Crossovers
- The Dragon and the Bow: This is how the fic begins: to create a peace between the Scottish kingdom and the Viking tribe of Berk, Merida was promised to the chieftain's only son Hiccup.
- Dungeon Keeper Ami: In "A New Home"
, not a marriage to seal an agreement, but to allow one to take place. But, Ami's jumping to conclusions. The plan's that Duke Libasheshtan becomes her regent, since she's a teen empress:To get around her diplomatic obstacles, she needed someone who didn't work for her and wasn't her subject, but who could still negotiate in her name...
Cheeks burning, she jumped to her feet. "I- I'm not marrying anyone!" - Paradoxus: Bloom and Sky's marriage helped to lessen the animosity of Domino's people towards Eraklyon — the latter betrayed the former at its hour of most need. It doesn't hurt Sky himself played a great role in Domino's restoration. Though not all of Domino's denizens are that ready to forgive the betrayal that trapped them in stone for almost two decades and turned their home into a frozen wasteland. The couple had two daughters, one to be the crown princess of each kingdom. With whichever daughter who had the Dragon's Flame being Domino's heiress.
- The Pirate's Soldier: The trope is actually mentioned by name in Chapter 28. To seal the alliance between the Jurai Empire and the Seniwa Domain, President Moriko Kuramitsu offers that her great-granddaughter Mihoshi marries Heero. The latter has some doubts about it, both because he's already in a relationship with Ryoko and because he doesn't want to force Mihoshi to marry him against her will, but understands that the alliance is very important to save the galaxy from Kagato's plans. He decides to discuss it with both Ryoko and Mihoshi, taking also their feelings into account, and fortunately both are fine with the arrangement and decide to go through with it.
- Thy Good Neighbor: Steffon Baratheon invokes this by ignoring Aerys' royal command to visit the North and return with the secrets Lord Stark and his mysterious guests are hiding and instead offering careful lies that instead pander to the monarch's ignorance and disdain of the North... in exchange for Rickard confirming the betrothal of Lyanna Stark with Robert Baratheon.
- Along Came a Spider: Much like his parents in canon, the story has Victor Steiner-Davion arranged to marry Kuan-Yin Allard-Liao in order to allow a peaceful entry of the Capellan Confederation into the Federated Commonwealth. The timetable was bumped up, however, when Kuan-Yin's mother was assassinated by her aunt, Romano.
- Mosaic (an Alternate Universe Fic): Emperor Suzaku of Japan marries Princess Euphemia of Britannia to repay the latter nation for saving the former from a Chinese invasion. The Britannia of the world the fic is set in generally tries to expand its power and influence through marriage rather than conquest, much like House Habsburg.
- The Lady and the Lion (an Alternate Universe Fic): This forms the background premise of the story. Ferelden and Ostwick, in the Free Marches, have a long-standing peace treaty which is renewed every twenty-five years through a noble alliance. But King Alistair doesn't have any appropriate noblemen to offer Bann Trevelyan's youngest daughter, so he has to quickly create a new noble house and pin its title on one of his generals in order to make him a suitable candidate.
- Becoming Lífþrasir: Since Astrid and her family do not like the idea of her being adopted by Stoick to make her his heir, they instead went for a form of engagement between her and Hiccup (in absentia). This way, she would still be a Hofferson, she gets to remain a shield-maiden as she wanted and she would gain the chiefdom when Stoick retires or dies.
- The Berserkers Bride: Dagur and Hiccup's marriage was strictly political, or at least that was how it started…
- The Home We Built Together: The premise of the fic is about Hiccup and Astrid being married to each other under a contract between their families.
- Prodigal Son: After Fishlegs convinces the village that Astrid was in a secret relationship with Hiccup, Astrid is more or less forced to use that to her advantage to inherit the role of future chieftess to prevent a potential civil war on Berk, knowing fully well that Snotlout's incompetence (having just been responsible for the death of a child during a training exercise) has soured over half of the village on the idea and will lead to conflict. She does this by agreeing to marry Hiccup post-mortem, becoming a member of the Haddock family under Berk's laws and thus next-in-line for the throne. A particular shock to Hiccup when he decides to return.
- After Astrid is announced as Stoick's heir, Spitelout and Snotlout offer an ultimatum; she marries Snotlout and makes him Chief or they will use the economic power their clan has over the rest of the island to force her out of her position. She manages to haggle her way into having the marriage held off for three years.
- A Thing of Vikings: Ruffnut agrees to marry Magnus the Good of Norway as part of alliance between Norway and Berk. This quickly proves to be a Perfectly Arranged Marriage as the two are absolutely devoted to each other.
