The Good King / Literature

• 1066 and All That classifies English monarchs as Good Kings or Bad Kings. The first Good King was either King Alfred or Good King Wenceslas; "it is not known, however, what King Wenceslas was King of."
• Adventure Hunters: Because he shares the narrative, the reader can see that King Reyvas truly cares about his people and is simply driven to extreme measures to provide for them, thus making him a Well-Intentioned Extremist.
• The Adventures of Strong Vanya: By all indications, the old blind Tsar is popular and well-beloved. He follows the kingdom's laws, even those ones which he does not like, and is willing to pass over his crown to someone trustworthy. When Vanya questions a farmer's son's ability to rule a kingdom, the old Tsar assures him that a good ruler needs a good heart rather than blue blood.
• The Apprentice Rogue: Artamos feels horrible about giving into his feelings for Leona because his king is such a benevolent and trusting guy.
• Babar, the famous king of the elephants, is known for being a noble, wise, and hardworking Honorable Elephant who always rules with the interests of his subjects in mind.
• Bardic Voices: In The Lark and the Wren, Rune and Talaysen are disturbed to find that their new apprentice, Jonny Brede, is really the son of the old king of Birnam. Six years ago, Jonny escaped the coup that killed his father and put his father's brother Rolend on the throne. Rolend has now sent assassins to find and kill his nephew, the escaped prince. However, when Rune and Talaysen investigate further, they find that the old king was cruel and a spendthrift, wasting the kingdom's wealth on high living for himself and his cronies. King Rolend is a good man who is working hard to rebuild the Kingdom and its people. He sent the assassins only to make sure that the lost prince couldn't be used by his enemies to foment another coup, and he hated the fact that he had to do it. When Jonny renounces the throne in a convincing-enough way, Rolend gladly calls off the assassins.
• Eon in Belisarius Series. Later Kungas too, though Kungas was a bit more grim and ruthless than Eon. Rao as well by being married to Shakuntala.
• The Chronicles of Narnia:
  • Brothers Peter and Edmund become Good Kings after the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, with their sisters Susan and Lucy becoming High Queens. However, this is mostly an Informed Ability, as we barely see any of their reign.
  • Caspian tries hard to be the Good King. He mostly succeeds, but has several brief moments of weakness during The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Again, Aslan seems to consider humility an important part of being a good king: when he crowns Caspian, he says that if he'd felt that he was ready for the role, it would have been proof that he was not.
  • King Lune lectures Cor on how all the privileges of a King are paid for by being first in battle and last in retreat, and carrying the burdens of an entire country on one's shoulders make being a ruler somewhat a case of being Blessed with Suck. He also shows himself to be both compassionate (showing mercy and cordiality to Rabadash) and a strong leader, fighting at the front when Calormene invades Archenland.
  • King Frank worries about his lack of education, but is assured by no less than Aslan himself that his practical knowledge, humility and willingness to lead by example mean he "will have done all that a king should do".
  • King Tirian, who is A Father to His Men, leads from the front, is compassionate towards Jill in the midst of battle, and never gives up on Narnia, also counts. Aslan Himself praises Tirian for his good leadership.
  • In general, pretty much everyone who's ruled Narnia or Archenland is The Good King or Queen, other than the White Witch and the Telmarines.
• In The Chronicles of Prydain, the land of Prydain is blessed with a number of Good Kings, both The High King who rules the whole country and the less powerful kings of the caers which comprise it. These include Math son of Mathonwy and his heir, Gwydion; King Smoit of Cadiffor; King Rhuddlum of Mona (and later his son, King Rhun); and eventually Taran, the series protagonist, who is proclaimed High King at the very end.
• Codex Alera:
  • Gaius Sextus, despite all his machinations and plotting that causes infighting between some political factions, deeply cares about his people. He lacks many of the classist, racist, and misogynistic tendencies that other nobles have. He will Shoot the Dog but do so with reluctance and hatred for the man who places him in that spot. In the second book, he collapses from exhaustion when trying to defend another coastal city from a powerful hurricane by attacking it without anyone knowing he is trying to help. Come Princeps' Fury when the old man is dealing with a serious issue beyond anything the country has faced, he enters this conversation with a woman who holds no love for the man.
    Isana stared at Gaius for a moment. Then she said, "How can you live with yourself?"
