Not a whole lot, true, but certainly enough to know what kind of ruler he was. A wonderful passage about Minas Tirith, from ROTK, Chapt. V, “The Steward and the King,” p. 947 in my edition:
*…the King passed through the flower-laden streets, and came to the Citadel, and entered in; and the banner of the Tree and the Stars was unfurled upon the topmost tower, and the reign of King Elessar began, of which many songs have told.
In his time the City was made more fair than it had ever been, even in the days of its first glory; and it was filled with trees and with fountains, and its gates were wrought of mithril and steel, and its streets were paved with white marble; and the Folk of the Mountain laboured in it, and the Folk of the Wood rejoiced to come there; and all was healed and made good, and the houses were filled with men and women and the laughter of children, and no window was blind nor any courtyard empty; and after the ending of the Third Age of the world into the new age it preserved the memory and the glory of the years that were gone.*
Raymond Feist’s whole ConDoin dynasty from Liam onward seemed generally benign.
Erikson’s Laseen/Surly does her best impression of Gengis Khan and still comes out smelling like roses compared to the competition. Anyone with more decency is unable or unwilling to hold that position of power.
The Triton Rule (Possibly the “Disney King” rule): There is a line between “coldly pragmatic” and “paranoid and irrational,” especially when it comes to raising/protecting your heirs. The latter tends to end up coming back to bite you in the ass.
The Law of Facial Hair Allignment: Generally, only three main classes of people are able to wear beards, and still remain good. Kings, Wizards, and Guys who Swing Great Inelegant Heavy Things as Weapons. Everyone else, and not infrequently the latter two groups, will want to become king (i.e. take your job).
The Step-Queen Law: Always have a fairly conservative pre-nup drafted—by a team of lawyers, royal advisors, and approved by parliament—and ready to be signed before you ever remarry. In the event of your death, the new spouse is to receive a decent pension, the vacation house, and the silverware collection, along with a tasteful fruit basket.
The Connatic in Jack Vance’s Alastor books; he rules the star cluster with a light touch but he does have the Whelm (space marines) at his disposal to keep the peace…
Just to clarify, Spinrad’s The Iron Dream is the book about the classic sci-fi novel “Lords of the Swastika” by the now-largely-forgotten sci-fi illustrator & writer Adolf Hitler.
Feric is the main character in “Lords…”.
Embrace just enough democracy to keep the people happy, but not so much that gridlock or anarchy results.
Execute people only as a last resort.
Don’t be so isolated in your palace(s) that you don’t know what’s happening on the streets of your capital city, or in the more remote provinces of your realm.
Be sure to have a capable, loyal and diligent spymaster (the Walsingham Rule).
Encourage the arts, culture and higher learning.
Be willing to admit that you’re sometimes wrong; don’t let your pride get in the way of good policy.
Reward good service, but give those who inadvertently fail you the opportunity to learn from their mistakes and later redeem themselves.
You’re technically correct, but there’s just something there that makes me unable to completely give you that one, and I have no real idea what it is. Probably the fact that while Random is an adequate King of Amber, I don’t know that he’s very Overlord-y.
Oberon, on the other hand, given the enemies he had to defend Amber against (you think your Amber relatives are dangerous to trust? HA!), was the epitome of the good overlord. Yes, he manipulated his children into virtual knots, destroyed whole shadows (remember, though, that Shadows are not real), and consorted with his crazy dad almost to the point of destroying the entire multiverse, but compared to the denizens of Chaos? Saint.
I remember that disturbing scene near the end of the series with him mind “probing” (and I don’t use the word lightly) his mother. Re the final Lensman series direction, wouldn’t an overt incest theme have been squashed by an editor or publisher prior to publication?
You treasonous swine! How dare you mention Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, in a thread on “SF and Fantasy”? Emperor Norton - Wikipedia
