->'''Gandalf''': Now come the days of the king! May they be blessed.
->-''[[{{Film/TheLordOfTheRings}} The Return of the King]]''

[[quoteright:200:[[TheLordOfTheRings http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rotkcrown.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:200:[[NiceHat Niiiice]].]]

This is the end. [[BigDamnHeroes The protagonists]] have defeated the BigBad, saved the DistressedDamsel, and even stopped TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Hurray for them!

[[SoWhatDoWeDoNow But now what?]] What happens? Are they going to get some sort of [[DudeWheresMyReward reward]] or something?

What's the chancellor/high priest doing with [[RequisiteRoyalRegalia the royal crown]]? He's bringing it to the heroes?

Oh, they're being crowned [[TheKingOfTown King]] and/or [[TheHighQueen Queen]]. Awesome!

This is when, (not always) at the end of the story, the main character or characters are crowned the leader of the land they just saved. Reasons can vary:
* The hero is [[RoyalBlood part of the royal line]], so this is the ReturnOfTheKing.
* There was an AncientTradition.
* The hero(es) defeated the old ruler(s), so YouKillItYouBoughtIt.
* It's part of the StandardHeroReward.
* The hero is BornLucky.

Sometimes, it doubles as a coronation wedding with a [[PrinceCharming prince]] / {{Princess}} or the hero's LoveInterest, guaranteeing a HappilyEverAfter of HappilyMarried conjugal bliss.

Considering that this is an [[EndingTropes Ending Trope]], once again, '''beware the spoilers!'''

Not to be confused with CrowningMomentOfAwesome, though it might also be one. Nor any tropes relating to giving birth, which is an entirely ''different'' [[ScreamingBirth meaning of the word 'crowning']].

Compare {{Knighting}}.
----
!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* Twisted in the end of the ''MermaidMelodyPichiPichiPitch'' manga, considering how mermaid politics work. [[spoiler:Aqua Regina gives her throne and powers up so that Lucia can be the new Aqua Regina]]. [[FridgeLogic Makes one wonder, though]], where the new princess is going to come from, considering SomeoneHasToDoIt. There is a possibility that [[spoiler:Lucia's pregnant, but what's a baby going to do in an emergency, you tell me]].
* In ''CodeGeass'' R2, [[spoiler: Lelouch managed to kill his father and named himself the emperor of Britannia. There were many who refused to acknowledge him, but that was before he showed them his Power of the King]]. In the end, [[spoiler: after Lelouch's death, his younger sister Nunnally is crowned as the 100th Empress of Britannia]].
* In the manga ''Vampire Game'', everything is leading up to the princess marying the Captain of the Guard. [[spoiler: Which actually happens, but he gives up the throne and just stays a military man. He leaves the ruling and the title to her.]]
* In ''VinlandSaga'', [[spoiler: the king has been trying to eliminate Prince Canute from contention for the throne, one way or another. After threatening to attack Wales unless the prince was killed, Askeladd beheaded the king, killed about a dozen soldiers, and then allowed Canute to stab him, thus "avenging" his father. The prince, bleeding from the face, dons the crown and takes control of an army whose leader had wanted him dead minutes before. Badass.]]
* [[spoiler:Esther]] at the end of ''TrinityBlood''
* ThisTroper got a twitch when reading the "and/or" bit above, because she remembered SpacePirateMito. [[spoiler: Where we find out that since Mito abdicated the throne, it's Aoi's job to take it over. Unfortunately, it's puberty time, which for Mito's species means deciding which ''gender'' you are.]]
* Subverted horribly with ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha''. The Sankt Kaizer gets a CoolShip, a body to die for, and incredible magical powers. [[spoiler:And also happens to be a BrainwashedAndCrazy or [[BodyHorror can't control her body]] little kid who's fighting her adoptive mother. Just to crown the subversion, she ''loses'' all these things, reverting to the little kid and being taken back home by her mommy. She seems happy about that though.]]
** In the SpinOff Manga, where said [[spoiler:Sankt Kaiser]] is the main character, [[spoiler: her mommy gives her this power back! Have we mentioned that said mommy is a weird combination of MagicalGirl and CombatPragmatist?]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fan Fic ]]

