Fictional Kings - Nerding Out Theme

Sups 0:01

Wow. We just went from Polish history to Game

Andi 0:03

up. Yeah. Well that's what I love about this is this, like you guys are just making alternate histories

Tanner 0:09

maybe it's not Joffrey or Regar. Mm-hmm. and it's someone else.

Sups 0:15

immediately reminds me of

Tanner 0:17

Yeah, me too. Where it's like, he was real. Yeah. But there's lots of myth around him, you know,

Sups 0:23

So this description, sounds

Tanner 0:25

real Sounds pretty

Sups 0:26

pretty real. Yeah. Real to me.

Andi 0:29

Hello and welcome to this episode of the I Should Have Known podcast, the trivia podcast that can't be trusted. Each week our Quizmaster presents you with four big facts on a topic, but one of those facts is a lie So we are nerding out for this month. This is our last nerd episode and probably our nerdiest episode, yet So I am your quiz Messer today. I'm Andy and I'm doing a very unconventional episode. So if you're an avid listener, this is gonna be a little different. I'm going to read you four stories about fictional kings. They've all been deco, contextualized, so you know, there won't be any mentions of what their kingdoms are called or of goblins or whatev, what have you, But one of the stories I'm going to tell you is actually about a real historical figure who actually. it's kind of the reverse of our normal episodes. three of them are fictional and one is historical. So join our other hosts, soups and Tanner in figuring out which one is the historical figure.

Tanner 1:27

Very excited for this.

Andi 1:28

So these four kings, I'm calling them all kings, even though they're not all technically kings. They're all monarchs, and they are all men. So the three fictional kings, are probably characters from these universes you haven't heard of. But you definitely know the universe. the three fictional universes, They're extremely famous. Mm-hmm.

Tanner 1:49

Okay, so it's on hard mode already.

Andi 1:51

I would be genuinely shocked if you could name. the

Tanner 1:54

Ooh, challenge accepted.

Andi 1:55

So low hanging fruit. what is the name of the legendary King of Britain? Known for his round table of Knights. Yeah. King Arthur. So King Arthur is kind of a bad or good example of this because it's not clear if King Arthur is a historical figure or not. Mm-hmm. he certainly. A legendary character, does that make him fictional? So it's kind of a question, but these four Kings, three of them are certainly fictional with a single author,

Tanner 2:22

Mm-hmm.

Andi 2:22

and one is a real historical figure

Tanner 2:25

Right. So Arthur is a little bit of both. Yeah. Cool.

Sups 2:28

Okay.

Andi 2:29

Here we go. Let's get real nerdy. So king number one the faithful king, known for his tolerance and noble heartedness. The faithful king is the only one of his people to be honored after his death by those that his people had. He was the son of a king, but this title was not inherited by the faithful king who actually founded his own kingdom. Instead, his uncles and cousins were king of his people. Some of them were known for their ruthlessness and committed atrocities In order to maintain the rule, they and their lords were entirely distrusting of strangers and foreigners, even when they offered to help against their enemies, except the faithful king who was friendly with many foreign groups and even lived among them for a. Eventually he broke from his family and founded a fortress city state, which he ruled as king. This was tolerated by his cousins because they were considerably weakened by rebellion, war, and disputes with neighboring kingdoms. The faithful king continued to irritate his family by helping foreigners in treating them almost as vass. He often personally fought in skirmishes to defend his kingdom. He was captured in battle and eventually died in. The faithful King never married, so he was succeeded by his nephew. Generations later through marriage, one foreign group was joined to the faithful Kings people, and so he has held an honor by them.

Tanner 3:43

Wow. It was very

Sups 3:45

Yeah. The way you started the description, I thought, oh, there you go. You're talking about Jesus But then it sort of took a different turn and I'm like, okay, it's no longer Jesus.

Tanner 3:54

a line of kings. yeah. yeah.

Andi 3:56

I don't wanna talk about whether Jesus is a historical figure or not.

Tanner 4:00

oh boy.

Andi 4:01

is not Jesus.

Sups 4:03

okay. Alright. That much you can confirm. Yeah.

Tanner 4:05

That is so interesting. A lot of it sounds very realistic. Like it could be a Polish king mm-hmm. where it's not inherited and they're surrounded by other people. Some other people like ruled instead of him. But then it also sounds very fictional. Like he made a fortress. Yeah. And he, took the throne and then he died in prison.

Sups 4:25

Yeah. Especially the part about that he didn't marry.

Tanner 4:28

Yeah. if he was so close with these foreign

Sups 4:30

groups, Uh, yes.

Tanner 4:31

that they would unite

Sups 4:32

though. Yeah. This potentially could be a Polish King.

