History Main / AltarDiplomacy

* The [[UrExample earliest documented cases]] come from UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_Letters Amarna Letters]] of the 14th century BCE strongly suggest that the pharaohs of the Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty exchanged princesses with the Kings of Assyria and Mittani as assurances of goodwill respecting the two Great Powers' intentions in Canaan, and it is undisputed that UsefulNotes/RamsesII (of the Nineteenth Dynasty, during the 13th century BCE) married a Hittite princess to cement/shore up a peace treaty/alliance with Hatti.

!!Other eexamples:

!!Examples:

[[folder:Fan Works]]

* ''Fanfic/AlongCameASpider'': Much like his parents in [[TabletopGame/BattleTech 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, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Romano]].
* ''Fanfic/BecomingLifprasir'': 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.
* ''Fanfic/TheBerserkersBride'': Dagur and Hiccup's marriage was strictly political, or at least that was how it started…
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5092359/1/The-Brat-Prince-of-Vos The Brat Prince of Vos]]'' (a ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' 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 [[TheStarscream the traitor he's usually known as]].
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16602230/chapters/39236202 The Command Quarters]]'' (a ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fic): 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.
* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': 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.
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': In [[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/dungeon-keeper-ami-sailor-moon-dungeon-keeper-story-only-thread.30066/post-12096923 "A New Home"]], not a marriage to seal an agreement, but to allow one to take place. But, [[spoiler:Ami's jumping to conclusions. The plan's that Duke Libasheshtan becomes her regent, since she's a [[AChildShallLeadThem 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!"
* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/4758047 The Gift of Premonition]]'' (based on ''Film/TheHobbit''): 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.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174349 Full Steam Ahead]]'' (a ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic): 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''] [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer 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.
* ''Fanfic/{{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.
* ''Fanfic/HeisheRinanovai'' mentions that marriages among the Romulan nobility are almost invariably political, such as to cement alliances between House-clans or mend blood feuds. [[spoiler:Merken tr'Vreenak was in such a marriage to a [[KissingCousins distant cousin]] when he had an affair with his then-chief of staff. Protagonist Morgan t'Thavrau was the result.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheHomeWeBuiltTogether'': The premise of the fic is about Hiccup and Astrid being married to each other under a contract between their families.
* ''Fanfic/IAmSkantarios'' (a ''VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar'' AAR story): The Byzantines strengthen their alliance with their Hungarian allies via marriage, one general becoming BashBrothers with Skantarios.
* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10832628 The Lady and the Lion]]'' (a ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' AlternateUniverseFic): 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.
* ''Fanfic/LetTheWorldSmile'': Princess Zelda's father marries her to the Gerudo king, Ganondorf, as a way of easing political tensions.
* ''Roleplay/LordsAmongTheAshes'': [[spoiler:Cinder]] is so impressed by what she sees in Normandy that she manipulates events so that she and [[spoiler:Jaune]] marry. This proves to be a mutually beneficial relationship as it gives Wintershroud access to the LostTechnology that Normandy had rediscovered and Normandy access to Wintershroud's rich mineral resources.
* ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/334086 Mosaic]]'' (a ''Franchise/CodeGeass'' AlternateUniverseFic): 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 [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic House Habsburg]].
* ''[[Creator/{{Lopoddity}} Pandoraverse]]'' (a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic): 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.
* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'' (a crossover and NextGenFic): 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.
* ''Fanfic/ProdigalSon'': After [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: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. [[spoiler: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.
* In ''Fanfic/TheSecret'', 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.
* ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'': Ruffnut agrees to marry Magnus the Good of Norway as part of alliance between Norway and Berk. This quickly proves to be a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage as the two are absolutely devoted to each other.
** Magnus's half-sister Wulfhild agrees to become a concubine to Hiccup, who insists on [[MarryForLove 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 ArrangedMarriage. Over time Hiccup, Astrid and Wulfhild settle into a [[{{Polyamory}} polyamorous relationship]].
* ''[[https://princepeepers.tumblr.com/ Prince Peepers]]'': In this AU, [[WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder 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.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172839/chapters/40376861 Promised]]'' (a ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fic): 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 PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.
* ''Fanfic/TheRavensPlan'':
** The original plan for the heroes' [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong time travel plot]] before [[GoneHorriblyRight 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 HeirInLaw (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 HeirInLaw as an apology to House Stark for all they suffered thanks to his death. [[UnstoppableRage Then he found out about Jon]].
* ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'': Discussed. [[spoiler: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.]]
* ''Fanfic/ThisBites'': 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. [[spoiler: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.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheVow'': 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 [[spoiler: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]].
* ''Fanfic/WearingRobertsCrown'': Subverted and played straight. Renly's marriage has the potential to reconcile [[spoiler:House Martell]] and House Baratheon but it's at the worst possible moment and Drakebert negotiates another political marriage to keep the peace.
* ''Fanfic/WedLocked'' takes place in a slightly AlternateUniverse where [[WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug 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.
* ''Fanfic/{{What Lies Beneath|OrangeCat64}}'': In this fic, Hiccup and Astrid were pushed together in their late teens by their parents. [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage They eventually grow to like each other anyway]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AngelInTheWhirlwind'': Among Commonwealth nobles, the first few children can expect to be married off for political reasons (the "heir and a spare" phrase is used), but as the youngest of ''ten'' children of Duke Lucas Falcone, protagonist Captain Kat Falcone is essentially free to date whomever and do whatever she likes (respectively Major Pat Davidson and joining the Navy).
* In ''Literature/ApparatusInfernum'', this is the explanation for how some humans have magical abilities. A long time before the main story, war between humans and the magical Ferishers ended in a treaty that saw mass intermarriage between the ruling families of each side. Over the years, the magical heritage so gained has gradually filtered into the general population, so it's not uncommon for people with no apparent connection to the nobility to have a bit of Ferisher ancestry (and therefore a bit of magic). One of the protagonists, Mikani, is such a person.
* In ''Literature/TheArtsOfDarkAndLight'', young noblewoman Severa ends up in an arranged marriage to shore up her family's relations with another noble house as a civil war draws near. Fortunately, it turns out that her husband is not that much older than herself, and they get along rather well once they get to know each other.
* ''Literature/TheAscendantKingdomsSaga'': {{Subverted}} in ''Ice Forged'': the concept is mentioned and it's a MedievalEuropeanFantasy setting where you'd expect this, but the network of alliances between the Ascendant Kingdoms were apparently created with pure ambassadorial diplomacy and actually defy the familial connections. King Merrill of Donderath is married to a princess of Meroven but is at war with her father King Edgar, while Merrill's ally the King of Tarrant married his daughter to the King of Vellanaj, who is allied to Meroven and using his navy to blockade Donderath. Lesser nobles seem to have a mix of both political or economic {{Arranged Marriage}}s and love matches.
* ''Literature/TheBeastPlayer'': Shunan wants to unite the two conflicting territories of Lyoza through his marriage to Princess Seimiya. Although they're attracted to each other, she and many other people find his idea outrageous because the Aluhan is meant to accept the defilement of killing for the Yojeh. [[spoiler:She ultimately accepts his proposal for the good of the kingdom.]]
* Garion and Ce'Nedra in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' are betrothed by a five-hundred-year-old treaty between their countries, not to mention that [[YouCantFightFate prophecy thing]]. True to the trope, they engage in quite a bit of SlapSlapKiss, but also [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] in that [[LockedOutOfTheLoop neither knew about the arrangement]][[note]]Ce'Nedra knew she had to be presented as the bride of the Rivan King on her sixteenth birthday, but not that said King would actually show up or that Garion was he. Garion, for his part, knew absolutely ''nothing'', which was quite intentional.[[/note]] until after they'd gotten acquainted and fallen in love anyway. This also happens for some background characters like Barak and his wife, but that's what you get when most of the characters belong to the aristocratic class in a medieval fantasy book.
* In the ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'':
** The marriage of Photius and Tahmina, to cement an alliance between Rome and Persia.
** The marriage of Eon and Rukaiya, to strengthen the political ties between Ethiopia and Arabia.
* In ''Literature/Birthright2017'', Taurau is in Vikaasthan, officially, to negotiate a trade agreement between Vikaasthan and Kainga-o-Whenua. Unofficially, it's implied that both he and Sabrina are being pushed together in the hopes they'll begin courting one another. There's no indication of an officially arranged marriage yet, but it's clear that neither Taurau nor Sabrina are against the notion.
* ''Literature/{{Blindfold}}'': In a minor subplot, two neighboring landholders have recently gotten engaged and while the falling in love part came first, they are planning on a merger of their territories. One of the BigBad's many plans involves making them suspicious of each other through acts of sabotage to ruin their romance and [[AHouseDivided keep them from joining their holdings]] so they'll be weaker once his EvilPlan is at hand.
* In ''Literature/TheBridgeKingdomArchives'' the marriage of king Aren of Ithicana and princess Lara of Maridrina is part of the peace treaty between their two nations. At least that's what people are led to believe, since Lara's father, king Silas, has other plans.
* The villain family in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' tries this in two stages. Legally, they're sisters-in-law to the princesses, whose late husband was brother to the villains and married the princesses to gain that connection for his family. Under their country's inheritance laws, if all the princesses were to die, without any having had a child to inherit the crown, the villains have claim to the thrones as heirs to their sisters-in-law. When the princesses find a new husband, the villains decide to kidnap and forcibly marry him, since his royal blood would strengthen his wives' claim to the thrones.
* Governor Dragna in ''Literature/{{Caraval}}'' is a wealthy rum merchant, but feels as though he doesn't get as much respect as other aristocrats because he rules over one of the Conquered Isles. He arranges for his daughter Scarlett to marry a count from one of the more well-known parts of the Meridian Empire to bring him more status.
* In ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', Royesse (Princess) Iselle arranges her own marriage--for rather urgent political reasons--to the crown prince of a neighboring kingdom whom she's never seen, pausing briefly to collect the rumor that he is "well-favored" (which she cynically says people will say about any prince who isn't a perfect fright), before returning to more important practical considerations. When she finally meets him, they've practically already bonded over their shared love and admiration for the main character, Iselle's heroic secretary, and by the morning after the wedding, he observes that they look like a couple madly in love.
* As a series of books set in countries run by monarchies in a feudalistic society, this recurs frequently in the ''Literature/{{Deryni}}'' works. Among the many examples:
** The last independent Prince of Meara negotiated a marriage between his eldest daughter and the Haldane king of Gwynedd, in hopes that his principality would be protected from rivals. Others among his nobility (including his wife) valued Meara's independence more than any hoped-for security, and decades of intermittent rebellion followed. Kelson attempted to solve this problem by "marrying Meara" with disastrous results; he later arranged two other marriages with descendants of the old Mearan royal line with better success.
** Kelson is also said to have arranged a pair of marriages between members of his family and those of the Torenthi royal family. The ''Codex'' notes that Liam-Lajos and his sister marry a couple of Kelson's near relatives. This seems to be part of his long-term plan to resolve the long-standing conflict between Gwynedd and Torenth.
** King Donal Haldane himself twice married princesses from neighboring kingdoms, and he arranged the marriage of Alyce de Corwyn with Kenneth Morgan. Kenneth was loyal to Donal and "a safe pair of hands" to protect the wealthy and strategically-placed Duchy of Corwyn. Alyce herself knew and understood the king would decide her choice of husband, especially after deaths in the ducal family line left her the only heir. That said, [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage the marriage did become a love match]].
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Around the end of ''Literature/{{Battle Ground|2020}}'', Mab decides that in light of the instability in the supernatural world following the Fomor invasion of Chicago, the Winter and White Courts will solidify their alliance by having [[spoiler:Harry and Lara]] get married. She initially wants to do this immediately after making the announcement, but after [[EveryoneHasStandards everyone protests]], she agrees to wait a year in order to give the couple in question time to mourn their losses and properly court.
* The YA historical {{dramatization}} ''Literature/TheEdgeOnTheSword'' deals with UsefulNotes/{{Aethelflaed}}, the daughter of King UsefulNotes/AlfredTheGreat of Wessex, journeying to Mercia for an alliance marriage with King Aethelred at the age of fifteen. In the book, a Danish warlord who refused to lay down arms and convert to Christianity after Alfred's coalition defeated them tries to kill her to foil the match.
* In ''Literature/TheFiresStone'', Chandra and Darvish's marriage is arranged to ally their two countries and conveniently spirit Darvish away from his loving populace at home.
* In ''Literature/TheGoblinEmperor'' by Creator/KatherineAddison, the protagonist decides to marry [[spoiler:Csethiro Ceredin]] because his father insulted her family by divorcing a relative of hers, and it is diplomatically desirable to make amends for that.
* ''Literature/TheGuardian'' by Creator/AngusWells goes five for five here: ''all'' the marriages existing or spoken of in the novel are at least partly political in nature.
** Gailard, one of the trio of protagonists, is a RebelPrince of a [[BarbarianHero Highlander]] tribe who ran away to join Chaldor's army rather than marry Rytha, a princess of another clan. He didn't hate her, but he didn't love her either. His father retaliated by exiling him on pain of death, and Gailard's brother took Rytha in UnholyMatrimony instead (which had the same result politically).
** King Andur of Chaldor is married to Ryadne, the daughter of the chief of the Dur, another Highlander clan. Their marriage appears to be partially a love match (at the least, Ryadne respects Andur), but the fact that it gained Chaldor the loyalty of the Dur isn't lost on anyone.
** Talan Kedassian, the EvilOverlord of Danant, spends most of the book hunting Gailard and his ward Princess Ellyn of Chaldor (Andur and Ryadne's daughter) in hopes of either marrying her to legitimize his conquest of Chaldor, or killing her to end the royal line, a source of rebellion.
** For her part, Ellyn [[spoiler:falls in love with and marries Roark, the prince of yet ''another'' Highlander clan. It's mentioned in the epilogue that this more or less makes the Highlanders part of Chaldor for good and that they were always part of Ellyn's royal guard.]]
** Meanwhile in a variant, Kerid, a Chaldorian riverboat captain, starts sleeping with the Mother of [[WretchedHive Hel's Town]] in order to gain her support for his campaign of piracy against Danant's shipping. [[spoiler:They appear to have fallen in love by the end of the book.]]
* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'':