    The First Lord stared at her for a moment, his eyes cold. Then he spoke in a very quiet, precise, measured voice. "I look out my window each day. I look out my window at people who live and breathe. At people who have not been devoured by civil war. At people who have not been ravaged by disease. At people who have not starved to death, who have not been hacked apart by enemies of humanity, at people who are free to lie and steal and plot and complain and accuse and behave in all manner of repugnant ways because the Realm stands. Because law and order stands. Because something other than simple violence shapes the course of their lives. And I look ... at the very few who have had the luxury of living their lives without being called upon to make hideous decisions I would not wish upon my worst enemies, and who consequently find such matters morally appalling when they consider them — because they have not had to be the ones that dealt with them." He took a short, hard swallow of wine. "Feh. Aquitaine thinks me his enemy. The fool. If I truly hated him, I'd give him the Crown."
  • The successor Gaius Octavian aka Tavi is just into the first months of his official rule at the end of the series. Right away, he has issued reforms and declarations that even Gaius Sextus was slow to move on for political reasons. He has brought the three surviving great enemies of Alera in as allies and states within his country, giving each one equal standing as any human citizen. He has abolished slavery and given equal rights to women. He led the armies of a unified human and Wolf-man force to kill the last Queen of the Vord on their soil, dealing the deathblow personally, given a measure of forgiveness to a man who betrayed his grandfather and led to the deaths of many people. His last act in the book with the help of a dying Genius Loci, is to enable all races, not just humans, access to fury-magic and it be learned rather than inherited by bloodlines.
• When Conan the Barbarian becomes the king of Aquilonia after killing the last one he becomes one of these. He institutes religious freedom, lowers taxes, and punishes nobles who mistreat commoners. Whenever Aquilonia goes to war, Conan personally leads his troops into battle rather than having one of his generals do it. True to his barbarian upbringing he is also modest, preferring simple garments (though made of fine fabric) to ornate and garish clothing. Despite some hiccups early in his reign, his people and his armies love and aspire to be loyal to him (in The Scarlet Citadel, they rally to him without delay when he shows up despite seemingly being dead not long before), and one religious sect aids him when he is disposed of in The Hour of the Dragon while stating that he will always be their king for what he did for them.
• A Court of Thorns and Roses: The Court of Dreams love Rhysand for this reason. Rhys devotes his life to making sure they're comfortable and happy, and he also tries to help the girls in the savage Illyrian camps have better standings.
• A Deal with a Demon: Sol is the King of the dragon demons and treats them very well by showing them great care and respect. He only goes into a marriage with a human because a half-human child is granted immense magical power and would help keep his people safe in the future.
• Deltora Quest: Lief grows into this after the first seven books reveal he's the heir to the throne.
  • Adin, the first King of Deltora, is also depicted this way (albeit with minimal detail).
• In the Deryni series, several of the Haldane kings are described or portrayed as being this, with Brion and his son Kelson being the best examples. Javan Haldane and his younger brother Rhys Michael both tried to be good kings, but the influence of their evil regents was too strong to overcome.
• Carrot of Discworld is an interesting version of this trope. He’s the lost-long heir to the Throne of Ankh-Morpork and an embodiment of all the fantastic kingly tropes. While everyone knows or suspects that he’s the rightful king, he doesn't want the job — he's content with being a watchman and he doesn't like that people tend to obey him because he's charismatic rather than because it's the right thing to do. Accordingly, he and Vetinari have an Understanding: Vetinari rules wisely, and so long as he does, Carrot keeps his head down (including destroying any evidence of his heritage), in return for the chance to occasionally make "suggestions". Since these are given rarely and discreetly, more or less exclusively for the good of the city (which both are devoted to), and consequently usually aren't far from what Vetinari tends to be thinking (if with different reasoning behind it), Vetinari doesn't mind.
  • Vetinari himself is the Patrician equivalent of this, being officially a Tyrant, but more practically a fair, meritocratic, and utterly practical ruler who operates on a principle of "ain't broke, don't fix it" - and, crucially, on one of, "if broke, do fix it". He is utterly dedicated to the good of the city, which is part of why he and Carrot have a rather strange Odd Friendship, despite having almost nothing else in common.
