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So I’ve been thinking a lot about fictional royalty, and

you know what I think is a really underutilized character type? The High Queen trope. The regal, elegant, beautiful monarch who is always at the forefront of her nation’s court, who knows how to come across as unspeakably regal and eloquent while never appearing submissive or weak-willed, who runs her kingdom well and captures the hearts and minds of her people without ever making obvious mistakes or facing serious public criticism. I know this archetype appears a lot in fiction, especially in fantasy and anything else set in a vaguely medieval world, but these women are so rarely the protagonists—more often than not, they’re background characters who act more like aesthetic props than actual people, quest-dispensing machines who outsource everything to the resident band of actual heroes, or mentor types who only exist to educate the real MCs or serve as foils to Rebellious Princesses. And that really disappoints me, because The High Queen just has so much potential as a POV character. I mean, honestly, consider:

How does a monarch rule so well that they’re universally beloved by everyone in the kingdom, especially in times of widespread discontent? What must this woman do every day to ensure her people continue to adore her no matter what happens? Which strings does she have to pull to keep her approval ratings so high all the time? This isn’t a sarcastic criticism of these characters’ in-universe popularity—I genuinely think it’d be really interesting to explore what a monarch has to do in order to be beloved by literally everyone. After all, there’s no way to really please everybody at once; the laws that benefit the wealthy and powerful do not benefit the commoners and vise versa, and for anyone on the throne, keeping your keys to power happy while ensuring the poor are fed is a delicate balancing act. How does this woman keep herself in power and avoid upsetting the noble class, while ensuring that the peasantry still adore her?

How does The High Queen feel about monarchy in general? High Queens are often educated, benevolent, and well aware of the power they hold. It’s not too far-fetched to think that someone in this position might understand the issues inherent to absolute monarchies, especially if she has family members or peers who take advantage of their statuses and abuse their power. If The High Queen knows that autocratic monarchies are not ideal forms of government, how does she cope with the cognitive dissonance of acting as a monarch while knowing that it’s a bad system? Does she try to justify it in her own head, claiming that alternative forms of government like democracy are just too inefficient? Does she say that she’s a good ruler, and that’s all that matters? Does the thought of her children inheriting her power disturb her?

What does she feel about governing in the first place? Does she enjoy it, or does she view it as her duty—something she was born to do, even if she hates it? Does she take pleasure in commanding people around her, or does she secretly wish she could have a different life? Does she envy commoners for their perceived lack of responsibilities, or does she pity them because they don’t have wealth and power like her? Many High Queens have a certain humility to them—they don’t look down on the lower classes or make their power obvious, but it seems like everyone recognizes them as being noble anyway, no matter how little they actually try to cultivate that image. Is the High Queen really humble, or is she playing a game of humility, knowing that to be humble is to be popular and sympathetic? How does she maintain her image as a beautiful, ethereal royal without coming across as a snob?

How does she maintain her pristine image? Beauty takes time, effort, and work, and so does cultivating a perfect reputation. What maddeningly expensive and time-sucking routines does she have to complete in order to appear so perfect? What tricks does she use to ensure she’s never anything but gorgeous and graceful? In modern settings, I kind of love the idea of a woman who’s constantly surrounding herself with beautiful people, manipulating camera angles, and hiring entire teams to help her keep up appearances—not because she’s vain, but because she’s a role model for so many people, and she understands that image matters. If you want to be seen as a dainty, effervescent, delicate beauty, you have to put in an enormous amount of work and time so everything you do flatters you and contributes to that image.

How does she cope with potentially having to break her own moral code? No matter how competent you are as a leader, you’ll probably have to face a problem where there are no good solutions at some point—especially if you’re ruling an entire country during a time of conflict. What does she do when every option is bad, and every decision she can make will wind up hurting someone? And autocracies are corrupt almost by nature, because if you want to stay on the throne, you have to convince your keys to power that you’re worth keeping there. In an absolute monarchy, the keys aren’t voting blocs, they’re important men and women who can stage rebellions against rulers they don’t like. How does The High Queen deal with having to pay off and favor influential people, sometimes at the expense of her own citizens? If she refuses to pay the keys, they’ll rebel, but every cent she gives them could have been spent on the innocent commoners she’s supposed to be protecting.

How has her position affected her relationships with her family and loved ones? She probably has siblings and cousins who rank lower than her at court; are they envious of her? Is she envious of them? Does she even get along with anyone in her family on a personal level, or does the jealousy and awkwardness of having siblings and cousins that outrank one another mean that having positive relationships in the family is next to impossible? Does she have to watch her children develop rivalries over who will inherit the throne, and does it worry her when they squabble, because brotherly disagreements can spiral into all-out wars? Does she have to tell her younger children that they will simply never achieve the rank their eldest sibling will one day inherit? Does she see anything wrong with this? If she does, does she do anything to change it?

I don’t know, this post went on a lot longer than I expected and it’s kind of a wall of text by now. But I think it’d be really interesting to take a closer look at characters like The High Queen, because there are so many cool dynamics and personal struggles to explore here. I tried to do some of this with my Acidalia, but I still wish I saw characters like these more. Rebellious Princesses are fine, but they get kind of cliche after a while, you know?

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