Written by Tanya Huff and originally published in the anthology If I Were An Evil Overlord in 2007, in this short story an evil queen proves far more competent, intelligent and pragmatic than most evil overlords, though no less ruthless. Since its original publication, it has been reprinted in other collections.
Examples:
- Aerith and Bob: The main character is Arrabel, with her son Danyel and loyal assistant Wallace. Then you have other names such as Palatat.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: Queen Arrabel has two princesses of a recently conquered kingdom in front of her. She tells the dark-haired one that the young woman will marry the queen's son and the two will rule the conquered kingdom together. The woman flatly refuses, and gets a blade to the neck for her trouble. The queen then turns to the blonde princess, who seems profoundly unsurprised by her sister's death, and presents her the same offer; the young woman shrugs and takes it. The queen later states she doesn't expect her son to live long after the princess gives birth. She's perfectly fine with that; the princess's track record during the invasion proves she is a far more competent heir.
- Disappeared Dad: Queen Arrabel's husband, father of her son Danyel, is dead when the story starts. At one point in the story while looking at a mule she thinks how it reminds her of him (he was equally stubborn and stupid to judge by her comments).
- The Empire: The story portrays a well-maintained, organized and competently led empire, all thanks to a Queen who very clearly has the Evil Overlord List memorized (the story plays it for a comedy, with some direct references to the list).
- Enlightened Self-Interest: The evil Queen Arrabel builds hospitals and schools for her citizens, as this makes her very popular and less likely to be assassinated. It also enables her to influence what the kids are taught, and who gets to be healed.
- Evil Overlord: Queen Arrabel is the ruthless monarch of an empire, enough that she'll set up her own incompetent son to get killed, yet is also smart and realizes everyone loathing you will undo any ruler. Thus, she is ruthless though also generous with her subjects and even likes that the more competent heir to a conquered kingdom could succeed her after killing her own foolish son, explicitly dodging everything on the Evil Overlord List.
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Queen Arrabel is highly competent, beloved by her people, treats her staff well... and is utterly ruthless to her enemies (and her friends, if she had any). She's the type of person who wears understated, sensible clothing while her son wears flashy, extravagant uniforms because she knows who the assassins would instinctively aim at. And then she marries him off to a neighboring country's princess (the sole survivor from the royal family), the Queen expecting that the princess will quickly produce an heir, following which the prince is likely to have a fatal accident. Not that she minds, as she thinks the princess has the right stuff to inherit the job of Queen.
- Honor Before Reason: The story starts as a Hero tries to challenge Prince Danyel, son of the evil Queen Arrabel, to a winner-takes all duel which can settle their conflict. Arrabel promptly has him killed by a Rain of Arrows since he stands right out in the open seemingly not expecting her action because he acts so honorable.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Queen Arrabel is ruthless enough to encourage her not-very-bright son to wear some highly decorated bright uniforms while she wears something more subdued (because who will an assassin instinctively aim at?) but makes sure her people are well-educated (at government schools with an approved curriculum), employed, have a good medical system, knows many of her troops by name and rewards them for good work and initiative, and when she conquers a new territory has most of the defeated nobles' property distributed among the lower classes of the conquered country and immediately starts infrastructure programs to help improve their lives. She even allows the odd dissident to make public speeches against her reign, giving her an excuse to remind the "oppressed citizens" that she's made their lives much better. And letting them beat up the troublemaker. She even encourages this-in the story itself one of these dissidents is an actress in her pay. Giving a speech in front of a hospital.
- Propaganda Machine: Queen Arrabel's gotten most of the bards on her side singing her praises now by giving them many benefits, has lots of schools which indoctrinate children into loyalty toward her, and a recruiter who's very skilled at instilling devotion among her troops.
- Signed Up for the Dental: The evil Queen Arrabel is genre-savvy and provides numerous health benefits for her obedient subjects to invoke this trope.
- There Was a Door: The royal family is barricaded behind a magical door. The invading empress orders her men to tear down the wall instead. Apparently no one ever puts anti-entry spells on the walls.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Queen Arrabel is the head of an aggressive empire that ruthlessly conquers others and spreads itself. She orders people killed with a mere gesture (including a princess who refused to marry her son), kills off heroes trying to stop her, and is quite willing to have her son be a target for assassination instead of her. However, since she provides universal education and health care, a sound economy, a healthy population, and employment training, and doles out praise and rewards when it's earned, her people and army absolutely love her.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: Queen Arrabel is well aware that her son is not up to her standards of being a monarch and is a romantic idiot. After the conquest of a neighboring kingdom, she notices that the youngest princess (and sole survivor) of the deposed royal family has a very practical frame of mind and quickly agrees to a marriage to Arrabel's son. The princess is the sole survivor because she convinced her two brothers to launch a failed suicide attack on Arrabel during the family's last stand and arranged for her older sister to be killed. Queen Arrabel cheerfully expects that her son will suffer a tragic accident very soon after their first child is born, making the daughter-in-law the new heir to the throne, and is quite pleased with the thought of now having a competent successor. She's also quite careful not to eat any food given to her by her new daughter-in-law.
