[quote=@aviendha]
Don't assume I'm pulling info out my ass, lol.
[/quote]
This was not my assumption, nor is my argument an attack of any sort. My thoughts were not geared towards scarcity and uniqueness per se (which your article and counterpoint touch upon), but rather I was positing that it was within the realm of possibility for a family (even an aristocratic one) to resist giving up their daughter even if it meant that they would be spitting in the face of enormous honor or denying their duty; human beings are not universally charged towards the good of their fellow human beings, and I could certainly believe that a mother and a father might not care about "the world" as much as they do their own child. 

Especially if -- as a generic example -- they believed that the war against the Shadow was a hopeless one and no amount of conflict or resistance would change it. Indeed, they might actually want to spare their child the horror of an unwinnable war and keep her safe against the strong possibility of a premature death. To let others die in her stead so that their daughter might live as long as possible before the ultimate end of the war. So in essence a response that would be neither rational or logical, bur rather emotional and selfish.

By the by, that article was actually a pretty interesting read. It serves to remind me how much I've forgotten about the setting and story over the years. Just picked up the first three books and intend to dive in for a refresher soon. :sun