Know Your Archetype: Queen

Ceniza confronts another image of Azshara...

The Queen is often portrayed as a woman/female figure who is self-possessed, and in control of her surroundings and subjects. The ascription of being a 'queen' can mean a stand-offish attitude. She will care for you, but you must be loyal. Hugs are not in abundance, but if she so deems, she can save your head from the chocking block, (if she didn't put it there in the first place), or finance a voyage to the new world.

Damn, baby, you may be a beeotch, but you know how to throw a cocktail party...

But here in Azeroth, the supreme queen is Azshara. She lives in memory and hauntings, replayed time and again in the Well of Eternity. Every time one of those men decree, "At your side, my lady!" a tiny part of me (and I mean at the molecular level small) cringes/dies. The swept-off-your-feet-man-trap power is sublime, and all little girls are fed a heavy dose of mythical imagery of why we shouldn't want to be 'queen.' You end up ugly, old, and thrown off cliffs. Only good little girls stay young, sing well, get bluebirds to do their bidding, and get the prince (who becomes king, so then they become queen, and then...) Lest you think I'm going to get into a whole feminist diatribe, relax. These are archetypes, remember, and there are plenty for males as females which can be equally unbalanced and unfair. Marketing companies long ago figured out they could manipulate the mirror-mirror and use him as a powerful spokesman to get women (and men) to change or try to stop time, at least the signs of it physically. But there's always some new girl in town, apples and bluebirds optional.

Queens come in two flavors:

1. Those who are always in control:

Lie back, and think of England

Godspeed, Freddie Mercury

2. Those who "lose it:"

Queen of Heart Attack

Locked inside your heart-shaped box...

How do you know in the company of a queen? If you have to ask...well, you may want to make sure that blade is sharp, and keep those tarts coming.

And get on the good side of the huntsman.

Theme songs:

Clair de Lune/Debussy

Victoria/The Kinks

Bohemian Rhapsody