History Polyamory / Literature

* Group marriages and open relationships are relatively common in ''Literature/{{Aeon 14}}'', and sometimes include both humans and {{artificial intelligence}}s: sentient [=AIs=] reproduce by blending minds with each other or with humans (they can also be copied, but [[InhumanableAlienRights this is banned as a (non)human rights violation under the Phobos Accords]]). Main character Tanis Richards has a group relationship with her organic husband Joe Evans and her AI partner Angela, and Joe openly alludes to swinging at one point, while {{Extreme Omnisexual}} characters Jessica Keller and Cheeky have open marriages with their respective partners Trevor and Finaeus Tomlinson (the former pairing also including Jessica's AI Iris). [[spoiler:Tanis and Angela later merge to become the [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended being]] Tangel; however it later turns out Tangel is actually a separate entity created by the merge and who merely occupied their headspace for a while. The last book of the ''Orion War'' series alludes to the three of them and Joe having to have some serious discussions about the nature of their relationship going forward.]]

* ''Literature/TheMillenniumTrilogy'': There's a situation somewhere between this and FriendsWithBenefits; Mikhael Blomkvist and Erika Berger's inability to stop sleeping with each other led to the failure of his marriage, but Erika's husband doesn't mind her seeing Mikhael, and the two men get on well together. Erika and her husband have experimented with threesomes (though only with other people since Mikhael himself wasn't interested,) and they don't actually live together, but otherwise it works quite similarly to this trope.

-->'''Indira''': Most vampires are polyamorous. It’s not uncommon to be in love with a few at the same time.\\
'''Myra''': Why does everything I learn about vampires involve either blood-drinking or orgies?\\
'''Indira''': It is not either one or the other. The blood-drinking is a part of the orgies.

** ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'' features protypical matriarchal group marriages--that is, the woman is the dominant partner and has full discretion as to whom or how many men she marries.

** ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' and all subsequent novels in his "Future History" series feature Lazarus Long's increasingly extended family, designed as a group marriage in which individuals are free to come and go as they please but all are mutually responsible for the maintenance of the household and care of the children. The only restriction on who sleeps with whom is genetic compatibility, and not even then if there is no risk of pregnancy. Outside of marriage, anyone can shack up as long as they follow the same rules, including blood-relatives; Long's own marriage includes his mother and grandfather.
** In ''Literature/TheNumberOfTheBeast'' and ''Literature/TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls'', the protagonists of those novels all eventually fall into Lazarus' polyamory through various circumstances including TimeTravel and dimension hopping.

* Occurs many places throughout ''Literature/TheBible'', making this OlderThanFeudalism at least. Many important figures had multiple wives, such as Jacob in the Literature/BookOfGenesis who marries sisters Leah and Rachel (although the former was thanks to a BedTrick). The Literature/BooksOfSamuel begin with a man named Elkanah, who has two wives. In the Literature/BooksOfKings, David had eight wives and several concubines, in common with most kings of the time. The champion, however, is probably Solomon, who takes it UpToEleven with 700 wives and 300 concubines! The practice had largely died out by the end of the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, Paul {{defie|d}}s it by teaching (in [[Literature/EpistlesToTimothy 1st Timothy]] and [[Literature/EpistleToTitus Titus]]) that a man who desires to be a bishop [also translated as ''elder'' or ''overseer''] or a deacon should only have one wife.

* ''Literature/TheOccupationSaga'': Aliens in the series commonly practice ExoticExtendedMarriage due to having high ratios of females to males, though usually it's a matter of the females sharing a subordinate male between them rather than ordinary polygyny. By the start of ''Between Worlds Three'', Jason is in a stable relationship with Raisha, Kernathu, and Yaro, [[spoiler:though Yaro breaks up with him at the end of the book over a disagreement]].

** ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' and all subsequent novels in his "Future History" series feature Lazarus Long's increasingly extended family, designed as a group marriage in which individuals are free to come and go as they please but all are mutually responsible for the maintenance of the household and care of the children. The only restriction on who sleeps with whom is genetic compatibility, and not even then if there is no risk of pregnancy. Outside of marriage, anyone can shack up as long as they follow the same rules, [[IncestIsRelative including blood-relatives]]; Long's own marriage includes his mother and grandfather.

* ''Literature/IronWidow'': When Wu Zetian finds herself in the beginnings of a LoveTriangle with Gao Yizhi and Li Shimin, Yizhi reassures her that her feelings for one of them don't invalidate her feelings for the other, so she enters relationships with them both. Yizhi and Shimin have their own RelationshipUpgrade not long after.

* At the end of ''Literature/AnAfricanMillionaire'', it's revealed that both of Clay's female associates consider themselves married to him, without any ill-feeling between them. "When a gentleman has as many aliases as Colonel Clay, you can hardly expect him to be over particular about having only one wife between them, can you?"

