Marriage/Legends

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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"People wonder why Jedi are forbidden to marry or have families. They don't see how attachments always lead to suffering."

―Jedi Master Orgus Din, on the drawbacks of marriage and the inevitable, unbalancing consequence of attachment^[1]

Marriage was the official union of two beings, usually a union of mutual love and attraction. However, in some cases, the union was for political reasons. Marriage could sometimes produce offspring, depending on cultural mandates, personal choice, or lack thereof.

Description

"The marriage is arranged, of course—we're not commoners."

―Fume Pachoola^[src]

Within many humanoid societies, marriage choices were in most cases made through courtship.^[2] Across the galaxy, a myriad of wedding traditions existed amongst the different species, most of which were generally of a monogamous nature. However, some species, such as the Cereans, due to either their culture or even reproductive rates, advocated polygamous unions.

History

"And what Leia doesn't know, I don't know. That's the secret to a happy marriage, actually."

―Han Solo^[3]

In early Hapan marriage traditions, attractive female "specimens" were usually kidnapped by pirates and mated with. Over time, these couplings resulted in the Hapan people appearing more physically attractive to other members of the Human species, resulting in the reclassification of their species to Near-Humans. When the Jedi wiped out the pirates in 3000 BBY, and most of the male Hapan population with it, this resulted in society-wide changes but did not adversely affect the Hapan species' beauty as a whole.^[4]

Under the original order, Jedi were forbidden to marry because they believed attachment could lead an individual to the dark side, as was the case with Shaela Nuur. Despite the ban and the associated dangers, many Jedi, including Kento Marek, Ranik Solusar, Nejaa Halcyon, Revan and Anakin Skywalker, wed, either in secrecy or with the knowledge and disapproval of the Jedi Council, which led to disciplinary actions being taken against them. These unions often resulted in children, who themselves became Jedi.

Due to the low ratio of males to females amongst Cereans, Ki-Adi-Mundi's duty to his species was taken into account, and he was allowed to marry five women (with whom he fathered seven children). Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi fell in love, but chose to separate and remain true to the Jedi Code, while T'ra Saa and Tholme entered a clandestine relationship but never married. Quinlan Vos chose to leave the Jedi Order to be with his wife Khaleen Hentz and son Korto Vos, though the Republic fell before he could act on his decision.

The New Jedi Order had their own marriage traditions. Under the leadership of Luke Skywalker, the Jedi were allowed to marry and Skywalker himself married Mara Jade.

A royal Onderonian wedding, one of many marriage rituals

Some species, such as the Zeltron, were devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and upheld hedonistic values, and marriage wasn't held in high regard. Some Zeltrons made an attempt to "educate" others on the "errors of monogamy." There were Zeltrons who thought differently, but they were rare. Deliah Blue was in a monogamous relationship with Cade Skywalker in 137 ABY, and even felt jealousy, a near unheard of emotion for a Zeltron to feel.

Inter-species unions were rare, though not unheard of, and sometimes produced offspring. Commonly, such unions were between a Human and a near-Human, as in the case of the Lethagoe, although more exotic unions were present, such as Cut Lawquane's marriage with his Twi'lek wife, Suu. However, it was unlikely that such pairings would produce hybrid children, in the absence of genetic modification or even Sith alchemy. Jedi Master Arca Jeth had Sephi ancestry, and Darth Malgus had a relationship with a Twi'lek, Eleena Daru, although they never married. This move echoed the history of the Sith, where members of the Sith species would interbreed with the Exiles. These unions produced many powerful Sith Lords who were strong in the power of the dark side. Marka Ragnos and Naga Sadow were two examples of such beings. Another exotic example of cross-species mating would be the Force-sensitive assassin Aurra Sing, the offspring of a Human mother and a father of an unknown species, whom she had inherited certain traits from, most easily seen with her alabaster-white skin. In other cases, offspring of unions between Humans and near-Humans were not so markedly different from the normal appearance of baseline Humans, although sometimes they did face certain cultural or clan issues, as in the case of the Human/Kiffar hybrid Ailyn Vel.