History Main / MotherMakesYouKing

** Queen Alicent Hightower was apparently this. Her husband Viserys I had declared his daughter Rhaenyra--the only surviving child of his first marriage--his heir. Alicent persuaded her oldest son Aegon II to take the Iron Throne, leading to a civil war known as "The Dance of the Dragons." By the end, Aegon II died. Of course, it is disputed how much of Aegon's actions were due to Alicent, considering Archmaester Glydan shows some misogynistic views.

For gender reasons (HeirClubForMen), daughter variants are less common, but not unheard of--many an ambitious mother paraded her beautiful young daughter before a king in hope she'd be picked as a HotConsort. In that case, it sometimes becomes a three-generational plan: She gets her daughter made queen, and then her daughter has a son who will become king.

* Queen Louveria from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''. She confines herself to OffstageVillainy but her actions have ripple effects throughout the plot. If you read the character profiles over the course of the game, she eventually murders her husband and exiles/executes her way through most of his retainers just so her (possibly illegitimate) son has a better position in the coming civil war. She's apprehended and tossed in the dungeon of an [[TheAlcatraz impregnable fortress]] and the attempt to rescue her by her brother Duke Larg ignites the "War of the Lions".
* Birna Bran from ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt''. The widow of King Bran of Skellige, she repeatedly insists her son Svanrige is the rightful king, even though the monarchy is not hereditary in Skellige; instead the monarch being chosen by the clan chiefs, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen all of whom despise Birna]] and think her determination to see Svanrige crowned king is just so she won't have to give up her position and power now her husband is dead. [[spoiler: She's prepared to go as far as murdering any and all other claimants to make her son king; [[NiceJobFixingItVillain unfortunately for Birna]], [[GoneHorriblyRight if her plan to crown Svanrige succeeds]], her son demonstrates (by way of burying an axe in the skull of a Nilfgaardian ambassador she was negotiating with) that he has ''no intention whatsoever'' of being her PuppetKing]].

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* ''Disney/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'': Zira will do anything to make her son Kovu king by training him as a {{Tykebomb}} to kill Simba. What the Pridelands would look like after that happens is not entirely clear, as Zira is more concerned with [[AvengingTheVillain avenging her lover Scar's death]] than power in of itself.

* ''Disney/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'': Zira will do anything to make her son Kovu king.

Subtrope to VicariouslyAmbitious. The mom in question is (whether heroic, villainous, or any [[AntiHero combination]] [[AntiVillain thereof]]) most likely an AlmightyMom. If she was married to a king, she may have been a LadyMacbeth as well.

* The Ottoman Empire was a mess of this because (a) the throne didn't simply pass from father to eldest son --''any'' son had a shot, (b) a sultan's mother was effectively his queen, and the most powerful woman in the empire, and (c) with [[RoyalHarem harems]], sultans usually had sons with several different mothers, all of whom would be scheming against each other.

** Livia Drusilla--third wife of the emporor Augustus--was accused by various historians of murdering most of Augustus' potential heirs so Tiberius, her oldest son from her first marriage, could succeed Augustus. This may be a case of HistoricalVillainUpgrade.

While it doesn't actually have to be becoming ''king'', that ''is'' the most common case. Historically, a king's father usually had to die before he could become king, but many kings' mothers were still alive and well during their reigns, often titled "Queen Mother." In the Ottoman Empire, sultans tended to have {{royal harem}}s with many concubines--but they only had one mother. ''She'' was effectively their queen, the second most powerful person in the empire after the sultan himself, and bore the title "Valide sultan."

* Birna Bran from ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt''. The widow of King Bran of Skellige, she is determined to put her son, Svanrige on the throne of Skellige, even though the position is not hereditary, the monarch being chosen by the clan chiefs, most of whom despise Birna and think her desire to see Svanrige crowned king is so she won't have to give up her power. [[spoiler: She's prepared to go as far as murdering any and all other claimants to make her son king; [[NiceJobFixingItVillain unfortunately for Birna]], [[GoneHorriblyRight if her plan to crown Svanrige succeeds]], her son demonstrates (by virtue of burying an axe in the skull of a Nilfgaardian ambassador she was negotiating with) that he has ''no intention whatsoever'' of being her PuppetKing]].

->''"Enter: Fastrada. Pippin's step-mother. Devious: crafty, cunning, untrustworthy: but a warm and wonderful mother. Dedicated to gaining the throne for her darling son, Lewis."''

** Queen Athaliah, who tried to murder the entire house of Judah so her sons could take the throne. [[GenocideBackfire She missed one.]]

