#unfortunately it will be one of the last things in ctb so hold your horses

[wutheringmights]

happy CTBirthday!! could you tell us more about Lincoln and Marigold's relationship?

I most certainly can!

Lincoln and Marigold's relationship started a few years after Lincoln prevented a civil war between the Hylians and the Gerudo from starting

As you may recall, Lincoln is the young Master Knight with a terrible reputation exacerbated by him pissing off all of the nobles and his terrible relationship with his late father

He is also madly in love with Ganondorf, who is not only a very well-kept secret but is also married

So now that things have settled down, it's time for Lincoln to think about settling down himself

He doesn't really want to get married or have kids with anyone who isn't the love of his life, but he really needs to solidify the Harkinian line sooner rather than later

Meanwhile, Marigold Walton is a daughter of a rich merchant family

As wealthy as her family is, they don't have a title, but her parents have the perfect plan to fix that-- marry into nobility

Marigold is a young lady with two conflicting virtues:

First, she is pragmatic and ambitious, and if someone tells her that her job is to score a good marriage, then by god this is what she is going to do

Second, she hates being ordered around and treated like something to be sold off

This makes Marigold, fresh to Hyrule's social scene, a bit of an odd figure: both the picture of a demure lady and one rebelling against that ideal

So as Lincoln said in story, they met at a party where Marigold was going off about everything she hates about society

Lincoln immediately clicked with everything she said, and wanted to get to know her better. he didn't expect her to tell him that he was a part of the problem

But Lincoln was intrigued so he continued trying to befriend her

And Marigold hadn't found anyone else who was interested in what she had to say before, so she stopped trying to pick fights and got to know him

They steadily became friends and after a few months, they agreed they should get married

Both of them were aware that they didn't love each other, but they really weren't looking for love. They both just wanted companionship to have their mutually advantageous marriages

But there was one big problem-- Lincoln was very obviously in love with someone else

Marigold didn't mind if Lincoln had an affair, but she wanted to know who it was with

To Marigold, this was about not only making sure she was prepared for any potential scandal, but also about respect for her

However, Lincoln refused

He swore an oath to never tell another soul about Ganondorf's existence, and he would not risk Ganondorf's life even now

Sometimes he would insist he wasn't having an affair (which was true) and other times he would insist that it didn't matter who it was with because no one would ever find out

They couldn't move past this and, to everyone's disappointment, they mutually agreed to call off the engagement but still be friends

Having to call off the engagement was a harrowing process because it had to be very public, which meant that once it was done, the two decided to celebrate with drinks

Which was a bad idea since Marigold had never been allowed to drink heavily before and Lincoln had a heavy pour

And they woke up the next day in the same bed. Oops!

They both thought it was okay and tried to part ways amicably, but oops! Marigold's pregnant

Marigold's parents became pretty awful after that revelation, especially since they now wanted her to use her pregnancy as a means to convince Lincoln to take her back

At this point, Marigold had enough and broke ties with them

Lincoln did not find out she was pregnant until a few months later

He panicked and immediately tried to make things right by proposing again

But Marigold would not take him back, in part due to how she refused to be with someone who she thought didn't respect her

And the reason why Marigold kept Warriors from Lincoln? You're just going to have to find out in-story