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Top Ten Fantasy Royals - Coronation Special · Mythmakers

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  Hello everybody and welcome to MythMakers. MythMakers is the podcast for fantasy fans and fantasy
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  creatives brought to you by the Oxford Centre for Fantasy. Now there's something big happening
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  this weekend which is the coronation of King Charles III. Only last year were we celebrating
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  the longest reigning British monarch when Queen Elizabeth reached her platinum Jubilee
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  but as obviously the whole year is brought to raft of changes and Prince Charles is now King Charles
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  and is going to go through the ancient ceremony of coronation. Now when you actually look around
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  the world there's quite a lot of wonder that we still got royal families. I noticed that Stephen
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  even though he loves Lord the Rings doesn't like royal families which seems a bit strange seeing
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  the last book is called Return of the King Stephen but anyway I thought we would have a fun time
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  looking at the top 10 fantasy royals out there for whatever you think of your politics you can
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  put them aside because in a fantasy world we can enjoy a good monarch so I'm going to go in reverse
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  order. I think I should start with the caveat that I'm not going to include fairy stories as we
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  would be awash in Prince Charmings and wicked queens so I'm going to stick to those perennials who
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  are outside fairyland so going in reverse order at number 10. Well coming in at number 10 for me
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  is the King who rocked our world most recently and changed perceptions in Hollywood as who
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  should star in a fantasy film. Who am I talking about? Charla or of course the Black Panther.
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  Now the character had existed in the Marvel comic series since 1966 and was dreamt up by Stanley
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  and Jack Kirby but didn't really hit worldwide fame until the 2018 film starring the much missed
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  Chadwick Boseman. I admit I wasn't a huge fan of the plots when I saw it because I sort of
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  twig that this was really a little bit too close to Lion King and Hamlet Instructure but I supposed
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  the real pleasure and originality in that film rested in other aspects. I love the evocation
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  of an independent African kingdom Wakanda with some serious kick ass women and an amazing design.
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  Boseman himself was gentle and brave great qualities for a king and I also have a soft spot for
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  Shuri played by Latisha Wright his genius younger sister so I'm allowing her on this list as a
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  princess of Wakanda. However most of all I and the millions who went to see it we adored the fact
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  that finally a film dominated by an excellent black cast had blasted its way to be crowned top
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  of the box office and has changed our society as a result leading to of course a second film.
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  So that's the power of fantasy right there allowing us to imagine the world in new ways.
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  So what about at number nine slot? Well royalty can also be found in outer space at number nine
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  on the list is Duke Lito Atreides. I did have a debate with my husband if a Duke was allowed in
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  but we decided that it's the equivalent of a royal title as clearly he rules planets
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  as well as his house and it's a hereditary system. So after all the British royal princes are also
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  jukes so there is a precedent for royal duchess. He appeared first in Frank Herbert's June series
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  and also on screen adaptations of the same story. Oscar Isaac is the most recent actor to take that
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  role in 2021 and in this film he is portrayed as a caring family man who tries to be a good and
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  just leader and ultimately sacrifices all to protect those he loves. So of course like there is a
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  sense of it's not exactly a democratic society is it so he has his flaws. He's also a tragic figure
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  in the mold of the ancient Greek heroes as is signaled by his name and the how the iconography of
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  his house he is a sort of modern king prime father and king of Troy so we all let him stand in for
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  all the heroes of the Greek tradition that could also otherwise have been on the list.
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  Who is my number eight? So so far we've done a couple of kings or king substitutes and moving
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  back to the more familiar role title of princess I'm staying in space. My first most remarkable
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  cinema experience I think was seeing Star Wars in 1977. It's now called Star Wars part four
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  a new hope. It might be hard for those of you who are born in a digital age to imagine the experience
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  of seeing these massive starships sailing overhead onto the screen. Don't tell me would they
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  were little models with clever lighting I don't want to know. For me they were the first time that
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  I've seen live action managed to sort of translate itself completely onto the silver screen and
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  I really felt as though it could have been filmed in outer space and it was very real for me
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  for the duration of the film and afterwards. The storytelling was excellent in so many ways with
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  good use of humor to undercut it getting too self-important. And so at my number eight is the
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  Princess Leia. From the original posters you would have thought that she was the sexy damsel in
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  the tower to be saved by the brave prince Skywalker. Oh yeah but what does she do when she first meets
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  her rescuers? She tells them they're too short and complains about the lack of planning in their
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  rescue. So from the outset she is a political mover and shaker. She's really the one who's
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  plugged into what's going on in that trio. She knows the politics that Luke doesn't understand
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  and that hand solo despises. She is a serious adult leader and not a pretty piece of arm candy.
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  Though I think there was a serious dip in the series when she was used just like that
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  and set up like a sex slave for Jabba the Hut in the third film. Okay teenage boys might have
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  enjoyed the fantasy but for us teen girls it was a total letdown. At least she gets to
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  strangle that particular bad guy and goes back to her white robe. So a good note here for our
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  IP to Carrie Fisher. She you were a trail braiser Carrie well done. So at number seven turning from
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  princesses I'm going to go to a prince. Please allow room on this list for the baddest bad guy
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  of them all. No that's not Voldemort or Sauron but Lucifer the prince of darkness.
