Line #99 Main/MotherMakesYouKing


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Series/GameOfThrones https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cersei_joffrey_throne.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"Mother said it's my turn to be king!"]]
3
4	->''"Enter: Fastrada. Pippin's stepmother. Devious, crafty, cunning, untrustworthy, but a warm and wonderful mother. Dedicated to gaining the throne for her darling son, Lewis."''
5	-->-- The '''Leading Player''' about '''Fastrada''', ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}''
6
7	This is basically when someone could not have otherwise become king without their mother's efforts. It doesn't have to necessarily be a ''king''--it can refer to any situation where your mother makes sure you have power.
8
9	It could be that your mother is a political actor in her own right who plans to get you into power, scheming and murdering all other heirs and finally you become king. A woman in such a society can't be head of state, so her son becoming king is the next best thing. In that case, she's likely [[TheManBehindTheMan the Woman Behind the Man]], and her son, once he's in power, may be a PuppetKing.
10
11	For [[HeirClubForMen gender reasons]], daughter variants are uncommon. What is common, though, is ambitious mothers or fathers parading their beautiful young daughter before a king or prince in hope she'd be picked as a HotConsort. This is a three-generational plan: marry the daughter into the royal family, then the daughter has a son who will become king.
12
13	Merely inheriting your throne via your mother's line doesn't count; your mother has to ''actively support'' you in assuming the position. (This usually means scheming.)
14
15	While it doesn't actually have to be becoming ''king'', that ''is'' the most common case. Historically, a king's father usually had to die before he could become king, but many kings' mothers were still alive and well during their reigns, often titled "Queen Mother." In the Ottoman Empire, sultans tended to have {{royal harem}}s with many concubines--but they only had one mother (who was usually the [[TopWife favored concubine]] of their predecessor). ''She'' was effectively their queen, the second most powerful person in the empire after the sultan himself, and bore the title "Valide Sultan" -- literally "Mother Sultan".
16
17	The mothers in question tend to be villainous, often overlapping with EvilMatriarch and GodSaveUsFromTheQueen. This is doubly true if the son in question is secretly illegitimate, or otherwise not the biological son of the late king, making him not the [[RightfulKingReturns "rightful heir"]]. If her son has half-brothers in line to the throne before him, she will certainly be a WickedStepmother to those stepsons.
18
19	Subtrope to VicariouslyAmbitious. The mom in question is (whether heroic, villainous or any [[AntiHero combination]] [[AntiVillain thereof]]) most likely an AlmightyMom. If she was married to a king, she may have been a LadyMacbeth as well. Compare VillainousMotherSonDuo.
20
21	----
22
23	!! Examples:
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
27	* In ''Manga/FushigiYuugi'', Hotohori's mother pulled some strings to get him onto the throne. Conveniently, the real crown prince, [[spoiler:Tendou]], had been sent away to live as a commoner, because someone made an attempt on his life.
28	* In ''Anime/{{Kaiba}}'', Warp's mother poisoned him, [[spoiler:giving him just enough poison to make him indisposed during the war of succession, in which all his brothers died.]]
29	* ''Manga/RedRiver1995'': Queen Nakia's goal is to invoke the trope with her son Juda no matter what, and is trying to kill her stepsons.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Audio Plays]]
33	* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho125PaperCuts "Paper Cuts"]]: [[spoiler:What the Queen Mother is trying to do for her son. Though she didn't technically kill the Emperor, she has forced him into suspended animation in an orbiting tomb.]]
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	[[folder:Fan Works]]
37	* In ''Fanfic/BabylonBeautifulFiction'', the Babylonian boy king, Kaleo, [[spoiler:the Gate's first sacrifice]] was the son of the BigBad Crown Princess Carmine.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Film - Animated]]
41	* ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsTheIslandPrincess'': [[BigBad Queen Ariana]] is deadset on overthrowing King Peter in revenge for a slight from years ago, and how she plans to go about this is by having her daughter Luciana marry Peter's son Antonio, then poisoning the entire royal family during the wedding so that Luciana will become queen by default and Ariana can act as RegentForLife.