* The ''ChronoCrusade'' AlternateUniverse fic ''Perfect Mind'' ends with [[spoiler:Chrono and Rosette]] becoming the new rulers of the demons.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* At the end of ''The Court Jester'', the rightful king is finally revealed by his distinctive birthmark.
* [[TheParody Spoofed]] at the climax of ''Johnny English''.
* The ending of ''TheLionKing''.
* At the end of ''Chronicles of Riddick'', [[spoiler:Riddick becomes the Lord Marshal of the Necromongers when he [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt kills the old one]]]].
* In {{Anastasia}}, Anya receives her crowning moment from her grandmother despite no longer having a country to rule.
* In ''StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome'', James T. Kirk is demoted from Admiral down to Captain; but then he is assigned his old and rightful job as TheCaptain of the Enterprise.
**At the end of the 2009 ''[[StarTrekXI Star Trek]]'', grounded cadet Kirk's reward for saving the world is to be promoted all the way to Captain and given command of the Enterprise. Definitely RuleOfCool.
** In a weird mishmash of tropes, this makes Kirk's fate at the end of ''Star Trek IV'' a Dethroning Moment Of Awesome.
* At the end of ''{{Stardust}}''.
* ''[[RepoTheGeneticOpera Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'' has a great one during ''Epitaph'', even though the people involved aren't technically royalty. [[spoiler:Rotti Largo publicly renounces all three of his children and offers GeneCo to Shilo. She turns it down. Rotti dies just minutes later. In the ensuing chaos, Rotti's daughter Amber has her brothers--both as embittered as she is by their father's rejection of them--back her as she takes control of GeneCo and becomes at a stroke the most powerful person in the country.]]
-->"GeneCo will live on, under new management... ''me.''"
* Hilariously subverted in ''EllaEnchanted''. Char's coronation was a setup by the EvilChancellor, [[spoiler: who then, once exposed, crowned ''himself'', forgetting that he had poisoned the crown with intent to kill Char at the moment of crowning.]]
* Subverted in ''The Sword and the Sorcerer'', Talon, having returned to his kingdom and [[spoiler:slain the evil Titus Cromwell for usurping his rightful crown and killing his parents, gives the crown to the rebel leader, because it's way, way, way more fun to go riding around fighting bad guys and bedding beautiful wenches than it is ruling a kingdom.]]
* ''Knocked Up''... wait, that's the OTHER kind of crowning...
* [[ChroniclesOfNarnia "And to the clear northern skies... King Peter, the ''Magnificent''!]]
* The last movie in the ''TheLordOfTheRings'' series was pretty much all about getting to this moment, since Aragorn was the rightful ruler all along. And in the end of the movie, the coronation gets a good five minutes and a reunion for Aragorn and Arwen, which makes it an almost perfect Awesome Moment of Crowning.
** With equal parts CrowningMomentofAwesome AND CrowningMomentofHeartwarming when the new king turns to the hobbits and says "My friends, [[KneelBeforeFrodo you bow to no one]]."
* At the end of {{Army of Darkness}}, Ash, a traveler from the future with pretty much no known noble blood is offered the crown of the Cliched Medieval Kingdom (did it even have a name?). Though he refuses, this Troper would like to remind everybody: "Hail to the King, Baby".
* At the end of {{A Knights Tale}}, William is {{Knighted}} by Prince Edward, saving him from the stocks and allowing him to continue competing as a Knight.
* Inverted in Sergei Eisenstein's ''IvanTheTerrible'' (1944). The movie ''begins'' with a lavish, 10-minute coronation scene, complete with a NewEraSpeech.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* LloydAlexander's ''[[PrydainChronicles Chronicles of Prydain]]''. Taran ''still'' hasn't found out who his parents were (and probably never will), but the High King and all his kin are leaving, and Taran fits a prophecy, so he's the new king.
* In the grand finale of the ''{{Animorphs}}'' series, Aximili, the alien stranded on earth and seemingly forever doomed to live in the shadow of his late brother, Prince Elfangor, [[spoiler: finally, FINALLY gets his awesome moment of crowning and is named a Prince himself and becomes a hero of his people.]]
** It was a very, very proud moment for this troper.
* In the ApprenticeAdept trilogy by PiersAnthony, Stile ascends from the status of a serf to being a fabulously wealthy aristocrat. This happens just into the third novel rather than at the end, but it still fits the trope.
* In L. Frank Baum's original book of ''TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' The Scarecrow takes the Wizard's place ruling over the Emerald city because the Wizard said so, the Tin Woodman gets asked by the Winkies to lead them and eventually accepts; and finally, the Lion becomes King of a forest full of animals when he defeats a GiantSpider.
* In ''The Marvelous Land of Oz'' the protagonist, a boy called Tip is crowned ruler of Oz. This is because he is revealed to be [[spoiler:the rightful ruler of Oz, Princess Ozma, [[GenderBender transformed into a boy when a baby]], and Glinda forces the witch Mombi -- who transformed him to begin with -- to turn him back into a girl]].
* This occurs slightly differently in ''TheBelgariad'' and ''TheElenium'' by DavidEddings- in each, the main character becomes royal (Garion of ''TheBelgariad'' becomes King, Sparhawk in ''TheElenium'' is Prince-Consort) at the end of the penultimate book in the series (or possibly the beginning of the last one), before going off to kill an evil god using their magic rock.
** Also, Garion's crowning causes a BigNo on the part of his queen-to-be.
* DavidWeber's Dahak series has two. The first comes in the first book when Dahak promotes Colin MacIntyre to be his new captain. Talk about CoolStarship. He later promotes himself to Governor of Earth. The second one comes about mid-way through the second book. Senior Fleet Captain MacIntyre needs Battle Fleet's main computer to give him info on remaining ships. The only way to accomplish this is by replacing the 45,000-years-dead emperor. Eight words. 'Nuff said.
* ''Magician'', the first book of Raymond E. Feist's ''TheRiftwarCycle'', ends with an unusually tense one. Lyam and Arutha, both noble sons, find themselves with a FieldPromotion after the King, their own father and every other noble standing between them and the crown die in battle (actually that was it - the only other person between them was their uncle who died of a prolonged sickness before then. The complication comes when it is revealed that [[spoiler: their father's chief ranger, Martin Longbow]] is their father's bastard son and, by virtue of his age and their father's deathbed acknowledgment, the rightful heir to the throne. This at a time when the country is already on the brink of civil war and half the nobles are looking for any excuse not to acknowledge the named heir (Lyam) for political reasons.