  • King Verence II of Lancre is a benevolent and hard-working ruler who, unlike most of his predecessors, takes his job quite seriously. Although well enough regarded by his subjects (albeit with a form of fond condescension), Verence's attempts at modernizing his rustic backwater of a mountain kingdom go almost entirely unappreciated by the people of Lancre, who are unsophisticated but practical rural folk who are more concerned about getting up at 5:00 in the morning to milk the cows than attending parliament. He may not be the most confident ruler, or even successful, since his subjects don't really care about what he's doing for them, but gods know he's trying his best and people do appreciate that much about him. Though it has to be said, they do respect him a little more after he leads a berserk assault on the temporarily captured castle in Carpe Jugulum with nothing but a sword.
  • The current Low King of the Dwarfs, Rhys Rhysson, and Mr. Shine, the Diamond King of the Trolls. The two of whom work together to finally bring peace between their two peoples after millennia of enmity. Of course, with Rhys, Good Is Not Nice definitely applies — the position of Low King is an elected one, and dwarf politics can get very nasty. As Cheery puts it, any dwarf up for the Low Kingship is not going to be the sort who's spent their time caring for wounded animals and singing hi-ho all the time. Mr Shine, by contrast, is much more personally pleasant and quietly charismatic, passing as a King Incognito (albeit via a very large cloak because he is literally made of diamond) and going out of his way to help Brick, possibly the very humblest of his subjects.
  • In Feet of Clay, the golems create another golem with the intent of making him a Good King. He didn't exactly turn out the way they hoped.
• The Divine Comedy:
  • Solomon is said by Thomas Aquinas to be the wisest king in all creation, by virtue of asking God for wisdom in acting out his kingly duties rather than more frivolous academic knowledge.
  • Those who truly ruled justly are rewarded on Jupiter, the sixth sphere of Heaven, where the rulers are so in tune with the other's needs that they move their souls to spell out praises of justice and form a giant eagle that speaks for all of them in one voice. Dante only individually talks to the kings who form one of the Eagle's eyes, including King David, Emperor Constantine, and two pagans who were loyal to God despite that being lost to history and to Dante.
• Dragonvarld: Edward of Idlyswylde is kind, pious and very dedicated to his people. He leaves on a quest to find a means of protecting them against a dragon which has been ravaging the realm with no hesitation, doing all he can on their behalf.
• In Eddie LaCrosse novel The Sword-Edged Blond, King Phillip of Arentia (Phil, to the protagonist) is the popular ruler of a prosperous, peaceful kingdom (which contrasts with much of the rest of the world). This is relevant in determining the villain's motive.
  Eddie: Somewhere out there, you've got one hell of an enemy.
  King Phil: Who? Arentia hasn't been at war for nearly fifty years. The crime rate's lower than it has ever been. We don't even have a death penalty anymore. And I don't mean to sound egomaniacal, but everybody seems pretty happy with the job I've been doing.
• The Grandmother: "Joseph the Emperor" (Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II) gave the Grandmother a coin, which she refers to as a thaler ("tolar" in Czech. The word "dollar" is related). It might actually have been a commemorative coin bearing his image and that of his mother, the Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa, on one of his tours among the common people.
• In The Goblin Emperor Maia aspires to be this, though he is technically an emperor. His habit to care even about those of his subjects who should be beneath his notice causes some confusion. And then there is the pseudo-communist terrorist who approves of his politics. Maia finds the terrorist's methods distasteful, but has to admit that he will improve working conditions in the factories because that's just who he is.
• In Guns of the Dawn, King Luthrian IV of Lascanne is widely adored by his subjects, and his call to arms against invading republican revolutionaries from Denland is well supported. It doesn't hurt that he also has a good amount of Prince Charming about him, being young, handsome, unmarried, and a good dancer — as the protagonist personally discovers. In the end, it turns out that the war which he portrays as a heroic defence was actually the result of his own failed attempt to annex Denland by assassinating its king. He shows no remorse for the countless deaths his scheme caused, even after Denland has won and he's a fugitive. In fact, he has the gall to expect the protagonist to help raise rebellion in his name — instead, she shoots him.
• The aptly-named King Håkon the Good of Norway, as described in Heimskringla. He is mild, just, and generous, but also an excellent warleader who heads his troops in battle and mercilessly crushes Danish sea-raiders. He is so universally admired that, when he is killed in battle by his nephews the sons of Erik Bloodaxe, even they agree that he is the best king that Norway ever had or will have.
