History Main / ParentalMarriageVeto

Even though most people in the western world choose their own spouses, this ''isn't'' a DeadHorseTrope. It can still appear in historical fiction, fantasy, in stories not set in the western world, or in any story where parents believe that they have a right to meddle in their grown children's lives. Contrast ChildMarriageVeto. See also LoveObstructingParents, DatingWhatDaddyHates and MeetTheInLaws.

* Brutally used in a ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' case in which the JerkAss father of a rich girl not only forbids his daughter from marrying her pianist boyfriend, but [[spoiler: he [[FinGore stomps on the pianist's hand and breaks it]], [[CareerEndingInjury which ruins his career.]] The poor piano man commits suicide and the BrokenBird daughter runs away. [[TheButlerDidIt And the new family butler, who was the pianist's dad, kills the old man]].]]

** The A-plot of ''every'' ''Literature/BlandingsCastle'' book by Creator/PGWodehouse, to the point where Wodehouse himself had his own names for all the character tropes involved. The "parent" was always one of his governess sisters, and the resolution almost invariably ended with the Hon. Galahad Threepwood (or sometimes Uncle Fred) blackmailing said sister into letting the marriage through, generally using an element of the B-plot.
** The trope tended to turn up regularly in Wodehouse's Literature/JeevesAndWooster stories. There was a LampshadeHanging in at least one book where a writer character said something like, "He forbids the marriage? I couldn't use that in a story nowadays!"

** Possibly subverted in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''. Both the Capulets and the Montagues seem to be a lot more comfortable with the idea of marrying across the feud lines than either Romeo or Juliet give them credit for. Of course, they didn't need the Montagues' permission, because Romeo was both an adult and male, so his parents had no grounds at all to mess with his marriage anyway even if they didn't like it. The one who did have a problem with it, however, was Tybalt, who hated the Montagues anyway and was pissed about Romeo entering the party despite the prohibition. Not to mention Paris, to whom Juliet was [[ArrangedMarriage arranged to be married]].

Even though most people in the western world choose their own spouses, this ''isn't'' a DeadHorseTrope. It can still appear in historical fiction, fantasy, in stories not set in the western world, or in any story where parents believe that they have a right to meddle in their grown children's lives. Contrast ChildMarriageVeto. See also DatingWhatDaddyHates and MeetTheInLaws.

* Earlier in the film Jess explains to a bunch of white teammates that she wouldn't be allowed to marry somebody white, definitely not someone black, and not someone Muslim- pretty well limiting her choices to a Hindu or Sikh Indian.

* A {{Downplayed|Trope}} example in ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' (or to be more specific, its CCG spin-of ''VideoGame/LegendsOfRuneterra'') since it's not the actual parent who's opposing it and marriage isn't even ''remotely'' on the cards under the circumstances; one of the game's most [[ShipTease constantly-teased]] couples is [[KnightInShiningArmor Garen, the Might of Demacia]] and [[DarkActionGirl Katarina, the Sinister Blade]], prominent champions from the [[FoeYay enemy kingdoms of Demacia and Noxus]]. ''Legends'' confirmed through card interactions that the two of them [[DatingCatwoman are secretly seeing each other]], and Garen's aunt Tianna Crownguard, [[IronLady the head of the Crownguard family]], does ''not'' approve of the relationship whatsoever. We don't yet know what, if anything, she's said to her nephew about his infatuation with the leather-clad Noxian assassin, but when forced to team with Katarina she doesn't mince words. Unfortunately for her, neither does Katarina.

* In ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', [[CuteClumsyGirl Nadeshiko]] falls [[HotForTeacher in love with her teacher]], and her parents and ''especially'' her grandfather disown her when she marries him after graduation. They disapprove of him partly because of [[MayDecemberRomance their age difference]], but mostly because he wasn't rich like them, thus either feared he was a GoldDigger or disliked his lower social class. Years later, Sonomi still hates Fujitaka - although in Sonomi's case, it's less that he's older and poorer and more that he took her beloved cousin away from her.

