In so many fanfics there is idea of an arranged marriage, especially in the early HP times with Narcissa and Sirius and James etc etc. Do you think they actually HAD arranged marriages in the wizarding world? And would they continue to be arranged?

I don't really think so, but, you never know. The plot for arranged marriages is always used, so I'm just curious.

I doubt Narcissa and Sirius, oh boy far from it. But maybe if they had the chance.. Snape and Lily, until good ol' Jamesy comes in. Woo! yeah.. but arranged marriage? Uh oh ran out of things to say.

Hmmm, not much to work off here... but I will give it a shot. I do think there was arrranged marriages among the middle-class to wealthy prominent wizards, most likely purebloods. I can see Narcissa and Sirius being arranged much more plausible than Snape and Lily! He was a half-blood, and she was muggle-born, so an arranged marriage between such distant parents would have been... nearly impossible. Though by the time of the Marauders and Snape, and Lily, I believe wizarding arranged marriages had all but been eliminated, due to a gradual depopularization of the practice as well as feeling the need to wed because of the rising Dark Times.

~Albus

I can see how maybe there would have been some arranged marriages between purebloods, to keep the family lines "pure" and all of that...but like some others have said, I don't think they would have done that for muggle-borns or half-bloods. And like Albus said, with the whole Dark Lord rising, I think it was lost in the panic to get settled down while you still could....

Maybe arranged marriages exist(ed) in other parts of the world? Maybe it is common for marriages to be arranged in the Durmstrang area, for example. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of arranged marriages in Europe as far as I can tell. It is kind of an odd idea.

i think there probably were arranged marages between the 'upper class' purebloods like the malfoys and possibly the blacks. Although if there used to be arranged marriges i dont think they still arrange them. be quite funny if they did though....i wonder who draco would have to marry?......

Good point, and if Draco did have to marry anybody, it probably would be Pansy...Maybe that's why she's always around him? It's very possible that pure blood families may have arranged marriages...

Once I came across a fic which suggested that beween Sirius and Andromeda there was a marriage promise, an agreement between their families, but she fled to marry Ted Tonks.
I found it totally plausible.
Arrangements are usually made in the children's first years, as soon as possible, to ensure the "reservation" of the boy/girl.
It could be, definitely, that arranged marriages were normal among purebloods, or between familes which needed to keep the money or the name IN certain limits.

For anyone who's taken an anthropology class knows, arranged marriages are mostly done between wealthy families to maintain high status and wealth. I find more than likely that there were arranged marriages in the wizarding world, to stay wealthy as well as to keep the "purity" of blood. But that they're going out of style because of the prejudge against muggle borns is dwindling, and the number of pure blood families is lessening.

Yeah, I agree with Amyrat151. I am sure that if there were arranged marriages they would be between pure blood lines so that they could maintain their status, though I doubt there are many anymore given that there aren't that many pure bloods left out there. I don't know if they actually did have them, pure bloods may have just gone out and found another pure blood to marry just for the sake of marrying. Not arranged exactly, but just getting married to maintain their blood line. Seeing people like the Malfoys either way seems plausible but yeah, I could see arranged marriages between pure bloods.

I can see purebloods getting aranged marriages, but just pure bloods. Man araged marrigaes suck!

But yeah, pure bloods are all into "You have to marry a pure blood, blah blah blah ..." so yeah, but not other. Because halfbloods and muggleborns and well, blood traitors don't mind who they can or cannot marry.

Except when it comes to like-people like Ginny marrying draco or something. The Weasley's and Malofy's would be out to kill! Lol.

Ya I think that they had arranged marriages for the purebloods so they could keep the family name pure and all of that stuff.... which by the way I think is stupid. But I think that they had more arranged marriages before James and Sirius were born maybe even before their parents were born. Because just like in our world today... arranged marriages are not common but they are not unheard of I think by the time James and Sirius and all of them were ready to marry there parents gave them more freedom. All I know is I wouldn't want my parents to arrange my marriage that would suck!! sorry a lil off topic!!

-Kelso

Bah, they're everywhere in our world today. Look at India - a lot of arranged marriages happen there. Pakistan too. You hear about women fleeing to different countries around them just to get out of the marriage.

