I am bugged

[scarletmorning]

Triggered by my thinking about Uther and his childlessness I started thinking about an Ephraim-related phenomenon that I find... unbelievable. I didn't notice at first what bugged me about it, but now I know.

I find it incredibly unlikely that Ephraim'll be allowed to not marry.

(I know that there are people on my flist who support that theory or at least have written him that way. So I hope for a little discussion (and I hope no negative feelings arise from my questioning).)

So, end of war, we know that Ephraim and Eirika are the last of their family. Ephraim becomes king. What happens to Eirika is related but to that in a second. Because first; we all agree that he needs heirs, right? Since they are the last of their family, they have no cousins/uncles/aunts/etc. who could provide, which obviously means that either Ephraim or Eirika have to produce them.

Now, one argument is that Eirika can just provide the heirs, then Ephraim can stay single. That argument is flawed for several reasons (related to her marriage options):

1. Eirika marries Innes and goes to Frelia: her children will become Frelia´s heirs, not Renais. In an emergency they might become Renais´ heirs, BUT:
    - what would that mean to Renais´ independency? How easy would it be for Innes to influence his child in Renais and depending on the character of the child how would it act in negotiations with his parents? And following this theory: would the Renaitian nobles even allow that? Eirika may originally be from Renais, but that doesn't mean that they would accept the foreign heir. And if they're all against it, the Frelian child would have no chance. It would have to face a rebellion as soon as it ascends the throne.
    - what if they have only one living child? Then Renais would have no heir at all.
    - what if neither Eirika nor Innes (or at least one of them) are fertile and they have no children anyway?

2. Eirika marries Saleh: she's away and any children would grow up in Caer Pelyn.
    - would the nobles accept a child who was not raised to become king/queen and has no idea what it has to do? And more important; was not raised in Renais and is not used to its customs? Perhaps, but only because they might try to influence it.
    - what if they are both not fertile?
    - what if non of their children survive?
    - what if non of their children want to become heir? I can see them not forcing them to do it.

3. Eirika marries Seth: she stays in Renais and this one is actually (imo) the one pairing where it would be the most probable that her child becomes heir. But:
    - what if neither of them is fertile?
    - what if all their children die?

So, are the chances that those things happen, especially infertility, so small that it is worth risking it?

No. They are the last of their family. They have to do everything to ensure that they don't die out. And Ephraim can't put all responsibility on Eirika´s shoulders. It would not be possible that he never marries. He has to at least try to get heirs. This is not a question of wanting, but having to do (something). He's king. He has to do things he might not like but which are necessary. There is no choice involved.
So, Ephraim has to marry. It wouldn't have to do anything with love and if he finds a wife who understands this, there is no problem. Just find the daughter of the noble who has the best connections/most money/has things you need/is someone you need an alliance with and marry her. That easy. And advantageous.

Related to that: one child is not enough. I know that is more thinking of real life here, but; what if it dies? There's a plague, it has a stupid accident, whatever. Death can come quickly. There needs to be some security that at least one child lives long enough to marry itself and continue the line. Yes, real life example here and before the time FE is more or less located timewise, but bear with me; Charlemange. He had twelve children (at least) and five sons. Four of them should inherit his empire (the child of his first wife was excluded). Unfortunately in the end only one son lived long enough to be able to inherit the empire. Of course it is arguable if this could apply to Magvel at all, especially before the game happenings. But how does the situation after the war look like? Destruction and zombies everywhere. Perfect for sicknesses and illnesses to turn into pandemics. Shortage on food and money. Poverty. In such a time of unrest they shouldn't risk anything.

So, a king not having any children of his own: not believable in my opinion. I would need a very good explanation to believe it.

And for Uther: if people really believe the sickness his parents died of is hereditary then he should get many children as well. Hector doesn't seem to have the sickness so maybe at least one of Uther´s children might be spared as well. His sickness is, imo, an argument for children/marriage, not against it.