* Queen Prim Marlon of Marlon in the [[Franchise/EvilliousChronicles Story of Evil novels]] is this to a T. Obsessed with the idea of her son Kyle (originally the fifth-in-line for the throne) becoming king and creating an empire to rival her best friend-turned-rival's kingdom of Lucifenia, after her husband's death, she systematically poisoned all but one of her stepchildren and any dignitary who might oppose her, drove the remaining stepchild's mother to renounce his claim to the throne, and drove another branch of the royal family out of the country so Kyle could be crowned. When Kyle showed interest in becoming an artist instead, she bribed art critics and famous artists to demoralize and criticize his work so he would give up on his dream. [[{{Matricide}} It all comes back to bite her eventually, though]]

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* Isabella of France, known as the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast She-Wolf of France]]--living for years as a pious and dutiful queen consort to [[AmbiguouslyGay Edward II of England]], she finally got fed up with his constant promotion of his favorites and his general incompetency, including callously abandoning her while she was pregnant. She left the country, gathered her own troops and [[GoodAdulteryBadAdultery her own lover, Roger Mortimer,]] and invaded England. She quickly had her opponents murdered--one had his head brought to her--and then [[MurderTheHypotenuse brutally executed her husband's favorite Hugh Despenser]]. She then deposed her husband and placed her son, Edward III, on the throne and acted as regent. To round out the saga, she then supposedly had her husband secretly killed, in a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath legendarily horrific manner]]. She was later overthrown by her own son, who had Mortimer executed and sent her away to live the rest of her life in a monastery.
* The Ottoman Empire was a mess of this because (a) they didn't do the "eldest son" rule--''any'' son had a shot, (b) a sultan's mother was effectively his queen, and the most powerful woman in the empire, and (c) with [[RoyalHarem harems]], sultans usually had sons with several different mothers, all of whom would be scheming against each other.

* An unusual heroic example: in ''Series/MagnificentCentury'', it's the protagonist Hürrem who's scheming make one of her sons the next sultan… although to be fair, antagonist Mahidevran is doing the exact same thing. [[spoiler:Hürrem wins... unfortunately the son that ends up winning is the InadequateInheritor, foreshadowing the decline of the Ottoman Empire.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Like in the books (see Literature), Cersei is the one who puts Joffrey in line for the throne by [[spoiler:killing Robert and imprisoning Ned Stark]]. Though it is actually Joffrey who [[spoiler:kills all of Robert's bastard children]], out of the fear that one of them will try to claim the throne. Eventually, after [[spoiler:all her children have died]], Cersei [[spoiler:crowns herself Queen of Westeros.]]

-->'''Lewis''': Mama… if Pippin kills Father…\\

'''Lewis''': But if Father discovers Pippin's plot and executes him…\\

* ''VisualNovel/LongLiveTheQueen'': Crown Princess Elodie's aunt Lucille--her late mother's sister-in-law--is [[spoiler:trying to have her assassinated in order to put her own daughter on the throne.]]

* In Megan Kearney's ''Beauty and the Beast'' we learn from flashbacks that [[spoiler: the Beast's mother attempted this trope back when he was a young man named Argus.]] She was the king's former mistress, Argus their illegitimate son, and she spent years secretly poisoning the queen to make her barren so the king would be forced to name Argus as his heir. When royal couple finally had a legitimate son, ruining her plans, she [[AbusiveParents attacked her own son in rage]], driving him to [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide attempt suicide]] next to a magic fountain, leading to his transformation.]]

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* Zira from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride'' will do anything to make her son Kovu king.
* In ''Film/Shrek2'' [[LightIsNotGood Fairy Godmother]] tries to put her son Prince Charming on the throne by marrying Fiona, an only child and heir to TheGoodKingdom; the original plan was for him to have saved Fiona from the dragon's tower, but he got there after Shrek had already saved her and married her. So Fairy Godmother tries to get rid of Shrek other ways, setting up the whole plot of the movie.

** Rather interestingly, in a gender-inversion, Cersei ''herself'' because queen thanks to her father Tywin's scheming. It took two tries--the first prince he tried to marry her to said no--but he got it in the end.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Like in the books (see Literature), Cersei is the one who puts Joffrey in line for the throne by [[spoiler:killing Robert and imprisoning Ned Stark]]. Though it is actually Joffrey who [[spoiler:kills all of Robert's bastard children]], out of the fear that one of them will try to claim the throne.

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/GameOfThrones http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cerseijoffrey&throne.png]]]]

* Subverted in the {{Ramayana}}--King Dasarath has four sons by his three wives, the oldest of which is about to be crowned upon the King's decision to retire, but on the day before the coronation, [[WickedStepmother his favorite wife Kaikeyi]] (mother of the second-born Bharat) decides to call in a favor--after she saved his life in a previous war (she was his charioteer at the time), the king promised that he would grant her two wishes whenever she felt like it. [[SadisticChoice She asks for the eldest son to be exiled]] and for Bharat, who was visiting his grandather at the time, to be crowned instead, forcing the king to either exile his [[HundredPercentAdorationRating universally beloved]], [[TheWisePrince virtuous]] first-born or [[SeriousBusiness shame his family's reputation for adhering to their word and dishonor his ancestors]]. The King complies with her request, but promtly [[DeathByDespair dies of a broken heart]] [[LaserGuidedKarma (helped along by a previous curse incurred in his youth.)]] Once Bharat returns to find his father dead and his brother exiled, he's ''absolutely absolutely horrified'', disowns his mother on the spot and, after much angst about being the son of such a wicked mother, [[UndyingLoyalty waltzes off to find & crown his brother]]. As their father is dead and can't revoke his oath, [[HonorBeforeReason the oldest prince feels obliged to serve his 14 years of exile]], but once he returns after many heroic deeds, [[RightfulKingReturns Bharat is all too happy to hand over the crown.]]

