The Good Kingdom

Last Rule of Politics: Kingdoms are good. Empires are evil.

— Rule 133 of The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Clichés

The Empire is evil. The Federation is generally good, often neutral and occasionally evil. The Kingdom, on the other hand, is almost always good. That being said, the Kingdom will typically be an ally of the good Republic fighting an evil Empire.

Often very small, sometimes just a single city-state or a Bright Castle with a few outlying villages, but it often has wealth or power beyond its size, usually because of large natural deposits of precious metals or Green Rocks, sometimes as a result of some form of Applied Phlebotinum. (May be somewhat larger in a Feudal Future.) Often containing large stretches of the Ghibli Hills and Arcadia, punctuated by the Shining City.

The Good Kingdom is the Damsel in Distress of nations, almost always being the one to fall under a witch's curse or be invaded by The Empire. Usually the standard setting for Fairy Tales, and when it's not, will often look as if it came out of a fairy tale anyway, even if it's in a sci-fi setting. If a kingdom is doing something evil, the king has most likely been deposed, or brainwashed, or replaced with an evil duplicate, or hasn't been paying enough attention to the Evil Chancellor's extra-curricular activities with the troops. Remember, a kingdom is only pure if the "true" monarch is in charge. The Evil Prince is not a "true" monarch, nor is the Puppet King, or the queen if she is cruel. Yet The High Queen will be serene and wise.

Any self-respecting Kingdom has a princess. She is usually benevolent and loved by the citizens, as well as gorgeous, of course and is commonly The Hero's love interest. Unless The Hero is, himself, the heir to the throne or a young and probably deposed king trying to save his own kingdom — in these cases, he will likely either marry a princess from another royal line or uplift a kindhearted peasant girl into an honorary princess.

One of the most common forms of Magical Land.

Curiously, writers (even particularly liberal ones) generally portray kingdoms as good and benevolent despite being absolute dictatorships. Perhaps it's because kings, officially owning literally everything, are difficult to bribe since they already own whatever you're trying to bribe them with. On the other hand, modern portrayals often hew closer to (modern) Truth in Television by showing the monarchy as more ceremonial while elected officials run the actual government.

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Examples:

Anime and Manga

• ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Dept. takes place in Dowa Kingdom. It is less of a fairy tale story, though - it is about government agency workers, most of whom are over 30, and the titular 13 districts include ones that bear striking resemblances to modern Manhattan and Paris. The heir-to-the-thone business is present, though, as is the beautiful princess loved by everyone - and the Royal Brat with his eyes on the throne...
• Later Mobile Suit Gundam entries like the notion:
  • The Sanc Kingdom in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (princess: Relena Peacecraft).
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED has Orb Union (princess: Cagalli Yula Athha). And Kingdom of Scandinavia as well (princess: Lacus Clyne. not really, but close — Clyne family is related to Scandinavian royalty)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 has Azadistan (princess: Marina Ismail), a very thinly-veiled Expy of Iran, which was The Good Kingdom in Real Life until fairly recently. Azadistan is a deconstruction, since it's really anything but peaceful or homogeneous. They conquered Kurdistan years ago, look down on Kurds or outsiders of really any type, are home to a boatload of religious extremists. The country soon descends into civil war, with the idolized princess being quite ineffectual, and has to be saved by the Gundams.
  • In fact, the original Mobile Suit Gundam's Republic of Zeon started off sort of Kingdomish (Princess: Artesia Sum Deikun). Once it was taken over and renamed into a Principality by Zeon Sum Deikun's Evil Chancellor and his family, though, it moved rapidly towards The Empire.
• Fleed from UFO Robo Grendizer -one of the Mazinger Z series- fits into this, in spite of being the entire planet. Benevolent monarch? Checked. A prince who is also The Hero (Duke Fleed) and a Princess (Maria Grace Fleed)? Checked. Princess has a romantic relationship with one of the heroes Kouji Kabuto? Checked. Ghibli Hills surrounding the Shining City? Checked. Invaded -and conquered- by The Empire? Checked.
• Windbloom from My-Otome.
• Altea in GoLion (princess: Fala).
• Lupin III: The franchise occasionally uses this trope, but none are as easily described as Miyazaki's first feature film. The Castle of Cagliostro was a dutchy; a small kingdom ruled by a Duke. The duke and his wife died in a large fire, while his daughter was at a religious convent. The Count was in a different castle and now rules as regent. He plans on marrying Clarisse to become regent-for-life and discover the secret to the Cagliostro kingdom.
• The Kingdom of Forland in Murder Princess (princess: Alita Forland).
• Fanelia and, to a lesser extent, Asturia in The Vision of Escaflowne. No princesses in Fanelia, sadly, but much of the action of the series involved the king fighting off The Empire so he can take the throne. Asturia is a pawn of The Empire under the old king but has a plethora of princesses, and as soon as one gets married and a clear line of succession is restored, they pull a Heel–Face Turn. Despite being a Duchy, Freid might almost count, although things don't turn out too well for them; the new ruler is not the heir by blood right and they wind up conquered by and ultimately cooperating with The Empire.
• The Valley of the Wind in the anime version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Though not surrounded by Ghibli Hills, it keeps some points for being the film that kick-started Studio Ghibli in the first place.
• The Pretty Cure franchise has the Garden of Light, the Land of Fountains, the Palmier Kingdom, the Sweets Kingdom, Major Land, Märchenland, and the Trump Kingdom. Several more appear in the movies.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi has the Kingdom of Ostia (princess: Arika Anarkhia Entheofushia of Vespertatia), a Floating Continent which, according to the back story, was stuck in the middle of a war between the Hellas Empire and the Confederation. It was later destroyed in order to save the Magical World from the plan of the Nebulous Evil Organisation, and as a result, its princess was used as the scapegoat due to the displacement of its inhabitants.
• A few of these pop up in Pokémon: The Series.
  • One two-part episode came with all the trimmings, including an Evil Chancellor trying to usurp The Good King, as well as a beautiful princess for Ash and his friends to protect.
  • Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew takes place at an ancient castle ruled by a beautiful queen. The kingdom's backstory tells of how a brave knight sacrificed his life to stop a war.
• Panzer World Galient: The Kingdom of Arst was a peaceful, idyllic, ancient country, ruled by a benevolent monarch. It was conquered by Marder's army in the first episode. It had no princess -unless you count Chururu after hooking up with Jordy-, but it had a queen (Felia) and a prince (Jordy).

