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[[File:King.jpg|frame|Bad things happened in his absence -- that's why he returns.<ref>The painting is ''Kazimierz Odnowiciel'' by Wojciech Gerson</ref>]]
{{quote|''"But at the essential moment, see, your [[Royal Blood|genuine kings]] throw back their cloak and say 'Lo!' and their essential kingnessness shines through."''
|'''[[Terry Pratchett]]'''|''[[Guards! Guards!]]''}}
This is the common [[High Fantasy]] plot that involves restoring the rightful heir to the throne. Requires, obviously, the [[Royal Blood]] trope; it doesn't work in a kingdom with elective monarchs. (Not that many works actually use elective monarchies.)
Sometimes started off by a [[Moses in
Related to [[Fisher King]]. It wouldn't be so important who sits on the throne if he wasn't magically linked to the wellbeing of the whole country. See also the [[King in
Contrast [[Offered the Crown]].
Supertrope of the [[Man in
{{examples}}
* ''[[
▲== Anime & Manga ==
▲* ''[[Kimba the White Lion (Manga)|Kimba the White Lion]]'': After his father's death, he must reclaim his kingdom. However he will have to reclaim it from a black-maned, scarred lion has usurped the throne in his absence. It must be told it was made forty years before Disney made ''[[The Lion King (Disney)|The Lion King]]''.
* ''[[Trinity Blood]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Esther being crowned queen}}.
* The manga adaptation of ''[[The Legend of Zelda (
== Film ==
* ''[[The Lion King]]''.
* Subverted in ''[[Shrek]] the Third'': Shrek is himself a rightful heir, but he intentionally embarks on a quest to find another rightful
* ''[[The Court Jester]]''
* ''King Ralph''
* In [[Disney]]'s ''[[Robin Hood (Disney film)|Robin Hood]]'', everyone (except for Prince John) desperately waited for King Richard to return and reclaim his throne from his greedy brother.
== Literature ==
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** If he didn't come back during the Blitz, he's probably not coming back at all. Though they did have Churchill...
* Subverted by {{spoiler|Carrot Ironfoundersson}} in [[Discworld|Ankh-Morpork]]. He's the rightful king, and would make a really ''good'' one, too, caring about both his people and the city... but he stays away from the throne for exactly that reason, as he knows that monarchy is exactly what Ankh-Morpork ''doesn't'' need, and possibly because he ascribes to Vimes' problem with the term 'rightful'. He'll occasionally exploit his status, though, using it to pull off the [[Theory of Narrative Causality|narrative tricks]] that come with this trope (Such as fighting other enemies aware of narrative causality who realize you can't beat a rightful king who's not yet on the throne, especially when he's got justice and is outnumbered).
** He often directly subverts the Tolkien examples, with the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork being in the role of the Steward of Gondor. Unlike the Tolkien example, both the Steward and the Rightful King are happy with the status quo: Vetinari can rest secure in the knowledge that, if anyone
** Pratchett does the same trick in ''[[
* ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'' is almost a subversion of the trope though since the guy helping to restore the king is agreed by the king's allies to actually be a better ruler, and in fact the guy who overthrew the king is also a much better ruler.
* [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] in the novel ''The Dragons of Babel'' by Michael Swanwick. The king of Babel has been missing for a few decades. Will, the protagonist, falls in with a con man named Nat, who comes up with a plan to pass off Will as the king's bastard son and therefore the sole heir to the throne. {{spoiler|In the end, it becomes a [[Double Subversion]]: Nat is both the long-lost king and Will's biological father, meaning that Will really ''is'' the heir to the throne.}}
* [[
** Not just the eponymous hero, either. {{spoiler|All four Pevensie kids were the rightful rulers of Narnia before they got suckered into going back to being boring kids again.}}
** Also in ''[[The Horse and His Boy]]'',
* The [[Belgariad]]. If you can't figure out who it is, you need to read some more.
