“I will comfort you in sadness; I will lift your head and be your strength when you are weak. I will sing with you when you are joyful. I will abide beside you and honour you for a year and a day, and thereafter should the spirits bless us.”

I thought this vow was absolutely beautiful. There is something so lovely about the promises being made here. Not promises of perfection, but promises of companionship: to comfort each other in sadness, to be each other's strength, to celebrate joy together. I don't know, it just feels so heartfelt and genuine. "I will sing with you when you are joyful" especially stood out to me. What a beautiful thing to promise someone.

I also really love the whole tradition of handfasting. It adds so much to the atmosphere of the story and makes the world feel deeply rooted in its culture and history. The Scottish-inspired setting already feels a bit like a folktale to me, and scenes like this just reinforce that feeling.

(And yes, a lot of my excitement is probably thanks to Outlander, which introduced me to handfasting and a lot of Scottish traditions and vocabulary in the first place. 😅)

This entire setting just feels magical, and the handfasting was a perfect reminder of why I'm loving it so much.