Marriage

Background

For some men, it might be difficult to find a suitable bride, and there is advisability in making an advantageous marriage for both partners.

Most find wives through various means of courtship and dating, until they can find a proper girlfriend. One form of bride hunting is to host a celebrations to find a bride (were all eligible females across the realm come to the palace to meet a prince or king). This worked for Prince Charming in finding Cinderella, but Graham was not able to find a proper wife by this method of 'courtship'. When Gerwain suggested that Graham host a two-day celebration, and invite all the maidens of marriageable age from his whole kingdom. He could then observe and conserve with the likely candidates, and see if any one of them fit his idea of a queen. Graham was not able to find a maiden to his liking at the celebration. Most had flaws that annoyed him in some way. Others might find a bride by attending wedding banquets and wedding celebrations for other members of the royalty, where women are looking for suitors themselves. Some might learn of their True Love by magical means.

It is usually the case that men marry women who fall within what they consider marriageable age. In Daventry and surrounding lands generally follows medieval conventions. Individuals try to marry maidens who are in marriageable age. However, for men there is no specific 'marriageable age', men range between young adults, to older men (much older than the girl/maiden they are marrying)..

Maidens are generally marriageable between 13-20 years, while men marry a little older (at least by Graham’s standards based on upon Red Riding Hood, he considers a twelve-year-old a 'little girl, and he doesn't romance little girls). Marriage appears to have been most common for girls between ages 13-17 years old. Hesthia, Rosella's childhood bestfriend married Daventry's baker when she was 13-14 years young (she wondered why 14-15 year old Rosella hadn't yet found someone to marry, and hadn't had children yet). Cassima was around 14-15 when she married the nineteen year old Alexander. Abdul wanted to marry her since she was a young girl. It is unclear when her father wanted her to marry Abdul (she was kidnapped before that happened, perhaps at 12-13). Lydia was ready for marriage at 14-15, but she hadn't yet found the right man (she had no interest in Telgrin, and Alexander was not interested in marrying her). Valanice (Graham's young maiden/young girl/young maid of a girlfriend) may have been young as 13-14, around the same age as Repunzel was courting/consummating marriage with her prince (if their similarities remained true). Milvia was married very young, to a very old rich merchant.

In fact, Rosella started looking at suitors as early as fourteen, she had some interest in boys of Cumberford, William and even to some extent her tutor Farquhar. Lolotte attempted to marry Rosella off to Edgar when she was still seventeen (almost eighteen).

However, she remained single until she was nineteen, almost twenty, to which her mother warned her she was almost out of her marriageable age (and needed to get married soon, lest she remained unmarried and childless). At least according to Companion reckoning, Rosella would have had to have married between 20 or 25 years after Graham's coronation (making her anywhere between 19-23 when she finally was married to Edgar or Connor depending on who she ultimately chose). This would have been very late, compared to most people in the kingdom. In fact most of Rosella's friends had already married long before they were nineteen. Twenty is still considered 'marriageable' age, but it actually appears to be tail end of it, and Valanice worried she would run out of time.

In contrast, her father Graham married the young maiden girl, Valanice when he was at least 20 (however, based on descriptions in the companion he could have been between 25-30 years old at the time of his marriage, at least in that universe). If Graham was 19 when he saved Daventry, he was twenty (or as as old as 24) when he saw young maiden Valanice ("The Girl") in the mirror that he fell in love, and both were married in Kolyma after he rescued her (or married after they returned home to Daventry). In Companion and KQ2 prologue reckoning he married Valanice one year after becoming King. In KQ4's manual reckoning he married Valanice three years after becoming king (these may all represent slightly different alternate universes).

Alexander married Cassima when he was 19.

Prince Cocteau who married Beauty was a man of middle age (he had already been middle age at the time of his curse, and lived over hundred years before). Beauty in comparison was a young girl, less than half his physical age (and only a small fraction of his age while under the curse). It is not clear what 'middle years' is relation to Life expectency, as some sources suggest 40 is old age (making middle years twenties, but some characters have been shown to reach much older ages). They married soon after Alexander lead them to meet each other, and their castle become the bridle home of Beauty and her prince.

Telgrin had imprisoned Lydia to allow her to grow up and come of age so that he could marry her. He was roughly fifteen years older than her. She was roughly fourteen, and he was about 29-30, soon upon the marriage, when Alexander rescued her from his grasp. She was interested in marrying the 18-19 year old Alexander, but he showed no interest.