* In both the book and movie of {{Neil Gaiman}}'s ''{{Stardust}}'', Tristan Thorn is revealed to be [[spoiler:heir to the throne of Stormhold]]. However, in the book he [[spoiler:hands the kingdom to his mother until after he's traveled the world with his lady love...twice]], while in the movie [[spoiler:he becomes King]].
* Averted in Terry Goodkind's ''Wizard's First Rule'', the first book of SwordOfTruth. Richard kills his father, Darken Rahl, but doesn't know about the family connection. Everyone bows down before him and salutes him as Lord Rahl, and he just kinda figures that it's a thing of respect or something and takes his leave, muttering "I'm just a woods guide."
* In a bit of {{backstory}} that's never directly portrayed in any of Robert E. Howard's stories, ConanTheBarbarian, on his ''first day'' after arriving in the kingdom of Aquilonia as a drifting mercenary, beheaded the king in his throne room, took his crown, and declared himself king. The people ''rejoice'' at his ascension.
* At the end of Barry Hughart's ''{{Bridge of Birds}}'', the Princess of Birds is restored to her rightful place when her crown - with the feathers of the Kings of Birds back in place - is placed on her head, thus allowing her to summon the birds to create the titular bridge that will return her to Heaven.
* At the end of CSLewis's ''[[{{Narnia}} The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe]]'', ''all four'' Pevensies are crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia. This is actually a plot point, as there was a prophecy saying that once the two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve sit on the throne at Cair Paravel, the White Witch's endless winter will end.
* In Lois Lowry's ''Messenger'', the 'sequel' to ''TheGiver,'' it is indicated that [[spoiler: Jonas, the hero of ''TheGiver'', is somehow made Leader of the new Community, despite having just been a thirteen year old kid on a sled when he arrived]].
* In George R.R. Martin's ''A Game of Thrones'', the first volume of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'', Viserys finally gets the crown he's been badgering Khal Drogo for. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for him, it's made of molten gold, is the size of a barrel, and is poured down his throat and all over his face.]]
** Played straight at the end of the same book when Robb Stark reclaims the ancient title of his house and proclaims himself the King in the North (aka The King Of Winter).
* In Ann Maxwell's ''Timeshadow Rider'', the Kiriy of Za'ahrain - the ruler of the planet - is the first person who, upon the death of the previous Kiriy, can survive wearing the Eyes of Za'ahrain, which are effectively a crown that is also a magical artifact used to keep the inherent violence of the people from surfacing in the present time. The Eyes are stolen upon the death of the Kiriy at the beginning of the book, and are pursued by the protagonists (who are the two most likely to survive attempting to wear them) throughout the book, although neither wants the job. Subverted in that when the Eyes are finally retrieved [[spoiler:and the protagonists are facing up to seeing who will be the next Kiriy, their {{Mons}}, sensing that their human partners don't want the Eyes, promptly make the Eyes permanently disappear.]]
* In GarthNix's ''[[OldKingdom The Old Kingdom]]'' trilogy, the long-lost prince is first discovered as a HumanPopsicle, and reluctantly reveals his heritage (he was the bastard son of the ruling Queen and the only survivor of the royal family.) When we revisit the Kingdom fourteen years later, he is definitely King and married to the heroine from Book One. Squee !
* In ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', the crown prince doesn't want the throne at all. [[spoiler:The court jester becomes King when he's finally revealed to be the prince's illegitimate half-brother]]. The twist is, [[spoiler:the crown prince isn't the King's son at all, but the result of the Queen's affair with the jester's father. So they ''are'' half-brothers, but the new King isn't royal at all.]]
** Later played closer to straight in ''Discworld/{{Lords and Ladies}}'', which ends with Magrat marrying the king as planned, after almost running out and then saving everyone from TheFairFolk. Made especially awesome by the ceremony; [[spoiler:after the elf invasion, the only suit left for the king was his old jester's outfit, while the bride wore the tattered remains of her wedding dress over the fearsome spiked plate armour she wore during her [[BigDamnHeroes rescue of the kingdom]], and the king waited to get Granny Weatherwax's approval before physically crowning Magrat]].
** In another part of the Disc entirely, averted thus far, where even though ''everyone'', even people who haven't been to the city since before Carrot arrived, knows he's the rightful heir to the throne, he hasn't been made king yet. Even better, both [[spoiler: Vetinari]] and [[spoiler: Carrot]] know that [[spoiler: Carrot]] is the rightful heir to the thrown and could actually take over in a heartbeat, '''if''' he wanted to. The main issue seems to be that he has an objection to people following him simply because of that reason, and Vimes made the valid point that there numerous problems with the term 'rightful'. After all, they got rid of the kings and never invited them back, presumably all his antecedents for 300 years were rightful too, just not narratively appropriate.
** To go along with the previous example, this trope has been perhaps been [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] the best in ''[[Discworld/GuardsGuards Guards! Guards!]]'' [[spoiler:the FakeUltimateHero that the wannabe ManBehindTheMan wanted crowned for 'defeating' of the dragon was eaten by said dragon during the coronation, and the citizens decide to crown the ''dragon'' as king since, well - they still had the crown, and 'still needed a king'. When the dragon was made to leave later in the book, they went back to the Patrician, mainly because the real heir refuses to acknowledge the fact he is the heir]]. Not that it didn't stop further attempts at crowning in future books.
** Although it's rather clear that TerryPratchett LOVES to make fun of this trope, he plays it relatively straight in ''Discworld/{{Mort}}'', where the {{Not Quite Dead}} Princess Keli bullies her faithful wizard into organising a coronation for her, which (due to unfortunate circumstances involving an elderly priest, a warp in the space-time continuum and an elephant) he ends up having to conduct himself, placing the crown on her head and ceremoniously chanting ''Iplaybetterdominoesthanyoudo' - which seems to have the desired effect!
* Aragorn in ''TheLordOfTheRings'' was the true heir to Isildur, but could not ascend to the throne of Gondor until after Sauron was defeated.
* At the end of TadWilliams' ''[[MemorySorrowAndThorn Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]'' {{doorstopper}} trilogy, [[spoiler:Simon Snowlock is crowned King]].
