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Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Difference between revisions
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Another variant is that both meet outside of the home environment (before or after the declaration) [[Two-Person Love Triangle|without immediately recognizing each other]]. Maybe they ran away from home entirely, only to happily embrace "a fellow in misery" -- and ''later'' commiserate about their bossy parents. Eventually, once they recognize one another their shared common ground helps them fall in love.
Sometimes this perfectly arranged marriage doesn't come about randomly, but intentionally by parents. One or more of the parents involved who knows both well enough has arranged the marriage since both are highly compatible and could naturally fall in love. In fact, this is kind of the ''purpose'' of an 'arranged marriage' in the first place. It is akin to a matchmaking service, and the couple will generally have some sort of courtship before tying the knot, and it's very rare for someone to be forced to marry a person they despise (unless [[Gold Digger|dowry is involved]], of course).
This trope is frequently used as a justification for the use of the [[Arranged Marriage]] trope to audiences with Western sensibilities. It's not an imposition or violation of free will if both ''want'' to get married, after all.
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* Played with in [[Vision of Escaflowne]], with Princess Millerna Sarah Aston and Prince Dryden Fassa. She and Dryden are a mild version of [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]] as Millerna's put off by his [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]] facade and Dryden is a snarky [[Guile Hero]]. (Not to mention Milly has a huge crush on Allen). {{spoiler|They grow fond of each other as the series advances, and then they get married - but [[It Gets Worse]]. And when it's all solved, Dryden calls off the engagement: he cares for Millerna, and might be in love with her at that point, but he feels he still has to work hard to become truly worthy of marrying a girl like her.}}
* Played with in a story in ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]''. The ghost of a queen tells Count D about how she and her husband were betrothed as children, hated each other for much of their marriage, and cheated on each other constantly. She then fell deathly ill for a period of time and, when she recovered, found her husband at her side. That incident made them realize how much they cared for each other and they were faithful and loving to each other from that day onward.
* Used in 70's shoujo manga ''[[Haikara-san ga Tooru]]'', where the Hanamura and Ijyuin clans arrange a marriage between [[The Ladette|Benio Hanamura]] and [[Good
** There's also a variant in this: {{spoiler|Benio and Shinobu's engagement was arranged as a sort-of compensation [[Star-Crossed Lovers|for a love match that couldn't be consummated]], between Benio's now-deceased grandfather and Shinobu's beloved grandmother [[Raised by Grandparents|that raised him instead of his parents]]. Therefore, Shinobu initially accepted the arrangement more calmly than Benio because he wanted to fulfill a promise to his grandma that was made decades ago, and ''then'' he met Benio and fell for her genuinely.}}
* Teharu Kosukegawa in ''[[Change 123]]'' finds out that his father has engaged him to marry the daughter of the man who saved him from a bear. Kosukegawa, who is already in a close relationship with Motoko ([[Multiple Personalities]] notwithstanding (they're even ''helping'')), and naturally goes up to the country to politely turn her down. Until the girl in question turns out to ''be'' Motoko.
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== Fanfiction ==
* The main characters of ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3403925/1/Terms_of_Engagement Terms Of Engagement]'' have this. [[Magnificent Bastard|Saito]] realizes how perfect the match is when he finds out his fiance Tokio has spent the fic {{spoiler|disguised as two different people, secretly terrorizing him and his best friend, running a spy ring and executing a [[Batman Gambit]]}}.
* Chapter 10 of a [[Detective Conan]] fic, ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2905018/10/30_Hugs_Heiji_and_Kazuha 30 Hugs: Heiji and Kazuha]''. In a slight variation, they had the [[Slap Slap Kiss|Slap Slap]] part down just fine, but it wasn't until after they found out about the marriage that they realized the Kiss part sounded pretty nice too. They still [[Crowning Moment of Funny|freaked out about it]] immediately upon realization, but calmed down and came to their senses eventually.
* In [[Through a Diamond Sky]], it's implied that Tron and Yori were "bundled" as one of these when their Users decided to team them up. Of course, it kinda ''helped'' that their Users became [[Happily Married]].
* In ''Blind'', a Naruto [[Fanfic]], 99% of arranged marriages with a Hyuga end up this way. How you ask? Well, the bride and groom are told at the age of 3 who they're arranged to marry but told that the other person doesn't know. They then have the option of trying to win the other person's love but have until they are 15 as they have to tell their spouse about the arrangement and when they're 16 they marry whether there is love or isn't. Many chose former.