** ''Sosedov Sin'' ("The Neighbor's Son"), an 1868 novella by Slovene author Josip Juričič, Franica, the daughter of wealthy farmer Anton Smrekar, falls in love with the honest, hard-working and handsome Štefan, the son of a neighboring farmer. They wish to marry, but assume that Franica's proud and despotic father would not allow them to, as he despises Štefan's father, who unlike his son is a wastrel. Once, Anton hires Štefan to help him with a job, and treats him unusually kindly, prompting Štefan to ask Anton for Franica's hand. This, however, infuriates Anton, who roughly rebukes Štefan, and then makes short work of his daughter, accusing her of disrespecting him for making promises to the son of a man she knows her father cannot stand, and coercing a promise from her not to speak to Petar again. The resolution to this situation comes when, after a period of keeping Franica practically under house arrest, [[spoiler: Anton [[ArrangedMarriage attempts to marry her off]] to his good friend's son Petar, but Franica does not show up at the service and runs away to the house of a woman with whom she had stayed in the past while at school. When Anton finds his daughter in bed with a fever, and Štefan praying in a church for her recovery, he realizes that he has made a mistake. Franica does recover and Anton lets her marry Štefan and also becomes a somewhat gentler man.]]

* ''Fanfic/TheManyDatesOfDannyFenton'' (''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' WesternAnimation, [[{{Series}} TV Series]], and ComicBooks.): [[spoiler: In the alternate ending where Danny marries [[WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndTheGhoulSchool Phantasma]], The Phantom was against their relationship and Danny and Phanty married against his wishes.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheMLPLoops'': Brought up in Loop 48.3, where Big Macintosh is Replacing [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]]. Shortly before the Gamma Bomb incident, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, who didn't approve of Banner in comics canon even ''before'' he became the Hulk (and isn't Looping, making him unable to distinguish between Banner and anyone Replacing him in the Loop), warns Mac with "Don't even think for a moment that I'll let you marry my daughter." This being Mac (who is notoriously not interested in romance when Awake at this point) and not Banner, Ross's warning doesn't bother him in the slightest.

* This is a plot point in 'WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}' when Elsa, as Queen and acting as parent to her younger sister Anna (they were both orphans by then), refuses permission for Anna to marry Prince Hans Westergaard of the Southern Isles. It turns out [[spoiler: Elsa was right, as his intentions towards Anna were not honorable.]] Mostly she was probably just surprised that the engagement happened so fast, as the two had just met.

** the God of Storms Susano-o [[OverprotectiveDad wasn't thrilled]] when the minor god Okukinushi fell in love with his daughter Suseri-hime and she came to like him back. He tried at least ''thrice'' to kill the guy (by sending him to sleep in a room full of snakes, then having him clean his hair of which is full of either [[BeeAfraid wasps and bees]] or CreepyCentipedes, and later setting a fatal archery challenge involving [[KillItWithFire a field in fire]]), but Okunikinushi lived through each attempt on his life. Then he [[OutGambitted outsmarted]] Susano-oh by tying his long hair to his rafter when he was asleep so he and Suseri-hime could elope, also taking Susano-oh's treasures (his bow and arrow and his beloved ''koto'') with him. When Susano-oh woke up and caught up with them, he relented and gave the lovers his blessings.

* In ''Literature/TheOneHandedGirl'', the king's son begs his parents to let him marry the heroine, and they are unable to bring themselves to do this.
* In ''[[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/li/lifb04.htm The False Prince and the True]]'' (included by Creator/AndrewLang in ''The Lilac Fairy Book'', the true prince saves his life by learning that he really is the prince, and the purported one is not, which requires him to promise to marry a very old woman. When he recounts this to his father, he tries to get his father to invoke this: he would rather marry a bride of his father's choosing, he says. His father has none of it -- he will keep his promise.

