History Main / UnwantedSpouse

* Jane Parker of ''Literature/TheOtherBoleynGirl'' is the deeply unwanted wife of George Boleyn, and often creates plot-relevant mischief to alleviate her marital boredom and unhappiness.
** Also in ''The Other Boleyn Girl'', Catherine of Aragon is downright martyred as Henry VIII's unwanted spouse that he spends half the book trying to get rid of.
* Prince Dolph in the Literature/{{Xanth}} novel ''Isle of View'' has two fiancées. He is under an obligation to marry them, but he can't marry both, and the one he wants to marry isn't in love with him. The girl he doesn't love will ''die'' if he doesn't marry her. Fortunately, Dolph and his fiancées are underage, so there's time to sort the mess out.
* In the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' book, ''Temple of the Winds'', Nadine spends most of the story as a ClingyJealousGirl, only to become an Unwanted Spouse near the end.
** And then there's Du Chaillu, who declares herself to be Richard's wife in the second book (part of a Prophecy) and follows him around in the fifth book.
* In ''Literature/WithATangledSkein'', Niobe has an ArrangedMarriage to Cedric, a handsome, strong, and highly intelligent man who is a few years younger than she is. Due to his youth, she is not at all happy. [[spoiler:Later, she completely changes her mind about him.]]
* Mr. Rochester's literally insane wife in ''Literature/JaneEyre''.
* In the novel ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' (rather than the movie), Prince Humperdinck is marrying Buttercup purely because he's going to be king and he'll "have to." In both the book and the movie, he's looking quite forward to killing her on their wedding night. Give him credit. In the book, he intended to marry the princess of Guilder, but she turned out to be bald.

