She-who-must-be-obeyed.

“She-who-must-be-obeyed” is the epithet given to Ayesha (also called “She”), the mysterious, powerful queen in H. Rider Haggard’s adventure romance *She* (1887). In the novel, the phrase is used by the indigenous Amahagger people and repeated by the English narrator, Ludwig Horace Holly, to denote Ayesha’s absolute authority and the quasi-religious awe she inspires. The wording encapsulates the story’s blend of Victorian imperial adventure, lost-world fantasy, and fascination with charismatic, transgressive female power. The title itself—*She: A History of Adventure*—echoes this defining designation.

The phrase functions as both a name and a political-theological claim: Ayesha is not merely to be respected but obeyed, suggesting sovereignty that is personal, unquestionable, and enforced by fear as much as devotion. In Victorian terms, it dramatizes anxieties and fantasies about female dominance—an alluring “fatal” authority that overturns ordinary gender hierarchies. At the same time, the formulaic, almost ritual cadence (“must be”) implies inevitability: obedience is presented as a law of nature within her realm. The epithet’s afterlife in popular culture often strips away the novel’s context, leaving a shorthand for any commanding woman, sometimes admiringly and sometimes satirically.

“She who must be obeyed”
“She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed”
“She Who Must Be Obeyed”