What Makes a Great King? Exploring the Archetype of the King in Movies and Television 

LSOO, I really like your videos. I'm wondering if in this one 'all men' is gendered or meant generally as in 'all humanity', since lots of the characteristics praised in this video can apply to women just as well as men, but they seem to be portrayed as inherently male, likewise the examples and authors referenced are all male too. Hoping to hear your thoughts on this. Great video, keep up the good work!

It's a really insightful, well-constructed, lovely piece that's significant not only on a personal level, but I couldn't help drawing some rather powerful parallels to both the King and the Shadow in recent and current real life leaders as well.

I talked about the gender aspect a bit more in the Moonlight video; in their later work the authors refer to the 4 archetypes as applying to both male and female (with the King turning into the Queen for women), but their actual writing is still male-centric which is why I included some sources with interpretations of archetypal structures by female authors as well (I put them in the description of this video too). Also, the archetypes are mostly based on old mythological stories, very much like Joseph Campbell's concept of the Hero's Journey, so I don't think they meant to present these characteristics as inherently male, but rather as being historically represented in/attributed to males. Hope this answers your question :)

I would love to see you talking about one of those female-centric archetypes

Are you going to make videos on the Warrior and Magician archetypes?

Same goes for toxic femininity

there is no such thing as toxic masculinity

Well said

@William Gaylord This is a really good point. It's also perfectly in line with the metaphysical idea that evil, in the strict sense, doesn't exist, but instead is an absence of Good. Toxic masculinity is a great example.

@@jack_skeean thank you very much for the awesome comment.

Manowar lyrics

@@efraim3364 can you tell me the song?

@@skaterjoe1669 Warriors of the world

What about: "You are a good man. And it's hard for a good man to be king"

@@screamingperson8188 sadly that is true.

He holds true. So many of those great kings were philosophers. Alfred, frederick, marcus etc.

Like Nero!

Most philosophers are gay, they're not leadership material.

@Russell Spears What a fascist thing to say

I guess that was his ego speaking.

That's why I prefer leaders that were once simple employees and rose through the ranks, instead of a leader that was directly hired to his current role, even if he did this in a previous company.

@@takezokimura2571 That's true. With a person who rose through the ranks you can almost always be sure he knows what he is doing, and moreover he knows firsthand the position you're now in, and understands what your needs and your struggles are.

Non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers, essentially.

None None More like Mustangs vs Non-Mustangs.

Not only do yourself, but kick their ass in. My first boss said something similar to me. I spoke to my direct manager about it in passing, he'd known my boss for a long time. He said he started at the bottom, and only got to the top due to hard work and putting the time in to be better than anyone else.

That’s what the king energy does when it does it’s second function of blessing.

It was the ultimate point of Tolkien's morality... The "hero" or the one worthy of praise is not the king, the ego, the individual... But humility (which all hobbits represent)... Goodness is not in the grandiose acts of heroism but in the mundane, true acts of kindness on our daily lives

The rides of Rohan always gets me

In this scene Frodo looks so overwhelmed, probably in part since he tried to keep the ring.

@@Spur-li7ec He did his part and failed, but all worked out nonetheless. Just as Boromir technically failed his mission, but his efforts still pushed things forward. (Also, Frodo spared Smeagol during the journey as a demonstration of kindness, and this was ultimately rewarded in the end.) Gosh, it's such a good story.

Austin Jackson yeah this is why Théoden is my favourite character in the film, because he goes from a fallen king to regaining his glory for the good of not just his people but the whole realm

Jeremie T Theoden was a badass character. You could really fight and die for a leader like that. Same goes for Aragorn.

I dont know about that. Rather than stand up for what he knows is right, and strategically beneficial. He follows the orders of his deranged father that leads to the complete slaughter of his unit. If Theodan was worthy of being king, he would have defied his father and saved his men. It's what Aragorn would have done, hell it is what Boromir would have done. And one of the only negatives of Boromir's character, is his attempt to seize the ring from Frodo, a phase he quickly snaps out of. Theodan would only be a good choice of king, if there were no other. He is a wonderful character, but he is no king.

@@ryankelley5160 You are confusing Theoden with Faramir I think.