* Played with in [[Lloyd Alexander]]'s [[Prydain Chronicles]]. The country has a bunch of lesser kings who are overseen by one High King, and although throughout the series there is a kindly and just man in this position, the oracular ''Book of Three'' foretells the coming of a truly great High King. There is also an evil overlord threatening the land. The series follows the adventures of a foundling child, who is rescued by a great wizard and is raised by him out in the middle of nowhere.
** There is a twist, however, which takes center stage beginning with book 4. Taran goes questing in search of his origins, receives {{spoiler|offers of adoption}} from kings and commoners both, and finally realizes he should just be himself. In book 5, he finds out {{spoiler|he was orphaned in one of Prydain's many wars, and even Dallben doesn't know who his parents were.}}
* Subverted in the ''[[A Wizard in Rhyme]]'' series by Christopher Stasheff. One of the characters is the directly descended heir to his universe's equivalent of Charlemagne, and technically the rightful ruler of about half a dozen countries. However, he has vowed only to reveal himself if things get so screwed up that they can't be fixed any other way, and he works behind the scenes to make sure that doesn't happen.
* In John Barnes's ''[[One for
* Subverted in ''[[
* Epidemic in the [[Ruritania
* In the [[Chivalric Romance]] ''King Horn'', Horn [[Moses in
* In the [[Chivalric Romance]] ''Havelock'', Havelock is living in menial disguise in England when Princess Goldborough's guardian decides he can marry them off and keep her from the throne. After, Havelock returns to Denmark to reclaim his throne, and with the army he acquires there, returns to England to reclaim the throne for Goldborough.
* Princess Ozma, the true ruler of [[Oz]] in [[L. Frank Baum]]'s series of books, is restored to her throne some time after Dorothy's original adventure; by the time Dorothy returns to Oz in the third book in the series, Ozma's back on her throne and ruling wisely and peacefully. Although the second book in the series details Ozma's recovery {{spoiler|(she had been usurped by the Wizard and the wicked Witches and disguised as a boy for her entire life, so that even ''she'' didn't know who she was)}}, Baum changed her origin story no less than three times during the writing of the rest of the series. Note that Ozma rules as anointed sovereign, but never becomes Queen; [[Everything's Better
** At the end of ''The Land of Oz,'' Ozma is referred to as a "Queen."
* Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'' series used this. Due to a [[Contrived Coincidence]], it was ''literally'' the case that the earth shook and the sky turned red when the long-lost prince declared his true identity
* [[Prince Roger|Prince Roger Ramius etc. MacClintock]] of the ''March'' series, starting with the revelation that the assassination attempt on him was the first step in a successful coup against his mother the Empress.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story ''[[
** In
* [[Inverted]] in the ''[[Fighting Fantasy]]'' [[Gamebook]] ''Black Vein Prophecy'': as it turns out, both the protagonist and main antagonist are the sons of the former king of the Isles of the Dawn. However, much of the book ends up proving that the protagonist will make a good king ''despite'' being descended from the previous ruler. Also, in the best ending, your first act upon becoming the king is to institute an elected parliament.
* Subverted in ''[[The Dragon Knight|The Dragon In Lyonesse]]'': Daffyd is a heir of Lyonesse, and he does return in its hour of need -
* The whole point of Jesus' second coming in the [[Left Behind]] book series.
* Purposefully subverted in [[Mercedes Lackey]]'s ''The Lark and the Wren''; the old king had driven the country to the point of rebellion, the usurper is doing an excellent job, and the rightful heir only comes back to publicly renounce the throne, having neither the training nor the inclination to run a country.
* Basically the main plot of the first ''[[
* In ''[[The Shadow Speaker]]'', the main character Ejii's father takes over a small village in Niger. The queen returns and beheads him in front of all the citizens.
* How Adrian was planning to use Bria to stop the clan fighting in ''[[
* In [[
{{quote|
== Live Action TV ==▼
* The ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' episode "Rightful Heir" plays with this. Klingon messiah [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Kahless]], the first Emperor of the Klingon Empire, seemingly returns, as he promised to, and claims the vacant throne of the Empire. It turns out that he is just a clone of Kahless raised to think that he is him, but Worf notes that he is still the [[Title Drop|rightful heir]], and so he is installed as emperor, in a ceremonial role.▼
▲* The ''[[Star Trek:
== Music ==
* A ''constant'' theme in a whole litany of [[Hanover
** ''Séarlas Óg''- The predecessor of the much better known ''Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile'', the song (rather prematurely) welcomes the Stuart prince Charles to Ireland, along with his French and Spanish allies, desperately awaiting the time when Charles and his men can come and banish the foreigners and the heretics from Ireland. Some other versions of the original song lament the fact that he ''couldn't'' actually get the French support he needed, which is more or less what happened in [[Real Life]].