42	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'': Zira will do anything to make her son Kovu king by training him as a {{Tykebomb}} to kill Simba. What the Pridelands would look like after that happens is not entirely clear, as Zira is more concerned with [[AvengingTheVillain avenging her lover Scar's death]] than power in of itself.
43	* In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'' [[LightIsNotGood Fairy Godmother]] tries to put her son Prince Charming on the throne by marrying Fiona, who is heiress to the throne of [[TheGoodKingdom Far-Far-Away]]; the original plan was for him to have saved Fiona from the dragon's tower but he got there after Shrek had already saved and married her. So Fairy Godmother tries to get rid of Shrek in other ways, setting up the whole plot of the movie.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
47	* ''Film/{{Stardust}}'': After the GameBetweenHeirs and the Witches have killed all the sons of the King of Stormhold and due to the fact the throne of Stormhold can't pass to a Woman, Tristan, as son of Princess Una and the one who finds the ruby, becomes King.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'':
52	** Kenan, Lord Randir, owes his position entirely to his mother Rawneth's efforts, including driving the rightful heir into exile. [[spoiler:Bonus points because Kenan's secretly illegitimate.]] Rawneth's strongly implied to be [[TheManBehindTheMan the power behind the throne]], as it's said that mother and son speak with a single voice, and the one action Kenan takes without his mother's input is a failure.
53	** Timmon's mother Distan is strongly implied to be this. Lord Ardeth--Distan's father--is very old and will die in the foreseeable future, and she wants her son to be the next Lord Ardeth.
54	--->'''Adiraina:''' To my mind, the boy is a bit frivolous and his mother over-ambitious;
55	** In Kothifir, Princess Amantine is this to her son Ton. With his support, he makes an [[spoiler:attempt to usurp the throne, though he fails]].
56	--->'''Ton''': Mother…\
57	'''Amantine''': Face the truth, boy. Where would you be without me? Even if the white should truly come to you, you need my guidance
58	* In ''Literature/TheCrownJewels'' by Creator/WalterJonWilliams, we learn that this is how the current Khosali Emperor, Nnis CVI, got his crown. The eldest does not automatically inherit--the current Emperor chooses his heir from the children of his harem. Nnis, though a son of the emperor, had absolutely no interest in his father's throne. His goal in life was to publish scholarly papers on insect genitalia. Unfortunately for him, while he was off on a remote planet studying crawling things, the designated heir died, and Nnis' mother managed to get Nnis chosen as the new heir. Nnis went rushing back to try to start a counter conspiracy aimed at getting himself removed, but before he arrived at the capital, the Emperor died, and he was stuck.
59	* ''Literature/GodspeakerTrilogy'': The first book is about a nameless brat who rises to Mother of the Heir via slavery and soldiery with divine guidance. Her ambition is to use her son as a "Hammer" to take over the world.
60	* ''Literature/HowToTrainYourDragon'': Excellinor the Witch, mother of [[spoiler:[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Alvin the Treacherous]]]], is able to make her son King of the Wilderwest through her scheming.
61	* ''Literature/IClaudius'' claims Livia Drusilla was this to Tiberius.
62	* ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'': Lyonette de Trevalion, known as "the Lioness of Azzalle," is the sister of the current king, a "Princess of the Blood." She plots with her son Baudoin to get him on the throne. It becomes a DefiedTrope when both mother and son get caught, put on trial, and executed for treason.
63	* ''Literature/RedQueen'':
64	** At the end of the first book, Queen Elara Merandus succeeds in putting her son, Maven, to the throne of Norta, having {{Compell\|ingVoice}}ed her stepson and the heir apparent, Tiberias VII "Cal", to kill his father, Tiberias VI.
65	** The third book features a ''grand''mother example with Anabel Lerolan, wife of the late Tiberias V, who arranges for Cal to be able to reclaim the Nortan throne after Maven is banished from the court.
66	* ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'' has a protagonist example: At the end of ''Mistress of the Empire'', [[spoiler:Mara of the Acoma puts her son Justin on the throne by marrying him to the daughter of the late Emperor,]] making him the next Emperor.
67	* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' loves this trope.