• How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Despite the initial struggles he has to face, protagonist Kazuya Souma eventually grows into this. While he's met with a lot of opposition from corrupt nobles, and even has to face an open war with one of the neighboring countries over territories, in less than a year he manages to solidify his position as a kind and wise ruler, pushing the kingdom of Elfrieden out of a political and economical crisis.
• Household Gods: Marcus Aurelius is portrayed as a compassionate, generous, and reasonable man, who will deliberately refrain from indulgences while treating even a common citizen like Umma/Nicole respectfully as he's an ardent Stoic.
• In King Crow, King Cormac is peaceful and kind. The neighboring king, Bregant, is anything but.
• Left Behind: Jesus Christ, when He restores the world after it has been devastated in the Tribulation.
• In Legends of Dune novel from the The Great Schools of Dune trilogy, Roderick Corrino is much more competent and honorable than his older brother Salvador. In fact, many people would much rather Roderick having been born first. Alas, it was the incompetent Salvador who became Emperor after the death of their father Jules Corrino. After Salvador's death, however, Roderick, who has never wanted the job, is crowned Emperor. He immediately sets out to restructure the military and the Imperial court, getting rid of career officers in favor of those, who are actually competent, and insists that the nobles get their hands dirty in the service of the people, much to their grumbling. Unlike his brother, Roderick also makes sure that his wife Haditha is heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the Imperium. He also ends up ending the threat to the Imperium posed by the two extremes: the Butlerian anti-technology fanatics, led by Manford Torondo, and the progressively-minded Directeur Josef Venport of Venport Holdings, a Corrupt Corporate Executive with no moral qualms. At the end, he works out a deal with Norma Cenva to create the politically independent Spacing Guild to provide safe foldspace travel to all the worlds of the Imperium in exchange for the constant supply of spice to her Navigators. This is such a momentous event in human history that a new calendar is established to mark it.
• In The Lost Prince, the kings of the old royal house are remembered in legend as being Good Kings for the most part. When the Rightful King Returns at the end of the novel, there's every sign that he's going to be a Good King himself.
• The Marvellous Land of Snergs:
  • Merse II is constantly throwing parties for his subjects. When Joe and Sylvia go missing for the second time, he undertakes their search in person.
  • On the eve of his birthdays, King Kiul walks through Banrive's streets to talk to the common people and pat children's heads affectionately. It is said his kingdom has thrived during his rule.
• In The Princess and the Goblin and its sequel, The Princess and Curdie, the King (Irene's father) is described as the wisest man in the kingdom, and we are told that "he was a real king — that is, one who ruled for the good of his people and not to please himself."
• Ranger's Apprentice: Duncan is wise, fair, and even willing to look the other way (to a certain extent) when Halt pulls one of his shenanigans. He's also shown to be a good man in general, and a Master Swordsman who leads his armies into battle. However, when it comes to a To Be Lawful or Good decision, he'll always choose Lawful, as he believes that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility.
  • In the sister series Brotherband, Erak is smarter than he acts (though that's not particularly difficult), a fair judge, and knows where he's weak, and gets people he trusts to take care of those issues.
• King Inglis from Reborn to Master the Blade starts the story on his deathbed in the role of The Good King, he was a former mercenary who was crowned due to his heroism and who also had promoted the teaching of magic to the common folk including setting up magic schools. So when he is reborn many eons later as a girl with a desire to just focus on her sword skills, regretting not mastering them in her past life she is startled to realise a lot of her past life's work around spreading the use of magic has been lost.
• The Runelords: Gabon constantly ponders morality and questions himself in a desperate attempt to be one, struggling against the limits of his role as Earth King and with the necessary evil of endowments when pitted against foes who are much more ruthless and rapacious than him. His and Iome's fathers aren't perfect but they live up to it in the end as well. Raj Ahten started down his path to evil with similar good intentions, though tainted by pride.
• RWBY: Fairy Tales of Remnant: In "The Indecisive King", the king is renowned far and wide for being a wise, kind and generous man. People come to him from all over the land to ask for his help in solving their problems. He doesn't turn anyone away. When he receives the grieving widow, who has lost everything, he even lets her stay in the castle for as long as she needs to get back on her feet. When he is given a mystical crown that shows him an insolvable problem, it shatters him. He becomes obsessive, surly and begins making bad decisions until the widow steps in to guide him back to who he used to be. By the time they eventually marry, he is once more regarded as wise and kind, but she becomes renowned for being an even wiser queen.
