Offered the Crown: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Frequently a culmination of [[A Protagonist Shall Lead Them]], if the character was not heir to the throne. Leads to an [[Awesome Moment of Crowning]] often enough, though he may refuse. In contrast to [[Standard Hero Reward]], there is no bride, and usually there is no king already, so the character becomes the monarch, not the heir.

== Comic Books ==

* [[Judge Dredd]] has been asked to be the new Chief Justice of Mega-City One on several occasions after having saved the city from grave dangers that wiped out or killed off the previous sitting ruling order. Every time, [[Subverted Trope|Dredd turns them down]] as he can't stand the more bureaucratic side of Justice Dept. and prefers dispensing justice on the streets.

 

== Fairy Tales ==

* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131105173640/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hopomythumb/stories/beeorangetree.html The Bee and the Orange Tree]'', a king offers to make a nephew his heir.

{{quote|''while her father, thinking her at the bottom of the sea, was making up his mind to choose another heir. When the king spoke of this matter to the queen she told him to do what seemed right, for her dear Amy was dead, and she could hope for no more children. He had waited long enough, she said, and after the fifteen years that had passed since she had lost her, it would be out of the question to expect ever to see her again. The king, there fore, determined to ask his brother to choose from among his sons the one most worthy of reigning, and to send him the prince at once.''}}

 

== Film ==

* Norville Barnes inherits Hudsucker Industries in [[The Hudsucker Proxy]] due to the fact that he happened to stumble into the top floor at exactly the right time, with the right amount of dim-witted, to be perfect for Sidney Mussburger's plan, following Waring Hudsucker's [[Starts with a Suicide|44-story drop]].

* ''[[Judge Dredd (film)|Judge Dredd]]''. In one of the rare moments in the movie that is entirely in-character for Dredd, after he saves the day the remaining Judges ask him if he would like to be {{spoiler|the new Chief Judge, after Rico had already murdered Judge Griffin and the rest of the Council of Five}}. Just like in the comics, [[Subverted Trope|he insists that he prefers patrolling the city streets]].

* This is how Stefan becomes the king of the human lands in ''[[Maleficent]]''. The old king had no heirs, and set a challenge for a group of approved candidates of which Stefan was one. Stefan proved his worthiness {{spoiler|by betraying Maleficent -- to whom he had earlier pledged eternal true love -- drugging her, ''cutting off her wings'' and presenting them to the king}}.

 

== Literature ==

* [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s [[John Carter of Mars]] is offered several thrones. He suggests friends of his for every one, except for his father-in-law's, where he says the father-in-law is not proven dead, so his son will act as regent.

* In [[Lewis Carroll]]'s ''[[Sylvie and Bruno]]'', how their father become King of Elfland.

* ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'': Liu Bei is offered on multiple occasions Jingzhou, a critically strategic province, by its ruler, Liu Biao. He turns it down out of respect to Liu Biao and his heirs, much to the frustration of his generals and advisers.

** Also heavily subverted. Usurpers force the people they're usurping to offer them their throne...then turn it down in the name of propriety and force their victims to do it again. Usually they only accept on the [[Rule of Three|third offer.]]

* In ''[[Inheritance]]'' Eragon is offered the chance to lead the Empire, but he declines, as being a Dragon Rider is enough for him.

 

* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'', "The Tower":

{{quote|'''Weir''': They didn't offer you King?

* The song "Alligator King" from ''[[Sesame Street]]''. It's about [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|an alligator king]] whom, because of his constant unhappiness, orders his seven sons to bring him gifts as an attempt to cheer up their father, and the one whose gifts are liked the most is given the King's crown. The first six sons attempt to do what the King tells them to, but unfortunately fail, and in the process, the King falls down and gets hurt. Finally, [[Youngest Child Wins|the youngest son]] offers to help his father get back up and as a reward, he inherits the King's crown.

 

 

* [[William Shakespeare]]: ''[[Julius Caesar (theatre)|Julius Caesar]]''

{{quote|'''Casca''': ''I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown;--yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets;--and, as I told you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it.''}}

* Also Shakespeare, [[Richard III]] is offered the crown after the "unfortunate deaths" of his nephews. Though he ''is'' actually the successor to the throne at this point, having killed everyone else off, he refuses it twice to win over the people. The third time, he "caves" and allows himself to be made king.

 

== Video Games ==

* In the Templar Path of ''[[Dragon Age II]]'', Hawke becomes Kirkwall's new ruler after the people practically beg him/her to do it.

* {{spoiler|Alistair}} in ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]''.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Miklós Horthy was offered the position of [[Regent for Life|Regent of Hungary]]; in a twist on the usual ways this plays out, he refused the position because he wanted ''more'' power than he was being offered. Once they confirmed that the position would have some actual power, as opposed to being a merely symbolic position, he accepted.

* In order to fill a power vacuum in the early 1830's (after the murder of Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of the newly independent Greece), the crown was offered to a Bavarian prince named Otto. He ruled as King of Greece until his exile 30 years later...at which point the Greeks offered the crown to a 17-year-old Danish prince, Prince [[Overly Long Name|Christian Wilhelm Ferdinand Adolf Georg of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg]], who took the throne as King George I of the Hellenes ("George" being much more Greek than Christian, Wilhelm, and Adolf). He reigned long and well (being assassinated less than two weeks short of his 50th anniversary as King) and his dynasty lasted (with an interruption from 1924 to 1935) until 1967 (technically until 1974, but a coup exiled King Constantine in 1967). One of its junior princes, Philip, eventually married [[The House of Windsor|Elizabeth II]].

* When Belgium split off from the Netherlands, after some negotiations, the throne was offered to Leopold, a minor German prince, widower of Princess Charlotte of Great Britain, and uncle of the future Queen Victoria. He took it.

* When Norway declared its union to Sweden dissolved, it offered the throne to someone in the Swedish royal family. When the King of Sweden refused it, they looked around—the Great Powers were out, and after some consideration of a Greek or Spanish prince they offered it to a Danish prince. When the King of Sweden ''officially'' refused to let someone in his family take the throne, the prince took it.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authority Tropes]]

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Royalty and Nobility Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]