which wife was she?

[marycatelli]

In the backstory, there was this man.  He went through seven wives, hoping for an heir.

During that time, he married my heroine's mother.  Then he repudiated her because her dowry had been enchanted and so falsified.  Then she had a baby.

Embarrassing, that.  He opts for "don't try to reconcile" route.  But some reason, when I first started to plot out the story, I thought she was a late wife.  To be sure, she did have a motive to marry a man who had already had four wives, which you would need rather powerfully then.  And there are many cultures in which the wife is assumed to be the barren one unless the man is actually impotent.

On the other hand, producing evidence that he could actually have a child might encourage him.

Still have to ponder how he went through so many.  One died of natural causes, I think; one died in an accident trying to get away from him.  One died trying magic to help her conceive, having ramped up the magic too high.  The seventh wife survived him, having had a hold on him that none of the rest had.  Still got to work out a few more. . . . ah, the delights of details.

Comments

[ljlee.livejournal.com]

I assume you've consulted the marital history (http://tudorhistory.org/wives/) of a certain real-world serial monogamist? If your guy is some kind of ruler, he could have openly executed one or more wife like Henry VIII did. If one or more wife was on equal footing with him, political differences or some other clash of interest might have led to her leaving him. Maybe in a near-miss moment, another died in childbirth or due to pregnancy complications. If the guy is in fact infertile maybe she had been unfaithful and the death wasn't an accident. Honest-to-goodness disease and accident could have befallen one or more, though dark rumors may still swirl given his history.

I've been glancing through your posts when they appeared in my timeline and it's interesting how much of the plot and characterization involve family relations. I say right on, since family ties seem grossly undervalued in a lot of modern fantasy compared to their importance in the time periods they're based on.

[marycatelli]

Trying to avoid coming too close, actually. 0:)

Admittedly he's the most famous, but there have been any number of kings who've gone through a number of wives in search of an heir. I think my favorite is the king who was considering two candidates, and the proponents of one told him that the other one had -- horrors! -- borne an illegitimate son! His reaction? A bride who knows how to have sons!

[ljlee.livejournal.com]

I like how this dude thinks! So did he end up marrying this supremely skilled lady?

[marycatelli]

Yes!

You can read about it in Royal Vendetta -- I reviewed it here