* ''Literature/EvaLuna'': Male lead Rolf Carlé gets into a relationship like this with two girls that not only are both his lovers, but [[KissingCousins his cousins]] as well. It lasts some years, until Rolf leaves the "colony" they live in and goes to the city; there's no ultra dramatic break-up, and the cousins are later HappilyMarried to local males whereas Rolf becomes an IntrepidReporter and gets involved with Eva, the female lead.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':

* ''[[Literature/TheElenium The Tamuli]]'': Per Imperial tradition, Sarabian is in an ExoticExtendedMarriage with one wife from each kingdom in the Tamul empire. Meanwhile, with his blessing, his wife Elysoun has around a dozen lovers; when Berit calls her unfaithful, she angrily explains that by her country's values, she's being faithful to each and every one of them.

* In ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]]'' series:
** The main character Rand al'Thor falls in love with three women, who in turn all fall in love with him. Leads to a fair bit of angst until the women decide to share, and put it to Rand as a fait accompli.

-->'''Elphaba''': You were in love with him.\\

* ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'' has a happy relationship consisting of Innon, a bisexual man; Syenite, a straight woman; and Alabaster, a StraightGay man. They're all romantically involved and, although Syenite and Alabaster have no interest in getting physical with each other, they very much enjoy playing spectator while Innon does. [[spoiler:They raise Syenite and Alabaster's son together for a few years, before Innon and the son are killed.]]
* The ending of ''Shadow Scale,'' the second book of Rachel Hartman's ''Literature/{{Seraphina}}'' duology, implies that this might be the future for [[spoiler: Seraphina, Prince Lucian Kiggs and Queen Glisselda. Kiggs and Seraphina love each other, but Kiggs and Glisselda are wed in an ArrangedMarriage, and Glisselda ''also'' loves Seraphina, who "realizes new things" about herself when Glisselda kisses her. The ultimate relationship between the three is left uncertain, but Seraphina does move into a royal suite in the palace in the end.]]
* In ''Mechanica'', Betsy Cornwell's YA steampunk retelling of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', the plot initially seems to follow the fairy-tale as the title character falls in love with the prince [[spoiler: a.k.a. her friend Fin]]. But then [[spoiler: her dreams are frustrated when she realizes he's already in love with servant girl Caro, her best female friend, whom his status won't allow him to marry. All three characters settle for platonic friendship at the end of the book, but in the sequel, ''Venturess'', it gradually becomes clear that Fin loves Nick as well as Caro, that Nick loves Caro as well as Fin, and that Caro loves both of them, as well as another girl, Bex. Healthy polyamory becomes their HappilyEverAfter.]]
* In ''Literature/GoldTreeAndSilverTree'', the prince marries Gold-Tree, then marries another woman when Gold-Tree is killed by Silver-Tree. The second wife accidentally brings Gold-Tree back to life, and the prince is happy to consider both women his wives.
* Beginning around 2016, the Reverse Harem (RH) genre, with the female protagonist getting at least three guys, has become popular in both fantasy and other literature.
* Group marriages and open relationships are relatively common in ''Literature/{{Aeon 14}}'', and sometimes include both humans and {{artificial intelligence}}s: sentient [=AIs=] reproduce by blending minds with each other or with humans (they can also be copied, but [[InhumanableAlienRights this is banned as a (non)human rights violation under the Phobos Accords]]). Main character Tanis Richards has a group relationship with her organic husband Joe Evans and her AI partner Angela, and Joe openly alludes to swinging at one point, while {{Extreme Omnisexual}} characters Jessica Keller and Cheeky have open marriages with their respective partners Trevor and Finaeus Tomlinson (the former pairing also including Jessica's AI Iris). [[spoiler:Tanis and Angela later merge to become the [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascended being]] Tangel; however it later turns out Tangel is actually a separate entity created by the merge and who merely occupied their headspace for a while. The last book of the ''Orion War'' series alludes to the three of them and Joe having to have some serious discussions about the nature of their relationship going forward.]]

* Maya Banks's ''Colters Family'' series of romance novels are centered around the titular Colter family, in which Holly, the family matriarch, is married to the three Colter brothers. Her sons also continue the poly tradition of being married to the same woman. Oddly enough, her daughter does not get involved in a poly relationship.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The Targaryens have been polygamous on and off throughout their history.
** Aegon the Conqueror started the tradition when he decided to married both Visenya and Rhaenys. He was supposed to marry Visenya but loved Rhaenys, and it was a MarryThemAll solution. Each of them rode one of the three famous Targaryen dragons. Aegon's case is kind of an ExaggeratedTrope version of the idea "behind every great man is a great woman." It's clear that having ''two'' great women behind him is much of the reason he was so successful. Aegon was as least as much of a conqueror as Alexander the Great was in our world, but instead of dying young, he went on to rule his kingdom--and was by all accounts the greatest king Westeros has ever known.
** Other Targaryens (descendants of the conquering triad) also went the poly route… if in very destructive ways that neither Aegon, Visenya nor Rhaenys would have have condoned, thanks to the StupidEvil ways they went about it. Two consenting wives at once? No problem. But Maegor "the Cruel" had three at once, including ''kidnapped'' wives he [[UriahGambit gambitted]] into it after killing a couple of others. Um… recipe for disaster, mate.
** And then Aegon "the Unworthy" was--at least--"just" a FatBastard who ReallyGetsAround and believed in open relationships on his end (just don't dare cheating on ''him''). Just as catastrophic as Maegor, though.
** It has been suggested than Daenerys reinstate the practice Aegon-the-Conqueror style and get herself a pair of husbands to ride her other two dragons.