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  And I'm talking here about his fictional appearances as opposed to how he appears in world religions.
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  You could argue that he appears first in Marlos Faust which is 1604 and there he is the
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  mist of Memphis Stoffelys that's a bit hard to say. Rather than the scene stealing main character so
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  I'm going to look at something where he is the main character. The most famous incarnation of this
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  idea is Milton Satan from back in 1667. Here's the archetype there of the brooding anti-hero and
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  his a little bit of Milton to brighten up your day. Satan says which way I fly is hell myself
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  am hell and in the lowest steep a lower deep. Still threatening to devour me opens wide to which the
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  hell I suffer seems a heaven. So the anti-heroes of Marvel and DC even a hero like Batman have taken
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  a page out of this book, Milton's book. His infernal energy threatens to destabilise the conventional
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  religious messages of paradise lost, tempting us to root for the bad guy just a little and that's
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  why William Blake the 19th century poet said the reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote
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  of angels and God and at liberty when of devils and hell is because he was a true poet and of the
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  devil's party without knowing it. So what's happened since the time of Blake? Others have borrowed
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  this energy for their own fallen angels. He glimmers in Frankenstein's creature, the gentleman
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  vampires of Brahms Stoker and successors such as Darth Vader as Anakin Skywalker. They all
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  owe much of that fallen angel story up. And most recently and enjoyably he's appeared in more
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  comedic takes on such as the concept jumped up by Neil Geiman and Terry Pratchett in Goodomans
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  and the TV series Lucifer which ran from 2016 to 2021 starring Tom Ellis which is based on the
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  DC comic character. That's the one I really enjoyed. I particularly particularly enjoyed
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  the musical episode because Tom Ellis is a great singer as well so I loved it when it almost became
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  a musical. Anyway that's an idea. Lucifer the musical. Someone must have done that surely.
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  Who is my number six? Well number six I'm going to take a royal from another tradition that of
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  Japan. It has one of the world's oldest systems of monarchy so it's not surprising to find
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  princes and princesses cropping up in Japanese culture. I've picked an unconventional royal for
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  this one Princess Mononoki which is a film from the animation powerhouse studio Ghibli and was made
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  in 1997. San is not a conventional lady. She was raised by wolves and represents the forest
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  fighting back. She is a warrior and forced to be reckoned with. Her journey is that of a hater of
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  mankind finding love for one amongst them. That's the prince Ashitaka. They eventually fight
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  together to break a curse and bring healing to their communities. She's even less some conventional
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  than Mulan having more in spirit to do with Mogli. I mean Mogli from the original jungle book version
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  not the Disney one because Mogli was able to unleash the forces of the wild so it's well to
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  remember that not all fantasy royals live in castles and how about number five. Well it would not
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  be fair to let this list be dominated by film versions of royals so I thought I would bring in a
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  Dutch classic by Paul Bagel. The King of the Copper Mountain written or published in 1964.
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  It's a lovely children's story book which you know takes a form of a collected
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  connected tales told by different animal characters who are trying to keep the eponymous king
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  alive while his doctor goes in search of a cure for his heart condition. Why is it worthy of a place
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  on this list? Well the King here offers a different kind of leadership. His loving,
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  patient, welcoming to creatures as diverse as bees and dragon. It's also good to see a character
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  of age so positively represented. It really is extremely charming and highly recommended if
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  you're looking for a non-military stick king to share with your children. It reminds me also
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  of the little gem of an animation The King's Beard which my kids used to love. Written
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  what was made into, well I don't know if it was made it came out let me get with my facts right.
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  It came out in 2002 and it's written by Tony Collingwood where as the title suggests the monarch's
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  facial hair is a problem for the quester to solve. It's unconventional and fun really offbeat
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  and it had my children singing the title song for years. Let's remember that not all fantasy
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  kings and queens have to be sword fighting heroes. There are other kinds of courage and bravery.
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  Number four. Well we are remaining in unconventional territory for our fourth pick,
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  the Princess Bride. S. Morgan Sterns or William Goldman's 1973 novel as well as the 1987 film
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  adapted by William Goldman. I suspect many of us can quote lines from this cult film,
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  but what about the Princess herself? Buttercup is the heart of the story and not at all royal.