• In Saga Of The Borderlands of Liliana Bodoc the ruling prince of The Lords of The Sun is generous and compassionate, and very loved by his subjects among other things for reducing the heavy taxes that peasants must pay, and for reducing the frequency with which virgin maidens are sacrificed to the gods. Unfortunately he dies of poisoning and Hoh-Quiú, his brother and successor, is much less compassionate and much less loved by his people.
• The Saxon Stories: Uhtred assesses King Alfred as such, even though he disliked him on a personal level.
  "He saw his life as a duty to his God and to the people of Wessex and I have never seen a better king, and I doubt my sons, grandsons and their children's children will ever see a better one. I never liked him, but I have never stopped admiring him."
• In A Song of Ice and Fire:
  • In general various characters fulfill certain archetypes of good Kingly behaviour. The Conqueror and Young Conqueror (Aegon I, Daeron I, Robert Baratheon, Robb Stark, Daenerys), The Charmer or Charm Person (Renly, Robert, Viserys I), and the Rebel Leader (Robert Baratheon, Robb Stark, Stannis, Daenerys I). In most cases it becomes clear that the conventional image people have of these characters are just that, images. Renly gives this image but comes across in private as a sleazy treacherous character and is happy to starve hundreds of thousands of people and kill his older brother so he can usurp the throne. His elder brother Robert Baratheon, whilst being generous and kingly in image is actually someone who uses the office for the pursuit of wine, women, and song and is far suited to battle than peacetime. Likewise, Stannis Baratheon is painted as an Evil Overlord and potential tyrant, but his "tyranny" amounts to clearing out corruption, building a more centralized Kingdom, and meritocracy. He also fulfills the Equal-Opportunity Evil trope in fantasy by welcoming Wildlings and other outsiders into his Kingdom as equal subjects. Also many of the people who criticize Stannis and oppose him (Littlefinger, the Tyrells, Renly, the Lannisters, Varys) are shown to be very corrupt and self-serving. Robb Stark and Dany, both being Young Conquerors, have a hard time bluffing away their genuine inexperience and spend a lot of time trying to hide the fact that they are both in over their heads. No matter which persuasion they are, all of them have blood on their hands, have executed people, and fought wars that have hurt innocents.
  • In the backstory, among the Posthumous Characters who have sat on the Iron Throne, those remembered as good are Aegon I, Jaehaerys I, and Baelor the Blessed. Aegon I and Jaehaerys I are both remembered as the greatest Targaryen kings; one established the dynasty and its basic institutions, the other consolidated it and presided over a golden age by a series of diplomatic masterstrokes: he put the Faith on a leash, got rid of the right of First Night, brokered a truce between Feuding Families, built roads, won a war without losing a single man, and developed a proper sewage system. Baelor the Blessed is considered a good king because of his religious piety which made him popular among the people, while the more educated nobility remember and regret his political mistakes and his propensity for Book Burning; he was not a bad king, but he did make some bad decisions (to the point that Tyrion calls him Baelor the Befuddled) and is mostly remembered fondly because he was highly religious. Aegon V, Aegon the Unlikely, was remembered quite fondly as well, mostly thanks to the influence of his boyhood protector Ser Duncan and his attempts to provide rights to the smallfolk, but this, coupled with the actions of his children, made him unpopular with the nobility and on his death, his reforms were undone by the Hand of the King Tywin Lannister who became popular among the same nobility, but disliked by the smallfolk.
  • The ultimate definition of a good king comes from the Working-Class Hero Davos Seaworth (who was raised to nobility by Stannis): "There is much I do not understand, I have never pretended elsewise. I know the seas and rivers, the shapes of the coast, where the rocks and shoals lie. I know hidden coves where a boat can land unseen and I know a king protects his people or he is no king at all." Stannis comes round to this way of thinking eventually.
  • Historically there have been other examples. Garth VII "Goldenhand" Gardener is known as this in the Reach. He defeated many of the Reach's enemies, ruled for 81 years, and brought three-quarters of a century of peace to the Reach, under which it truly flourished.
• The Sword of Saint Ferdinand: By all accounts, King Ferdinand III is a reasonable, wise and measured monarch, traits which have made him popular among his subjects.
