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Forgot I Could Change the Rules: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''King Jaffe Joffer:''' Who am I to change things?
'''Queen Aoleon:''' I thought you were the king.|'''''[[Coming to America]]'''''}}
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Now this might come across as [[What an Idiot!]] for Bob, but Bob was raised to respect tradition. So actually using his authority this way didn't occur to him until just then. Especially when it is a normally good rule that works out badly in this case; this is a traditional reason for the existence of pardons.
Now in reality, some rules were out of the reach of all but the most absolute monarchs. Rules that could have been changed would also be met with resistance unless the ruler was strong willed enough to enact these changes. Furthermore actual absolute monarchs are less so in reality, for not only does a ruler have to contend with other rulers, he will usually have entrenched interests in his own camp that can resist by obstructionism or if worst comes to worst by assassination. Even the most totalitarian rulers cannot rule everything if only because all governments have to deal with criminality and several(like Russia or China)have wide spaces of wilderness where the state is loose on the ground. Sometimes fiction will deal with these difficulties as well, but not always.
Contrast [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them]] (Bob can enforce, and even change, the rules; he just chooses to ignore them).
{{Forgetfulness Tropes}}
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Princess Knight]]'': Sapphire's father realizes this at about the two-thirds point in the anime. Just as he's about to release a proclamation that would allow women to rule Silverland, he is by apparently complete coincidence kidnapped by the baddies, who have gotten tired of waiting for Sapphire to slip up and reveal she's actually a girl.
* ''[[Sword Art Online]]'': This is the downfall of the [[Big Bad]] of the second story arc, {{spoiler|Sugou Nobuyuki}}. Despite conducting his research within a virtual world where he had administrative access that allowed him to alter the world as he wished, he could only think in terms of conventional security (such as constructing a cage accessed by entering a password, rather than allowing entrance and exit only to himself).
== Film -- Animated ==
*
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== Film -- Live Action ==
* ''[[Coming to America]]''
*
== Literature ==
* ''[[
* Inverted at ''[[The Once and Future King]]'', where King Arthur chooses ''not'' to change the law about burning adulterous wives after Guinevere's affair with Lancelot is revealed. He is not (particularly) jealous of them. He loves Guinevere, he loves Lancelot, he is the king and the law is barbarous, but no, he will not change it, he will keep it for some vague noble reason (specifically, that no-one should be above the law).▼
*
▲*
** Also, he pretty much ignores the two of them until he can no longer pretend to be ignorant of the affair, and allows the two to flee. He's very much a tragic figure, though, as he does have to persecute them. His character arc of the last book or two has been realizing that the law needs to apply to everyone.
*
▲* ''[[The Bible (Literature)|The Bible]]'': Averted in the Book of Esther, the king is maneuvered into creating a law that would allow all the Jews to massacred by Haman. When Queen Esther reveals that she is Jewish herself and exposes Haman to the king, the law authorizing pogrom cannot be annulled by even the king. However, there is nothing that prevents him from passing a new law enabling the Jewish population to defend themselves with state support.
▲* Played with in ''[[Incarnations of Immortality]]''. In the first novel, it isn't so much that Death forgot that he could change the rules; it's that he didn't know that he could (in fact, he didn't even ''know'' half of them), causing infant souls born under questionable circumstances to go to Purgatory and later triggering {{spoiler|an end to all death worldwide because he refused to take one soul}}. At the end of the book, he realizes that it's his prerogative to do what he damn well pleases as the Incarnation of Death, {{spoiler|and that all of Satan's rulesmongering didn't mean a damn thing. He also changes the rules regarding infant souls, sending one to heaven instead of Purgatory in the end.}} The last is [[Retcon|retconned]] in later books, as Death is acting outside of ''his'' authority.
▲* In ''[[Twilight (Literature)|Breaking Dawn]]'', Jacob has to submit to the will of Sam, the Alpha Wolf. When Sam orders him to help destroy the Cullens (and Bella), he remembers that he was born to be the Alpha but he had voluntarily given up the birthright. Choosing to become the Alpha frees Jacob from obeying Sam's orders.
== Live-Action TV ==
*
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== Theatre ==
* ''[[Gilbert and Sullivan|Iolanthe]]'': A comedic version of this occurs. The Chancellor wants to marry Phyllis, who is his ward.
{{quote|
** A song or so later, Iolanthe's life stands forfeit for breaking her vow not to reveal herself to the Lord Chancellor, and so do the rest of the fairies' -- all save the
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