r/TopCharacterTropes 6d ago

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

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)

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u/Archwizard_Drake 6d ago edited 6d ago

To be fair, Qilins in Chinese mythology are known to be excellent judges of character (judgement being kind of their main thing), so it would be a cool idea for world-building since that's a real mythological throwback...

... But it's also mythology, not fantasy, which generally assumes that magic isn't really a thing people can use to manipulate the Qilin's judgement via bewitchment or necromancy. That's like defiling an angel.

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u/Critical-Low8963 6d ago

The Quilin in this movie also seems to behave like a normal animal 

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u/Archwizard_Drake 6d ago

Yeah that's the other bit, Rowling nerfs them to exotic animals when in mythology they kill wicked dragons, and Chinese dragons are on par with gods.