Marriage

"And what Leia doesn't know, I don't know. That's the secret to a happy marriage, actually."

Luke and Mara during their second honeymoon.

Marriage was the official union of two beings, usually a union of mutual love and attraction. However, in some cases, the union could be for political reasons. Marriage could sometimes produce offspring, depending on cultural mandates, personal choice, or lack thereof.

History

"The marriage is arranged, of course—we're not commoners."

―Fume Pachoola^[src]

Within many humanoid societies, marriage choices were in most cases made through courtship.^[1] Across the galaxy, a myriad of wedding traditions existed amongst the different species, most of which were generally of a monogamous nature. However, some species, such as the Cereans, due to either their culture or even reproductive rates, would advocate polygamous unions. Early Hapan marriage traditions varied from what would be considered "normal". Attractive female "specimens" were usually kidnapped by pirates and mated with. Over time, these couplings resulted in the Hapan people appearing more physically attractive to other members of the Human species, resulting in the reclassification of their species to Near-Humans. When the Jedi wiped out the pirates in 3000 BBY, and most of the male Hapan population with it, this resulted in society-wide changes but still not adversely affecting the Hapan species' beauty as a whole.^[2]

Under the original order Jedi were forbidden to marry because they considered attachment to be dangerous, as it was believed to lead an individual to the dark side, as was the case of Shaela Nuur. Despite the ban and its associated dangers, many Jedi, including Kento Marek, Ranik Solusar, Nejaa Halcyon, Revan and Anakin Skywalker, were wed, either in secrecy or with the knowledge and disapproval of the Jedi Council, which led to disciplinary actions being taken against them. Ban notwithstanding, these unions often resulted in children being born, but not all necessarily becoming Jedi. Some Jedi Masters in the Old Order were permitted to marry, as was the case with Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. Due to the low ratio of males to females, Mundi's duty to his species was taken into account and he was permitted to remain wedded to his wife and honor wives. Jedi Masters T'ra Saa and Tholme fell in love, despite the vast difference in species, but ultimately did not become a married couple. Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and Siri Tachi fell in love but this did not continue due to Tachi's demise.^[source?]

Kit Fisto and Aayla Secura had a long relationship until their deaths. The New Jedi Order had their own marriage traditions. Under the leadership of Luke Skywalker, the Jedi were allowed to marry and Skywalker himself married Mara Jade.

OronGaliaBinding — One of the many marriage rituals. This one in particular is a royal Onderonian wedding.

Some species, such as the Zeltron, were devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and upheld hedonistic values, and marriage wasn't held in high regard. Some Zeltrons made an attempt to "educate" others on the "errors of monogamy." However, there were Zeltrons who thought differently, but they were rare. Deliah Blue was in a monogamous relationship with Cade Skywalker in 137 ABY, and even felt jealousy, a near unheard of emotion for a Zeltron to feel.

Inter-species unions were rare, though not unheard of, and sometimes produced offspring. Commonly, such unions were between a Human and a near-Human, as in the case of the Lethagoe, although more exotic unions were present, such as Cut Lawquane's marriage with his Twi'lek wife, Suu. However, it was unlikely that such pairings would produce hybrid children, in the absence of genetic modification or even Sith alchemy. Jedi Master Arca Jeth himself had Sephi ancestry, and Darth Malgus took a Twi'lek, Eleena Daru, to be his wife, which was considered to be unusual among the Sith. This move echoed the past history of the Sith, where members of the Sith species would interbreed with the Exiles. These unions produced many powerful Sith Lords who were strong in the power of the dark side. Marka Ragnos and Naga Sadow were two examples of such beings. Another exotic example of cross-species mating would be the Force-sensitive assassin, Aurra Sing, being the offspring of a human mother and a father of an unknown species, whom she had inherited certain traits from, most easily seen with her pale, alabaster white skin. In other cases, offspring of unions between humans and near-humans were not always so markedly different from the normal appearance of baseline humans, although sometimes they did face certain cultural or clan issues as in the case of the Human/Kiffar hybrid Ailyn Vel.