Gwendolyn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
crownlessbluebird) wrote2016-11-16 11:42 pm
crownlessbluebird) wrote2016-11-16 11:42 pm
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Headcanon Series: Marriage and Customs
Because of life before Odin and the laws passed that would define and shape the roles that one could have within Ragnanival, the ceremonies and traditions likely reflect this just as much.
Considering how much said laws marginalize and objectify Valkyrie the customs are likely not at all equal or fully happy occasions when marriage does occur.
As the first chapter showed when a random npc pleaded for Gwendolyn to ask Odin to reconsider her marriage because she could still fight. Marriage as a whole for many citizens is not by choice or even a match of happiness, let alone love. With how many of the references to the act are made it seems far more like a breeding project mixed with a business deal depending on rank and how well a Valkyrie is regarded via rank and reputation. Hence why Gwendolyn, even though banished and stripped of her royal rank is still a prize that would have gone to a high bidder if not for Wagner and Titrel being a wrench in the plans for Oswald to stumble into.
Valkyrie are objects, wives to warm marriage beds and bear strong children to strong warrior husbands. Or to be a price to gain cooperation or alliance with one of the other kingdoms. Considering there actually is no ceremony that could actually be a wedding also shows how little actual joy there is for such an act. For being put into a spelled sleep and to awaken married, and likely to a complete stranger is all formality there is. There are no vows or exchanging of promises, and though there likely are papers signed in some instances those are more like business deals of Odin selling a Valkyrie in exchange for something else.
For many Valkyrie it's likely not all that uncommon for them to awaken from their spelled sleep to end up performing wifely duties within the very bed they awoken in. IE being bedded by their new husband.
This is pretty much solid inference via game dialog and Gwendolyn's reactions to Oswald. Especially when she all but states she will do as commanded by her husband, because that is what she expects to happen. For her to be nothing more then a pretty thing to be controlled and used by the one she has been wedded to.
This isn't about things that are pretty much canon but not outright stated due to rating and such. Instead let us speak about other aspects that are likely part of the entire process of stripping away everything that makes a Valkyrie who they are and into a dutiful wife and mother.
Clipping of Wings: Valkyrie are free and fierce birds of Ragnanival, however a wife bound to a husband should not be allowed to fly away whenever she pleases. Thus likely to keep such from happening and (and thus enforce the fact they have to remain with their husband) Enchanted shears meant to not only clip through physical feathers, but also to sever the magical connection that allowed these wings to grow and maintain flight are likely given to the new husband when they are given their sleeping brides. Likely with a warning to do so before waking them in order to make it a clean clipping and not be a chore to perform when the husband likely has other things on their mind. This also serves to destroy any chance of the Valkyrie being able to rejoin the military as their wings are one of the advantages they need to show they belong fighting alongside the men.
Giving away my will vows: Despite the anger in the way Gwendolyn intoned and spoke to Oswald in regards to him being now the one who would decide what she can and can't do seemed far too rehearsed and formal to be just her angrily admitting her position to him. In many ways it felt like a vow she was told she had to make to show she understood what was now her fate. (There likely was more to such but Oswald ruined it when he denied such a claim because he believed she should and did have free will.) The vows which to most others likely seem like mockeries of actual wedding vows would likely follow this same vein of "I am now yours to decide what to do with, and I will humbly follow your commands, etc. etc." Which is likely just another shackle and sign that a fierce and prideful warrior is now chained to the earth and to the whims and desires of a man.
Loyalty: Even though Gwendolyn's story is mostly supposed to be you seeing her 'choosing' to be loyal to Oswald. There likely is at least a mental sort of ceremony as the Valkyrie must now accept that instead of loyalty to their king they now must be fully loyal to their husband. (Which nine times out of ten means they still are loyal to Odin since they likely get married off to officers or soldiers who performed exemplary in the field.) In a few ways Gwendolyn's speech to Oswald at the end of her story has this in it. Since she's all but declaring she will remain with him no matter what.
Wear his Colors: Wedding rings are apparently not a Thing or not a big thing that either Ragnanival or Ringford subscribe to considering the entire Titrel debacle was more "here have this shiny trinket because I don't actually have anything else to give you to show you I do love you, and your father wanted it so it must be precious." As such, and in keeping with the theme of married Valkyrie being objects owned by their husbands they likely have to wear the house colors or symbol of their husband as a sign of who they are married to. In many ways like a brand of ownership. Thus instead of wearing the plumage of a Valkyrie in the army they now wear signs of being a woman of a household.
