar crashes the Petrelli's Thanksgiving dinner, and while he had sworn to kill Angela, he first comments that he's starving and practically inhales a pie. He's about to carry out his threat to kill Angela when Peter intervenes in time.
- During the first appearance of Mr Linderman, who after half a series of build-up as a notorious mobster, is revealed to be an Affably Evil individual who when not masterminding evil schemes, can often be found in the kitchen of his casino, cooking desserts. When Nathan decides to pull a gun on him, Linderman's response?
Linderman: Now you don't get to have any of my pot-pie.
- During the Horatio Hornblower TV movie Loyalty, the traitor invites Hornblower over for dinner after having taken him and a landing party prisoner. He intimates that there is no way he could have caused all the various problems that have been plaguing the British forces in the movie, most notably the French forces finding out key parts of the Brits' plans. Hornblower states that he needs to know who the traitor is, as it would be cruel to let him die not knowing who betrayed him.
- House of Anubis: Miss Denby catches Patricia sneaking around by the gatehouse with Denby's bag. In the next scene with them we see Denby and Patricia were simply 'having a nice tea' while Denby was interrogating Patricia in the nicest manner possible. Patricia was visibly horrified the entire time, because who knows what Denby would have done if she really tried to flee or fight?
- Kamen Rider:
- In Episode 30 of Kamen Rider: Skyrider, one of Neo Shocker's monsters “invites” Hiroshi to a birthday party, which is a trap meant for him.
- In Kamen Rider Double, Sonozaki Ryubee thinks it's a great idea to have one last family dinner before he starts the Gaia Impact. This includes his daughter Saeko (who recently teamed up with Isaka to betray him and was nearly assassinated by his forces), his alienated wife Shroud (who has been working to destroy him ever since he stole her son), and that son, Philip (half of the Kamen Rider that's been battling his forces all series, who he previously mindwiped and used as a tool to make Gaia Memories). Oh, and he's going to kill Philip for the Gaia Impact.
- Lost:
- At the start of the third season Ben treats Kate to a pleasant breakfast on the beach, explaining that he wanted to give her something nice as "the next few weeks are going to be very unpleasant."
- In the afterlife, Keamy is a loan shark putting the screws to Sayid's brother. At the forced meeting where he threatens Sayid, he offers to cook him up some eggs, any style.
- In NCIS episode "Reveille", Ari, whilst holding Caitlin hostage, has a meal with her outside a house on a picnic table. He tries to stir up some Foe Romantic Subtext, but Kate doesn't go for it.
- Person of Interest: Being an Evil Brit, John Greer naturally offers Grace Hendricks some tea after taking her captive. Being a Fiery Redhead, she refuses to touch the tea throughout her interrogation.
- Squid Game: The night before the sixth game of six is going to start, the three remaining contestants are all fed a large fancy dinner, complete with dressing them up in formal evening wear and fancy silver platters for the rich delicious food. This is right before they're all being forced into one last Deadly Game, so there's still some uncomfortable tension in the air.
- Stargate:
- Stargate SG-1: In "Unnatural Selection", after the Replicators capture SG-1, they allow the team a night's sleep and treat them to a really nice and extremely creepy meal. The Replicators don't hide the fact that they're only keeping SG-1 alive so that they can enjoy mind-raping them ("Could there be any other reason we would keep you alive?"), so the quality of the meal doesn't make any sense in-story, unless the replicators were 'seasoning SG1's minds' with it; but the trope probably just leaked out of the writers' brains.
- Stargate Atlantis:
- In the pilot episode, the Wraith Keeper introduces herself to Sumner; she offers him food which he refuses, prompting her to wonder why would he resist his hunger when it's "distasteful". Predictably, the corpse of her previous meal is still sitting at the table.
- In season 5, when the team sits down to talk with Todd, he offers them a fruit bowl, saying that they picked it up on their travels and hoping that they're "as delicious as the farmers who grew them".
- During Star Trek: Voyager's "Year of Hell" episodes, the Mad Scientist villain Annorax captures Chakotay and Paris and serves them a meal made up of the last vestiges of the many civilizations he wiped out. The sheer number of the dishes on the table is a testament to how much he's done, and Paris is visibly sickened.
- Supernatural:
- In the Season 4 finale, the angels kidnap Dean and put him in "Heaven's Waiting Room," as Dean calls it: an ornately decorated Victorian-style room with a couple of bowls of bacon cheeseburgers (one of Dean's favorite foods, though it's never directly stated) so Zachariah can convince him to sit back and let the Apocalypse happen. Castiel eventually rebels and gets Dean out of there.