* Possibly used to resolve continuity issues in the ''Literature/StarTrekRelaunch'' novels: One book gave Geordi a RelationshipUpgrade with Leah Brahms, but other books before and after had him dating a fellow crewmember. A much later book had him considering Leah's suggestion that the three of them should all have dinner together.

** ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'' and all subsequent novels in his "Future History" series feature Lazarus Long's increasingly extended family, designed as a group marriage in which individuals are free to come and go as they please but all are mutually responsible for the maintenance of the household and care of the children. The only restriction on who sleeps with whom is genetic compatibility, and not even then if there is no risk of pregnancy.

* Occurs many places throughout ''Literature/TheBible'', making this OlderThanFeudalism at least. Many important figures had multiple wives, such as Jacob in the Literature/BookOfGenesis who marries sisters Leah and Rachel (although the former was thanks to a BedTrick). In the Literature/BooksOfKings, David had eight wives and several concubines, in common with most kings of the time. The champion, however, is probably Solomon, who takes it UpToEleven with 700 wives and 300 concubines! The practice had largely died out by the end of the Old Testament, and in the New Testament, Paul {{defie|d}}s it by teaching (in [[Literature/EpistlesToTimothy 1st Timothy]] and [[Literature/EpistleToTitus Titus]]) that a man who desires to be a bishop [also translated as ''elder'' or ''overseer''] or a deacon should only have one wife.

* In the ''Literature/{{Mahabharata}}'', Draupadi is married to all five of the Pandavas. (She spends a year on a cyclic basis with each of them, to ensure paternity.) She was only supposed to marry Arjuna, who won her hand during an EngagementChallenge, but he was told by his mother to share what he'd brought home (Kunti didn't realize until too late that this ''something'' was more of a ''someone''.) Krishna tells her that it's because in her past life, she wished for a husband with all these great qualities that were ''extremely'' difficult to squeeze into one person (or in some versions, repeated her wish one too many times). The sage [[AuthorAvatar Vyasa]] advises her that she can marry Arjuna, but he'll come to resent her for [[DontSplitUsUp separating her from his family]], she can reject the marriage, but likely be viewed as DefiledForever and die alone, or she can MarryThemAll. She chooses the latter option on the advice of Krishna, and becomes TheHighQueen, although at [[{{Understatement}} great cost]]. She is also not the first or only woman to have multiple husbands, and the epic even goes so far as to make a statement that was (and, frankly, still ''is'' to this day in India) quite radical: namely, that if a man can take multiple wives, concubines, and mistresses with impunity, a woman should be able to do the same.

* Beginning around 2016, the Reverse Harem (RH) genre, with the female protagonist getting at least three guys, has become popular in both fantasy and other literature.

* In ''Literature/GoldTreeAndSilverTree'', the prince marries Gold-Tree, then marries another woman when Gold-Tree is killed by Silver-Tree. The second wife accidentally brings Gold-Tree back to life, and the prince is happy to consider both women his wives.

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein's works feature this heavily, especially as he got farther into his career, which gives it strong overtones of AuthorAppeal, even though he never commented on whether or not he and his wife Virginia were exclusive. Most of the works in question advance the concept that a truly [[BlitheSpirit free individual]] should not be restricted by cultural taboos in choosing whom or how many to love.

* In ''Mechanica'', Betsy Cornwell's YA steampunk retelling of ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'', the plot initially seems to follow the fairy-tale as the title character falls in love with the prince [[spoiler: a.k.a. her friend Fin]]. But then [[spoiler: her dreams are frustrated when she realizes he's already in love with servant girl Caro, her best female friend, whom his status won't allow him to marry. All three characters settle for platonic friendship at the end of the book, but in the sequel, ''Venturess'', it gradually becomes clear that Fin loves Nick as well as Caro, that [[BiTheWay Nick loves Caro as well as Fin]], and that Caro loves both of them, as well as another girl, Bex. Healthy polyamory becomes their HappilyEverAfter.]]

* ''Literature/TheFifthSeason'' has a happy relationship consisting of Innon, a BiTheWay man; Syenite, a straight woman; and Alabaster, a StraightGay man. They're all romantically involved and, although Syenite and Alabaster have no interest in getting physical with each other, they very much enjoy playing spectator while Innon does. [[spoiler:They raise Syenite and Alabaster's son together for a few years, before Innon and the son are killed.]]

* In ''Literature/TwentySixSixtySix'', "The one about the critics," Espinoza and Pelletier are HeterosexualLifePartners who are both having casual sex with [[NerdsAreSexy fellow academic]] Liz Norton. Both men both love Norton and want their relationship to end up as this. They have ThreeWaySex once but Norton [[TakeAThirdOption takes a fourth option, so to speak]] [[spoiler:and ends up with their friend Morini.]]