68	** Queen Cersei Lannister puts her secretly illegitimate son Joffrey in line for the Iron Throne by passing him off as King Robert's legitimate son. She then gets him on the throne by [[spoiler:killing Robert and his bastards (whose physical appearance would prove that Joffrey wasn't Robert's) and having a person who discovered her secret imprisoned on charges of treason]]. Because Joffrey is young, Cersei--in varying degrees--rules in his name, thought he's a loose cannon and sometimes goes off on his own. This is a 3-generation version, since Cersei herself became queen thanks to her father Tywin's scheming.
69	** Visenya Targaryen--one of Aegon the Conqueror's sister-wives--is suspected of this, with her [[WickedStepmother stepson]]/[[EvilAunt nephew]] King Aenys I dying from an illness while under her care. Her son Maegor the Cruel then became king and she became his strongest supporter. Then deconstructed, as after her death Maegor's reign begins to fall apart and he is overthrown by one of Aenys' sons.
70	** Queen Alicent Hightower was the mother of eldest prince Aegon II. Her husband, Viserys I, had declared his daughter Rhaenyra--the only surviving child of his first marriage--his heir. Alicent repeatedly asked him to choose Aegon instead, without success. Upon Viserys' death, Alicent moved to secure power and crown her son as Aegon II before Rhaenyra could return to the capital, leading to a civil war known as "the Dance of the Dragons". This is implied to be a 3-generation version: Alicent's father Otto was a powerful courtier when she married the king, and the idea that he didn't have an hand in that seems unlikely.
71	** During the chaos that engulfed King's Landing during the Dance of the Dragons civil war, a woman named Essie proclaimed her 4-year-old son Gaemon king, claiming he was the bastard of the prior King Aegon II. After the city was reclaimed, she was hanged.
72	* Queen Prim Marlon of Marlon in the [[Music/EvilliousChronicles Story of Evil novels]] is this to a T. Obsessed with the idea of her son Kyle (originally the fifth-in-line for the throne) becoming king and creating an empire to rival her best friend-turned-rival's kingdom of Lucifenia, after her husband's death, she systematically poisoned all but one of her stepchildren and any dignitary who might oppose her, drove the remaining stepchild's mother to renounce his claim to the throne, and drove another branch of the royal family out of the country so Kyle could be crowned. When Kyle showed interest in becoming an artist instead, she bribed art critics and famous artists to demoralize and criticize his work so he would give up on his dream. [[{{Matricide}} It all comes back to bite her eventually, though.]]
73	* In the ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'', Photius is made Emperor at the age of eight by ''both'' his mothers - his natural mother Antonina and his adoptive mother Empress Theodora - after Emperor Justinian is blinded and thus disqualified from the holding the throne.
74	* In the ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor", it is commented Sheveän Drazharan could have been a great general if she had been a man; unfortunately, the only acceptable occupations for a woman of her rank are marrying well, having children, and supporting her son's position. So she orchestrates an attempted coup against her brother-in-law on her son's behalf. He is not pleased when he finds out.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
78	* ''Series/CriminalMinds'': The episode [[Recap/CriminalMindsS10E18RockCreekPark "Rock Creek Park"]] features an up-and-coming congressman whose wife is kidnapped. Through the course of the investigation, the team realizes that the man's mother had been molding him since his childhood and had [[TheUnfavorite basically discarded his older brother]] when a childhood injury disfigured him, making a successful career in politics unlikely. [[spoiler: She set up her daughter-in-law's kidnapping and planned murder as a way to get rid of what she considered an unworthy suitor and to earn him sympathy from voters to further his career. In the end, the congressman tells his mother that what she did was unforgivable, but since it ''worked'', he continues allowing her to advise him.]] The team genuinely believes he's on track to become President one day.
79	* ''Series/DarkMatter2015'': Empress Ishida is scheming to make her son Hiro the emperor. This is not good news for her stepson Ryo, who stands between Hiro and the throne.
