Need help with plot-hole character actions in a story I'm writing

[u/Electronic_Wheel_761]

To get to the point, I have a character who essentially a concubine to a king and wants to cause a war to begin in order to have the current king, queen, and eldest son overthrown. That way she can have her own son put in line for thrown. The general idea is that she'll have her son be seen as figurehead for restoration after war and contribute towards its end. However, I don't know how she would go about inciting a war or how she would "stop it". Furthermore, it's plot relevant that she either steals "secret letters" from other political figures or sends out her own to her correspondents, so if that can be worked into the suggestion that would be appreciates.

Sorry for the choppy and poor phrasing, the ideas always sound better in my head and come out a bit corny once I actually write them down. Also this is a historical fantasy genre

[u/cloudfatless]

Give her an accomplice. A slimy politician/advisor to the king. 

He thinks he's using her/her son. He underestimates her. She's one step ahead and double crosses him before he can double cross her. 

[u/CountingOnThat]

Also this is a historical fantasy genre

If it’s fantasy, does she have any magic on tap?

However, I don't know how she would go about inciting a war or how she would "stop it". Furthermore, it's plot relevant that she either steals "secret letters" from other political figures or sends out her own to her correspondents, so if that can be worked into the suggestion that would be appreciates.

Sounds like the easiest way to do both would be to send out letters of her own, made to look like someone else’s: letters that say there’s about to be a war — and the question is whether you win it by attacking now, or lose by attacking after a lot of your troops have been killed and a lot of your forts have been seized and that’s when you officially hear that the war has begun.

[u/AceOfGargoyes17]

She doesn’t have to stop the war, she just has to be prepared to gamble on the likely duration and outcome of the war. If the secret letters provided information on the strength/readiness of the different armies, and/or her own letters misdirect one side while correctly advising another, she could tip the balance in favour of whichever side she wants to win.

[u/mormonbatman_]

However, I don't know how she would go about inciting a war or how she would "stop it".

You need an older king who's too old to rule competently but too young to let go.

You need at least two wives. One is the prime, older wife. She should be from the upper class. The other is the new wife. She should be a class/racial/religious outsider.

You need at least two sons (heirs?). Their characterization is less important.

Rameses iii's wife Tiye wanted to put her son on the throne. She gained allegiance from 28 members of her husband's household staff and got them to stir up the common people to rebel while others would murder the king. She was caught. Her conspirators and son were executed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harem_conspiracy

You can also read about Ottoman harem:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Imperial_Harem#Roles_and_positions

The sultan's chosen concubine controlled who accessed him:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valide_sultan#Role_and_position

There's a whole disgusting history of potential heirs murdering and imprisoning each other to secure the Ottoman throne:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kafes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_dynasty#Succession_practices

Furthermore, it's plot relevant that she either steals "secret letters" from other political figures or sends out her own to her correspondents, so if that can be worked into the suggestion that would be appreciates

Two little kids are kidnapped by a slave-taking culture.

The girl is made to be a concubine to the royal family. She grows up to become the lower ranking, bored wife of a prince who is not likely to take the throne. He isn't actually that bad of a guy. He's doesn't rape the lower ranking, bored wife I guess. But she hates royal life because she remembers being stolen from her childhood in another land. They sort of fall in love and she becomes pregnant.

The boy, meanwhile, is castrated and made to be a merciless killing machine.

The king dies. The eunuch helps kill all of his sons but one who is chosen.

The lower ranking, bored wife's prince is overlooked/accidentally survives. He pledges to betroth his kid to the royal family of his lower ranking, bored wife's homeland as part of an effort to end the slave/sex predation. Common people love this. The wealthy fucking hate it.

The eunuch becomes enveloped in a conspiracy to murder the prince as a means of ensuring that his plans fail. He recruits the lower ranking, bored wife to murder her unstable brother-in-law. He gets her to write a bunch of letters detailing her plan to encourage people to rally around her husband.

There is some kind of commotion. The lower ranking, bored wife's husband is murdered. His half-brother becomes king. The lower ranking, bored wife is exposed. Wordplay makes people think she is the head of a conspiracy. She is executed. Nothing changes.

[u/z-eldapin]

Go back to how she became a concubine, and use that story to create a later in life accomplice for inciting the war with a promise of a position in the new regime