History Main / ParentalMarriageVeto

* Creator/JRRTolkien's Middle-Earth:
** In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', Thingol doesn't want his daughter Lúthien to marry the mortal Beren. While he doesn't know at the time that that would eventually result in her choosing to become mortal, he had premonitions of Doom around the whole matter. So he set Beren an [[EngagementChallenge impossible task]] to get rid of him (breaking into [[{{Hell}} Angband]] and stealing a Silmaril), no doubt hoping he'd give up or die, which of course completely backfired in horrible ways for generations to come. (Don't mess with the Silmarils. Seriously.)
** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', when Elrond (Beren and Lúthien's immortal great-grandson) finds out that his daughter Arwen and his mortal adopted/foster son Aragorn are in love, he sets down what seems to be a impossible set of restrictions on their marriage: Sauron must be vanquished, Aragorn must unite the ancient kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor ''and'' become High King over them. This puts a great deal of stress on Elrond and Aragorn's relationship, but when Aragorn helps fulfill every single one of these conditions, Elrond allows the marriage to happen and Love Conquers All. Those nearly {{impossible task}}s had the bonus effect of ensuring Middle-Earth would at least theoretically be habitable for them and their descendants.

** King George VI initially vetoed [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen then-Princess Elizabeth's]] marriage to Philip Mountbatten, mostly because she was underage and he was still largely seen by the public as a Greek and Danish prince, even though he had given up those titles. After World War II, when Philip was a British war hero and Elizabeth had turned 21, her father finally consented to the marriage.

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** In ''Jo's Boys'', Meg won't let her daughter Daisy marry Nat because -- besides his being an ex-homeless nobody -- Meg (a WidowWoman by this point) doesn't think the sensitive, very young and inexpert musician will be able to man up and provide for Daisy. However, when he returns to the States after two years' European study [[RagsToRiches as an established violinist with a steady income and excellent future prospects]], Meg relents. (The beard he grows in the meanwhile helps.)

** For the longest time, the sovereign of Great Britain had veto rights over the marriages of ''anyone'' in the succession who could claim descent from George II. If they married without permission anyway, they'd lose their place in the succession. This was eventually repealed (but not until ''2013''!), and the current law only limits the sovereign's veto rights to the first six people in the line of succession.[[note]]Current list: Prince Charles (married to Camilla after Diana's death, with the Queen's blessing), Prince William (also married with the Queen's approval), Prince George (born in 2013), Princess Charlotte (born in 2015), Prince Louis (born in 2018), and Prince Harry (also [[Creator/MeghanMarkle married]] with the Queen's approval).[[/note]]

* ''Machinima/ShadowsOfThePast'': The first words [[spoiler:Megatron ever says to Sarah]] are along the lines of "Break up with Will or die."

* In ''Videogame/WorldOfWarcraft'', specifically the "Battle for Azeroth" expansion, [[spoiler:Lady Meredith Waycrest]] went as far as ''hiring an assassin'' to stop her daughter [[spoiler:Lucille Waycrest]] from marrying a "lowly" merchant.
* 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 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 Jorge Isaacs' ''María'', while Efraín's father/María's uncle and adoptive father does ''not'' hate María (in fact, [[LikeASonToMe she's pretty much]] [[HappilyAdopted another daughter]]), he'd rather have Efraín focus only on his future university studies than romancing [[KissingCousins his cousin]]. [[spoiler: It ends tragically when IllGirl María dies from her illness while Efraín is studying abroad on the patriarch's instructions; the dad [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone blames himself heavily]] and even calls himself her murderer, and he ends up tearfully apologizing to Efraín for having separated them.]]

** ''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, [[HonorThyParent 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 [[RunawayBride 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/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.

** In ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'', Mr. Darcy's aunt Catherine attempts to veto the marriage... which ends up [[NiceJobFixingItVillain helping to bring it about]], since at the time that Lady Catherine declares her veto, Elizabeth and Darcy are each separately convinced that the other no longer wants anything to do with them. Hearing that Elizabeth has refused to promise not to marry him is what gives Mr. Darcy enough hope to try proposing to her again, with rather better results than his first attempt.
** The lovers of ''Literature/SenseAndSensibility'', ''Literature/NorthangerAbbey'', and ''Literature/{{Persuasion}}'' also face this.

** The legend of [[https://justanimeforum.net/threads/japanese-culture-princess-hachikatsugi.5389/ Hachikatsugi-hime]] has the youngest son of a nobleman falling for [[UptownGirl a young maid]] named Hachikazuki, who always hides herself [[NiceHat behind a huge wooden bowl doubling as a hat]]. The guy's parents, logically, oppose to this romance. [[spoiler: They talks to Hachikatsugi and stage a "wife contest" to make her "give up"; the girl has an HeroicBSOD right befoe it, but when her boyfriend reassures her... the hat, which until then was stuck to her head, suddenly falls off and reveals a small wooden box, containing a mix of BagOfHolding and MementoMacGuffin that reveals [[FallenPrincess the girl's noble heritage]] ''and'' has the riches and clothing she needs for the contest. Her confidence restored, Hachikatsugi passes the "contest" with flying colors, so the parents revoke the veto and let her marry her son.]]

Zakaria from ''Literature/TheKeyToCharlotte'' used to be in a relationship with a woman named Rachel, but their relationship was ruined by her meddling father, who she still listened to even though she was an adult.

* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''A Daughter of the Land'', the Bates sons were too intimidated to marry against this, except Adam. The father's technique was to give them farms, but keep the title himself.

* ''Film/LettersToJuliet'': this was the reason the romance stopped in 1957.
* This is essentially what ''Film/GuessWhosComingToDinner'' is all about.

* ''ComicBook/StarWarsLegacy'': Emperor Roan Fel is aware that Imperial Knight Draco Antares is in love with his daughter Princess Marasiah Fel (it's mutual), and tells Draco that if he thinks he's going to marry the Princess, he's got another thing coming. [[spoiler:Draco is [[ShootTheDog forced to kill Roan for unrelated reasons]] at the end of the Volume 1 story, and we never find out if he and now-Empress Marasiah got together.]]

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1942'': As part of mellowing and sweetening Sourpuss into a kindly lady from her tough no nonsense original she was given a backstory in which her "bitterness" is due to her father refusing to allow her sweetheart to marry her as a teenager, then they meet again and get married and her personality is given a complete 180.

* In one episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', a married couple had assumed the parental veto was because of the father's apparently racist tendencies, and eloped anyway. It's much [[IncestIsRelative squickier]] than that.

** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', when Elrond (Beren and Lúthien's immortal great-grandson) finds out that his daughter Arwen and his mortal adopted/foster son Aragorn are in love, he sets down what seems to be a impossible set of restrictions on their marriage: Sauron must be vanquished, Aragorn must unite the ancient kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor ''and'' become High King over them. This puts a great deal of stress on Elrond and Aragorn's relationship, but when Aragorn helps fulfill every single one of these conditions, Elrond allows the marriage to happen and Love Conquers All. Those nearly {{impossible task}}s had the bonus effect of ensuring Middle-Earth would at least theoretically be habitable for them and their descendants.

* Part of the backstory in Kathryn Hulme's ''The Nun's Story.'' Gabrielle/Sister Luke's [[DaddysGirl much-adored father]] refuses to let her marry her longtime boyfriend, Jean, because he fears that insanity runs in Jean's family. It's one of the reasons, although not the only one, that she takes vows.

* In Jorge Isaacs' ''María'', while Efrain's father/María's uncle and adoptive father does ''not'' hate María (in fact, [[LikeASonToMe she's pretty much]] [[HappilyAdopted another daughter]]), he'd rather have Efraín focus only on his future university studies than romancing [[KissingCousins his cousin]]. [[spoiler: It ends tragically when IllGirl María dies from her illness while Efraín is studying abroad on the patriarch's instructions; the dad [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone blames himself heavily]] and even calls himself her murderer, and he ends up tearfully apologizing to Efraín for having separated them.]]

* Pointedly defied in ''ComicBook/DanSlottsFantasticFour''. After proposing to Alicia Masters, ComicBook/TheThing decides to bury the hatchet at least on this matter with her stepfather Philip (AKA The Puppet Master) and visited said incorrigible mind-controlling supervilian in the prison where he was getting the full [=SuperMax=] treatment. After Ben received Philip's blessing without reservation or conditions he returned home jubilantly and Alicia reassured him that he had been worrying over nothing; [[spoiler: then, once he left the room to call the rabbi, [[LikeParentLikeChild she slipped a clay figurine out of her apron to place in a heavily shielded container]] she returned to her shelf of knick-knacks]].

* In John Woo's ''Stranglehold'', the major contributor to the game's emotional drama is the fact that [[BigBad Mr. Wong's]] daughter Billie is in love with maverick cop Tequila. Wong despises Tequila both because he is a cop and because back in the movie ''Hard-Boiled'', [[spoiler: Tequila killed Johnny Wong, whom it turns out is Mr. Wong's son]]. Eighteen years ago, Wong intimidated Billie, who was pregnant with Tequila's daughter Teko, into breaking up with Tequila so that Wong wouldn't kill them all, and when Wong had to entrust Tequila with the task of rescuing Billie and Teko from the Zakarovs, Wong [[spoiler: [[OffingTheOffspring had Billie killed]] by Tequila's own partner Jerry, both to protect his syndicate (Zakarov had threatened to make her reveal everyone connected to Dragon Claw in a court of law to protect Teko's life) and to deny her to Tequila forever in a nasty KickTheDog moment]].

* Pointedly defied in ''ComicBook/DanSlottsFantasticFour''. After proposing to Alicia Masters, ComicBook/TheThing decides to bury the hatchet at least on this matter with her stepfather Philip (AKA The Puppet Master) and visited said incorrigable mind-controlling supervilian in the prison where he was getting the full [=SuperMax=] treatment. After Ben received Philip's blessing without reservation or conditions he returned home jubilantly and Alicia reassured him that he had been worrying over nothing; [[spoiler: then, once he left the room to call the rabbi, [[LikeFatherLikeDaughter she slipped a clay figurine out of her apron to place in a heavily shielded container]] she returned to her shelf of knick-knacks]].

** 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.

* ''Film/BendItLikeBeckham'' is set in present-day England, and the protagonist's older sister is about to be married. The groom's Sikh parents try to break his engagement because the protagonist has been seen hugging a "boy" in public, which is a significant taboo in their culture (the "boy" is actually a female friend, played by Creator/KeiraKnightley). They eventually relent once the misunderstanding is explained.