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The Archetype of The King
Thoughts on the fictional and personal leaders that I look up to.
In his book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover Robert Moore describes four male archetypes. While I have talked before about what I think makes a man, I think the topic deserves further examination. Our society demonizes all forms of masculinity, which paradoxically means that those heroes that do escape the All Canceling Eye of Sauron somehow embody the worst excesses of the gender, so called “toxic” masculinity. The true platonic idea of a man, embodied by these four archetypes, lies in the midst of the feminine beta that society tells us to emulate and the alpha that is lionized by the media. And at the center of this middle way is the archetype of the King.
Kings in our world, and the upperclass as a whole used to believe in the idea of the Noblesse Oblige. In exchange for loyalty, status and a portion of the harvest, the nobility were obligated to protect and serve those that they had status over. Those who were the highest in society deserved that position not only because of their strong moral character (we will get to that soon) but because they dedicated their “privilege” to the betterment of all society.
No one fits this archetype better than Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Born to an ancient line of kings, Aragorn does not loudly demand his birthright, but rather spends his…
