Keep in mind that throughout earth's history, gender relations have not been equal. Most women were definitely the inferior partner in marriage. This did not prevent many women from developing strong ties of love to their husbands (and vice versa). Granted, there aren't a lot of stories of women avenging their murdered husbands, but there are a few stories like that.
One reason that this bonding happened is that women were educated to serve and please men, and taught that it was their duty to love their husbands, while men were taught that it was their duty to love and cherish their wives, and that it was their duty to protect the 'weaker sex'. In such an atmosphere, cohabitation and procreation, as well as shared hardship, frequently results in deep emotional bonds.
Obviously, you can't simply invert this pattern, because troll society is rather different on many points, but I think there are a lot of parallels that you could draw off. Male trolls are taught that it's their duty to love, serve, and even worship their wives, while female trolls are taught that it's their duty to love and cherish (frightening thought) and protect their inferior husbands. The failure of trolls to breed true most be the fault of the husband, rather than the wife. Etc, etc.
Andrew E. Larsen
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #167
Powered by hypermail