Comic Books

• The Marvel Universe is full of examples:
  • Wakanda is an African absolute monarchy ruled by the Black Panther. It is one of the oldest nations on Earth and one of the most advanced.
  • Dr. Doom's Latveria often fluctuates between this and an attempted Empire.
  • Atlantis, ruled by Prince Namor/the Sub-Mariner.
  • Attilan, the largest and oldest Inhuman settlement on Earth (and sometimes the moon), is ruled as an absolute monarchy.
  • The Asgardians (as well as most other Earth-connected pantheons of gods) acts as an absolute monarchy ruled over by the most powerful god in the pantheon known as the sky father/mother. Elsewhere in the 10 (formally 9) realms there are the Frost Giants, Fire Demons, Dark Elves, Light Elves Dwarves and Angels also exist within monarchies, as do the dead who did not earn a place in Valhalla and are thus instead sent to Hel ruled over by the god queen Hella.
  • Several of the primitive tribes and nations in the Savage Land are kingdoms.
  • The Mole Man is the king of Subterrania and rules over the moloid natives.
  • Deadpool's ex-wife, Shiklah, is the queen of the underworld which turns out to be a subterranean kingdom of monsters and supernatural beings who have taken refuge under New York City.
  • There are many Kingdoms among the diverse nations of Weird World.
  • Sky Island, a floating island populated by an Inhuman offshoot subspecies called Bird-People, are ruled as a monarchy by the old Golden Age hero Red Raven.
  • Each of the various Hell Lords and gods of death control their own realms of death as their own personal kingdom.
  • All of that is before you consider extraterrestrial kingdoms (such as the Kree and the Skrulls) and extradimensional kingdoms (such as Annihilus' Negative Zone and the non-616 versions of many of the above).

Fan Works

• A Crown of Stars: In this story, Shinji and Asuka travel to the Empire of Avalon, a state that spans a chunk of The Multiverse, ruled by a -real nice- family of gods. King Daniel and Queen Rayana are benevolent, well-meaning, and pretty amicable, and they genuinely try to help people and made good for their subjects. It is also mentioned several times that Avalon has many enemies that are constantly threatening its borders.

Films — Animated

• The setting of much of the Disney Animated Canon, especially Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Subverted in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs because of the Queen. Agrabah is technically a Sultanate, but it has elements of The Kingdom as well, especially once that little Evil Vizier problem was taken care of. Arendelle, inspired by Norway, from Frozen falls under this category. Queen Elsa accidentally thrusts Arendelle into an "Eternal Winter". At the end, she manages to thaw the Kingdom.

