Book 4, Chapter 3: The Politics Of Desire
In comparison to many other forms of clan societies found elsewhere in the world, Berk’s society was unusually sexually liberated, being accepting of homosexuality and having a romantic ideal of courtship based around mutual romantic attraction between the courting pair. In most clannish societies, heterosexuality was and is strongly—even brutally—enforced, as the collective unit of the clan would take importance over the individuals that composed it, and is perpetuated through the production of heirs to the clan, rendering romance between the married couple as a secondary—at best—consideration to the production of heirs and exogamous clan bonds.
However, in tribal-era Berk, the low birth rates combined with the temporary marriage structure of their concubinage institution provided a legally and morally acceptable way for homosexual individuals to produce heirs for their clan, even as they remained primarily bonded with their preferred romantic partner of the same sex. This is not to say that the sexual liberation was absolute, however. Bride prices and dowries were still legally obligated, creating an economic class structure that disproportionately affected the poor, and created barriers to marriage, and—barring certain high-status exceptions—intercourse before marriage was seen as a scandal at best, and was strongly policed. But all in all, Berk’s society before AD 1040 was comparatively better in its expectations and restrictions of personal sexual preference than many of its neighbors and contemporaries.
These factors continued into the Imperial Era. While this frequently made for staggeringly complex family trees, requiring special notations between legal and biological lines of descent, the fact that it allowed for the avoidance of scandals and unhappy marriages ensured its general continuation and social acceptance. Indeed, many of the noble families of the North Sea Empire were polyamorous from the foundation of the Empire, as a direct continuation of their practices under Berk’s tribal period, beginning with Emperor Hiccup III of House Haddock and his two wives, and the marriages of a number of his close friends and inner circle. In the next generation, Hiccup’s daughter Valka II and her husband Olaf III both had their own preferred and legally acknowledged same-sex partners, but still married and had children in order to formally and legally unite their realms.
—Family, Fidelity, Faction: A Sociological Study Of Kinship Ties And Political Structures, Kyoto University Press, Ltd.
Tropes that appear in this chapter:
- Adaptational Sexuality:
- The epigraph mentions that Valka/Zephyr will have a same sex partner in addition to her future husband Olaf making her at least bisexual, while in canon there was no indication she was anything other than straight.
- This chapter implies that, loyalty to Valka aside, part of the reason Stoick never remarried is due to being demisexual.
- Anachronism Stew: Literally in this case. Moo shu pork was not named that until centuries after this is set.
- Double Standard: The epigraph lampshades the unequal enforcement of the laws against pre-marital sex among the social elite of the Hooligans.
- Dumpster Dive: A thief is caught trying to steal the contents of Hakon's and Gunvor's wastepaper basket. They and Fintan are baffled as to why until the thief explains they contain information useful for merchants and stories the masses likes hearing about.
- The Emperor: The epigraph reveals that Hiccup will eventually be titled Emperor of the North Sea Empire.
- Irony: Stoick has offered the position of Treasurer to Camilla, former heir of the Bog Burglars tribe and now heir of one of the annexed Bog Burglar clans. Her own sister lampshades the absurdity.
- Make Games, Not War: Discussed. Hakon tells an Eirish farmer that he'd rather have feuds on the sports field than feuds on the battlefield.
- Noodle Incident: Several characters mention some incident involving Thuggory and butter.
- Shout-Out: Mulan's group encounters a noodle shop ran by the humanised versions of Po and his father.
- Tangled Family Tree: The epigraph lampshades the fact that Hooligan family trees can get complex due to the abundance of polyamorous groups.
- Three-Way Sex: When Eret comes home he overhears Heike and Jyette having sex with Thuggory.
