The Marriage

Not to be confused with The Abominable Marriage

The Marriage is a playable character in Fear & Hunger. A Marriage can be obtained by choosing the 'show love' option on an unused ritual circle with a willing participant in the player's party. The player character and the party member will mold together, producing a Marriage.

Producing a Marriage will increase the player's affinity to Sylvian, and the Marriage will be in perfect health, with all of their limbs intact. The Marriage will also be phobia-free.

Lore
"'I know of the 2nd secret of Sylvian: I no longer have to fear for separation from my loved ones for we can forever join in a marriage of flesh. An act of love that creates a beautiful unison for two souls.' - Blood & Flower magic I"Sylvian was the god of love, lust, and creation. Flower magic like this came into being when she realized her love for mankind could never be returned in the same way.

The Marriage itself is an amalgamate of the two characters that made it, inheriting the soul of the player's character, but it's one of the strongest, most visible ways Sylvian interacts with the world.

The player is not the only person who can create a Marriage: Buckman and Ser Seymor form a Marriage in the floor 7 catacombs once they're rescued, turning them into a bleeding, wheezing abomination. The Human Hydra found in a special room on the first floor is actually a Marriage of many of the surviving dungeon guards, and the Moonless guard is a Marriage made out of a Prison Guard and a cavewolf. The Yellow Lizardmage, that can be encountered at The Gauntlet, is an act of love between a Lizardman and a Yellow Mage.

Attributes
The Marriage retains the same soul and abilities as the host character they come from, but does not have any equipment. Any equipment either participant was wearing will be lost.

The attack stat of the Marriage is 50, which is higher than any of the starting player characters, and they can wear any armor and use two-handed weapons, unlike Enki.

Finding a participant
The player must find a willing participant to produce a Marriage. The easiest way to do this is by using Necromancy to raise a Ghoul; the Ghoul is mindless and beholden to your will. Cahara, D'arce, Ragnvaldr and Enki will also consent to forming a Marriage with the protagonist after spending enough time in your party: Le'garde and the girl will refuse the offer, while the Demon Children, the Skeletons and Moonless are not pickable. Nas'hrah will actually agree to participate, but will burn the player to death (aside from lacking a body, he is a sadistic psychopath that finds pleasure in the smell of burnt flesh) instead of performing the act, resulting in a Game Over.

If for some reason the player prays to any god, including Sylvian, and then makes the marriage with a character, it will cause the marriage to fail with the message "It seems that things did not go as expected.", in addition to a Game Over.

Trivia

 * At the moment, it is not possible to form a Marriage with Enki due to bugs in the game's script.