80	* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Like in the books (see "Literature"), [[Characters/GameOfThronesCerseiLannister Cersei Lannister]] is the one who puts [[Characters/GameOfThronesJoffreyBaratheon Joffrey Baratheon]] in line for the throne by [[spoiler:killing Robert and imprisoning Ned Stark]]. Though it is actually Joffrey who [[spoiler:kills all of Robert's bastard children]], out of the fear that one of them will try to claim the throne. Eventually, after [[spoiler:all her children have died]], Cersei [[spoiler:crowns herself Queen Regnant of Westeros.]]
81	-->'''Tywin:''' Robert Baratheon is dead. Joffrey rules in King's Landing.\
82	'''Tyrion:''' You mean my sister rules.\
83	'''Tywin:''' ''[nods]''
84	* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': A 3-generation plan. Otto Hightower is Hand of the King (think the king's NumberTwo). It's the highest position someone who's not part of the royal family can achieve, so the only way Otto can continue climbing the social ladder is via his offspring. He arranges for the widowed King Viserys to marry his daughter Alicent, making her queen consort. Alicent and Viserys have several children, of which the eldest is Aegon. However, Viserys decides to go against tradition and make his only surviving child from his first marriage--his daughter Rhaenyra--heir instead. This is an unpopular move in an HeirClubForMen world, and plenty of people think Aegon might end up inheriting regardless. Otto tries to invoke this trope in Alicent by arguing that Rhaenyra will put Alicent's children to the sword to solidify her unpopular claim. Alicent initially isn't so keen on it, as she's friends with Rhaenyra. Over the years, though, Alicent begins to resent Rhaenyra since, as heir, she enjoys enormous privileges that Alicent is denied. By the time Viserys actually dies and the matter of succession becomes relevant, Alicent is ready to embrace this trope and advance her son's claim with TheCoup. A civil war begins, with Aegon as a claimant and mom Alicent and grandpa Otto as his biggest supporters. They want Aegon to be a PuppetKing while the two of them actually run things.
85	* ''Series/IClaudius'': Livia will have her own family killed or banished if it means her son Tiberius will become emperor. Please note that Tiberius doesn't even ''want'' to be emperor. (Bonus points because Tiberius is only a stepson to Augustus--Livia's husband and the previous emperor--though Roman inheritance doesn't care.)
86	* ''Series/IntoTheBadlands'': Lydia is actively working to ensure her son succeeds her husband Quinn as baron, even though Quinn himself doesn't think Ryder is tough or smart enough. But after one mistake too many, Lydia comes to agree with her husband and tells Ryder that he's not suited to becoming a Baron.
87	* ''Series/MagnificentCentury'' is set in the royal court of the Ottoman Empire, so it's full of this. An unusual heroic example: protagonist Hürrem whose scheming makes one of her sons the next sultan… although to be fair, antagonist Mahidevran is doing the exact same thing. Hürrem's motivation is less about power and more to do with the fact that if Mahidevran's son wins the throne, he has the right to strangle his half brothers to avoid a civil war. (Mustafa probably wouldn't have, but Mahidevran ''would''.) [[spoiler:Hürrem wins... unfortunately the son that ends up winning is the InadequateInheritor, foreshadowing the decline of the Ottoman Empire.]]
88	* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': An example of Mother Makes You ''Queen''. Cora manipulates events so that Regina saves the recently widowed King's young daughter and he takes Regina as a wife. [[spoiler:It is also revealed she killed the previous Queen in the first place.]]
89	* ''Series/OnlyMurdersInTheBuilding'': Although not literally royalty, Cliff is a nepotism baby who has clearly been given his whole career in producing because of his domineering, incestuous, and ''extremely'' successful mother, Donna, who's also a producer. She [[BlatantLies keeps denying that she's involved in the production of ''Death Rattle'']] (Cliff's first "solo" show) while simultaneously riding roughshod over the production.
90	* In the Klingon house of Duras in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', aunts Lursa and B'Etor scheme to get their nephew Toral on the council.
91	* ''Series/{{Reign}}'':
92	** Catherine loves being the mother of the king. [[spoiler:Deconstructed over time with her eldest son Francis, and deconstructed even harder with her second son Charles.]]
