Puppets of whom? The only (European) historical examples of puppet masters I can think of are the Church and other nobility — certainly no one from outside the class. If a merchant became powerful enough, they found a way to join the nobility, either directly or by marriage.

Turks and janissaries.

Janissaries were not kings and aristocracy. They were kidnapped kids forcefully turned into soldiers. They were kind of slaves.

We are all just puppets enslaved by the processes we create and confused by our limited experience.