- Magnus's half-sister Wulfhild agrees to become a concubine to Hiccup, who insists on marrying Astrid, the love of his life; Hiccup reluctantly agrees to this arrangement to appease the Norway lords and to protect Wulfhild from a potentially abusive Arranged Marriage. Over time Hiccup, Astrid and Wulfhild settle into a polyamorous relationship.
- What Lies Beneath: In this fic, Hiccup and Astrid were pushed together in their late teens by their parents. They eventually grow to like each other anyway.
- The Vow: Lianne's parents were married this way. Lord Chang was having hostility with western people who wandered in the borders of his province, but a peace was worked out. He met Lady Amelia while visiting the western king's court and since they seemed to like each other, she was offered to him in order to settle the peace. It's later revealed that Amelia had to choose between Chang and his brother Hong, both being strangers to her. Taking pity on her, Chang gave her the option of backing away (and possibly jeopardizing the treaty). That little act of mercy caused Amelia to choose him.
- A Fandom-Specific Plot involves Shipping Zelda and Ganondorf this way; the plot usually goes that Link didn't reincarnate/reincarnated late and wasn't there to stop Ganondorf's latest attempt to take over Hyrule, causing Zelda to instead marry him and make him the legitimate king in exchange for him not leveling the kingdom trying to conquer it. There's about a fifty-fifty chance that this will be Zelda's idea or Ganondorf's, but either way, you can guess where this goes.
- Full Steam Ahead: Played with. Zelda tells Link that her council want to arrange this for her, partly to ensure the future of Tetra's bloodline, but also because many of them will want her to marry one of their own sons to consolidate power. She then reveals that she's made a deal with the council that she'll go along with it but only if she can't find a suitable husband for herself by her next birthday. It takes Link longer than it should to realise she's trying to propose to him, and when he eventually does, he's shocked by the notion that there are no laws in place about who she can marry.Link: What do you mean there aren't any laws? You're the princess, there has to be... Are you sure?
Zelda: Of course I'm sure. You know Teacher made me study the bylaws inside and out. I even went back and double-checked after striking the deal with the Council. There's only one thing written in the books about who I can and cannot marry, and do you know what it says?
Link: What?
Zelda: 'Who cares? Just don't pick a wimp.'
Link: There's no way it actually says that.
Zelda: [laughing] Of course it does. The country was founded by pirates. Like they cared about so-called 'nobility of blood' or class divisions or whatever you're talking about. - Let the World Smile: Princess Zelda's father marries her to the Gerudo king, Ganondorf, as a way of easing political tensions.
- I Am Skantarios (an AAR story): The Byzantines strengthen their alliance with their Hungarian allies via marriage, one general becoming Bash Brothers with Skantarios.
- Wed Locked takes place in a slightly Alternate Universe where Sabine is the younger sister of a foreign king, who brings his sister and her family to his homeland and plans to have Marinette married off to the prince of a neighboring land to secure an alliance.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- A Diplomatic Visit: Discussed in chapter 14 of the third story, Diplomacy Through Schooling, in which it's noted that some of the nobles of Laronda practice this, but the Royal Family do not and in fact officially discourage it.
- Pandoraverse: This is the reason behind Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis's union — Chrysalis proposed the marriage to Celestia to forge an alliance between changelings and ponies.
- Son of the Sannin: Discussed. After finding out that Shisui Uchiha is engaged to Shizune (who is a Senju via adoption), an Edo Tensei revived Hashirama wonders if such a union would have been able to bring the two clans together during the Warring States Period. Tsunade says that it's more likely that they would have been executed by their clans for treason.
- This Bites!: During the Lovely Land arc, Don Accino reluctantly agrees to join the Accino Family with the Hiruno Famiglia this way, cementing their alliance by having Lil Accino marry Burrato Hiruno. The two wind up breaking it off at the altar, but remain friends; the alliance, on the other hand, goes belly-up. Fortunately, the Accinos have already found an alternate and better solution to their problems.
- Lords Among the Ashes: Cinder is so impressed by what she sees in Normandy that she manipulates events so that she and Jaune marry. This proves to be a mutually beneficial relationship as it gives Wintershroud access to the Lost Technology that Normandy had rediscovered and Normandy access to Wintershroud's rich mineral resources.
A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones
- My Father's Son uses this full force all throughout the fic.
- The premise of the fic is built off of this, as Aerys wanted to use a marriage of his son to Lyanna Stark as a way to get the North, Riverlands, and Vale onside to keep Tywin Lannister on his toes.