Tanner 4:35

it also could definitely be someone from Game of Thrones. Like It could

Sups 4:39

Wow. We just went from Polish history to Game

Andi 4:41

up. Yeah. Well that's what I love about this is this, like you guys are just making alternate histories

Sups 4:45

we are just guessing,

Tanner 4:47

yeah. I'm really stuck on this. Died in prison, didn't marry, and then the foreign groups and made. A fortress. Yeah.

Sups 4:54

and, so he's like the world knows him as the faithful king, or is this a name that you came up

Andi 4:59

with? Yeah, I came up with all these names in order to Talk about them. Yeah.

Sups 5:03

Yeah.

Tanner 5:03

Okay.

Sups 5:04

All right.

Tanner 5:05

I, I'm leaning toward more like Star Wars. Star Wars

Sups 5:08

Okay.

Andi 5:08

This is fantasy. This is medieval fantasy.

Tanner 5:11

Oh, okay. So it can't be Star Wars? No. Oh, dang. It sounds like Anakin. Yeah. Like, wait, is He king? He didn't marry.

Sups 5:19

Yeah, So we've got like three more kings. Okay. So let's go through those descriptions.

Andi 5:24

Okay. King number two. I call the boyish king. The boyish king is a polarizing figure in his homeland, viewed either as a curious, open-minded, and adventurous spirit, or as a lavish idiot who nearly brought his father's kingdom down as the crown prince. The boyish king enjoyed an idyllic upbringing as his father's only son. He became king himself at the age of 14. He was considered indulgent reveling in women and exotic animals, and frequently disguising himself so that he could live as a commoner. His father's Vassals were further irritated with him for his promotion of low born and foreign advisors. He openly welcomed bait in his court and lavishly rewarded clever people no matter their origin. When older, he led an expedition to defend the marches and only revealed his identity upon his victory. He oversaw the removal of several threats, including rumors of dark assassins who were said to be murdering citizens. Tragically, the boyish king was not long lived. He died young, though not of suspected foul play. None of his children had survived infancy, so he was eventually succeeded by his cousin.

Tanner 6:33

Wow. immediately. I'm struck by two things. so he was very young when he took the throne and he like dressed up. as not a king. Mm-hmm. Both of those sound very strange to me.

Sups 6:45

I don't know how common this was in Europe or like in the European history for Kings. So, but I feel like in Asian kingdoms this was like a very common thing to do. A lot of kings, They would disguise themself as a common mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tanner 7:01

I try to think of young kings. Yeah. And I know that the French monarchy had some really young kings. Right. And they had like the DOK and they had all these cool names for Young Kings. But then I also

Sups 7:11

think, did they name, did you just say Dolphin?

Tanner 7:13

Yeah, right. He was known as the Dolphin. Yeah.

Andi 7:16

And so it's the Doongs, the, crown Prince.

Tanner 7:18

But I also think of Game of Thrones. There's definitely some young kings in. Some that dress up and murder assassins and maybe it's not Joffrey or Regar. Mm-hmm. and it's someone else. I don't know but I'm thinking that's from Game of Thrones,

Sups 7:33

So this one's

Tanner 7:34

fictional. I

Sups 7:35

Fictional. Yeah. this reads fictional to me in the sense I feel like a lot of ideas have been borrowed from like, different kings and combined into one.

Tanner 7:46

Yeah.

Andi 7:47

Do you wanna hear two more cakes? Yeah,

Sups 7:49

I think we should. We have to now.

Tanner 7:51

Halfway through.

Andi 7:51

All right. King number. I call the builder King. Little is known about the personal life of the builder King. He is almost legendary, but scholars agree that he did indeed exist. Some claim that many of the stories told of him are actually conflating several different figures, but myth or history. All agree. On one major point, he oversaw many wondrous constructions, including that of his homeland's, impressive capital city from which he ruled. The builder King was likely the son or descendant of a warlord, well-known for his brutality. It is said that he had an interest in building from a young. As an adult, the builder, king United, several warlords and chief dens by rallying them against foreign threats. Among his greatest accomplishments was a wall separating his homeland from that of others. he also built the oldest section of the castle in the capitol of his kingdom In his lifetime, he was unable to consolidate all of the region under his rule, but his descendants eventually. Little is known about the end of his life or his sons, but many, still claimed to be of his bloodline several hundred years later.

Sups 8:56

Mm. immediately reminds me of

Tanner 8:59

Yeah, me too. Where it's like, he was real. Yeah. But there's lots of myth around him, you know, and like everyone claims dissent from him and stuff, But isn't that the reverse? He didn't build the wall

Sups 9:09

he didn't in China, No, No, No, No, he didn't.

Tanner 9:12

So that's weird. Yeah. It sounds more like a Chinese ruler who built the Great Wall of China and then like ruled from inside China. Mm-hmm. but then the rest of the story doesn't line up. Yeah. There's a wall in Game of Thrones, but I don't wanna go back to that. Every time

Sups 9:26

I mean, game of Thrones is not the reference for every description know.