Weddings are generally presided over by priests or ministers. Sometimes an important official or judge may preside over the wedding as well. In Green Isles, the Captain of the Guard Saladin had the power to marry Cassima and Alexander together (despite himself not being a priest or minister).

Traditionally wedding was followed by a wedding banquet, where unmarried ladies might show off their assets to the men, and look for their own suitors. For grander and important marriages, wedding celebrations may take place all over the land and in every town in the nation, over the course a few days or even weeks. Over the course of two nights, rejoicing, revelry, and carousing roared from all corners of Daventry after their monarch, King Graham, returned home to Daventry with a bride. Upon their arrival back home in Daventry, word of the royal wedding was immediately dispatched across the realm, carried in the claws of a condor that winged from town to town with the proclamation. The news set off spontaneous celebrations by all at first hearing.

It is customary that married couple are given gifts by friends, family and those who attend the weddings. Some say Edward built Castle Daventry as a gift to his new bride Maylie. As a wedding gift, the monks of Kolyma repaired the frayed bridge crossing in order that Graham and Valanice could return to the Crystal Tower and free the golden lion. Graham's own wedding gift to his wife Valanice, was the Sapphire Jewels he found scattered and hidden across Kolyma. Alex brought peace between the Isle of Wonder's two rulers, the Red and White Queens, by ensuring they both have identical lumps of coal to give as wedding presents to Cassima (rather than the Rotten Egg one of them was thinking of bringing). Traditionally in Daventry and Green Isles, eligible maidens are expected come with a dowry from their parents as their wedding gift. To this end, there are books such as Finding the Right Girl with the Right Dowry, that give advice about finding the best wives based on their dowries. To this end, Daventry's prime minister Gerwain had reservations about Graham having married Valanice quickly without proper dowry or period of courtship. He also thought it wasn't proper that Graham wed far away from his own land, out of sight of his own subjects.

In Daventry there is a certain style of braided hair favored by married women (which indicates that they are married).

List of Marriages

We learn a little bit of Edward and his first wife Maylie.

Edward's wedding to Dahlia is discussed in the backstory for KQ1.

Milvia was married very young to a very old and very rich merchant. When he died, she was left with warehouses full of what she called "junk and other old stuff." She took the gold her husband had left her and spent her life traveling the world in search of rare birds, rare stories, cheap thrills, and unique objects of the more magical persuasion. When she decided to stop traveling, she opened her store, stocking it from her late husband's long-abandoned store-rooms and the effluvia of her journeys

In some accounts Graham's wedding to Valanice happens at the end of KQ2 in Kolyma. There is accounts of another wedding taking place in Daventry upon their return. The Official Book King's Quest, 3rd Edition suggests that Graham and Valanice returned 'home' (using the amulet) to Daventry to have the wedding. Both The World of King's Quest: A Brief History of Daventry and Once Upon a Time in a Land Faraway both describe them returning home and the wedding taking place in Daventry. The King's Quest Companion (Romancing the Throne: From the Chronicles of Daventry, Part II ) however says they had their wedding in Kolyma (as implied by use of monastery artwork as seen in the game itself). It would seem depending on how one interprets the scene, the 'church' wedding at end of KQ2 could represent Daventry's church (they literally walk from Daventry's church in town back to the Castle (hence why they are still wearing wedding outfits as they enter the castle), or Kolyma's monastery (which would imply that they had to have changed back into the wedding outfits upon their return to Daventry after the long journey home). It's possible both weddings might have 'happened' (Weddings timeline), and Companion does say they brought Fragola back with them to became the royal chaplain to the court of Daventry (giving him a chance to officiate a more public wedding from Daventry's church). Another possibility is that these are representations of alternate universe events. The latter is possible as the third edition of the Official Book is based off the KQ1SCI inspired universe (as opposed to the original KQ1 which inspired the Companion), in the book, it states they went directly back to Daventry, rather than Kolyma, and had their wedding there. Whereas in Companion the amulet took Valanice back to her 'home' where they were married in Kolyma, and had a few more adventures before returning home (apparently slow journey by boat) back to Daventry, several weeks later. Prime minister, Gerwain thought it wasn't proper that Graham wed far away from his own land, out of sight of his own subjects. Regardless of where the wedding took place, or if there were two weddings (depending on the universe), Graham's wedding was attended by both friends and enemies alike including Hagatha, The Dragon, The Dwarf, Dracula (or some other vampire), King Neptune, The Mermaid, a Shark, Graham's Fairy Godmother, The Wolf, Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma, the Cloud Giant, the Leprechaun King, and the Enchanter/Sorcerer. People celebrated the wedding all across the towns of Daventry.