** Queen Selenay's first marriage is to Prince Karathanelan of Rethwellen, cementing Valdemar's longstanding alliance with its southern neighbor. Unfortunately, Thanel turns out to be TheEvilPrince who shortly attempts to [[TheUsurper usurp the throne for himself]] and is killed by Selenay's bodyguards. Their daughter Elspeth grows up with her father's crimes hanging over her head. Later, however, Selenay falls in LoveAtFirstSight with Prince Darenthallis of Rethwellen, Thanel's brother, so that works out.
** Princess Elspeth herself is resigned to a political marriage as part of her duties as Heir... until she thinks about the neighboring kingdoms and realizes that all are either in stable alliances or are Valdemar's enemies, and none really have good candidates for her anyway. Her eventual love-match with Darkwind does help establish a new alliance with the [[MagicalNativeAmerican Hawkbrothers]], but only informally, as she [[AbdicateTheThrone abdicates as Heir]] to focus on combat magic, and the Hawkbrothers don't have a hereditary authority anyway.
** Runs all the way through the ''Last Herald-Mage'' trilogy, especially in the last book where an elopement between the Heir and his lovebond causes political turmoil. The Heir has to explain that, yes, he's thought this through and there aren't likely to be any good candidates for an alliance marriage for a while. Further, Vanyel fathers a SecretLegacy with the consort of King Randale because no one will make an alliance marriage with a king who appears to be impotent (as Randale was).
** The reasons and political maneuvering behind the various forms of ArrangedMarriage among the nobility are a theme of ''Closer to Home''. Near the end of the book, two FeudingFamilies are [[BureaucraticallyArrangedMarriage ordered by the Crown]] to resolve their differences with a marriage of their heirs, only son to oldest daughter. When the son seduces the youngest daughter and [[spoiler:dies in an attempt to murder everyone else]], the [[spoiler:survivors]] put aside their fighting and pledge to attempt to find other, better matches for marriage.
* In ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'', two of King Souma's marriages (Liscia and Roroa) were for explicitly political purposes. The other three, while not politically motivated, incidentally serve good political purposes.
* In ''Literature/ThatIrresistiblePoison'' by AlessandraHazard, Seyn and Ksar will be married for political reasons.
* ''Literature/TheKharkanasTrilogy'': Although both {{Arranged Marriage}}s and love marriages occur among the nobility of Kurald Galain, the entire plot of the trilogy basically hinges on the nobility's wish for one particular ArrangedMarriage to happen, namely one between the reigning queen and [[PhysicalGod living goddess]] known as Mother Dark and the commoner's war hero Vatha Urusander. The latter, however, just wants his peace and Mother Dark has other amorous ambitions. This riles the nobility up so badly they split into two factions (each centered around one of the unwilling spouses-to-be) and start a civil war, creating a situation where the marriage is not only desirable but ''necessary'' to bring back peace. To add insult to injury, all of this happens before the backdrop of a culture where it's perfectly normal for nobles to marry for love.
* In the ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' series, Ysandre de la Courcel, then the Crown Princess of Terre d'Ange, was betrothed to the Cruarch of Alba as a teenager on political grounds, though it turned into a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage when the two actually met. Notably, d'Angelines generally disapprove of this trope as a violation of [[CrystalDragonJesus Blessed Elua's]] commandment to "Love as thou wilt" (though they recognize its occasional necessity), and d'Angeline law requires the consent of those taking part in the marriage in order for a non-love match to go forward. (For context, this is a country that [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil considers rape a form of heresy]].)
* ''LightNovel/LevelOneStrongestSage'' has the crown princess of Alheim, Leyfa, asked by her father to marry a very, very powerful individual to prevent war and bloodshed. She was resigned to this fate since she was old enough to walk and talk. [[spoiler:Fortunately, her future husband turns out to be the sweet and sensitive Haruto, who is not only a classmate but treats her kindly like an equal. Which is a much better fate than she was initially expecting considering her home country's strained relations with a nearby human empire that isn't so well regarded.]]
* Mob boss Mario Vella from ''Literature/NakedCameTheStranger'' married Donna Marie to cement the alliance between his organization and that of her father, Septimo Caggiano.
* In the ''Literature/IslandInTheSeaOfTimeSeries'', the Republic of Nantucket reluctantly allows Kathryn Hollard to marry King Kashtiliash of Babylonia and her brother Kyle to marry Princess Raupasha of Mitanni, in order to create ties between their republic and those two nations.
* In ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'', the ailing King and Queen of Florin want to marry Prince Humperdinck to the Princess of Guilder to forge an alliance between the two rival countries. Humperdinck breaks off the engagement when it turns out during a banquet that his fiancée is congenitally bald, and comments that he'd always planned to just conquer Guilder instead. He then arranges his own match with the beautiful commoner Buttercup to curry favor with the citizenry so that he can then frame Guilder for assassinating her to create a PretextForWar. (It's implied that murdering Buttercup isn't originally his intention -- he wants to be married to the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman, which is what she is, and the offer of marriage is initially genuine. However, sometime during the three years she spends attending royalty school to become a princess, he conceives of the plot to frame Guilder.)
* ''Literature/TheQueensThief''
** Eddis has a potential marriage to Sounis hanging over her head. The first book is about the magus (Sounis' smartest advisor) trying to obtain a sacred artifact that would force her into it and dragooning Gen, the protagonist, into the scheme. [[spoiler:Even after Gen--actually her ''cousin'', who got himself in the position to get dragooned on purpose--foils the plan, Eddis often has to reflect that she may have to anyway for the stability of the region.]]
** This is how Gen plots to end the war between Eddis and and the Queen of Attolia: [[spoiler:become ''King'' of Attolia. However, it's a subversion--he doesn't marry her to become king, he becomes king to ''marry her''. Eddis privately tells Attolia that they could hammer out a treaty without the marriage if Attolia doesn't want it, but Attolia realizes that Eugenides is actually someone she could love back]].
* Occurs twice in the ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings'' series by Creator/RobinHobb; in both cases, a Farseer prince was engaged to a foreign princess to secure an alliance and the couple ended up falling in love. The second one ended quite well, the first one less so.
* ''Literature/{{Safehold}}'', ''By Schism Rent Asunder'':
** King Cayleb of Charis marries Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm in what was originally a cold-blooded political move to unite their kingdoms. When they finally meet, it is LoveAtFirstSight.
** Prince Nahrmahn of Emerald and his wife Princess Ohlyvya were betrothed at a young age and eventually ended up falling in love, much to their mutual surprise. (And benefit, as the practically-minded Ohlyvya tempers some of Nahrmahn's... more volatile characteristics.)
** Done deliberately with Irys and Hektor. [[EveryoneCanSeeIt They clearly like each other]], but both are unwilling to make a move due to the circumstances. Sharleyan decides to deal with it by making their arranged marriage a condition of the peace treaty between Charis and Corisande.
** Played with regarding Cayleb and Sharleyan's daughter, Alahnah. By the time she's of age to consider marriage, the Empire of Charis is well established and most of its member nations are already bound by marriages or oaths of fealty. As a result, she has a lot more freedom to choose who she marries and ultimately chooses [[spoiler:Lywys Whytmyn, a Dohlaran and grandson of the Earl of Thirsk]], though they initially need to keep their relationship a secret. The main reason for this secrecy is because their marriage will be inevitably result in closer ties between [[spoiler:Dohlar and Charis]], and that threatens to disrupt the already fragile alliance between [[spoiler:Charis and Dohlar's traditional arch-rival, Siddarmark.]]
** Like Alahnah, Daivyn Daikyn, Prince of Corisande, doesn't have any special need to marry for diplomacy's sake, as his sister is already married to Cayleb and Sharleyan's stepson. However, he ends up making such a match anyway when he enters into a ChildhoodFriendRomance with Francheska Chermyn, daughter of the Grand Duke of Zebediah. Zebediah as a nation hated Daivyn's father and, by association, Daivyn himself, so a proper courtship between the two eases a lot of ruffled feathers on the Zebediahan side.
* In the backstory of ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' Queen Quallandra tried this on [[EvilOverlord Dayless the Conqueror]], but didn't exactly get the result she wanted: he seduced her, [[ILied changed his mind]] about going through with the marriage, and revealed the affair to damage her standing among her people before [[TakeOverTheWorld conquering her country]].
* ''Literature/SingTheFourQuarters'':
** In the {{backstory}}, then-Crown Prince Theron wanted to marry off his younger sister Princess Annice to the heir of neighboring Cemandia, but she managed to get their father King Maric to let her join the MagicMusic bards on his deathbed instead. Theron reacted by ordering Annice to relinquish any claim to the succession and banning her on pain of death from having children. This is the source of their current estrangement. [[spoiler:We learn later that Annice's gift for bardic Singing would have been fatal in Cemandia, which considers [[ElementalEmbodiment the kigh]] to be unholy.]]
** One of Annice's sisters is in a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage with a Shkoder duc. Their nuptials were intended to bind the duc's line closer to the royal family, but it ended up as a love match.
* This is the default expectation for marriages among the nobility in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', to the point where it's considered an oddity that King Aegon "Egg" Targaryen in the backstory [[AvertedTrope allowed all of his children to marry for love]] (with [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome both short-term and long-term consequences]]). Specific examples from the main story:
** Catelyn Tully of Riverrun was betrothed to Brandon, the heir-apparent of House Stark. Brandon was executed by Mad King Aerys in the miscarriage of justice that caused the eruption of Robert's Rebellion, making the alliance all the more necessary, so Catelyn had to SettleForSibling with Brandon's younger brother (and new Lord of Winterfell) Eddard, which luckily turned out to be a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.
** At the same time, Catelyn's younger sister Lysa was married to Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon's foster father, Jon Arryn of the Vale. This was mutually very politically beneficial: Arryn was already elderly and had been married and widowed twice without producing living children and his heir had been his nephew Elbert, who was also executed by Aerys, so he badly needed a young and fertile wife to provide an heir; Lysa [[spoiler:was known to be fertile, having already been pregnant with foster brother Petyr Baelish's bastard before being forced to abort the child]], so the Tullys got to [[spoiler:marry off a "[[DefiledForever soiled]]" daughter for whom it otherwise would have been difficult to arrange a match]]. Unfortunately, their marriage wound up less perfectly arranged.
** Robert Baratheon, heir-apparent to Storm's End and House Baratheon, had been betrothed to Brandon and Eddard's sister Lyanna Stark so as to ally the Stormlands with the North, the Riverlands and the Vale. Lyanna died before the match could be consummated and left no other female Stark of a proper age for Robert to marry, but the alliance continued. This is because [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage Robert was absolutely in love with Lyanna]], even after her death, though it's unknown whether the feelings were reciprocated.
** After the war that put him on the throne, now-King Robert Baratheon married Cersei Lannister, the daughter of a rich and powerful family, on the advice of his foster father Jon Arryn. The Lannisters were a late addition to the alliance that put Robert on the throne, and the hope was that this would cement their loyalty. The Lannisters, for their part, are only too willing to milk the match for political influence. The only person who is truly happy with this marriage is Cersei's father Tywin, and neither Cersei nor Robert has ever forgiven the other for not being someone else (Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, respectively.)
** Much later, Robert attempts once again to formally ally Baratheon with Stark by formally betrothing his eldest "son" Joffrey to Eddard's eldest daughter Sansa, and informally implying that younger siblings Tommen "Baratheon" and Arya Stark and Myrcella "Baratheon" and Bran Stark might someday be betrothed as well. This is largely to sweeten his offer to name Eddard Stark his new Hand of the King following Jon Arryn's death and have him do the hard work of ruling the realm.
** Across the Narrow Sea, the exiled Viserys Targaryen marries his sister Daenerys to Khal Drogo of the Dothraki in exchange for the use of Drogo's barbarian horde in retaking the Seven Kingdoms. His reward is meant to be assistance in securing a golden crown, but when his constant demands that Drogo hold up his end of the bargain and invade the Seven Kingdoms become threats to the lives of Daenerys and her unborn child, the Khal gives him [[spoiler:a molten crown instead]].
** Daenerys tries again later with Hizdahr zo Loraq in Meereen. He fares better than his show counterpart in survival if not romance, but he's implied to be involved with the Sons of the Harpy and it isn't likely to end well for him.
** In the early days of the War of the Five Kings, King Robert's younger brother Renly, Lord of Storm's End, marries Margaery Tyrell to secure the wealthy and powerful Tyrell family's support in pressing his claim to the throne. Margaery is only TheBeard; it is an OpenSecret that Renly is already quite literally in bed with the Tyrells in the person of [[HoYay Margaery's brother Loras]]. In fact, Renly had originally hoped to convince Robert to set Cersei aside and marry Margaery, only marrying her himself after Robert dies prematurely.
** Renly's well-known [[HoYay proclivities]] mean that after his [[spoiler:death]], Margaery could be remarried to Joffrey [[spoiler:and, later, Tommen]] "Baratheon" as part of the Tyrells' shift of allegiance to the Lannisters.
** Around this same time, Myrcella "Baratheon" is engaged to Prince Trystane Martell of Dorne in order to keep Dorne allied with the crown. Although they are both still pre-pubescent, they appear to enjoy each other's company.
** {{Subverted}} by Stannis Baratheon; it's never mentioned what the original political advantage of his marriage to Selyse Florent was, but during the War of the Five Kings it doesn't even get him the support of her entire House, many of whom stay loyal to their liege lords the Tyrells.
** Stannis's first Hand of the King, Alester Florent, plots to betroth Stannis's daughter and heir Shireen Baratheon to her "cousin" Tommen in exchange for peace with the Lannisters. Stannis executes him for treason instead.
** Walder Frey, lord of the Twins, a strategic river crossing, agrees to join King in the North Robb Stark's rebellion against the Iron Throne in exchange for betrothing Robb to a daughter or granddaughter (Frey [[ReallyGetsAround has plenty]]) of Robb's choosing and Robb's sister Arya to his youngest son Elmar, among other concessions. The alliance is broken when Robb breaks his betrothal in order to MarryForLove, or [[HonorBeforeReason honor]] as the case may be (he has a [[SexForSolace one-night stand]] with Jeyne Westerling and is unwilling to stain the girl's honor by setting her aside). It is renewed when Robb's bannerman and uncle Edmure Tully agrees to marry Frey's daughter Roslin [[spoiler:...except not really; the wedding is real but also a pretext to lure Robb and his followers to the Twins, where they are slaughtered; Edmure is being kept alive until such time as he and Roslin produce a son who will be heir to Riverrun]].
** Tyrion Lannister is arranged to marry [[spoiler:Sansa Stark]] so that he will produce a Lannister heir who would have a claim to Winterfell. Tyrion, to his credit, sees that the pre-teen Sansa is not ready, and refuses to consummate the marriage.
** Arianne Martell is afraid her father Prince Doran is trying to force her into this with someone old and abhorrent since he has yet to present her with a match she approves. He reveals only after she has plotted to rebel against his interests that he was giving her poor choices as a stalling tactic--he actually wanted to marry her to [[spoiler:Viserys Targaryen and support the return of the old regime, and after Viserys's death he sent her brother Quentyn to Essos to attempt the same alliance with Daenerys instead]]. Unfortunately, that doesn't work out so well for them either.
** The Boltons attempt this without even having the right person--they tell everyone the poor girl Ramsay is marrying is Arya Stark, when in fact it's [[spoiler:Jeyne Poole ([[OneSteveLimit not to confused with Jeyne Westerling]])]]. By this point, everyone in Winterfell who would have known the difference is dead or brainwashed.
** Dorne is the only kingdom (well, principality) in Westeros which was not subjugated by the Targaryens through military strength. Instead, King Daeron II gave his sister, Princess Daenerys Targaryen ([[OneSteveLimit not the present-day one]]), in marriage to Prince Maron Martell of Dorne, while he himself married Maron's sister, Princess Myriah, uniting the two polities.
** In the distant past, the Targaryens used to have a sort of political marriage pact with the Velaryons, a fellow descendant of Valyrians in Westeros (but not dragonlords, although some were able to ride dragons because they had a Targaryen parent). After the Targaryens pissed off the Velaryons by rejecting Laenor Valeryon's candidacy to the Iron Throne (he was grandson of the firstborn son of then-King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, so technically he preceded all potential heirs born by his younger children), they appeased them by marrying him off to Rhaenyra, daughter of the chosen heir-turned-king Viserys I, even though [[StraightGay Laenor was gay]], while [[KissingCousins Rhaenyra loved her uncle Daemon more]]. They ostensibly conceived three sons, but it's rumored that they were actually fathered by Rhaenyra's paramour Ser Harwin Strong. Nevertheless, this enabled Rhaenyra to secure much-needed assistance from the Velaryons during the Dance of the Dragons.
* Irina's story in ''Literature/SpinningSilver'' revolves around this. She is aware that she's probably going to be married to someone she dislikes because she's too plain and her dowry is too small to attract anyone good, and father views giving her to a troublesome and unpleasant husband no differently than the troublesome and unpleasant battles he fought to become duke. In fact, she winds up as ''tsarina'' of the acerbic and demon-possessed tsar. Once she gets the upper hand in the marriage, she immediately sets about becoming a matchmaker herself in order to both prevent civil war and deal with the threat of [[TheFairFolk the Staryk]] and their EndlessWinter.