Films — Live-Action

• Naboo in Star Wars (Queen: Amidala/Padme), which portrays this despite being a planet. Planetville in action, folks. The Naboo monarch is elected by popular vote, and serves terms of four years.
• Druidia from Spaceballs (Princess: Vespa) is also a planet kingdom, and one with its own enclosed atmosphere.
• The Danish Olsen-banden movies tend to take place in such a version of Denmark, with the title gang of bumbling sympathetic petty criminals often foiling the plans of villainous international capitalists, thereby saving the entire country.
• In Scanners, the MegaCorp ConSec fills this role, recruiting the heroic drifter Cameron Vale to neutralize the diabolical saboteur who has sworn a vendetta against them. Making them a weapons corporation is part of the film's elaborate plot to make us not really care about the stakes; the movie aims less for mere entertainment and more for making you uncomfortable.

Literature

• The Star Kingdom of Manticore from David Weber's Honor Harrington series. The Applied Phlebotinum that makes this work is the Manticore Wormhole Junction, which allows the Kingdom to become massively wealthy through the sheer volume of trade the Junction supports. In the later books, though, it got subtly subverted by the fact that first the Star Kingdom of Manticore itself finally discovers joys of imperialism (Word of God has it that its name is now the Star ''Empire'' of Manticore), and second that the previous Empires are now either more or less good guys or fair game for them.

