[LMB] non-hereditary monarchies, was re HH ch 23 OT:

[Paula Lieberman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrew Lambdin-Abraham" <a.abraham at gmail.com>


> As for the presence of elective kingships in fantasy, I can't really
> think of many offhand outside Sendaria.  Well, there's Naboo in Star
> Wars.  That's an Elective Queenship (with a 2 term limit!)  I suspect

The Lordship of houses among the Kencyrath in P C Hodgell's series isn't 
exactly elective, it appears to be a combination of choice of the 
particularly house, and the Highlord's choice.  E.g., Kirien is the heir 
apparent for the Jaran, the entire House of Jaran made the decision that 
Kirien should be the heir, but that choice needed to be confirmed by the 
Highlord.  The Highlordship belonged to the House of Knorth, and within that 
house the old Lord chose his heir--but his choice wasn't necessarily the one 
who wound up getting the position.

> many authors have avoided the idea because it seems too complicated;
> much simpler just to make the main character inherit the
> responsability for fixing the problem or whatever.  Also, it's not
> something that's talked about nearly as much as hereditary monarchies

I think there's something of a romantic view of hereditary monarchies in 
contemporary society...

Some of Mary Gentle's work has a society sort of like the arrival of the 
English Civil War, IIRC.

> are, so there's both less awareness by authors, and concern over
> confusing an unaware audience as well.  Personally, I could do with
> some more politics heavy fantasy, like I'd expected Hallowed Hunt to
> be, so if authors want to take a stab at it, I'd welcome them.  (Of
> course, I'd also read the sequel of "Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrell"
> about how Parliament took their ideas and all the Acts that followed)