Which reminds me; marriage = alliance. Why would you want to waste the chance to forge such a firm alliance? Real life practice again: that was what daughters were for. Forging alliances (Being like hostages in a way). And it's not like the daughters were stupid and just send there to sit around and birth children. For the fathers marrying a daughter to an enemy to make peace meant having one of your own "men" behind the enemies lines. That could be highly practicable. (It still was no fun for the daughters, but, uhm, well it was like that, unfortunately and they couldn't do much against it) Which makes the whole "king/queen not marrying" even more unlikely.
And related to that; in the case of Eirika/Innes I personally think that Ephraim/Tana is highly unlikely. They already have one tie with Frelia. They shouldn't waste the opportunity; Ephraim should marry someone from the other countries. Grado would be a good option, I believe. Building friendly connections with them can only be to Ephraim´s and Grado´s advantage. Maybe the daughter of an influential noble.

so tl;dr I want a nice discussion about Ephraim´s single status because I find it improbable.

Comments

[raphiael]

Holding Magvel to pure historical standards makes very little sense, I think, just because, well, they fly in the face of standard practice. It would be pretty unusual for a sole heir to leave the country and marry another heir, but L'Arachel can marry Innes or Ephraim. So we can't say "history says ___ can't happen", really.

There's also the fact that Eirika and Ephraim could very easily be treated as equal rulers. There's nothing saying they aren't, really. If Eirika marries within Renais and begets heirs, then, well, there you go. There's no absolute need for Ephraim to do the same, and in theory, it could result in all sorts of heir dispute shenanigans. He might even prefer not to have children and let Eirika's bloodline take over. (Eirika, also, could easily do the same.)

And finally. . . Ephraim doesn't seem to care what people think of him. He cares about Renais surviving, and being the ideal king - and it could even be that he considers courtship and fatherhood an unnecessary distraction to that. If he decided something like that? No one would talk him out of it.

I can't see him not marrying and begetting heirs if Eirika went with Innes. If she went with any of her other options, though - even Saleh - I think it's possible.

I'm not going to say EPHRAIM CAN'T EVER MARRY - he sure can. But it's also extremely plausible that he might not - and the same goes for Eirika.

[kyusil.livejournal.com]

Ack, not familiar enough with Magvel yet to contribute much. However, I don't think you need to worry about setting too much store by "how things were" on Earth. Supernatural elements aside, FE universes are more heavily informed by modern sensibilities than we might think at first glance. If Eirika was able to lead an army without question for at least a good part of the story, I don't think she'd be treated as just another piece of property right afterwards. Buuuut again, I've only played through the game once so I'm probably not the best authority.

Now, with Uther... there was a bit in FE6 that never really got cleared up in FE7, where Hector is apparently the half-brother of the marquess of... Worde, I want to say? He was never mentioned in FE7, which kind of makes me think that there's more to their family dynamic than we see. It's certainly possible that Uther had kids, but then why would Lilina become marchioness after the war if they were still around? Did they get killed in the rebellion? Speaking of which, considering how many revolution plots have been cooked up against Ostia, it's certainly possible that Uther and his parents didn't just die of natural causes.

Also, I read on Serenes Forest that Lilina and Thito were originally supposed to be cousins, so maybe she was originally Uther's daughter? It wouldn't work given what we know now, but it's at least something they considered.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I echo what Raphien says, plus there's an ironclad precedent in FE3 for something that makes no sense in dynastic terms-- if Caeda dies, Marth never marries at all. Which means his holy bloodline can only be passed down via his sister and her husband... who isn't even royal.

So I don't think the FE designers are necessarily taking pragmatism into account. You're also dealing with royal families who don't practice arranged marriages that we see (in Magvel, anyway), who allow children to reach adulthood without even the glimmer of a prospective spouse in their lives, who don't appear to be in any rush to perpetuate the dynasty.

Also, I counter your Charlemagne with Edward the Confessor. Makes no damned sense in our eyes, but he did what he did and was beloved for it. Ditto Dom Sebastian of Portugal.

So, yes. Ephraim as a perpetually single, "wedded to his country" romantic-type king could very easily go down well with the people... especially if Eirika does have a nice healthy Caer Pelyn-bred daughter or a red-haired son.