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Playing With / Divine Right of Kings

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Basic Trope: The idea that a king's right to rule comes from the gods.

  • Straight: The people of Tropestan believe that King Bob the Nth's right to rule was granted by God.
  • Exaggerated: The people of Tropestan believe that King Bob the Nth is God, and therefore he should rule.
  • Downplayed: The people of Tropestan King Bob the Nth's right to rule was granted by an angel, by nature spirits, or by similar superhuman but subdivine beings.
  • Justified:
    • It cements King Bob's authority in the minds of the people, and his word as law.
    • God really did come down and anoint Bob as king before the people.
  • Inverted:
    • King Bob the Nth believes that God gave him subjects to rule over.
    • The people of Tropestan believe that King Bob the Nth's authority comes from Satan.
    • The people of Tropestan believe that God's authority comes from the Crown.
  • Gender Inverted: The people of Tropestan believe that Alice's status as The High Queen was granted by God.
  • Subverted: King Bob the Nth believes he's not a god, and Just the First Citizen.
  • Double Subverted: His subjects don't see him that way, though.
  • Parodied: King Bob or his ancestors invented a god to give him authority. Everyone pays lip service to the god, but no one buys it.
  • Zig Zagged: Some monarchs believe this, others don't.
  • Averted:
    • King Bob the Nth is not regarded as a god, nor is his authority thought to be sanctioned by God.
    • Tropestan is not a monarchy.
    • Tropestan has a concept of "separation of church and state."
  • Enforced: The showrunner is a Traditional Conservative and monarchist who wants to use the work to uphold his political beliefs. Any episode writer who tries to sympathize with the in-universe potential dissenters who hold to Enlightenment ideals is threatened with the sack.
  • Lampshaded: ???
  • Invoked: God does, in fact, select Bob to rule as king of Tropestan.
  • Exploited: When setting forth a new law, King Bob the Nth writes in a detail about the law being handed down from God, to ensure that people will obey it.
  • Defied: King Bob the Nth tells his subjects, "Stop Worshipping Me! A God I Am Not!"
  • Discussed: Alice, discussing with Bob in hushed tones:
    Alice: Isn't it funny how they always talk about "divine right of kings" every time our taxes go up, as if that gives them the right to bleed us dry?
    Bob: Hush, woman, don't you know that kind of talk will get you branded a heretic and traitor? Why, you'll be lucky if you're hung before they burn you at the stake!
  • Conversed: Alice looks up from her book The World's Great Myths and Legends and remarks to her husband:
    Alice: Isn't it funny how in all these old stories there's some king or emperor who claims to be a god, or descended from the gods, or conveniently is chosen by God according to some great prophet?
    Bob: Yes, dear, indeed. I'm glad our founding fathers saw sense and overthrew Bob XVIII in the Revolution! Otherwise we might all be believing that rubbish today!
  • Deconstructed: Bob is a terrible ruler who is deposed in a bloody revolution, discrediting the religion and god who granted him or his ancestors his crown.
  • Reconstructed: The god and the king are in a contract. If the king is cruel, then the god and religion revoke their blessing and grant it to another.

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