** ''Mo Ghile Mear''- A musical example derived from the tradition of [[Aisling Poetry]], it is sung in the voice of a woman (representing [[
** ''Wha'll Be King But Charlie?''- This Scottish song celebrates the return of Prince Charlie to Scotland, which happened in 1745, and declares the loyalty of all Scotland to their rightful Prince.
** ''Charlie is My Darlin'''- Another song commemorating Prince Charlie's return during The '45.
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== Religion ==
* The original Jewish concept of the messiah was that a descendant of David would return to resume the dynasty, making it an example of this trope. Since this is one common interpretation of passages in ''[[
** And then we have [[Jesus]], who Christians believe to have fulfilled the aforementioned role of [[The Messiah]], and who according to the Book of Revelation will do it ''again.'' He incidentally is also a descendant of David, fulfilling the Jewish prophecy (assuming he's actually the Messiah, which Jews of course don't for a moment believe, but which Christians use as evidence anyway).
* Jesus' second coming in ''[[
* [[Older Than Dirt]]: Horus in Egyptian religion, when he regained his father's kingdom from his murderous uncle Set, was held as the prototype of the rightful king ascending to the throne of Egypt and bringing order and justice to the land. Set, who murdered Horus's father Osiris (Set's brother), had usurped the throne of Egypt while Horus was growing up, and his unlawful reign was often depicted as a time of strife. [[Depending
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' had restoration of the monarchy in Tethyr. An unpopular monarch was overthrown in a peasant uprising with which the heir tried to cover up the coup. Then things quickly rolled downhill: during two decades of interregnum, robber barons and worse made sure nobody gets too fat and bored. The guilds (and [[The Syndicate|Knights of the Shield]]) removed the last foreign satrap, but failed to control the capital city, much less the rest of ex-kingdom. In the end, locals crowned the first noble adventuress who managed to assemble something like an army and locally restore something like orderly life, after she defeated two of the most odious players. Sponsors of the last coup were among her loudest supporters. When in the ensuing war of reunification she was joined by, and soon married with, a previously hidden heir of the royal dynasty, they cheered even louder - except those who hoped she will make a nice figurehead. That Haedrak III turned out to be well-connected, very competent and [[Obfuscating Stupidity|sneaky]] was just a bonus.
* Subverted in the ''[[Exalted]]'' adventure book ''Return of the Scarlet Empress''. The Empress also heralds the return of some of world's overthrown creators, but this is a ''[[Sealed Evil in
== Theatre ==
* Several [[Shakespeare]] plays:
** ''Richard III'' ends with Richmond, the rightful heir, recovering the throne from Richard. (At least, that's the way Shakespeare portrayed
** ''[[Macbeth]]'' ends with Malcolm, the rightful heir, recovering the throne from Macbeth.
** ''[[Hamlet]]'' is a subversion. Hamlet, the rightful heir, slays Claudius, who took over the throne, but doesn't live long enough to claim it himself. Then the kingdom gets taken over by Fortinbras, the rightful heir to ''another whole kingdom'', because ''his'' kingdom has been usurped. By Hamlet's dad.
* Subverted hard and then played straight by [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] in ''The Gondoliers.'' One of two Venetian Gondoliers is believed to be their heir to the vacant throne of the Mediterranean kingdom of Barataria; until it can be revealed which of them is the king, they reign jointly. But it turns out that {{spoiler|neither of them was the king, and the actual king is restored to his throne at the end.}}
== [[Video Games]] ==
*
** Marth in [[Fire Emblem Akaneia|both his main appearances (and the remakes of such)]] has to reclaim his home of Altea after it has been conquered.
