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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''The hands of the king are [[Healing Hands|the hands of a healer]], and so shall the rightful king be known.''
|'''Ioreth''', Wise Woman of Gondor, ''[[The Lord of the Rings|The Return of the King]]''}}
Useful rule for at least curbing the excesses of a [[Succession Crisis]]. On the other hand, the [[Arranged Marriage
In combat, [[No One Gets Left Behind]] applies with particular force to those of
Idealistic stories on the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] generally have the rightful king also be the better ruler. More cynical stories split them up, and then even [[Lawful Good]] characters may support the worse ruler because the one who would be a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] would create a dangerous precedent in ignoring the laws of succession.
May lead to the [[Man in the Iron Mask]].
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Will likely be inherent in a [[Princess Classic]] and [[Prince Charming]]. Obviously common in the [[Standard Royal Court]] or [[Deadly Decadent Court]].
Will often appear with [[Ermine Cape Effect]] and [[Requisite Royal Regalia]], where royalty uses visible clothing to show off their
Compare [[Blue Blood]], [[Idle Rich]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Something similar to the ''Stargate'' take occurs in ''[[Mai-Otome]]'', where the members of the Windbloom royal family have the inherited ability to activate [[Lost Technology]].
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* ''[[One Piece]]'' has yet to show how much it is buying into this trope, but the Marines certainly believe in it. The royalty they are tracking is {{spoiler|the Pirate King's}}. And then there are the Celestial Dragons, {{spoiler|descendants of the founders of the World Government}}. Their royal blood affords them immense wealth and political power which they are more than willing to abuse for the sake of their own amusement.
* The various royal lines of the [[Warrior Prince|Ancient Belka kings]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' come with various powers that allow them to become [[Person of Mass Destruction|Persons of Mass Destruction]]. The reason behind this isn't as idealistic as most examples though. During the [[Lensman Arms Race|Ancient Belka War]], the different factions delved deeply into [[Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke|genetic engineering to seek an upper hand over everyone else]], and their kings greatly modified themselves to not only gain these powers power, [[Superpowerful Genetics|but to force these powers onto their descendants as well]].
* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', {{spoiler|Negi and Asuna}} have
* The whole Royal Bloodline thing is a plot point of sorts in the initial ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' OVA series. It's mostly used to confirm that Tenchi is actually related to the then-thought long lost Prince Yosho, and thus a member of the Juraian Royal Family. It doesn't sit well with Emperor Azusa.
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== Fairy Tales ==
* All the [[Prince Charmings]] and princess equivalents that heroines and heroes marry at the end of
* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/185.htm The False Prince And The True]'', a young man is put on trial for his life because he struck the prince. He saves himself by revealing that the purported prince was a quarryman's son, and he is the king's son by a secret marriage.
* In ''[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/076.htm The Lute Player]'', the couple are the king and queen.
* In ''[
* In ''[
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131020231815/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/facetiousnights/night4_fable1.html Costanza / Costanzo]'', Costanza nobly rejects the notion of marrying below her Royal Blood.
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131105173640/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hopomythumb/stories/beeorangetree.html The Bee and the Orange Tree]'', the girl living with the ogres who saves the prince is herself a
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130824043758/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/finettecendron.html Finette Cedron]'', the sisters are abandoned by their parents in the woods for reasons of
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20130824013805/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/stories/rushen.html Rushen Coatie]'', the heroine is a princess.
* In ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20140413155236/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/aulnoy/1892/princessbelleetoile.html Princess Belle-Etoile]'', the story requires that the heroine be in poverty in the opening, so she's the daughter of a princess in reduced circumstances.
== Film ==
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== Literature ==
* In ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', the royal line of Numenor/Arnor/Gondor and thusly Aragorn descend from various elven royal families and human royal families of the First Age, and a divine spirit as the first of several cross-race-marriages. The people of Gondor have the saying of the opening quote, that royal blood gives him [[Healing Hands|healing powers]].
** Probably based on the real-life myth that kings could heal scrofula (a skin disease) by [[Laying On Hands]]. A lot of French kings actually spent quite a lot of time doing this, for instance. It was part of the job.
