An all-time holiday favorite of mine - and doubtless many others - is the Rankin/Bass Stop-Motion classic 'Santa Claus Is Comin To Town', with Kris Kringle voiced by Mickey Rooney. I know so many of the scenes and songs by heart - maybe even a little too well for my own peace of mind.
Like other R/B Holiday happenings, it has songs with dueling versions, different based upon who's singing and why. 'It's A Difficult Responsibility' is sung first by Mama Kringle, indicating the past joy & glory her family knew as toymakers to young Kris; the second time, it is sung by the evil Burgermeister and his lackey as they scheme to make sure the children of Sombertown never know toys again. In both versions, there is a line about 'toymakers to the King' - Mama saying that the Kringles were the first toymakers to the King, and Burgermeister vowing that there will be no more toymakers to the King. Okay.
Just who is this King? ( Nobody start with the 'Its For Kids/MST3K Mantra', because this is just a blog. We can do this here. ) What are they even the King of, that far North? Beyond that, why does Burgermeister - a local mayor - get to decide whether or not he gets a toymaker? Bad system of governance, you ask me. No wonder Santa took over those parts. There was an enormous power vaccuum created by a weak monarchy.
The identity or kingdom of this king is never mentioned, and the character or idea is never brought up again in this or any of the related specials.If I had to speculate, I would go from him being a Scandavian King of legend (like the ones mentioned in Beowulf) to Arthur or Charlemagne. One real stretch might be to guess that they are talking about The King Of Kings, this being, ya know, a Christ-mas special, but network TV got the jitters from Linus' Bible reading in 'A Charlie Brown Christmas', plus the King in the picture shown during the song looks goofy rather than heroic or messianic.
Which brings us to Lucy and Elfen Lied. Nana doesn't obey her, and neither does Mariko. She is likened to the queen of a beehive, yet the drones she creates seem largely uninterested in her. She's not the most powerful. Her instinct to mate can be put aside well enough to both reject procreating with her little brother ( ICK!!!!) and to get rid of him entirely. She takes steps that make her death a certainty, leaving her 'subjects' to fight a war and be wiped out to a one. Not all of this - even perhaps most of this - is not on her, but it makes the monarchical analogy wear a bit thin.
Or maybe Lucy is distantly descended from the king in the song.