The Good King / Live-Action TV

• Babylon 5 offers a few examples among the Centauri emperors:
  • Turhan (first emperor to be seen during the series), near the end of his life, wanted to formally apologize to the Narn and their government for what the Centauri did to the Narn people and homeworld during their occupation. The first step towards healing both races and true peace was one that his health ultimately prevented him from taking, before being replaced by the insane Cartagia as Emperor.
  • After rising to the throne Londo would have wanted to be one, but the Drakh had put a Keeper on him to use him to turn the Centauri Republic into a puppet state and build up the military to fight against the ISA. Londo being Londo, he manages to turn it against the Drakh.
  • The novels reveal that Vir eventually becomes one after Londo's death, starting with putting Londo's master plan in action and freeing the Centauri from Drakh control.
  • Mentioned in the novels, Emperor Kran, who was in charge at the time of the Earth-Centauri first contact. Inheriting a nation divided and on the verge of a civil war from his weak-willed predecessor, he reunited the Centauri Republic through sheer charisma and genius and was planning to initiate reforms to better the conditions of the poorer Centauri, even touring the poorer areas of the homeworld with the nobles in tow to show them the need for the reforms. Sadly, he was killed by a commoner during one of such tours before he could even start.
  • The expanded universe give a few more examples:
    • Kran's unnamed successor. We don't know much, except that when the Centauri Great Houses brought the Republic on the verge of a war with Earth with their politicking and privateer raids on Earth merchant ship he clamped down on the Houses and eliminated the causes for the whole crisis and the raids before apologizing to Earth Alliance. That was after EarthForce had attacked and destroyed a Centauri naval base for giving sanctuary to privateers one time too many.
    • Rafani, ruling at the end of the 20th century and the first years of the 21st, most notable for trying to end the cold war with the Orieni Imperium-and, when the Orieni were caught red-handed in supporting Drazi raiders operating on the fringe, reuniting (most of) the divided Centauri Houses to fight the enemy. It says a lot that the Centauri-Orieni War doesn't get really ugly and the rebellious House Syma doesn't try a coup until after he dies in a shuttle accident and that the Drakh may have organized the shuttle accident just to get rid of him.
• In Chinese Paladin, the King of Nanzhao fulfills the criteria of being a genuinely honorable, honest, decent man, Happily Married to The High Queen...except that he ends up sentencing her to death at the Evil Chancellor's instigation to appease the rioting masses, and nearly causes his young daughter's death as well. He is able to reconcile with his daughter, but she and the other heroes are forced to work around, rather than with him, during the end battle.
• The Crown (2016) starts during the final years of George VI's life and reign. Having helped bring England through World War II, he's universally beloved. He also takes his responsibilities and the limits on his power very seriously, advising his daughter Elizabeth on how to deal with prime ministers and paperwork. When he dies of cancer, the whole country goes into mourning.
• Deus Salve O Rei: King Augusto of Artena is a benevolent and kind ruler that not only looks after his kingdom's well-being but also that of his allied realm of Montemor. He provides water in exchange for resources and never exploits them more than he requires (it helps he is friends with Montemor's royal family).
• Doctor Who has the Draconian Emperor during 2540 in Frontier in Space. He is a Reasonable Authority Figure who doesn't favour war with Earth after one 20 years ago. The 15th Emperor of Draconia seems to have been this as well, when the Doctor saved Draconia from The Plague he was made a nobleman.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Cersei notes to Margaery Tyrell, upon Tommen's coronation in Season 4's "First of His Name," that Tommen has the potential to be the first of these in fifty years. Joffrey was king for about three years, and Robert for about 17 (in the TV timeline). The Mad King ruled for over 20 years. She doesn't mention Aegon V by name, but she was apparently referring to him (Aegon V ruled for over 25 years, so there's no way she's talking about his father Maekar). Judging by Tommen's ideals of monarchy (holiness, justice, strength, and wisdom), she could well be right. Sadly now we know he won't. His lack of experience prevents him from being effective in any of these areas. Tywin wastes no time convincing Tommen that true wisdom is recognizing when others know things you do not, which allows pretty much anyone to manipulate them. When the Faith Militant rises up again and imprisons Loras, Tommen is too indecisive and fearful to really take action against them. Then Margaery gets taken away as well and Tommen doesn't do anything. Then he further allows the Faith Militant to basically take over the crown and constantly change the laws of the Kingdom. While Joffrey was a terrible king because he subjected the kingdom to his cruel whims without concern for the consequences, Tommen is so indecisive that the kingdom is instead subject to the whims of everyone but himself. Ultimately, he throws himself out a window when Cersei finally moves against her enemies, that being quite literally the only power he possesses at that point.
