Ruler
50 books featuring this archetype
The Ruler centralizes decision-making and resource distribution. This figure’s legitimacy depends on justice, fertility, and defense.
Metamorphoses
Ovid
1 BCE-8 CE
Roman
Oedipus Rex
Sophocles
429-425 BCE
Greek
The Song of Roland
Anonymous
1100-1150 CE
Germanic, Old French
The Mabinogion
Anonymous
1100-1410 CE
Celtic, Welsh
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter
Anonymous
900-1000 CE
East Asian, Japanese
Nibelungenlied
Anonymous
1200-1210 CE
Germanic
Medea
Euripides
431 BCE
Greek
Táin Bó Cúailnge
Anonymous
1100-1200 CE
Celtic, Irish
Works and Days
Hesiod
700 BCE
Greek
Qur'an
Anonymous
650-660 CE
Arabic, Islamic
Anansi Stories
Oral Tradition
1800-2000 CE
African, Akan
Ifá Corpus
Oral Tradition
1200-2000 CE
African, Yoruba
Cath Maige Tuired
Anonymous
1100-1200 CE
Celtic, Irish
Shan Hai Jing
Anonymous
300-100 BCE
East Asian, Chinese
The Destruction of Mankind
Anonymous
1400-1200 BCE
Egyptian
The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
Anonymous
1900 BCE
Egyptian
Electra
Sophocles
420-410 BCE
Greek
Hippolytus
Euripides
428 BCE
Greek
Harivamsa
Vyasa
100-300 CE
Indian, Hindu
Lalitavistara Sūtra
Anonymous
300-400 CE
Indian, Buddhist
Georgics
Virgil
37-29 BCE
Roman
Primary Chronicle
Nestor
1113-1118 CE
Slavic
The Knight in the Panther's Skin
Shota Rustaveli
1196-1207 CE
Persian, Georgian
Mwindo Epic
Oral Tradition
1950-1960 CE
African, Nyanga