** A major part of Celice's role in the second generation of ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Seisen no Keifu]]''.
** The plot of Lyn's tale [[Fire Emblem Elibe|in the seventh game]] is her claiming her rightful place from her tyrannical great uncle. {{spoiler|Unless she marries Eliwood or Hector, this is subverted as Lyn doesn't keep the throne long, abdicating so she can return to a simple life as a nomad.}}
** The twins of ''[[Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones]]''
** Elincia in [[Fire Emblem Tellius|the ninth game]]. Unusual among these cases as she's the only one that is ''not'' the main character.
* Varian Wrynn in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' patch 3.0.2, after his prolonged absence from Stormwind ever since the game's launch, explained in the spin-off comic series.
* The flagship campaign in the ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'' requires Konrad, the only surviving son of the former King, to retreat from his homeland amidst death threats, round up allies, and return later to conquer the kingdom from his aunt the Queen. {{spoiler|Subverted, though; the real Konrad died 17 years prior with the rest of the heirs, and he's an (unknowing) impostor. Just before the final battle for Wesnoth, he has to hand over the kingdom to [[Rebellious Princess|Lisar,]] who he befriended along the way.}}
** {{spoiler|Possibly double subverted in that, since she ends up marrying him in the lore, he gets to be king anyway.}}
* Subverted in [[The Elder Scrolls Four|Oblivion]] when {{spoiler|the amulet needed to restore Martin Septim to his throne is stolen. Later averted entirely when Martin [[Heroic Sacrifice|gives his life]] to defeat Mehrunes Dagon.}}
* Played with in ''[[
* ''[[
* Happens in ''[[
* Frequently part of ''Legend of Zelda'' games, at least the ones where Princess Zelda is the rightful ruler. She's not going to return by herself, though; you (Link) have to rescue her.
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic]]'' sees King Eric III of Drostardy return to his throne after breaking out of a drow dungeon. (The reason he was in there in the first place? He hit on [[Psycho Lesbian|Arachne]].)
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' with Agatha Heterodyne. While she isn't a Queen per se,
** Invoked, in the prophecy of a new Storm King who will marry a Heterodyne and cause the new Golden Age. Or, as one of candidates [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20130703 put it] —
{{quote|'''Martellus''': The Order spent years creating a Storm King shaped ''hole in the world''. }}
== Western Animation ==
* Elyon in ''[[WITCH (
* In ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures
* Dreamy Smurf in ''[[The Smurfs]]'' is treated by the Pookies as this in a dream ([[Or Was It a Dream?|or so it would seem]]) when his [[Second Coming]] portends that they will be able to defeat the tyrannical Norf Nags.
** Papa Smurf also plays this role in "King Smurf" when he returns to stop the fighting among all his little Smurfs and to put an end to King Smurf's role as king.
* Inverted in [[The Simpsons]], "Simpsons Bilbe Stories" episode. As part of a retelling of the story of David and Goliath, David (Bart) was forced into exile by Goliath II (Nelson). David reclaims his throne, however, his people arrest him as Goliath II (the Consensus Builder) was a popular ruler who genuinely improved their lives.
== Real Life ==
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* A while back, it turns out that one of the Kings of England may have been illegitimately born, which if true would, technically, make pretty much the entire current royal family illegitimate. They tracked down the direct descendants of the legitimate heir... a Scottish lord living an ordinary life in Australia, who does not even use his use his legal title (14th Earl of Loudoun) in public.
** The Edward IV legitimacy question crops up a lot, but it's ultimately not material to who sits on the throne today. Parliament decides the succession, and the current royal family has been explicitly asked to take the throne on two separate occasions (the restoration of Charles II in 1660, and the Glorious Revolution in 1688).
** Of course, such claims crop up all the
*** Hell, there are claims ''now''
*** And, of course, there's still the Jacobite claim, the current heir being Franz, Duke of Bavaria, or "Francis II". He himself declines to pursue it, though, and the only remaining advocacy groups are essentially aristocratic clubs with a quirky title.