Ryan Kelley lmao 😂

DrFranklynAnderson The Horse and His Boy 👌🏻✅💯

Amusingly, the character Iskandar (Alexander) says something similar in regards to what a king is in fate zero

they won't beceuse in real life its very different and much more complex. if the situation asked for it its better to be feared then loved

You can have a complex situation where the positive is still emphasized. And just because the positive is emphasized doesn't mean that the negative is excluded.

I wish you great success in raising your boys to authentic grounded men.

Ooh, have you read The Wingfeather Saga? Great, moral books for kids (but great reads for adults, too), they are geared specifically towards boys, and I highly recommend them to you and your sons! (They deal with kings and warriors, responsibility and kindness, failure and sin and redemption and forgiveness, and so much more.)

That's on you to decide...

Curiously of all the world leaders the one who displayed those characteristics is the one who most people hate... Donald Trump. He is the only one who valued human rights and freedoms above all.

@@everardoreyes1411 You mean the man who generally yelled at the top of his lungs, and didn't give a rat's ass about the welfare of his nation's people, being more concerned with upholding the image that he is doing a good job and he is not to blame for anything bad that's happening? He is literally the person I described with the second half of my comment.

Even more so these days

Yes, and here in America, a lot of citizens are unfortunately doing this as well 😔

@@everardoreyes1411 the one that endorses bigotry and misogyny? He is nothing more than an insecure little boy, not worthy of the title he had no the title of Man.

*+Chris Tauer* That's a major compliment man!

Jesus

@@NobodyIshere70 yes

And we await His triumphant return.

What’s the ultimate sacrifice?

King Solomon?

Daniel Ramsey That is beautiful. And that is what Christ the King does - sacrifices himself for all.

Matthew Northenscold Indeed, the same goes for Lord Gwyn of Dark Souls. The God King of the First Flame who wanted to stave off the Age of the Dark Lord by rekindling the First Flame and thus used himself. It's sad though, as it did not stop, but prolonged the Age of Fire and left him a former shell of himself, now a Lord of Cinder. I love how most of the core themes for Videos games, Movies and Books all draw from the same well of Inspiration, either real or imaginative. But no matter what, these Mythological aspects hold so much potential for reinvention 😁

Also, Martin Septim, man... there are some nice kings in media

So, ultimately, the king is a figure of love... Since love is ultimately the sacrifice and death of the ego

Let’s not forget The Lion King, too! Both films are among the most personal films of my youth (I consider The Lord of The Rings trilogy one film for the record).

I too, believe it is the best one so far, with Telling the Story of a Hero's Departure right behind. An ol' reliable to come back for feels and inspiration.

Ivan Vincent, blessings to you too friend. And may your travels bring you fortune. "Life is not a easy swim, for those who want to dive deep. But there is no treasures found on the surface". Agreed. And might I add; We do all have to transcend our own dark shadow-self, not just the warrior. We are all part of that what is bigger than ourself. If we ought to be fulfilling our different but equal important roles, we would then be making life - worth living. There is greatness deep within each and every one of us. Reach for it.

there are good kings, lovers warriors and magicians out there. They've become lost in todays struggles yes, but they will come again ad i assure you they are out there behind the scenes making that difference dont let yourself be swallowed up by your shadow.

I’ve always identified with all archetypes. Though when surrounded by the right people who have the power to do the right thing guided by our hearts and minds as one, I am inevitably placed in the direction of the king. It’s extremely difficult to be face to face with ones shadow to make a peace, a balance within ourselves. It’s necessary to rise above ourselves and stand grounded with the people, to better mankind by putting aside our differences, to put faith in the good of man once again.

Do you think that, in order for one to become a king, he first needs to be a warrior?

I promise you, people haven’t changed much. We’ve always been this way, if not much worse/uneducated/ignorant

Enthios Humanity already has plenty of great kings. The challenge is not letting our notions of what a king should be get in the way of recognizing the courage and compassion of everyday heroes.

You ARE the good king (if you so choose to be).

Enthios elon musk

As a leader sure, but not as conquerer and certainly not within a kingdom.

God emperor?

Victor Ortiz Carolus Rex. Nice.

