What's up with fantasy stories idolizing nobility?

[Archetype_Moon]

Honestly, I really don't get it. In a lot of fantasy stories we always follow the perspective of nobility or we play as nobles in video games, like the Fire Emblem games. This has been going on for hundreds of years and it has always baffled me that no one seemed to notice this.
I don't know, this is just my nitpick that has always bothered me, what's your opinion on the matter?

[jyujuku]

My story idolises nobility as well. Nobility has just always been there up on the hierarchy because thats how the world works lol The same applies to novels and comics. It's just seen as "better" they have easier lives, they are richer and famous.

[Archetype_Moon]

I understand and respect that. I can't really stand nobility as a history buff, a lot of the nobility were some real a-holes. I just wish most fantasy stories would think outside of the box for once, or I should say more often. I am sure there are plenty of fantasy stories where the nobility aren't the saviors.

[HGohwell]

I think it's a mix of a, the general way that most of us grew up with fantasy (and everything else) saying nobility/royalty is cool, so it becomes just a thing that's stuff in people's minds without thinking, and b, it's a easy way to give someone something special or a position of authority without needing to prove why they've got it, especially with younger/less experienced writers, without needing to think about it too much. For instance, if your main character is a fifteen year old who just happens to know all about politics and how to use a sword and the forbidden magic and can make witty charming conversation with even genius scholars and has a good education and can go wherever they like and command authority, it's a lot easier for people to simply say "well they're the son of a duke/king/whatever so of course they've been educated in all this" than to try to explain why someone of lower social status has any one of these skills. There's a lot of plot points that can be resolved by simply having the authority to save pardon someone from a crime or have money to do whatever they like. Also, the economic fantasy. The same reason lots of modern/scifi people are rich businessmen who do nothing to bussinessy. People want to ideal of big grand outfits and wealth and all the trappings but don't understand what royalty/nobility/business CEOs actually do to "earn" that money (depending on how you play royalty in that setting). So yeah, a lot of the time, it's because it's a easy way to have authority without needing to understand a complex system "because I said so" works fine and because it's an easy way to handwave the specialness so you can focus on other aspects of the story.

From a personal note, I really like writing nobility/royalty specifically because they were assholes a lot of the time. I enjoy an arranged marriage between two people who're doing this because it's just business and what's expected of them and how they learn to live with each other and that pressure, and the idea that royals do something, especially in smaller kingdoms, and political drama, family pressure to be perfect and the constant PR nightmare of trying to appear perfect and live up to an ideal of ruler in wait when all you want to do is run off an be a dragon vet (that got very specific at the end whoops).

[Stargazer31]

I think it's because a lot of old stories focus on monarchs, and their power can be used for conflict
However, I do agree that loads of stories rely on it

[BoomerZ]

It's because nobility allows freedom of movement and action. Specially in a medieval setting, the peasants were usually serfs, people tied to the land. Your life was bound to the land you worked. you have zero ability to move freely and little money to do so. Being noble allows you to adventure and have parties, meet men/woman to have romances with etc. It's a very easy was to explain why the character doesn't work literally 10 hours a day, 7 days a week which was the norm for peasants.

[Archetype_Moon]

You know what, I never thought about that before. You proved a good point.

[Tom_Van_Hammer]

Really interesting insight, thanks for that. I just wanted to add that a lot of stories rely on the protagonist being special or even the chosen one and in medieval times being noble meant being very special. And since most fantasy stories are inspired by medieval times this genre seems also to be influenced by the assumption: protagonist=special=noble.

[NickRowler]

I think it has mostly to do with fantasy being inspired by the Middle Ages which was more monarch focused.

I think from the perspective of readers, nobles represent the person on top who everyone looks up to. You can use that to parallel current governments IRL or you can use that as a wish fulfillment for the readers.

I do agree that we shouldn’t really be worshiping people simply because they are rich or have a big house.

[darthmongoose]

With comics, as well as there being the elements mentioned above of characters from nobility having agency, and the ability to travel, and also the higher stakes their adventures may often have due to being responsible for many people's livelihoods or whole regions, there's also the aesthetic elements.