• The Way of Kings (2010): The ancient king Nohadon mentioned throughout the Stormlight Archive series was a key figure in helping humankind on Roshar survive a disaster that caused its near-extinction, as well as later in life during peaceful times disguised himself as a commoner and travelled alone from one end of the continent to the other on-foot with little-to-no belongings, and documented his experiences as well as lessons learned in his book-within-a-book also titled The Way Of Kings. This book was an integral part in Dalinar Kholin's reformation from a Blood Knight and tyrant into arguably the only decent ruler (or man) among his peers, years before the first book in the Stormlight series takes place.
• Tortall Universe: Jonathan of Conté wanted to be this since the beginning; at the end of the first book, he says that his usurping cousin has done the kingdom a favor by sending him into danger because people will think twice before they take on a prince — or a king — who can defeat demons. As a grown man, he works toward reforming his country's laws to prevent abuse of power by his nobles. While he's a fairly good king, he's not necessarily a nice person, who can often be stuck-up, arrogant, and commanding even to his closest friends. Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan in particular is very critical of him. In response, he tells her about The Chains of Commanding.
• Tamar Anolic's Alternate History novel Triumph of a Tsar portrays Tsar Alexei II as this, in contrast to his father Tsar Nicholas II. While Alexei acknowledges that his father and mother were loving parents and absolutely devoted to each other, he is also keenly aware of his father's mistakes in utterly ignoring the Duma and refusing to listen to his capable ministers, and vows not to make the same mistakes.
• Tolkien's Legendarium:
  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • The Appendices say that Aragorn and Éomer became this for Gondor and Rohan respectively, after the One Ring is destroyed and the Age of Men began.
    • Théoden, before falling under Saruman's spell, was very much a Good King. Once he recovers, he leads his people to Helm's Deep to protect them from Saruman's army.
    • The Elven Lord Celeborn of Lothlórien (despite not actually being King, at his own decision) definitely also fits the trope. He and his wife Lady Galadriel as a Ruling Couple have made Lothlórien a peaceful, safe, and prosperous place to live for the local wood-elves for millennia. He also leads his people into battle against armies of Orcs numerous times, most notably when he and Galadriel capture Dol Guldur and destroy the source of its corruption after the War of the Ring.
  • The Hobbit: King Bard of Dale is also described as being a good King, rebuilding Dale, and being in good relations with the Dwarves of Erebor as they re-established their Kingdom.
  • The Silmarillion: Finwë leads the Noldor Elves to Valinor. Most of the Kings of the Noldor serve as this, though Finwë's oldest son Feanor is certainly not.
  • The Fall of Númenor: Elros Half-Elven, the First King of Númenor, seems portrayed as a very good King. After ruling for 410 years he willingly gave up his life. This counts for most of the Kings of Númenor... except towards the last centuries, whereupon they became evil conquering overlords.
• The Tough Guide to Fantasyland: Good kings are down to earth types, who can be discerned by the fact they don't hoard wealth or abide by elaborate ceremonies and have a plain-spoken manner.
• Trapped on Draconica: King Alister of Britannia to contrast the Evil Overlord Gothon. His goodness is more indirect than others on this list: he has four superpowered daughters, and three of them decided to become superheroes due to their upbringing. The fourth wanted to be a superhero to earn his affection and attention, but only caused trouble and so she fell to evil.
• Victoria has Czar Alexander, who is such an unusual variation as a Good Emperor (though also a king — that is what "czar" means, after all, and he fits this type far closer than that of a regular The Emperor). He is a military leader, but also a ruler who cares about his people, and has (for example) made cleaning up environmental damage from the old Soviet Union a major priority for his government.
• After some unfortunate missteps in his youth, Emperor Gregor of Barrayar in the Vorkosigan Saga qualifies, being intelligent, conscientious, and completely committed to using his power to build a fairer and more peaceful society on a collection of frequently war-torn planets. He also has the "soft-spoken" part down-pat, although Gregor never raises his voice — when he gets angry, it very much manifests as Tranquil Fury.
• Firestar, the main character in the first series of Warrior Cats, becomes this after becoming leader of ThunderClan. He comes to be regarded as one of the greatest leaders who ever lived and gives up his ninth life to save the Clans.
• King Peter from The Well at the World's End doesn't wage war or oppress his citizens, and he isn't as wealthy as he could be because he keeps taxes low. Ralph also becomes this at the end of the book after Peter abdicates.