* At the end of Howard Weinstein's StarTrekTheOriginalSeries novel ''The Covenant of the Crown'', the rightful heir proves her identity to the crown's guardians by putting on the crown and successfully controlling the crystals set within it. (This was in effect a SecretTestOfCharacter arranged by her father.) The [[ReturnOfTheKing actual coronation]] on her home planet is also shown later in the epilogue.
* At the end of PatriciaCWrede's ''Shadow Magic'', Alethia is crowned queen of Alkyra largely because she had managed to survive wearing the crown (a long-lost magical artifact), and was acknowledged as the rightful heir when she had done so. Afterward, she defied her advisors by insisting on marrying the man she wanted, and on being crowned in the middle of Starmorning Field where everyone could see her rather than making enemies by picking and choosing attendees for a smaller site.
* {{Bone}}: Thorn, taking [[ReturnOfTheKing her rightful place]] after the royal family had previously been exiled by a war and the kingdom usurped. Oddly enough, the usurper [[RedHerring never had to be dealt with]], having died at the beginning of the climactic battle.
* Subverted in ''[[ForgottenRealms Elminster: Making of a Mage'']]. Elminster Aumar is the last rightful prince of the Stag Throne. After wresting it from his uncle, the Magelords standing behind the throne and apparently an [[spoiler:undercover [[HalfHumanHybrids malaugrim]] riding evil [[DragonRider dragon]]]] playing puppetmaster, Elminster gives the crown away to the last faithful knight of his father's throne before riding off into the sunset.
* In the ''EaCycle'' Atara (who became a Chiefess earlier in the last book) is crowned the Queen of Alonia and Valashu (who became a "plain" King earlier in the last book) the High King of the whole world.
* The last chapter of the fourth book of the Empire of Man (or PrinceRoger, after the main character) series, co-written by DavidWeber and JohnRingo. It's also a good example of a [[ChekhovsGun Chekhov's Gun]], since Prince Roger starts out in the first book as a [[RoyalBrats Royal Brat]].
** The scene in question can also can serve as a TearJerker, in regards to the fate of Empress [=MacClintock=].
* ''WarriorCats'': No actual crown involved, but Firestar's leadership ceremony would probably count.
* Lampshaded in Gerald Morris's ''Parsifal's Page''; The titular Parsifal gets crowned mid-beginning of the story, which leads to the main character -Piers- commenting on how that sort of thing wasn't supposed to happen until AFTER the story ends.
* No crown involved, but in ''TheWheelOfTime'', Egwene gets a good one after she [[spoiler: reunites the tower, and becomes Amyrlin for the whole Aes Sedai. Immediately after, she makes a speech telling the sitters that they're a disgrace for allowing Elaida to nearly destroy them all.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* BattlestarGalactica - Laura Roslin forces herself to be just about the only calm person in the room when she takes the oath to be President of the Twelve Colonies ''while'' said colonies are being nuked into oblivion.
* [[DoctorWho The Doctor]] gets elected as President of the High Council of the Time Lords (for the second time, having no memory of the first case in "The Invasion of Time") at the end of "The Five Doctors". He accepts, gives temporary authority to Chancellor Flavia and leaves in the TARDIS. He gets said position taken from him at some point between that and "Trial of a Time Lord".
** Romana also ends up as President of the High Council, according to {{Fanon}} and/or ExpandedUniverse continuity.
** Harriet Jones ends up Prime Minister after "World War Three".
** Nicely subverted in "Tooth and Claw", however, in which the Doctor and Rose are knighted by Queen Victoria for their services to the Crown... and are then immediately banished from her realm, their flippancy about the horrific events that had taken place there (which had bordered on callousness at times) having so offended Victoria that once they're gone she orders the founding of the Torchwood Institute to make sure they don't return, which ends up biting them big time later on down the track.
*Colonel Jack O'Neill gets promoted to General and is put in charge of the whole Stargate Program in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}.
**Likewise, Samantha Carter, who started the show as Captain, eventually reaches full Colonel and is given charge of the Atlantis Expedition on ''StargateAtlantis''.
* In ''{{Babylon 5}}'' Delenn of the Grey Council gets this quite a few times. First, being elected to the Grey Council when she used to be in Lennier's position. Second, she pointed out that Minbari rules on Civil Wars meant that to prove you had the MORAL high ground, you had to SET YOURSELF ON FIRE! And die. Her opponent wasn't willing to do so. She was. She lived anyway thanks to a Heroic Sacrifice, and became unquestioned Queen of the Minbari. (Abdicated) Later, she became President of the Interstellar Alliance.
** In between, she was offered leadership of the Grey Council, which she refused. G'Kar also refused a similar posting after the Narn rebellion.
** [[spoiler: Londo Mollari]]'s coronation as Emperor had almost an entire extremely depressing episode devoted to it.
** And don't forget [[spoiler: Sinclair]], who was promoted from Commander to Ambassador to [[spoiler: [[strike:God]] whoops, that would be Ivonova's title ]] over the course of the show.
** Also subverted with Sheridan becoming President of the Interstellar Alliance. After having the oath of office interrupted by ''two'' assassination attempts, we end up with
-->'''G'Kar:''' Do you want to be President?
-->'''Sheridan:''' Yes.
-->'''G'Kar:''' Put your hand on the book and say "I do".
-->'''Sheridan:''' I do.
-->'''G'Kar:''' Fine. Done. Let's eat.
* In a very literal example, the first episode of ''{{Kings}}'' ends with David being appointed as God's new chosen one by a flock of butterflies that settle on his head in a crown. Really.
* In ''TheUnit'' series finale, Colonel Tom Ryan becomes a [[FourStarBadass Brigadier General]]. But it is obvious that he was somewhat forced into accepting the promotion.
* Octavian/Augustus gets a terrifying one at the end of the series ''{{Rome}}'', even though most of the characters don't realise what it really is.
* A humorous and somewhat pathetic version of this happens in the live action adaptation of ''{{I Claudius}}'': in the chaos after Caligula's assassination, a few members of the Praetorian Guard finds Claudius hiding behind a curtain, and immediately proclaim him Emperor. This is not out of any particular loyalty to Claudius, but because they want to keep their jobs, which they tell Claudius to his face. They put a crown on his head and start celebrating over Claudius' stammering protests.
-->'''Claudius''':I don't w-want to be an eh-heh-hemperor! I w-w-want a ''re-puh-puh-public!''

