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game of thrones - Is divorce allowed in Westeros?


The title is not really my question, but let me first speak about the spoiler level.



This question points to an event that occur in A Storm of Swords (mid-book ?). Its equivalence in the TV show is Season 3, episode 6 and later. Stop reading if you didn't read/watch this part of the story and don't want to be spoiled. Do not read anything below the spoiler tag even if it's not in a spoiler tag because it would make you understand what is in the spoiler tag.


This is about Tyrion Lannister and his relation with Sansa Stark.



They get married.



But how is this possible ? Tyrion was previously married to Tysha, a whore that (end of ASOS spoiler alert)



actually wasn't a whore



and all we know about her (Tywin Lannister's words) is that




she was sent back to "where whores are sent"



But was the marriage cancelled ? How is that possible ? Tysha surely wasn't a virgin, and nothing is said about her being dead.


So, my question: Did they just divorce? Is that possible? Or maybe Sansa'a marriage with Tyrion is not valid?



Answer



As far as I remember Tyrion's marriage was annulled by his father.


I don't know about Westeros but in our world this typically means that the marriage is proclaimed as invalid from the start, e.g. the Catholic church allows annulment if it is discovered that the couple are cousins. This is not the same as divorce, since it is considered that the couple have never been properly married at all.


So, to directly answer your question: No, they probably did not divorce - the world of Westeros is sufficiently similar to medieval Europe to presume that annulment means the same there. This would make Tyrion's marriage with Sansa completely valid, at least with respect to that particular issue.


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