* Lillian Rearden in ''Literature/AtlasShrugged''.
* Subverted in ''Literature/DragonBones'', where the man who shares the king's bed is married. One would expect his wife to be an unwanted spouse, in an ArrangedMarriage. However, Garranon is quite fond of his wife. King Jakoven, on the other hand, doesn't seem to like his wife at all, but as he can keep a lover on the side, he's not bothered by it.
* In ''Literature/TheEmigrants'' this trope is the reason why Jonas Petter emigrates to America.
* In the ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' series, the main character marries Maria, a girl he considers a bit silly and overly emotional, out of guilt because he can't bear to hurt her feelings by turning down her largely unwanted affections. He spends as much time at sea avoiding her as possible and sets himself up for misery at home by never once correcting her on any of her habits that annoy him, such as calling him "Horry" or cooking food he doesn't like.
* Faye Weldon's novel, 'The Life and Loves of a She-Devil' (source of the Roseanne Barr movie mentioned, and an English miniseries with that title), tells the sometimes funny, often disturbing, story of the title character's revenge on her husband.
* In ''Literature/ThornInMyHeart'', based on the first part of the [[Literature/TheBible biblical]] story of Jacob, Jamie [=McKie=]'s uncle Logan pulls a BrideAndSwitch on him, getting the Church Council to declare Jamie legally married to Logan's elder daughter Leona rather than her sister Rose. Jamie's initial reaction is to ignore Leona completely, even after she discovers that she is pregnant with his child. Jamie eventually [[spoiler: moves past his anger and learns to love Leona. However, at the end of the book, Rose's machinations cause the Church Council to reverse their decision and declare Jamie married to Rose and not to Leona]]. The second book, ''Literature/FairIsTheRose'', opens with Jamie treating [[spoiler: Rose with just as much coldness and anger as he had initially treated Leona with]].
* ''Literature/IClaudius'' presents Claudius's marriage to his first wife Urgulanilla as this, with neither being thrilled when they're paired off as a favor to Urgulanilla's grandmother, who's a friend of Claudius's grandmother [[EvilMatriarch Livia]], and the two women mock them both for their unusual appearances (Claudius is crippled while Urgulanilla is a very tall BrawnHilda-- heck, her ''name'' is a feminized form of "Hercules"!). They stay together just long enough to have a child and then pretty much go on to live separate lives. Claudius actually says that there's so little emotion between them that he can't even say they were unhappy, and when he divorces her out of suspicion she was part of a murder plot and because she had a child with a slave she doesn't contest the charge. Claudius in turn goes out of his way to spare the baby by swapping it out with a stillborn child instead of exposing it as is his right as a cuckolded husband, showing he doesn't feel any ill will towards her either. Ironically, of all of Claudius' wives, she's the only one who's never openly cruel or manipulative to him and writes in her will after they're divorced that she knows he's not the idiot everyone thinks he is.
* ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' has [[spoiler: Jerin]] as the sort of unwanted husband to Trini. She only agreed to marry him to prevent him from getting married into a family she [[AristocratsAreEvil is convinced is evil]]. His sweet personality eventually convinces her that he was a good choice for a husband, after all.
* ''Literature/CyberJolyDrim'' starts with the protagonist avoiding sex with her husband. Odd in that they [[MarryForLove married for love]]--she simply never expected him to become such a bore afterwards.
* ''Literature/CodexAlera'': High Lords' {{Arranged Marriage}}s often produce these. Plot significant examples are Gaius Caria, the ignored and unwanted wife of the First Lord, who [[spoiler:[[SympatheticMurderer murders him]] to be free of him]]; and Antillus Dorotea the downright despised wife of High Lord Antillus, who [[spoiler: often tries to [[WickedStepmother kill her stepson]] and doesn't mind the [[AbusiveParents collateral damage to her own son]].]]
* ''Literature/PavilionOfWomen'': Wu Fengmo accedes willingly to an ArrangedMarriage with Kang Linyi only to find they have nothing in common. He goes to America to study and falls seriously in love with an American girl but chooses to return to China - and Linyi. Luckily for this unwanted spouse her husband feels strongly obligated to her - having after all chosen to marry her - and works hard to make her feel needed and happy.
* The ''Literature/CormoranStrikeNovels'': With great reluctance, Robin marries Matthew at the end of ''Literature/CareerOfEvil'' but finds absolutely no joy in the marriage. She finally finds it in her to dump him towards the end of ''Literature/LethalWhite'' after about a year of marriage after discovering that he is [[spoiler: again cheating on her with Sarah Shadlock.]]
* In the ''Literature/DeptfordMice'' trilogy, Audrey agrees to marry Twit solely because doing so will prevent her from being wrongfully hanged as a witch. While she does care for him as a friend, she has no romantic interest in him and soon regrets the marriage because it prevents her from pursuing her true love, Piccadilly.
-->''"If only I had been kinder then, things might be different, he might have come to Fennywolde and I might be his wife instead. I wish Twit had let me hang."''
* ''Literature/SpinningSilver'': Miryem and the [[TheFairFolk Staryk]] King become this to each other. To [[BlueAndOrangeMorality the Staryk]], Miryem's careless boast demands a challenge and, when she completes the challenge, no less a reward than the King's hand -- never mind that they despise each other. [[spoiler:They end up HappilyMarried by their own choice.]]
* In ''Literature/TheCrownerJohnMysteries'', the marriage between John and Matilda is a bitter and loveless one. It was a political marriage arranged by their parents that neither really wanted. John deals with it by being away from home as much as possible, first by going soldiering in Europe and then joining the Crusade, and later by spending as much time out in the field doing his job as coroner as he can, and by taking mistresses. Matilda focuses her energy and ambition on relentless social climbing.
* In ''Literature/MaidenCrown'', King Valdemar initially sees Princess Sophie as this before they meet. He's required to marry her to consolidate his alliance with her half-brother Knud (his co-ruler over Denmark), but he doesn't care for the betrothal because he's happy in his relationship with Tove, whom he can't marry because of her status as an illegitimate peasant with no titles to her name. He puts off their marriage for three years before sending for her (as she was thirteen when they were betrothed), and he initially has the castle that becomes Gavngaard built as a place for Sophie to live and be out of his way. He changes his mind significantly when he actually marries Sophie and becomes attracted to her, and gives her Gavngaard as a wedding gift with no mention of its original purpose.
* ''Literature/MoonlightBecomesYou'':
** Dr. William Lane secretly detests his wife Odile. Any affection he felt for her has long since faded and just about everything she does and says irritates him beyond belief. He only sticks with her out of grudging gratitude, as she got him the position of director of Latham Manor even after he lost his previous job due to his drinking. [[spoiler: After learning that she's set him up to take the blame for the Latham Manor murders, he resolves not to spend one more day with her]].
** Malcolm Norton hates his wife Janice (trust us, the feeling is more than mutual) and has fallen in love with his secretary Barbara. He wants to leave Janice and start a new life with Barbara, but he wants to buy Nuala's house first so he has enough money to set himself up after he ditches Janice. Nuala leaving her house to her newly-rediscovered stepdaughter and her subsequent murder complicates things immensely.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAge'':