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  She is only a Princess Bride because Prince Humbertink wants to marry her and she only agrees
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  because she believes her true love is dead. In some ways she is I suppose the you know that kind of
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  princess she's beautiful, she needs a lot of saving, but that is the point. The story takes the
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  archetypes and then makes them so ridiculous that you have fun with them spoofing the thing
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  which the story loves which is a fairy tale romance. And of course the story itself is a story
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  within a story. The reading of it is hilarious as the commentator realises he had remembered only
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  the good parts and left out all the commentary and politics. I really do recommend going away
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  and reading the book by the way. It's a whole new experience. So Buttercup and here's a
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  cumbersome plot spoiler. Doesn't actually become a royal. She rides off into the sunset with Wesley
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  and there's a wee hope so even here the happy ending is a bit undercut but she is a wonderful
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  fantasy almost princess. Now we arrive at our top three. This list would be instantly rejected
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  if it did not find a place for King Arthur, that most enduring of fantasy kings. From the early
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  medieval versions of this mythic king via Mallory, the Victorians as such as Tennyson,
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  to T.H. White's once and future king and even the bromance version of the BBC's Merlin.
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  Arthur keeps coming back. If you want a discussion of the Arthur legend we've done their previous
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  myth makers on this so do look it up it was on May the 30th in season two. So do you have a
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  favourite Arthur? Arthur himself is usually the royal hub around which the other stories resolve
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  but I did enjoy his appearance in the BBC's Merlin because you saw a growing friendship between
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  what was conceived as a young Merlin and it's full of banter and adventure. It's also the young
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  Arthur who's known at that time as Walt in the T.H. White story. It's another way of approaching
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  Arthur which makes him very relatable taking his training from an eccentric wizard who is growing
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  backwards like Benjamin Button. That's the wonderful concept in the T.H. White story that
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  Merlin lives his life backwards. This is no score of experience for Walt Arthur because he's being
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  transformed into birds and fish to understand the world around him and he represents an ideal
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  of chivalry in a time that never really existed but is alive and well in fantasy lands.
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  So fantasy monarchs would not be the same without him.
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  So we're now down to the last two places. I had a debate with myself about first and second
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  place and decided to rank them in the end by what I thought was the epitome of kingship
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  once upon a time and what I now think might be best. As a child I love the idea of going through
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  wardrobe into a world where of course I would be a king or a queen,
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  enter Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensey. Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king
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  or queen of Narnia. They are given their titles by the son of the emperor over the seas,
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  Aslan. So he is the supreme king in C. S. Lewis's world and what a king he is,
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  a mane and fur to stroke, a roar that echoes across the land, a breath that can undo spells.
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  To be with him is like playing with a thunderstorm or playing with a kitten.
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  Lucy could never decide. Now I might wonder why one of the very competent beasts couldn't have
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  actually sat on the throes that care par of L these days. But when I was reading fantasy
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  as an eight-year-old who would play dressing up as prince and princesses, it felt exactly right.
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  I imagine this is the kind of thing Lewis was reflecting on, including the idea that we are privileged
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  as sons of Adam and daughters of Eve made in God's image. But still it's a powerful make
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  believe and one that's very hard to beat, especially for children. And like any good fantasy,
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  it includes its own end. You come back through the wardrobe from your time as a king or queen,
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  and you resume ordinary life. But you try and keep your Narnian experience alive in your heart
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  so that you act with the values you learn there. And that is like in a capsule,
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  what it's like to do imaginative players a child, you know, through the wardrobe,
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  you can be whatever you like, whoever you like, but you come back home hopefully better for that
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  experience. Now I suppose we need a drum roll here, don't we? Who gets the number one slot?
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  Well, there's no surprises that the Oxford Centre for Fantasy, which is dedicated to talking
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  that we should pick one of his kings and queens. He's really not blinkered about corruption
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  amongst his kings and queens. I mean, after all, the ring race were once lords and kings.
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  And if you read the unfinished tells, for example, the kings of Numenor, there's quite a long piece
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  about some less than perfect kings, shall we say. But he does give us one near perfect king,
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  and that's Aragorn. I think he is the Renaissance ideal of a monarch. He's learned,
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  cultured, is able to fight, his fair and just. I think though that he makes this spot for me,
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  because he also has a sense of humour and doesn't grow too big for his boots. He names his house
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  Telkonta, that's the equivalent of the house of Windsor, the house of Telkonta, which means strider
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  in Kenya, the name by which he was known somewhat slidingly in the north. These qualities were
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  very well brought out by Vigo Mortensen in his portrayal of this hero king in Peter Jackson's
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  trilogy. And I'm sure many of us will know that Vigo made up his own tunes and sang them to
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  Tolkien's words in honour of that character. Something those who have the extended edition will
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  well remember. But I think perhaps above all, Aragorn shows his qualities of friendship,
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  of fellowship, and this lays outside the films. We have to read the books for this. In the appendices,
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  we read that it is Mary and Pippin, who lie beside him on his deathbed, on little beds of their
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  own. So he remembered the little folk even to the end of his glorious days. Maybe that is the ultimate
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  fantasy that there would be such a perfect leader. Knowing real life characters are more likely to
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  be flawed. I think we should probably stick with democracy and constitutional monarchies,
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  like King Charles III, rather than hope to find Aragorns to rule us all.
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  I've probably missed off your favorite King of Queens, so do let me know in your comments
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  who I should have included. But for now, thank you very much for listening.
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  Thanks for listening to MythMakers Podcast.
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