I call them out and charge them all with a life that is a lie And in their final hour they shall confess before they die

@@MalcrowAlogoran Actually, it's Manowar. But Sabaton are good too.

Ah, a man of culture.

I didn't see anything about Arthur, removing the sword from the stone. A stable boy who had the heart and soul to be King but not of the talents and "requirements" they thought u needed to be King, a prime example! This channel still rocks though..

way better than nerdwriter

Thanks! And yes I'm Dutch :)

Bobby Boljaar i

This is on point. I'm seeing a lot of channels pop up with the same soft spoken pseudo philosophical essays, but this is the first I see which actually has something real and well researched to say. Lessons from the screenplay and Every frame a painting are amazing, but each focused on the technical aspect of the respective art they address (script and visual narrative). This one goes into the philosophical vision of the works, and it completes a neat triad :D

The smaller channels like this or just write can have content on par with nerdwriter and avoid veering into watchmojo bland top 10 channels with "fun facts."

Agreed. Loads of emtpy film videos on RU-vid. This channel actually has something real to say.

NovaZero Iskander makes a pretty good middle ground

This means blindly moving toward something virtuous but also impossible or curtain of destruction, leading to a blind fate? Not grasping the concept entirely.

Thank you!! I just approved it (and a bunch of others too!)

That was beautiful! Thank you :)

Same here, made my hair stand up.

Why do you think Jesus would be a good king? Let's look at his leadership: If we just take the New Testament texts as they are, then during his life he tried to create an _ekklesia_ ("Congregation" or "Church") that was to be headed by his twelve disciples. For these positions, he chose people who really weren't very bright, then one of them betrayed the movement and got him killed. This organization collapsed almost immediately upon his death, so that some other guy--Paul--had to be brought in out of nowhere (i.e. no prophecies of his coming) and do the heavy lifting of getting Christianity started. Christianity preserved far more of Paul's words than Jesus', and most of Jesus' hand-picked disciples failed so hard that they disappeared entirely from history except for stories the Church made up about them centuries later. Apart from Peter, James, and John, they even disappear from the New Testament. Jesus told his followers that he would be coming back "soon," that "some now standing here would not taste death before all these things are fulfilled," and told the High Priest Caiaphas that he would "see the Son of Man coming in the clouds." Needless to say, Jesus is very, _very_ late. The Book of Revelation tells us that Jesus is going to level up to Godzilla mode when he returns, slaughter the vast majority of humanity, and establish a new regime under his rule. Then he will reign with an iron scepter for 1000 years, but at the end of that time, Satan gets released on parole. Here's the key: after 1000 years of Jesus' undisputed domination, the moment a semi-credible opposition force appears, the world rises in revolt. Jesus and his supporters are driven back to Jerusalem and placed under siege. So Jesus fails utterly as a ruler (pretty much everyone wants to get rid of him the first chance they get) and as a military leader. And this is a _prediction_ made by one of his own propagandists, not something written by a Satanist. The Book of Revelation goes on to tell us that fire will come down from Heaven to destroy the Rebels, that Yahweh will return with his jewelry-box Borg cube to destroy the Universe and start over, establishing a (supposedly) permanent regime that makes North Korea look like Switzerland. This regime is able to last only because Jesus/Yahweh has/have unlimited brute force and unlimited sadism ("Hell"). These are the _worst possible_ attributes to have in a king.

Standardized Apologetics re: Jesus. I feel you! Do you mind expanding on how he does for each archetype? I feel it intuitively but can’t quite describe it

YES! I know I'm three years late to this comment, but I was thinking this through the entire essay!

Didn't they end up with a monarch at the end of all that?

@@Gadget-Walkmen an emperor yes, but he too dissapeared like they all do given enough time

I like this because it can also be read as someone who doesn't let their ego get in the way.

They cut his head after years of wars and starvation for finaly run away in an enemy country for make war against his own people, I think there are better kings. Like many others kings he was not a real "king" because it was not his choice.