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', a major plot arc begins with a dissolute husband seeking his runaway libertine wife. It's quickly apparent that they mutually don't want each other.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', Dorian's parents have this relationship with each other. Halward Pavus and Aquinea Thalrassian were placed in an ArrangedMarriage with no concern for the fact that they hated each other, solely because uniting their bloodlines [[SuperBreedingProgram would produce a strong mage]]. Their hatred of each other is why Dorian is an only child, and why Dorian is so determined not to end up in exactly the same situation with his betrothed, Livia Herathenos.

** UsefulNotes/ElvisPresley married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Beaulieu to avoid a scandal arising from the fact that she was dating him and that she moved in his Graceland mansion when she was underage.

** UsefulNotes/Elvis Presley married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Beaulieu to avoid a scandal arising from the fact that she was dating him and that she moved in his Graceland mansion when she was underage.

* Used for laughs in ''Literature/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts''. [[{{Yandere}} Shouko]] repeatedly tells [[spoiler:her former OnlyFriend]] [[BrilliantButLazy Yuuji]] that she wants to marry him, and tries forcing him to sign marriage papers, and threatens to kill/hurt him if he refuses. She often goes into {{Yandere}}/ClingyJealousGirl mode if other girls are around him, or she feels he's getting a little too friendly with male friends.
* ''Manga/BrokenBlade'': King Hodr to Sigy. Unlike most examples, Sigyn doesn't hate her husband but married in order to make his best friend Rygart, the one she actually loves, [[OperationJealousy to do something about it]]. She tried to love her husband at one point, but [[NoSparks failed to]]. Hodr, despite clearly being in love with her, knows full well she thinks of him as [[JustFriends nothing more than a friend]], which is what helps him agree [[spoiler:to a divorce]].

* In ''Anime/{{Gankutsuou}}'', Eugenie warmed up to the idea of being in an ArrangedMarriage with Albert, but her father eventually decided to cancel the engagement and arrange for her to marry Andrea instead, whom Eugenie did ''not'' like at all. [[spoiler:Not to mention that he's her [[BrotherSisterIncest half-brother]].]]

-->[[LampshadeHanging "I'm his wife... in name only"]]
** Even worse, [[spoiler:Souma's stepmother Sakurako]] was this too. And [[spoiler: her child Youya was TheUnfavorite, while Souma was the true heir.]] She dealt with it by [[spoiler:[[WickedStepmother beating Souma, and later raping him]].]]
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul[=:Re=]'', Matsuri Washuu is unhappily married to a woman that he describes as "dull" and completely uninteresting. It was an ArrangedMarriage that he actively tried to avoid, spending a decade living in Germany and only writing to his fiancee when forced to do so. The lack of interest seems to be mutual since she admits she doesn't really understand what he does for a living and doesn't really care to learn. Their marriage was purely a political matter, solidifying ties between the [[TheClan Washuu Clan]] and another influential family. The fact that he's [[spoiler:[[IncompatibleOrientation only interested in men]]]] probably has a large amount to do with it as well.
* In ''Manga/SpyXFamily'', Mission 75 seems to heavily imply that Melinda Desmond considers her husband utterly unwanted. [[spoiler:Upon his name being uttered by Damian, her thoughts turn to how much she loves ''and'' hates her son, and only referring to Donovan as 'that man'.]]