*** It was officially restricted to scrofula from 'illness' pretty late in the Middle Ages, to cut down the annoyance and chance of contagion and number of people annoyed about it not working. Right through the seventeenth century, though, people kept coming with things like leprosy.
**** [[J. R. R.
** And not just "various" royal families. Tolkien took this trope to extremes: via a pretty complicated family tree, Aragorn's son Eldarion is the ultimate in
* In ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'', they are willing to try the [[Emergency Impersonation|imposture]], because he is himself illegitimately descended from a [[Ruritania
* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Subverted in
** It is also hinted several times that part of the reason that Carrot is so liked by
*** In a typical Discworld subversion, Sam Vimes makes the offhand comment that drawing a sword ''from'' a stone wasn't very special; you could hire a dwarf to hide inside and hold onto it with tongs until the "right guy" came along. Being able to stick a sword ''into'' solid rock... well. That's much more interesting. Carrot demonstrates such an ability, without really noticing or caring at the time.
** True Troll Kings are rather hard to miss, since [[All Trolls Are Different|Discworld trolls are made of Metamorphological rock]], and the kings are made of Diamond.
*** Troll Kings are actually a subversion of
*** Any troll with a diamond composition could make itself a king (or, presumably, a queen) if it wanted, because they're all but indestructible and much smarter than the rest.
**** According to Mr Shine, any troll with a diamond composition becomes king whether they want or not, since unlike Carrot, hiding isn't an option.
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* In John Barnes's ''[[One for the Morning Glory]]'', Prince Amatus is asked to cure the sick because a prince's touch can do that. Works, too.
* Jim Butcher's ''[[Codex Alera]]'' has increasing amounts of magical power amongst the nobility with the First Lord (i.e. the King) being the most powerful.
** Though this is implied to be as much [[Asskicking Equals Authority]] as it is
** An example of this being subverted is Isana. She's just a steadholder, and her power is apparently limited. However, in ''Captain's Fury'' and later ''Princeps' Fury'' she realizes that the concept of power being limited to station is so heavily ingrained into her - and by extension, the rest of Alera's - consciousness that it was effectively blocking her full potential.
** {{spoiler|It is also revealed in the final book that it's not the bloodline of the First Lords that made them more powerful than all the other nobles, but their contract with [[Anthropomorphic Personification|Alera itself]].}}
* In [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]' [[Lord Peter Wimsey]] novel ''Have His Carcase'', the murder victim was convinced he had
* In [[Patricia A. McKillip]]'s ''[[The Riddle
* [[Poul Anderson]]'s ''[[A Midsummer Tempest]]'' takes place in an alternate English Civil War. Prince Rupert is the main character. {{spoiler|Although the magic they work to save him carefully explains that it cares about the land and the king only in as much as the king helps the land, once it has done so, it brings down the Roundheads}}.
* In [[C. S. Lewis|CS Lewis]]'s ''[[The Magician's Nephew]]'', Jadis treats with contempt the notion that Uncle Andrew could be anything but a king:
* In Fiona Patton's ''Tales of the Branion Realm'', the royal line is possessed by a fire
* In Christopher Stasheff's ''Her Majesty's Wizard'', the Queen is truly
* Commonplace in [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]'s works, especially the ''[[John Carter of Mars]]'' ones. [[Rags to Royalty|Though some don't know it]].
** In ''The Chessman Of Mars'', Corpals "[[Necromancer|that by commanding the spirits of the wicked dead gains evil mastery over the living]]" are said to be killable only by those of
* In the ''[[Dune]]'' series, the Imperial bloodline (and that of several noble families which are closely related to the Imperial family) are secretly bred by the Bene Gesserit for [[Psychic Powers]]. During and after the rule of Leto II, descendants of the Imperial/Atreides line develop these and other useful "talents", including protection from prescience that makes them vital to humanity's survival.
