A little data point on the whole marriage thing... I and my life partner have been together for 20 y, will be 21 in September. We never got married and we don't have any rings. I keep hearing that a lot of marriages these days don't last this long.
We do informally call each other "my wife", but still, no formal marriage was ever done.
There is a very old tale about a powerful tyrant who had all Earthly power, then became very upset when he realized his mortality.