93	** Lord Darnley's mother's Lady Lennox is determined to make her son king by marrying him to a queen. She's quite proud of herself for this, but when she and Catherine meet, Catherine quickly declares herself the queen of this trope, pointing out that Darnley is only king ''consort'', while ''her'' son is a true king.
94	* ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy'': Gemma is shown to very much be pulling the strings on the men in her life. Women are not allowed to be members of the motorcycle club but Gemma always manages to be attached to the President of the club. Her first husband, JT, was a founding member. When he no longer wanted to live the outlaw life, it is implied that Gemma conspired with JT's best friend Clay Morrow, to kill JT so Clay could become President. Clay and Gemma married shortly after JT's death, making Gemma once again, the revered wife of the club president. Once Clay got older and struggled with arthritis which made it hard to ride his motorcycle, a requirement to be an active club member, Gemma began manipulating her son, Jax to take Clay's place. Many considered Jax the rightful heir to the club Presidency, even referring to him as the crown prince, but Jax was only 15 at the time of JT's death, too young to be an active member of the club much less the president. With Gemma's encouragement, Jax challenged Clay for presidency and won, making Gemma now the revered ''mother'' of the club's president.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
98	* Myth/EgyptianMythology: After her husband Osiris was murdered by his [[CainAndAbel brother Seth]] who became Pharaoh, Isis made sure her son Horus could claim the rule from his EvilUncle.
99	* Myth/CelticMythology: When Fergus mac Roich married Ness, she gave him one condition: allow her 7-year-old son Conchobor to serve as a PuppetKing for a year so that his future children could boast a royal lineage. Fergus agreed to her terms, and Ness immediately set about getting Conchobor to be a UniversallyBelovedLeader (as much by bribery as by good rulership) so that, when the time came for Fergus to reclaim his kingship, the people of Ulster told him to stuff it.
100	* Literature/TheBible:
101	** In the ''Literature/BookOfGenesis'', Rebecca [[GuileHero tricks Isaac]] into giving Jacob the greater blessing that he intended to give Esau. An unusual example, since Rebecca is Esau's mother too. She just favors Jacob.
102	** As King David is near death, his son Adonijah declares himself king, even though it had been prophesized that another son, Solomon, would rule. Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, works with the prophet Nathan to reveal Adonijah's actions to David and get Solomon on the throne.
103	* ''{{Literature/Ramayana}}'' has this as a partly {{Defied\|Trope}} and partly DeconstructedTrope. King Dasarath has four sons by his three wives. The king decides to retire, and his oldest son, Rama, is about to be crowned. On the day before the coronation, the king's favorite wife [[WickedStepmother Kaikeyi]] (mother of the second-born Bharat) decides to call in an old YouOweMe favor: she asks for Rama to be exiled and for Bharat to be crowned instead. This SadisticChoice forces the king to either exile his {{universally beloved\|Leader}}, [[TheWisePrince virtuous]] first-born or [[SeriousBusiness shame his family's reputation for adhering to their word and dishonor his ancestors]]. The King complies with her request, but promptly [[DeathByDespair dies of a broken heart]] [[LaserGuidedKarma (helped along by a previous curse incurred in his youth)]]. Bharat as out of town during this, but once he returns to find his father dead and his brother exiled, he's ''absolutely absolutely horrified''. He disowns his mother on the spot, and -- after much angst about being the son of such a wicked mother -- [[UndyingLoyalty waltzes off to find and crown his brother]]. Since their father is dead and can't revoke his oath, [[HonorBeforeReason Rama feels obliged to serve his 14 years of exile]], but once he returns after many heroic deeds, [[RightfulKingReturns Bharat is all too happy to hand over the crown]].
104	[[/folder]]
105
106	[[folder:Theatre]]
107	* ''Theatre/{{Pippin}}'': King Charlemagne has two sons: Pippin (his eldest son by his late wife) and Lewis (his younger son by his current wife Fastrada). Fastrada is scheming to get her son on the throne.
108	-->'''Lewis''': Mama... if Pippin kills Father...\
109	'''Fastrada''': You'll be next in line for the throne, darling.\
110	'''Lewis''': But if Father discovers Pippin's plot and executes him...\
111	'''Fastrada''': You'll be next in line for the throne, darling.