• The Old Kingdom in Garth Nix's Old Kingdom books. It has no other name, which fits as it is magically kept in Medieval Stasis in contrast to its neighbor to the South. And if the rightful rulers are not present, the Kingdom will fall into disrepair.
• Discworld:
  • Subverted in the city-state (and former kingdom) of Ankh-Morpork. Despite being a City of Adventure and frequently a geographical Damsel in Distress, it is ruled by the Patrician Havelock Vetinari, since the line of kings ended ...messily, and as they assert in Guards! Guards!, you'd be hard-pressed to find an eligible virgin amid its masses, let alone a pretty princess. However, it does have a wise, just, and benevolent Fisher King who keeps the peace, saves the city, and shapes it to his will. He'd just much rather you thought of him as that nice policeman Captain Carrot.
  • Played a little straighter (though not much) with the kingdom of Lancre, which is highly magical, presided over (currently) by a good and just king and queen, and actually ruled by a rather democratic mob of witches (who are in turn bossed about by Granny Weatherwax). Well, the royalty in Lancre don't actually do anything; their job is to look official, the peoples' jobs are to politely ignore the royalty and get on with whatever they happen to do with themselves, and the thing in charge is actually the land itself.
    • King Verence of Lancre in fact tried to make Lancre more officially democratic by creating a parliament... Which most citizens promptly ignored because they viewed it as the king trying to pawn his work off on them.
• Andor in The Wheel of Time fits this trope perfectly. Except for the bit about a Queen in charge being a bad omen ... Yeah, and it ain't that small, being about the size of medieval empires.
• In the story "The Eternal Champion" by Michael Moorcock, Erekose is summoned to help the human kingdom of Necranal, which is at war with the Eldren. At first, it is played straight, but as the story progresses, Erekose finds this trope becoming subverted with the human kingdom, with Fantastic Racism having a much larger role in the war than expected. It turns out to be played straight with the Eldren kingdom.
• The land of Osten Ard in Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn has several political regions based on various Fantasy Counterpart Cultures, but the most typical of this trope is Erkynland, modeled strongly on Medieval England and home of The Hero, Simon. It rose to domination of Osten Ard on the strength of King Prester John's prowess in battle and remains there through the present time of the story. In contrast with the typical use of the trope, the majority of human nations in Osten Ard are mundane, but they are built on a land steeped in magical powers that humans only vaguely comprehend.
• This trope is almost certainly why the area governed by Big Bad Galbatorix in the Eragon books rules an empire.
• Valdemar from Heralds of Valdemar is a benevolent kingdom established through peaceful and voluntary absorption of its neighbors, with apparent near-equality of genders and a guiding principle that "There Is No One True Way." Their monarchy is upheld by an order of Heralds with divinely-sent Companions to preserve its peace and goodness and deal with scheming nobles and asshole commoners alike. That said, Closer to Home features an Internal Deconstruction of the trope. Even when working as intended, the aristocracy of the Good Kingdom is still an aristocracy, inherently built on class and gender stratification that often traps women into the role of wife or victim, and the law against forced marriage is so weak that even the Monarch (who is himself a Herald and thus incorruptible) sometimes forces people into marriage by royal decree.
• Mercedes Lackey's Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms are, well... fractured fairy-tales in exactly that setting, with enough variety built in that there will always be a beautiful princess, a tyrannical king, a scheming chancellor, etc. available whenever The Tradition requires one.
• In the Skolian Saga by Catherine Asaro, the Skolian Imperialate is the Kingdom in the books which take place after Spherical Harmonics, in which the Ruby Pharaoh overthrows what is nominally Her Majesty's Government in a military coup and resumes direct rule. This is a rare case of the Kingdom being called an Empire. Indeed, even before the events of Spherical Harmonics, the Skolian Imperialate is not The Empire — it is The Federation. Ironically, The Empire of the Skolian Empire series calls itself a "Concord".
• Star Wars Legends subverts it with the Hapes Consortium. The Queen Mother Ta'a Chume (Hapes is a matriarchy) and her son Isolder first show up as potential allies (and in-laws, to Leia) in The Courtship of Princess Leia, but throughout the book, it becomes clear that Hapes is heavily corrupt and that Ta'a Chume is an active participant in the Decadent Court, having her elder son, his fiancee, and Isolder's fiancee all killed because she thought they were unworthy heirs. Things improve under Ta'a Chume's eventual daughter-in-law and successor Teneniel and her daughter Tenel Ka, but it still isn't a nice place.
• Tolkien's Legendarium:
  • Thorin's cousin Dain becoming King Under the Mountain again, and Bard becoming King of Dale are both seen as very positive accomplishments in The Hobbit, with a return to prosperity and order in the region.
  • In The Lord of the Rings, Gondor is a kingdom-in-exile. The line of kings there died out about 1000 years before The Hobbit, and since then its fiefdoms have been ruled by the Stewards, making it a combination of this and The Federation. The good news is that the last Princess of Gondor managed to marry the last King of Arnor, their fellow Successor State to the Kingdom of Númenor, and it is from this line that Aragorn, Chieftain of the Rangers of the North, descends from. The title of the last book (The Return of the King) indicates how Gondor turns out.
  • Rohan is a more pastoral kingdom that still has its king, but is in a bad shape at the beginning of The Two Towers thanks to Evil Chancellor Grima Wormtongue poisoning (both literally and figuratively) King Théoden. Fortunately, the king recovers after Grima is cast out and Rohan goes on to play a major role in saving Gondor.
  • As shown in The Silmarillion, the kingdoms of the First Age of Arda were all Elven Kingdoms; humans only pop up in the last few centuries and remain in a very primitive state.
• Barrayar in the Vorkosigan Saga calls itself an empire. However, it is only composed of three planets, and it is in many ways closer to this than to being an empire. It has a fairly compact government and is only a medium-sized state by galactic standards, lacking the sprawl characteristic of both The Empire and The Federation, as well as the spectacular tyrannies of many variations of The Empire. Moreover while it has a Secret Police and a Decadent Court, both of these are rather toned down and are far less sinister than many variations of this trope; at least they are since Aral's Regency.
• The Kingdom of Delain in Stephen King's The Eyes of The Dragon. The undetected cancer in its body is the evil ageless magician Flagg, whose machinations through the centuries have caused repeated disaster and turmoil in what might otherwise have been a peaceful land.
• In the Lafayette O'Leary series: Artesia is a small, once-happy kingdom, threatened by an outside conqueror known as Lod. While Lod isn't exactly a representative of a mighty Empire—he's closer to a bandit than an Emperor—Artesia is small enough that he remains a serious threat. Especially since he has his own dragon.
• A Practical Guide to Evil: This is the story of the Kingdom of Callow, nestled between the Principate of Procer and the Dread Empire of Praes, down to being known for its knights, plucky orphan heroes, and frequently being ruled by Good Kings/Queens. Like its neighbors, it plays with its national trope and deconstructs it in multiple ways:
  • At the start of the story, Callow is a backwater defined by being an unwilling stomping ground for larger powers, whether Praesi invasions or Proceran crusades. It is dirt poor from constant warfare and its only true strategic resources are food and horses. Its nobles, while nowhere near as bad as the Praesi Highborn, are still a drain on society, and Callow’s rights for the common people pale to those of Procer. It nurses deep grudges against its neighbors as a cultural coping mechanism, blinding it to any chances to learn from them or build lasting peace. When plucky orphan Catherine Foundling is given an opportunity to change that story, she takes it: by becoming The Squire to the Black Knight of Praes, a Villain Protagonist enforcing the twenty-year-long Praesi occupation and the peaceful stability it provides.
  • However, the first alternative Cat finds—ruling over Callow as its charismatic warlord and villainous Black Queen after leveraging her leadership in putting out military fires across Callow—also proves untenable. She gets Callow the power it needs to sit at the table with Procer and Praes, but without legitimacy beyond her streak of military victories it can't actually be respected at that table. Cat also realizes that even if the nobility aren't a great institution, they're still an institution—and both Cat and Black kneecapping a wellspring of diplomatic talent and learning hobbled Callow's ability to actually establish legitimacy.
  • Cat eventually realizes she needs to step down when the war is done, finding someone better to rule the kingdom in peacetime: she's a talented warlord, but she knows that she lacks the skills, the noble support, and the story to govern Callow constructively long-term. She ends up grooming her friend and teammate Vivienne as her successor—a noble-born, Callowan former hero who soon proves her worth as Cat's successor, finding solutions she can't while avoiding the isolationist pitfalls of royals past. They even gain an implied Good Princess, Evil Queen motif when Vivienne earns the Name of Princess, albeit a much more cordial one than usual.