*** Thanks to all the intermarriage that went on between all the Royal Families of Europe as well as with the nobles, it wouldn't matter if one or two heirs ended up illegitimate... since they'd all have the same ancestors anyway. Added to the fact that Parliament decides succession, it renders the whole thing moot since it would be the equivalent of Parliament choosing one branch of the family over another.
**As with most Kingdoms that last for a long time, there have been so many turnovers in Britain that legitimacy is questionable. Arguably in fact the legitimate government is the Scandinavian-Saxon which was an [[Elective Monarchy]] (which would justify Parliamentary Supremacy). Even that is doubtful as before that though was the Celtic/Romans. And [[Fridge Logic|Who was king of the Beaker People anyway?]]
* Happened a number of times in [[World War Two]]: King Haakon VII of Norway, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg were forced to flee to the court of King George VI in London when the Nazis overran their nations (Wilhelmina later relocated to Canada temporarily). They became major symbols of resistance for the occupied nations, and returned home in 1945 on the heels of the Allied armies.
**The first and one of the most interesting and little remembered examples of this was Haile Selassie Emperor of Ethiopia (the first Axis conquest to be liberated). The British, short of military resources struck at the Italians by doing a "Bonnie Prince Charlie" style weaponization of an exiled royal, and Haile Selassie fit admirably. In ''The Desert War'' Alan Moorehead tells of a suitably propagandized scene where they set the emperor in front of cameras while Ethiopian chieftains came to reaffirm homage. The Ethiopians and a cadre of British later ran the Italians out of Ethiopia by a combination of superior tactics and diplomacy (notably by the eccentric British guerilla Wingate).
* Similarly happened at the end of [[World War
** King Ferdinand I of Romania had fled to the north of the country by 1917, but did not leave Romanian territory. [[Genre Savvy|He understood how]] the resistance to the Imperial German forces might have collapsed if he appeared to have fled the country.
** Averted with Charles of Austria-Hungary. With the threat posed by the Allies and the Little Entente, along with Horthy, the aim of reclaiming Hungary was doomed to fail.
* Attempted a number of times by the Jacobites (the displaced Stuart heirs of James VII/II of Scotland and England) in the 18th century, but it wasn't to be.
* Maharajah [[The Hero|Marthanda Verma]] of [[
* Grover Cleveland. Fun Fact - the United States has had [[Mind Screw|44 Presidents, but only 43 people have ever actually BEEN President]]. How did this happen? Because Grover Cleveland was elected the 22nd President in 1884, lost in 1888 to Benjamin Harrison, and was elected again as the 24th President in 1892.
** Similarly done twice in Canada: John A. MacDonald served as Prime Minister from 1867 to 1873 and returned to power in 1878, dying in office in 1891. Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister from 1968 to 1979, returning a year later after Joe Clark's minority government collapsed. YMMV on both, naturally, though [[Base Breaker|especially with Trudeau]].
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* Invoked during the 1868 Meiji Restoration in which the Japanese Emperor usurped political power from the Shoguns who had been running the country for the past 700 years.
* King Michael of Romania was a figurehead ruler during most of his reign in the 1930s and 1940s. A fascist dictator came to power in Romania, who allied his country with the Nazis. In 1944 Michael, along with several generals loyal to him, organized a coup against the fascists and became allied with the West and the Soviets. Romania's communist government forced the king into exile in 1947. He eventually returned in 1992 and on a more permanent basis in 1997 although Romania does not recognize him as their monarch.
* Keeping other countries' pretenders under protection is an old political gambit. In the past the theory was that it costs nothing to give him a suitable resemblance to a court, that he provided leverage to bargain with, could be made a flag to wave if an invasion was launched and could be disavowed if he was to obnoxious or politics made him undesirable. Nowadays there is a similar practice of harboring the heirs of monarchs or nontraditional despots abroad. This is usually less a means to hold a hammer over the new regime's head and more a means of mediation by giving the old ruler a chance to escape with his life and sparing the new regime the expense of hunting him down and executing him. As there can be several motives for this practice it qualifies as a [[Zig-Zagging Trope]].
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Royalty and Nobility Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]
[[Category:Plots]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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