Considering how much said laws marginalize and objectify Valkyrie the customs are likely not at all equal or fully happy occasions when marriage does occur.
As the first chapter showed when a random npc pleaded for Gwendolyn to ask Odin to reconsider her marriage because she could still fight. Marriage as a whole for many citizens is not by choice or even a match of happiness, let alone love. With how many of the references to the act are made it seems far more like a breeding project mixed with a business deal depending on rank and how well a Valkyrie is regarded via rank and reputation. Hence why Gwendolyn, even though banished and stripped of her royal rank is still a prize that would have gone to a high bidder if not for Wagner and Titrel being a wrench in the plans for Oswald to stumble into.
Valkyrie are objects, wives to warm marriage beds and bear strong children to strong warrior husbands. Or to be a price to gain cooperation or alliance with one of the other kingdoms. Considering there actually is no ceremony that could actually be a wedding also shows how little actual joy there is for such an act. For being put into a spelled sleep and to awaken married, and likely to a complete stranger is all formality there is. There are no vows or exchanging of promises, and though there likely are papers signed in some instances those are more like business deals of Odin selling a Valkyrie in exchange for something else.
For many Valkyrie it's likely not all that uncommon for them to awaken from their spelled sleep to end up performing wifely duties within the very bed they awoken in. IE being bedded by their new husband.
This is pretty much solid inference via game dialog and Gwendolyn's reactions to Oswald. Especially when she all but states she will do as commanded by her husband, because that is what she expects to happen. For her to be nothing more then a pretty thing to be controlled and used by the one she has been wedded to.
This isn't about things that are pretty much canon but not outright stated due to rating and such. Instead let us speak about other aspects that are likely part of the entire process of stripping away everything that makes a Valkyrie who they are and into a dutiful wife and mother.
Clipping of Wings: Valkyrie are free and fierce birds of Ragnanival, however a wife bound to a husband should not be allowed to fly away whenever she pleases. Thus likely to keep such from happening and (and thus enforce the fact they have to remain with their husband) Enchanted shears meant to not only clip through physical feathers, but also to sever the magical connection that allowed these wings to grow and maintain flight are likely given to the new husband when they are given their sleeping brides. Likely with a warning to do so before waking them in order to make it a clean clipping and not be a chore to perform when the husband likely has other things on their mind. This also serves to destroy any chance of the Valkyrie being able to rejoin the military as their wings are one of the advantages they need to show they belong fighting alongside the men.
Giving away my will vows: Despite the anger in the way Gwendolyn intoned and spoke to Oswald in regards to him being now the one who would decide what she can and can't do seemed far too rehearsed and formal to be just her angrily admitting her position to him. In many ways it felt like a vow she was told she had to make to show she understood what was now her fate. (There likely was more to such but Oswald ruined it when he denied such a claim because he believed she should and did have free will.) The vows which to most others likely seem like mockeries of actual wedding vows would likely follow this same vein of "I am now yours to decide what to do with, and I will humbly follow your commands, etc. etc." Which is likely just another shackle and sign that a fierce and prideful warrior is now chained to the earth and to the whims and desires of a man.
Loyalty: Even though Gwendolyn's story is mostly supposed to be you seeing her 'choosing' to be loyal to Oswald. There likely is at least a mental sort of ceremony as the Valkyrie must now accept that instead of loyalty to their king they now must be fully loyal to their husband. (Which nine times out of ten means they still are loyal to Odin since they likely get married off to officers or soldiers who performed exemplary in the field.) In a few ways Gwendolyn's speech to Oswald at the end of her story has this in it. Since she's all but declaring she will remain with him no matter what.
Wear his Colors: Wedding rings are apparently not a Thing or not a big thing that either Ragnanival or Ringford subscribe to considering the entire Titrel debacle was more "here have this shiny trinket because I don't actually have anything else to give you to show you I do love you, and your father wanted it so it must be precious." As such, and in keeping with the theme of married Valkyrie being objects owned by their husbands they likely have to wear the house colors or symbol of their husband as a sign of who they are married to. In many ways like a brand of ownership. Thus instead of wearing the plumage of a Valkyrie in the army they now wear signs of being a woman of a household.