Old Man Marrying a Child/Playing With

Basic Trope: Lolicon, where the young girl is legally married to the older man
 * Played Straight: Alice is 12, and she's married off to Bob, who is 50.
 * Exaggerated: Alice hasn't even reached puberty yet, and she's already being married to Bob.
 * Alice is 12 and Bob is 80
 * Justified: Alice and Bob come from a time and/or place where young girls are married off as soon as they reached puberty, to older men who could provide for them (and pay a nice bride price to the girls' families).
 * Inverted: Bob is 12 and being married off to 50-year-old Alice
 * Subverted: Bob is engaged to marry Alice, but they are going to wait until she's old enough.
 * Alice only looks like a young girl; in actuality, she's Really Seven Hundred Years Old.
 * Double Subverted: Which in their culture means as soon as Alice has her first period.
 * But her youthful appearance makes her more desirable to Bob.
 * Deconstructed: This can lead to problems; Alice's reproductive system may not be ready to handle Bob's full-sized penis yet (which can lead to injury and infertility), and younger mothers have a hard time giving birth. (Which could result in Death by Childbirth). Not to mention, Alice may not be given a say in whom she marries (especially if this is a cultural thing.)
 * Reconstructed: Alice is betrothed to Bob, but they will wait until she's old enough before actually getting married or consummating the marriage. And either one of them can break off the engagement at any time.
 * Parodied: A 100 year Bob gets married to Alice while she is still a fetus in her mother's womb.
 * Lampshaded:
 * Averted: Alice is not being married off to Bob.
 * Alice and Bob are both consenting adults.
 * Enforced: The setting is (and/or the writer is from) a place where this is the norm. (See "Justified")
 * May be used in a Lolicon work as Fetish Fuel.
 * Invoked: Bob comes to the home of Alice's father and offers him the customary bride price (and maybe some more) for the privilege of Alice's hand (and presumably the rest of her)
 * Defied: Bob doesn't want to marry a little girl, no matter how innocent and pure she may be.
 * Discussed: Can you imagine living in a place like that, where a little girl could be married off to a middle-aged man?
 * Conversed: But she's still just a little girl!
 * Played For Laughs:
 * Played For Drama:

Back to Old Man Marrying a Child