If the Ruler archetype has you envisioning crowns, sceptres and swords, you’re on the right track.
Read on to discover more about this archetype, including key characteristics, literary examples, and tips for writing strong Rulers.
What is the Ruler Archetype?
The Ruler is one of the best-known and most easily identifiable archetypes. It is an archetype rather than a stereotype.
In brief, the Ruler rules their kingdom, whether that be an empire, a town or a High School.
Ruler Archetype Definition
A character isn’t automatically a Ruler simply because they have a kingdom. A weak monarch, born onto a throne but unable to hold it, wouldn’t qualify as an archetypal Ruler.
A Ruler must, by their inherent characteristics, possess and wield power and authority.
A Ruler can be benevolent, tyrannical, or something in between. But they must be a character who ensures others follow them, whether through inspiration or fear.
The Ruler Archetype Characteristics
As with all archetypes, there’s flexibility in how you design your Ruler, but there are certain common traits generally found within these characters.
These include:
Strength and Power
Physical strength is advantageous, though not essential. It can be supplemented/ replaced by other advantageous qualities such as strength of moral character, financial power, physical attractiveness, linguistic prowess, and so on.
Charisma
Whether your Ruler is benevolent or malevolent, they should inspire people to follow them through wielding charismatic appeal.
Ambition
An archetypal Ruler will most likely want to be in charge of others, because it’s their goal to lead and rule. Their ambition may be fulfilled through ruling their current kingdom, or they may have an insatiable appetite to expand their empire outwards, but it’s rare that they’ll dream of living a lowly life in a country cottage away from the seat of power.
Traditional
In general, Rulers tend to be traditional, relying on and strengthening established social structures. They’re in direct contrast to the Rebel, who seeks to undermine social conventions.
Hierarchical
Most Rulers believe that social hierarchy is essential to maintaining social order.
Strategic
To be a true Ruler, rather than someone who ends up with power through accident of birth, a Ruler should possess strategic political skills, which are put to use to protect their kingdom, and/or their position within it.
Socially Aware
An effective Ruler understands what their people desire and need.
A benevolent Ruler will be truly socially aware and act for their people’s good, while a malevolent Ruler will use people’s desires in Machiavellian ways to increase their own power.
Regardless of how they use their understanding, an effective Ruler will usually be able to sense the movement of social currents and work with them.
Ruler Archetype Examples in Literature
Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling
As the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore’s the Ruler over all students and teachers at this school. He’s also the founder of the secret Order of the Phoenix, which he led during the First and Second Wizarding Wars.
He’s a benevolent Ruler, using his position to fight for the forces of good and the welfare of all wizards. He’s strong in magical abilities, charismatic and socially aware.
He works within established social structures to achieve his aims, rather than seeking to overthrow them.
He’s strategic in how he works to oppose Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
Dumbledore is ambitious because he realises he can best achieve his goals from a position of authority within Hogwarts. He doesn’t seek power for its own sake.
Coriolanus Snow in The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins
President Snow is your typical malevolent Ruler, whom our Rebel protagonist Katniss must oppose throughout the trilogy.
Snow engages in cruel strategies to maintain his position of power, including sending young children to arenas where they’ll fight to the death, and violently subduing any rebellion in the provinces.
He uses his knowledge of people strategically. He understands how to control his citizens through a combination of fear, entertainment, toxic hope, and constructed political narratives.
The world he rules is hierarchical, with certain provinces having more privileges than others, and he believes this is necessary to prevent his country from descending into chaos.
Big Brother in 1984 by George Orwell
Although Big Brother is the name given to the shadowy government controlling one-third of the world, rather than an individual, the personification of the government through this name enables citizens to view it as one single Ruler identity.
The closest we get to seeing Big Brother is through the (initially) charismatic character of O’Brien, who demonstrates how this government perceives the world. Big Brother understands that people can be controlled through fear, and that by understanding each person’s greatest fear and using it against them, you can destroy their will and independent thought altogether.