Tanner 9:30

know.

Sups 9:30

Although it could be.

Tanner 9:31

What other walls do you know? You know, hadr, Adrian's Wall. the beginning of it? Yeah. It sounded like King Solomon, but pretty sure there's no wall.

Sups 9:39

Yeah. could this be like the Ming, wasn't it the Ming Dynasty who built the Great Wall of China, Okay. Hmm. are, we are over complicating Yeah. Does this sound real or fake? Because that's, what we need to

Andi 9:51

Yes. I was just gonna jump in and remind you that the game is not figure out who the king is, it's, figure out which one is a historical

Sups 10:00

figure. Right? Yeah. So this description, sounds

Tanner 10:03

real Sounds pretty

Sups 10:03

pretty real. Yeah. Real to me. But we still have one more king. Yeah. Which could just tip the skills completely. Yeah.

Andi 10:10

So king number four, I called the sea fairer king, Noble and brave hearted. The Sea Fair King is one of the most beloved rulers in his homeland's history. His father died when he was young, and so he was raised in the castle under the rule of his uncle. His uncle considered him his heir until he had a son of his own fearing for his life. The 13 year old prince was smuggled out of the capitol by a loyal. in the Wilder world. he learned the truth about some of his more obscure subjects, reveling in their company and wisdom. They declared him their king and fought with him against the Seafair King's uncle. Eventually defeating him with some help from some very powerful all. Once he was the undisputed monarch, the CFA King earned his nickname by leading a C expedition, claiming to be in search of long lost relatives, as well as promoting many other such journeys. He discovered many peoples in places, foreign to him, and even took a foreign wife. Unfortunately, she was murdered, and so their son was taken away from the capitol. Father and son were only reunited, right before the Seafair King's. Despite the tragedy of his personal life, the Seafer King's reign was considered one of the most successful in his homeland's history, and his line ruled for several generations until the end of the monarchy.

Tanner 11:26

Hmm.

Sups 11:27

This isn't the Targ. No,

Tanner 11:29

No. You know what it sounds like to me? No,

Sups 11:32

it

Tanner 11:32

sounds like Chronicles of Narnia. because I know there's. People who go on boats. There's lots of uncles and cousins and siblings. I think this is pretty deep in the Chronicles of Narnia.

Sups 11:42

Yeah. who are some famous sea kings? I

Tanner 11:45

I mean, it could be someone from the uk. when she first started, I was thinking William the Conqueror, who then went to the uk Mm-hmm. But it doesn't really fit. Okay. Vikings.

Sups 11:55

Yes. there is potential there, right?

Tanner 11:57

like sailing there's the Portuguese, it could be Polynesian seafarers. Yeah. It could be Native American.

Sups 12:05

Mm-hmm. Hawaii

Tanner 12:06

Yeah. King Kame. Meha

Sups 12:09

Okay, so we've got four descriptions,

Andi 12:11

all you have to do is name the one that is a historical figure. Alright.

Tanner 12:16

and when you say historical figure, it's from anywhere on earth at any time in history. Yes. Got it.

Sups 12:21

Okay, so can you at least remind us these short names that you came up with? For the Kings?

Andi 12:27

Yep. So my little nicknames for the Kings, we have king, number one, the faithful King, king number two, the boyish king. King number three, the builder, king and king. Number four, the seafair king.

Sups 12:52

Okay. So I'm thinking that's between two and three. I think three is the real one.

Tanner 12:57

you think? Yeah. Okay. Cuz you're thinking the wall

Sups 13:00

The wall threw me off, but everything else sounds surreal.

Tanner 13:03

You think it's an Asian ruler? Okay. I'm gonna say the second one. I think

Sups 13:09

the second one is real. Yeah. Second one is real. So yeah, that's okay. So two and three? Yeah. Alright. Okay.

Andi 13:14

Wow. You guys actually did really decently Well, This was hard, you know? Yeah. it's very funny because soups straight mentioned at one point the real life kingdom. Oh. What? That the real person comes from. No soups. You should have, you should have Dynasty, yeah. The Ming Dynasty and Suz, you, you should have really like stuck with your Asian roots because number two is Jen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty from 1491 until 1521. the boy king, the boyish king. When sous was like, oh, this is really common in Asian kings to dress up like commoners, I

Tanner 13:53

it.

Sups 13:53

Yeah. I'm like, okay. Yeah.

Andi 13:54

Straight up. That's,

Sups 13:56

I just, yeah. So it's between two

Andi 13:57

two and three. yeah. You got that Okay. Yeah. And that was very funny. You mentioned the Ming Dynasty. It's like straight up. he lived from 1491 until 1521. he was the em first emperor to encounter Europeans.

Tanner 14:09

Oh.

