Love Everlasting

Question: Since you're getting married, let me ask this: what are your favorite marriages in mythology?

Aww, a happy, fluffy question to round out my day. Thanks, anonymous!

It's hard to choose a favorite, because mythological marriages are usually archetypal and larger-than-life, which makes most of them interesting, exciting, touching or all of the above. In no particular order, some of my favorites include:

Aengus and Caer Ibormeith. It's hard to come up with a more romantic fairytale than the one that these two come from, complete with meeting and falling in love in dreams, searching the entire world for one another and finally flying away as matched swans. Among the Tuatha, they're one of the few marriages that doesn't end in disaster, disloyalty or despair, no mean feat (but then again, he is the god of love).

"Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun." --The Song of Wandering Aengus

Odysseus and Penelope. A touching tale of steadfast, loyal love that endures for decades and never dims despite temptation and fatigue. Odysseus and Penelope are the greatest among men and women - Homer uses the word arete to refer to how awesome they are, in fact - and complement one another perfectly, the perfect husband to the perfect wife. When Penelope, testing to see if Odysseus really was her returned husband, offered to move her bed out into the hall for him, he revealed that he had carved one of its bedposts from a living tree in the corner of their bedroom, representing the living quality of their love. Now that's romance.

"Then husband and wife wept together, and Penelope said, ‘It was the gods did this to us, Odysseus—the gods who grudged that we should have joy of the days of our youth.’
Next they told each other of things that happened in the twenty years they were aPart; Odysseus speaking of his own toils and sorrows, and Penelope telling what she had endured at the hands of the wooers. And as they told tales, one to the other, slumber came upon them, and the dawn found them sleeping side by side." --The Odyssey

Shiva and Parvati. If there was ever a marriage of perfectly balancing halves that together become something greater, it's these guys. Parvati's gentleness, faithfulness and mean verbal left hook keep Shiva's craziness and overly energetic destructiveness in check, while his vitality energizes and sustains her. Together, they are the sexual and loving force that makes the universe tick. They're cosmically in love and it's epic.

"The moon dives deep within the ash-strewn tangle of his hair; the snake slips from his shoulder, hiding beneath a graceful hood; the bull with hooftip slyly rubs his eye as Shiva kisses the mountain daughter's face." --Rajasekhara

Tammuz and Ishtar. These two crazy kids are the absolute epitome of passion that conquers all (even spats that end with one of them in the Underworld, it turns out). Ishtar may be a nutcase and Tammuz entirely too sweet to deal with her, but the sparks that fly between them are crazy, and even after he ends up spending half the year in the Underworld because of her tantrums, Tammuz's passion for his erstwhile wife and hers for him never fades. The love poem of their marriage may be the oldest love poem in the entire world, and be prepared if you decide to go read it - it's deliciously racy.

Zeus and Hera. It's by now stereotypical in the modern day to view Zeus as a philandering man-whore and Hera as a bitterly vengeful shrew, two people trapped in a loveless marriage with someone they don't like very much. While no one can deny Zeus' misbehavior (he really loves him some illicit sex, geez), his marriage with Hera is all kinds of vibrant and touching, however; she may be justifiably upset by his wandering eye, but the two are still smitten with one another even so. It's not a perfect marriage, but it's a marriage of equals who, in spite of all their differences and problems, still totally float one anothers' boats.

"Then in answer spake to her Zeus, the cloud-gatherer: 'Hera, thither mayest thou go even hereafter. But for us twain, come, let us take our joy couched together in love; for never yet did desire for goddess or mortal woman so shed itself about me and overmaster the heart within my breast--nay, not when I was seized with love of the wife of Ixion, who bare Peirithous, the peer of the gods in counsel; nor of Danaë of the fair ankles, daughter of Acmsius, who bare Perseus, pre-eminent above all warriors; nor of the daughter of far-famed Phoenix, that bare me Minos and godlike Rhadamanthys; nor of Semele, nor of Alcmene in Thebes, and she brought forth Heracles, her son stout of heart, and Semele bare Dionysus, the joy of mortals; nor of Demeter, the fair-tressed queen; nor of glorious Leto; nay, nor yet of thine own self, as now I love thee, and sweet desire layeth hold of me.'" --The Iliad

This is long and rambly enough, but I think those above make a good snapshot of some of the great marriages of myth, not only great love stories and fun reading but also representative of the order and goodness of the universe. There are plenty of mythic marriages that fall apart - spouses kill one another, run off with lovers, lead armies against one another or just aren't feeling it anymore - but others are as enduring and touching as when they were invented millennia ago. Honorable mention should also go to such epic lovebirds as Sin & Ningal, Ptah & Sekhmet, Osiris & Isis, Freyr & Gerd and Enlil & Ninlil.

Anybody else got any favorites?

(P.S.: Our PCs' marriages are pretty awesome, too. Except for that time Kettila married a dude for three hours and then killed him. That one wasn't so hot.)