* In ''Film/Shrek2'' [[LightIsNotGood Fairy Godmother]] tries to put her son Prince Charming on the throne by marrying Fiona, an only child and heir to TheKingdom; the original plan was for him to have saved Fiona from the dragon's tower, but he got there after Shrek had already saved her and married her. So Fairy Godmother tries to get rid of Shrek other ways, setting up the whole plot of the movie.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Like in the book, Cersei is the one who puts Joffrey in line for the throne by killing Robert and imprisoning Ned Stark. Though it is actually Joffrey who kills all of Robert's bastard children, out of the fear that one of them will try to claim the throne.
* ''Series/IClaudius'': Livia will have her own family killed or banished if it means her son Tiberius will become emperor. Please note that Tiberius doesn't even ''want'' to be emperor. (Bonus points because Tiberius is only a stepson to Augustus, Livia's husband and the previous emperor, though Roman inheritance doesn't care.)

* Subverted in the {{Ramayana}} -- King Dasarath has four sons by his three wives, the oldest of which is about to be crowned upon the King's decision to retire, but on the day before the coronation, [[WickedStepmother his favorite wife Kaikeyi]] (mother of the second-born Bharat) decides to call in a favor -- after she saved his life in a previous war (she was his charioteer at the time), the king promised that he would grant her two wishes whenever she felt like it. [[SadisticChoice She asks for the eldest son to be exiled]] and for Bharat, who was visiting his grandather at the time, to be crowned instead, forcing the king to either exile his [[HundredPercentAdorationRating universally beloved]], [[TheWisePrince virtuous]] first-born or [[SeriousBusiness shame his family's reputation for adhering to their word and dishonor his ancestors]]. The King complies with her request, but promtly [[DeathByDespair dies of a broken heart]] [[LaserGuidedKarma (helped along by a previous curse incurred in his youth.)]] Once Bharat returns to find his father dead and his brother exiled, he's ''absolutely absolutely horrified'', disowns his mother on the spot and, after much angst about being the son of such a wicked mother, [[UndyingLoyalty waltzes off to find & crown his brother]]. As their father is dead and can't revoke his oath, [[HonorBeforeReason the oldest prince feels obliged to serve his 14 years of exile]], but once he returns after many heroic deeds, [[RightfulKingReturns Bharat is all too happy to hand over the crown.]]

* ''Series/{{SonsOfAnarchy}}'': Gemma is shown to very much be pulling the strings on the men in her life. Women are not allowed to be members of the motorcycle club but Gemma always manages to be attached to the President of the club. Her first husband, JT, was a founding member. When he no longer wanted to live the outlaw life, it is implied that Gemma conspired with JT's best friend Clay Morrow, to kill JT so Clay could become President. Clay and Gemma married shortly after JTs death, making Gemma once again, the revered wife of the club president. Once Clay got older and struggled with arthritis which made it hard to ride his motorcycle, a requirement to be an active club member, Gemma began manipulating her son, Jax to take Clay's place. Many considered Jax the rightful heir to the club Presidency, even referring to him as the crown prince, but Jax was only 15 at the time of JT's death, too young to be an active member of the club much less the president. With Gemma's encouragement, Jax challenged Clay for presidency and won, making Gemma now the revered *mother* of the club's president.

* Subverted in the {{Ramayana}} - King Dasarath has four sons by his three wives, the oldest of which is about to be crowned upon the King's decision to retire, but on the day before the coronation, [[WickedStepmother his favorite wife Kaikeyi]] (mother of the second-born Bharat) decides to call in a favor - after she saved his life in a previous war (she was his charioteer at the time), the king promised that he would grant her two wishes whenever she felt like it. [[SadisticChoice She asks for the eldest son to be exiled]] and for Bharat, who was visiting his grandather at the time, to be crowned instead, forcing the king to either exile his [[HundredPercentAdorationRating universally beloved]], [[TheWisePrince virtuous]] first-born or [[SeriousBusiness shame his family's reputation for adhering to their word and dishonor his ancestors]]. The King complies with her request, but promtly [[DeathByDespair dies of a broken heart]] [[LaserGuidedKarma (helped along by a previous curse incurred in his youth.)]] Once Bharat returns to find his father dead and his brother exiled, he's ''absolutely absolutely horrified'', disowns his mother on the spot and, after much angst about being the son of such a wicked mother, [[UndyingLoyalty waltzes off to find & crown his brother]]. As their father is dead and can't revoke his oath, [[HonorBeforeReason the oldest prince feels obliged to serve his 14 years of exile]], but once he returns after many heroic deeds, [[RightfulKingReturns Bharat is all too happy to hand over the crown.]]