Mary Robinette Kowal - Off With Her Head? Why Fantasy Hates Good Queens
A few weeks ago we had a ball discussing the Top Ten Evil Queens of fantasy. But something occurred to me as I was doing my research: While I had no trouble finding evil queens, the only ones I could find that were depicted as being "good" were physically compromised in some way. (And I'm not talking about princesses here -- I mean women in real seats of power.) The question this raises for me is, does power corrupt or are powerful women seen as dangerous in fantasy? Let's take a look at the way good queens are hobbled to find out.
Small Queens
I've lumped two types together here: Child queens and little people. By the latter, I mean queens like Cherlindrea in Willow. Granted she's the same size as the people she rules, but she's also small enough to be physically dominated. That ability to control a queen physically might explain why lots of good queens are kids: Lucy and Susan in The Chronicles of Narnia are 8 and 12 in the first movie. By the second, when Susan is old enough to be considered a woman, she's sent back to our world and no longer allowed to be a queen. At least Susan's in good company: Many of the older good queens I could find were teens like Empress Savina in Dungeons and Dragons. After that, they all turned evil. Heck, even when you move over to space fantasy like Star Wars: Episode I, Padmé is only 14 when she's in charge.
Ailing Queens
There is a way a queen can remain good as she comes into adulthood: She just needs to get sick. MirrorMask is an excellent example of this. There are two queens: One good, one evil. The evil queen is a vibrant, strong woman at the height of her power. She's ambitious and seemingly capable of anything. The good queen? She's in a coma. And this is a pattern you'll see repeated in other movies. The Childlike Empress from The Neverending Story, who is already diminished by her very name, is also dying. She needs a boy from our world to save her. Typical male fantasy.
Married Queens
OK, so you really want to be a good queen. You want to survive your teenage years in good health and rule as a healthy adult. No problem. It's just that you'll have to get married. Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings rules with her husband. Guinevere rules with her husband. Even the mother in The Lion King rules with her husband -- that is, until he's deposed. Then what happens? She loses power to her brother-in-law. Sure, we're talking about lions, but it's so consistent with what happens with other queens that it's hard to shake off. The fact is, marriage is another way a queen's power is usurped -- because when Guinevere is "ruling" with King Arthur, who's really ruling? That's what I thought.
Having said all that, it might surprise you to learn that there's one character I stumbled upon who's actually a mature, healthy woman in power: Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard of Oz. If you want a role model on how to be a good queen in fantasy, your one choice dresses like a doll and rules over little people. I don't really have complaints about her wardrobe choice, because she also kicks some serious ass while wearing the world's largest skirt. But you don't have to be a queen to rule over little people -- just ask your local kindergarten teacher.
So the question remains: Does power corrupt or are powerful women dangerous? Personally, I think it's the latter. There are examples of good queens in real life, but somehow the only thing that stirs our imagination when it comes to women is either the gender's capacity for evil or helplessness.
Tell me why I'm wrong in the comments.
Mary Robinette Kowal is the winner of the 2008 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a professional puppeteer. Her first novel Shades of Milk and Honey is being published by Tor in 2010.
Its been a couple of years since I read Wicked, but if you allow the use of that story in conjunction with The Wizard of Oz, then Glinda actually was kind of mean to begin with.
Just a thought.
It has been a couple of years since I read Wicked. If you allow that story line to be use in conjunction with the Wizard of Oz, then wasn't Glinda was actually kind of mean to begin with? She was conceited and self-serving and manipulative. Or so I think.
Just some thoughts.
It has been a couple of years since I read Wicked. If you allow that story line to be use in conjunction with the Wizard of Oz, then wasn't Glinda was actually kind of mean to begin with? She was conceited and self-serving and manipulative. Or so I think.
Just some thoughts.
It has been a couple of years since I read Wicked. If you allow that story line to be use in conjunction with the Wizard of Oz, then wasn't Glinda was actually kind of mean to begin with? She was conceited and self-serving and manipulative. Or so I think.
Just some thoughts.
You're not wrong about Lucy and Susan, but there is an addendum to their place in Narnia in that they did grow up to become queens at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That, and an appearance in The Horse and His Boy are the only places that give us a glimpse of what they were like as rulers later in life. Were they (and Edmund) simply overshadowed by Peter as the High King? Did they make a significant mark on their own? Sadly, we'll never know, but I think no would be the answer regardless. It is an interesting prospect what could have been. And indeed Susan did get the shaft in those stories, but I guess not everyone gets a happy ending in fantasy, least of all a small queen.
You're not wrong about Lucy and Susan, but there is an addendum to their place in Narnia in that they did grow up to become queens at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That, and an appearance in The Horse and His Boy are the only places that give us a glimpse of what they were like as rulers later in life. Were they (and Edmund) simply overshadowed by Peter as the High King? Did they make a significant mark on their own? Sadly, we'll never know, but I think no would be the answer regardless. It is an interesting prospect what could have been. And indeed Susan did get the shaft in those stories, but I guess not everyone gets a happy ending in fantasy, least of all a small queen.