* In ''ComicBook/{{Nexus}}'' [[spoiler: The entire focal point of Jack and Knock Out’s bond was that it was an accident. Jack]] even tries to figure out a way to break it without killing himself.

* ''ComicBook/{{Sleepless}}'': Lady Poppy despises her duplicitous, scheming cousin (by marriage) Lord Helder and suspects he's behind a string of attempts on her life, but in the absence of irrefutable evidence of Helder's involvement with the assassins Poppy is pressured to marry him by the mutual uncle King Surno. [[spoiler:As soon as the newlyweds are alone Helder confirms that he indeed hired the assassins to kill Poppy; but now that they're married he wants to use her extort her relationship with Crown Princess Rellen to gain influence over the throne... and then he tries to stab Poppy when she refuses to comply with his plans. Helder gets himself killed by his co-conspirators before he and Poppy have been married a full day.]]
* ''Franchise/WonderWoman'' [[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Vol 1]]: Marva Psycho is not in love with her husband Dr. Psycho, but her first attempt to leave him only makes things worse, with him treating her like a slave and brainwashing her using his powers once he's out of prison.

* Played with in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' fanfiction ''Question of Honor'' where Bruce marries a friend to get her out of her wartorn homeland. They only plan to stay together long enough for her to earn a right to stay in the States then get the marriage annulled. As he's still Batman, he doesn't have much to do with her at first [[MarriageBeforeRomance until they do manage to fall in love.]]
* Ragyou is this to her husband in ''Fanfic/KiryuuinChronicles'' and he vice versa, for a good reason, considering that A) he's abusive and, B) [[spoiler: due to being pregnant (by someone else) with her daughter, Satsuki, she was forced into this marriage by her family]] and it was either that or be disowned.

* ''Theatre/AnneOfTheThousandDays'': Henry VIII wants to ditch Katharine to marry Anne. Then Anne herself becomes this and it end badly for her.

* ''Film/FromBeyondTheGrave'': In "An Act of Kindness", Christopher and his wife Mabel are trapped in a desperately unhappy marriage. She nags and belittles him every chance she gets, while he's a classic HenpeckedHusband who responds passive-aggressively or with tantrums. From the few clues dropped, it appears to have been a WartimeWedding that did not work out as either of them expected, but divorce in middle class '60s/'70s Britain would have been social death.

* In ''Film/SullivansTravels'', Sullivan is unhappily married to a shrew whom he married on the advice of his business manager. When it's believed Sullivan is dead his wife immediately marries her lover... that business manager. Which is good news for Sullivan when he turns up alive, as he now has every right to divorce her and settle down with his love interest.

* The entire setting of ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' is scripted save for Truman himself; this includes actors being cast in roles within his life. One such character is the woman plotted to become his wife, but Truman ended up genuinely in love with an extra. Everything about the situation screamed it wouldn't work out, but the marriage happened anyway; Truman married because the extra (Sylvia playing Lauren) got forcibly removed from the show, leaving him with unresolved longing, and the new cast member (Hannah playing Meryl) married to collect the paycheck and fame that came with being Truman's wife, fully aware that he didn't love her and feeling the same for him. Once Truman's paranoia has built too much for her to take, she immediately books it.

* Prince Dolph in the Literature/{{Xanth}} novel ''Isle of View'' has two fiancées. He is under an obligation to marry them, but he can't marry both, and the one he wants to marry isn't in love with him. The girl he doesn't love will ''die'' if he doesn't marry her. Fortunately Dolph and his fiancées are underage so there's time to sort the mess out.

** And then there's Du Chaillu, who declares herself to be Richard's wife in the second book (part of a Prophecy), and follows him around in the fifth book.
* In ''Literature/WithATangledSkein'', Niobe has an ArrangedMarriage to Cedric, a handsome, strong and highly intelligent man who is a few years younger than she is. Due to his youth, she is not at all happy. [[spoiler:Later, she completely changes her mind about him.]]