* The ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' ExpandedUniverse novel ''[=StarCraft=] Ghost: Nova'' establishes that members of upper-class families on Tarsonis invariably marry for political reasons, and often only have children with each other by artificial insemination. It's an accepted fact that the husband will have a long-term mistress and the wife a [[DistaffCounterpart jig]], both of whom are viewed as essential to the harmony of the household.
* The ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' novel ''Literature/TheCourtshipOfPrincessLeia'' has the New Republic trying to convince the Hapes Consortium, a mid-tier power that managed to remain independent of Palpatine's Empire, to form an alliance with them against the remaining [[TheRemnant Imperial Remnant]] forces. The Hapans try to seal the deal by marrying Crown Prince Isolder to Princess Leia, who of course has been in a relationship with Han Solo since ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. This conflict drives the A-plot, though the outcome is a ForegoneConclusion since the earlier-published ''[[Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy Thrawn Trilogy]]'' showed Han and Leia married and expecting twins. [[spoiler:As for Isolder, he marries a Force adept from Dathomir and forces the Hapan Queen Mother to abdicate so he can unilaterally have Hapes join the Republic.]]
* In Creator/TamoraPierce's medieval fantasy ''Literature/TortallUniverse'':
** ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'': Prince Jonathan is slated to marry a princess from the Copper Isles in whom he has little interest. Fortunately for him, she goes (literally) AxeCrazy and takes herself out of the running, freeing him up to make a love match with the newly arrived Princess-in-exile Thayet of Sarain.
** ''Literature/TheImmortals'': Part of the reason the negotiations between the Carthaki Empire and the Tortallan delegation in ''Emperor Mage'' go sour because Emperor Ozorne tries to secure a marriage between his nephew Prince Kaddar and the Tortallan Princess Kalasin, who's only ten years old at the time. King Jonathan and Queen Thayet ''do'' expect her to marry for the benefit of Tortall, but are averse to arranging such a match before their daughter could be reasonably expected to have any marital preferences. [[spoiler:Kaddar and Kalasin actually do get married eventually, but only after Ozorne is dead, Kalasin is older, and Kaddar is running the country on his own terms]].
** ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'': Kalasin's brother Roald, the crown prince of Tortall, is engaged to a minor Yamani princess in the first book, a marriage negotiated by protagonist Kel's diplomat parents. In the second book, Princess Chisakami dies in an earthquake before even meeting her intended, and the marriage has to be renegotiated from scratch. Much of the third book deals with the arrival of the ''new'' Yamani princess and her delegation. Kel notes that Princess Shinkokami is of a much higher rank than Princess Chisakami was, which means that the Yamanis must be placing a lot of importance on their alliance with the Tortallans.
** ''Literature/TrickstersDuet'': This duology about a carefully orchestrated rebellion spends quite a bit more time on alliances among the nobility than Pierce's other books. Princess Sarai Balitang of the Copper Isles carries the blood of the old raka monarchs as well as the white luarin conquerors currently ruling the country and is believed to be the prophesied "Twice-Royal" queen who will restore the raka to glory. Reacting to her growing popularity with the public, the iron-fisted regents begin pressuring her into a marriage with the five-year-old [[AChildShallLeadThem boy-king]] (who is also [[KissingCousins her cousin]]). Sarai, [[LockedOutOfTheLoop completely unaware]] of the rebellion brewing on her behalf, doesn't see any way out of the marriage and decides to elope to Carthak. The conspiracy is suddenly without a figurehead. [[spoiler:Lucky thing she has a little sister, isn't it?]]
* The AlternateHistory novel ''Literature/TriumphOfATsar'' has several, as expected for royalty:
** Tsar Alexei marries [[ChildhoodFriendRomance his childhood friend]] Princess Ileana of Romania for love, but likely wouldn't have been able to do so if she hadn't been an Orthodox princess who also provided an alliance with Romania. Fortunately, the only woman he wants to marry is also a perfectly acceptable bride from a political and dynastic perspective.
** Alexei's sisters, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Anastasia, all marry to diplomatic advantage, as is expected of them, but they do also love their husbands and would not have been forced to marry without affection.
* ''Franchise/TheWitcher'':
** In "A Question of Price", the fifth ShortStory in ''Literature/TheLastWish'', Queen Calanthe of Cintra wants to ensure a good political marriage for her daughter Princess Pavetta, and entertains suitors at Pavetta's fifteenth birthday celebration. She specifically wants Pavetta to marry into the royal house of the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Viking-like]] Skellige Islands to make Cintra a less attractive target for Skellige pirates, and contracts Geralt of Rivia to help ensure Pavetta [[ExactWords a good marriage]]. [[spoiler:In the end, Pavetta is in a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage with Duny, a lord formerly under ForcedTransformation to whom Calanthe's deceased husband had promised Pavetta [[IOweYouMyLife in exchange for saving his life]], while Calanthe herself ends up in a love match with Eist Tuirseach, a knight of Skellige with whom it's implied she was having a covert affair offscreen.]]
** In ''Literature/BloodOfElves'' Emhyr var Emreis, the Emperor of Nilfgaard, is hunting Pavetta's daughter and Geralt's ward Ciri in hopes of taking her as a wife to legitimize his conquest of Cintra. At least, that's what the rulers of the Northern Kingdoms think, [[spoiler:and they plan to have her assassinated or married off in order to foil it]]. [[spoiler:In ''Literature/LadyOfTheLake'' Geralt discovers that Duny was an alias: Ciri is Emhyr's ''daughter'' after he ended up on the wrong side of a power struggle in Nilfgaard's court, got cursed, and fled for his life.]]
* In the ''Literature/TalesOfTheOtori'' sequel ''The Harsh Cry of the Heron'', after [[spoiler:Takeo's death]], General Saga offers Takeo's daughter Shigeko a marriage proposal to forge peace between their respective nations, which she counters with the stipulation that they be equals as a RulingCouple. [[spoiler:He accepts, not least because she already [[EyeScream shot out his eye]] from across a battlefield and routed his army.]]
* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}'', this trope is the reason that Duke Leto has not married Lady Jessica (she is technically his concubine), even though they have a son and have been exclusively with each other for over 15 years. Leto has to stay unmarried so that other houses will cozy up to House Atreides, hoping for a marriage pact. Slightly played with, as all the other houses are perfectly aware that Leto has no intention of marrying anyone else, but as long as he is technically single, they have to behave as if he ''were'' available.
* The ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' light novel ''LightNovel/GaaraHidenASandstormMirage'' reveals that the marriage between [[spoiler:Shikamaru and Temari]] has spades of this. While they’re mainly getting married out of love, their marriage has political implications, as the people involved are [[spoiler:the Fourth Kazekage's daughter and a Hokage's advisor (who also happens to be a clan head)]].
* In ''Literature/TheKingstonCycle'' by C.L. Polk, this is the default for marriage among the noble houses of Aeland; [[DefectorFromDecadence Avia]] and [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Grace]] commiserate over having formerly been "engaged to a corporation" and to a parliamentary voting bloc, respectively. {{Defied|Trope}} when [[spoiler:Grace refuses to marry the new King to her [[ArchnemesisDad father's]] horror, promising to remain his HonestAdvisor instead.]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* In one second-season episode of ''Series/{{Andromeda}}'', the ''Andromeda Ascendant'' crew gets a job to ferry a princess of one Nietzschean pride to her wedding to the king of another, which will ally the two prides. [[spoiler:Dylan Hunt discovers her real job is to kill her bridegroom but manipulates the situation to pit both prides against one of his enemies, the much larger Drago-Kazof pride, forcing the alliance to go through. Oh, and [[GirlOfTheWeek he bangs her on the way there]], too.]]
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** The Centauri, with their system of noble houses, often use marriage as a political tool. Londo has three wives ([[spoiler:at first]]), all arranged for him. This has led to some rather cynical views on marriage, with weddings being solemn affairs rather than joyous ones. It's also mentioned that Londo was forced by his father to divorce his first wife, a lower-class dancer he took a fancy to.
** Outright defied in one episode where a pair of Centauri youth run away after their families arrange marriages for them, one to the ugliest woman on Centauri Prime, and the other to a man old enough to be her grandfather, but they would much rather marry each other. Londo at first encourages them to go through with it for the good of the Centauri Republic but eventually realizes that doing so would cause them to become like him, after which he arranges a way to get them out of it without disgracing their houses.
** Minbari have a custom dating back to the days when they [[ApeShallNeverKillApe actually made war on each other]] where the winning side would offer a daughter in marriage to the side that had suffered the most casualties as a symbol of life. [[spoiler:Delenn's family decides to pass off her marriage to Sheridan as this rather than have her go public about the fact that [[UnevenHybrid she and many other Minbari are descended from Valen (i.e. Jeffrey Sinclair) and have been partially human the whole time]].]]
* ''Series/{{Blackadder}}'': In [[Recap/BlackadderS1E4TheQueenOfSpainsBeard "The Queen of Spain's Beard"]] Edmund is first betrothed to the Spanish Infanta and later is married off to a princess of Hungary[[note]]who is only eight years old[[/note]] because of his father King Richard IV's political machinations. Edmund is chosen to go through with this as his older brother Harry is already engaged to about half a dozen princesses (and one prince) from across Europe, almost certainly also arranged for political reasons.
* In the ''[[Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire Game of Thrones]]'' universe, many marriages are political in nature among the noble families, which is unsurprising given the intricate politics in the setting, with every side making plans within plans within plans. Of course, we know what they say about the best-laid plans... Features most of the same examples as the books, in addition to several new ones.
** ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
*** Walder Frey's castle is built on a strategically important bridge, and Robb Stark is promised to marry a Frey girl to take his rebel army across and have the Frey's join his rebellion; when he abandons the promise to MarryForLove (rather than for honor as in the books), things don't end well.
*** Danaerys declares she will marry [[spoiler:Hizdahr zo Loraq]] in an attempt to bring peace to Meereen, as in the book, but things go a little differently from there. [[spoiler:There are hints it might have worked--and Danaerys may even have grown to like him--but the Sons of the Harpy kill him during his first major public appearance as consort.]]
*** In a large diversion from the book canon, [[spoiler:Sansa Stark, rather than Jeyne Poole disguised as Arya Stark, is the one who is married to spoiler:Ramsay Bolton]], which is political on both sides -- [[spoiler:to give the Boltons' rule in Winterfell legitimacy and to allow her to go home to the North. Ramsay's still as much of a monster as in the novels, so she ends up killing him]].
*** Myrcella Baratheon (Cersei's daughter and the king's sister) is sent to Dorne to marry Prince Trystane Martell and cement an alliance with that house; they end up [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage genuinely falling in love]]. [[spoiler:Too bad a substantial faction in Dorne doesn't care for the marriage...]]
*** Catelyn Tully of Riverrun was betrothed to Brandon Stark of Winterfell, but Brandon's death at the outset of Robert's Rebellion only made the alliance more necessary so Catelyn had to SettleForSibling with Brandon's brother Ned, which luckily turned out to be an almost PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.
*** At the same time, Catelyn's sister Lysa was married to Ned's foster father Jon Arryn of the Vale, which turned out much less happily given her involvement in [[spoiler:poisoning her husband]].
*** Robert Baratheon of Storm's End was betrothed to Lyanna Stark of Winterfell, whose abduction by Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen helped spark Robert's Rebellion, but after Lyanna's death, Robert married Cersei Lannister, the daughter of the wealthy and powerful Lord Tywin, whose support was essential in maintaining control of the realm.
*** Sansa Stark is formally betrothed to Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon to formalize the Baratheon-Stark alliance founded on their fathers' boyhood friendship.
*** The exiled "King" Viserys III Targaryen marries his sister Daenerys to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo in exchange for the assistance of Drogo's horde in retaking the Seven Kingdoms. Conflict arises because the Dothraki don't have quite the same understanding of this trope as the Westerosi. Drogo views his new bride as a gift, and he plans to give his brother-in-law a gift in return... eventually. Viserys views the horde as already rightfully his, but his demands are a breach of the Dothraki's culture of reciprocity, and he eventually threatens the lives of Daenerys and her unborn son, for which Drogo kills him by giving him a "golden crown" of molten gold.
*** Renly Baratheon of the Stormlands marries Margaery Tyrell of the Reach to secure her wealthy and powerful family's support for his claim to the throne. However, Margaery is only TheBeard, since Renly is already literally in bed with the Tyrells via Margaery's brother Loras. Later, Margaery is remarried to King Joffrey Baratheon and after that to his brother King Tommen to formalize and reward the Tyrells' shift of allegiance. [[spoiler:But when Margaery and Tommen's marriage turns out to be ''too'' good and she proves to have an influence on him, Tommen's mother Cersei has her and several other people killed]].
** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'':
*** After Aegon's birth, Otto Hightower advises Viserys to marry him off to Rhaenyra, which will resolve questions regarding the idea of a woman ascending to the Iron Throne, as it will still allow Rhaenyra to eventually become queen, albeit as a consort to a male monarch. Of course, this will also make Otto the grandfather of a king who will be governed by a regent for many years, [[TheManBehindTheMan which is what he actually desires]]. Viserys rejects this, not because of their kinship but because Aegon is only two years old at the time.
*** Rhaenyra is married off to Laenor as a way for the Targaryens to mend fences with the Velaryons, whose previous proposal for King Viserys to marry Laena was spurned off. Both agree to an open marriage, and, despite their IncompatibleOrientation, seem to hold no ill will against each other even ten years later.
*** Rhaenyra suggests for her eldest son, Jacaerys, to marry Alicent's daughter, Helaena, which, had it been acceded, would have prevented the Dance of the Dragons from happening down the line. However, Alicent rejects this because of Jacaerys' clearly illegitimate parentage and Rhaenyra's refusal to acknowledge it.
*** Following the above, Rhaenyra then proposes the betrothal of Jacaerys and Lucerys to their stepsisters, Baela and Rhaena. Although Lucerys is the heir apparent of Driftmark, his claim has been challenged by Vaemond Velaryon. Rhaenyra knows that the Velaryons are more open to the idea of the twins -- who are undisputed Velaryon children compared to Lucerys -- succeeding the Driftwood Throne, and she knows that Rhaenys clearly favors them over her "Velaryon" grandsons. Marrying them off will bring the Velaryons to her camp and give an air of legitimacy to Luke becoming the eventual Lord of Driftmark.
*** After Aegon is declared king, the Greens immediately dispatch Aemond to Storm's End to propose the betrothal between him and Floris Baratheon, one of Lord Borros' daughters. When Lucerys arrives later, he cannot give a better deal because of his betrothal to Rhaena Targaryen, causing Borros to cast aside his late father's fealty to Rhaenyra and side with the Greens.
* ''Series/TheGlamorousImperialConcubine'': Fu Ya's father arranges a marriage between her and Lian Cheng to get Northern Han's support. After the usurpation Lian Cheng marries Xiang Yun instead.