* In "Literature/MaidMaleen", the titular princess says that she will only marry her chldhood love, while her father wants her to marry somebody else. She gets locked in a tower for her trouble.

** ''Pop Ćira i Pop Spira'' (Priests Ćira and Spira), an 1898 novel by Serbian author Stevan Sremac set in a village in the Vojvodina region[[note]]now the Northern part of Serbia, but then a Serbian enclave in Hungary[[/note]], it tells the story of the two priests who served the village, both of whom lived with a wife and an only daughter. When the village receives a new young schoolteacher, Pera, who intends to study for the priesthood, the priests' wives both wish to marry their daughters off to him. Priest Spira's daughter Melanija takes a liking to Pera, while Priest Ćira's daughter Jula loves Šaca, the local barber. However, they meet secretly in the garden, knowing that Jula's parents wouldn't approve of the match. They are discovered and Jula's parents initial reaction is to attempt to put a stop to it. [[spoiler: However, after some time passes, Jula complains to her mother about it; her mother goes to her father and pleads the couple's case, taking into account that Šaca is planning to better himself. Priest Ćira relents, requesting only that they wait until he has settled a conflict that he currently has with Priest Spira. The novel ends with Jula marrying Šaca and Melanija marrying Pera. The former couple ends up having four children with Šaca becoming a dentist, while the latter couple remains childless and ends up leading a dull bourgeois life.]]

** ''Pop Ćira i Pop Spira''(Priests Ćira and Spira), an 1898 novel by Serbian author Stevan Sremac set in a village in the Vojvodina region[[note]]now the Northern part of Serbia, but then a Serbian enclave in Hungary[[/note]], it tells the story of the two priests who served the village, both of whom lived with a wife and an only daughter. When the village receives a new young schoolteacher, Pera, who intends to study for the priesthood, the priests' wives both wish to marry their daughters off to him. Priest Spira's daughter Melanija takes a liking to Pera, while Priest Ćira's daughter Jula loves Šaca, the local barber. However, they meet secretly in the garden, knowing that Jula's parents wouldn't approve of the match. They are discovered and Jula's parents initial reaction is to attempt to put a stop to it. [[spoiler: However, after some time passes, Jula complains to her mother about it; her mother goes to her father and pleads the couple's case, taking into account that Šaca is planning to better himself. Priest Ćira relents, requesting only that they wait until he has settled a conflict that he currently has with Priest Spira. The novel ends with Jula marrying Šaca and Melanija marrying Pera. The former couple ends up having four children with Šaca becoming a dentist, while the latter couple remains childless and ends up leading a dull bourgeois life.]]

** ''Pop Ćira i Pop Spira''(Priests Ćira and Spira), an 1898 novel by Serbian author Stevan Sremac set in a village in the Vojvodina region[[note]]now the Northern part of Serbia, but then a Serbian enclave in Hungary[[/note]], it tells the story of the two priests who served the village, both of whom lived with a wife and an only daughter. When the village receives a new young schoolteacher, Pera, who intends to study for the priesthood, the priests' wives both wish to marry their daughters off to him. Priest Spira's daughter Melanija takes a liking to Pera, while Priest Ćira's daughter Jula loves Šaca, the local barber. However, they meet secretly in the garden, knowing that Jula's parents wouldn't approve of the match. They are discovered and Jula's parents initial reaction is to attempt to put a stop to it. [[Spoiler: However, after some time passes, Jula complains to her mother about it; her mother goes to her father and pleads the couple's case, taking into account that Šaca is planning to better himself. Priest Ćira relents, requesting only that they wait until he has settled a conflict that he currently has with Priest Spira. The novel ends with Jula marrying Šaca and Melanija marrying Pera. The former couple ends up having four children with Šaca becoming a dentist, while the latter couple remains childless and ends up leading a dull bourgeois life.]]