* In the novel ''Literature/ThePrincessBride'' (rather than the movie), Prince Humperdinck is marrying Buttercup purely because he's going to be king and he'll "have to." In both the book and the movie, he's looking quite forward to killing her on their wedding night. Give him credit, in the book he intended to marry the princess of Guilder, but she turned out to be bald.
* A RareMaleExample exists in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, though more implied than actual. Rodolphus Lestrange is so unwanted by his wife, Bellatrix (who, according to WordOfGod, is actually in love with Voldemort) that he only appears during the trial in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire,'' along with his brother, Bellatrix and [[spoiler:Barty Crouch Jr.]] but he's so unimportant that the narration never even tells us which Lestrange man he was, and he has no lines. Judging by the fact that the Blacks are aristocratic pure-blood fanatics it was probably an ArrangedMarriage.

** Cersei Lannister and Robert Baratheon, who would have both preferred to marry people who were by that point dead (Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, respectively) but Cersei at least tried to make it work until [[WrongNameOutburst Robert mistakenly called her Lyanna on their wedding night]]. They both cheated on each other a lot, had their children with someone else, and [[spoiler:Cersei had a hand in Robert's death]].
** In ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', [[spoiler:Sansa Stark is made to marry Tyrion Lannister]]. ''Neither'' want it, although [[spoiler:Tyrion]] is willing to try and make it work while [[spoiler:Sansa]] just retreats behind her StepfordSmiler mask.

** In the backstory, Aerys and Rhaella Targaryen were also this in addition to being [[BrotherSisterIncest brother and sister]] forced to marry to keep their bloodline pure. They both would have vastly preferred to marry Joanna Lannister (the wife of Aerys' hand Tywin, whom he coveted) and Bonifer Hasty, respectively, and they resented the arrangement since their own father and grandfather had instead been able to MarryForLove. While there was no love lost between them on their wedding day the birth of [[TheWisePrince Rhaegar]] seems to have improved it somewhat, but then Aerys went insane and pushed it into DomesticAbuse territory, and Jaime Lannister recounts how Aerys would viciously rape her after he had [[PyroManiac burned someone]] and poor Rhaella looked like she'd been savaged by an animal afterwards.
** While the relationship was by all accounts far better than his parents', Rhaegar himself is hinted to have felt this way about his wife Elia Martell, who was similarly betrothed to him. Daenerys thinks it says a lot when Barristan Selmy says Rhaegar was only "fond" of her. If so it might help explain why Rhaegar took such an uncharacteristically reckless action as [[UnreliableNarrator allegedly]] kidnapping Lyanna Stark while still married to Elia and in the process kickstarted the civil war that ultimately brought down the dynasty.
** Lysa Tully vastly preferred Petyr Baelish, a lowborn who grew up with her, over Jon Arryn, the head of a fellow Great House who was old enough to be her grandfather, and was betrothed to her solely to maintain the Riverlands-Vale alliance on the eve of Robert's rebellion. The hatred towards her match festered deep enough that [[spoiler:she happily agreed to assassinate Jon, thus sparking the War of the Five Kings, all so she could live out her dream of becoming Littlefinger's wife.]]
** In ''A Storm of Swords'', [[spoiler:Lysa insists to wed Littlefinger as soon as he escapes from King's Landing and arrives at the Eyrie. He is ''incredibly'' uncomfortable about the whole thing, particularly since he does not love her and never will, having set his sights on her niece Sansa, and eventually kills her when she threatens Sansa's life.]]