Period nobility have always been able to wear the coolest clothes and jewellery and to have cool swords and armour and stuff. Getting isekai'd into a world where you live in a sodbrick hovel where everyone sleeps in the same room and you wear the same hemp dress everyday and might own a woodcutting axe and a knife just isn't as visually appealing as a world of four-poster beds and lavish dining halls where you dress in beautiful, colourful silk gowns and run around with a cool jewel-hilted rapier.
....Plus it's easier to find Clip Studio assets for it and it requires way less historical research because nobles are a lot less limited in what they can eat or what passtimes they can do, so you can have them eat out-of-season or exotic dishes, and learn fencing all day instead of spinning yarn or toiling in the fields.

Yes, there ideally should be more critical thinking from writers about the unequal nature of any society with nobility rather than just accepting it as fine. There does tend to be an annoying amount of exceptionalism and the idea that it's not the system of nobility existing that's the problem, but just that some of the nobles are bad, and so that if the protagonist is or becomes a noble, that's fine because they'll be a good noble.... But.... yeah, I think most people don't think that deeply and just think "It would be dope to live in a palace and wear pretty dresses and feel like I have power, respect and agency I don't have in my real life, and it'd be fine because I'd be nice to the servants and they'd like me!"

[Legendofgenii]

Romanticism.

[Kuma]

My novel does the opposite, most nobility in Centris are pieces of shit who abuse their power. I hate them all and can't wait to write karmic retribution.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Another note on nobility is also that it's part of the escapism. There are wayyyy too many works that legitimately idolize monarchy and nobles but I'm not talking about those - sometimes it's nice to think the rulers are actually doing their jobs after training their whole lives for it. You don't have to shove political intrigue that's inherent in the system, you can just have singular people or factions that are corrupt.

It's like having every church in a story turn out to be evil - yeah that follows real life sometimes, but it ends up being a surprise when they aren't and you can just pay attention to other story elements.

[powerplantanimations]

Because being poor SUUUUUCKS lmao. Also I think it'd make sense if nobility is the root of all these types of stories based in Europe since... kings and queens and all that. That's been the people's world for generations.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Maybe I missed something, but I feel like pretty much everyone is overlooking the fact that fantasy is...not real???? ^^;;;
Like, I can see why people tend to carry around the ingrained notion that nobles and royalty are inherently more important and have lives that are more worth writing about, it's probably been carved into our brains for millennia at this point.

But we're not talking about historical fiction, we're talking about fantasy fiction. Stories where miracles and magic are real...stories where maybe being born into the ruling class doesn't have to be the only way to escape a life of drudgery and poverty.
Stories that don't even have to be set in societies based on the feudal system! Fantasy =/= Medieval Europe!

With that in mind, I'd chalk it up to a lack of imagination, simple as that. :T In real life, the elites have all the power, so even in worlds with fictional powers that could potentially go to anyone, authors continue to hand them over to the elites, and even to posit that they belong there.
Half of 'underdog' fantasy stories have the MC discover that they're the secret long-lost prince/princess of a powerful kingdom, because of course that's the only sensible reason for them to be special and talented...and another large portion have the underdog earn royal authority through power. Like, even if they really do start out as just a nobody from nowhere, the natural endgame for them should be to become a king or queen. Because that's apparently what power is for...

Personally I have two major fantasy stories in the works where the main characters are nobles, but their status isn't idolized by any means. In one of them, the unending attention that comes with being the 'Little Princess' only contributes to the MC's anxiety issues, and although she's relatively young she already feels that people see her only for what she is, and not for who she is. She shares the spotlight with three other nobles who have been literally banished from their families, their lands, or the universe as a whole for some degree of nonconformity, and their aim isn't to restore what they've lost, but to tear the whole system apart and start over.

In the other one (which is much more difficult to write...) the MC develops similar anxieties about her position of power through seeing it actively used as a weapon to destroy and subjugate others. She's supposed to be the legacy of martyrs and the poster child of the 'master race', but at heart she doesn't want to hurt anyone and is desperate for a way out. And although I haven't worked that much with her, I think her character arc will probably revolve around developing a backbone, taking back her authority for herself, and using it to redefine her role in society as she grows to understand it.

...Basically, even if you insist on writing about nobles, and even if it's more realistic in the world of your story, that still doesn't necessitate glorifying the position, or otherwise crafting a story where only the opinions/experiences of the ruling class are worth consideration.