* In P.C. Hodgell's ''[[Chronicles of the Kencyrath]]'', a magical significance attaches to being of the house of Knorth, the Highlords' house. Breeding programs long ago concentrate certain Shanir (magical) abilities in certain Houses. Historically, most breeding pairings were between close relatives, concentrating the bloodline, the talents, and the negative traits that come along with them.
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* In [[Jim Butcher]]'s [[Dresden Files]] novels, appears to be standard for Knights of the Cross.
** Though it seems that Knights of the Cross are more along the lines of King Under the Oak Tree/[[Fisher King]] type of royalty as epitomized by Captain Carrot from Discworld. More king of the land than king of its people.
**
*** Come on, Murphy is ''Irish'' and as everybody knows ''all'' Irish are descended from kings!
*** {{spoiler|Susan}} may technically count, since the {{spoiler|Red King}} was supposedly the progenitor of all {{spoiler|Red Court [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampires]]}}.
* In the ''[[Wars of Light and Shadow]]'' series by Janny Wurts, royal blood is important for more than symbolic
* Invoked in [[G. K. Chesterton]]'s ''Magic''
{{quote|'''DUKE'''. Why, the Professor here who performs before the King [''puts down the programmes'']--you see it on the caravans, you know--performs before the King almost every night, I suppose...
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{{quote|''"You came by the Royal Road, sweet one. Only those of royal blood can travel along it: but you've been royal ever since I was made King of Elfland that's nearly a month ago. They sent two ambassadors, to make sure that their invitation to me, to be their new King, should reach me. One was a Prince; so he was able to come by the Royal Road, and to come invisibly to all but me: the other was a Baron; so he had to come by the common road, and I dare say he hasn't even arrived yet.''}}
* While there aren't any kings on [[Pern]], the bloodline that ruled Ruatha Hold was known to produce many heirs with enhanced telepathic talents.
* In the [[Chivalric Romance]] ''Roswall and Lillian'', Roswall has been reduced to poverty and the king's service, but the princess Lillian, even when told his father was of low degree, correctly discerns his
{{quote|''“By the Cross,” she said, “I cannot but think that ye are come of noble blood. By your courtesy I know it, and by your great fairness.”''}}
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "[[The People of the Black Circle]]", Yasmina is very proud of hers. It makes the [[Break the Haughty]] all the more humiliating.
{{quote|''"But for all your stupidity, you are a woman fair to look upon. It is my whim to [[Made a Slave|keep you]] for [[Sex Slave|my slave]]."
The daughter of a thousand proud emperors gasped with shame and fury at the word.
"You dare not!"
His mocking laughter cut her like a whip across her naked shoulders.'' }}
* In L. Jagi Lamplighter's ''[[Prospero's Daughter|Prospero In Hell]]'', Queen Agave of Thebes. It startles Miranda to realize this about her brother's cook.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Kull]]/[[Bran Mak Morn]] story "Kings of the Night", one tribe demands to be led only by a king, and one of their own blood.
* In [[Josepha Sherman]]'s ''[[The Shining Falcon]]'', one royal family is also magical; you have to be able to turn into a bird to prove you are royal.
* In Adrian Tchaikovsky's [[Shadows of the Apt]],
* In [[Stephen Hunt]]'s ''The Court Of The Air'' and ''The Rise of the Iron Moon'', a very bad thing to have: Jackals keeps around royals to be abused, and deliberately breeds them.
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[Hermetic Millenium|Count to a Trillion]]'', the princess observes that despite this, she is a commoner, not having an actual title.
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* In ''[[Exalted]]'', the nobility of [[The Empire|The Realm]] are all related to the Scarlet Empress (her descendants, or in-laws thereof). Since their [[Superpowerful Genetics]] means many of them are Terrestrial Exalted (elementally-empowered [[Super Soldier|Supersoldiers]]), the Royal Blood really does have powers.
* In the ''[[Birthright]]'' campaign setting for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, characters with royal blood have a divine power known as Regency.