Lolotte atempted to marry Rosella off to her son Edgar. Rosella escaped with the help of Edgar, and defeated Lolotte. Genesta later turned Edgar human. Edgar had fallen hard for Rosella, and he asked her to marry him, but Rosella felt she was just a kid and she wasn't ready for marriage (besides she had a more important mission at hand). She let poor Edgar down easy, and went back to Daventry to save her dad.

During events of See No Weevil, Graham and Valanice visited Cumberford to attend the marriage of Duke Faust and the Duchess Aspen of the kingdom of Chouen, daughter of the Prince of Chouen. They attended the banquet feast there.

Mordack wanted to force Cassima to marry her in KQ5. Abdul Alhazred initiated a faked wedding to Cassima using his genie Shamir Shamazel in KQ6. Shadrack may have been interested in wedding Cassima as well (or at least he had uses for her both alive or dead).

Alexander's wedding to Cassima happens at the end of KQ6 (set a week after the end of the game).

In KQ7, Valanice wanted Rosella to think about marriage right away, striking while the iron was hot (otherwise she was getting to old and marriage could pass her up). The Fake Troll King, Otar III (really Edgar) tried to force Rosella to marry her.

Not long after the events of KQ6, rumors of the events of KQ7 began to spread around Daventry, and rumors of an impending wedding celebration. These rumors doesn't appear to come to pass, as Rosella wasn't yet married by the events of KQ8. In KQ7 Rosella is not interested in marriage yet, and while she does agree to court Edgar, she chooses to take it slow, and learn about him first before that decision would ever be made. In fact more rumors exist following KQ8 that Rosella met Connor, and love triangle between her and Edgar began. It is not known who she ultimately chose.

Jack the Giant-Killer married the daughter of one of King Arthur’s dukes. They lived happily ever after.

Aladdin could call upon the genie, and in time he and his mother became rich enough to ask the sultan to give Aladdin his daughter's hand in marriage. Eventually his nemesis, the evil mage came back and stole the lamp and bride from Aladdin, and Aladdin was forced to overcome him... In the end, Aladdin and his princess triumphed. He became sultan himself eventually, and they lived happily ever after.

Queen Priscilla of Serenia married Kenneth the Huge.

Cupid married Psyche.

The Frog Prince married a princess.

The Fisherman married his wife.

The Woodcutter married his wife.

Sabella married Mannikan.

Daltina married a prince.

Marriage Culture by Nation

Kingdom of Daventry

After Edward contacted Graham through the mirror prophecying that he would need to marry a Queen to give his people a prince to make Daventry's future secure. If he did not it was prophecised his kingodm would grow weak again..

Graham believed the person he was to wed must be; "She must be good, and kind, so that she will love my people and they will love here, she must have the wisdom to counsel me in my daily problems, and a loving heart to bring me comfort. I wish my Queen to glow with an inner beauty of spirit as well as beauty of face and form.

Graham pondered how he might find a bride fit to reign over Daventry. He consulted with Gerwain, his wise prime minister.

Gerwain suggested that Graham host a celebration, and invite all the maidens of marriageable age from his whole kingdom. He could then observe and conserve with the likely candidates, and see if any one of them fit his idea of a queen. The invitations were sent out, and the whole kingdom turned out for the celebration. From every corner of Daventry the maidens came. Short and tall, slender and plump, fair and dark, pretty and plain. There were maidens from all stations of life, from Dukes' and earls' daughters to the village goose girl and the scullery maid from the castle kitchens. They all had but one thing in common: They greatly admired the handsome King, and were eager to catch his eye. Word had spread that the King was looking for a bride, and they were all thrilled at the prospect of marrying the charming Graham. For two days the celebration wore on, and though he tried to be cheerful, Graham gradually became somber. None of the maidens he had met quickened his pulse. One maid squinted, another tripped over everything in sight. Another was too coy, and the one after her giggled constantly. They all had some fault, however small. It was with great relief that Graham saw his guests ride away at then end of the celebration. He retired to his room to reflect gloomily. Graham thought; "My kingdom is home to hundreds of lovely maidens, why is there not one among them who touches my heart and my dreams."

