Sovereignty is the control of violence

Sovereigns prove they make the law by breaking the law

Kings often establish themselves through extraordinary violence or by otherwise violating important norms (incest, etc...) This break establishes the King as above common law, and thus capable of making law himself.

It's no coincidence that, Zeus, the maker of divine law and judge of mortal men, also randomly throws lightning.

Aside on capitalism as another violent break from tradition...

Capitalism required founders willing to break with social norms of redistribution.

As Max Weber noted, the Calvinists who invented capitalism lacked moral ways to spend their money, and they thought their neighbors were damned. This faith gave them the willingness to resist the cultural expectation of sharing wealth.

Contrast the Calvinists with the more typical Nambikwara of the Amazon, and Northwest American tradition of Potlatch. For most cultures, wealth is proved through redistribution.

Stranger Kings

Dynasties are often started by outsiders. These stranger kings may be more willing to engage in the violence required to establish domination.

For example, some Classical Mayan art, like at Tikal, features kings in Teotihuacan clothing. This is odd because the Teotihuacans didn't have kings themselves. Perhaps these merchant-warriors, 600+ miles from home, seized an opportunity.

Hernan Cortés certainly tried to do the same thing to the Aztec.

And, in Hawaii, Captain James Cook took advantage of being treated like "Lono," an ancient Polynesian fertility god.

Sovereignty is self-limiting

An absolute sovereign, like the Sun-God-Kings of the French or Théoloël or Inca, has the theoretical right to do unlimited violence. But, absent bureaucracy or charisma, sovereignty tends to limits itself.

At the extreme, a sovereign asserts absolute, arbitrary control over every subject's possessions, actions, life, and even afterlife.

These divine kings are limited in 2 ways.

1. The king's authority is so personal, they can't delegate it.
2. Rituals that affirm the king's divine status limit their freedom of action.

For example, the Shilluk and Théoloël mostly avoided their Sun-God-King.

The Sapa Inca had to build a massive road system to personally collect taxes.

Divine Kings tend to demand respect commensurate with their status. Their feet cannot touch the ground; or the sun may never shine on them; etc... Thus a maze of ritual contains the absolute sovereign's capacity for unlimited violence.