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

* This is the traditional ending to {{WWE}}'s "annual" ''King of the Ring'' tournament. Of course, this being wrestling and all, they're not really being crowned king of anything, but simply being honored in a faux-coronation ceremony for winning the tourney. This doesn't stop most of the {{Heel}} winners from snapping and starting to behave as if they actually ''were'' the king of something.
** This generally involves feuding with Jerry "The King" Lawler, who had used the gimmick in Memphis for decades previous to his entrance in WWE/F.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Professional Sports ]]

* Many sporting events have something similar to this for its winner. The event would be styled as 'King of the X' or something with 'Royal' in it. Often the winner ends up with a cape, crown, and throne for promotional photos.
* The Olympic medal ceremony. All of them. Ever. Unless you're Michael Phelps. Phelps got a lot of flack in the international press for being disrespectful during some of his medal ceremonies. The footage of him ''stretching his legs on the gold medal podium'' ticked off a lot of people.
** Well, if you were wearing all eight gold medals while waiting for the National Anthem to be finished, you'd be stretching your legs too.
** There was also the famous event of the gold and bronze winners (Tommie Smith & John Carlos) of the 1968 200 m relay doing the Black Power salute at the medal ceremony. That was, in this troper's opinion, considered far more shocking than Phelps' leg stretch.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* At the end of the first two ''Suikoden'' games, the hero is offered the leadership of the country they've just liberated/formed. They don't usually accept. (Riou can become the leader in II, but the 'true' ending has him leave.)
* Happens in the AdventureGame ''[[KingsQuest King's Quest]]: Quest for the Crown''.
** And in again in ''King's Quest 6: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow'' when [[spoiler: Prince Alexander becomes King of the Land of the Green Isles]] at the end of the game (in both endings, even).
*** As well in the Fanmade VGA remake of the second King's Quest by Webteam AGI, it features a flash forward with Connor from Mask of Eternity, where Graham, heirless, bequeths his throne on him.. Or not. It's playable.
* ''Five'' of the playable characters end up as kings/queens at the end of ''FinalFantasyIV''.
** Four of them make perfect sense (two were already princes and the sole surivors of their families, one was the highest-ranking survivor of a kindgom whose king died with no heirs, and one married one of the new kings), but the fifth was rather strange. He is the highest ranking soldier in his kingdom, and is well respected. He would be a shoe in for the kingship if there were an empty throne and no heir. The only problem: the king ''isn't dead.'' In fact, he is clearly visible during the ending, apparently having abdicated the throne for no explained reason.
***According to [[http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Cecil_Harvey this page]], Cecil was the adopted son of the deceased King of Baron, which is why he became King of Baron at the end. The King of Fabul stated in the SNES version of the game that he was too injured during Baron's attack on Fabul to continue being the king, and that is why he abdicated and named Yang as his successor, if I remember right.
* Arguably subverted in ''[[OgreBattle Tactics Ogre]]'', where you have to allow some pretty bad things to happen during the course of the game in order to get crowned king at the end - and then you get a bad ending!
** Namely, [[spoiler:someone rushes your coronation and shoots you. Whoops.]]
* Though s/he doesn't get made a king, the scene in ''MassEffect'' where Shepard is ''finally'' inducted into the Spectres fits beautifully, complete with a combination of a rousing and inspirational speech with epic heroic music.
** Shephard DOES, however, get to [[spoiler:''make'' a king if s/he plays hir cards right. In at least one ending, Humanity is invited to add a representative to the Council, a group of only three (now four) which hold apparently absolute authority over ''all of civilization.'' Shephard, having just saved said civilization, is asked to "advise" the process. Hir "nominee" immediately makes his stirring acceptance speech]].
*** It's even more majestic, in a dark, chilling way, when Shephard is a Renegade [[spoiler: after sacrificing the the Council, leaving humans as the Masters of the Universe.]]
* SonicTheHedgehog gets proclaimed as King Arthur in the ending sequence of ''Sonic and the Black Knight'', much to his incredulity. He proceeds to run off back to his own dimension before anyone has the chance to get him to do anything bureaucratic.
*Subverted in ''{{Warcraft}} III: Frozen Throne'', where Arthas crowns himself as the Lich King.
** Not to mention the scene after his transformation to a Deathknight, where he simply stabs his father to take over the throne. Not that he has much interest in breathing servants...
** No literal crowning, but by the end of ''{{StarCraft}} Brood War'' Kerrigan has established herself as undisputed overlord of the Zerg.
--->'''Kerrigan''': [[CrowningMomentOfAwesomeVideogames You see, at this point... I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe.]]
* The Dark Side ending to ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has the main character being hailed as the ''true'' Dark Lord of the Sith to the cheers of Bastila and the Sith army.
** The Light Side ending isn't too bad, either, as you're hailed as a champion to forever be known as The Prodigal Knight.
*** Which is kinda hilarious, [[YouKeepUsingThatWord if you know what prodigal actually means]].
* In FireEmblem 7, [[spoiler: the ending involves the crowning of either Eliwood as Marquess Pherae (in Eli's route) or Hector as Marquess Ostia (in Hector's)]]. Also used in FireEmblem 6, which [[spoiler: includes in the epilogue mentions of Roy's friend and protegée Princess Guinivere becoming Queen of Bern after her older brother Zephiel's death]].
