Awesome Moment Of Crowning / Live-Action TV

• The Legend of Xiao Chuo: Xian gets two: when he's first declared emperor in episode fifteen, and when he arrives at the palace in episode sixteen.
• Moon Lovers: Wang So gets one in episode seventeen.
• The Rise of Phoenixes: Ning Yi gets one in episode sixty-eight when he becomes Emperor of Tiansheng.
• The King's Woman: Ying Zheng is already king, but his coming of age ceremony in the first episode and arrival to hold court in the second are dramatic enough to count.
• General and I: Chu Bei Jie and Bai Ping Ting get one in the final episode when they're crowned Emperor and Empress of Jin.
• Ice Fantasy: Ying Kong Shi gets one when he becomes King of Ice Tribe. When Ka Suo becomes the next king he also gets one.
• Buffy Summers gets one in Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Prom". Being given the Class Protector Award qualifies as a crowning.
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine:
  • After two seasons as a Commander, Benjamin Sisko is promoted to Captain and in an added touch of heartwarming/awesome, his own son pins on his fourth pip on his uniform and is the first to address him as "Captain Sisko."
  • After killing Gowron for being a screw-up, Worf makes General Martok the new Chancellor of the Klingon Empire.
• In Battlestar Galactica, 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 aboard a spaceliner — all while said colonies are being nuked into oblivion. Roslin's oath was purposefully modeled after another real-life "end of a reign"—that of President Kennedy's assassination in 1963, specifically, the photo of the swearing-in ceremony of Lyndon Johnson, surrounded by reporters, aboard Air Force One.
• In Doctor Who, 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 The Trial of a Time Lord.
  • Romana also ends up as President of the High Council, according to Expanded Universe continuity.
  • Harriet Jones ends up Prime Minister after "World War Three".
    • Yes, we know who she is.
• Colonel Jack O'Neill gets promoted to Brigadier General and is put in charge of the whole Stargate Program in Stargate SG-1.
  • Immediately after his address to the SGC staff as their new leader, he turns around and announces the promotion of Major Samantha Carter to Lieutenant Colonel, because as the boss, he's allowed to do "cool stuff like [that]".
• 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.
  • Londo Mollari's coronation as Emperor had almost an entire extremely depressing episode devoted to it.
  • 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 (Not entirely sure but-): Yes.
    G'Kar: Put your hand on the book and say "I do".
    Sheridan: I do.
    G'Kar: Fine. Done. Let's eat.
  • Subverted (though it takes some time to realize it) with president Clark's swearing in as the President of the Earth Alliance. Like the Battlestar Galactica example above, based on the photograph of Lyndon Johnson, complete with Santiago's wife in the background in the same spot as Jackie Kennedy.
• 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 The Unit series finale, Colonel Tom Ryan becomes a 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!
• Claudius' coronation as Emperor was given a similar treatment in the last episode of The Caesars; following Caligula's assassination, Claudius hears the Praetorian Guard approaching and ducks behind a curtain. He is quickly found and pulled to the centre of the room, where he prostrates himself in terror... only for the guards to shout, "Hail Caesar!" The final scene shows the still bewildered Claudius wearing a laurel wreath and receiving his first audience as Emperor.
• The 10th Kingdom also has an interesting subversion: the crowning of King Wendell goes off with all the pomp and circumstance you could hope for, with tons of rich courtiers and royals in attendance, a panoply of gorgeous decorations and architecture, and a final speech just prior. But not only does the royal toast which follows this end up seemingly killing all the guests, but it isn't even really Wendell being tested or crowned, it's the Evil Queen's dog under a spell. There is, however, a genuine version of the trope later when, after the heroes have saved the day, they're all given medals and other rewards.
• Uther in the 1998 mini-series Merlin after Vortigern is defeated.
• The 2008 television series Merlin:
  • There is a Flash Forward to Guinevere's crowning.
  • Three episodes into the fourth season, Arthur has just been crowned King. For real.
  • At the end of the fourth season, Guinevere is crowned Queen. Also for real.
• Glee, of all things, has this in it's prom episode. No, really. Six words: "Eat your heart out, Kate Middleton"
• Game of Thrones:
  • At the end of the first season, Robb Stark's is made all the more badass by not involving a crown at all. Instead, his bannermen and certain Riverlords at Oldstones proclaim him THE KING IN THE NORTH! In the same episode, Daenerys proclaims herself the new leader of the khalasar after Drogo's death, which most of her Khas and the majority of the Lhazareen she'd rescued go along with the next morning with near-mythical reverence when she (the last Targaryen) rises completely unscathed from the ashes of Drogo's blazing funeral pyre after an all-night incubation period with three newborn dragons.
  • Five seasons later, after retaking Winterfell from House Bolton, in spite of his bastard status, the Northern lords, the Wildlings and the Knights of the Vale all proclaim Jon Snow as the new King in the North, the White Wolf.
  • Earlier, "The House of Black and White" has another one when Jon literally becomes "Lord Snow" upon being elected Lord Commander.
  • Cersei Lannister also gets a somewhat troubling one of these when she is crowned queen and sits upon the Iron Throne. Particularly dark because she takes the crown upon the death of her last child Tommen, who commits suicide after he witnesses the Great Sept of Baelor exploding with his wife inside — and it's his own mother Cersei who blew up the sept and inadvertently prompts Tommen's suicide with this action.