  • Ned Stark excels at two things: battle and administration. He is so loved by his bannermen and the smallfolk that his death at the hands of Southern rulers motivates them to never again submit to the Iron Throne and wage a civil war to avenge him. However, his Fatal Flaw is that the man is honourable to a fault, and as such is a terrible diplomat.
  • Robb Stark aspires to this and embodies some aspects of the trope. Like his father, he's honourable and excels in battle... however, also like his father, his honour is his Fatal Flaw as he can't work in the world of diplomacy.
    Talisa: What kind of king do you want to be?
    Robb: I dunno [Beat] the good kind.
  • Tywin presents King Baelor Targaryen as a test case on how Baelor fit the picture of a Good King but actually was not a technically good ruler. On the other hand, Oberyn Martell, in the Histories and Lore, seems to like him for his attempts to bring peace to Dorne and arrange a marriage contract between the Targaryens and the Martells.
  • Ultimately, in the season finale, Bran is crowned King of the Six Kingdoms, becoming King Bran the Broken. An auspicious choice for many reasons: Bran never wanted to be king and never sought power, he can use his powers as the Three-Eyed Raven to help guide the realm, and he is the first king of Westeros to be elected by a council (outside of choosing a heir in a ruling dynasty as was the case with the successor of King Jaehaerys), a trend which will hopefully continue as the series has demonstrated the most fatal flaw of absolute monarchy many times. Meanwhile, the North becomes an independent realm and Sansa becomes the Queen of the North.
  • House of the Dragon begins with King Jaehaerys having delivered a decades-long rule of peace and prosperity to Westeros, and the story proper starts almost twenty years into the reign of Viserys. Viserys himself, while unexceptional to a fault, has avoided major screwups in his reign.
• As of Season 4 of Merlin, Arthur is this — though he still makes plenty of mistakes along the way.
• In Stargate SG-1, Harry Maybourne, after seasons of being an annoying Smug Snake, eventually settles down on a primitive planet and gains kingship among the people by translating Ancient writings that told the future. Though he was manipulating the people of the planet for his own gain, he was still a good king that helped the people with his modern knowledge in various ways (such as introducing a legal code, irrigation, and crop rotation). Even after revealing that he was merely translating prophecies and intending to step down as king because of it, the people were still loyal to him and wanted him as their king.
• Star Trek: to the Klingons, Kahless is seen as a combination of this and the Messianic Archetype. He was the first person to unite the Klingon people into the Klingon Empire and gave them the laws and the honor codes that make them Proud Warrior Race Guys.
  • Interestingly, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country presented Chancellor Gorkon as this. Intentionally modeled both in appearance and manner on Abraham Lincoln, he was presented as intelligent, wise, cultured, and, astoundingly for this franchise, more forward-thinking than the main characters.
  • The novel Kahless reveals that the real Kahless didn't start out this way. He was merely a lieutenant to a warlord before being forced to kill the warlord's son in a duel for insubordination. He then fled the warlord's wrath along with a friend who was the one with honor and spent all this time trying to teach Kahless how to be a good man.
• Tales of the Tinkerdee: King Goshposh can be a Bad Boss at times, but what he wants is a good birthday party for his beloved daughter, and he invited the entire kingdom to the party, including the poor.