** And ''The Sacred Stones,'' and ''Path of Radiance,'' and... you know what? Let's just assume that Fire Emblem games end with an AwesomeMomentOfCrowning by default.
* Subverted in [[DragonWarrior Dragon Warrior 3]]: after defeating the ''very first boss'', you are presented with the option of becoming king. Once you are king, however, you can only walk around the castle: no weapons, no armor, no magic, no leaving... making this also a modified [[NonstandardGameOver Nonstandard Game Over]] (though it can be reversed by talking the old king back into his job.)
** Arguably subverted in the original Dragon Warrior as well, wherein the BigBad offers the protagonist the chance to rule half the world. However, if the player takes this path, the would-be Awesome Moment of (Evil) Crowning becomes an irreversible [[NonstandardGameOver Nonstandard Game Over]], in which not only is the protagonist killed but some have said that the entire save file is deleted.
* The [[spoiler:canon ending that the player can choose]] in {{Aveyond}}. What happens is [[spoiler:that Rhen is actually the long lost princess of Thais and chooses to go take responsibility and do her duty as queen]].
* ''Bubble Symphony'' aka ''BubbleBobble II'': After beating the TrueFinalBoss, which you need [[PlotCoupon Plot Coupons]] to reach, the four children are seen to have been crowned in a similar way to four other children in ''The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe''.
* In the end of the first DestroyAllHumans Crypto becomes the President of the United States for a decade or so.
** And in the third game [[spoiler:Orthopox, now with a monkey body has ascended to the Furon Throne, becoming Emperor Orthopox after Crypto kills Meningitis and The Master, who was planning to ascend the throne himself.]]
* SamAndMax has Max becoming the President of the United States, beating a giant statue of Abe Lincoln. He hasn't lost this job... Yet.
* At the end of the second ''QuestForGlory'' game, the childless Sultan adopts you as his son, making you his heir.
** The ''entire'' fifth game revolves around this. And you can become king. Or give up the throne to the next in line, and have Elsa be queen. [[MultipleEndings Or be king and marry her and have her as a queen.]][[TrafficCones Or give up the throne to her and become her... Man...Queen?]]. [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Or marry the belly dancer.]][[OverlyLongGag Or.. You know never mind. I'm sorry.]]
* The "bad" ending of BloodOmenLegacyOfKain had the titular character become Nosgoth's new Vampire ruler, at least till the sequel/spinoff.
* In LordsOfTheRealm, when you defeat all the other Lords, you're greeted with a sequence where the Archbishop formally presents you with the Crown of England. He's supposed to be walking up the aisle of a church (or a court?), but the sequence is animated so fast and there's only one frame of animation, so it looks like he's rolling up to you on a skateboard.
* A common (and effective) strategy in Rome: Total War, where you can go into the "family tree" and name your greatest general as faction heir. Considering the faction leaders get all kinds of bonuses, the AwesomeMomentOfCrowning inevitably leads to a few in-game chances at a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for the character, as seen in many an AfterActionReport.
* In ''Aidyn Chronicles'': The First Mage, this is shown to occur after the end of the game. [[spoiler: Likely subverted since Alaron is the illegitimate son of the King.]]
* ''{{Gradius}}'' 2 on MSX: The ending states that for his brave efforts, your pilot is promised the throne to planet Gradius in the future.
* Laguna in ''FinalFantasyVIII'' becomes the President of Esthar because of his [[strike:insane]] brilliant plan to depose Sorceress Adel. Subverted in the sense that a) we don't actually get to see it happen, and b) it happens somewhere in the middle of the game rather than at the end. Though it could be considered the end of Laguna's story, since he doesn't get any more playable parts and he's more or less relegated to background character status after that.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* Subverted (or possibly averted) in [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0170.html this]] OrderOfTheStick strip. Durkon rightly becomes King of the Bandits, but gives it up.
** Also subverted as the characters chit-chat during [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0412.html Hinjo's crowning]].
*[[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0010.htm This early]] ''ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' strip, and [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0949.htm this somewhat later]] one.
* A rare villain example: at the end of the ''SluggyFreelance'' story arc "That Which Redeems," Lord Horribus's [[TheWoobie much abused]] [[EvilGenius sidekick]] Psyk is crowned the new Demon Lord after Horribus is cast out.
-->'''Psyk''' ''(now Lord Psykosis)''''':''' "Fellow demons and demonesses ... ''I ROCK!''"
* The "Ninja Emperor" arc of ''Sam and Fuzzy'' has been screwing around with this A LOT. First Sam doesn't want to be crowned but he's being dragged into it by Blank and opposed by Black, then we meet Gertrude who really ought to be getting crowned and resents the crap out of Sam because he has a semi-legitimate claim and she doesn't, then we find out that Blank doesn't want Sam, he just wants ''somebody'' to validate the command structure while Black wants to tear it down, then oh just read it. I swear. Crazy.
** Although Sam's actual crowning as the new Ninja Emperor isn't particularly awesome, his [[http://samandfuzzy.com/archive.php?comicID=919 first decree]] is definitely his [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment of Awesome]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