- In Season 5, Dean tries to ambush The Grim Reaper, who's taken a breather in a Chicago pizzeria. Instead, Death reclaims his scythe and firmly tells Dean to sit down and have a slice of deep-dish. Death also reveals that he's being forced to comply with the Big Bad's schemes and gives Dean some much-needed help against their common enemy.
- S.W.A.T. (2017): In the first episode of season 5, "Vagabundo", the Affably Evil villain of the week, Arthur Novak, gets Hondo locked up by some corrupt Mexican cops and then arranges for him to be released for a lunch meeting so Arthur can persuade him to do something for him. Hondo no-sells the meal, even though Arthur makes pains to note this is rude in the Mexican culture to which Hondo is a visitor; Hondo goes on to subvert one aspect of the trope by unexpectedly giving in to pragmatism and attempting to do the villain's bidding, attempting to persuade the damsel of the week to sell the villain her farm. Ultimately negotiations break down and the villain has the damsel kidnapped at the end of the episode, forcing Hondo to prepare to rescue her.
Music
- Jonathan Coulton's "Skullcrusher Mountain":
"Would it kill you to be civil?
I've been patient, I've been gracious
And this mountain is covered with wolves
Hear them howling, my hungry children
Maybe you should stay and have another drink and think about me and you"
Radio
- Bleak Expectations: While holding Pip Bin captive and torturing him for a prolonged period, Mr. Benevolent takes time out for a tea and biscuit break. Of course, the minute that's over, he goes right back to the bizarre tortures.
Tabletop Games
- This is part of the Dark Lord's Code of Honor in the Discworld Roleplaying Game, initially described in the Pyramid article "Call No Man Happy Until He is Dread
" and then in the second edition of the game proper:
Provide visiting heroes who aren't yet scheduled for the death-trap with comfortable lodgings, submissive servants, and a change of clothes...
Video Games
- Asura's Wrath: Asura is found by Augus after sustaining heavy injuries in his battle against Kalrow's forces. Rather than finishing Asura off, Augus brings him to a hot spring, and the two relax, get stinking drunk and oogle their beautiful attendants as Asura recovers his strength. Once that happens and Augus is certain Asura can give him a good fight, he makes his challenge official.
- Far Cry 4: Despite the violent introduction that Ajay Ghale (the player) receives from Pagan Min at the beginning of the game, Pagan is uncomfortably friendly towards Ajay for no currently apparent reason. Likewise, their introduction is followed by Ajay receiving nothing short of a VIP treatment (dinner included) from Pagan, complete with a precarious atmosphere. Needless to say, even after leaving his estate against his request, joining his archenemy the Golden Path, killing off large swathes of his army often single-handedly, and turning the tide of the civil war rocking his country in favor of the Golden Path to the point of an imminent coup, he still manages to retain at the end of the game enough of a stoic attitude to basically reprise the dinner from the game's prologue only to ask for a chance to explain himself to Ajay what he didn't get to explain prior due to Ajay escaping. In addition, if Ajay stays in the dining hall during the first dinner at Pagan's request and waits for his return, he will explain himself, this time without the need for the civil war in the country to escalate further.
- In Final Fantasy VI, halfway through the game, Emperor Gesthal invites the party to his castle to have a feast and reassures them that his kingdom is too ravaged from the Espers' attack to fight the party, so he wants to help them calm the Espers. He also tells the party that Kefka will be punished for his crimes. This is just a big fat lie since later on, Kefka attacks a village to get more Espers and he meets up with Geshtal on the Floating Continent so they can get more power. Interestingly enough, what the party actually does and says during the feast is largely up to the player, and depending on how successful they are at humoring Gesthal, they can get a variety of useful items as a reward.
- In Final Fantasy XV, Ardyn is resurrected in the Magitek Research laboratory of Vestrael, and and he is greeted with a meal composed of artificial food. When Ardyn discovers that he is dinning with a mad scientist, he utters the classic quote "You're Insane!".
- Referenced in Mass Effect: Andromeda during Movie Night if Ryder suggests a charm offensive after the crew starts arguing about what they would do if they were in the movie.
Liam: Yeah... yeah-the old "dinner and drinks to show off my villainy".
- When Professor Layton and Luke arrive at the big, ominous manor in Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box, Anton has dinner and makes idle chit-chat with them before showing them to their rooms. He then ties them up in his basement.
