1 thought on “The One True King’s Heir”

1. Ok, I have a really nerdy real-world example of this, in the form of the one royal lineage I know about — the kings of ancient Israel, as listed in the Bible.
   Historical context: the ancient Israelites were a theocracy, led by God via those he chose to lead, referred to as the Judges, until they decided they wanted to become a monarchy like their neighbors (whose gods presumably did not take as active a role in government). Thus the last of the Judges is directed by God to crown a king, and the line starts with:
   -Saul: Bad king. It is written in the Bible that God was angry at the Israelites for wanting a human king instead of Him, so I believe that Saul was appointed to be a bad king in order to prove that having God lead was the better way. But after Saul’s reign came:
   -David: Good king. A One True King if ever there was one, and one of the only ones in this list that people other than Jews or Christians would know about. Succeeds the bad king (has the chance to kill him and refuses based on morals), rules the nation based on the laws God set down, brings great prosperity. Succeeded by:
   -Solomon: Mostly-good king. The renowned wisest man ever to live. Born into luxury, increases it (the Bible records that during Solomon’s days silver was so abundant in the land as to not be considered valuable). But, gets a big head, marries a lot of foreign women as a political move (against the law as set down by God), ends his reign in a state considerably worse than it started.
   After Solomon, the kingdom is divided. Two tribes of Israel follow Solomon’s son Rehoboam under the name of the Kingdom of Judah; the other ten tribes claim the name Kingdom of Israel and crown a rebel named Jeroboam as king. None of the kings of Israel from here on are considered good kings; the only halfway good one is also the only one whose dynasty lasted more than two generations (made it to four, as promised by God ahead of time, before being overthrown). The following list, therefore, is of the lineage of kings of Judah, and whether they were recorded in the Bible as good, bad or mediocre:
   -Rehoboam: Bad
   -Abijah: Bad
   -Asa: Good
   -Jehoshaphat: Good (only good king, other than Solomon, to also be the son of a good king)
   -Jehoram: Bad
   -Ahaziah: Bad
   -Athaliah: Bad (widow of Jehoram, seized throne after death of son Ahaziah, short and tumultuous reign)
   -Joash, also called Jehoash: Mostly good/Mediocre (son of Ahaziah, crowned king as child after Athaliah deposed, followed good counsel as child-king, became worse king as he gained more authority with age)
   -Amaziah: Mediocre
   -Azariah, also called Uzziah: Mediocre, led nation to enough success to get a swelled head and fail later on
   -Jotham: Mediocre
   -Ahaz: Bad
   -Hezekiah: Good; possibly the best
   -Manasseh: Bad; the worst
   -Amon: Bad
   -Josiah: Good, undid a lot of the things the bad kings did
   -Jehoahaz: Bad, defeated and taken prisoner by Egypt
   -Jehoiakim: Bad, puppet-king under Egypt, defeated by Babylon
   -Jehoiachin: Bad, puppet-king under Egypt/Babylon, deported to Babylon
   -Zedekiah: Bad, Uncle of Jehoiachin, puppet-king under Babylon

   TL;DR — the real-world kingdom of ancient Israel/Judah supports the idea in this article, in that they only had a total of six really good kings, and only two of said kings were the sons of good kings as well.

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