* Played With in [[Traveller]] . The Imperium is held together by a [[Feudal Future]]. However the only advantage claimed for aristocratic blood is that something has to hold the Imperium together, it is nice to have people around who were trained to run the Imperium in their nursery's even if some of them turn out to be [[Upper Class Twit
== Theater ==
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** In ''[[Macbeth]]'', Malcom and MacDuff discuss how Edward is (off-stage) touching for the king's evil. (See comments under ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.)
* In ''[[Prometheus Bound]]'', Prometheus tells Io that a descendant of hers will bear "A royal race in Argos."
* [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] use it in ''Princess Ida'', but subvert it hard and then play it straight in ''The Gondoliers''. One of two Venetian Gondoliers is believed to be the heir to the vacant throne of the Mediterranean island kingdom of Barataria. Until it can be determined which is the actual king, they reign
== Traditional Games ==
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** Some normal units actually may ''be'' royalty but they're practically just regular units. Some characters also have a plot twist about them when they suddenly reveal themselves to be of royal blood, or are found to be royalty.
* This is the very reason that Estelle is able to {{spoiler|use healing artes without a [[Lost Technology|Blastia]].}} In ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]''. [[Apocalypse Maiden|Estelle's]] power is also {{spoiler|poisoning the world}}.
** And in ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'', a prophesy speaks of a [[Chosen One]] who will be "a boy of
* In ''[[Langrisser|Der Langrisser]]'', the only ones who can wield the titular [[Sword of Plot Advancement|Langrisser]] are the Descendants of Light, of the blood of Lushiris. These individuals also tend to be highly powerful fighters on the field.
* Mocked in ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]''.
{{quote|'''Gafgarion''': Even Princesses can die for getting in the way. That's what 'royal blood' is all about!}}
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'', the females of the royal family are endowed with [[Psychic Powers]], often the [[MacGuffin|Triforce of Wisdom]] and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|the name "Zelda"]]. Also, even without the Triforce, said [[Psychic Powers]] cause her to be an almost endless source of magical energy. All of this combined causes the Princesses Zelda to be very [[Damsel in Distress|popular targets of supernatural kidnappers]]. Therefore, it sucks to be royal and female in Hyrule. No wonder that the Hyrulean Princesses tend to [[Ocarina of Time|develop]] [[The Wind Waker|a]] [[
* ''[[Etrian Odyssey]] III: The Drowned City'' has Princesses and Princes, a Class centered around their Royal Lineage.
* [[Fable]]: In the first installment into this series it's implied that the main character descends from an ancient royal bloodline and it's outright stated a sacrefice of said blood is needed to unlock the full potential of the [[Infinity+1 Sword|Sword of Aeons.]] The other installments in the series also imply a sort of inborn heroic power behind this bloodline as it is essentially the family each player protagonist descends from and the major reason your character can pull off most of their many heroic and death defying feats...like falling out a window some 10-20 stories up.
* ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'', the Orzammar [[Succession Crisis]], puts you in the dilemma of choosing between a radical
* It's the reason that the [[Player Character]]'s sister is killed in the PC game ''Shades of Death: [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Royal Blood]]'' - she's a countess and her
* Flora, in the [[Professor Layton]] games, is the daughter of a baron. Her genealogical connection to the royal family forms part of the plot of the bonus game ''Professor Layton's London Life''.
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* ''[[Drowtales]]'': Faen's empathic abilities.
* Naturally it shows up in ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]''. In the space arc, for instance, the starship ''Excalibur'' activates in response to scanning Arthur's DNA.
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'': The Heterodyne family! Also shows up in the lesser sparks and the royal families of
* This is part of the conflict in ''[[Erfworld]]''; as with the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' example above, Royal units tend to have higher starting stats. This is the only real difference between Royals and "normals"- [[Evil Overlord|Stanley]] was made an heir by [[Incredibly Lame Pun|King Saline IV]], which [[The Ace|Ansom]] takes as a ''[[Berserk Button|grave]]'' mistake.
* [[Impure Blood]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20130626060807/http://www.impurebloodwebcomic.com/Pages/Chapter004/ib019.html Going somewhere, princess?]
* In ''[[Roza]]'', the horse is [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2007-05-04 a prince].
