Benevolent & Tyrannical Kings
This past week I had the chance to watch the Harry Potter series for the first time. Though I’ve seen Sorcerer’s Stone through Prisoner of Azkaban as a child, and then later on part two of Deathly Hollows, this was the first time I familiarized myself with the entirety of the series. While watching, an obvious juxtaposition jumped out at me. Voldemort, the antagonist of the saga, had an animal at his side, the snake Nagini. A snake in literature often represents treachery, deceit, temptation, destruction, and death. Harry Potter, on the other hand, was accompanied by his owl, Hedwig. The owl as Harry’s companion represents wisdom.
At the same time I concluded the Harry Potter saga, I also read a book at the recommendation of a friend, Fydor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from Underground.” The timing of concluding both couldn’t have been better and resulted in an epiphany worth dissecting and discussing.
Game of Thrones
In George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” saga which became HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” following the death of the tyrant King Geoffrey, his young brother Tommen is set to presume Kingship over the realm. In a moment of counseling from his grandfather, Tywin Lannister, the most wealthy and powerful man in the seven kingdoms, wishes to impart guidance upon his newly-kinged grandson. He looks at Tommen and poses to him the question, “What is a good king’s single most important quality?” Tommen, still a boy, responds, “Holiness?” Tywin responds by telling the tale of a past king who was driven to death by fasting because “Food was of this world and this world was sinful.” Next, Tommen says, “Justice.” Tywin then tells him of a just king who was murdered in his sleep by his brother, “Was it truly just of him to abandon his subjects to an evil he was too gullible to recognize?” Tommen, growingly increasingly unconfident asks, “Strength?” Tywin then speaks of Tommen’s deceased father and former king who was a great warrior and conqueror but was a glutton, saying he was “A man who thinks winning and ruling are the same thing.” Tommen, after a moment of thought, asks, “Wisdom?” To that Tywin exclaims, “Yes! Wisdom is what makes a good king.” “A wise king knows what he knows and what he doesn’t.”
At the end of the series which comprises of power-hungry tyrants playing the “Game of Thrones” with armies, magic, and dragons which results in death and despair for the people of the realm, it is none of those who desired the throne that attained it. Including that of Daenerys Targaryen, the “Breaker of Chains” who presents herself to the people as the great liberator from oppression until she briefly attains the power she so desired and unleashed her dragons upon them, killing millions. Instead, it is a crippled boy, Bran, who is gifted with divine wisdom that becomes king despite his unwanting of the position. In his wisdom, the crippled king recognizes the tremendous power that comes with his newly appointed kingship, and rather than flexing his power, he instead opts to “Break The Wheel” and forms a republic of the people, relinquishing his monopoly on power over the people. Peace finds the realm.
Lord of the Rings
In Tolkien’s classic novels and Peter Jackson’s films, Lord of the Rings, the antagonist named Sauron attempts to attain immense power. The power is embodied by and is concentrated within the ring that the pure-of-heart protagonist, Frodo, and his friend Samwise Gamgee, must transport and destroy at Mount Doom, where Sauron resides. Throughout the saga, the ring is a corrupting force, even twisting the mind of the pure-hearted Frodo and the wise wizard Galdalf, representing corruption through power. Gandalf gets offered the ring from Frodo to which he responds, “Don’t tempt me Frodo! I dare not take it. Not even to keep it safe. Understand Frodo, I would use this Ring from a desire to do good. But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.”
In one of the final scenes, the two hobbits are inside Mount Doom, standing at the edge of a cliff that hangs over a sea of lava. Frodo, holding the ring, struggles to cast the ring into the fire. Sensing Frodo’s reluctance, Sam shouts at him, “DESTROY IT!” After having experienced the intoxicating feeling of power derived from the ring combined with the ring itself speaking out to Frodo, almost placing him in a semi-tranced state, he turns to Sam with a look of madness in his eyes and says, “The Ring (Power) is mine!” “NOOOO!” shouts Samwise, knowing his friend has been corrupted. At this moment, Gollum, a cave-dwelling hobbit whose sole motivator is to obtain the ring and the power that comes along with it, begins a quarrel for the ring with Frodo. Both Gollum and the ring fall into a sea of lava, both becoming destroyed. With the destruction of the concentrated power within the ring, Sauron, the evil tyrant is also destroyed. Peace finds middle-earth.
Harry Potter
In J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter saga, through the act of sacrificial love exhibited by his mother, Harry attains the gift of powerful wizardry. The antagonist, Voldemort, in his lustful pursuit of divine power seeks to acquire the “Elder Wand,” the most powerful wand in the world. Possession of the wand would then make Voldemort the most powerful figure in both the world of wizardry and the muggle (Non-magic folk) world. Throughout the saga, Harry gets told that he “Has his mother’s eyes,” meaning he symbolically shares his mother’s soul. As an act of ultimate love, like that of his mother, he too decides to sacrifice his life for the sake of others. After his savior-like resurrection from death, he comes to defeat the tyrant Voldemort. Love through sacrifice, conquers hate through the desire for power.
When a wizard dies at the hand of another, the wand of the deceased then becomes the property of the victor. In this case, granting Harry possession of the all-powerful Elder Wand and with it, the license to become the most powerful being in existence. Harry, through love and wisdom, relinquishes this power by snapping the wand in half and chucking it off of a bridge. In the novel, Harry uses the wand only to repair his phoenix-feathered wand then buries it with Dumbledore, never to be used again. Peace finds both the wizard and muggle worlds.