Every action Big Brother takes is to maintain power over its people. The wars the government fights aren’t intended to gain territory, but rather to ensure that citizens remain in their government’s thrall.
Ruler Archetype Examples in Movies
Mufasa in The Lion King
Although a minor character in the film, Simba’s father Mufasa is the archetypal benevolent Ruler, demonstrating the character attributes Simba must emulate in order to become an effective and inspirational Lion King.
Mufasa believes in the importance of hierarchy and order. The overall story supports this view, for the characters opposing order, the hyenas, are portrayed as bloodthirsty and dangerous.
To bring order and health back to the Animal Kingdom, Simba must accept his responsibilities as a Ruler and fight against the evil tyrant, Scar.
Regina George in Mean Girls
Regina rules her High School through a combination of strength and fear.
Her power comes from a combination of her good looks, ambition, and the ability to make people want to follow her. She herself says that Karen is more beautiful than her, but Karen lacks the killer instinct, ambition, strategy and charisma to want to be the Ruler. Regina possesses all these characteristics in abundance.
There can only be one Ruler of every kingdom, so if our protagonist Cady wants to become Prom Queen, she’ll have to topple Regina first.
Tips for Writing Ruler Archetype Characters
Match Your Ruler’s Role to the Detail
Rulers can be protagonists, but they also make strong side-characters. They’re such well-known archetypes that if your Ruler is a side-character, you may not need to portray them in a great deal of depth, especially if their role is more symbolic than nuanced.
Consider Mufasa: he’s a pretty straight-forwardly good character, with little depth or complexity. And in this particular story, that’s ok. Mufasa’s role is to inspire Simba with the qualities required of a good leader, and then die, leaving Simba alone to grow up for himself.
In this particular (children’s) story, we don’t need to understand the dangers of power corrupting, or the difficulties of balancing opposing social needs.
If your Ruler is your story’s protagonist, however, it’s more likely you’ll be exploring all these themes and more, and you’ll then want to explore the dark and light sides of leadership within your Ruler character.
Likewise, President Snow isn’t a particularly complex character in the first Hunger Games story. His role is to be a despicable villain.
To explore him further, Collins decided to make him the protagonist of his own story in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Within this separate story, she then considered in more depth themes such as ambition, and the corruptibility of power and love.
Make Protagonist Rulers Relatable
It’s difficult to engage readers in a story with a protagonist to whom they can’t relate. If your protagonist is too confident, secure, charismatic, powerful, and socially aware right from the start, some readers may not find them sympathetic.
Collins handles this skilfully in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, as we see Snow’s story from his point of view, in which his ambition arises from a desire to support his impoverished family.
Even though we readers know that Snow is better off financially than, say, Katniss Everdeen or Lucy Gray Baird, from his perspective he’s still struggling. Indeed, the moderate poverty he experiences is actually more familiar to many readers than the extreme poverty Katniss endures.
Likewise, in Mean Girls, our protagonist Cady becomes the Ruler of her school for a while, but we remain able to connect emotionally with her because we know that, deep down, she’s a friendly and caring Math nerd. She just fell down the rabbit hole of seeking popularity because she liked a boy and wanted him to like her back. Cady will eventually realise she’s happier and healthier being her authentic self.
Conclusion
As you write your Ruler, think about the themes they represent and how this character can deepen the reader’s understanding of your story.
Whether your Ruler is your protagonist, secondary character or side-character, keep a close eye on how you develop themes of power, ambition, corruption, hierarchy and charisma throughout your story.
One way to monitor the development of character and themes throughout your narrative is to use Fictionary Storyteller software, which helps you divide your story into scenes where you can analyse the progression of different elements throughout your story.
Have a look at Storyteller’s free trial, and if you’re unsure how to best use this software to strengthen your Ruler character, bring your questions and come chat with us in the Fictionary online community to learn more.