* In ''Literature/ThornInMyHeart'', based off the first part of the [[Literature/TheBible biblical]] story of Jacob, Jamie [=McKie=]'s uncle Logan pulls a BrideAndSwitch on him, getting the Church Council to declare Jamie legally married to Logan's elder daughter Leona rather than her sister Rose. Jamie's initial reaction is to ignore Leona completely, even after she discovers that she is pregnant with his child. Jamie eventually [[spoiler:moves past his anger and learns to love Leona. However, at the end of the book, Rose's machinations cause the Church Council to reverse their decision and declare Jamie married to Rose and not to Leona]]. The second book, ''Literature/FairIsTheRose'', opens with Jamie treating [[spoiler:Rose with just as much coldness and anger as he had initially treated Leona with]].
* ''Literature/IClaudius'' presents Claudius' marriage to his first wife Urgulanilla as this, with neither being thrilled when they're paired off as a favor to Urgulanilla's grandmother, who's a friend of Claudius' grandmother [[EvilMatriarch Livia]], and the two women mock them both for their unusual appearances (Claudius is crippled while Urgulanilla is a very tall BrawnHilda-- heck, her ''name'' is a feminized form of "Hercules"!). They stay together just long enough to have a child and then pretty much go on to live separate lives. Claudius actually says that there's so little emotion between them that he can't even say they were unhappy, and when he divorces her out of suspicion she was part of a murder plot and because she had a child with a slave she doesn't contest the charge. Claudius in turn goes out of his way to spare the baby by swapping it out with a stillborn child instead of exposing it as is his right as a cuckolded husband, showing he doesn't feel any ill will towards her either. Ironically, of all of Claudius' wives, she's the only one who's never openly cruel or manipulative to him and writes in her will after they're divorced that she knows he's not the idiot everyone thinks he is.

* ''Literature/CodexAlera'': High Lords' {{Arranged Marriage}}s often produce these. Plot significant examples are Gaius Caria, the ignored and unwanted wife of the First Lord, who [[spoiler:[[SympatheticMurderer murders him]] to be free of him]]; and Antillus Dorotea the downright despised wife of High Lord Antillus, who [[spoiler:often tries to [[WickedStepmother kill her stepson]] and doesn't mind the [[AbusiveParents collateral damage to her own son]].]]

* The ''Literature/CormoranStrikeNovels'': With great reluctance, Robin married Matthew at the end of ''Literature/CareerOfEvil'', but finds absolutely no joy in the marriage. She finally finds it in her to dump him towards the end of ''Literature/LethalWhite'' after about a year of marriage after discovering that he is [[spoiler:again cheating on her with Sarah Shadlock.]]

* In ''Literature/MaidenCrown'', King Valdemar initially sees Princess Sophie as this before they meet. He's required to marry to her to consolidate his alliance with her half-brother Knud (his co-ruler over Denmark), but he doesn't care for the betrothal because he's happy in his relationship with Tove, whom he can't marry because of her status as an illegitimate peasant with no titles to her name. He puts off their marriage for three years before sending for her (as she was thirteen when they were betrothed), and he initially has the castle that becomes Gavngaard built as a place for Sophie to live and be out of his way. He changes his mind significantly when he actually marries Sophie and becomes attracted to her, and gives her Gavngaard as a wedding gift with no mention of its original purpose.

** Dr William Lane secretly detests his wife Odile. Any affection he felt for her has long since faded and just about everything she does and says irritates him beyond belief. He only sticks with her out of grudging gratitude, as she got him the position of director of Latham Manor even after he lost his previous job due to his drinking. [[spoiler:After learning that she's set him up to take the blame for the Latham Manor murders, he resolves not to spend one more day with her]].

** Xiang Yun for Lian Cheng. He wanted to marry her cousin Fu Ya, but he was forced to marry Xiang Yun instead. Later Lian Cheng becomes an Unwanted Spouse for Fu Ya, when he forces her to marry him even though she's in love with Qi You.

* Saffron of ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' is one of the rare women unwanted by a protagonist, due to the protagonist [[AccidentalMarriage not knowing about the wedding customs of the planet they were on]] and her stowing away on the ship. Mal Reynolds spends most of the episode desperately trying to unload her (Justified, however, when [[spoiler:she turns out to be a villainous con artist that married him in order to steal his ship.]]).