Live-Action TV

• Merlin Camelot is essentially good, though the anti-magic stance makes some people feel differently. Arthur will obviously eventually make it more like the usual 'good' Camelot in time. There were aversions as well, Cenred's land for a while, for example. He only cared about himself and couldn't be bothered with the villages.
• The 2009 NBC series Kings was set in the Kingdom of Gilboa, a modern-day monarchy ruled over by King Silas Benjamin, with the Shining City of Shiloh as its crown jewel. It is at war (but vying for peace) with the neighboring country of Gath.
• Wonder Woman: Paradise Island is ruled by the benevolent Queen Hippolyta. Wonder Woman's powers - which every woman on Paradise Island has as well - are derived directly from this "pure environment".

Music

• In the song One Tin Soldier, the kingdom on the mountain has "treasure" and "riches" which are actually just the concept of peace on earth.

Podcasts

• All the homelands of the heroes in the Cool Kids Table game Here We Gooooo! (Sarasaland, Skull Kingdom, Dinosaur Land, and Soda Pop Kingdom) are good and peaceful nations.

Tabletop Games

• Bretonnia in Warhammer is a mercilessly dark parody of this trope, with Quixotic knights and kings living in luxury at the expense of the peasantry and a society kept in Medieval Stasis while the rest of the world develops technologically. It's managed to remain independent of the rival human realm of The Empire thanks to the valor of its knights, magic that makes them Immune to Bullets, and the fact that the local Fair Folk are covertly manipulating their nation. Plus, of course, the Royal Air Force. The Bretonnians have easily the best aerial troops in the game.
• Warhammer 40,000 has an unusual example - the realm of Ultramar, eight systems ruled by the Ultramarines chapter of Space Marines. Its worlds manage to be both technologically advanced and prosperous without turning into industrial hells, and under the benevolent leadership of the Ultramarines the citizenry is so happy that Ultramar is visible as a bright constellation of positive energy in the Warp. The kicker is that Ultramar is part of the setting's Empire, the Imperium of Man, a brutal totalitarian state. In fact, when Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines, was restored from his stasis cell, he was beyond horrified to see what the Imperium had become, even wondering if it might not have been better for Horus to win outright.
• The Kingdom of Aldis in Blue Rose is an excellent example of this — it's got all the trappings of a medieval fantasy kingdom, but magic and Magitek are sufficiently advanced and widespread that it's at least as nice a place to live as a modern first-world country, with excellent medicine, sanitation, and communications. They've even got legal and accepted same-sex marriage. Trappings is kind of the right word. The monarchy isn't hereditary but is appointed by what amounts to an angel. Decisions are made via a small council where the monarch has 2 votes. The "nobility" is actually a civil service mandarinate, entered via egalitarian testing (including a morality test).
• Obviously seen in Dungeons & Dragons, though "pure" cases may be a bit more rare than one would think — official D&D settings tend to feature quite an oddball mix of cultures, and this variety extends to forms of government as well. Still, quite archetypical canonical examples like Cormyr in the Forgotten Realms or the Kingdom (nee Grand Duchy) of Karameikos on Mystara definitely exist.