The mirror again prophecied showing him who would become his queen and fulfill Edward's prophecy. This turned out to be the beatufiul maiden Valanice, princess of Kolyma.

Rosella was to be forced into an arranged marriage, though Valanice changed her mind and gave her daughter a choice after their adventure in the Realm of Eldritch and meeting Edgar.

Green Isles

Abdul Alhazered had been interested marrying Cassima since she was a young child. He came to the islands fifteen years before KQ6. At the time she was a newborn baby ('new daughter' is a term used to describe a newborn baby girl in the household). It is not clear if she was born before or after his arrival. Only that she was newly born around the time he arrived. Even Calphim put trust in Alhazred thinking of him as his son, and thinking that he would make a good husband for his young daughter.

Mordack had asked for Cassima's hand for marriage roughly two years before KQ6 (Cassima was 12-13 at the time). Mordack was an older man of unknown age (possibly immortal or long lived being a wizard). When he was turned down, with the Vizier's help he kidnapped her bringing to his island, forcing her to be his skullery maid until she agreed to marry him. She escaped with the help of Graham within the same year of the kidnapping. After her return he forced her, into a year of mourning, while he prepared his own wedding to her (she was now around 14-15).

Alexander broke into the sham wedding (discovering that Abdul's genie was disguised as the princess), and rescued the real princess, after defeating the wizard Abdul in a sword dual in the castle's tower. They were married a week later (he around 19, and she still around 15).

Behind the scenes

Although the legal minimum age at marriage in medieval England was set at 12 years, in reality, marriage at such a young age was largely restricted to the nobility, with the average age at marriage in the general population estimated at 20–25 years.

Valanice is inspired by Rapunzel in a number of ways. She is captured by Dame Hagatha (Dame Gothel), put in a tower, after she is rescued she has twins, one boy and one girl. Like Valanice, the maiden Rapunzel is considered a 'girl'. In the Grimm/Lang version of the story she was a 'little girl' of twelve when she was taken by Dame Gothel into the tower. She was there for a 'few years' (one or two years in some editions) when king's son came and discovered her (making her roughly 13-15). During this time Repunzel was impregnated with her children (twins). The witch found out blinded the boy, and stranded the girl in a desert. The prince found her after some years, with discovering living with his twin children. She cured his blindness and they lived happily ever after. Valanice's history mirrors several elements of Repunzel's story (including being a young girl when she was put into the tower, being rescued after a few yearrs, having twins after she escaped from the tower, and both had been put into the tower by a witch, a Dame). Luckily Graham avoided being blinded in his trip to the tower.

Cassima's age is strange sticking point, depending on the 20 or 25 year timelines see (Companion timelines) Cassima was born around 15 years before KQ6, after Abdul came to the kingdom, or just before (she is referred to as 'newborn/new daughter'.).. On 25 year timeline she would have been born around 11 years after KQ1, or 5 years after KQ1 on the 20 year timeline (see Companion timelines). In either timeline this would make her around 14-15 years old, or younger at the time of KQ6.

The King's Quest Companion supports a much older age for Graham for when he got married. It describes Graham's period from when he entered into Palace School as years, his time in the university as years, his time in the army training as a soldier as 'years', and has been a knight fighting in the wars/hard times for 'years', before he became the new king. While these described periods are not necessarily mutually exclusive (and some may even overlap) they do seem to suggest a much longer period of time from his childhood to when he became a seasoned veteran knight he was at the time of King's Quest 1. Assuming the Palace School/High school is a 12 year institution, university is a 4 year institution, the army training/knight school at east 2 years, and several years fighting in the wars on top of that, it would seem to suggest a period of roughly 23-30 years total. It's also worth noting that it describes Graham's childhood largely peaceful and uneventful, perhaps suggesting Graham was young child before the troubles even began, before the magic mirror was even stolen (and it was stolen twenty years before according to the Companion, the rest of the treasures stolen not long after)... There is nothing to indicate if he was born before or after the stolen mirror. There is also no indication that he hadn't met the late queen or not. There is a reference to hard years after the loss of the treasures, which suggests Graham has probably lived through most of them. However, there is indication that he may have spent a relatively peaceful childhood, in which he could explore the kingdom largely unmolested, swimming, playing, etc. If the kingdom was at war, and plagued by invaders it is highly unlikely he would have been allowed to play alone on his own, which may indicate that he did spend at least part of his life before the treasures were stolen, the wars and invasions began (which would seem to indicate he is probably older than nineteen in those sources).