Anyway. Back on topic. You're right about upper class being married off. I can see it happening, actually. Look at royals in our own history - kings were given brides when they were young just to tie countries together.

I gotta agree with Moon(I luv you Luna), I don't think the Malfoys would arrange something with the Weasleys. What an awkward family lunch that would be. You know, with the men of the household constantly trying to slaughter each other.

I think the Weasleys are far less concerned with blood purity. They take into concern what would make their children happy.

Today, there are more subtle ways to arrange marriages. People belonging to a certain social class won't be allowed to marry a person from another class, usually, or another ethnic group. This happens in New York and in Rome, in Tokyo and in Vancouver, not necessarily openly like in some countries, but with much hidden social pressure.
It's difficult for a person born in a certain ethnic group to marry a person of another group, because still today, ethnic rules are very strong among lots of families.
I am convinced that the wave of "muggle" marriages by European noble heirs is a trend due to the constant searching for the ordinary people's approvation. Nobility is something going towards a simple representative role, like in UK, and after all, it's the ordinary people who pay their bills.

Maybe it's a bit OT but it explains how things work in the muggle world. No wonder Purebloods are so strict in their marriage policies. They maybe don't care about money or color of the skin, but they care about the blood.
It's a form of insecurity, probably. They are convinced that if they keep the blood "pure" they will keep also their powers and their status.
Of course, this is not possible, because an "infiltrate" will always show up in the blood line, sooner or later...
Furthermore, someone has theorized that even muggleborn wizards and witches must have a magical ancestor, because having magical powers is not a matter of a DNA mutation like the X-men..it's more a recessive gene that eventually comes out.

I think witchmom has a point. I seem to remember reading something about Prince Charles and who he could marry. It struck me as more of who he was allowed to marry. The idea that he would would marry a commoner was completely unheard of and unacceptable. His choice of Dianna was, if I remember correctly, referred to as a proper marriage.

Lots of cultures and socio-economic groups still cling to this belief.Don't marry beneath your station? Why would the wizarding world be any different? Some wizards simply put a very high value on their magical ancestory the way other people put a very high value on their financial portfolio. I guess we're just more accepting of one than the other.

I feel that in the cases of pureblood there are perhaps arranged marriages as they want to keep the purblood race of wizards if you like going. If we take say Mr Malfoy for example he married Narcissa (sp) who was a pure blood and I think that was an arranged marriage. I have a theory that there was once 'something' between Snape and Narcissa (sp) (reasons because on The Unbreakable Vow in book 6). She couldn't marry him because she was arranged to marry Malfoy in order to keep the pureblood race going and aviod shame on the Black family, avioding her name being brunt off the family tree tapesty. She couldn't go with Snape becasue he is a half-blood.

Having an arranged marriage between purebloods would suck. Look at the Black Family Tree. The Prewetts (Molly's Decendents) are on there, the Weasleys, the Macmillans, the Crabbes, the Potters, the Longbottoms, the Crouches, and alot of other Pureblood families (to see the Black family tree go to http://hp-lexicon.org/images/blackfamilytr...al-version.gif ) So, you'd be marrying your cousin if you wanted to stay pure. (Maybe that's why they're all insane.)

Hey the Potters, Weasleys, Longbottoms ,and Sirius are not insane (well the longbootms were forced to insanity) but I guess you are right they would all have to be marrying there cousins. Wait does that mean Ron Sirius and Harry are all inbred?

Harry wouldn't be inbred... Don't forget that Lily was a 'Mudblood', which meant she was in a totally different gene pool, if you will, from everyone else.

Oh yeah I forgot about that but that just means that Draco and Nevill are inbreds Ha HA ( I am laughing at Draco not neville I feel sorry for him!)

i loved all of the couples in the 6th book. Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione are all the perfect couple. I was so disappointed when harry told ginny they couldn't be bf and gf. i hope it all works out.

