Of course there isn't one; the notion of the "rightful king" in Middle-Earth does not have a real world counterpart.
Tolkien might have believed it did, since he was a Catholic and might have believed in some version of the divine right of kings that the church supported for many centuries. But even then, the power the "rightful king" has in Middle-Earth is very limited. There is no hint that Aragorn, once he becomes King, micromanages everything in Gondor or makes rules by royal decree about everything, or even any very great number of things. The only actual official acts of his that are described are making peace with the Haradrim and the Easterlings, giving Sauron's freed servants the lands about Lake Nurnen, and pronouncing judgments of particular cases, of which Beregond's is the last. He certainly doesn't seem to be dictating what everyone in Gondor should do in their daily lives. Nor is there any hint that previous Kings did any such thing.
And even Tolkien's real world attitudes weren't necessarily monarchist. In a letter to his son, he wrote:
"The most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity..."
If this espouses any kind of political view, it's libertarianism.
A bullied kid finds refuge in sci-fi and fantasy books. This kid builds a mental fantasy world where they get revenge on their tormentors. In this mental fantasy world, every self-serving thing they do is “righteous”, because it undoes the harm that was done to them. Their manifesto is a mish-mash of ideas from the books, but twisted to make them into the good guy.
Some of these kids eventually grow up and meet people who are kind to them. They find positive lessons in real human social interactions. They leave their protective fantasy bubble behind. They eventually learn to seek justice where there was injustice.
Others never grow up. They end up seeking to fight injustice with a new form of injustice. Only this time, they get to be the tormentor.
> who is the trueborn king today?
Of course there isn't one; the notion of the "rightful king" in Middle-Earth does not have a real world counterpart.
Tolkien might have believed it did, since he was a Catholic and might have believed in some version of the divine right of kings that the church supported for many centuries. But even then, the power the "rightful king" has in Middle-Earth is very limited. There is no hint that Aragorn, once he becomes King, micromanages everything in Gondor or makes rules by royal decree about everything, or even any very great number of things. The only actual official acts of his that are described are making peace with the Haradrim and the Easterlings, giving Sauron's freed servants the lands about Lake Nurnen, and pronouncing judgments of particular cases, of which Beregond's is the last. He certainly doesn't seem to be dictating what everyone in Gondor should do in their daily lives. Nor is there any hint that previous Kings did any such thing.
And even Tolkien's real world attitudes weren't necessarily monarchist. In a letter to his son, he wrote:
"The most improper job of any man, even saints (who at any rate were at least unwilling to take it on), is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity..."
If this espouses any kind of political view, it's libertarianism.
"Not one in a million is fit for it"
But one every 2 million?
It does not sound too libertarian to me, but I've known monarchist libertarians, so it is a spectrum I think.
> But one every 2 million?
I think that was a figure of speech, the intended meaning of which was "nobody is really fit for it".
Easy. Nobody. The extreme power this gives will corrupt anyone in the real world.
And yet we continue to give people such extreme power in the real world. What kind of sense does that make?
So fantasy novels aren't a great playbook for actual government? Too bad that too many people are still heavily influenced by this.
A bullied kid finds refuge in sci-fi and fantasy books. This kid builds a mental fantasy world where they get revenge on their tormentors. In this mental fantasy world, every self-serving thing they do is “righteous”, because it undoes the harm that was done to them. Their manifesto is a mish-mash of ideas from the books, but twisted to make them into the good guy.
Some of these kids eventually grow up and meet people who are kind to them. They find positive lessons in real human social interactions. They leave their protective fantasy bubble behind. They eventually learn to seek justice where there was injustice.
Others never grow up. They end up seeking to fight injustice with a new form of injustice. Only this time, they get to be the tormentor.