The Rise of the Fantasy Politician to Ultimate Power

This brown room is where a fantasy royal council meets. The wall is a light brown and the floor a darker brown. A large white table with gray striations is in the center, going all the way down to the bottom. On each side are gray chairs. Above the chair at the end is a blue window with light shining through. Gray columns support the ceiling. The council is one place the typical fantasy politician aspires to reach.
Picture of Sunfire

Sunfire

CONTENTS

Introduction

Beyond the pages of the story or the parts you see in various media, the world is shaped by decisions made by people in distant lands. These decisions have a wide ranging number of effects from countries’ trade policies to whether they go to war over a piece of land or something else. The people in power are part of an elite class: the fantasy politician.

Politicians in fantasy mirror their real-world counterparts as people who use their positions to make consequential decisions that can change the world for either good or evil. That intoxicating power draws many kinds of people, far more with ulterior motives than those with a desire to do good. As such, many stories put them in an adversarial position against the protagonist where they use intrigue and plots to advance their agenda while stymieing that of the hero.

For the fantasy politician, the road to power begins when he is making promises to his fellow citizens. He uses the great power of his charisma to appeal to a broad swath of people, essentially telling them exactly what they want to hear. He assures them that when he is in office, he will move heaven and earth to give the people what they want.

Simply holding one position isn’t satisfactory for the typical politician. No, he always has his eye on a higher office which comes with more power. He uses the full power of the office he’s in to elevate his stature to vault himself into a loftier position where he can really make the decisions he’s long sought to make.

This is the sixteenth article in the series poring over the different fantasy characters. If you want to see what else we have, you can find a treasure trove of articles on our blog page!

The Character of the Typical Fantasy Politician

Having the power to make choices that shape the world and the people who live within it is mighty seductive to those who have a simmering desire to enact either positive or negative change. In grave cases, it has a corrosive effect, turning even the most mild-mannered person into a power-hungry tyrant who uses his office to reward his friends and punish his foes.

Politics is a blood sport. Only those with the spirit of a vicious fighter can use their strengths to take them far in this field. For every fantasy politician that reaches the top, one or two fail to do so for a litany of reasons. Some were ousted or didn’t win over the right people or made far too many enemies in order to move on up.

This silhouette of a fantasy bounty hunter is in black with a white question mark on his body. The silhouette stands in front of a blue-green diamond background with the blue anchored directly behind the bounty hunter.

One valuable characteristic of a politician is his innate charisma. He uses his friendly demeanor to win people over by making them feel like he truly understands them. With a pleasant smile on his face, he is able to strike up conversations with virtually everyone he meets and leave them with a memorable impression.

Being gregarious is another essential trait the fantasy politician needs. He has to be willing to interact with all kinds of people in a variety of social settings such as parties or other formal gatherings or campaign events. When meeting people for the first time, he sizes them up and adjusts his strategy to try to win them over with his ebullient personality.

On the darker side of things, the politician needs to be scheming. Being nice may win many friends but it doesn’t go far in politics. Rather, he resorts to subterfuge, blackmail, and even threats to get what he wants. He has no qualms about engineering scandals that knock out his opponents and clear his path forward so he can glide towards higher office. 

The Various Avenues to Power the Fantasy Politician Can Pursue

Whether he has good intentions or just wants power for power’s sake, the politician must first find a way to get in power. There are a number of way he can go about it that will help him attain his goals. The ones he ultimately winds up using will determine whether his career reaches new, grander heights or if his ambition comes to a grinding standstill before long.

The smart fantasy politician taps into the discontent of the citizenry and uses it to his advantage. It could be war fatigue, natural disasters that leveled entire towns and cities, or prolonged economic doldrums. He listens to their woes and promises to use the full power of his office to help turn things around.

Part of a fantasy society, this city has a castle on a hilltop above it. The city has both rectangular- and square-shaped buildings with a wavy roof on each one. The buildings come in four colors: light yellow, brown, light blue, and white. The roofs come in the following colors: dark blue, red, light black, and dark brown. Many of these buildings have windows and some have a visible door. The road itself runs down the middle of the image, swaying to the right and then the left, ending at the doorstep of the castle. The road also meets two others, one that runs to the left, and the other to the right. Behind the city is a grassy autumn-like field with blades of grass scattered throughout. A river cuts through the field, meandering from the left edge to the right edge of the image. The castle itself is white with gray shadows. It has four red turrets and diamond-shaped windows. The sky above is a bright blue with several white oval clouds.