You're not wrong about Lucy and Susan, but there is an addendum to their place in Narnia in that they did grow up to become queens at the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That, and an appearance in The Horse and His Boy are the only places that give us a glimpse of what they were like as rulers later in life. Were they (and Edmund) simply overshadowed by Peter as the High King? Did they make a significant mark on their own? Sadly, we'll never know, but I think no would be the answer regardless. It is an interesting prospect what could have been. And indeed Susan did get the shaft in those stories, but I guess not everyone gets a happy ending in fantasy, least of all a small queen.
Actually, I don't think you're wrong at all. Correct me if *I'm* wrong, but science fiction has been predominantly written by men since its inception (with notable exceptions). Many of these are, while not overtly sexist, still very much living in time periods where women were not and could not be allowed power. Isaac Asimov comes to mind--his Susan was strong and often outsmarted her fellow male scientists, but Asimov's writing is still VERY 1940s/50s.
I like that you bring up Glinda. If we look at the Oz books, Glinda is a kind, benevolent witch/fairy, who is often looked to for guidance by the true "queen" of Oz, Ozma, who is herself kind and benevolent, though a child (well, she's a fairy, but she looks like a child/young teenager). There are tons of other strong, wonderful female leads in the Oz books, all princesses (though, all children): Dorothy, Betsy, Trot... they kept adding on as the books continued, but these are the notable ones.
Speaking of fairies... Baum's other books included the fairy clan ruled by Lurline. Read: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. And even Zixi reforms after being shown the error of her ways by Fluff.
And we mustn't forget Oz's good witch of the north! Glinda's domain was the south. Tattypoo ruled the North (although she was not as powerful as the other witches), and also assisted Dorothy on her first adventure.
I think Galadriel wore the pants in that relationship. She was a Noldor, a kinswoman of Feanor and the grand-daughter of a Goddess. She went to the West before the ages of the sun and came back to Middle-Earth during the War of the Silmarils. She is, most likely, the single most powerful elf in Middle-Earth by the time of the War of the Rings. Only Glorfindel, if the Glorfindel in LotR is the same one as in the Silmarillion (who whipped the snot out of a Balrog and ran the Witch-King - aka the Lord of the Nazgul - out of Angmar), could feasibly match her.
Celeborn was a member of the royal house of the Sindar, a puissant and fell elf to be sure, but he was simply not in Galadriel's league.
As for good queens in film, there's always Lana Clarkson's Barbarian Queen and Sandahl Bergman's She down at the fleshy nadir of fantasy film.
Even setting aside the topsy-turvy WICKED, Glinda is a "bless-your-heart" kind of good queen. She may have been adult, healthy and unmarried, but she also sent a little girl into the middle of her power struggle with the Witch of the West, giving the girl a MacGuffin that makes her an instant target for all the bad guys of Oz, and sends her to the leader who may or may not help her, since "no one sees the great Oz, not nobody, not nohow," when Glinda herself has the power to send her home. Or so the movie implies. I think Glinda's more a good politician than a good queen.
The one you forgot: Aurora's mother in the Disney SLEEPING BEAUTY. She sacrifices her chance to raise her own daughter to save the baby's life, and while she clearly rules through her husband, she is still seen as kind and loving.
Don't forget the next archetype, though - the Dead Queens. The dead moms of Snow White, Pocahontas, Sara in LABYRINTH, Bambi, Ariel, Jasmine... all sainted and all dead, plus Sasha from Stephen King's EYES OF THE DRAGON.
Don't confuse the Glinda of the movie with the Glinda of Baum's books! The Oz books are full of excellent role models for girls, and Glinda is just one of them.
I also wouldn't dismiss Galadriel. She is definitely a mighty queen in her own right. Celeborn is her consort, not her co-ruler.
I'd like to nominate T'Pau as a puissant, adult, healthy pseudo-queen. (She is a leader of the planet Vulcan in the Star Trek universe.)
No WoTers here?
Morgase Trakand of the WoT is quite a powerful queen in her own right though through the series she loses control of her kingdom.
She probably is an Ailing Queen in that she falls under the spell of the evil Lord Gaebril (his real name would be a spoiler), but she recovers in the latter books and seems intent on regaining her throne. I wouldn't bet against her.
How about Xena? She's at least a princess (if only a warrior princess). We never saw her actually ruling anyone, but she led a lot of skirmishes and a few battles. She was never dominated by a man (at least, not for longer than it took to kick his ass at the end of the episode).
Also Buffy. Not a queen, but then, neither is Glinda. Just a woman with supernatural powers who is not dependent on a man.
I think you are all missing the point about Galadriel. It's not that she isn't perfectly capable of ruling it's that it seems to be impossible for fantasy to conceive of a single, healthy adult woman as a ruler. Ditto for Aurora's mother. I mean, what other plot point does Celeborn really, serve, except to make certain she is safely wed?
Marker: Putting aside the fact that Xena isn't a film, Princess isn't the same as queen because it doesn't involve ruling. Buffy is not only not a ruler, she's also a teen initially.
Glinda is described as being the "ruler" of the Quadling Country in the book and that morphed to being the ruler of the Munckins when the witches of the North and South were merged for the film.