The King

An exploration of the King trope as it appears in fantasy

[Spoiler alert!]

The resonant beauty of the fantasy genre comes from its echoes of the eternal. The treacherous quest through the shadowlands echoes our life’s journey. The moment at the end of the long battle against darkness when the sun rises and help comes from beyond the hills echoes the hope of Christ’s return. One of the ways fantasy achieves these resounding echoes is through certain character tropes. One of them is the Everyman, as we have previously seen. Another is the King.

The King is the character who sacrifices himself to save his people or his kingdom from death. He is the Knight who rescues the Princess from the Dragon, and the figure who represents Christ. Usually he is instrumental in bringing about the necessary redemption and peace of the ending. The King trope can take many forms across the genres and even within fantasy, but he is easiest to spot within the fantasy genre because there he is often a literal king and his impact is greater.

Consider Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia, who is perhaps the most explicit Christ figure in all fantasy. He is the great lion who sacrifices himself to ransom the traitorous but repentant Edmund Pevensie, for, as Aslan says, “when a willing victim is killed in a traitor’s stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.”¹ Not only does he die a sacrificial death, but he rises again—“shining in the sunrise, larger than they had ever seen him before, shaking his mane”²—and defeats the White Witch, ending the endless winter.

Another character of this trope is King Crispin from The Mistmantle Chronicles, a lesser known but greatly beloved king of fantasy. He enters the story by saving a life from the sea, and goes on to become a good and noble King who rules his island with justice, mercy, and wisdom. Through his sacrifice, one of his subjects, lost and close to death, is brought home and restored to life.

“You’ve already given your life for the island, every day. Now you’re giving your death.”

“It’s all I have left to give,” said Crispin. “And I want you to understand that if it only saved Sepia’s life, it would be worth it. But it isn’t just Sepia—it’s all she will bring to the island, and all and all our future as an island. … The Heart has a way of turning things around. Sorrow before joy. … It can only be right if I die.”³

Prince Smalls from The Green Ember is also a manifestation of this figure. The hope of The Mending is rested in him, and when he is carried off by the enemy while endeavoring to rescue prisoners, despair threatens to overwhelm his cause. For long he is thought to be dead, but healing comes and it is this resurrected king who strikes the final blow to end the evil Morbin Blackhawk and establish the Mending once and for all.

Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings is another such character. First the rugged and unpraised Ranger defending the Shire; finally the majestic King of Gondor whose hands bring peace and healing and life to his people. In this he echoes Christ’s first coming as a servant, and his second coming as the king. Aragorn also sacrifices himself to a figurative death when he traverses the Paths of the Dead, which no other mortal man could endure, to hold the forgotten people to their oath, rescue Gondor from certain doom, and grant them peace.

“Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower Guard,

for watch hath not been in vain,

and the Black Gate is broken,

and your King hath passed through,

and he is victorious.

Sing and be glad, all ye children of the West,

for your King shall come again,

and he shall dwell among you

all the days of your life.”⁴

However, the King is not always so explicit. Character tropes are not rigid: They overlap and interweave and can manifest in different characters in different ways. In many stories, the King and the Everyman both are represented in one character. Think of Janner Wingfeather from The Wingfeather Saga, who is a distinct Everyman, and yet whose sacrifice brings life and healing. Or Aidan Errolson from The Wilderking Trilogy, who defeats the giant, wins peace, and becomes the king. Or The Red Crosse Knight, who wanders from the path in Everyman fashion, but defeats the dragon as does the King. In each of these also, the echo of Christ’s ultimate sacrifice and our ultimate hope remains.

And so the King rides through the fantasy genre, bringing hope out of despair, salvation out of sacrifice, and life out of death. As we read, we are reminded of Christ’s sacrifice. We hear our yearning cry caught up and carried on in the longing of the soul for Christ’s Return, and we catch a fleeting glimpse of that joy which waits beyond the veil. In the shuddering crack of the Stone Table, we hear a faint echo of the rending of the curtain in the temple. In the ripple of the King’s standard upon the corsair’s mast, we hear in faint echo the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God.

“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and thigh a name written:

KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”⁵

1. C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, page 162

2. C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, page 163

3. M.I. McAllister, Urchin and the Rage Tide, page 220

4. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, page 260

5. Revelation 19:11-16