[PapaDom]

I think it has to do with the fact that this high-society lifestyle seems far more interesting to consumers than of the average poor farmer. And I don't mean "the poor farmer finding his greater purpose in life" kind of story, more like "the average farmer living his day to day life at the farm."

And when you think about it, it is still something in today's society as well. Would you rather watch what the average joe does or what your favorite celebrity does all day?

[LWriter]

I agree there is an inherent fascination with royalty and nobility in fantasy as a genre, and I think it’s something that until recently, was shared in real life by many. Maybe not so much in the U.S. but trust me, in South American and Europe, many had a reverence towards the royal families of England and Spain. I think this had shifted with the newer generations as the outlook on that had changed, as we become more aware what their “empires” did and how they got the power they did, and the behavior of some of their members, etc. It breaks the illusions that they are more important or special in some way, or even deserving of that.

I think of Lord Of The Rings, and I can’t speak to Tolkien’s view, but it feels like he’s writing how nobility SHOULD be, and that’s part of the fantasy. We do the see the old and greedy and corrupt leaders in his story, too, through Denethor and Saruman, but also the redemption of that responsibility as both Theoden and Aragorn rise to their duties as king, and truly put the people and the future of middle earth first. That’s how I’ve always seen it, and many have fallen in love with the idea of people in those position being like that, instead of the grim reality we often have. I don’t fault people who want to write about that fantasy, but I do think it’s going to change as those newer more self aware generations start writing their stories.

On that note, I think you’d like my new novel (Santa Fae) . The main character is from the nobility, but the black sheep of them, casted out and grudgingly readmitted within their circles, which she rejects more and more as the story goes, and she see the disparity of power between the Highborns and the rest of the city they rule. So, already we might be seeing some of those changes new stories coming out ^^

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

Everyone likes "nobility" that is actually noble. What's not to like? A combination of good morals & the power to act on them. And the worst villains in our childhood fairy tales were the royalty that was corrupt - sometimes to be replaced by a poor or peasant child who behaved more nobly than the "noble". So, there was a sense, I think, of meritocracy at play in those tales - no matter if it was inheritance or daring deeds that bestowed a royal title, it had to be earned by living with honor.

[TheLemmaLlama]

As others have mentioned, there are practical reasons for why the story is often focused on nobility; but yeah, imo the 'idolization' part comes in the form of the MCs being the 'good' nobility and just somehow having progressive values despite being raised in that environment and being surrounded by the jerk variety of nobility, but also being okay with keeping the system as long as we make sure 'the good guys' are the ones in charge

A few people have talked about main characters who reject the system, and while I don't think it's uncommon for noble MCs to be 'black sheep' within the noble circles and be hurt by their status and hate their position, it is uncommon for them to reject the system altogether and want to tear it down instead of just being 'we should be nicer to the commoners and less corrupt'.

Still, I feel like it takes someone incredibly exceptional to come to that conclusion given the entire culture they grew up in, and it's going to take a lot of psychological exploration and dang good writing for me to buy into such a character ...

What I'd like to see is 'good' nobles that are good in your usual ways of being nice to servants/opposing their corrupt peers/etc, but also have some obviously problematic ways of thinking that one would expect from someone in that culture, which the narrative doesn't idolize and brush under the carpet but also doesn't use to paint them as irredeemably bad people. The casual condonement of slavery (by the characters) in The Purple Ribbon by @migxmeg comes to mind as an approach I liked

[cherrystark]

I think for the reasons people have already mentioned: money and escapism. People are starving and struggling to afford medical care and other basic necessities. "Nobility" is any context whether it be actual royalty/nobility or the favorite family of your local community - they get their needs met first.

Aside from characters getting their basic needs met and providing escapism, nobility drives the story forward. Luke would not have been taken seriously if Princess Leia wasn't there to vouch for him. Aragorn wouldn't have played such a huge role in the story if he WASN'T the rightful king of Gondor. Arranged marriage stories work great between nobles. Pretty much all of the stories that feature a "strong female character", her presence in the story literally does nothing for the plot if she's not either nobility or is romantically linked with some kind of nobility in that world.