* ''Series/GoodbyeMyPrincess'': The series starts with Xiao Feng's father arranging a marriage between her and a prince of the Li Dynasty to improve the relationship between Xizhou and the Li Dynasty.
* ''Series/TheKingsWoman'': Min Dai arranged her marriage to Ying Zheng so she can help her homeland.
* The host of ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'' summed up this trope as, "We shall now commemorate the signing of this treaty by having our children fuck."
* ''Series/LostLoveInTimes'': Duo Xia comes to Great Wei to marry one of its princes because her father needs allies to fend off an enemy kingdom.
* ''Series/MarieAntoinette2022'': Happens to the [[UsefulNotes/MarieAntoinette eponymous character]] per history.
* ''Series/{{Napoleon}}'': Napoleon marries an Austrian princess, Marie-Louise of Habsburg, after forcing their Emperor to sue for peace. This is played for humor during their first in-person meeting when Napoleon watches a plain-looking girl exiting a horse carriage, much to his disappointment, before a much prettier-looking young woman (Marie-Louise) exits after her handmaid.
* ''Series/TheOutpost'': Tobin is forced to marry a childhood friend in order to gain access to her army, so he can use it to free the outpost from the Blackbloods. While this makes him ineligible to marry Rosmund, he accepts that her freedom and safety is more important than their shared happiness.
* ''Series/PrincessSilver'':
** A marriage is arranged between Rong Le and Wu You to strengthen ties between their kingdoms.
** Zhao Yun wants to marry Wu Yu, but she has to marry Ning Qian Yi so Northern Lin will form an alliance with Chen.
* ''Series/TheRiseOfPhoenixes'': This is why the emperor agrees to the marriage between [[spoiler: Zhi Wei]] and Helian Zheng.
* ''Series/RuyisRoyalLoveInThePalace'':
** Yuyan is Korean and was married to Hongli for diplomatic reasons.
** Hengchuo goes through this twice. First she's married to Khan Dorza of the Dzungar Khanate. Then her husband is murdered by Khan Dawachi, who seizes his throne and makes Hongli agree to make Hengchuo marry him.
* The early ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E3Emancipation Emancipation]]" has Abu attempt to trade Samantha Carter to a rival [[SpaceRomans Space Mongol]] chieftain, Turghan, in exchange for being able to marry Turghan's daughter Nya. Turghan refuses, as he plans to marry her to another chieftain to secure that chieftain's allegiance. Carter is not amused at any aspect of the situation.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E13ElaanOfTroyius Elaan of Troyius]]" is about an attempt to make peace between two feuding Federation member planets by marrying the dohlman (princess) of one planet to the ruler of the other. The ''Enterprise'' is given the mission of transporting her, which is complicated by her arrogant and demanding manner. [[spoiler:And her stabbing the ambassador sent to teach her civilized manners.]]
** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E21ThePerfectMate The Perfect Mate]]" has the ''Enterprise'' hosting a reconciliation between two planets that have been at war for generations. As part of the pact, one side offers an empathic metamorph whose personality changes to suit the desires of whomever she bonds with. [[spoiler:She decides to bond with Picard because she "likes who [she] is when she's around him" but her empathic abilities will still allow her to play the role of TrophyWife perfectly. On the other hand, the person she was intended for is more interested in trade and other concessions than traditional ceremonies or a wife, even an exceedingly rare metamorph.]]
** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
*** The series indicates in one of the Ferengi episodes that marriages among Ferengi are primarily business deals ([[NoWomansLand ones in which the female has no input]]).
*** "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E03TheHouseOfQuark The House of Quark]]": Klingon noblewoman Grilka forces Quark, who accidentally killed her husband in a BarBrawl, into marrying her in order to prevent her House's dissolution by the death of its patriarch without an heir. [[spoiler:Eventually the High Council grants special permission for Grilka to become head of house in her own right, and she quickly divorces Quark.]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* ''Literature/TheBible'':
** A variation of this trope occurs in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 2nd Samuel chapter 3]], where Abner son of Ner makes a treaty with King David to transfer rulership of all the other tribes of Israel to David on the agreement that David's first wife Michal (who was given over to another man when David was on the run and presumed to be dead or a deserter) would be returned to him. Michal was then brought to David with her second husband following behind crying until he was told to return home.
** Most of King Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines were given to him under these circumstances. He allowed them to worship their own gods and goddesses, rather than forcing them to [[ConvertingForLove convert to Judaism]]. This was very generous of him, but [[LoveRuinsTheRealm it did eventually lead to the fracturing of the kingdom]].
** Probably the most prominent example is [[ApocalypseMaiden Queen Jezebel]], who was a Phoenician princess given to King Ahab to seal a political alliance between their two nations. Ahab also allowed her to practice her own faith and even built shrines to Baal and Asherah for her. She assumed a role as a high priestess and promoted the worship of her gods, while also being hostile to Jewish believers and prophets, leading to political instability.
** Exploited by Jacob's sons, who were angry that the prince of Shechem a) raped their little sister Dinah and b) then had the nerve to ask for her hand in marriage. They accept the marriage, on the grounds that an alliance between their burgeoning tribe and the city-state of Shechem would be advantageous to both... OnOneCondition: namely, that every male be circumcised like them. The Shechemites do this, and while the men and boys of the city are recovering, Jacob's sons go in and slaughter them, take the women and children as plunder, and rescue Dinah from the prince's tent. Jacob is not happy that they did this, however; he was worried they would start a CycleOfRevenge.
** {{Inverted}} in the Literature/BookOfEsther, though. A [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman very beautiful]] [[GuileHero and very clever]] Jewish young woman named Esther was taken as a harem concubine by King Ahasuerus of Persia, eventually becoming his favorite, and used her connection to the king to protect the Jews from a genocide instigated by his EvilChancellor Haman.
** In [[Literature/BooksOfMaccabees 1st Maccabees chapter 10]] from the apocryphal books, King Alexander, after the defeat of his rival Demetrius, made a treaty of friendship with King Ptolemy of Egypt by having him give his daughter Cleopatra to Alexander as his wife, which Ptolemy accepted. In the following chapter, however, Ptolemy had later regretted it and decided to take back his daughter and give her to Demetrius' son to make an alliance with him, thus causing a rift between himself and Alexander.
* Legend has it that one of King Nebuchadnezzar's wives was given to him under these circumstances (as princesses and noblewomen of that time and place usually were), and she was homesick. She came from [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield an unspecified kingdom in an unspecified mountainous region]], and apparently quite loved the nature scenery there. Because King Nebuchadnezzar actually loved and cared about his wife, he commissioned [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon The Hanging Gardens of Babylon]] to cheer her up.
* Some adaptations of ''Myth/RobinHood'' have shades of this, as Robin was a Saxon and Marion a Norman, a century and a half after the Norman conquest of Saxon England.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In ''Fief: France 1429'' two players can formalize an alliance by having a Lord controlled by one player marry a Lady controlled by the other player. While the alliance lasts the two players have a special joint victory condition. The alliance will be broken if one of the players successfully petitions the Pope for an annulment or one of the spouses is killed.
* In ''The Way of D'era: The Romulan Star Empire'', a Romulan supplement for ''TabletopGame/StarTrekTheNextGenerationRolePlayingGame'' by Creator/LastUnicornGames, it is stated that marriages among the Romulan political classes are often arranged this way. The participants are expected to remain faithful to each other regardless of happiness, as those who commit adultery are considered capable of treason.
* In the game lore of ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', the marriage of Hanse "The Fox" Davion, First Prince of the Federated Suns, and Melissa Steiner, daughter and heir-designate of [[IronLady Archon Katrina Steiner]] of the Lyran Commonwealth, were married to cement a political alliance between their realms. Their wedding was where the Fourth Succession War was declared, which was largely perpetrated so Hanse could get revenge against the Capellan Confederation due to their attempt to kidnap him and replace him with a body-double years earlier, but it also served to widen the spacelane bridge between the two realms by blasting their way through the holdings of the Draconis Combine and Free Worlds League. Katrina was already ordering deployments before the wedding. Thankfully, Hanse and his new hot young German consort [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage made it work]] and had five children together.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings'', political marriages are the only way to forge a non-aggression pact or formal alliance with another ruler. Independent rulers with whom you have a marriage pact with may come to your aid in war, and vassals with marriage ties to their liege cannot act against them no matter how much they hate them. Spouses with desirable traits also have a chance to pass them on to any children, requiring the player to balance sometimes conflicting priorities. (Polygamous Muslims have an advantage here, since they can marry four women and get alliances through all of their wives.) Depending on random events and PlayerCharacter focus this can also go in a couple of interesting directions, with you and your wife potentially [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage falling in love for real]], or you getting permanently branded as an adulterer for cheating on her despite the fact you hate each other's guts and [[BabyFactory only ever touched her to produce legitimate heirs]].
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':
*** A possible resolution to the Ferelden succession crisis subplot is to have the party member Alistair, the HeroicBastard son of King Maric, marry Queen Anora, the daughter of Maric's army commander Loghain mac Tir and widow of Alistair's half-brother King Cailan [[SacrificialLamb who died in battle early in the main plot]]. Fair warning, though: if a female Warden has been romancing Alistair as a female PlayerCharacter he'll [[SeductionProofMarriage break it off]].[[note]]However, taking the right dialogue option in his personal sidequest can let the Warden become TheMistress.[[/note]] Alternatively, a male human noble can marry Anora and become her Prince-Consort, while a female human noble who has romanced Alistair '''and''' played her cards right may marry Alistair instead, thus becoming the queen. (In the long run, this last option is likely a bad thing for national stability, as two Wardens together are all but infertile. In the short run, however, it's considered an extremely good thing because the people ''love'' them.) If either the Warden or Alistair executed Loghain, this option is taken off the table -- national stability or not, Anora will ''not'' marry the man who killed her father.
*** Notes found in the ''Return to Ostagar'' {{DLC}}, supported by WordOfGod, indicate King Cailan was planning to divorce Anora in favor of a political marriage to the Empress of Orlais. This fed into [[PapaWolf Loghain mac Tir]]'s CavalryBetrayal of Cailan at Ostagar: in the {{backstory}} Loghain and King Maric had fought for years to ''eject'' Orlais' occupation forces from Ferelden.
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', a female Hawke who romances Sebastian on the rivalry path while supporting the Templars can encourage him to take back his throne as Prince of Starkhaven; by supporting the Templars she gets herself named Viscountess of Kirkwall, and he'll propose this as forging an alliance the likes of which the Free Marches can only imagine.
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', several war table operations involve forging or breaking such marriages or betrothals to achieve the player's desired ends.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** Salarians, being amphibians who reproduce externally, don't have any real sex drive and with that no concept of such things as romantic love (except for the ones that hook up with asari). Reproduction rights are determined by negotiation to continue certain dynasties or alliances, for which family history is very important. A family that loses their history can become a non-entity in such negotiations, as evidenced if Shepard returns one family's history.
** To illustrate how deeply ingrained this mode of thinking is, Shepard manages to broker a turian-krogan alliance in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' and turian teammate Garrus jokingly says he hopes no one thinks of sealing the deal with a political marriage. Over in the med bay, you can find salarian scientist Mordin making the pitch to a very uninterested krogan female.
* It's mentioned in ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII's'' backstory that Arthas Menethil (crown prince of Lordaeron) and Jaina Proudmoore (the daughter of Kul Tiras' admiral and high up in the {{Magocracy}} of Dalaran)'s relationship was seen with a favorable eye by all, as this would surely bring about good relations between all nations involved. However, they drifted apart due to their duties, even before Arthas became the Lich King.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' opens with the wedding of Princess Ashe of Dalmasca and Prince Rasler of Nabradia, who are married off to unify the Dalmasca-Nabradia alliance at a time when Archadia is invading them. While they love each other, the couple don't have much time together, because Rasler falls in battle, defending a Dalmascan outpost.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' begins with PlayerCharacter Noctis, the Crown Prince of Lucis, traveling to Altissa to marry Lady Lunafreya of Tenebrae. They're childhood friends and do have feelings for each other, but the match is primarily a political one as part of the peace treaty between Lucis and the Niflheim Empire.
* ''VideoGame/{{Guenevere}}'' starts with the title character preparing for her marriage to King Arthur, arranged to provide him with an army and her father with greater power and status. The marriage happens regardless, but it's up to the player whether it's a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.
* This ''can'' be potentially done in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', [[spoiler:if a Prince/Princess of Hoshido marries a Prince/Princess of Nohr, or vice versa, during the GoldenPath. ''Even more'' if said Prince happens to be the Crown Prince, whether it's Ryoma (for Hoshido) or Xander (for Nohr). Ryoma himself lampshades it if he marries Xander's sister Camilla.]]
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', Flayn (sister of Seteth, aide to the archbishop Rhea) can potentially marry Dimitri, the Crown Prince of Faeghus. It's stated that initially the people thought the marriage was politically motivated, but eventually it became clear that they had actually [[MarryForLove married for love]].
* This shows up in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} 5'' as a special ability for Austria. Once Austria has allied themselves with a city-state for five turns, they have the option of puppetting or fully annexing it as part of their empire for a small amount of gold, with the ability's name ("Diplomatic Marriage") indicating that this trope is in effect in-universe.
* ''VideoGame/OracleOfAskigaga'': The princess of Hachisuka is [[ArrangedMarriage set by her father]] to marry the prince of Askigaga to bring peace, but [[RebelliousPrincess she doesn't like it]], wanting to personally mow down the opposing army instead.

