LJ Idol: Friend & Rivals. Week 1 - Trust Everyone, But Cut the Cards
The Cards Can Be Rewritten
Lena was betrothed to Theo--the son of the Gemlen clan’s chieftain--since she was a week old. Their betrothal was a promise of peace, a promise to let rivalries and bad blood lie. It was an uneasy peace, but each clan was able to live without the fear of bloodshed from the other.
Now, eighteen years later, Lena stood ( Read more... )
Lena was betrothed to Theo--the son of the Gemlen clan’s chieftain--since she was a week old. Their betrothal was a promise of peace, a promise to let rivalries and bad blood lie. It was an uneasy peace, but each clan was able to live without the fear of bloodshed from the other.
Now, eighteen years later, Lena stood ( Read more... )
Every time I see somebody arguing in favor of "traditional" marriage, its scenes like this that I think of. Traditional marriage? It was a tradition to marry daughters off to seal contracts for hundreds of years. We've all seen, by now, the many different ways the Bible defines marriage or that marriage is practiced in other societies. Marriages where women had closer-to-equal rights with their husband are relatively new in the USA - and when we see "traditional" marriage in the 21st century, its always suggested that its a family like the Duggars (and we've all seen where being a traditional marriage got them).
But the contractual marriages of history are ones that get me the most. Every single traditional marriage fan can probably easily rattle off a story about a contractual marriage from a piece of history or a fairy tale or something and they have the gall to think that the definition they use for "traditional marriage" is anything longer than a century old. Its infuriating.
Your story raises the stakes on the basic injustice of a person being forced to marry for political reasons and I appreciate that she has the opportunity to exact some revenge on her father and to wreak some havoc within the traditional system. Good for her.
The idea of a loveless forced marriage made me think (about five sentences in) of the theme from Princess Bride, even though this one doesn't seem to have a storybook ending or love. I'm also glad your heroine doesn't have a boy riding to her rescue. Hurray for that too.
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