112	[[/folder]]
113
114	[[folder:Video Games]]
115	* Queen Louveria from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' confines herself to OffstageVillainy but her actions have ripple effects throughout the plot. If you read the character profiles over the course of the game, she eventually murders her husband and exiles/executes her way through most of his retainers just so her (possibly illegitimate) son has a better position in the coming civil war. She's apprehended and tossed in the dungeon of an [[TheAlcatraz impregnable fortress]] and the attempt to rescue her by her brother Duke Larg ignites the "War of the Lions".
116	* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'': Birna Bran, the widow of King Bran of Skellige, repeatedly insists her son Svanrige is the rightful king, even though the monarchy is not hereditary in Skellige; instead the monarch being chosen by the clan chiefs, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen all of whom despise Birna]] and think her determination to see Svanrige crowned king is just so she won't have to give up her position and power now her husband is dead. [[spoiler: She's prepared to go as far as murdering any and all other claimants to make her son king; [[NiceJobFixingItVillain unfortunately for Birna]], [[GoneHorriblyRight if her plan to crown Svanrige succeeds]], her son demonstrates (by way of burying an axe in the skull of a Nilfgaardian ambassador she was negotiating with) that he has ''no intention whatsoever'' of being her PuppetKing]].
117	* An in-universe historical figure in the ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' games is [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Potema]], the Wolf Queen of Solitude, who plotted and schemed to try and get her son, Uriel III, on the Imperial throne. Potema briefly achieved this goal after starting a civil war and capturing and executing Empress Kintyra, her niece, which allowed Uriel to succeed her. Unfortunately for Potema, Uriel was soon burned alive by an angry mob, causing her to undergo SanitySlippage and lose what few redeeming qualities she may have had.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
121	* ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'': Next in line for the Novan throne after Crown Princess Elodie is Laurent, her maternal uncle. After that is her cousin Charlotte, Laurent's daughter. [[spoiler:Lucille, Charlotte's mother, orchestrates multiple assassination attempts against Elodie over the course of the game with the aim of getting Charlotte on the throne, in order to rule vicariously through her.]] Of course, [[GuideDangIt with the right information and actions]], there are means to nip this in the bud.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Webcomics]]
125	* In Megan Kearney's ''Beauty and the Beast'' we learn from flashbacks that [[spoiler:the Beast's mother attempted this trope back when he was a young man named Argus.]] She was the king's former mistress, Argus their illegitimate son, and she spent years secretly poisoning the queen to make her barren so the king would be forced to name Argus as his heir. When royal couple finally had a legitimate son, ruining her plans, she [[AbusiveParents attacked her own son in rage]], driving him to [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide attempt suicide]] next to a magic fountain, leading to his transformation.]]
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Western Animation]]
129	* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' (and ''Unlimited''), this is the aim of [[EvilSorceress Morgaine Le Fey]], for her son Mordred (to whom she has granted immortality and eternal youth with her magic) to assume [[Myth/ArthurianLegend the throne of Camelot]]. She had pursued this goal for centuries, using and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness discarding]] many men (including [[ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} Jason Blood]]) with promises of power and love to further her schemes. Unfortunately, circumstances result in Mordred's eternal youth enchantment being broken, [[AgeWithoutYouth rendering him an undying husk of a man]]. After this, Morgaine [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes opts to abandon her quest in order to care for him]].
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Real Life]]
133	* This happened with UsefulNotes/CyrusTheGreat of Persia, at least according to Herodotus' ''Literature/TheHistories''. His grandfather Astyages, the King of the Medes, married his daughter Mandane to Cambyses the Persian as he thought Cambyses was unlikely to rebel. Later Cyrus is able to overthrow his grandfather, starting of the Achaemenid Empire.
134	* Similarly happened with [[UsefulNotes/GrecoPersianWars Xerxes]]. His father Darius became king and married Atossa, daughter of Cyrus. There was a dispute whether Darius' oldest son from his first wife or his oldest son from Atossa should be king. Finally, Demaratus the exiled Spartan king, said Xerxes should be king as he was born when his father was king, and he was descended from Cyrus. However, this trope had potential to further happen according to Herodotus, who states he believes that even without Demaratus, Xerxes would have become king due to Atossa's influence.