@@enrolladennou2431 there was indeed starvation but no war. War only began AFTER Louis the sixteenth was beheaded, as a retaliation from Europe Monarchy. Also, "fleeing to an ennemy country" is a false and anachronistic opinion. King Louis was only reaching for his allies as a way to reclaim his throne which he thought was unfairly seized by revolutionnaries whom he saw as a threat to the people. He may not have been a great king, but he wasn't a bad one. Most of all, he was unlucky. Also, there were hundred of kings in history that has been brutally executed by their people, rival and formal allies in difficult times. England did the same with Charles the first. There's nothing French in it.

Great reading: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-eB0fPFl3wrA.html

the only poem i have memorized

Is he the one who lives in the castle of Aaaaaarrrghhhh ?

Some people are shallow and superficial in their observations. Most points made go over their heads. Hence why you have the “muh reality and history” crowd.

I think the video is an examination of what we as a culture envision kings to be. It's the creative idea of what the role is. We know what a good king is and we know what a bad king is. Whether people actually represent that in the real world is how we measure the "goodness" of a king.

This is neither about history nor film nor reality. This is about what could be and what should be and what better humans strive for. This is about a way of living, deeply embedded in every healthy human - which works. Evolution is not kind to us and too many advantages lie in stealing, lying, tyrannizing and things like that. But evolution also gave us this and we can use it to build a better world

You must become what you seek in these political officials. There will never be a day when we find it in them, we are meant to find it within ourselves

"A king is for the people! Without them, he is no king at all." - Ling Yao

According to the Mahabharata, the reason people replaced Democracy with Monarchy is that Democracies invariably became hedonistic atheistic kleptocracies that ended in Civil War.

You're comparing an ideal Monarchy to a realistic democracy. The truth is that reality can never be utopian and if there's one thing we've learnt from monarchy in the real world is that they always end in tyranny.

At least in monarchy, it is a legitimate ruler turning bad, and everyone can blame the king. With democracy, it first devolves into an illegitimate oligarchy then a tyranny of some sort, but there is no one person to lay the blame at. If absolute power corrupts absolutely, then instead of monarchy leading to an absolutely corrupt king, democracy leads to an absolutely corrupt people. That said, government also depends on the philosophy of the people. A monarchistic people cannot support a good democracy, just as a democratic people cannot support a good king.

@@alpeshabhijitchowdhury6895 Hilarious. I know you modern Indian kids will never read a Hindu scholar like Bhishma or Kamandaki or Madhava or Savakar, so atleast read Nick Land or BAP instead.

@@comradebear9477 You call me a kid yet you sound like every other edgy 14 year old I've ever talked to. Also stop directing me to books, that's not how debating works. Present your argument and I'll present mine and then we point out the flaws in eachother's arguments

It has more to do with the modern order having little time for straight laced,practical discussion and an ambition to get things done.They want problems to last as long as possible to keep importance so a no nonsense efficient person has little chance of success

We will as a people get the Kings we deserve the moment we deserve them. How better then to become your own king? And your only king!

TableTennisLover1234 they are everywhere, unsong heroes who don’t ask for glory.

His name is Jesus. Believe in Him for eternal life

Thanks! I love that film! I talk about it a little bit in my video on Sense8, which is also made by the Wachowski's and deals with similar themes

Average James Almost true !

Christian Tarigan you sure about Ragnar?

@@UnsolicitatedWisdom You sure about Jon Snow?

Georgi honestly 😂

A little of both :)

Hail Odin, Hail king Ragnar.

I'm not sure whether or not it's based on actual historical evidence, the authors of the book, very much like Joseph Campbell, focus more on mythological representations. Also, according to them it's not so much a difference between peaceful and warmongering that separates matriarchal societies from patriarchal ones, but rather technological advancements that are used to cultivate and dominate nature and have historically been associated with masculinity

The earliest piece of work is usually attributed to Lewis Morgan, an American anthropologist, and later work by Friedrich Engels. Subsequently the notion of purely linear cultural evolution has fallen out of favor but the patterns of matriarchal societies are still studied. Hope that helps.

The documentary "Goddess Remembered" explains it well: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-BRV8EiXS_q4.html

The book The Chalice and the Blade

All great kings have something to detract some it were a lack of forsight others couldn't imagine a world without them but most had tremendously sized egos as do most people in power.I can respect him not pretending to be humble