Come one, come all, and witness the clash of kings; the melee of monarchs; the rivalry of rulers. Overlord has its fair share of political states, each with its own internal structure and struggles, but what is a kingdom, empire, or even tomb without a capable ruler to lead it?
While not as complex as a profound pop culture icon like Attack on Titan, this isekai fantasy still has a developed world with a layered political landscape. Some factions vie for power in one form or another and others just try to survive. Let’s take a look at what rulers are at the top, who’s at the bottom, and who’s in between. Be warned, some plot spoilers are below, for anyone who has not caught up to episode ten of the fourth season.
The Good
At the top of the scale sits Ainz Ooal Gown, the sorcerer king, among other titles. No surprise there considering he’s the overpowered protagonist and much of the story revolves around his faction, the Great Tomb of Nazarick. So what makes Ainz the best ruler compared to the others? It’d be easy, really easy, to just chalk it up to plot armor, but let’s take a harder look.
Ainz has three things that make him a far better ruler than the others seen in the anime series so far: his powerful, yet fully loyal followers, his own overwhelming power, and his constantly-decreasing lack of humanity. Of course, each of these could be broken down and explored much further, but suffice it to say that the reasons behind these factors being so beneficial to him as a ruler is relatively straightforward.
Ainz’s followers are powerful enough that they can handle most concerns without his direct involvement, but they also provide him with any support that he needs and give him ideas every so often. Ainz’s extremely high power level lets him resolve any issue by steamrolling over it and doing pretty much whatever he wants without serious consequences. Speaking of consequences, Ainz may not be a sith lord, but he still has enough apathy towards almost anyone outside his faction to make decisions in the best interest of his followers with no regard for others.
The Mid
Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix is the emperor of the Baharuth Empire. Jircniv has some good qualities that benefit him as a ruler, and he even has a menacing origin story to boot. Jircniv is known by many as the “Bloody Emperor”. His mother was from the Five Great Families of the empire, a group of nobles who once wielded great power as the core leaders of the empire. She was accused of assassinating the previous emperor and consequently killed. To claim the throne for himself, Jircniv had to kill all of his family members for political reasons, but the bloodshed didn’t end there.
After rising to the throne in his preteens, he ordered many of the nobles who opposed him to be executed, cementing his title as the bloody emperor. He then made the empire even stronger over the years with his political prowess. Whereas Ainz uses power and slight mind games to solve all of his problems, Jircniv uses nothing but big brain energy.
Jircniv manages to avoid the bottom of the scale because he has been able to make difficult enough decisions to rise to power and then strengthened his empire. However, there’s not much that beats raw power and plot armor, so he isn’t able to beat Ainz as a ruler.
Throughout the series, he fails to outsmart Ainz and shrinks in the face of Ainz’s power. He even requests for his empire to become a vassal state under the Sorcerer Kingdom because he can’t see any other way of surviving. Still, he gets points for putting the safety of his people and the empire before his pride or desire to succeed as a ruler.
The Bad
At the absolute bottom of the scale, Zanac Valleon Igana Ryle Vaiself remains, eclipsed by the shadows of the rulers above him. Zanac is a pitiful case, but not for lack of effort. Admittedly, Zanac had one of the most challenging political realms to maneuver through, especially without Ainz’s magical power or Jircniv’s utilitarian ferocity. Zanac was the second prince of the Re-Estize Kingdom, a kingdom rife with internal struggles between different noble and political parties.
After the Sorcerer Kingdom declares war on the Re-Estize Kingdom barring one condition that King Ramposa III is too noble to accept, Zanac takes the throne from his father with a fairly peaceful coup. He then heads to the battlefield with his soldiers and has a private talk with Ainz before being told that Ainz refuses to end his war with the kingdom. Once Zanac’s soldiers receive the news, they beg him to surrender, to which he refuses. They then behead him and offer his head to Ainz in an attempt to save themselves. Little did they know, this backfires pretty hard and Ainz sends them to one of his followers to be tortured until they beg for death.
Zanac had some great qualities that would serve him as a leader, like his confidence to seek help from others when necessary, his intent to do what’s best for the kingdom, and his willingness to take risks. Where he falls short is his inexperience, his general lack of power, and his lack of charisma. As virtuous and noble as Zanac may be, he was not born to be a leader, and he isn’t able to rouse others to follow behind him. In the end, this led to his own soldiers betraying him out of fear.
These aren’t all the rulers in Overlord, but they’re the rulers that play the largest roles in the story. Ainz encounters several rulers, but none of them have been able to hold a candle to him yet. King Ramposa III could have easily ended up at the bottom of the scale, but he managed to keep the kingdom from falling apart so far, and at least he got out of the game with his head intact. Will any ruler be able to knock Ainz out of his top spot?