Everyone Wants Legitimacy
In his book, David and Goliath , Malcolm Gladwell makes this point: “When the law is applied in the absence of legitimacy, it does not produce obedience. It produces the opposite. It leads to backlash.” Most systems of power have understood the need to establish legitimacy as the basis for their rule. That’s why kings were considered the descendants of the Gods in many civilizations. But that led to the question as to who could confirm the legitimacy? Most kings gave that power to the priests, and that’s why priests became so powerful in those very civilizations. In the Game of Thrones series, legitimacy is why Cersei goes to the priests called the Sparrows: to get them to declare her son, Tommen, the “true king” when there were so many contenders for the throne. But the high priest, the High Sparrow, asks for his pound of flesh in return for any such declaration: “The realm is full of kings. For the Faith to exalt one above the rest we must be certain.” And so Cersei...