mark_asphodel | Meta Month, Day 27: Marriage, arranged and otherwise (Reply)

First off, a word about marriage in general in Fire Emblem-- there seems a fair amount of evidence that formal marriage, though practiced across classes, is more of a concern to the upper and titled classes and that overall the inhabitants of Fire Emblem 'verses are quite comfortable with the practice of shacking up.

Jugdral: I'll let a confirmed Jugdral buff cover this one, but whatever the evidence for arranged marriage, the overall tide of love-based relationships indicates that even nobles can and do marry who they want... at least under the extraordinary circumstances of wartime. Eltoshan’s marriage to his queen wasn’t a love match in one of the manga adaptations, but that's what happens when your genuine love interest is your half-sister. Well, some of the time...

Archanea: First off, a word about child marriage. They don't seem to care for it. Even the very young characters who get romantically involved in War of Shadows (Est, Caeda) don't actually get married until a couple of years later. Adulthood appears to begin at age sixteen/seventeen and even then there seems to be an asterisk of sorts for a few years more; while the world feels more than a little Greco-Roman, the practice of marrying off girls in the twelve-to-fifteen age bracket does not appear to be happening.

We know next to nothing about the parents of most of the playable cast-- the nature of the marriages of the kings and queens of the archipelago, and in some cases even their names, are a mystery. We do know that the heiresses of the kingdom of Archanea are subject to arranged marriages, but that's the very top of the social hierarchy. The DS reboots provide evidence that arranged marriages may indeed be common practice for nobles-- Jeorge and Midia, heirs to two great estates, were supposed to be married, and Marth's reluctance to tell Caeda his feelings at the end of FE11 appears to be rooted in the idea that just up and proposing to the heiress of Talys is out of line in some fashion. Either he doesn’t think he has leeway to make the decision (and he doesn’t-- Nyna makes it for him) or maybe Talys is still considered too much an upstart kingdom.

[War has a great way of shaking up these social norms.]

The behavior of two other kings indicates something a bit more sinister is equally common: Michalis decides on his own bride, the beautiful and noble Lena, and her only out is running to the other end of the continent. There appears to be something equally dodgy in the backstory of King Jiol and the mother of his daughter Sheema-- not so much an arranged marriage as "I want, I take." Yikes.

If marriage between nobles in Archanea is loveless on a regular basis, either because both parties were compelled by a contract or one party was essentially coerced, it raises questions about what the other norms are with regard to divorce, infidelity, and the rights of out-of-wedlock children. On the last count, Fire Emblem worlds in general seem pretty easygoing about legitimacy as long as someone's parentage is not disputed. As far as infidelity goes... well, I've mentioned Archanea has both brothels and a slave trade. Dunno about courtesans or kept women, but men who don't love their wives have many options.

I suspect women who don't love their husbands have rather few options. Archanea is IMO the least woman-friendly of the Fire Emblem worlds. A place like Macedon, where women are a major part of the military force, might be an exception... but, then again, Lena and Michalis. I dunno.]

All of this makes Hardin's meltdown on finding that Nyna didn't love him to be even more irrational; I'm sure any surviving representatives of the Archanean and Aurelian nobility have a pretty dim view of the whole thing. I also suspect that the remnants of the Old Regime will not be pleased to have another foreign overlord who is exceptionally fond of his wife-- it may well be taken as a sign of weakness. The "great" King Cartas, after all, doesn't appear to have been set back much by the loss of Artemis. If anything gives the impression that the place of a royal or noble lady in Archanea is to be married off against her will, put in her place, and used as a breeder until she drops, it's that story.

Valencia: Both nobles and commoners seem to marry (or hook up) for love in the happy land of Valencia. It's worthwhile to note that Emperor Rudolf's plan involved Alm and Cellica actually being friends with and loving one another! Social mobility also seems to be a factor-- Claire, a knight from a respectable family, takes up with a village boy after the war.

Claire allegedly had her sights set on Alm, and on paper, that would be a very appropriate match: a union between a rebel leader-- the grandson of a famous general-- and a noted knight's sister. Alm was destined for even better things, though.]

On the other hand, King Rima IV of Sofia adhered to the "I want, I take" method of selecting a bride, going to far as to steal Cellica's mother, a priestess, out of a convent, and make her his wife by force.

Elibe: All I have to say about this one is, Desmond and Hellene. And Guinevere's mom. I'm intrigued by kyusil's suggestion that Roy's bizarre marriage options can be explained as some kind of political calculus on his part, though. Clearly, bringing home Ilian mercenaries and random dancers is not the norm for Lycian marquesses, but Eliwood and Hector do get away with it, and Roy can do likewise. But then you have the way Pent got to choose a bride out of twenty eligible candidates in over Etruria.

There is some degree of social mobility, though the characters who help foster it do seem to be eccentrics like Pent (who marries the unconventional Louise and raises Erk in status to the point where he in turn can marry blueblooded Priscilla) and types like Hector who... don’t much care. As in some of the other games, the foreground characters are the oddities, and the norms of their society overall may be different. Then again, the oddities are remaking society in their own image. Elibe fifty years after Roy's victory will be a different place than the land his grandfather knew.

Magvel: We don't know much of anything. Read what you want into the various paired endings. Intermarriage between citizens of Frelia and Renais, including Kyle's sister, seems common enough. We know L'Arachel's marriage to Ephraim causes turmoil in Rausten-- but she does it anyway. It appears that the future King of Frelia is permitted to shack up with a knight, who bears him a son, and everyone is fine with this. The twin heirs of Renais can be "together forever" and people are fine with this, too. And Joshua does whatever the hell he wants, up to and including Marisa. The idea of coerced arranged marriages just doesn't fit overall with the world we're shown in FE8. You can maybe interpret the Eirika/Innes ending as Eirika nobly going off to be Queen of Frelia for some higher purpose, but the idea that anyone's forcing her into a diplomatic marriage just doesn't really work, IMO.

Tellius: Y'all know better than I would. Astrid was running from marriage to Lekain, though, I do know that much. Sounds like Begnion’s finest are as lousy as the old guard of Archanean nobles.

In summary: the big-dog nations of the Fire Emblem ‘verses (ex: Archanea, Etruria, Begnion) would seem to be the places where an entrenched ruling class and arranged marriage come as something of a package deal. These places are also painted as pits of corruption in need of a housecleaning, just as some of the most prominent examples of arranged marriage in the franchise are some of the most epically catastrophic marriages: Hardin/Nyna or Desmond/Hellene, anyone? But, it’s all a matter of perspective-- just as the games have us taking the side of the “good” nobles and princesses fighting against whatever “evil” empire is currently in charge, we as players are supposed to be rooting for the often-improbable love matches, with the disastrous loveless marriages being presented as a counterpoint. We don’t see many successful arranged marriages (though Pent/Louise would qualify!) or many disastrous young lovers (Abel/Est, though...) to balance the picture, because that’s not the image the games are trying to put across. We’re on the side of the attractive, virtuous princes and marchionesses and their deserved happily-ever-afters, right? Not nasty old nobles and skeevy senators-- the hell with them and their entire way of doing things!

As I said in the part about Elibe, the unconventional forces are the ones who carry the day. They might end up remaking their continents from the family unit on up-- or, after a few generations, may just settle back into the ways of the ruling classes they decimated back in the war. Marriage-markets, trophy wives, brothels and all.

ETA: LJ's formatting is so jacked up these days...