- Tywin had ideas to do this back at them by having Cersei marry Robert Baratheon. However, having seen who Robert was at Lyanna's wedding, Cersei refused. Then Tywin found out about her being pregnant, and due to aunt Genna standing up for her, it was called off.
- Thanks to the needs of rebellion, the joint Tully marriages are carried out with Lysa marrying Elbert Arryn and Catelyn marrying Eddard Stark. The tragedy in Catelyn and Ned's marriage of course was that they had eyes for others when they married, and Hoster was actually okay with the North coming to war without a marriage. There was just a lie from Roose Bolton that tricked Ned into it.
- After the mess of a Trial by Seven, Rhaegar makes an arrangement with Olenna (who was acting as leader of the reach due to Mace being in King's Landing) to marry Janna Tyrell to Titus Peake as a way to ensure a safe passage through the Reach, and ensure the snippy Janna doesn't pull anything after her fiancée was killed after the trial.
- Olenna also uses this as a way to shore up the family's control due to the deaths of Mace and Wilas. That to give the family a boost and to connect to the crown, her grandson Garlan is arranged to Melissa Blackwood/Fossoway.
- Tywin also uses a bit of this to get back into the Red Keep. That with his kingdom offering all sorts of advantages in a realm that needs some stability and dependability after this Greyjoy rebellion, he arranges for Cersei to marry Ned to indirectly connect him to House Targaryen.
- This also becomes a political necessity for Rhaegar after Viserys accidentally got Talisa Maegyr pregnant. Also counts as a Shotgun Wedding.
- The premise of the fic is built off of this, as Aerys wanted to use a marriage of his son to Lyanna Stark as a way to get the North, Riverlands, and Vale onside to keep Tywin Lannister on his toes.
- The Raven's Plan:
- The original plan for the heroes' time travel plot before things went to hell had several possible betrothals planned to prevent the War of Five Kings and allow Jon a peaceful transition to the throne. In particular, Jon was to marry Margaery Tyrell to secure the Reach, while Daenerys was to be married to Edmure or possibly even Robb to satisfy the North and the Riverlands (who are essentially a package deal). One would imagine that Sansa and Tyrion had others planned for other people as well, including themselves.
- Edmure marries Roslin again, this time to bind what's left of House Frey to House Tully, simultaneously preventing them from betraying them again while also honoring the Freys who did stay loyal to Robb in the previous timeline.
- Sam betroths his younger brother Dickon to Margaery in exchange for becoming Lord of the Reach and Warden of the South during the Long Night. Olenna instantly agrees, because it makes Dickon Mace's Heir-In-Law (Loras having been killed in self-defense by Jaime Lannister at King's Landing during the initial post-Remembering chaos), which will finally get the Tarlys and the Florents off the Tyrells' backs.
- Robert made plans to betroth Shireen to Robb and make the latter his Heir-In-Law as an apology to House Stark for all they suffered thanks to his death. Then he found out about Jon.
- Wearing Robert's Crown: Subverted and played straight. Renly's marriage has the potential to reconcile House Martell and House Baratheon but it's at the worst possible moment and Drakebert negotiates another political marriage to keep the peace.
- Discussed at various points in There and Back Again:
- Tywin and Genna Lannister believe that Viserys Targaryen could try to take advantage of a Westerosi civil war by betrothing Daenerys to Trystane Martell and building up an army with the Dornish to invade. That's what Tywin would do anyway, but with Viserys' tendency toward Stupid Evil, it is unlikely. It turns out that Viserys is planning an alliance, but it's with the Dothraki, as in canon.
- Tywin also brings up betrothing Joffrey to Sansa to build up an alliance between the Westerlands and the North and Riverlands, as the latter two are essentially a package deal. He also brings up arranging a marriage between Tommen and Jon and Lysa Arryn's new daughter Alys to further the Riverlands alliance while also adding the Vale to the fold. He also has other minor houses in the Reach in mind for setting up marriages between their sons and daughters with his own nieces and nephews while concocting ways to undermine the Tyrells.
- After Cersei's affair with Jaime and the true paternity of Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen is exposed, Robert knows he'll have to take on a new wife. Jon Arryn admits Margeary Tyrell wouldn't be a bad choice, and neither would Eddara Karstark if Robert wants to get back into the North's good graces this way. But Robert, being his dense self, instead thinks a better northern match for himself would be the (physically) thirteen-year-old Sansa Stark.