*** Like Robert, Stannis is unhappily married for political reasons. (As he returns to his keep after burning the idols of the Seven, Stannis nearly forgets his wife Selyse, and then ends up walking off without her anyway. He is never seen with her again in Season 2.) Melisandre claims this while seducing Stannis and he doesn't dispute it, but it's ultimately subverted. When Selyse appears again, Stannis is quite guilty about having had sex with Melisandre. However, she's seemingly fine with it. In the books, arranged marriages are very common among the high nobility of the Seven Kingdoms, usually made as politically motivated decisions to secure marriage alliances. Even Eddard Stark and Catelyn Tully were in an arranged marriage, though they later grew to love each other. Stannis's marriage to Selyse was also arranged, per the course. Stannis doesn't really seem to "love" Selyse, but his firm sense of duty means that he wants to behave as a devoted husband, unlike his whore-mongering older brother Robert.
** In ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'', Daemon Targaryen is not happy in his marriage to Lady Rhea Royce, whom he derogatorily calls his "bronze bitch". They're as divorced as they can be in a society that doesn't allow divorce. They haven't seen each other in years--she lives in the Vale while he lives elsewhere. He frequents brothels, keeps a long-term mistress named Mysaria, fancies his niece Rhaenyra, and overall conducts his life as if he were not married. The only thing that his marriage stops him from doing is marrying someone else. He tries to get around that by taking a second wife while Rhea still lives and calling it polygamy. After that idea is shot down twice, he resorts to [[spoiler: DivorceRequiresDeath and murdering Rhea.]] She only appears once in the series, and seems equally contemptuous of him when he appears unexpectedly.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Nexus}}'' [[spoiler: The entire focal point of Jack and Knock Out’s bond was that it was an accident. Jack]] even tries to figure out a way to break it without killing himself.

* On the unwanted fiancée side, Ruto from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''.
** She's not so much unwanted as, when she forked over the Sapphire and said her mom told her to give it to the man she intended to marry, Link was too young to really grasp what she was talking about. When she confronts him about it seven years later, he’s not so much disinterested in marrying her as surprised she's in the Temple at all.

* ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', another series by Creator/RumikoTakahashi, centers on a young man who accidentally marries an alien princess. He wants someone else. Anyone else.

* Maris on ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' eventually turns into this before the divorce storyline. She's so horrible]] that all of the ''other'' characters dislike her and are vocaabout it, but her husband [[ExtremeDoormat Niles]] (despite his crush Daphne) genuinely loves her before he's made to realize just [[DomesticAbuse how badly she treats him]].

** In "Married...With Cancer", Brian enters a relationship with a woman dying from cancer and eventually decides to marry her so that she won't die alone. Then immediately after the wedding, her cancer miraculously goes into remission and Brian is stuck having to deal with her obnoxiously happy personality all the time, made worse when she lets herself go (due to her celebrating that her digestive system is working again by overeating) and becomes a [[{{Gasshole}} constantly farting]] FatSlob. And since Brian had previously paraded around on TV, telling everyone how much he loves her, he can't divorce her without looking like he only dated her for the attention.

This character can be heroic--unhappily married to a villain, and made so miserable by the marriage that they turn around and betray them, joining the heroes--or villainous (often the case if she's the woman standing between the story's two main lovers).

* This is also TruthInTelevision: plenty of royal marriages were like this, the most recent example being Charles and Diana Windsor aka the Princess of Wales. He couldn't marry his long-time lover Camilla Parker-Bowles because she was a married woman ''and'' wasn't a virgin beforehand. Diana was an earl's naive daughter who thought she'd become a full-blooded princess by marrying him, they got hitched and things progressively went FromBadToWorse.
** Isabelle of France, mentioned above under ''Film/{{Braveheart}},'' was not averse to becoming queen of England, but with ''another'' king. Edward II basically ignored and humiliated her during their marriage, and he possibly/allegedly cheated on her with his squires and other (male) "friends". There are various theories that [[TheDogBitesBack she may have murdered him]], possibly in retaliation for this, though the popular story that the method of assassination was [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice being buggered to death with a red hot poker]] has no basis in contemporary accounts.