- The Elder Scrolls: In the recurring in-game book, A Game at Dinner, all of the other spies fully expect the dinner to be part of a plot to reveal and kill them by King Helseth. They're not wrong, but this being King Helseth, it doesn't play out in the way they thought.
- Trails in the Sky reveals the first game's Arc Villain at the climax of the penultimate chapter, who turns out to be a military hero that they met earlier in the game, Colonel Richard. The final chapter has the heroes, Estelle and Joshua, win a dinner party in the Queen's castle, and said villain invites them to chat over drinks, unaware that they eavesdropped on him earlier. During their meeting, he expresses admiration for Estelle's father and how he saved their country from a huge war in the past, appreciating the chance to talk to his children. Unlike most examples of this trope, his intentions are totally sincere, and Estelle is taken aback at how nice he turned out to be afterwards. However, his blind hero worship does play into his villainous motivation, as Richard believed that without Estelle's father, the country had no hope of defending itself without resorting to a mysterious and dangerous superweapon, and this ends up being the climactic conflict.
Webcomics
- In The Order of the Stick near the end of the siege of Azure City, Haley and Belkar attempt to retrieve Roy's body from the battlefield but find that he and O-Chul are guests at a tea party hosted by the extremely powerful but childlike Monster in the Darkness. (Yes, Roy is dead. O-Chul is paralyzed. It's that sort of tea party.) Haley and Belkar have to carefully play along through the meal (and Belkar has to cook the meal) before they can attempt to escape.
- In Drowtales, when Ariel's squad arrives in Felde, the colony presided over by chessmistress Big Bad Snadhya'rune, the latter arranges for Ariel and Faen to come sit at the head table with her. Snadhya is - officially - a neutral party in the District War, and a Villain with Good Publicity besides, but Ariel is still extremely distrusting of a woman whose clan is the Sarghress' main opponent. Snadhya, however, immediately begins a charm offensive, assuring Ariel that she is not a threat, speaking of her admiration for the Sarghress and even pointing out that the two of them share their signature color, purple. It seems to be going halfway decently, and then Kalki chops Ariel's arm off. The other guests react accordingly.
Zhor: You sick, twisted spawn! Nothing - NOTHING provoked this!
- In Exterminatus Now, Silas Morth invites Jamilla to dinner after finding out she's a spy. He even adds complimentary drugs to the wine to make her a more compliant sacrifice.
- The Thin Man in Flipside treats Maytag to dinner after abducting her and a man named Rhodes. This being Flipside, Maytag was wearing next to nothing when the Thin Man's minion abducted her. Maytag being Maytag, she doesn't really mind all that much, especially since she can tell her fellow prisoner (and dinner guest) has no ill intentions toward her.
- King Johann invites Dominic Deegan to dinner to discuss negotiations and explanations after Dominic has foiled half his plots and made serious setbacks. And then the dinner turns out to be an illusion over an Eldritch Location (which is exceptionally frightening because Dominic is usually immune to magic illusions). And then THAT turns out to be an illusion, because Dominic is actually in a cage while Johann is magically dissecting his brain.
- Kill Six Billion Demons:
- During Wielder of Names, God-Emperor Nadia Om catches Allison, who wields the Master Key prophesized to be used by The Chosen One to kill her, sneaking into her palace. Rather than killing Allison and taking the Key off her cooling corpse, Nadia has Allison dressed up, given a one-person banquet and then a personal guided tour around her palace. It quickly turns out Mottom doesn't want Allison dead, nor does she want the Master Key, as taking it would immediately turn the other Demiurges against her. Instead, at the end of the tour, she offers Allison her entire empire because she's too bound by The Chains of Commanding and wants to be free of it all.
- Much later, during Breaker of Infinities, Allison ends up hosted by fellow God-Emperor Jadis, who graciously offers Allison a nice nutritious breakfast in her atrium. In contrast with Mottom, Jadis has no ulterior motives (at least from her point of view); she simply wants Allison to give up her quest because she foresees a whole lot of suffering in Allison's future and wants to spare her from it.
Web Original
- Critical Role:
- Invertednote in in Campaign 1. As of Episode 24, Vox Machina knows that the Briarwoods, the couple that slaughtered Percy's entire family, are "irredeemably evil"...but instead of killing them outright, they sit through an incredibly tense banquet with them at the palace.
- In campaign 2, the Mighty Nein are invited to dine with Trent Ikithon, a powerful arch-mage of the Cerberus Assembly and the manipulative villain from Caleb's backstory who now wants to reconnect with his former "protegee".