- Olenna mentions that she had considered arranging a marriage between Margeary and Robb Stark, which would tie the Reach with not just the North (which has been working on becoming more economically powerful to better support the Night's Watch and, unbeknownst to everyone else other than a few in the know, prepare for the Second Long Night), but also the Vale (as he's the nephew of Jon Arryn) and the Riverlands (being Hoster Tully's grandson).
- Heis'he Ri'nanovai mentions that marriages among the Romulan nobility are almost invariably political, such as to cement alliances between House-clans or mend blood feuds. Merken tr'Vreenak was in such a marriage to a distant cousin when he had an affair with his then-chief of staff. Protagonist Morgan t'Thavrau was the result.
- This was why Eclipsa was forced to marry Shastacan in Queens of Mewni: his older brother, King of Spiderbite, demanded it as the price of remaining in the war, and she needed to marry anyway after she lost her first husband and daughter in a fire...or so she thought.
- The Gift of Premonition (based on The Hobbit): Played with — Thorin and company are at war with the Iron Mountain dwarves, who have a nonaggression pact with Mirkwood. Thranduil wants to help Thorin and company but doesn't want to break the treaty. Fortunately, his son Legolas has taken an interest in the son of a member of Thorin's company... and marriage makes them extended family, which means that the Iron Mountain dwarves attacked his kin first.
- In The Secret, Thorin is considering a marriage with Leena, his cousin Dain's niece, to strengthen Erebor's alliance with other dwarf kingdoms. Considering Erebor has only recently be re-established, the alliance is highly important, though it's complicated by Thorin developing feelings for a human peasant named Emma.
- The Brat Prince of Vos (a Transformers: Animated fic): This trope is the premise. Basically, in order to gain the alliance of the city of Vos, Megatron has to agree to bond with Starscream, the youngest prince. When he keeps putting it off (originally because Star is too young, then because if they bond during the war there'll be no-one to lead the Decepticons if they both get killed, and finally because Megatron's too busy searching for the AllSpark), Starscream snaps and becomes the traitor he's usually known as.
- The Command Quarters: In Chapter 13, Starscream is "gifted" to Megatron as part of a political union. Unlike most examples of the trope, there's no wedding ceremony — they jump straight ahead to the wedding night.
- Promised: Starscream is forced to enter into a sparkbond with Megatron as part of a political alliance between Vos and Kaon. He's not very happy about it at first, but it quickly becomes a Perfectly Arranged Marriage.
- Handmaid: This is why the handmaid privilege exists — to avoid all the headaches that would come from a king trying to annul a royal marriage for the sake of more heirs. As an extension of that, the potential handmaid must be a subject of the king's own country, so there won't be two women pulling the King in different directions.
- Queen Anne's Legacy:
- Mary marries Philip of Bavaria to tie England to Cleves. Later on, her daughter Lizzy marries Archduke Ferdinand so the Holy Roman Empire can have their own claim to Cleves.
- Ambrose is engaged to and later marries Infanta Juana (anglicized as Joanna when she arrives in England) of Spain, presumably to help smooth over diplomatic relations with the Habsburgs. Despite a very rocky beginning, the relationship gradually smooths out and they end the story Happily Married.
- Elizabeth is arranged to marry Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, and it's quite clearly a Perfectly Arranged Marriage from the start, despite some physical/emotional infidelity at the beginning.
- Edward was originally unattached since keeping him unmarried was in the Boelyn family's best interest. Jane Seymour and Frances Grey subtly try to get him to fall for Jane Grey later in the story, as their marriage will strengthen his claim to the throne. This plan however falls apart after Jane comes to realize she loves Guilford Dudley and sees Edward only as a brother, and goes behind their backs to get Ambrose to engage her to Guilford. Ambrose then tries to marry Edward to Princess Marguerite of France to help him get over Jane and make sure he doesn't interfere with her marriage. Edward balks at this since Marguerite is only a child while he's already a full-grown man. Ultimately, he ends up marrying Mary, Queen of Scots, in order to get Scottish and French support in his rebellion against Ambrose.
- Maggie is engaged to Carlos, Prince of Asturias so she can one day be Queen of Spain. Unfortunately, she dies of measles not long after the betrothal is made.
- When it becomes a serious possibility that he won't be able to sire a legitimate son, Ambrose engages his eldest daughter Joan to Mary's son Philip Tudor in order to bolster her claim to the throne.
- Prince Peepers: In this AU, Lord Hater, who is just starting out as a villain, attempts to conquer the Watchdogs planet, only to learn that in order to take over the planet, he needs to marry a member of the royal court — and it just so happens that Peepers (or Prince Peepers, to be exact) is the only current member of the court.
