If Barnabas had married during the course of the series.....

[IluvBarnabas]

I think they should have married off Barnabas and Julia after they returned from 1840....while I can see **[spoiler]Barnabas finally forgiving Angelique (due to her saving Quentin and Desmond and destroying Gerard and Dawson) in 1840 his sudden declaration that she was his "one true love" didn't ring true to me. I mean back in 1795 she wounded up killing half his family and as Cassandra in the present she started the dream curse that tormented his family and friends before it could reach him and put the curse back on him.[/spoiler]

I would have just preferred having Barnabas telling Angelique he forgave her (though I myself wouldn't have been able too) for all her past evils before she died. And him finally realizing that Julia was the one woman who was totally devoted to him. She could have destroyed him when she learned he was a vampire, there were many times she could have said "to hell with Barnabas" and leave Collinwood forever whenever he was in a crisis but she didn't. She stood by him through thick and thin. It would have been great to have seen him finally return the deep feelings that she always had for him.

They should have ended the story in the conclusion of 1971 with the whole Collins family and friends attending the wedding of Barnabas and Julia.....it would have been a perfect way to end things.

**Edited by moderator

[Angelique Wins]

Who should Barnabas marry?  Oh my, what a question!   Let's see...there's....well....no.     
Um... here's...well, no again.  Sorry.  Can't see that.     Oh!  There's...NO NO NO.   DEFINITELY no.  I just don't GET that!    

 My goodness, WHOEVER should it be? 

I know!  I know!!!      YES!!!!  PERFECT!!!!  And then, SOMEbody could write some fan fiction to show how it all came about.  What a GREAT idea!!!!   Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more...

[Jackie]

Mrs. Johnson. And before you scoff, think about it - the question is who would have been the ideal wife - not who would have been his soulmate or his best romantic pairing. Mrs. Johnson wouldn't have put up with any of Barnabas' foolishness and she would have most definitely kept him in line. Let's face it, the man was in desperate need of someone to reign him in. And no other woman on the show had ever shown that she was ever capable of doing that.    Mrs. Johnson was certainly the best person for that job.    And who knows, reigned in, Barnabas could have finally come to realize that his obsessions with SYTs were always a waste of his time and what he needed by his side all along was a real woman with enough spark to not only keep him in check but to show him how his life could really be. I suspect when Mrs. J doffed that apron, she was truly a wild woman in every sense! 

Oh that is hilarious!!! 

[Jackie]

Barnabas & Angelique never divorced & never really died, so.......

They both [spoiler]died! Several times for Angelique.[/spoiler] and that always ends a marriage, good or bad. Of course, death was only an inconvenience to Angelique and Barnabas. [/size]

[Jackie]

He liked being married to Angelique.

I missed that altogether.  When he marriaged Angelique in 1795, it was under duress and right after that he found out [spoiler]that she was the real witch that was responsible for ALL his family disasters.[/spoiler]  How can he like being married to her and how can he love her after all that?[/size]

[Jackie]

I know a great deal of the fans will name every pretty SYT Barnabas ever laid eyes on.  I personally would like him to come to his senses and pick Julia who knew him better than anyone else.  She was the most loyal of friends and they were best friends.  Best friends CAN make great partners in the truest sense.  BUT IMHO as the writers had depicted this character, Barnabas was not ready for anyone.  He had an ideal, a dream that carried him through his 175 year lockup which sustained him with starry eyes.  But he always fell in love with someone at first sight and he had many first sights.  He was a romantic but I don't know if he could have been happy with any of them.

[Barnabas'sBride]

I agree completely about Barnabas and Angelique, but I think Julia and Barnabas would be better off as friends. If Barnabas could honestly fall in love with her, then it would be different, but marrying her out of loyalty or obligation would bad for both of them, IMO. They're better off as friends if he can't return the feelings she has for him, and I'm not sure he could return them.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

BUT IMHO as the writers had depicted this character, Barnabas was not ready for anyone.  He had an ideal, a dream that carried him through his 175 year lockup which sustained him with starry eyes.  But he always fell in love with someone at first sight and he had many first sights.  He was a romantic but I don't know if he could have been happy with any of them.

Exactly! I've joked in this topic, but what isn't a joke is that, as written, Barnabas isn't suitable husband materiel for any woman. As if it isn't bad enough that no woman could ever live up to his ideal, as I mentioned, because of his need to dominate he would either completely overpower her or they would end up killing one another.    And we all know how well that latter alternative worked out for him. 

[Lydia]

because of his need to dominate he would either completely overpower her or they would end up killing one another.

I'm not so sure.  I just recently watched an episode in which he and Rachel are trying to solve the Mystery of the Tower Room, and he thinks to himself that he could easily enter the room without a key, but he has to do it "Rachel's way".  I didn't know Barnabas had it in him to be so humble!

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that was being humble. Pragmatic, possibly.    But it's pretty near impossible to point to many long term realtionships that Barnabas had in which he didn't at one point or another try to dominate the other person. And it doesn't even have to be a woman. Almost universally he resorted at some point to manipulating or even bullying his way through his family/friends.

[Lydia]

I admit that I was tempted to add, in my post, that things might have changed after the honeymoon was over - but then I thought to myself:  "Be strong!  Be adamant!  Be like Barnabas!"

[Mysterious Benefactor]

I thought to myself:  "Be strong!  Be adamant!  Be like Barnabas!"