History Main / FounderoftheKingdom

* ''{{Manga/Naruto}}'': Konoha was founded by the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and his childhood friend Madara Uchiha. However, because of various disputes, Madara left and became Hashirama's rival, eventually ending up trying to destroy everything they built, forcing Hashirama to put him down. He was effectively {{Unperson}}ed afterwards; the only known evidence that he had anything to do with the village is a statue built in the Valley of the End, commemorating his final battle with Hashirama.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Thrall founded the city of Ogrimmar, and Sylvannas created the Forsaken.

* Germany has at least four.
** Otto the Great re-founded the German-only Holy Roman Empire (the First Reich).
** The Prussian "Iron Chancellor" UsefulNotes/OttoVonBismarck founded the German Empire (the Second Reich).
** ''UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler'' (the Third Reich—[[CanonDiscontinuity they don’t like talking about this one]]).
** Konrad Adenauer is generally seen as the key figure in establishing the [[UsefulNotes/WestGermany Federal Republic of Germany]], the current incarnation of the German state. He certainly dominated its crucial early years.

* Hungary has two. Árpád, the 9th century prince who led the Magyar tribes as they founded the Hungarian kingdom, details of whose life are shrouded in myths (aside from being the ancestor of Hungary's first and longest-ruling dynasty); and St. Stephen (aka Szent István), the first Christian king of Hungary. There is also Béla IV, referred to as "the second founder of the state" due to his activities at rebuilding and fortifying the country after it was sacked by Mongols in 1241, as well as (temporarily) restoring royal authority after his father Andrew II was forced to make compromises with the barons in Hungary's oldest surviving constitutional document.

* Italy has the duo of Victor Emmanuel II and Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour. Victor Emmanuel II was King of Sardinia, the country that, under his reign, conquered most of the rest of the Italian peninsula and became the Kingdom of Italy, and the Count of Cavour was the MagnificentBastard that made it possible (and in fact in the long run Italy would have been much better had he not died right after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy). Italy also has Alcide De Gasperi, Enrico De Nicola and Umberto II. De Gasperi was the Acting Head of State in the few weeks between the proclamation of the Republic and the election of the first president, De Nicola was said first President of the Republic, and Umberto II, last king of Italy, deserves honorable mention for accepting the results of the constitutional referendum that deposed him and not using the many irregularities (there were allegations of frauds, it was known that both leftist extremists and fascists had made pressures on known monarchists, and the government had jumped the gun and proclaimed the Republic before the results were confirmed) to try and stay in power, and in fact personally prevented the start of a civil war between Republicans and Monarchists.

* The legendary twins Romulus, and to a lesser extent Remus, according to Roman legend, were this for Rome. Lucius Junius Brutus was also widely revered for founding the Republic by kicking out the last King. It's more of a historical hindsight thing (since at the time he was [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial adamant that he hadn't done anything]]), but nowadays, UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} is generally viewed in this light today for UsefulNotes/TheRomanEmpire.
* Lycurgus of Sparta, the UrExample of [[DrillSergeantNasty Drill Sergeants Nasty]]. Guess [[TheSpartanWay which trope]] he invented? Most Greek cities had their own founding myths. Theseus might count for Athens, but a more historical example was Solon the Lawgiver. One version [[UnreliableNarrator among Athenians]] was that Athens topped them all because it was ''never'' founded. It was there eternally.
* Mexico has priest Miguel Hidalgo, who gave the Cry of Dolores and rallied people to fight for Mexico's independence. He is much like the George Washington of Mexico.
* Norway has Harald Fairhair, who according to the sagas conquered Norway after a woman named Gyda told him she would not marry him unless he did so. The reality is probably less romantic. His name/epithet is said to have stemmed from him refusing to cut his hair until all of Norway was under his rule. Ironically, his territory was rather small compared to other kings at the time, but he controlled all the major port towns. Harald is also a semi-mythological figure, in that no sources outside the Icelandic Sagas and ''Heimskringla'' can prove he exists. The first king to rule a unified Norway and have physical evidence (outside the sagas) of his existence is king Olaf I, who was later canonised and is known today as ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Perpetuus_Norvegiae Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae]]'' (the eternal king of Norway) by the Catholic Church.
* Poland has Mieszko I, who converted the Polans to Christianity and turned the tribes into a state. However, his son Bolesław Chrobry("The Brave") was the first crowned king of Poland.

* Russia is [[RussianGuySuffersMost so often bloodily reformed into unrecognizable shapes]] that it has many.
** Prince Rurik is considered the founder of the pagan Kievan Rus.

** Ivan III the Great created the Muscovite Tsardom.
** UsefulNotes/PeterTheGreat created the Russian Empire.
** UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin created the Soviet Union.

* ''Series/NorthernExposure'': The town of Cicely celebrates a Founders' Day in honor of its founders [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Cicely]] and Gwendolyn.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': 300 years before the series, Aegon I Targaryen -- known as Aegon the Conqueror -- and his sister-wives conquered and unified six of the Seven Kingdoms with the aid of dragons. Accepting and rewarding all who surrendered, they founded King's Landing and the Kingsguard, forged the Iron Throne, and are fondly remembered for the most part. Aegon's Landing even marks a YearZero in the chronology of Westeros.

