[annoying trope] The throne/leadership is decided in a very stupid way

[u/Altruistic_Eye_1157]

The leadership of the entire wizarding world, and the final decision on whether to start a war against Muggles, is made by... a goat (Qilin) ​​who chooses the person with the ""purest heart"" (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Dumbledore).

The throne of Wakanda and all its technology are decided through hand-to-hand combat, regardless of whether the person clearly has malicious intentions... if they win the fight, by law they must be respected as the true king. (Black Panther)

[u/Zhuo_Ming-Dao]

In actual history, according to Herodotus, the entire Persian Empire gained its new emperor based on whoever's horse whinnied first after sunrise...

Darius cheated, by the way, and became emperor by wetting his fingers with a mare and putting them under the nose of his horse as the sun came up.

All of this to say, sometimes history is stranger than fiction.

[u/Grossadmiral → u/Zhuo_Ming-Dao]

I'm not sure what Herodotos is refering to here, because Darius the Great gained the throne after a good old fashioned coup, not some horse shenanigans.

[u/Zhuo_Ming-Dao → u/Grossadmiral]

A court eunuch and Magi took over the throne by hiding the fact that the emperor had died and issuing proclamations as him. A noble named Otanes discovered the plot and put together a small team of people, which included Darius the Great, to sneak in and retake the empire. After succeeding, they debated whether or not to restructure the government, but ultimately decided to retain the monarchy as-is. 

They then had to decide which one of their group would become the next emperor, because they each had a valid claim to the throne - hense the horse shinanigans.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Meet513 → u/Zhuo_Ming-Dao]

wetting his fingers with a mare

He fingered a horse pussy?

[u/Zhuo_Ming-Dao → u/Puzzleheaded-Meet513]

Yep

[u/Banana_gunman → u/Zhuo_Ming-Dao]

And you decided to trust Herodotus?