A stock image across many forms of media. The best way to show that the ruler of a country is powerful, decadent, hedonistic, and/or comfortable within their power is to show them reclining on their throne or another lavish piece of furniture.
For kings, sultans, emperors and other rulers, they're often portrayed as being surrounded by servants while
being fed grapes or cooled by giant fans, all the while with a very troubled/bored expression. For women, this tends to get taken
Up to Eleven, usually with the female reclining on something like a sofa, futon, or bed
while wearing next to nothing.
Some rulers will even
travel on a litter so that they can continue this look when on the move.
Although not exclusive to villains, they are the most common form of the trope, since
Evil is Cool and
Evil Is Sexy.
Sister Trope to
Slouch of Villainy and
Super Trope of
Grapes of Luxury.
Compare
Idle Rich.
Not to be confused with
Reluctant Ruler.
Examples:
Anime & Manga
- Don Achino in the One Piece anime. He's quite chubby and is content to just lie on his sofa thing. He is very competent in battle though.
Comics
- The Mighty Thor: Hela
◊ has spent thousands of years making this trope into an art form. Mee-rowrrr!'
Film
- The Wind and the Lion. When the U.S. Marines break into the Bashaw's palace, they find him lying down on a couch smoking a hookah. Watch it here.
- Most Caesars are depicted this way. Dom DeLuise in History of the World Part I does it.
- Cleopatra is quite often depicted in this manner.
- Jabba The Hutt from Star Wars. Then again, as a slug-person, reclining is pretty much all his species does.
Film - Animation
Video Games
- Virtually everyone in Skyrim reclines when sitting on a throne, excluding certain models of the player character (though most version do) and Jarl Elisif the Fair.
Webcomics
Western Animation
- Futurama: Hedonism Bot takes this to its logical conclusion: he's built into a sofa.
Real Life
- Truth in Television to some extent: Romans ate their meals/banquets on reclining couches, as depicted in many works set during the Roman Empire (I, Claudius comes to mind).