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': The plot of the comic kicks off when King Jack of the Pastel Kingdom decides to arrange for his three daughters, Maria, Lorena and Gwendolyn, to marry the three princes of the Plaid Kingdom, to forge a strong alliance (and also partly so Jack and Plaid King Leland can be BestFriendsInLaw). The first prince, Blaine, chooses Maria, while the middle one, Lance, is paired with Lorena. For the first two couples, it’s LoveAtFirstSight. Frederick and [[FaceOfAThug Gwen]], however... not so much.
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'':
** Agatha's confirmed status as the long-lost heir to the house of Heterodyne means that not only do Gil (the heir to the Wulfenbach empire) and Tarvek (a direct descendant of the legendary Storm King) have ''romantic'' reasons to want to marry her, they have pretty compelling ''political'' motivations as well, as do other power players like Tarvek's cousin Martellus, who goes so far as to kidnap Agatha as part of his master plan to join their houses and ascend to power in Europa.
** During their take on ''Cinderella'' Agatha, playing the protagonist, points out the diplomatic opportunity cost of letting princes simply marry some random girl they meet at a ball. Later, Gil and Tarvek (sharing the prince's role) comment that if this ball scheme of theirs doesn't work they'll have to marry the mole princesses.
** Hoffmann, a student at the University of Paris, proposed one for two underground kingdoms, only to subsequently learn that as an adopted son of the Talpini Moligarchy ''he'' was the one who would marry the princess of the Arguron kingdom (after all, the [[MoleMen Talpini]] themselves aren't even human). The Arguron princess, meanwhile, is attracted to Hoffman, but thinks it's doomed because she's agreed to this political marriage...
** In the backstory, this was partially the reason for the marriage between [[TheGoodKing "The Storm King"]] Andronicus Valois and [[MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter Euphrosynia Heterodyne]], as it would end the war between Valois' Coalition of the West and the Heterodynes' conquering army. It helped that Andronicus and Euphrosynia [[HappilyArrangedMarriage genuinely liked]] each other. [[spoiler:Though he finds out the day of the wedding that he'd been manipulated and it was all a scheme, probably to erode Valois' empire from within. It's implied that Euphrosynia really did love Andronicus, but betrayed him anyway because she was still a Heterodyne, and thus wasn't going to let her feelings get in the way of mad science.]]
* ''Webcomic/MenOfTheHarem'' takes place in a fantasy world where Emperors of different empires (where almost everyone is white and not an ancient ethnicity where polygamy is normal) each have a RoyalHarem of consorts and concubines in addition to his legal wife and Empress. This trope is PlayedWith many times.
** After trying to secure his throne InItsHourOfNeed, Hyacinth is promised help by Duke La Daga, on one condition, that he marry the Duke’s daughter and make her his legal wife and Empress, meaning he must break his promise of marriage to his TrueLove.
** A common practice of diplomacy between Emperors is sending women from their native courts to become consorts or concubines in another empire’s Royal Harem. When Latil becomes the first female Emperor to have a harem of men, she makes no exception to this practice and requests someone from Hyacinth’s court to join her harem.
* ''Webcomic/NoNeedForBushido'' has this as its main plot device, and the first few pages are devoted to breaking the news to Ina, the girl (see page quote). Both Ina and Yuri (the boy) run away upon learning this, and end up getting to know and like each other without (immediately) knowing who they are to each other.
* The very first storyline of ''Webcomic/TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' is about [[StarfishAliens Ahem]] and [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe Princess Voluptua]] trying to get out of an arranged political marriage.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fancomic ''Webcomic/ATaleOfTwoRulers'' has Zelda propose this to Gannondorf in an attempt to keep Hyrule from more devastation and to break the reincarnation cycle that the two of them and Link are subjected to [[spoiler:particularly since her illegitimate daughter Rinku is Link's reincarnation this time.]]
* In the backstory of ''WebComic/TwoKinds,'' Flora, the long-lost Tiger princess, was supposed to marry Sythe, a wolf duke, to cement their two tribes alliance against the humans, who got worked up into a xenocidal frenzy by the machinations of an EvilSorceror. She was so opposed to the idea that she immediately started trying to antagonize poor Sythe when they met. She eventually ran away on the way to the wedding, ''running smack into said evil wizard, who was out to kill her to stop the alliance!'' Luckily for her, [[DeusExMachina a god]] made him into a AmnesiacHero, driving the "evil" part [[EnemyWithin under]]-[[SuperPoweredEvilSide ground]] and letting his NiceGuy original personality out to play. Thus begins the comic, with Flora and Sythe lost and the wizard waking up with a headache.
* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': When discussing the marriage that bound together the Foi and Hellick families Duane describes it as a consolidation of power.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': The episode "[[Recap/Ben10S4E4BigFatAlienWedding Big Fat Alien Wedding]]" has a marriage [[InterspeciesRomance between a human man and an alien woman]] to bring peace to the war between said alien race and [[TheMenInBlack the Plumbers]]. However, the only reason they even got engaged was because they actually fell in love; the peace treaty was only possible ''because'' of their romance.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}'':
** In the first two episodes, Princess Bean of Dreamland is being forced by her father King Zog to have an [[ArrangedMarriage arranged wedding]] with Prince Guysbert of Bentwood, in order to seal a political/economic alliance between Dreamland and Bentwood (the former kingdom isn't as wealthy as the latter). Bean's refusal to actually marry Guysbert (or his more annoying brother Merkimer, who replaced him as the groom [[ItMakesSenseInContext after Guybsert accidentally stabbed himself on a sword]]) sets off the first main storyline in the show.
** This is also mentioned in the backstory, as an explanation for the ([[AwfulWeddedLife loveless]]) {{arranged marriage}} of King Zog of Dreamland to his second wife Queen Oona, who was originally a princess from Dankmire. Dreamland and Dankmire had been at war for decades, until Zog married Oona as part of a peace agreement; which resulted in the construction of a canal to link the two kingdoms together, along with Oona giving Zog a male heir to Dreamland's throne, Prince Derek.
[[/folder]]

