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Northern lord taking a Wildling wife


Azai

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As the title says what would happen if a Northern Lord take for a wife a wildling?

I am curious on what the North's reaction would be to this

Has this happened before?

The lord's peers, or higher born lords that rule them. Or their lord paramount How would they react?

Or how many people would actual care?

Wanted to hear what you all thought on the matter. 

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Interesting. I'll have to think about this.

My first thought was that he'd be shunned, and his wife and children along with him. But it may be more complex than that.

My second was that he better be a good husband or that lady of the Free Folk would go be free again.

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1 hour ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

Stannis sure was itching to find out..

Well, a princess is a princess.  And this is one super hot princess.  Pretty sure every straight male was itching to find out.  Look at all the Queen's southron knights lining up to try and get with Val. 

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20 hours ago, Azai said:

As the title says what would happen if a Northern Lord take for a wife a wildling?

I am curious on what the North's reaction would be to this

Has this happened before?

The lord's peers, or higher born lords that rule them. Or their lord paramount How would they react?

Or how many people would actual care?

Wanted to hear what you all thought on the matter. 

If they were a good lord the people may whisper about it behind closed doors but no one would bring it up as a negative in public. If they were a shitty lord the people would talk incessantly about it and eventually a lesser lord would overthrow them because of it. 

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Thanks to all you guys for replying.  My idea was set in the "normal" times before a Dance of Dragons.  It seems like most agree they'd at least be shunned a bit.  Now what if it was like a lesser Lord? Say the second son of a smaller house?  Do you think it'd matter if it was a second son vs an heir to the house?

What if this couple were to leave the north and go south like, King's Landing? Do you think many of them would realize she is a Wildling and shun them? Or would they maybe assume she was a "quirky" northerner?

 

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Firstly, it's not just that he's marrying a wildling, it's that hypothetical northern lord is NOT marrying a Northern highborn lady. In an age where marriages are chief method of alliance-making, missing out on an opportunity is something that lords rarely allow. Secondly, yes, they would be met with a certain amount of derision (no small thing in an age where house reputation meant a lot).
 

10 hours ago, Azai said:

Thanks to all you guys for replying.  My idea was set in the "normal" times before a Dance of Dragons.  It seems like most agree they'd at least be shunned a bit.  Now what if it was like a lesser Lord? Say the second son of a smaller house?  Do you think it'd matter if it was a second son vs an heir to the house?

It matters very much. Heirs to the house are specifically noted as best bachelors for the reason that their line continues the lineage (note, e.g. how Sybil Westerling's agreement with Lannisters specifically says her daughters will marry lord or heirs, not second sons). The lower down the birth order you go, more freedom does a lord's son get - which is why nobody complined when 4th son of a king's 4th son Aegon (later Aegon IV) wed a Blackwood, who would in normal circumstances be below his station.

 

10 hours ago, Azai said:

What if this couple were to leave the north and go south like, King's Landing? Do you think many of them would realize she is a Wildling and shun them? Or would they maybe assume she was a "quirky" northerner?
 

Practically, in medieval ages, nobles don't migrate. In modern times, families can say "Oh, we don't like it in New York so we'll just move to San Francisco" - but in medieval ages lords never left their domains permanently. Even casual travels were limited to one's neighbouring lords and overlords. Big travellers like Corlys Velaryon were a rare exception.

Hypothetically, they would notice for sure that she's not a noblewomen and has no courtly manners - which would be cause for ridicule enough.

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13 hours ago, Howling Mad said:

Depends on the wife. If its Val there's no issues. If Harma the Dogshead, there's going to be trouble.

A Thenn girl would probably be able to assimilate. Thenn's have a rather kneeler-like culture compared to the rest of the Free Folk.

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I think it would depend. If she was a beutiful women and well behaved they would likely be grudgingly accepting of it. But that had better be a well loved lord. I think people are wrong about Val she may be gorgeous and well spoken but she is a wildling to the bone. She only knelt to stannis's queen because she had to and jon asked her too. She would never be able to do that all the time.

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Again, thanks and Knight of Winter you point out a lot of really good things. I didn't even think of the missing out on an alliance bit.  One thing I forgot to ask before is how do you think Eddard and his family would react?

Let's say there is a feast, or for whatever reason this second son or lord is there. Scorn from Catelyn? Distrust from Eddard? Curiosity from the kids?

And let's just set up the Wildling. Let's say she is a Wildling but she is smart enough or "learned" enough to know when she shouldn't push the boundary. At least in a situation that can radically harm her husband(Violence committed against). But at the same time still is a Wildling as Wildling goes. 

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It's interesting to think about when you consider some readers think that Jon will become King, whether it's the North or even the Seven Kingdoms, and Val will be his Queen. As unlikely as that may be there have been some compelling threads that provide some foreshadowing that suggests it may happen. It may not be germane to this topic but it made me think of it nonetheless.  

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It all depends how hot she is, now this may sound very shallow but its exactly why it would work. The Lord that would get himself a wilding wife, a hot one, would be able to present her as : the wild beauty that he tamed...sounds exactly like the sort of reasoning that would work on the middle age mentality that you have in Westeros.

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16 hours ago, Ralphis Baratheon said:

It's interesting to think about when you consider some readers think that Jon will become King, whether it's the North or even the Seven Kingdoms, and Val will be his Queen. As unlikely as that may be there have been some compelling threads that provide some foreshadowing that suggests it may happen. It may not be germane to this topic but it made me think of it nonetheless.  

Nah, please share what you think of this. Even if it strays a bit from the main topic.

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  • 1 month later...
On 3/20/2017 at 10:55 AM, Nocturne said:

It all depends how hot she is, now this may sound very shallow but its exactly why it would work. The Lord that would get himself a wilding wife, a hot one, would be able to present her as : the wild beauty that he tamed...sounds exactly like the sort of reasoning that would work on the middle age mentality that you have in Westeros.

 

yes I agree with that but Dunkan the small married Jeyne and although she was well liked by the people Dunkan still lost his position. He was going to be a king though .........but anyway do you think that a lord would have the same fate?

im not sure myself:rolleyes: .

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From a Northern Lord point of view its stupid for 2 main reasons.

 

a- He risk antagonising his neighbours. Most of them hate the wildlings, some even suffered losses because of them. The North remembers and all that. A lord taking that route would probably jeopardise his future children's future too. They are less likely to find great matchups as few would want to marry their sons/daughters to someone with wildling blood

b- Wildlings work differently to Northerners. They respect charisma/strength not rank. There's no such thing as a princess in the wildling society 

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It depends on what they consider the wildling bride to be. They believe Val is a Princess, or the Thenns a House. Those kind fo thigns matter to the Northern Lords.

They would riot if any of their sons or daughters had to marry a common wildling.

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