Where's the King?

[Scion of Arcadia 69]

If the character is in a place of power, why is it the highest they can go is Princess? Celestia appears to be one of the most powerful ponies in Equestria, being revered almost like a god. There doesn't appear to be anyone above her. Why isn't she Queen Celestia? Is she trying not to outclass Luna? After all, Luna hated being under her sister's shadow so much that she turned evil. But then why not make her Queen Luna? They technically have equal power and rule the land together, why not give them both the crown? ....A bigger crown, I suppose, since they already have one. And what about Cadence or Shining Armor? They rule over the Crystal Empire. Isn't about time King Shining actually stepped up to hi s title? Or Queen Cadence, she holds all the real power. These ladies should be at the top of the nobility pyramid, not second best.

 

Also, I'm sorry if there was already a thread for this. I couldn't find it if there was. Please move this if I was in the wrong.

[Guest]

Perhaps there's a King OUTSIDE of Equestria itself.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

It's a matriarchal society.

 

Kings are lame, anyway.

 

King Sombra? He farted out of his eyes 24/7 and said like, 2 words.

 

Lllllaaaaaammmmmmeeeee.

[Solar Cloud 493]

The explanation is simple. This show takes a page from Disney. Princess good. Queen bad. Celestia was originally going to be a Queen but they changed her to a Princess due to every Disney Princess being good and every Disney Queen being bad(Save for Elsa. She's just misunderstood). So, blame Disney.

[WindShear 543]

I guess its because Equestria is a principality, not a kingdom.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality

[Castle Bleck 19,399]

It's a matriarchal society.

 

Kings are lame, anyway.

 

King Sombra? He farted out of his eyes 24/7 and said like, 2 words.

 

Lllllaaaaaammmmmmeeeee.

He was a pretty Dangerously Genre Savvy trapmaster, though.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

He was a pretty Dangerously Genre Savvy trapmaster, though.

 

I wasn't serious, dude He was a good villain with zilch personality, unfortunately, but I can't picture him being any other way.

 

K, if you want a serious answer, I'll tell you what I think:

 

Hasbro wanted this show made to sell toys to little girls.

 

The title of 'Princess' would probably sell better to the target demographic than 'Queen' would, because girls that age love their princesses.

 

It doesn't take away from the expierence of watching the show or anything, that's just the logical line of thought. I don't care at all, I love MLP.

[Castle Bleck 19,399]

@~Sadistic ghostfk39~: I really can't help but agree.

[Yellow Diamond 7,575]

This thread appears to be discussing MLP:FiM in some way, shape or form. Thus, it has been sentenced to Show Discussion.

 

This is an automatically generated message, by the way.

[NomDeSpite 452]

For that matter, who is Celestia and Luna's father?

 

...or mother?

[Vixor 80]

If there is a king of some sorts, it would probably be Celestia and Luna's father, and I'd imagine their parents are quite important, so they might not be present for whatever reason. Then again, maybe they don't have parents and they were created some other way, they seem special, at least compared to the other two alicorns we have seen so far. Either way, Hasbro is likely quite fond of pretty princesses that sell toys, and as mentioned above, kings and queens are often stereotypically evil in entertainment for young children.

 

 

It's a matriarchal society.

 

Kings are lame, anyway.

 

King Sombra? He farted out of his eyes 24/7 and said like, 2 words.

 

Lllllaaaaaammmmmmeeeee.

 

Matriarchal government? Maybe, though I'd still retain a healthy amount of skepticism. Matriarchal society? Absolutely not, there's no true evidence of that, and I'd imagine it could easily end up going against the spirit of the show and all the positive things we know about Equestria. Honestly a little fed up with fans of MLP speculating all sorts of negative theories that interfere with the generally positive message of the show, and then proceeding to declare them canon without hesitation. Speculating is fine, but I think a lot of people are taking all of these nonsense bad implications that they dig out of the show a little bit too seriously.

 

Sorry if I seem a little harsh there, I have very strong opinions on the matter, since nobody else seems to question it. I hope you're not actually joking in that post and I  made this kind of response without knowing, because that would be a little embarrassing

Edited December 22, 2013 by Vixor

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

If there is a king of some sorts, it would probably be Celestia and Luna's father, and I'd imagine their parents are quite important, so they might not be present for whatever reason. Then again, maybe they don't have parents and they were created some other way, they seem special, at least compared to the other two alicorns we have seen so far. Either way, Hasbro is likely quite fond of pretty princesses that sell toys, and as mentioned above, kings and queens are often stereotypically evil in entertainment for young children.

 

 

 

Matriarchal government? Maybe, though I'd still retain a health amount of skepticism. Matriarchal society? Absolutely not, there's no true evidence of that, and I'd imagine it could easily end up going against the spirit of the show and all the positive things we know about Equestria. Honestly a little fed up with fans of MLP speculating all sorts of negative theories that interfere with the generally positive message of the show, and then proceeding to declare them canon without hesitation. Speculating is fine, but I think a lot of people are taking all of these nonsense bad implications that they dig out of the show a little bit too seriously.

 

Sorry if I seem a little harsh there, I have very strong opinions on the matter, since nobody else seems to question it.