* Endless during the Spanish conquest of America, where the indigenous elites weaved alliances with the new power on board by marrying off their daughters to notable Spaniards, just like they used to do among them up to that point. Conquistadores themselves saw it as an absolute win, as many of them came from poverty in Spain, yet by this way they received free women, free high status in the native societies, and free rich inheritances added to what they conquered themselves (and often, they would even capitalize on the indigenous custom of polygamy to keep married to natives wives by the native rite while marrying others by the Christian rite, a popular LoopholeAbuse). Almost all notable conquistadores did it with native noblewomen, such as Alonso de Ojeda with the Coquivacoan Isabel, UsefulNotes/HernanCortez with the Aztec princess Isabel de Moztecuma, Pedro de Alvarado with the Tlaxcaltec María Luisa, UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro with the Inca ladies Inés and Angelina Yupanqui, and many others.

** And the supreme champion within the dynasty is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor Karl V von Habsburg]], who through his own marriages and those of his parents inherited Austria, the Habsburg Netherlands, the crown of the Holy Roman Empire and the kingdom of Spain (which included roughly half of Italy and a third of America). In fact, he inherited so many realms that he couldn't manage them all, so he finally abdicated and split his possessions in two, giving the Spanish crown to his son Philip II and the Austrian (and by extension Holy Roman) crown to his brother Ferdinand (and thence to his nephew Maximilian and his wife, Karl's daughter Maria). And thanks to Karl's marriage to the daughter to the King of Portugal, Isabella, Philip II got to inherit ''that'' kingdom too along with Spain. Philip II tried to add England (and Ireland and Wales) as well, through marriage to UsefulNotes/MaryTudor, but failed to produce an heir.[[note]]Philip later [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Armada tried to take England by force]] during the reign of [[UsefulNotes/ElizabethI his widow's sister]], but it didn't work.[[/note]] Eventually, the Spanish Habsburgs decided not to allow another family to take their holdings through the same means, and started marrying among themselves (and occasionally their Austrian cousins) only. Within a few generations, this inbreeding drove them extinct--and passed the Spanish throne to another family (the French House of Bourbon) [[{{Irony}} based on one of the few outside marriages they had allowed]] (between Philip IV's daughter Maria Theresa and UsefulNotes/LouisXIV--though not before the Austrian Habsburgs [[UsefulNotes/WarOfTheSpanishSuccession tried to nab it for themselves]]).