Video Games

• The Dukedom of Riskent in Super Robot Wars Original Generation (princess: Shine Hausen).
• Ferelden in Dragon Age: Origins is mostly good (until Loghain takes over, anyway), just somewhat ineffectual.
• Neverwinter is technically a city-state and ruled by a Lord (who happens to lack daughters), but otherwise fits this trope perfectly.
• Almost every kingdom in a Final Fantasy game ever. The only real exception is Alexandria in Final Fantasy IX, during Queen Brahne's reign.
  • Final Fantasy VI's Figaro probably is the most remarkable. Figaro Castle itself is in fact a machine that can travel underground between the two deserts on the continent, and its King, Edgar, is one of the heroes that resist the evil Empire. It doesn't have a Princess though, much to Edgar's dismay.
  • Final Fantasy XII invokes this trope to the letter. The Archadian empire invades the smaller, peaceful kingdom of Dalmasca, which even sports a beautiful princess.
  • While it is not called a kingdom, the Freestate Amsterdam that is Fisherman's Horizon qualifies, especially when put next to Galbadia and Esthar.
  • Zig-zagged with the Kingdom of Concordia from Final Fantasy Type-0. It begins as generally virtuous matriarchal nation ruled by The High Queen, and allies itself with Rubrum against the Militesi Empire. It is even the first to call for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war between nations. However, the queen is assassinated shortly after the ceasefire is announced and Class Zero is framed for it. The despotic new king quickly changes sides and aligns himself with Milites.
  • Final Fantasy XV has the Kingdom of Lucis, with the crown prince of the kingdom as the protagonist. It has lost large amounts of territory to the Empire of Niflheim. It's not just the job of the king to protect Lucis, but the future of the entire world.
• This article reads like a description of the kingdom of Hyrule (princess: Zelda) from The Legend of Zelda series. Hyrule seems to be working more like a loose confederacy than a centralized kingdom, but the general theme is the same.
• The eponymous setting of The Neverhood is a bare-bones version of this trope, with very few residents besides the king himself. Mostly because he was forced into hibernation before he could finish populating it.
• The Mushroom Kingdom from Super Mario Bros. is an obvious example. It has Princess Peach, though all other officials are strangely absent. Some tie-in media includes her father, a King, who is a complete moron. However, he's never mentioned in the games aside from Super Mario Bros. 3.
• Wyndia counts as this (to greater or lesser extent) in every Breath of Fire game it appears in (all but the fifth), and in the fourth also is part of The Federation against The Empire (which respectively fit these tropes). There is some minor subversion of this in the second, though, involving the Obligatory Princess.
• The Fire Emblem series has several. And it's usually of the "Sacked by The Empire" variety. Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War is notable, as The Empire of Grannvale starts off as this, then it goes on a warpath, invading several countries simultaneously and winning). Then an Anti-Villain comes into power— and it goes back to being The Good Kingdom for about 9 years. Then... his son takes control... and it becomes The Empire. Until The Hero kills both the Anti-Villain ex-Emperor and his son, then he and the Princess take control of the Empire, and it goes back to being The Good Kingdom.
• Fantasinia and Bronquia (probably Embellia too) in Yggdra Union - except that the princess, Yggdra, is The Hero instead of the love interest.
• The Pharastia Kingdom of Vanguard Bandits is cleanly this in the Kingdom Branch of the game. Then Subverted on the Empire Branch, as it becomes clear that the Kingdom isn't fully on the up-and-up either. A harsh lesson for the hero to learn, after a lifetime of idealizing it.
• Despite being technically a Principality, Gallia in Valkyria Chronicles counts. The ruling dynasty, especially its Archduchess, is loved by the people. It's another story, however, when it comes to both the bureaucracy and aristocracy in general.
• Rakios in Aselia the Eternal - The Spirit of Eternity Sword. The king is probably the least sympathetic character in the game after Soma, but Lesteena is nice. And just before she moves to assassinate him to save the country, someone else does it for her.
• The Kingdom of Boron in the X-Universe qualifies, though its government is technically a constitutional monarchy akin to modern-day Great Britain (i.e. Queen Atreus is a figurehead for an elected government). They're portrayed as good guys, are constantly under threat from the Split Dynasty,^note though the Boron alliance with the Argon Federation keeps them at bay somewhat, and have the smallest territory of the Commonwealth races. They've also got a few unique pieces of Applied Phlebotinum, such as ion weapons.
• In Star Wars: The Old Republic there's the planet of Alderaan, which has been called the soul of The Republic.
