BL.Arinna_1982

Cousins? That happens all the time, Alex.

PhoenixRising

How often exactly, Arinna?

LindaL100

I read that in some states in the US and UK, it's even legal for cousins to marry each other but I'm not sure how accurate that is.

Thanks again for the adorable gif Arinna
If the Papacy was a monarchy, then Cesare & Lucrezia would've had legitimate reasons for their incestuous relationship and it would've been accepted by society. For many centuries and during prehistoric times, so many monarchies and royalties around the world engaged in incestuous relationships in order to preserve the royal bloodline, and it was widely accepted by society, even Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip are distant relatives. But since the Papacy is not a monarchy that can be passed down through family members, incest is a forbidden love because their relationship would not have been warranted
I personally find it so ironic that incest is so frowned upon and condemned by society and by religious groups when incest is depicted so commonly in many different religions and mythologies.

BL.Arinna_1982

I'm honestly surprised that you're shocked, Alex.

An you're welcome, hun!

PhoenixRising

Well, first cousins marrying isn't that common here, Arinna.

Hi, Linda!

I find it ironic that incest is frowned upon in real life but very popular in fiction, on TV and in movies. But yeah, if Cesare and Lucrezia were royalty they might've been able to get away with the incest, although it depends on the country. Some countries were more into that than others.

BL.Arinna_1982

I'm not talking first cousins. I'm talking from second down. It's actually very common thing.

LindaL100

yeah there's a lot of incest depicted in fiction in general and many people seem to love it, but when it comes real incest people condemn it...I think it's because people's attitudes towards fiction tend to be different to reality, I mean, fiction is fiction. we can do whatever you want in fiction and it's not reality, so people tend to accept ideas used in fiction. But reality is completely different and people's expectations and attitudes change...for example, many people love to watch cool Sci-fi movies about aliens and alien invasions because they're fun to watch as entertainment and not real, but I think a lot of people would be scared as hell if real aliens invaded Earth in real-life and probably would not want that happening. Similarly people would have different attitudes when it comes to incest in fiction and incest in reality...people see incest depicted in fiction and many would find the forbidden lovestory interesting, fascinating and entertaining, but when they read or hear about real incestuous relationships happening in real-life, they feel disgusted.

While we are not 100% sure whether Cesare & Lucrezia actually had an incestuous relationship in reality, but I honestly wouldn't blame them or condemn them if they did, incest was common among royalty and nobility for centuries around the world, and while Cesare & Lu were not royalty, the heart wants what the heart wants, you can't control who you fall in love with. While the notion of having a romantic and sexual relationship with family or relatives sounds disgusting and twisted, and I don't condone incest in real-life...but I don't think I am as disgusted or bothered by it as many other people are. It's other people's lives and doesn't concern me, they're not hurting anyone else, so I guess my attitude towards incest in reality is rather indifferent, I don't condone it but I also don't condemn it.
Although I do find love stories about incest in fiction to be fascinating and interesting, especially incest couples who have suffered hardships and fell in love with each other as consequence of all the hardships they've suffered in their lives, such as Cesare & Lu and Chris & Cathy, because their stories are more sympathetic.

BL.Arinna_1982

I know. That's because they were forced.

Crystal Clear

I like Chris/Cathy too Their romance wasn't all that shocking because they were literally spending every moment together for ages in the attic. They only had each other to rely on. Feelings were bound to deepen.

Same goes for Cesare/Lucrezia. They could only trust each other. So much corruption was going on around them and even within their own family. The forbidden nature of it all increases the passion. They probably spent years lusting for each other.

BL.Arinna_1982

And they probably felt that they couldn't trust to anybody else. That's actually so sad.

Crystal Clear

You could tell how close they were from the very beginning and as the show progressed, it quickly became clear that their father had ridiculous expectations of them and Juan, which is why things went so downhill for them all. It caused division instead of uniting the family.

Cesare and Lucrezia stayed close, probably because they knew how precarious their family situation was and their father's role wasn't safe. I doubt they even viewed each other as siblings most of the time. Cesare only really acknowledges it in response to their night of passion, when he starts panicking that people might pick up on the sexual vibes between them.

PhoenixRising

Hi, Gwen! It's great to see you back!

I'm glad you liked Chris and Cathy as well, Gwen! Yeah, the events happening around them and the abuse they went through was far more shocking than their falling in love with each other. You could say that they only had each other to turn to during their time in that mansion and that's why they became incestuous. And I agree, in many ways Cesare and Lucrezia had the same problem, being at the mercy of their father's plans and the politics of Rome at the time and having no one to really turn to except each other.

Hi, Linda!

Yep, there's a lot more incest in fiction these days, and not just Game of Thrones. And I think a lot of it has to do with the circumstances. Incestuous romances in popular fiction usually occur in completely different circumstances than occur in real life, where it's usually the result of sexual abuse and molestation. In fiction it's depicted more like it is in mythology, a forbidden romance between siblings that results from some traumatic circumstances around them. Yeah, you may have a point about the parallels between that and science fiction stories. You have stories with people falling in love with aliens, vampires, robots, mermaids, ghosts, etc., so the incest fiction, like Chris and Cathy, is understandable.

Yeah, I wouldn't blame Cesare or Lucrezia if their incestuous love story were real, nor would I be surprised given their situation and the time period.

Crystal Clear

ALEX I am literally in and out of like a yo-yo lately because I have so much work to contend with It's driving me nuts, multi-tasking.


It's ironic because I never think of Cesare and Lucrezia as siblings, when I think back to the show. They were always viewed as the central love story.


With pics like this, it's easy to see why -

They seriously remind me of Heathcliff and Cathy in that scene.

LindaL100

Seriously, is there anyone who really saw Cesare & Lu as siblings? Even though I knew they were siblings, but I've always believed they were the true lovers in the story, even from their very first scene together in ep 1x01, you can see immediately that Cesare & Lu's relationship was much deeper and more incestuous than just mere siblings, and their incestuous relationship only grew deeper and deeper further into the series. So for them to truly cross that line and finally consummated their love for each other in S3 was inevitable...no matter how much Jordan tried to deny it.

Crystal Clear

I definitely didn't. Francois and Holliday's enthusiasm for Cesare and Lucrezia to hook up probably had a lot to do with it but you could easily mistake any of their interactions as those of lovers. He was always protective of her in a way that would fool anybody into thinking her was her husband, and she would always turn to him when she needed help - I mean, she literally yells out for Cesare in 3X09 when she is safe, even though her husband is standing right there.


It was more of a Heathcliff/Cathy vibe, like I said before they were totally wrapped up in each other that even death (as 3x10 showed) couldn't stop their love.