Written by Falconempress. Posted on Jan 18, 01:06 PM.

On Government

Over the years, as I read my way through virtually every genre there is in fantasy, there has been one thing that always bugged me: countries with unrealistic and impossible governments. In most cases these were mostly reduced to a single man, often an evil King or Emperor, which, despite the fact of being utterly ridiculous, shows how very little effort and research was put into world building by the unfortunate author. To an intelligent and perceptive reader this is a very big flaw and how is a reader supposed to take the story seriously if its author doesn’t? After getting my hands on the latest installment in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance series called Brisingr the cup of my patience has indeed overflown and I decided to write this little article on how governments work and how they do not. I have summed my thoughts on the issue into a couple of points:

1. Countries are not run by a single person

These types of governments were mostly common in Ancient period, when the very idea of state was still in its diapers. First rulers were mostly heads of their clans who managed to conquer other clans and with them, some additional land. To provide evidence from history, Sargon the Conqueror, the first man to unify tribes between the rivers of Eufrat and Tigris, was a sole ruler in his newly created empire of Akkad. This, however, only held together because of the strength of his personality and his rule. After he died, the realm fell apart during the rule of his successor, his grandson Naramsin, who managed to keep the realm together for a while, but it eventually ceased to exist around 2200 BC. Another example comes from Central Europe, when Slavic tribes were in 7th – 8th century AD united for short periods of time under different rulers but until the creation of Great Moravia none of them lasted past the death of their ruler.

But no matter how good of a ruler you are, you cannot rule by yourself, especially over larger domains. This is just plain impossible. There are many things to take care of – from organization of armies to redistribution of crops and, definitely not least, managing the country’s economy. In order for this one needs an efficient government to take care of running the country for you. Let me draw a little metaphor:

In brain, there are parts who make sure that you keep breathing, that your heart keeps beating and that the food you eat is digested. You, as the one who controls the body don’t need to worry about that, because there are those who are in charge of these things. Your functions run as they should and you only decide what are you going to do with your body, whether you take it to a party, for a walk, or just call a friend to talk to them. Just as separate systems in your body are controlled by separate parts of the brain, separate fields of running a country are controlled by specialists who only focus on their own responsibilities and duties. There is no way a single ruler can manage all that. Even villages have some sort of system, no matter how small they are.

This fact seems to be somewhat grossly overlooked in Eragon and Eldest. Brisingr shows some feeble stabs at building some kind of governing system when it comes to the election of Dwarf king, and at the end when Eragon encounters the head of the city of Feinster. But that is about it. When it comes to his all – powerful Empire, we learn nothing of how the power is distributed, if it is distributed at all. There is only the King who seems to be doing everything on his own. Which brings me to my next point:

2. In real countries power is divided/distributed

2.1. Horizontal distribution of power

Regardless whether totalitarian systems, democracies or monarchies, power never lies with a single person/office. Locke, Hobbes and Rousseau developed theories of power distribution for modern governments, many of their rules apply until today, but if you dig deep enough, you will find out that origins of politics and governing go as far as ancient Greece. Aristotle’s works describing political system of Athens is one of the first, and most detailed works on the subject, still being taught in modern – day law schools. Anyways, these gentlemen came up with something that we nowadays call „distribution of power“ and it looks something like this:

Power is divided between several branches. Different authors beg to differ about their number, but we will stay with modern theories and say there are three.

First, the legislative branch. This is mostly represented by some kind of parliament. This branch is responsible for suggesting and passing laws. There are several ways of becoming a member of legislative branch, most well – known being election, either direct or indirect. In the past, this branch was often missing, especially in authoritarian regimes. BUT its duties were transferred to those of the executive branch. Kings did not make laws themselves. Similarly to today, they only signed bills that were, with legislative missing, proposed by their ministers – the executives. Though the theory of parliamentarism may sound modern, it is no way an invention of the English or French revolutions, which is what modern legislative is mostly associated with. The first parliament ever to be created was Althing in Iceland whose first session dates to approximately 930 AD. Term “Parliament” itself is dated to 12th century England.
Paolini may argue that Galbatorix is too evil to allow something so outrageously reeking of freedom as some kind of legislative representation. But again, even when legislative was lacking, something had to take its place, one way or the other. Newsflash – laws do not grow on trees and neither are they all a product of a single ruler/tyrant. Now we have no idea whatsoever that there are any laws at all in Paoliniland and if there are how are they passed. We only know that Eragon is wanted because of Saphira, but from all we know Eragon is in possession of stolen property and he refuses to return it to its rightful owner. So I think that his prosecution (though I am not sure there are any courts in Alagaesia) is perfectly justified. And do not get me started on Roran. Going against your own ruler, killing and rebelling against his soldiers is high treason. Galbatorix is only protecting his own domain.

Then there is the executive branch, or the government. The ruler is generally viewed as a part of executive branch, but in different kinds of systems can have different span of competences from being basically just a puppet to a powerful ruler who only has government to carry out his decisions. As the name of this branch suggests – it executes laws being passed by legislative branch and also passes its own laws, but only within boundaries of those already passed by legislature, mostly to specify some aspects of a particular law. Executive branch consists of ministers, or heads of their departments, each in charge of something else – war, health care, finances and so on, there is no limit on how many departments can the executive have, their number is limited only by what kind of ministry there is a need for. THESE ARE VERY IMPORTANT. Their offices keep countries from falling into chaos. You rely on those for your education, health care, finances, commerce… Your whole life is closely connected to them. Ministry of foreign affairs makes sure that the country has a good image on the international level which makes international business possible. Ministry of defense takes care of military issues and its significance is greatest at the time of war.

