Behold, envision a figure of unparalleled greatness, a majestic legend whose name echoes through the ag- Ok I’m doing too much. So, Imagine the king is an absolute legend of a hero, and people think he’s ruling over the land but he’s been dead for 50 years and no one knows, and people create a Mythos about him, saying things he never actually did to want to look cool and say they saw him
That’s a super fun concept. Warhammer 40k does something similar with the emporer of mankind, who is either dead or nearly dead and on life support for thousands of years. I feel like it’s less known now but in the Hitchhiker’s Guide books there is a part that talks about the emporer of the galaxy who was placed in a stasis field during his dying moments. I haven’t ever actually tried to look it up but always wondered if one was a nod to the other.