Another avenue to power the politician could pursue would be to go around and mingle with the local townsfolk. While he listens to what they have to say, he does so with the intention of putting together a platform that targets a wide swath of the population and hopes to use that platform to build a coalition of people who will pave the road for him getting into office. He can also use the time with the townsfolk to build a groundswell of support that proves durable and impossible for his rivals to tap into.

The third way the fantasy politician can get into power is to bypass the citizens entirely, choosing instead to appeal to the powers-that-be of the country. It could be a governor, king, or head of state. He promises he will do their bidding as long as they give him what he wants and this can cause consternation in democratic countries where merit is the top criteria for these positions but not in authoritarian regimes where fealty is required.

For the politician, the fourth and final road to power is to supplant his enemy and take over his position. It could be a palace coup where he and several people on his side force the person to step down one way or another where he releases incriminating information that will spark a public outcry with the aims of forcing his rival to call it quits. He uses the chaos he ignited to assure people that he will calm things down and chart a path to normalcy, this time with him being the one in power.

How the Fantasy Politician Uses His Position to Elevate His Stature

Though he may hold office, by no means is the politician merely content remaining there for the rest of his life. No, his ambition isn’t satiated just yet and the only way to satisfy it is to look to the future where he sits in the office he’s long sought to reach but has yet to do so. His primary focus shifts to a position higher than the one he is in at present.

The astute fantasy politician knows that he cannot simply maneuver his way into higher office; he has to work hard to reach that goal and the best way is to do a superb job in the position he’s in. He endeavors to make himself readily accessible to all those who his office oversees where he gives them the chance to voice their opinions and concerns.

A gray tower with five spires at its peak in the middle of a grassy field. It has many blue windows. A golden road runs from its door past the wall which is one of many defensive fantasy fortifications you see in the genre. Behind the tower looms a blue mountain range and a orange sky with oval clouds.

By listening to these people, the politician shows that he is willing to work with them to help solve their problems using the full power of his office. For example, if he works within the transportation department of the government, part of his job deals with infrastructure issues such as roads and waterways since they impact how people get around the country. He has to address immediate problems such as a rockslide that struck a mountain pass in a timely manner since many people’s livelihoods depend on it and how quickly he fixes it will determine whether he can move onto higher office or not down the road.

By dealing with whatever issues that arise during his time in office in a speedy manner, the fantasy politician demonstrates that he is willing and capable of getting things done. In other words, he isn’t just all talk and no action. He is able to list off his accomplishments to the people who matter, whether it’s the voters or the power brokers of the land, with the hopes of parlaying them into higher office which will bring him one step closer to his ultimate goal. 

Tying it all Together

The fantasy politician is an integral component of worldbuilding. He wields political power whether he’s a mayor, governor, or an appointee to a position somewhere in the government. He is able to shape the community he oversees in both positive and negative ways and how he does while in office will determine whether he is remembered well or not.

Only a select minority of politicians enter this field with noble intentions and a desire to change the world for the better. The vast majority are only interested in advancing their careers at the expense of their rivals and many have no qualms about getting down in the dirt in order to win. They’re also very charismatic, being able to win over a great many people.

There are a variety of roads the fantasy politician can take to get in power. He can go the popular route, getting out there and interacting with all kinds of people where he seeks to turn them into voters, or he can opt to take a different approach. In said approach, he can get his hands on some incriminating evidence and ‘persuade’ him to put him in office in exchange for his silence.

The typical politician has his sight set on higher office and he merely sees the one he’s in as a stepping stone to a loftier position, one that comes with more power. He endeavors to do a great job in his post so that he can burnish his credentials to great success when the time comes to seek higher office.

Every world has a fantasy politician, regardless of if’s a king, noble, or royal advisor. He is the one people look to for leadership in times of uncertainty and how he faces the challenges that arise during his time will dictate whether he leaves the world in a better place or not at the end of his tenure.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. (Note: this is an account-exclusive feature).

If you don’t have one, you can register here. It only takes a few moments of your time!

Liked this article and want to subscribe? All you have to do is fill out the form below and that’s it!

Thanks for reading this and until the next time,

Sunfire

DON'T MISS A POST!

Subscribing means you receive:

  • notifications when a new post’s up!
  • our monthly newsletter!

You can always unsubscribe anytime.

Share

Facebook
Twitter
Email
Print
Subscribe
Notify of

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Scroll to Top

Join US

Do you want to build the fantasy world you’ve always dreamed of?

Subscribe to receive notifications when a new post is out and for our monthly newsletter! 

You can always unsubscribe anytime.

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x