The Royals – Siobhan’s Endless Meta, Part One

fuckyeahnickburkhardt:

This will be a multi-part series on everybody’s  my favourite Grimm family – the Royals. In this part we will look at what we know about the Royals as a whole – how they are organised, what their aims are. 

We will also look at the things in these categories that we don’t know, and either make educated guesses or explore options surrounding this missing information. 

One thing I will mention right now is this: people on Grimm are very true to life – they lie, like Sean Renard, or simply get things wrong, like Aunt Marie, or believe things to be true just because that’s what they’ve been told, like Rosalee and many other Wesen. We cannot take things said on Grimm at face value, especially about such a multi-faceted subject like the Royals. Also, Grimm’s plot arcs are long and twisty. I’ve always thought that Sean was lying about being assassinated because of his heritage, I thought he made a move on his brother for the throne. Later, we find out Sean was telling the truth. As far as his father knows, anyway. This is just an example, but this happens many times on Grimm.

Who Are the Royals?

We know that there are Seven Royal Families, or Houses. According to Aunt Marie, Sean Renard, Kelly Burkhardt and the Resistance, their main aim is to subjugate Wesen and rule the entire world. What this actually means is unclear. Genocide, slavery, a mix of both? Or, do they subscribe to the Wesen Council’s worldview, as in a hidden Wesen world, just controlled entirely by the Royals? (A side note: it is unclear whether the Council is merely separate from the Royals, or if their relationship is actively antagonistic on both sides.)

Sean reckons they wish to see an end to democracy, which would surely mean attacks on Kehrseite – would these include revealing the Wesen world, or not? We just don’t actually know, beyond a hunt for the Keys, and later on, Diana, any of their actual concrete goals. Their attacks on Sean Renard are reactive – as in, he attempted or succeeded to derail one of their plans or was suspected of consorting with the Resistance, so until he consistently proves that he will not submit, he is allowed to live, which does muddy the waters considerably with regards to the relationship between Sean and the Royals as a whole.

Of course, when we talk about the Royals, who we actually are talking about is one House in particular, House Kronenberg, based in Austria. 

The identity of any of the other Houses and the amount of their power is never mentioned. A House Lorraine is mentioned briefly in the comics, and during the Coins of Zakynthos arc in the show, a Japanese House was hinted at, but never stated or confirmed. It is also never confirmed that the Royals are particularly after the Coins either.

House of Kronenberg

At first glance, House Kronenberg seems to operate exactly like any real European Royal Family. The title of monarch passes down the male line, presumably first, rather than omitting the female descendants entirely. However, this is not confirmed – the only female descendant is of course Diana, who is valued for her powers, so would presumably get the throne even if ordinary female descendants were passed over.

But! There are two throwaway lines which seem to make House Kronenberg have more of a structure of a family criminal gang rather than a strict royal family. This is also hinted at many repeated mentions of ‘coming back into the family’ which always make me think of the Mafia and suchlike.

Viktor was ‘chosen’ to become the next Crown Prince. Now, as Dara O’Brien says ‘It’s a monarchy. You don’t get to pick!’ They only way someone could be chosen is if the people with the closest claim were twins, but even then I think it would be the first born, but don’t quote me on that.

Sean Renard might possibly have a claim to the throne. I’ve mentioned this before – Sean is a bastard, he should not have a claim. He came out of the wrong vagina, there is no possible way of hiding that, so his step-mother should not have worried about a Hexenbiest on the throne. The only way Sean would have a claim to the throne is by conquest, if he managed to convince the people he was a better, but just as rightful, King than his brother. Even then, it’s dodgy, because there are many people and places where a bastard has no claim ,not ever. And most Kings than end up on the throne this way hold it for a very short time, and meet grisly ends. And usually have their Kingship revoked, or whatever the correct term is. I’m looking at this issue from a British viewpoint because that’s what I’m most familiar with. I’m also no historian, so if anybody knows anything about Austrian Royalty past or present, please come forward and clear this one up.

The conclusion that I am drawing with limited knowledge of the situation is either the step-mother wanted an excuse, and that’s a pretty poor one, or Sean could have a claim.

This is both backed up and disproven by the chosen Royal theory – if Sean has a rightful claim, why is anybody chosen to be Prince, or if anybody can be chosen to be Prince, what would it matter that Sean was Eric’s half brother?

In the next post, we will look at the rings, talk some more about other bastards and look at some other odd things about the Royals in general, and from there we will begin to look at the main players of the Royals and the game they play. If I’ve missed something or made an error, please let me know! Obviously, Grimm has a habit of pulling contradicting information out of its proverbial behind, so prepare for this to be rendered useless after Series Five. 😦

Edited to add: The Mysterious Presence Known Only As D alerted me (some time ago, forgive me) to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince-elector which basically is real world electoral monarchy. So, by this reckoning, Sean does have a claim, but it is unlikely that Wesen who agree with the Royals would agree with a half breed on the throne. Unlikely, but not impossible. It’s sounding more and more like that the Royals have a very shaky hold on the Wesen world, and fear that Wesen could stand behind somebody like Sean and attempt to overthrow them.

And to be fair, they do.