** And of course we have UsefulNotes/HenryVIII of England, who is infamous for the extremes he would go to in order to dispose of one unwanted spouse after another -- so far as splitting with the Roman Catholic Church for refusing to grant a divorce and [[StartMyOwn starting his own denomination]] in one case, and having the unlucky woman executed in two others. Ironically enough, the only wife who was unwanted from the beginning, Anne of Cleves, was the only one who didn't suffer much under his disposal of her. This may have had something to do with the fact that she (no fool) immediately agreed to a divorce. Since he didn't dislike her personally, he gave her a generous settlement (and she found she came to like England), they remained friends for the rest of their lives (she was after the divorce referred to as "The King's Beloved Sister"), and she lived quite comfortably - outliving all the rest of his wives, and remembered by her servants as a kindly, generous, easy-going mistress.

** Rusudan of UsefulNotes/GeorgiaEurope and her husband Ghias ad-Din of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultanate_of_Rum Sultanate of Rum]] were this to each other. Depending on which account you believe, either his father [[ArrangedMarriage arranged their marriage]] or Rusudan herself ordered him to marry her. Either way she quickly tired of him and cheated on him constantly. In 1226 a rival kingdom invaded Georgia and Ghias ad-Din defected to their side. Then they left and [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder he defected back to the Georgian side]]. After this Rusudan repudiated their marriage, and she may even have had him killed.
** George IV of Great Britain married Caroline of Brunswick and they stayed married for a total time of... one year. And their marriage was an unmitigated disaster. Neither party suited the other. George even banned her from attending his coronation service. And then she died. Though he had nothing to do with it, she just fell really ill.
** UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat was was King of Prussia during much of its peak political and military power, but married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg more out of political necessity and appeasing his frightfully cruel father, Frederick William I. Frederick himself was by all accounts gay, taking a series of male companions and lovers in spite of his father's brutal repression, and had no interest in producing an heir to the throne. Once Frederick William I finally passed, Frederick gave Elisabeth Christine an estate near Berlin and thought little of her. Despite this, they never separated and Elisabeth Christine herself would prove to be quite a strong woman and came to be highly respected in her own right.

** UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat was was King of Prussia during much of its peak political and military power, but married Elisabeth Christine of the Austrian branch of the Hapsburgs more out of political necessity and appeasing his frightfully cruel father, Frederick William I. Frederick himself was by all accounts gay, taking a series of male companions and lovers in spite of his father's brutal repression, and had no interest in producing an heir to the throne. Once Frederick William I finally passed, Frederick gave Elisabeth Christine an estate near Berlin and thought little of her. Despite this, they never separated and Elisabeth Christine herself would prove to be quite a strong woman and came to be highly respected in her own right.

* Used for laughs in ''LightNovel/BakaAndTestSummonTheBeasts''. [[{{Yandere}} Shouko]] repeatedly tells [[spoiler:her former OnlyFriend]] [[BrilliantButLazy Yuuji]] that she wants to marry him, and tries forcing him to sign marriage papers, and threatens to kill/hurt him if he refuses. She often goes into {{Yandere}}/ClingyJealousGirl mode if other girls are around him, or she feels he's getting a little too friendly with male friends.

* Stollas and Stella in ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'' are strongly implied to have never loved each other, to begin with, and only married out of obligation than feelings for each other. Though he does suggest that he did at least try to make it work, ultimately the only good thing that he feels came out of their ''relationship'' is their daughter Octavia.

* ''Film/CarryOnHenry'' posits that King Henry VIII (Creator/SidJames) had another wife (Creator/JoanSims), a garlic-loving wife he alternately wanted and unwanted as the political climate changed around him.

** UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat was was King of Prussia during much of its peak political and military power, but married Elisabeth Christine of the Austrian branch of the Hapsburgs more out of political necessity and appeasing his frightfully cruel father, Frederick William I. Frederick himself was by all accounts gay, taking a series of male companions and lovers in spite of his father's brutal repression, and had no interest in producing an heir to the throne. Once Frederick WIlliam I finally passed, Frederick gave Elisabeth Christine an estate near Berlin and thought little of her. Despite this, they never separated and Elisabeth Christine herself would prove to be quite a strong woman and came to be highly respected in her own right.