135	* UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat's mom Olympias is thought to have been this for him. After King Philip's death, she had his children by another wife, Cleopatra of Macedon, executed while Cleopatra committed suicide.
136	* The Julio-Claudian dynasty of Roman emperors were a BigScrewedUpFamily--if only because the chaos of their tenure (at least after {{UsefulNotes/Augustus}}) often involved this ([[ArtisticLicenseHistory allegedly]]).
137	** Livia Drusilla--third wife of the emperor {{UsefulNotes/Augustus}}--was accused by various historians of murdering most of Augustus' potential heirs so Tiberius, her oldest son from her first marriage, could succeed Augustus. This was a case of HistoricalVillainUpgrade.
138	** Agrippina the Younger[[note]]Livia's great-granddaughter[[/note]] is thought to have poisoned her third husband Claudius so UsefulNotes/{{Nero}} (her son from her first marriage) could become Emperor and she could rule through him. Nero deconstructed the trope '''hard'''--within five years Nero was a SelfMadeOrphan.
139	** Curiously enough, the rise of the Julio-Claudians under {{UsefulNotes/Augustus}} would not have been consolidated had the former Gaius Octavian not been contending with another case of this: {{UsefulNotes/Cleopatra}}, Queen of Egypt, who had not only swayed his rival UsefulNotes/MarkAntony to her side, but also claims the son she has installed as Pharaoh--Caesarion--was a legal and biological son of UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar, Augustus’ great-uncle and posthumously adoptive father. By extension, the boy has greater claim to everything the late dictator owns than Octavian. Octavian, of course, would not let that stand.
140	* Possibly Wak Chanil Ajaw (a.k.a. "Lady Six Sky") of the Mayan city of Naranjo. The surviving stelae attribute several military victories and conquests to her son Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Chaak ("Smoking Squirrel") in a time when he would be as young as five years old. There are also representations of Wak Chanil stepping on a defeated foe as is typical of victorious Mayan kings, but extremely rare imagery for a woman.
141	* UsefulNotes/ThePope: The tenth-century Roman noblewoman Marozia engineered the enthronement of her son[[note]]either by Pope Sergius III or her husband Duke Alberic I of Spoleto[[/note]] as Pope John XI. It is not ''confirmed'' that she was the one who had her mother's alleged lover Pope John X offed to place three of her candidates ending with her kid on the throne of Saint Peter but the Roman Church of the era [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeculum_obscurum had that]] [[DecadentCourt sort of]] [[CorruptChurch reputation]].
142	* UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain: Hisham II, the last long-lived Caliph of Cordoba, was installed in the throne when he was 11 (in breach of the Caliphate's succession rules) and 'reigned' in reclusion without ever showing interest in government (likely because of autism or a similar mental disorder). The mastermind was his mother, a Basque slave named Subh (born Aurora), who conspired with the Vizier al-Mushafi, General Ghalib, and the courtier Almanzor to assassinate al-Mughira, the brother of the late Caliph al-Hakam II, before he made a move for the Caliphate. Almanzor subsequently allied with Subh (possibly becoming her lover) and got rid of al-Mushafi, Ghalib, and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard eventually Subh herself]], henceforth ruling as dictator while keeping Hisham as the claimed Caliph.
143	* Berenguela of Castile unexpectedly became Queen in 1217 when her brother, 13-year-old Henry I, was struck by a falling tile and killed while he was playing with other children. After a reign of only one month, she abdicated for her son Ferdinand III and became his royal counselor. In 1230, she convinced her step-daughters Dulce and Sancha to renounce their rights to the Kingdom of León, ensuring that Ferdinand inherited and unified Castile and León for good.
144	* Töregene Khatun was the Empress Regent of the Mongol Empire following the death of her husband Ogedei Khan, UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan's second son and heir, and pulled strings behind the scenes for years to get her son Güyük elected as Great Khan despite the attempts to delay the election by her nephew Batu. Unfortunately, once she succeeded Güyük almost immediately turned on her, and among other things executed one of her closest advisers (and possible lover) a woman named Fatima, and Töregene herself died not long after under unclear circumstances.
