Saldean Marriages

Whee, finished Lord of Chaos yesterday!

:x I think it's time I finally sat down and read The Republic. That whole philosopher and classicist thing...

So, what we know of how Saldean couples interact comes from two sources primarily, the marriage of Perrin and Faile, as well as Bashere and Deira. This comes from when Perrin finally gets to Caemlyn because of the pull of Rand's stronger ta'veren thread.

So, I'm going to quickly recap the scene, then try to figure out what it means.

Once Perrin makes it fiercely clear that he will cleave through anything Bashere has to keep Faile with him, the two go to a room where Deira and Faile are discussing her running away, as well as her marriage. Once inside, Deira immediately speaks to Perrin about how Faile makes him out to be weak, indulgent, and not strong. Here comes a quote, and I'll try to interpret it:

"Weaklings never think so. A woman wants a strong man, stronger than she, here." And farther down, "If a woman is stronger than her husband, she comes to despise him. She has the choice of tyrannizing him or else making herself in order to not make him less. If a husband is strong enough, though..." She says a little more about how she can be strong as he is, but I think this will be sufficient.

First thing we know: Borderlanders are nuts, but lovable. As with what I've said of Shienar, the Borderlands require men to be constantly ready to fight off a Trolloc raid, and the practice of making men as strong as possible to deal with them takes on a different form here. Wherein Shienar chivalry defines how they will die to protect the women of the land, Saldean women seem to have decided that they need to be fierce to scare of any weak men, so only those strong enough to "tame" them will get to reproduce.

Remember, angry sex is the best sex!

Again, women do not generally fight in the Borderlands, but that does not mean they are simply subordinate to the men there. They seem to be always ready to antagonize and keep their husbands willful enough to hold the Blight back. Also, they seem to push their husbands when they think they might need it. Consider how Faile is the primary source of why the Two Rivers decides to be independent, and eventually a province subordinate to the Queen of Andor.

One thing I'm unsure of is that bit about either terrorizing him or lowering herself to make him stronger. Two possibilities arise, and I think they are both true. Either she rules him and forces him to "man-up" as it were so he does his duty, or she encourages him by making herself seem weaker than she really is.

Pretty interesting as far as relationships go. What was that quote by Robert Jordan, something about preferring to hunt leopards than rabbits, which refers to how much more satisfying it is to go after a tough woman than a meek one.

Bah, duty calls, Latin time!

Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.