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* In [[Warbreaker]], Siri and Susebron fall in love. This is particularly surprising, given that he originally seems like an [[Evil Overlord]] and she's been sent to keep him from invading her country.
* In ''[[Safehold|By Schism Rent Asunder]]'', King Cayleb of Charis marries Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm in what was originally a cold-hearted political move to unite their kingdoms. When they finally meet, it is [[Love At First Sight]].
** Also Princee Nahrmahn of Emerald and his wife were betrothed at a young age, and eventually ended up falling in love, much to their mutual surprise.
* The comedy/satire ''Leonce and Lena'' by Georg Bachner.
* In ''The Swans War'' trilogy, a marriage is arranged between Lady Elise and Prince Michael by their evil relatives. Both of them like each other very much when they meet and agree to do everything they can to avoid being forced to marry. That is because an alliance of their houses will empower their evil relatives even more and can produce a heir to the mythical, non-existent throne of the country, ushering in a devastating war.
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* [[Arranged Marriage]] is the rule for the Political and Officer classes in W.C. Dietz's ''Crisis of Empire'' trilogy. Usually friendly enough but neither party minds much when circumstances require a divorce so one or both can make a better match. This is ''not'' the case with Allison Spencer and Bethany Windsor. They are in love and blissfully happy - until [[The Empire|Pact]] politics tear them appart giving Bethany to her Senator uncle's new military ally General Anson Merikur. At first she hates him - though she knows it wasn't his doing. Then she finds herself drawn to him...
* In ''[[Dune]]'', Duke Leto Atreides' bound-concubinage to Lady Jessica is [[Bureaucratically Arranged Marriage|arranged by the Bene Gesserit as a means to get to the Kwisatz Haderach]]; Jessica was supposed to have a daughter who could be bred to a Harkonnen son and take the throne from there. However, Jessica and Leto do fall in love, and Jessica chooses to bear him an heir, Paul, who as it turns out ''is'' the Kwisatz Haderach--and that kicks off the whole epic.
** Additionally, the marriage of Count Hasimir Fenring to the Bene Gesserit Sister Margot, seems to have been quite happy despite having been arranged for political reasons (not genetic ones, however, as Hasimir is a "genetic eunuch"--probably means he got snipped).
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* On ''[[Angel]]'': Not exactly a marriage, but Cordelia's objections to her required ritual "com-shuk" with the "Groosalug" get a lot less strenuous once she gets a good look at him, and even less so once they start to talk. A very sweet (if eventually doomed) relationship results.
* In [[The Onedin Line]] James and Anne Onedin were their own matchmakers so to speak, having found it useful to marry each other to smooth out the legal details of a business alliance. As a bonus they happened [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other|to fall in love with each other]]. [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|But don't tell anyone else]].
* [[Deconstructed]] on an episode of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''. After Guinevere is [[Mistaken for Cheating]] and banished from Camelot, Arthur becomes engaged to Princess Mithian. She's beautiful, charming and witty. She effortlessly integrates herself at court and proves herself to be quite politically savvy. Their marriage will solve the land dispute between their kingdoms. They get along well and have plenty of things in common. In many ways she's designed to be a ''better'' match for Arthur than Guinevere, and had they met at any other time or place ([[Wrong Genre Savvy|or in any other story]]) they probably would have ended up [[Happily Married]]. But unfortunately for Mithian, Arthur comes to realize that he's still deeply in love with Guinevere, and can't bring himself to give her up - not even for the [[Relationship Sue|perfect woman]].
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** {{spoiler|This relationship also didn't last: the writers did the unthinkable the following season. They got the guy [[Killed Off for Real]]! Poor Layla.}}
* According to [[All There in the Manual|supplementary materials,]] Ozai and Ursa in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' had this, though they grew distant later on.
** [[Played With]] interestingly: Pakku and Kanna were engaged when they were younger, but she apparently didn't love him and ran off to the South Pole, having a more or less happy family with somebody else and becoming Katara and Sokka's grandmother. (Meanwhile, Pakku became ''really'' embittered towards women as a whole, and didn't get over it upon meeting Katara). [[New Old Flame|They met decades later]], [[December-December Romance|and married in their senior years]].
** [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Or]] she ''could'' have liked him, but disliked the rigid social system in the North Water Tribe and then wasn't happy that Pakku didn't seem to support her own interests. She ''did'' take the necklace he made for her and cary it as a heirloom, then passed it on Katara.