* In ''[[Strays]]'' [https://web.archive.org/web/20110828134326/http://www.straysonline.com/comic/171.htm it's Prince Holland].
* In ''[[The Beast Legion]]'' , the prophecy explains that only one from the royal bloodline will be the one to stare Evil in face & fight for hope. Xeus is a direct descendant of the bloodline of Minos Kings of Lithopa.
* In ''[[Thistil Mistil Kistil]]'', [http://tmkcomic.depleti.com/comic/ch03-pg02/ Loki assumed it]
* In ''[[Nip and Tuck]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20100520044825/http://www.rhjunior.com/NT/00130.html used as a rebuttal.]
== Real Life ==
* From the beginning of [[The Middle Ages]] to the end of the Renaissance, monarchs in England and France were thought to be capable of healing citizens (which is likely where Tolkien got his idea of Aragorn being a healer) of scrofula (known as the "King's Evil" as it was thought only the monarch could cure it) simply by laying their hands on the person, murmuring, "God grant you good health," and giving them a coin. This ended in England after Queen Anne failed to cure the future Dr. [[Samuel Johnson]] (of Boswellian fame) and her successor George I condemned the practice as "too Catholic," and was ended by Louis XV in France, although a brief resurrection in 1825 was widely ridiculed.
** King [[Charles II]] of England notoriously did not ''want'' to touch for the King's Evil, but was persuaded to do so as a sign of the continuity of the monarchy after the Restoration. He is said to have muttered to a scrofulous victim brought to him, "God grant you good health -- and better sense."
** It was also played more or less straight without the superstitious element, as the various thrones in Europe were frequently occupied by rulers of foreign lineage, which all passed without comment because they were still of
* In most of the kingdoms of southern Nigeria (especially the iconic ones like Benin and Oyo), local religious beliefs hold that the gods, ancestors and other spirits upholding the kingdom have a contract of sorts with the royal family. Exercise of this franchise allows the king to perform special ceremonies to avert disaster or solve crises. For instance in 2010, amid increasing incidences of armed robbery around the city of Benin, the Oba of Benin conducted a new ritual intended to cleanse the town and place a curse on all robbers. So revered is the Oba and his office that (according to police), crime rates dropped acutely in the following monthly reports.
* People with the surname Fitzroy (or an ancestor with that surname) are typically illegitimate descendants of a (British or English) king.<ref>"Fitz" is a specifically Anglo-Norman thing, derived from the Old Norman pronunciation of the word for "son" (''fiz'', pronounced "fits", derived from Latin ''filius'' and related to French ''fils''), but used in a way unknown in the rest of the Romance-speaking world: the custom of using your language's form of "someone's son" as a surname was a Germanic--especially Scandinavian--thing, and while the Normans spoke French, they were in many ways still Vikings--even after almost 200 years in France--when they conquered England.</ref> Other Fitzes have been used for the illegitimate children of royalty, most notably FitzClarence, the illegitimate children of [[The House of Hanover|King William IV of the United Kingdom]] (the children were all born while he was still the Duke of Clarence); FitzCharles, for some of the illegitimate children of Charles II (others used Fitzroy, the name of their mother's husband, or in one case, the odd choice of "[[wikipedia:Lady Mary Tudor|Tudor]]"); and Fitzjames, the illegitimate children of [[The House of Stuart|James II]]. Most people whose name is "Fitzsomething" aren't royal bastards, though.
* Arguably, the ''entire human race'' can claim at least some strain of royal blood. It's been stated that most everyone in the Western world is descended from Charlemagne. This is because with every generation going backwards through time, your number of ancestors doubles - you have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, etc. - and the population of the world has been such that it would be almost impossible for an individual to not claim at least one royal ancestor. [http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2002/05/the-royal-we/2497/ The concept is explained in detail here.]
**Heck the chief of the first human tribe ruled all the humans in the world making us all descended from a [[Fridge Logic|world ruler.]]
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Royalty and Nobility Tropes]]
[[Category:Older Than Dirt]]
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[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]
[[Category:Bloody Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Royal Blood]]
|