The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me? (Episode 5) – Political Marriage? Are You Kidding Me?!
Well meets with Cardinal Hohenheim for a baptism and ends up getting into an arranged marriage to his granddaughter. A cunning power play by the Cardinal, even though he’s wary of Well’s perceptiveness.
What happened?
At first, Well assumed he was making small talk with the Cardinal and jokingly said that he should put his name into the hat to be a suitor for Elize. The Cardinal didn’t see the funny side to it and agreed that it should be so. At the young age of twelve, Well is now engaged to be wed to Saint Hohenheim, a healer. She’s also twelve, but the date has been set. Well returns home and wonders about how this all came to be, but it would appear that it is increasingly common for arranged marriages between the nobility. Still, he can’t help but worry that she has no desire for the arrangement. After another run-in with a potential retainer, Well makes Erwin his retainer and goes out to meet with Elize. Lousie and Iina discover Erwin’s new position and make plans to move above him by becoming Well’s concubines!
What did you think?
I guess we’re not heading on any adventures any time soon then! There are definitely zombies and other monsters in the OP, so where are they? That said, I am still enjoying this series even if it’s now heading into the arranged marriage area. It’s pretty easy to get frustrated at the state of things in this fantasy world, but it’s worth noting that it wasn’t that long ago that it was the norm in this world. I’m not saying it’s right, but to blame Well for the state of the world would be crazy. As far as I can see, he’s being fairly respectable about the whole thing, especially considering his mind is considerably older than his body.
It’s also fairly sad that Louise and Iina see becoming a concubine as a way to move up the ladder. Again, it wasn’t that long ago here. Maybe, Well can change the state of the world in the future and maybe that would be the natural progression of things anyhow. That said, watching Louise attempting to seduce Well was the funniest thing I’ve seen in a while.
What have you learnt?
I think of myself as a fairly open-minded individual and often write about strong female characters. Even so, I can see why you would want to use a system like this as it fits into the historic feel of this fantasy world. I feel like this is going to become a much larger part of this story than I had originally anticipated, but that’s fine. There are a lot of things that we can borrow from history when writing and it’s very common with fantasy worlds. Often times, these details are some of the things that add a layer of familiarity and equally show just how different this world is to our own. A lot of fantasy revolves around the European model, but it would be fun to look at other areas and times to see what you can borrow to enrich your own stories.
Other reviews in the series
- Season One
- Episode 1 – The 8th Son? Are You Kidding Me?
- Episode 2 – A Succession Dispute? Are You Kidding Me?
- Episode 3 – A Loner? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 4 – Obligations? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 5 – Political Marriage? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 6 – A Bullet Tour? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 7 – No Magic? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 8 – Presumed Dead? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 9 – People Hate Me? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 10 – Toxic? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 11 – Between a Rock and a Hard Place? Are You Kidding Me?!
- Episode 12 – The 8th Son? I Guess That’s Not So Bad!
- Bonus Posts
