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The Philosopher King
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It is a more enlightened age. Perhaps a future, or a past long forgotten, when rulers are noble and just, and rule for their people, not just for themselves. Perhaps it is an Age of Reason, in which older, barbaric measures of manhood such as war and business have been phased out, and replaced solely with pure, unclouded reason and rationalism. Only those who have the capacity to think have the right to rule. In this realm, the Philosopher King is found. Originally conceived by Plato in The Republic, which was his vision of an ideal society, the Philosopher King is someone who, since he loves wisdom (that is what the word "philosopher" means, after all), is more likely to seek out wisdom for its own sake, and thus more likely to rule wisely than one who, say, loves war (or Jenga or fellatio). The fact that Plato was himself a philosopher probably had a lot to do with his choice as well. In science fiction, a Philosopher King can be a scientist, or even an entire class of scientist-rulers. In fantasy, a Philosopher King can be a wizard or some other hyper-endowed magic user, with the caveat that he has to learn the craft, not just be born to it. In either case, this is a common figure found ruling over a Proud Scholar Race. The trope often goes hand-in-hand with Crystal Spires and Togas. Tyrants with an ideology with partially philosophical (or pseudo-philosophical) underpinnings such as Pol Pot and Adolf Hitler are not true Philosopher Kings in the concept of this trope, but rather subversions of the concept, since the Philosopher King is envisioned as purely benevolent (although they might believe themselves to be Philosopher Kings of course). Pursuing a philosophy with force usually leads into Gone Horribly Wrong or Gone Horribly Right. At worst, the result will be an Intellectually Supported Tyranny. It is sufficient to say this has happened in the Real Life, so any specific examples of subversions are redundant. One must also distinguish kings who occasionally reflect and pontificate about their times and fashions, i.e. the tendency in Historical Fiction to portray figures of the past as more reflective and self-aware of their times and eras than the figures in question could have reasonably been. Examples |
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Nineteen Eighty-Four: Subverted. The philosophy embraced by the ruling party is a brutal kind of nihilism, expressed through openly evil totalitarianism, which O'Brien explains is their entire goal, rather than justifying it by some higher ideal as say Communists or Nazis did (whom he speaks of contemptuously). | |
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The Restaurant at the End of the Universe: The novel by Douglas Adams, features the Ruler of the Universe, a man who has so utterly embraced solipsism that he views both memory and future events as unreal, and anything outside the closed door of his shack as purely hypothetical. Thus he is completely surprised by his surroundings every day, and continuously makes discoveries, such as the ability to put pencil to paper, that most people would assume you only need to make once. This makes him the perfect person to exercise power, since he has absolutely no preconceptions about anything, and the six people who ultimately control the Universe first come to him for advice before enacting anything. In the original radio scripts, after the Vogons take over the Galactic Civil Service, the philosophers who had previously managed the Galaxy were sent to the Tax Return Office to lick stamps. |
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While not "royalty," Professor Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter fits this trope perfectly. He "rules" over Hogwarts under a laissez-faire, hands-off approach as part of an effort to teach the students (Harry especially) about perseverance, self-reliance, and resilience. He uses his pensieve to search through his own memories and study the psychology of evil. He even possesses the Socratic idea of self-knowledge, as he is fully aware that even he is not immune to the corruptible influence of power, having turned down the offer of becoming Minister several times for this very reason, all traits befitting Plato's definition of the philosopher-ruler. | |
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The Republic: The Trope Namer. Plato was the main inspiration for Giovanni Gentile, the philosopher behind fascism. It can be said the Fascist Italy was Plato's utopia Gone Horribly Right. He was also quite popular with the Nazis. As a result, later anti-authoritarian philosopher Karl Popper judged Plato to be the precursor of modern authoritian philosophies. Whether or not he was is debated of course. | |
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Prodigal Son: Discussed with between Artemisia and Hiccup in Chapter 14. Even Artemisia declares Hiccup falls into this trope due to his reluctance. | |
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Things to Come: The H. G. Wells-scripted 1936 film ended with a society run entirely on the principle of scientific progress, in which humanity has cured the common cold before heading to the Moon(!) | |