Western Animation
- Dexter's Laboratory short "Dial M For Monkey" has the supervillain Simian who invites Monkey to dine with him and proceeds to seduce him to help him destroy the human race.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender:
- The protagonists think they're experiencing this trope when they are arrested in Omashu. The eccentric king proclaims their sentence: "THROW THEM... a feast!" It turns out they're actually being tested by the king, who turns out to be Aang's childhood friend.
- Azula invites Zuko and Iroh to the Earth King's palace under the pretense of serving the Earth King tea, but when she reveals her ploy to them, they attempt to escape. Iroh makes it out to fight another day, but Zuko gets caught by Dai Li agents when he tries to challenge Azula.
- 1973/74 Superfriends episode "Menace of the White Dwarf". After the supervillain Raven accidentally captures Wendy, Marvin and Wonder Dog, he has his android doubles serve them a meal and shows them around his base.
- She-Ra: Princess of Power The episode "Three Courageous Hearts" has She-ra dropped into another dimension - the Sixth Dimension - by Shadow Weaver, with the intent of trapping her there forever. After travelling for a while, She-ra comes upon a stone dwelling that has a table filled with food. It belongs to the Big Bad of the Sixth Dimension, Salistica, and he insists that She-ra dine with him in order to get any answers out of him as to where she is and how she can get out. Salistica proves not to be trustworthy but She-ra gets out in the end anyway.
- In the 2018 reboot, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Glimmer and Catra are taken captive on board Horde Prime's ship, after which he serves them a dinner feast with various alien dishes. After Glimmer takes a few bites of a gelatinous dish, Horde Prime tells her that it is a rare delicacy, as the world it came from no longer exists. He then livestreams Galactic Horde robots attacking the Rebellion on the screen behind him, upsetting Glimmer and angering Catra.
- WordGirl has Tobey, who is determined to take her out for ice-cream if he ever defeats her.
- Played with in The Powerpuff Girls (1998) episode "Supper Villain". Mr. Smith wishes to melt Professor Utonium's head with a ray-gun (actually a hairdryer with a bubble-wand taped to it), while his wife expects (more like demands) the good Professor (and everyone else) to dine. Of course, this leads to everyone else eating quickly while a nervous Utonium eats as slowly as humanly possible.
Mrs. Smith: (just when the Professor swallows the last pea on his plate) Now, who wants dessert?
Professor: I DO!!! - Phineas and Ferb: Doofenshmirtz reveals to Perry (whom he's caught in a trap again) that it's his birthday (which factors into his latest scheme). While he explains his Evil Plan, he offers Perry a slice of birthday cake, which Perry accepts.
- In another scene, Perry attacks Doof in a train's dining cart. This is part of Doof's plan, since a special agent like Perry would know that you can't just make a scene in a fancy dining environment, thus trapping him by societal convention. Perry and Agent Lyla get out of it by stealing some of Doof's fries, annoying him in a socially acceptable way until he attacks first, justifying their retaliation..
- In "A Very Possible Christmas", when Kim Possible, the Possible family and Shego rescue Ron Stoppable and Drakken when they were stranded near the North Pole due to Drakken's latest scheme backfiring, Drakken invites the Possibles to join him for Christmas dinner. Not that he's gloating or anything, but just because it's Christmas.
- Wing Commander Academy: In "The Last One Standing", Maniac and Blair are brought in to dine with Daimon Karnes, where he explains why he went renegade.
- In Robot Chicken Star Wars, after Han and Leia are taken captive on Cloud City, they are forced to have dinner with Darth Vader, Lando and Boba Fett. Needless to say, the ambiance is a bit strained.
- In Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, the tyrannical Scarlemagne finally captures Kipo after almost two seasons of pursuing her. His first course of action is to give her a fancy ballgown, treat her and her father to a sumptuous dinner, have a civil chat about his plans for ultimate dominion... and it's enforced by a row of humans with crossbows. Kipo does her best with it and tries to connect with Scarlemagne the same way she does any other enemy. She makes a surprising amount of headway, but has to rely on her backup plan in the end.
Real Life
- During World War II, both British and Germans developed the practice of treating important prisoners of war who might have valuable information to fine meals and otherwise excellent treatment, especially early on in their captivity. This was, of course, a calculated trick, so that POWs might slip up and reveal potentially useful information when softened up by good food and good wine. This did yield some valuable information: for example, a high-ranking German general accidentally revealed key details about the V-2 program while in hospitable British captivity.