Especially since that was a joke post. Read down a bit further, and you'll get my real take on the situation.

[Vixor 80]

Especially since that was a joke post. Read down a bit further, and you'll get my real take on the situation.

Oops? I just made an edit about that. I've gone and blown it, haha. Anyway, yeah, I unfortunately take anyone who says stuff like that seriously, because I've found a good number of people are in fact serious, so sorry.

Edited December 22, 2013 by Vixor

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

Because the underlying theme of this show was aimed towards little girls... and "Princesses" and little girls pretty much go hand in hand. So put two and two together and go figure. 

 

 

[Scootalove 10,689]

There is probably no king present, because Chrysalis is probably more comfortable with ruling her empire on her own.

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

Oops? I just made an edit about that. I've gone and blown it, haha. Anyway, yeah, I unfortunately take anyone who says stuff like that seriously, because I've found a good number of people are in fact serious, so sorry.

It's cool, dude Don't worry about it.

[Nature's Spell 526]

As others said Hasbro forced them to switch to princess and although some have called it a loss, I think in the end it worked out well.

Except for Sombra the only other king that's been mentioned is the Unicorn king and father of Princess Platinum.

[Fhaolan 4,487]

Yes, this has been a thread before, but it's been long enough that trying to find it with the search function is going to be tricky.

 

One thing to note is that 'Prince' and 'Princess' doesn't necessarily mean what modern people understand. Prince as a term is way older than 'King'. It originally meant the top, the prime, the 'principle'. As in it was originally the highest rank. King came much later, and there are still nations that are ruled by Princes, which have no Kings. Plus, when rulers of various nations that use different titles (King, Sultan, etc.) get together, they historically refer to each other as Princes. Again, because it's the earlier title eliminates the necessity of trying to map the different titles to different hierarchies. In fact there are countries that are ruled by diarchies as well, two Princes.

 

Plus, there is a historical example of a council of princes who would elect a king, as part of the Holy Roman Empire. The council of princes was actually composed of dukes, kings, and a variety of other ranks, but they were all 'Princes' of the Empire. With these kinds of historical examples, it's not hard to see how two Princesses can end up as rulers of a nation. It's possible that they also are ranked 'Queens' or 'Duchesses' or so on, and in Equestria the title of Princess is taking precedent for some reason.

[SharpWit 2,784]

your answer in one word. marketing

[Scion of Arcadia 69]

@Fhaolin @Auriel Huh. You learn something new everyday. Thank you for those tidbits of information.

 

I'm well aware that the idea of Princesses goes hand in hand with media for young girls. I was just kinda hoping for something besides that it makes more money. Personally, I like what the above two people posted. They gave reasons that would actually make sense inside the show rather from just a company standpoint. But thank you, everyone, for inputting your two cents. I appreciate that you would bother coming here to post about my topic.

 

@NomDeSpite Somebody really powerful, no doubt. Celestia and Luna have the power to move massive solar bodies from a distance with little effort (at least, I don't ever see them straining), so their parents must be uber powerful. I'm thinking their parents would be akin to Gaia and Kronos from Greek mythology, Earth and time.

[Orablanco Account 3,707]

What @@Fhaolan said. The only ponies arrogant enough to declare themselves kings and queens over others are not nice folks.

[Fhaolan 4,487]

@Fhaolin @Auriel Huh. You learn something new everyday. Thank you for those tidbits of information.

If you want a longer version, here's a three-part write-up I did for my Worldbuilding Blog:

 

Always a Princess Never a Queen

King of Crystal

The Rise of Equestria

 

I'm trying to put out an essay every week on the setting of MLP, what we know, how that maps to real-life historical models, using those models to speculate for fanfictions and role-playing, etc. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to be able to continue with the essays, as I think I'm starting to run dry, but *shrug*.

[Hive King 2,001]

I assume that the king title brings back bad memories of King Sombra and Platinum's father. It'd be kind of like Germany using the Fuhrer title again. As for Celestia and Luna not being Queens, perhaps they find the title conflicting with Chrysalis's. The fact that Chrysalis is a queen in the sense of a hive probably helps that if Celestia and Luna were Queens, they'd be giving birth to every pony.

 

 

The real problem is that prince in MLP is a varied title. Shining Armor is a ruler of an empire while Prince Blueblood seems to be nothing more than a spoiled brat with blood ties

[Nature's Spell 526]

I assume that the king title brings back bad memories of King Sombra and Platinum's father. It'd be kind of like Germany using the Fuhrer title again. As for Celestia and Luna not being Queens, perhaps they find the title conflicting with Chrysalis's. The fact that Chrysalis is a queen in the sense of a hive probably helps that if Celestia and Luna were Queens, they'd be giving birth to every pony.

 

 

The real problem is that prince in MLP is a varied title. Shining Armor is a ruler of an empire while Prince Blueblood seems to be nothing more than a spoiled brat with blood ties

When I think of Platinum's father I envision him being rather jolly, but perhaps ineffective and dealing with a bratty, entitled daughter. We also know I suspect that Star Swirl served him, almost a Merlin-like figure. Edited December 22, 2013 by Nature's Spell

[Guest]

Well..to be fair..in history there were principalities...where the monarch was called a prince or princess....