*''LifeInAGame'' has one, [[spoiler:[[http://www.lifeinagame.com/pages/episode72.html when Subplott finally regains his throne.]]]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Subverted in ''{{WITCH}}'', when Elyon's AwesomeMomentOfCrowning is actually a trap to allow Phobos to steal her power. After Phobos is defeated, however, Elyon gets a real one.
* The ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'' GrandFinale has [[spoiler:Azula's coronation as the new Fire Lord interrupted by Zuko and Katara's arrival]]. Later, [[spoiler:Zuko gets one, where the tells the people that as Fire Lord, he assures the people that the war is finally over, and he will help the nations recover]].
* Combined with what is listed as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome in ''[[TransformersGeneration1 The Transformers: The Movie]]'', where [[TheStarscream Starscream]] tries to get himself crowned leader of the Decepticons and [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption finally succeeds]], only to have the reborn Galvatron fly in and shoot him.
* Parodied in ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "That's Lobstertainment!" contains a movie-within-a-show. The film, The Magnificent Three, is a story about a son (the Vice-President of Earth) not wanting to follow in his father's (the President of Earth) footsteps. At the end, the president dies.
---> '''Aide'''(played by Zoidberg): Congratulations, Mr. President!
---> '''VP'''(played by Calculon): [[BigNo NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....]]
** Also used in "My Three Suns", when Fry gets crowned emperor of the Trisolians because he drank their previous ruler, and has to recite his new lineage or DIE. He makes it, and then gets embroiled in a battle to rescue the old emperor.
* At the end of BarbieAndTheDiamondCastle, Liana and Alexa are crowned "Princesses of Music" for defeating the [[VainSorceress villain]] and restoring the muses to their rightful place. Not only that, their '''dogs''' get crowned, as well.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Truth In Television ]]