  • Daenerys has another one at the end of Season 3 outside Yunkai, where legions of freed slaves exult Daenerys as a nearly god-like figure reminiscent of the Holy Mother and affectionately dub her 'Mhysa' on top of being their liberator.
  • She eventually claims command of all the Dothraki khalasars in Season 6 through religious awe and the small matter of decapitating the leadership of every gathered horde; reuniting them as her husband did and proving herself the strongest there.
  • Euron Greyjoy is elected as the newest King in the Iron Islands following the Kingsmoot. His crowning ceremony involves being literally drowned and later crowned as king after surviving.
  • The series finale gives us two: the High Lords of Westeros, by acclimation vote, declare Bran Stark the new King of the Seven Kingdoms... or rather, the Six Kingdoms, as the North is finally given its independence, with Sansa being crowned Queen in the North by her bannermen. It is also implied that Jon just walks away from the now-nonexistent Night's Watch to reunite with the Free Folk he grew to love and become the next King Beyond the Wall
  • Given a rather dark spin at the end of "A Golden Crown", in which Viserys, who has been pissing and moaning all season up to that point about regaining the throne his family lost, finally receives the "crown" he's been wanting... but in a way that is far from how he wanted it. Specifically, by Khal Drogo, who has finally run out of patience with his antics, pouring a pot of molten gold over his head.
• House of the Dragon:
  • Rhaenyra is proclaimed heir to the Iron Throne by her father King Viserys I in an elaborate ceremony, with all the major lords and ladies of the realm swearing loyalty to her.
  • When Viserys dies, the Greens execute their plot to crown his oldest son Aegon as king instead of Rhaenyra, and hold a coronation ceremony in the Dragonpit. Unfortunately for them, Rhaenys and her dragon Meleys interrupt the ceremony by tunneling from underneath the floor, killing dozens of onlookers and briefly holding the Greens at her mercy before escaping out the door.
• Richard IV's coronation in the last episode of The Palace.
• JAG: In the Pilot Movie, when Harm regains his wings, pinned on his chest by the brother of the RIO who died in the accident which had him grounded before he joined JAG. While not a crowning per se, it plays out much the same way.
• Anne Boleyn's coronation was treated this way by King Henry, her family, and a select few members of the court on The Tudors . The rest of England is less than thrilled.
• During the Season Three finale of Arrow, Malcolm Merlyn ascends to the role of Ra's al Ghul in the League of Assassins after Oliver gives him the previous leader's ring. Only time will tell if this ascension is going to greatly hurt Oliver.
  • In Season 4, Oliver corrects his mistake by removing Malcolm as the head of the League, and makes Nyssa Ra's instead. And then inverted, her awesome moment comes when she burns the ring and disbands the League.
• The Magicians (2016): Invoked. In season 2, when everyone (except Penny) become the kings and queens of Fillory, Quentin insists on doing a simple ceremony, since it's kinda important. Eliot was planning to just plop the crowns on their heads without fanfare.
• The Shannara Chronicles:
  • In season 1, after it is revealed that King Eventide died several episodes earlier and has been replaced with a changeling, the spy is dealt with and Ander, Eventide's surviving son, is crowned. Ander does need some encouragement from Allanon to actually go through with it, though.
  • In season 2, Lyria is crowned in the last episode after the Warlock Lord is defeated. Her mother had died several episodes prior and everyone had already been calling her the queen, but this made it official.
• In The Crown (2016), these and the people so honoured tend to be portrayed Warts and All:
  • Elizabeth's coronation takes place after the abdication of her uncle and the premature death of her father, when she personally would have avoided the whole thing, and shows her own carefully controlled trepidation at becoming Queen. Played with in that more importance is given to the anointing with holy oil rather than the actual placing of the crown on the Queen's head.
  • Philip's coronation as Prince is arranged at his insistence, solely to give him a prestigious enough title to force British nobility to take him seriously, and is marked by his smug Death Glare at the assembled peers whom he's being elevated above.^note There's a bit of license taken here; it's true that there was a question of whether Philip was properly a "Prince" during the early years of Queen Elizabeth's reign, and if so what he was a prince of (John Diefenbaker in particular wanted him to be titled a "Prince of the Commonwealth"). It also seems to be true that Philip had a bit of a bee in his bonnet about this issue, and that some British snobs held it against him. However, the vindictiveness of the portrayal in the show seems to be an exaggeration of what actually happened.
  • In Season 3, Prince Charles is formally invested as Prince of Wales. He takes the fact that he’s delivering part of his investiture speech in Welsh (which nobody in the Palace speaks) as an opportunity to say some things about the Welsh desire for national expression (in itself just barely avoiding taking a potentially explosive political stance) in a way that also serves as a jab at the ways he feels ill-treated by his family.
• The White Queen:
  • In Episode 2, Elizabeth Woodville is given a lavish coronation as queen consort.
  • Episode 8 closes with a joint coronation for Richard III and Anne Neville.
• The series finale of The Outpost ends with Talon being proclaimed Queen at the outpost right after her and Garret's wedding.
• Shadow and Bone: Subverted at the end of season 2. Supporting protagonist and heir to the throne Nikolai is crowned at the end of the season in what should be a triumphant and hopeful moment for the characters and their country, but it's undermined immediately with the revelation that Nikolai has some form of shadow magic left in his body, to say nothing of the terrorist that violently attacks the ceremony.

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