Oh, I would definitely say ther were arranged marriages between the pureblood families. There was a lot of stress put on the children from the "Proud Pureblood" families... I don't think any power on earth would make me marry my cousin for the sake of a blood line, but that's neither here nor there. Thinking of what Sirius told Harry in OOTP -- Bellatrix and Narcissa's names remained on the family tapestry because they made "respenctable, pureblood marriages." To some of these families, marrying a Muggleborn was bringing shame on your family -- what better way to ensure respectability than to take the guesswork out of the situation and set your child up with a suitable spouse?

everything is possible!
especially 50 years ago, or something like that.
they wanted to stay pure blooded, and there aren't SO many pure blooded families.

Maybe beetween the pure blooded familys,but Snape and Lily , no way-THAT WAS LOVE ,and James spoiled everything!
I don't think Narcissa and Sirius would work anyway.

i agree with loveseverus, lily and snape wouldn't have been arranged. she didn't even know she was a witch before he told her. maybe there were arranged marriges, but just in the same way we have them. some religions do them others dont

I don't think there were arranged marriages for the vast majority of the Wizarding population in the last 50 years or so. I just think there a lot were less-than-subtle hints, that would have only happened with the familes like the Malfoys. There probably wasn't any need to arrange marriages anyway- you could trust a kid like Draco to pick a pure-blood, people like him were already so prejudiced against muggle-borns that they wouldn't give them the time of day anyway! I don't think there was any need for pure-bloodline approving parents to stress; if they raised their child right, they wuld have exactly the same attitude towards bloodlines as them. Although I realise this is not correct in cases like Sirius', but I think people like him are exceptions to the rule.

i dont know as much as some of u on the subject but id say that alot of the purebloods knew who they "should" marry, but i dont believe that they would have been arranged

I agree with Ignatius, even if they are not arrange people like Draco would simply do so cos they r so prejudiced. years of being brainwashed had taken its toll. I dont even wna imagine Sirius and narcissa!! Its a stupid and harmful custom. luk what hapnd to the Gaunt family. They should learn a lesson from it.

well I guess no I am utterly convinced that the marriage of Bella and Rodulphus (sp?) was arranged...I cant see any kind of relation ship between them in the books...they are always apart..and when they are together they hardly talk to each other. besides bella is obviously in love with LV...so I guess she just married to keep the pure bloods really pure...and be still a beloved memeber of her family and not burned out like her sister Andromeda...although I dont know who married first...

like what the others said,.arranged marriages are made among pure bloods,.to keep the line pure,.but if there has been i marriage between a muggle and a pure blood i think that it wasn't arranged,.it just means that even if they came from two different worlds they didn't let it get in the way of their love,. *mushy*,.lol,.

Hm, I'm not totally convinced, that arranged marriages were just between purebloods...Imagine a proud pureblood. Somehow hapend, that he/she had a kid with muggle or squib. Is that a reason not ot want marry him/her to someone appropiate? I think no. On the other side, many purebloods must be aware of inbred, som probably won't mind "almost pureblood". The blood keeps its magic also this way. And that's a lot for them.

I don't think that there were arranged marriages. Parents might have had a hand in who you should marry with, but if you really wanted to marry someone your family doesn't approve, you just will be kicked out of the family [like those people on the wand of the Blacks, when people who did bad things were burned from the wall].

This is interesting for me, because I included on in my fan fiction in that Bellatrix was in an arranged marriage to Lestrange, but you'll have to read it to find out. It's an old world idea, but if we look into Wizzarding past, we can see that they have developed much faster than we did when it came to equality of women, for example. I read my Quidditch Through The Ages, and there were significant women in the history of the sport from the 15th century. Women weren't involved in sports that much until the mid 20th century, and even now, there is no woman ski jumping planned for the 2010 Olympics, which is really sad, by the way, but I won't go into that now. Anyways, this all connects because, if they were so advanced, then there is a possibility that the idea of arranged marriages fell out long before they did in the Muggle world. However, the idea still exists in several 3rd world countries, which makes me wonder if there are also lower areas in wizzarding society that also contain such old world aspects. I wouldn't doubt it, but it's not something that we would expect from, for example members of the Order of the Phoenix. However, because we know that the Black's were old-world in many of their ideas, with the decapitation of house elves and all, I wouldn't be surprised if that was another tradition they carried on. Several Death Eater families are traditionalists, meaning that they have kept onto aspects of their family lives for the sole sake that they were tradition, ignoring all moral and ethical standards. We can see this in that they maintain ideas that seem old to modern society, yet have personal reasoning to continue.