* Derek and Odette in ''[[The Swan Princess]]'' had their engagement arranged by their parents before they met. Interestingly, their parents also wanted it to be a marriage of love, so they had the kids spend every summer together. They couldn't stand each other at first, but end up falling for each other when they're older.
== Real Life ==
* Historically, the marriage of Joanna "the Mad" of Castile (daughter of the famous ''Reyes Catolicos'' Ferdinand and Isabella) to Philip the Handsome, Duke of Burgundy, turned out this way...too much. The two of them literally fell in love at first sight (Philip the Handsome was...well...[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|handsome]], and Joanna herself was by all accounts a stunning redhead), begging to have the marriage formalized the day they met so they could get it on right away; they had six children (including [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Habsburg Monarchy|Charles V]], for those who care). Eventually, things happened, [[Yandere (disambiguation)|Joanna started to get jealous]], and eventually the jealousy had some kind of party in her head with a familial disposition towards insanity (in fact, it was something of a minor miracle that both of her parents were sound of mind, given that both were members of the ridiculously-inbred House of Trastamara). Hence the epithet "the Mad" - her father Ferdinand had to become Regent of Castile upon his daughter's ascension instead of ruling jointly until she inherited Aragon upon his death.
** She also carried around Philip's dead body on her travels, another reason for her to be considered mad.
** And she had him buried so that she could see his tomb from her bedroom's window. Poor mad girl indeed. Phillip the Handsome's death would require a trope of its own.
* Speaking of Charles V, Joanna and Philip's son, the [[The Emperor|most powerful man in Europe]] at his time also had a surprisingly happy arranged marriage with Princess Isabella of Portugal, an intelligent and beautiful woman who [[Silk Hiding Steel|kept the entire Kingdom of Spain in line during her husband's absences]]. When she died, the Emperor never re-married and wore the mourning colors for the rest of his life.
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* The marriage between [[wikipedia:Elisabeth of Hungary#Early life and marriage|Princess Elizabeth of Hungary and Landgrave Ludwig IV of Thuringia]]. It certainly helped that she went to live with his family when they were both children and got to befriend each other first, thus making them also [[Victorious Childhood Friend|Victorious Childhood Friends]]. Ludwig was a staunch supporter of Elizabeth's religious and charitable work, despite the disapproval of the rest of his family; after he died, she pretty much ran away from both her in-laws and her own family, and preferred to become a nun rather than remarry.
* English and British monarchs never fail to provide examples of all tropes royal.
** [[The House of Plantagenet|King Henry III]] of England is recorded to have been madly in love with his wife, Eleanor of Provence. Unusually for a medieval monarch, he never took a mistress.
** Similarly, their son Edward I seems to have had a deeply loving relationship with his first wife, Leonor (Eleanor) of Castile. They married as teenagers and had a long and happy marriage, with many children. When she died, he was heartbroken and had the [[wikipedia:Eleanor cross|Eleanor crosses]] erected along the path that her body took through England to its burial site; there were twelve such crosses, one at each location where the body stopped, and most of them still survive.
*** Edward I's second marriage to the much-younger Marguerite of France seems to have been a great success, as well, although by no account did he have the same affection for Marguerite as Eleanor. Like his father, Edward I was never known to have taken a mistress.
** Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia, to the extent that after Anne's premature death, Richard became notably unstable.
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** [[The House of Windsor|King George V]] of the United Kingdom - grandfather to [[HM the Queen]] - married his brother Albert's fiancee Mary of Teck when Albert died of pneumonia. This marriage of convenience became a love match and spawned one of England's most universally beloved monarchies - just about the only monarch seriously complained about from this dynasty is the rather selfish Edward VIII.
* Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Actually, Louis got a lot of grief for ''refusing'' to take a mistress, because he was so happy in his marriage to Marie.
** Of course, the fact that it took him a few years to get around to consummating his marriage with Marie might imply that he simply didn't take mistresses because he wasn't quite into shagging women.
*** In fact, it was because he had a condition named [[wikipedia:Phimosis|phimosis]], which made him feel a horrible pain in his male bits everytime he had an erection. He was also very ashamed of it, so it took several years to make him even see a doctor. After he was treated, his wife got pregnant four times.
*** The possibility of him having that condition is debatable, as there's no record of the surgery to fix it and he frequently went horse riding during that time (which a surgery to the genitals would hamper). His brother, however, did record in his journal that half of Louis's difficulties was that he simply [[Anatomically-Impossible Sex|didn't understand the process]].
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