Christ
From Christian theology is the story of Christ. As the son of God, he is the most powerful being in the world. Throughout his ministry and leading up to the moment of his crucifixion, he is tempted by the power-driven satan. Satan, who detests humans (but presents himself as a great liberator) wishes to rule over them, comes to Jesus offering all the power and riches of the world, attempting to tempt Christ away from completing his mission of salvation, as it is a direct threat to his power. Jesus, in his divine wisdom, rejects the temptation of power and instead, through an act of sacrificial love, allows himself to be tortured, crucified, and murdered. Salvation and eternal peace in the afterlife find his people.
Underground Man
From Fydor Dostoevsky comes the classic, “Notes from Underground.” In it, the main character only referred to as “Underground Man” is a brilliant, but tortured soul who is driven by hate that stems from the hate he has for himself. Underground Man is a cowardly, spiteful man who is deceitful, bitter, resentful, envious, and narcissistic. He despises others as he considers them stupid and beneath him. In an admission, he acknowledges that he is incapable of love, saying, “I was no longer able to love, because I repeat, for me, love meant to tyrannize and preponderize (to exceed in influence, power, or importance) morally.” “I’ve reached the point now of sometimes thinking that love consists precisely in the right, granted by the beloved object, to be tyrannized over.”
In his unwillingness to sacrifice his pride, it is the desire for power over people that drives him, which is evidenced in his relationships with others. Underground Man of course had no friends because of his despotic outlook toward life and others, all the meanwhile convincing himself that he didn’t have friends because they were mean, and did not at all have anything to do with his behavior towards them. Underground Man describes the lone childhood friend he had as “Naïve.” Because misery desires company in their misery, he chipped away at this boy through suffocating friendship until over time, the boy developed the same outlook toward others and toward, “Living life.” Underground Man says in his reflection of that time, “But once he had given himself wholly to me, I immediately started to hate him and pushed him away–as if I needed him only to gain victory over him, only to bring him to submission.”
Later in the story, after a drunken evening out with former childhood schoolmates that he detests, an evening in which he invites himself and plans to attend only so he can spoil the occasion, he awakes in bed with a prostitute named Liza. He first begins to appeal to her sensibilities by talking of his desire to get married and have a daughter and live a conventional life, drawing her in. However, as he goes on, embittered by his self-induced misery, he takes his frustrations out on Liza, eviscerating and humiliating her. After roasting her and her way of life to the point of her emotional convulsions, he presents himself as a good guy, as hope for a more fulfilling life. Underground Man did not feel remorse or genuine care for her well-being, instead, he states that it’s all a “Game” to win control over her. Through the manipulative, “Game,” he desires most of all to be her “Savior,” knowing undoubtedly that the moment she submitted to him fully, he would hate and want to “Punish” her.
The Underground Man states that he resents, “Men of Action,” those that have pursuits, interests, ambition, decide to get married and have children. He believes that these people of “Action” are beneath him, the “Developed, noble, and intelligent” man that he considers himself to be. He considers “Action” that is, “Living Life,” the desires of “Stupid People.” Underground Man degrades the achievements of others. Despite hiding behind the masquerade of being “Too cool for school,” the truth is that Underground Man is just simply a hate-filled coward. His overly-conscious nature paralyzes him from living life, from action, he lacks the courage to do anything, and in his cowardice, his resentment and envy only grow. His hate for himself is reflected in the way he thinks about and treats others. His desires as a “Superior-Being” are found in his pursuit to have power over others. Underground Man’s despotic nature towards life and others only becomes visible when they fully submit to him because it is at that point he gets to feel god-like. Although he presents himself as a friend, a future husband, as hope, change, and fulfillment, in reality, he is simply a child holding a magnifying glass over an ant hill.
Paradise Lost
Ezra Pound, an American Poet, said, “A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.” The beautiful vision that is utopia, that is, paradise on earth, is unattainable. For as long as there is mankind, there will always be conflict and despair. Those that come forth with promises of hope and change are often the embodiment of the Underground Man who look upon their fellow man as deplorable and detests them. They often come with messages of “Security, Safety, Happiness” on the condition of relenting power of the self and submittal to them. Often, they are of the mindset, “If these idiots would just get out of the way and give me total control, I can solve all of our problems, ushering in paradise in the process.” What this perspective short sights is the element of the innately flawed human condition. “Perfect Solutions” do not exist in systems and societies comprised of imperfect beings. The other short sight is quite simply that they are not god, as much as they desire to-be. The desire to become a “God King” or “God Queen” has existed among those in power since the beginning of civilization. The common trait amongst these characters of both history and fiction is that their true motivations aren’t rooted in love and servitude, those who seek to concentrate power are fueled by their insatiable lust for power.
In contrast, of the benevolent kings I spoke of, the common thread is having the wisdom to recognize the corrupting nature of power and the need for it to be decentralized. Through an act of love through sacrifice, they sacrificed their attained power and/or their lives at the moment they possessed unchecked power. Wisdom is found in the recognition of our faults, the innate part of us that is susceptible to corruption. Those that seek power, who see themselves as superior and infallible, are those that should be least in the possession of it.
Purpose & Meaning
Within everyone resides both a benevolent and tyrannical king. One who is willing to die a sacrificial death for who and what they love, and one who wishes to conduct horror, ruling with an iron first in pursuit of quenching their never-ceasing thirst for power over others, desiring to feel like that of a “God.” Perhaps there can be purpose and meaning derived from the never-ending battle between them, within our souls. It is through the wisdom of sacrificing the greater desires of the tyrant, that the benevolent king reigns.