I'm kinda rambling, but this is just a general idea. It all depends on how much they developed ahead of us, and how important the old-world traditions are to such wizzarding families.

~Aeryn~

...arranged marriage.. hmm, it's plausible, but i don't know. perhaps only on the rich purebloods, it kinda makes sense. but is there really any need? i mean, i think they're doing that for the sake of wealth, name, purity and stuff.. but are the kids not aware of those things from the very beginning? i'm sure they were brought up with those things bieng drilled to their heads since birth, enough for them to be repulsed with the mere thought of marrying a poor, nameless muggle or something.. except for "black sheeps" like sirius and andromeda of course, who were not quite supportive of the "pureblood nonesense".. but i guess arranged marriages were not that popular anymore, although maybe it was the natural occurence a couple of decades back

I'm not sure what I can add here without repeating what has been said, but I tend to agree that years ago I think the pure-blood families had arranged marriages to keep their bloodline intact. Just as with many royal families having arranged marriages within their own "kind" to assure that the monarchy stay within the family. Now, in my opinion, I think the pure-blood families try to marry their own kind, just as royal families today have "proper marriages" (ie, they don't marry commoners).

I don't think there were arranged marriages ever in Harry Potter. I mean, the marauder's era was only when my parents were teenagers, and I know there weren't arranged marriages back then. At least, no muggle ones. The purebloods knew that they had to preserve their bloodline, so they kind of, I guess, arranged their own marriage.

Maybe in like, ancient times at the founding of Hogwarts, there were arranged marriages. But within the last, say, couple centuries, I don't think there were any in recent times.

Well, I think it's probably a lot like in the muggle world. There were arranged marriages and now it's died out in a lot of places. It's probalby not common for the Brittish witches and wizards, just like it's not common for the Brittish muggles. Maybe it's a common practice for witches and wizards in other countries, who knows? I think that there are probably those parents who would have a list or something of "acceptable" matches for their son or daughter.

Well if you think about it Pure-bloods only wanted their children to marry Pure-bloods. The same thing as an arranged marriage. But I think that arranged marriages are complete nonsense. People should be allowed to marry who they want to. Even in the wizarding world. Pure-blood with Muggle. Muggle born with Pure-blood. It shouldn't matter.

~Leja~

like many said, earlier...

arranged marraiges are more pronunced in pure-bloods.. I wonder, that Bella loved Voldy, so maybe, she married her husband as an outcome of arranged marraige? I mean its never written that she ever loved her husband, Mr. Lestrange is never mentioned aroung her. She was proud of the pure blood trait, so she must have happily married him to be in good books of people like Voldy.

That would make sense, Radcliffefreak. Bellatrix Lestrange did seem to love Voldy whenever she talked and looked and stood with in a mile of him or whatever.

I wonder, in some parts of the world today, people still do have arranged marriages. Maybe some wizards who live in those countries have arranged marriages? Just a thought.

I think it's possible. In the medieval times there were arranged marriages too between royal families. I think it's possible that this would have happened between those families like the Lestranges and Blacks who didn't want to 'contaminate' their blood with anything less than pure. Although, considering that the prejudices were passed down from generation to generation I don't think that those getting married would have had any objection to marrying someone who their parents had selected since this would, also in their eyes, be right for a pureblood to marry a pureblood.

There is something formal in the wizarding world that we don't have here. I think we associate the way they are more formal with older times, when we had arranged marriages. Plus, they make interesting fanfics. The only scenario I can really see in the wizarding world where would be arranged marriages would be, like how many of you have said, within the pureblood families. I can kind of see why they want to keep their blood pure though. I think for most wizards like Lily and James Potter it wouldn't be arranged, but for the Malfoys, who knows when that inbreeding is going to end.

I can't imagine powerful pureblood families not arranging marriages. The would want to keep their money and power collective. Perhaps a wealthy half blood and even muggle born would be considered for a pureblood mate if they had enough money and power. Can't be marrying cousins forever now can ya?

Good point. Maybe extremely wealthy, powerful muggle-borns is where inbreeding will end. Haha. That would probably work for less picky pureblood families. I can't imagine Lucius letting his son settle.