145	* The Ottoman Empire was a mess of this because (a) the throne didn't simply pass from father to eldest son--''any'' son had a shot, (b) a sultan's mother was effectively his queen, and the most powerful woman in the empire, and (c) with a RoyalHarem, sultans usually had sons with several different mothers, all of whom would be scheming against each other. Although the oldest ones usually won out over their younger brothers because, logically, they had more experience and time to build a power base in time for the next SuccessionCrisis.
146	* English history:
147	** '''Matilda and UsefulNotes/HenryTheSecond''': Matilda was the only legitimate surviving child of Henry I of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfNormandy. Her father had made her his heir, but his nephew Stephen -- with the help of the barons -- made himself king, leading to a period of civil war in England. Matilda nearly became queen, but it seemed the barons wouldn't accept a woman ruler. Finally Matilda agreed with Stephen that her son Henry would be his heir, which happened when Stephen died next year. Henry II became the first King of UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet.
148	** '''Isabella of France and Edward III''': Isabella, known as the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast She-Wolf of France]], lived for years as a pious and dutiful queen consort to Edward II of England; she finally got fed up with his constant promotion of his favorites and his general incompetence, including callously abandoning her while she was pregnant. She left the country, gathered her own troops and her own lover, Roger Mortimer, and invaded England. She quickly had her opponents murdered--one had his head brought to her--and then [[MurderTheHypotenuse brutally executed her husband's favorite Hugh Despenser]]. She then deposed her husband and placed her son, Edward III, on the throne and acted as regent. She was later overthrown by her own son, who had Mortimer executed and forced her to retire from power, though, being queen mother, she remained rather wealthy. Incidentally, she is the ''casus belli'' for UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar since her son declared himself the rightful ruler of France after King Philippe VI of France confiscated his lands, and Edward cited his matrilineal descent boasting he was closer related to the original monarch than Philippe was.
149	** '''Lady Margaret Beaufort and [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfTudor Henry VII]]''': As a great-granddaughter of King Edward III through her father, Beaufort passed a weak claim to the throne on to her son that likely never would have amounted to anything... until the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses broke out. Edmund Tudor, her husband, was killed while she was pregnant with her son, leaving their position suddenly uncertain, which only got worse in 1461, when her father-in-law was killed and her and brother-in-law was forced to flee due to the war. Edward IV seized the lands belonging to Henry and gave them to his own brother, the Duke of Clarence, sending Henry to become the ward of Sir William Herbert. In 1469, after a failed rebellion against Edward IV, Beaufort managed to convince Jasper Tudor, Henry's paternal uncle, to take him with him into exile for his safety. In 1472, Beaufort married Thomas Stanley, Lord High Constable and King of Mann, in a marriage of convenience to get back to court through his status, becoming successful enough in her lobbying to be godmother to one of Edward IV's daughters. Following Edward IV's death in April 1483 and the seizure of the throne in June by Richard III, Beaufort became deeply involved in Buckingham's Rebellion in October that year, as the rebellion tried to dethrone Richard in favor of Henry. The rebellion failed, but it ''did'' cause a number of the people involved with Richard's cause to switch sides. Despite being on house arrest and having her lands seized by Richard, Beaufort still exchanged letters with her son and several others, managing to betroth Henry to Elizabeth of York, the late king Edward IV's daughter, further leeching support from Richard III, and raise enough support for Henry to press his claim. Beaufort's husband Stanley, who had fought on Richard's side during the Buckingham rebellion, did not respond to Richard's call to arms when summoned to fight at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, despite his son being held hostage. As such, the battle was won by Henry's side, killing Richard III in the process, and Stanley was the one to place the crown on Henry's head. For this, Beaufort was rewarded with the right to own property and make contracts in her own name by her very grateful son, had her seized lands returned to her, and enjoyed a considerable amount of power and respect at court, even being involved in the raising and coronation of her grandson, UsefulNotes/HenryVIII, before her death.
150	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / MotherMakesYouKing