* The Moon Arc in ''Manga/LandOfTheLustrous'' has the Prince of the moon, Aechmea, strike a deal with Phosphophyllite to ensure the Lustrous won't be harmed as long as Phos cooperates with him. When Phos later brings a few of their fellow Lustrous to the Moon, Aechmea decides to formaloze the alliance by using Cairngorm as the representative--and the Gem is taken as Archmea's wife. The problem? ''The Lustrous on Earth don't know about any of this'', so from their perspective Phos spirited away a portion of their remaining ranks for some unknown alloamce woth their mortal enemy. Unsurprisingly negotiations go south from here.

** ''Literature/TrickstersDuet'': This duology about a carefully orchestrated rebellion spends quite a bit more time on alliances among the nobility than Pierce's other books. Princess Sarai Balitang of the Copper Isles carries the blood of the old AmbiguouslyBrown raka monarchs as well as the white luarin conquerors currently ruling the country and is believed to be the prophesied "Twice-Royal" queen who will restore the raka to glory. Reacting to her growing popularity with the public, the iron-fisted regents begin pressuring her into a marriage with the five-year-old [[AChildShallLeadThem boy-king]] (who is also [[KissingCousins her cousin]]). Sarai, [[LockedOutOfTheLoop completely unaware]] of the rebellion brewing on her behalf, doesn't see any way out of the marriage and decides to elope to Carthak. The conspiracy is suddenly without a figurehead. [[spoiler:Lucky thing she has a little sister, isn't it?]]

** The ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episode "Elaan of Troyius" is about an attempt to make peace between two feuding Federation member planets by marrying the dohlman (princess) of one planet to the ruler of the other. The ''Enterprise'' is given the mission of transporting her, which is complicated by her arrogant and demanding manner. [[spoiler:And her stabbing the ambassador sent to teach her civilized manners.]]
** The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Perfect Mate" has the ''Enterprise'' hosting a reconciliation between two planets that have been at war for generations. As part of the pact, one side offers an empathic metamorph whose personality changes to suit the desires of whomever she bonds with. [[spoiler:She decides to bond with Picard because she "likes who [she] is when she's around him" but her empathic abilities will still allow her to play the role of TrophyWife perfectly. On the other hand, the person she was intended for is more interested in trade and other concessions than traditional ceremonies or a wife, even an exceedingly rare metamorph.]]

*** "The House of Quark": Klingon noblewoman Grilka forces Quark, who accidentally killed her husband in a BarBrawl, into marrying her in order to prevent her House's dissolution by the death of its patriarch without an heir. [[spoiler:Eventually the High Council grants special permission for Grilka to become head of house in her own right, and she quickly divorces Quark.]]

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Many marriages are political in nature among the noble families, which is unsurprising given the intricate politics in the series, with every side making plans within plans within plans. Of course, we know what they say about the best-laid plans... Features most of the same examples as the book series, in addition to several new ones.
** Walder Frey's castle is built on a strategically important bridge, and Robb Stark is promised to marry a Frey girl to take his rebel army across and have the Frey's join his rebellion; when he abandons the promise to MarryForLove (rather than for honor as in the books), things don't end well.
** Danaerys declares she will marry [[spoiler:Hizdahr zo Loraq]] in an attempt to bring peace to Meereen, as in the book, but things go a little differently from there. [[spoiler:There are hints it might have worked--and Danaerys may even have grown to like him--but the Sons of the Harpy kill him during his first major public appearance as consort.]]
** In a large diversion from the book canon, [[spoiler:Sansa Stark, rather than Jeyne Poole disguised as Arya Stark, is the one who is married to spoiler:Ramsay Bolton]], which is political on both sides -- [[spoiler:to give the Boltons' rule in Winterfell legitimacy and to allow her to go home to the North. Ramsay's still as much of a monster as in the novels, so she ends up killing him]].
** Myrcella Baratheon (Cersei's daughter and the king's sister) is sent to Dorne to marry Prince Trystane Martell and cement an alliance with that house; they end up [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage genuinely falling in love]]. [[spoiler:Too bad a substantial faction in Dorne doesn't care for the marriage...]]
** Catelyn Tully of Riverrun was betrothed to Brandon Stark of Winterfell, but Brandon's death at the outset of Robert's Rebellion only made the alliance more necessary so Catelyn had to SettleForSibling with Brandon's brother Ned, which luckily turned out to be an almost PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.
** At the same time, Catelyn's sister Lysa was married to Ned's foster father Jon Arryn of the Vale, which turned out much less happily given her involvement in [[spoiler:poisoning her husband]].
** Robert Baratheon of Storm's End was betrothed to Lyanna Stark of Winterfell, whose abduction by Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen helped spark Robert's Rebellion, but after Lyanna's death, Robert married Cersei Lannister, the daughter of the wealthy and powerful Lord Tywin, whose support was essential in maintaining control of the realm.
** Sansa Stark is formally betrothed to Crown Prince Joffrey Baratheon to formalize the Baratheon-Stark alliance founded on their fathers' boyhood friendship.
** The exiled "King" Viserys III Targaryen marries his sister Daenerys to the Dothraki warlord Khal Drogo in exchange for the assistance of Drogo's horde in retaking the Seven Kingdoms. Conflict arises because the Dothraki don't have quite the same understanding of this trope as the Westerosi. Drogo views his new bride as a gift, and he plans to give his brother-in-law a gift in return... eventually. Viserys views the horde as already rightfully his, but his demands are a breach of the Dothraki's culture of reciprocity, and he eventually threatens the lives of Daenerys and her unborn son, for which Drogo kills him by giving him a "golden crown" of molten gold.
** Renly Baratheon of the Stormlands marries Margaery Tyrell of the Reach to secure her wealthy and powerful family's support for his claim to the throne. However, Margaery is only TheBeard, since Renly is already literally in bed with the Tyrells via Margaery's brother Loras. Later, Margaery is remarried to King Joffrey Baratheon and after that to his brother King Tommen to formalize and reward the Tyrells' shift of allegiance. [[spoiler:But when Margaery and Tommen's marriage turns out to be ''too'' good and she proves to have an influence on him, Tommen's mother Cersei has her and several other people killed]].

* The [[UrExample earliest documented cases]] come from UsefulNotes/AncientEgyptianHistory: the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_Letters Amarna Letters]] of the 14th century BCE strongly suggest that the pharaohs of the Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty exchanged princesses with the Kings of Assyria as assurances of goodwill respecting the two Great Powers' intentions in Canaan, and it is undisputed that UsefulNotes/RamsesII (of the Nineteenth Dynasty, during the 13th century BCE) married a Hittite princess to cement/shore up a peace treaty/alliance with Hatti.

* Ebullient Squire Will Danaher from ''Film/TheQuietMan'' has been itching to woo the widow Sarah Tillane, not for love, but because their land holdings combined would make theirs the largest arable tract in the county. Until Sean Thornton from America comes along, Widow Tillane will have nothing to do with GrumpyBear Danaher.

** Slaine Troyard personally arranges a marriage to Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia [[spoiler:except it was her IllGirl sister Lemrina Vers Envers masquerading as her]] at the start of the second season.

* "[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5092359/1/The-Brat-Prince-of-Vos The Brat Prince of Vos]]" (a ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' 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 [[TheStarscream the traitor he's usually known as]].

* In ''Fanfic/IAmSkantarios'' (a ''VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar'' AAR story): The Byzantines strengthen their alliance with their Hungarian allies via marriage, one general becoming BashBrothers with Skantarios.

* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172839/chapters/40376861 Promised]]" (a ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fic): 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 PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.

* Played with in ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/4758047 The Gift of Premonition,]]'' a fanfic of ''Film/TheHobbit'', where 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 ''Fanfic/IAmSkantarios'', a ''VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar'' AAR story, the Byzantines strengthen their alliance with their Hungarian allies via marriage, one general becoming BashBrothers with Skantarios.
* This forms the background premise of the ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' AlternateUniverseFic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/10832628 The Lady and the Lion]]''. 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.
* In ''Roleplay/LordsAmongTheAshes'', [[spoiler:Cinder]] is so impressed by what she sees in Normandy that she manipulates events so that she and [[spoiler:Jaune]] marry. This proves to be a mutually beneficial relationship as it gives Wintershroud access to the LostTechnology that Normandy had rediscovered and Normandy access to Wintershroud's rich mineral resources.
* In the ''Franchise/CodeGeass'' AlternateUniverseFic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/334086 Mosaic]]'', 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 [[UsefulNotes/TheSoundOfMartialMusic House Habsburg]].
* In the [[Creator/{{Lopoddity}} 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.
* In ''Fanfic/TheVow'', 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 [[spoiler: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]].
* ''Fanfic/WearingRobertsCrown'': Subverted and played straight. Renly's marriage has the potential to reconcile [[spoiler:House Martell]] and House Baratheon but it's at the worst possible moment and Drakebert negotiates another political marriage to keep the peace.
* ''Fanfic/BecomingLifprasir'': 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.
* ''Fanfic/TheBerserkersBride'': Dagur and Hiccup's marriage was strictly political, or at least that was how it started…
* ''Fanfic/AThingOfVikings'': Ruffnut agrees to marry Magnus the Good of Norway as part of alliance between Norway and Berk. This quickly proves to be a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage as the two are absolutely devoted to each other.
** Magnus's half-sister Wulfhild agrees to become a concubine to Hiccup, who insists on [[MarryForLove 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 ArrangedMarriage. Over time Hiccup, Astrid and Wulfhild settle into a [[{{Polyamory}} polyamorous relationship]].
* ''Fanfic/ProdigalSon'': After [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: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. [[spoiler: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.
* The premise of the ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'' fic "[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5092359/1/The-Brat-Prince-of-Vos The Brat Prince of Vos]]". 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 [[TheStarscream the traitor he's usually known as]].
* In the ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'' fic "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172839/chapters/40376861 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 PerfectlyArrangedMarriage.
* In Chapter 13 of ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/16602230/chapters/39236202 The Command Quarters]]'', 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.

* ''Fanfic/{{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.
* Discussed in ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin''. [[spoiler: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.]]
* Much like his parents in [[TabletopGame/BattleTech canon]], ''Fanfic/AlongCameASpider '' 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, [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Romano]].

* The premise of ''Fanfic/TheHomeWeBuiltTogether'' is about Hiccup and Astrid being married to each other under a contract between their families.
* Hiccup and Astrid in ''Fanfic/{{What Lies Beneath|OrangeCat64}}'' were pushed together in their late teens by their parents. [[PerfectlyArrangedMarriage They eventually grow to like each other anyway]].
* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'': In [[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/dungeon-keeper-ami-sailor-moon-dungeon-keeper-story-only-thread.30066/post-12096923 "A New Home"]], not a marriage to seal an agreement, but to allow one to take place. But, [[spoiler:Ami's jumping to conclusions. The plan's that Duke Libasheshtan becomes her regent, since she's a [[AChildShallLeadThem 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!”

* In the ''[[https://princepeepers.tumblr.com/ Prince Peepers]]'' AU, [[WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder 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.
* In the crossover and NextGenFic ''Fanfic/{{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.
* Played with in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174349 Full Steam Ahead]]''. 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''] [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer 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.

* The plot of ''Film/TheMalayChroniclesBloodlines'' is kicked off when the two most powerful kingdoms of the ancient world - the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty, decides to forge an alliance by the marriage of Prince Marcus Caprenius of Rome and Princess Meng Li-hua of China.

* In ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'', the ailing King and Queen of Florin want to marry Prince Humperdinck to the Princess of Guilder to forge an alliance between the two rival countries. Humperdinck breaks off the engagement when it turns out during a banquet that his fiancée is congenitally bald, and comments that he'd always planned to just conquer Guilder instead. He then arranges his own match with the beautiful commoner Buttercup to curry favor with the citizenry so that he can then frame Guilder for assassinating her to create a PretextForWar. (It's implied that murdering Buttercup isn't originally his intention - he wants to be married to the WorldsMostBeautifulWoman, which is what she is, and the offer of marriage is initially genuine. However, sometime during the three years she spends attending royalty school to become a princess, he conceives of the plot to frame Guilder.)

** In a large diversion from the book canon, [[spoiler:Sansa Stark, rather than Jeyne Poole disguised as Arya Stark, is the one who is married to spoiler:Ramsay Bolton]], which is political on both sides - [[spoiler:to give the Boltons' rule in Winterfell legitimacy and to allow her to go home to the North. Ramsay's still as much of a monster as in the novels, so she ends up killing him]].

*** A possible resolution to the Ferelden succession crisis subplot is to have the party member Alistair, the HeroicBastard son of King Maric, marry Queen Anora, the daughter of Maric's army commander Loghain mac Tir and widow of Alistair's half-brother King Cailan [[SacrificialLamb who died in battle early in the main plot]]. Fair warning, though: if a female Warden has been romancing Alistair as a female PlayerCharacter he'll [[SeductionProofMarriage break it off]].[[note]]However, taking the right dialogue option in his personal sidequest can let the Warden become TheMistress.[[/note]] Alternatively, a male human noble can marry Anora and become her Prince-Consort, while a female human noble who has romanced Alistair '''and''' played her cards right may marry Alistair instead, thus becoming the queen. (In the long run, this last option is likely a bad thing for national stability, as two Wardens together are all but infertile. In the short run, however, it's considered an extremely good thing because the people ''love'' them.) If either the Warden or Alistair executed Loghain, this option is taken off the table - national stability or not, Anora will ''not'' marry the man who killed her father.

* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': The plot of the comic kicks off when King Jack of the Pastel Kingdom decides to arrange for his three daughters, Maria, Lorena and Gwendolyn, to marry the three princes of the Plaid Kingdom, to forge a strong alliance (and also partly so Jack and Plaid King Leland can be BestFriendsInLaw). The first prince, Blaine, chooses Maria, while the middle one, Lance, is paired with Lorena. For the first two couples, it’s LoveAtFirstSight. Frederick and [[FaceOfAThug Gwen]], however…not so much.

* Imperialist China has a whole concept for this; [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heqin Heqin]] - peace marriage - use of marriage to bring peace between two countries. Largely a tool of Chinese imperialism that would tie a defeated ruling family to the emperors, giving the descendants a pass at the throne of the unified state. Policy existed for something like two thousand years.

* In ''LightNovel/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'', two of King Souma's marriages (Liscia and Roroa) were for explicitly political purposes. The other three, while not politically motivated, incidentally serve good political purposes.
* ''LightNovel/LevelOneStrongestSage'' has the crown princess of Alheim, Leyfa, asked by her father to marry a very, very powerful individual to prevent war and bloodshed. She was resigned to this fate since she was old enough to walk and talk. [[spoiler:Fortunately, her future husband turns out to be the sweet and sensitive Haruto, who is not only a classmate but treats her kindly like an equal. Which is a much better fate than she was initially expecting considering her home country's strained relations with a nearby human empire that isn't so well regarded.]]

** In "A Question of Price", the fifth ShortStory in ''Literature/TheLastWish'', Queen Calanthe of Cintra wants to ensure a good political marriage for her daughter Princess Pavetta, and entertains suitors at Pavetta's fifteenth birthday celebration. She specifically wants Pavetta to marry into the royal house of the [[FantasyCounterpartCulture Viking-like]] Skellige Islands to make Cintra a less attractive target for Skellige pirates, and contracts Geralt of Rivia to help ensure Pavetta [[ExactWords a good marriage]]. [[spoiler:In the end, Pavetta is in a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage with Duny, a lord formerly under BalefulPolymorph to whom Calanthe's deceased husband had promised Pavetta [[IOweYouMyLife in exchange for saving his life]], while Calanthe herself ends up in a love match with Eist Tuirseach, a knight of Skellige with whom it's implied she was having a covert affair offscreen.]]

* The film ''Dangerous Beauty'' revolves around a [[HighClassCallGirl courtesan]] in Renaissance-era Venice, who took up the profession because [[DeliberateValuesDissonance social custom dictated]] that she, a commoner, could not marry her beloved, a powerful nobleman. Later, he lets her know that he is getting married to someone else, the daughter of another powerful nobleman, whose influence would be very helpful to the city-state. [[TakeAThirdOption They still manage to be together because he is her favorite client.]]

* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': The plot of the comic kicks off when King Jack of the Pastel Kingdom decides to arrange for his three daughters, Maria, Lorena and Gwendolyn, to marry the three princes of the Plaid Kingdom, to forge a strong alliance. The first prince, Blaine, chooses Maria, while the middle one, Lance, is paired with Lorena. For the first two couples, it’s LoveAtFirstSight. Frederick and [[FaceOfAThug Gwen]], however…not so much.

* ''Webcomic/CursedPrincessClub'': The plot of the comic kicks off when King Jack of the Pastel Kingdom decides to arrange for his three daughters, Maria, Lorena and Gwen, to marry the three princes of the Plaid Kingdom, to forge a strong alliance. The first prince, Blaine, chooses Maria, while the middle one, Lance, is paired with Lorena. For the first two couples, it’s LoveAtFirstSight. Frederick and Gwen, however…not so much.

* The ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fancomic ''Webcomic/ATaleOfTwoRulers'' has Zelda propose this to Gannondorf in an attempt to keep Hyrule from more devastation and to break the reincarnation cycle that the two of them and Link are subjected to [[spoiler:particularly since her illegitimate daughter Rinku is Link's reincarnation this time.]]

* Played with in the ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14174349 Full Steam Ahead]]''. 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.

* In the [[Creator/{{Lopoddity}} Pandoraverse]], this is the reason behind Princess Celestia and Queen Chrysalis’ union--Chrysalis proposed the marriage to Celestia to forge an alliance between changelings and ponies.

* In a desperate attempt to strengthen the Empire of Brazil, UsefulNotes/DomPedroII was married off to Teresa Cristina, a Sicilian princess. Thanks to the 19th-century equivalent of photoshop, Pedro agreed to the marriage immediately, only to be very publically ''aghast'' at Teresa Cristina's not-very-pretty appearance once he laid eyes on her. While they gained greater respect for one another, Pedro and Teresa never really became lovers and Pedro had affairs, much to Teresa's annoyance.