** The Dwarfs hold that the ''Karaz Ankor'', the united Dwarfen kingdom, was founded by the brothers Grugni and Grimnir and their wife Valaya, [[AncestorWorship who are venerated by the Dwarfs as their greatest ancestor gods]].

** Gilles le Bretton founded the kingdom of Brettonia.
** The Elves were unified by Aenaerion the Defender and Caledor Dragontamer.
** The Dark Elves were created and still ruled by the Witch-King Malekith.
** Settra the Imperishable founded Khemri.

* Myth/JapaneseMythology: Emperor Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan. Like King Arthur, whether he existed or not can't be confirmed.

* Myth/JapaneseMythology: Emperor Jimmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan. Whether he existed or not can't be confirmed.

* Rudolf in ''Anime/LegendOfGalacticHeroes''. Reinhard von Lohengramm counts too since he conquered the Free Planet Alliance and established New Empire.

** ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'': Jonathan Archer is regarded by future historians as the founder of the [[TheFederation United Federation of Planets]].

'''"Public Square's Peace"''' (Same as Church only in the Market Place, The ''other'' Public Forum of the times).

** According to the background material, the Vedran Empire was founded in [[AlternateCalendar 0 CY]] by Empress Yoweri I and her consort General Huascar nax Yoweri.

** What's really funny is that by modern standards, King Arthur was not English but [[UsefulNotes/{{Wales}} Welsh]], or perhaps [[UsefulNotes/{{Cornwall}} Cornish]] - in any case, more properly described as [[UsefulNotes/BritainVersusTheUK British, i.e. Celtic, not English.]] His enemies are frequently identified in the British legends as ''Saeson'', or Saxons, or in other words, Englishmen (the word is derived from the Saxons' cousins, the Angles; Wales, Cornwall and a few other places were remnants of the Celtic British realms after the Anglo-Saxon conquest). The Welsh for their part tend to put more emphasis on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owain_Glynd%C5%B5r Owain Glyndwr]], who was more "OccupiersOutOfOurCountry" than Founder of the Nation, although Arthur is still quite important in Welsh legends (important enough that UsefulNotes/HenryVII named his eldest son Arthur to curry favour with his Welsh supporters).[[note]]Prince Arthur died young, which is why we never got an actual, historical, nobody-doubts-it King Arthur. Instead we got—his kid brother Henry. UsefulNotes/HenryVIII.[[/note]]

-->'''"Women's Peace"''' (You are not allowed to kidnap a high-born woman and then [[AndNowYouMustMarryMe forcibly marry her in order to become her husband and then claim her inheritance)\\

* Norway has Harald Fairhair, who according to the sagas conquered Norway after a woman named Gyda told him she would not marry him unless he did so. The reality is probably less romantic. His name/epithet is said to have stemmed from him refusing to cut his hair until all of Norway was under his rule. Ironically, his territory was rather small compared to other kings at the time, but he controlled all the major port towns.

** The Primes also function as this for the people of Sanctum, though it's played with in that unlike most examples of this trope ([[spoiler:they're still alive and still ruling Sanctum in the present-day.]])

** Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is the first Supreme Leader of post-revolutionary Iran.

** Alfred himself was not the first king of a united England, as in all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but rather his grandson [=Æthelstan=]. But Alfred--and his son ([=Æthelstan=]'s father Edward)--laid the groundwork for it by setting the goal of uniting all Anglo-Saxons under one kingdom, and then working to achieve that goal.

** Alfred himself was not the first king of a united England, as in all the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, but rather his grandson Aethelstan. But he surely laid the groundwork for it.

** Konrad Adenauer is generally seen as the key figure in establishing the [[UsefulNotes/TheBonnRepublic Federal Republic of Germany]], the current incarnation of the German state. He certainly dominated its crucial early years.

** Most of the Middle Eastern powers who antagonized Israel were founded by Abraham's sons.

* In social science this process is called ''ethnogenesis''. One common theory is that ethnicities tend to start when a successful bandit attracts a lot of followers eager for booty until there is a large enough group to reproduce themselves. In other words most tropers' ancestors were probably thieves. [[SarcasmMode Doesn't that make you feel good]]?

-->'''"Women's Peace"''' (You are not allowed to kidnap a high-born woman and then forcibly marry her in order to become her husband and then claim her inheritance)\\

** Reman Cyrodiil founded the Second Cyrodiilic Empire. According to legend, Reman was conceived in a union between the mortal petty King Hrol, the spirit of St. Alessia, [[TopGod Akatosh]], and the land of Cyrodiil itself. He was found born atop a mountain of mud with the [[OnlyTheChosenMayWield Amulet of Kings]], long since lost, in hand. [[AChildShallLeadThem Coronated as a child]], he would reunite the two halves of Cyrodiil (Colovia and Nibenay), then bring the other kingdoms of Men under his rule (High Rock and Skyrim). Later, he would defeat the [[{{Wutai}} Akaviri]] invaders and absorbed them into his fledgling proto-empire after they recognized him as "Dragonborn" and swore fealty to him. His dynasty would go on to conquer most of Tamriel, failing only to conquer the Dunmer (protected by their {{Physical God}}s) and the Altmer (protected by their [[WitchSpecies powerful magics]]), though they did get the Altmer to join his empire peacefully by offering a treaty with exceptionally favorable terms to the Altmer.