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Existential Comics parodies this, depicting Plato as the ruler of a small city state. He rules the city as if he were participating in one of his famous dialogues, responding to an invasion by trying to get the messenger to define "justice" and "army." Naturally, it ends with him getting stabbed through the gut. | |
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Kill Six Billion Demons is host to this trope. An important figure in the comic, Zoss the Conquering King, is said to have had great wisdom and knew many names of YISUN. Such was his wisdom, he ushered in an age of philosopher kings in Throne. Too bad their successors, the Demiurges aren't so enlightened. Solomon David, the Demiurge of Pride, considers himself an enlightened king. Ultimately, his belief in Might Makes Right and his willingness to use force as a first solution undermines this claim, putting him in contrast with more self-aware Demiurges like Incubus and Mottom (who are, admittedly, considerably worse rulers because they're not even trying). |
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From A Song of Ice and Fire is Stannis Baratheon, along with Tyrion, is one of the best read and most introspective aristocrats in the entire series. His conversations with Davos Seaworth and Jon Snow feature him discoursing at length on what being a ruler means, certain ideas of justice and how it applies to the situation and context at hand. He keeps reminding everyone, including his treacherous brother Renly and others, that Kings are supposed to be lonely, and distant, since it's impossible for anyone with that much power and responsibility to have true equals, and its a burden that he wears heavily. Ironically he is one of the most disliked men in the realm and perceived as an Evil Overlord. Stannis isn't quite there early in the books, however after his defeat at the Blackwater by the Lannisters and the Tyrells he comes around to a better way of thinking. | |
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President Josiah Bartlet in The West Wing is the democratic equivalent. A thoughtful man, loves to study history, theology, and just general trivia, was a Nobel Prize-winning economist before entering politics, and also utterly dedicated to his job as president of the United States. | |
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Played uber-straight in the 1978 Superman: The Movie, in which the scientist Jor-El acts as judge and juror in the banishment of Zod. | |
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The closest thing the Gummi Bears have to a leader, Zummi, is also the keeper of their lore and magic (although to be fair he didn't know about any of it until the start of the series) | |
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Subverted in Dungeon: The Early Years: Horus tries to justify his participating in a wizard-led by saying that if you can't make kings into philosophers, the next-best thing is to make the philosophers kings. As this involves mass mind control (including on his own son), he eventually sees reason and kills his Evil Mentor. | |
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Equestria in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is ruled by Princesses who must undergo rigorous academic training before assuming the title, attaining a level of understanding in magic far beyond what is expected for the lower orders. | |
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The Time Lords of Doctor Who were a perfect example of this trope; their society was divided into Colleges or Chapters, and every Time Lord is sorted into one or the other by the age of eight. The Doctor, The Master and The Rani all belonged to the same college, the Prydonians, known for producing manipulators and renegades. | |
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Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto gives Cesare Borgia a Historical Hero Upgrade (justified, since the entire popular perception of his family is a Historical Villain Upgrade) that involves his fantasizing about being this, including having debates with Dante in his mind. | |
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In Erfworld, King Banhammer of Faq tried to be this, dedicating himself to being an Actual Pacifist and shunning military pursuits — in a world that is built on fantasy wargaming rules. Subverted in that he was not actually a very good philosopher. In fact, he's downright terrible at it, accepting his own wisdom as fact and lacking the strength of will to challenge his own preconceptions or examine his own ideas too closely, simply accepting them as self-evident and moving on. His Meaningful Name referred to his tendency to ban everyone from his court discussions who doesn't agree with him, making the whole thing an echo chamber. It ultimately got him killed. | |
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The Legend of Korra: Tenzin, a philosophical pacifist, is de facto leader of the Air Nomads. | |
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One of the civics available to Imperial and Dictatorial governments in Stellaris is called "Philosopher King". It increases the ruler's skill level by 2, giving new rulers the equivalent of an 8 year head start. | |
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Dexter's Laboratory: In the TV Movie Ego Trip, we see a future in which Dexter's technology has created a utopia, with himself as a kind of benevolent dictator. | |
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