* After the Revolutionary War, GeorgeWashington was offered the position of King. Averted, obviously.
** His heir was apparently going to be John Adams, which makes sense because Adams, unlike Washington, actually ''had children.''
*** Ironically, Washington became the first President, and was succeeded by Adams, whose eldest son John Quincy eventually became President.
** Realistically, an "aristocracy of merit" is the usual proposed model that the US would have followed had Washington accepted the idea and became "King George I of America", with each king hand-picking his own successor from among those most qualified as opposed to a simple patrilinear model of inheritance. The Nervan and Antonine Emperors of Rome followed a similar method (and are considered some of the greatest Emperors Rome ever had because of it), adopting their heirs by virtue of their political and military skill as opposed to simple blood relation. Though the Roman system only lasted for about 80 years, and was broken when Marcus Aurelius named his son Commodus his heir (as seen in heavily altered form in the movie ''{{Film/Gladiator}}''), it is traditionally considered to be the Golden Era of the Roman Empire.
* And before Washington there was Oliver Cromwell, leader of the Parliamentary forces in the English Civil War (or rather, head of the army from 1650 onwards, ''after'' the first and second civil wars and the execution). After executing Charles I and exiling Charles II, parliament decided in a fit of unintentional irony to offer the crown to Cromwell (actually it was 7 years later, long after he had removed that parliament and called a new one). In the end he was just made Lord Protector Of England (17th century speak for "president for life"), an absolute ruler with only slightly less authority than King Charles had held. More, actually, since unlike Charles there was nobody left to argue with him.
** He wished, its just they had no chance of actually resisting by force as unlike Charles he had a standing army (who were the ones who told him in no uncertain terms he better not accept the crown). Although Cromwell was never actually crowned, after he refused the 2 offers of the kingship when he had already been Lord Protector for 4 years, there was a lavish ceremony confirming his status after the new Constitution was agreed upon which included lots of royal imagery and he was called his highness. If the army hadn't been dead set against it, him taking the throne would probably have helped those behind the revolution stay in power as Cromwell would have enjoyed far wider support as King.
** When Richard Cromwell decided Lord Protectorship was hereditary, the army twigged that they had a King-by-any-other-name. Incidentally, this is why there's a Royal Air Force, Royal Navy, and Royal Marines, but ''not'' a Royal Army; the British Army is an organizational descendant of Cromwell's men, not tied to the crown directly.
*** Actually Oliver designated Richard his successor, and everyone knew this, because he was trying to have a ruler who could balance the army and the civilian politicians, something only he had been able to manage (and even then not without difficulty). Unfortunately Richard was not a soldier and thus lacked the necessary pull with them, meaning they did not so much get angry he was in charge but that he did not work with them well, and he could not control them. The army split down the middle, removed Richard, and brought about its own downfall as the unity under Oliver was the only thing that kept the wildly unpopular army powerful. Before someone thinks this is superfluous, it thus lead to the AwesomeMomentOfCrowning of Charles II
* Napoleon's coronation culminated in his taking the crown from [[ThePope Pope Pius VII.]] and crowning himself. He was just that good.
* Wilhem I was already King of Prussia at the culmination of his Prime Minister [[MagnificentBastard Otto von Bismarck]]'s political machinations, but at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian War, the German states, having systemically smashed France, leading to a republic and the fall of Napoleon III, decided that Germany needed to pick up on the "Emperor" slack this caused. They crowned Kaiser Wilhelm (no, not [[WorldWarOne that Kaiser Wilhelm]]) in the Palace of Versailles, just to let the French know that they had been owned pretty hard.
** Wilhelm, King of Prussia, was proclaimed German Emperor Wilhelm I by acclamation in the Versailles palace. There was no formal imperial coronation, nor an imperial crown, because the emperor ruled over both Catholic and Protestant Germans, who hardly would have agreed on how to carry out a coronation. Also, the notion of self-coronation was unacceptable just because Napoleon I had done so; the Germans of those days did not like what the French Empire had done to their lands. The constitution of the German Empire stipulated that the King of Prussia automatically would serve as German Emperor.
* Anybody who wins a major election, a recent and great example being the historic inauguration of President [[strike:David Palmer]] BarackObama.
* Anyone who wins an AcademyAward, especially after having been passed over. Consider StevenSpielberg, a four-time nominee who finally won for ''SchindlersList''.
* Ukrainian weddings involve bride and groom wearing and swapping symbolic crowns for portions of the ceremony. It's really cool to watch.
** As well as any other Orthodox weddings.
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