• In The Elder Scrolls, though always referred to as The Empire, the Septim Empire is much closer to this trope, along with elements of The Federation. It is a largely benevolent force of good throughout the series and backstory, espousing fairly liberal cosmopolitan beliefs while setting up trade and mercantilism ties that peacefully tie the provinces together. Personal freedoms are also fairly unrestricted, with certain (logical) exceptions, such as working to eliminate open Fantastic Racism between the races it governs and quashing some of the more dangerous extremist religions. Even its harshest critics tend to admit that the Empire generally acts in the best interests of Tamriel as a whole, though its vast bureaucracy often bogs it down.
• Battle for Wesnoth has a good kingdom that is turned to evil when the Queen has the King murdered during a war. The resistance centers around the last legitimate heir (or so he thinks) to the king that managed to escape assassination. The Princess on the other hand is misguided by her mother, and only an Enemy Mine situation gets her on the right side eventually.
• Kryta, the last standing human kingdom in Guild Wars 2, and the homeland of the playable humans. Fittingly enough, ruled by The High Queen who's a Reasonable Authority Figure, and in a state of constant siege from all directions. This is actually a regression from the original Guild Wars, where humans ruled most of the known world. It's implied that The Empire still exists far beyond the sea but has closed its borders, kicked out all non-humans, and is inaccessible anyway because of the Elder Dragons blocking all the sea routes.
• The Eastern Kingdom of Mikado in Shin Megami Tensei IV. However, it subverts some elements of this as it's fairly clear from the start it has its own faults, mainly a brutally classist Fantastic Caste System, hiding the demons lurking just underneath the capital, and the hoarding of knowledge and relics by the Monastery. Further horrors come out to light, and in the end, the bucolic kingdom must face the reality of what it is.
• As far as kingdoms to rescue, there's one called 'Loathing' that could use an adventurer or two. No official princesses, though. There's a rebellious one that hangs around, but she's not said to be part of the actual political hierarchy.
• Subverted in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, where the Kingdom of Erusea serve as the antagonists, launching a war of aggression against a coalition led by the Osean Federation. However, they do have a princess who serves as a propaganda mouthpiece.
• The Aurigan Coalition from Harebrained Schemes' Battletech comes as close as this trope will allow for the Battletech universe: It's a tiny Periphery Elective Monarchy consisting of 23 sparsely populated worlds ruled by a High Lord or Lady, where a council of nobles represent the interests of the most populated worlds and the High Lord/Lady is bound to consult the council on executive decisions. The main campaign focuses on the last High Lady, Kamea Arano, who came to power very young before being unseated by her Evil Chancellor (who is also her Evil Uncle) in The Coup. The player is part of her Cadre of Foreign Bodyguards aiming to re-seat her on the throne.
• The New Order Last Days Of Europe: Kemerovo is a small Russian warlord nation run by Rurik II, previously Major-General Nikolai Krylov of the now-defunct Red Army. Despite the king's delusions that he is the reincarnation of the ancient Varangian prince who unified Russia in the distant past, Rurik II is a Reasonable Authority Figure who listens to his advisors, rules fairly, and develops his fledgling nation in a rational manner. Blending Slavic traditionalism and medieval aesthetics with Soviet progressivism (trade unions are still allowed to run within reason and workers are treated well), Kemerovo is one of the more moral unifiers in the ideological hellpit that is warlord Russia, up there with Tomsk's idealistic intelligentsia republic, Sablin's genuine Soviet democracy in Buryatia and Men's gentle and egalitarian Divine Mandate.
• Each installment of Hero of the Kingdom takes place in one of these, although it's not made explicitly clear whether or not it's the same kingdom each time. We do see that it's always ruled by The Good King, who is a Reasonable Authority Figure, and who lives in a Bright Castle with his son or daughter.
• League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra: This is the aesthetic of Demacia, a kingdom known for pleasant lands, Gondor-white architecture made from magic-absorbing petricite, and its well-trained, knight-like Dauntless Vanguard. Its champions tend to be colored white and/or gold, many wearing shining armor, it has an imperial foil in Noxus, and in LoR the Demacia region plays by summoning armies of strong units and fighting its foes honorably. It does, however, play with the trope:
  • While far less expansive than Noxus, it is hardly a tiny, powerless damsel in distress. As learned in Garen: First Shield, Demacia guards several other kingdoms that act as its protectorates and buffer states, bringing in elements of The Federation as well.
  • The kingdom also has a dark side in its persecution of mages, imprisoning and torturing them unless they agree to hunt their own kind as Mageseekers. The champion Sylas is a mage and former Mageseeker who escaped prison, and The Mageseeker tells the story of him and his rebellion.