Now here I would like to take a moment to discuss this. King Galby Empire seems to be in perpetual turmoil and seems to have been for about a century. So please tell me, why oh why did Galbatorix not appoint anyone to run Defense for him after his right – hand man Morzan was killed? (Assuming right – hand man means head of military. Politics, who usually shows all the talent of a very flexible lady offering affection without any constraints whatsoever to whoever pays, is twisted in unbelievable ways when it comes to Inheritance) And no, Durza was not his successor in this. Head of military and Defense does not run around the whole country just to do a few errands for his boss. Lower to middle ranks of military officers do that, not those who hold the reins. I am inclined to rule out Murtagh also for the same reasons. So – this country has no Government and in time of war does not even have a Commander responsible for defense/offense.

The last, but definitely not least, is the judiciary branch. This branch consists of systems of courts, which can also vary greatly. In ideal setting, this branch is completely independent and only bound by laws of their country, but as history proves, law is a very tricky thing that can be twisted and bent to the convenience of the ruling elite.

Based on the system, there can be many different kinds of courts – in history there were courts only for the aristocracy. Cities, which has their own legal system, hosted city courts, some of which had such wide jurisdiction they could even rule in a case in which one side was an aristocrat. Then, depending on how many districts of administration is your country divided into, there are district courts. Some courts only rule on administrative offences, some courts only deal with issues of commerce and so on. Military courts are set aside from all the other ones.
Again – no signs of these in Inheritance. Well, the Varden have their Council of Elders but so far they showed very little usefulness whatsoever, actually I would say they are there only to humor Nasuada and look stupid and useless. Courts are not mentioned at all in Inheritance, they are not even hinted at. How the hell does this country control crime? How do merchants claim their demands if one side does not honor the deal? Do they just fight each other in streets? Courts are one of most ancient institutions. I admit, if he was to discuss at great lenghts political organization of Empire and Surda, the damn doorstopper would be even longer. But when a situation that needs legal solution arises, why ignore courts completely? When Roran was whipped for disobedience, it was not Nasuadas call to determine his punishment. Roran is a soldier. He is a responsibility of his commanding officer. And I highly doubt that Roran was given a position when his only commanding officers were the guy who got killed (and whose name I did not bother to learn) and Nasuada the day he arrived. Come to think of it, the Varden seem to be a dictatorship – they only have one ruler, incompetent council and that is about it. Everything is Nasuadas call. She is a tyrant! She is eeeevil!

Anyways, this model of distributing power is also called „horizontal“ because all branches are equal, or at least they are supposed to be. Competences of different branches are described in the country’s constitution, if it has one, or are defined in legal customs, if they are a legitimate source of law in the given country.

These also determine what is to be done if one of the branches collapses. Monarchies don’t fall apart if their ruler dies, same goes for democracies if their parliament is dissolved. That is because the other branches step in and keep the situation under control until a new solution is found. This can be wonderfully seen in J. R. R. Tolkien’s „Lord of the Rings“ trilogy. After the king of Gondor is killed, a steward steps in in his place to run the whole shindig. Though Tolkien doesn’t specifically show us how is the steward elected (which is a pity) we can see that there is some other controlling power other than the king that prevents the system from collapsing.

h2 2.2. Vertical distribution of power

The government can’t be everywhere, especially if the country under its command is a somewhat large one. How can one ministry deal with all the issues of the districts/colonies? That is why these have some sort of their own, smaller versions of governments that mirror the main system. There is someone who is in charge of the district – like a small ruler, they have their local council which passes decrees (these have to be in accord with law of the country, though, can’t go beyond it or against it) and courts, which are, of course, part of the main court system but deal with local issues. Dependence of local governments on central can vary from being closely controlled to almost completely free, only being a part of the system legally, though not practically.

But no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t find the slightest clue of any kind of system in Mr. Paolini’s books. I don’t know – how exactly is Carvahall run? Who is in charge of it, who is the head of the village? Whichever angle you consider – Carvahall is nothing more than just a bunch of people settling down and each of them minding their own business, only concerned with making their own living. And hating the Empire. Well, I too would hate a system which is not a system at all and, if you think about it, cannot exist as it is. Which brings me to my last point:

3. There can’t be a system without a system

It seems like Paolini’s Empire keeps running itself, not only that, all its cities (except for Feinster, maybe) keep running themselves. Very much like the Empire, the Surdans seem to lack any kind of government, as well as the Varden. If you look into history, all factions hoping to split from the bigger state FORMED A GOVERNMENT FIRST, even long before they officially got to power. Because thats the first thing other countries ask before they acknowledge a new one – do you have an acceptable governing system? Thats how Czechoslovakia was created after WWI – based on their exile government in Paris and thats how it was resurrected after WWII when the Parliament only accepted decrees passed by the government in exile during the time when the war was still raging. This is just one example I can name off the top of my head, but this is how it works and if you look into it, I am sure you will find many more examples. The system is the core and without it nothing works. Mr. Paolini ought to read a book or two on politcal sciences and history to see how countries really function and how they don’t.

This is just a very rough and basic introduction into governing system and how it works, but I think that it should be one of the first things any fantasy writer should consider while building his or her world. Many have made the mistake of underestimating the importance of believability of their realms and countries, and it only hurts the overall feel of the story and its quality as whole. Well – designed governments make the world feel less like a theatre set and more like a real, living, breathing and evolving universes.

Thank you for reading,

falconempress

Tagged as Criticism, Falconempress, Inheritance, World Building.

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