User:Looney Toons/sandbox/Called Before the King

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One or more principal characters receives an invitation they can't refuse -- the monarch or other ruler of the nation or region they're in wants to see them -- now. Sometimes it means they're in trouble, and sometimes it means they're about to receive a reward or honor of some sort. (And sometimes it's impossible to tell which it is until they're standing there before the throne.) Either way, they can't say "no", not if they don't want to suffer some unpleasant repercussions.

...

May result in Medals for Everyone if it happens at the end of a story.

When somebody shows up at court without being summoned, that's a case of What's Up, King Dude?

Examples of Looney Toons/sandbox/Called Before the King include:

Fan Works

• In chapter 8 of the Ranma ½/Sailor Moon crossover Relatively Absent, a summons arrives for the Yamada clan -- all of them, including many who have previously not yet been been seen in the story -- to appear before the Emperor of Japan.
• The Harry Potter fanfic Hatal Fart Attack by "Corwalch" centers around a summons received by the Dursleys to appear before Queen Elizabeth II, because of an encounter Harry and Dudley had with the very young Princes William and Harry.
  • This summons becomes part of the Backstory of the sort-of sequel story Royal Ward by "catstaff".
• In first chapter of Harry Potter and the Four Heirs by "Synik", the ten-year-old Neville Longbottom, Susan Bones, Hermione Granger and their guardians are summoned to appear before Queen Elizabeth in response to revelations made to her by a Merlin-trained Harry Potter.
• Harry and Sirius engineer a royal summons by Her Majesty as part of a plan to clear Sirius' name and circumvent Harry's impending hearing for Underage Use of Magic in the Harry Potter fic Long Live The Queen by "offsides".

Film

• the start of Shrek 2 where Shrek and Fiona get a royal message (complete with trumpets)

Literature

• Hit or Myth, the fourth MythAdventures book, starts with the protagonist, Skeeve, being summoned to appear before King Roderick - in private. Since Skeeve is at that time Roderick's Court Magician, he has no choice but to present himself... and thus does the novel's plot begin.

Web Original

• In the Isekai web novel Tori Transmigrated, Countess Victoria de Guevera is the recipient of an unexpected summons from the Emperor of Soleil, mere hours before she is to leave the capital city for an important function. She is justifiably nervous about what the Emperor wishes to discuss with her, and when his chamberlain attempts to reassure her that the matter is not troubling, she replies, "When have you had a private meeting with the Emperor that didn't trouble you, Chamberlain?"

Real Life

• Royal command performances are this for entertainers -- the monarch "requests" that they appear before them to perform their act.