Webcomics

• Trent and Mercia fill this role during the "Storm Breaker Saga" of Sluggy Freelance, though they're treated a little more cynically than most.

• Wonderland of Alice and the Nightmare seems to be this - people are happy, the world is advanced, and while a queen rules, there's also a president. The only problems are occasional Fantastic Racism (although discouraged by authorities) and the fact that the queen may actually be evil.
• Awful Hospital: After defeating Balphin and sending Fern back to The Hospital, Celia founds a new kingdom, with herself as queen. It grows to be vast, indeed: encompassing every cadaver of Fern within the Morgue.

Web Original

• The Bear Show (for the most part) takes place in Bearland, which Mario, John Cena, and the rest visit a lot. But it is always in danger, like banks getting robbed, people getting kidnapped, etc.
  Mario: Why do people always get kidnapped behind our backs!?
  John Cena: Because villains are wusses.
  Mario: Well, you are right about that.

• Dream SMP: Eret's rule has generally been kind to the Greater Dream SMP, turning Dream's one-man dictatorship into this trope. It helps that Eret is The Good King compared to Dream's Big Bad status.
• The City of Axiflos in Open Blue is a neutral city-state that was forced to defend itself from larger neighbors who tried to force it to join their sides. Suffice to say, it can't really be considered a Damsel in Distress, as centuries of defensive buildup has turned it into a Stone Wall that not even the largest empires dare to invade nowadays. Such was its reputation that the Axifloan Coalition was named after it.

Western Animation

• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Equestria fits the description quite nicely, even though technically (as it's ruled exclusively by Princesses) it's a Principality rather than a proper Kingdom. The same with the Crystal Empire, as it's only The Empire in name only (it's tiny and - at least in recent times - good, governed by a Princess and formerly ruled by a King).
• Puppy in My Pocket: Adventures in Pocketville has the Pocket Kingdom, a land inhabited by adorable animals, though Ava, its monarch, is a princess rather than a queen (and, once again, would technically make it a principality). It’s heavily implied that Eva planned to ruin the kingdom once she rises to power though.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • The Northern Water Tribe fits this trope better than the actual Earth Kingdom (which is more like a monarchical federation) in the original show, being a good-aligned state that comes under siege by The Empire. It even has a princess, Yue.
  • The Earth Kingdom itself is sort of this, in the sense that it's implied to be a great place to live in whenever its monarch is capable and virtuous, but a total mess whenever its ruler is either weak and ignorant enough to be manipulated by an Evil Chancellor (like in the original show) or outright evil themselves (like in The Legend of Korra).
• Animaniacs: In "King Yakko" Yakko became king of a country so small a magnifying glass was needed to see it on the map, whose economy was based on production of anvils. And then they were invaded by a neighboring dictator who wanted their national product, which the royal house of Warner was only too glad to give him.

Real Life

• Most real-world kingdoms and small countries see themselves as The Good Kingdom, especially the governments themselves. Most constitutional monarchies see themselves this way, especially the ones in Europe and the Commonwealth. This is especially true since the two main powers of the Cold War were far bigger federal unions, the USA and the USSR.
• For many Brazilians, the Empire of Brazil under Dom Pedro II was a sad inversion of Good Republic, Evil Empire.
• Kingdoms in Real Life can differ much. There were kings like Louis XIV of France who reigned absolutely and could say "L'État, c'est moi" (well okay, not really, but let's just consider 'absolutist' rulers absolutist for the sake of simplicity, m'kay?), medieval kingdoms where the power of the king was limited by his vassals (Ur-Example for the anglosphere could well be the way the barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Carta), and nowadays we have many representative constitutional monarchies which are essentially republics with a crowned head of state. In the past, there were even kingdoms where the king was elected! (the workings of which paralleled the 'noble republics' of Italy where a small group of wealthy families monopolized power, the only difference being councils of nobles versus councils of wealthy merchants and freemen voting for the top dog. And a certain amount of pomp and grandeur).
• Of course, in actual fact a Kingdom formed itself by binding together smaller polities and expanded by conquering bigger polities. For a long time, the argument that justified the Kingdom, aside from "Divine Right of Kings," was that a large area of land cannot be effectively governed by the classic republican states on the order of Ancient Athens and Rome, or the medieval city-states such as in Italy or the Hanseatic League. The French Revolution changed that by converting France from an absolute monarchy to a republic that was even more centralized and organized than Louis XIV ever dreamed of, and which under Napoléon Bonaparte became an Empire which was even more absolute and controlled by a single individual than any state before and after.

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