Andi 14:10

And he did not like the Portuguese. Yeah. Murdered a whole lot of them because they were kind of being He was close with many Muslim advisors, especially Unix. Mm-hmm. Some people even say he might have converted to Islam. It's not clear he died by, he fell off a boat.

Tanner 14:27

Oh no.

Andi 14:27

He was drunk, fell off. and contracted an illness and later

Tanner 14:32

says.

Andi 14:32

Yes. That's how he died. He hadn't many children, but they died very young. And they weren't his and Brisses children. All of her children died in infancy, so he was about 30 When he died. So he was real.

Tanner 14:45

wow. The boyish king. He wasn't really a king. He was an emperor. That's why you said

Andi 14:49

Yes. He was actually an emperor. And he is a polarizing figure in Chinese history. Right. Depending on what you think. And one thing was the As assassins. Yeah. It's called the dark affliction. It's not clear what it actually was, but it's a historical fact that people were claiming creatures were murdering people in the streets. So Jen made a, like edict saying,

Sups 15:12

stop

Andi 15:12

it, and then they stopped.

Sups 15:14

Okay.

Tanner 15:15

That's real.

Andi 15:16

Well, yeah, people were spreading those rumors. It's real that people spread the rumors. I don't know who was actually doing the murdering, but that was actually why I picked

Tanner 15:24

it Cause like, that

Andi 15:24

sounds like fiction. It's

Tanner 15:26

straight out of a book.

Andi 15:27

We can sort of go back and talk a little bit about who the Kings are. Yes. the the fictional

Tanner 15:31

kings. Yes. Let's take a guess. I think it's, it's lower the Rings.

Sups 15:36

Lord of the Rings.

Andi 15:37

He is indeed from Tolkin Universe.

Sups 15:40

Okay. Who is

Andi 15:40

Finn Rod Fag. Gooned. King of Naga thrown to come on the healer of caves. Also, I wanted to mention he died in prison. Actually. What happened was he was imprisoned by Soran with Barron and sacrificed himself because a wolf came to eat Barron and he strangled the wolf to death, but suffered mortal wounds while doing so. Oh no, because he is awesome. if you've watched the rings of Power, he's glad's brother, so he's in that. So yeah, he's from the Simian and other works. from Tolkin. Lord of the Rings, essentially.

Sups 16:12

Yep.

Andi 16:13

the builder king.

Tanner 16:14

number three. That's Game of Thrones.

Andi 16:16

Yeah. I thought that was the most obvious one. That's brand. The builder. The builder brand. The builder from a Song of Ice and Fire by George R. Martin. And yeah, so I think that one really speaks to how rich of a universe he's created because there are myths in legendary figure. Within a fictional universe. So in the actual story, like whether he was real or not is a mystery. people claim that he built the wall with the help of giants. Oh yeah.

Tanner 16:41

yeah.

Sups 16:41

yeah. Yeah. I mean that would've made it

Tanner 16:43

very

Andi 16:43

it So the famous wall. In the north. he was king of the north.

Tanner 16:48

And people still claim descent. So like the,

Andi 16:50

He founded the SAR family. Exactly, yes. And then Tanner, you actually nailed The Sea Fair King is Prince's Caspian who became King Caspian the 10th

Sups 17:01

Yeah. from

Andi 17:02

CS Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. You know many

Tanner 17:04

times I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader, prince Caspian?

Andi 17:07

I read times. Yeah, that's Prince Caspian. I thought he kind of sounded like Henry of, Portugal. Mm-hmm. So I like kind of Oh, the Navigator Totally. And the truth about his more obscure subjects are the talking animals in Narnia

Tanner 17:21

Yeah.

Andi 17:21

Yeah. And his powerful allies are Aslan and his ancestors, who are the four children who founded the Kingdom of Narnia. But then this is actually like 1300 years later and it's not very confusing at

Tanner 17:33

all. Yeah. They

Sups 17:33

come

Tanner 17:34

Yeah. When you said those things, I was. I know

Andi 17:36

book.

Sups 17:37

I know. Yeah, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

Andi 17:40

so yeah, those are the three universes.

Sups 17:41

of it, I think we did pretty

Andi 17:43

well.

Tanner 17:43

Yeah. I think you

Andi 17:44

did a decent

Sups 17:46

mean,

Tanner 17:46

also did a really good job of removing the story.

Sups 17:49

Yeah. So they

Tanner 17:50

sounded

Andi 17:50

real The decontextualizing. Yeah.

Sups 17:52

Wow.

Tanner 17:53

I Should have known. I

Sups 17:54

should have known

Andi 17:55

Thanks for listening to this episode of the I Should Have Known podcast. We are finishing up our nerd theme. Hope you enjoyed it, and we'll be going on to talk about the Earth next month. And as always, thanks for listening. I'm Queen Andy of the I Should Known podcast.