Emperor marry many woman also to make their country become more powerful
Yes, I believe I mentioned politics as a reason.
Generally, in harem stories with kings/emperors, what bothers me is the unfair treatment. A lot of these women had NO CHOICE (the political marriages were arranged). But when in a story the emperor ignores some while paying attention to others, it seems very cruel. I mean, he can fuck whomever he wants. They have no choice but to wait for him for some husbandly attention. Also, when the emperor turns a blind eye to bullying and cruelty. I mean, they are your damn family---look after them.
It's cruelty and injustice of the harem that is the clincher for me. If he tried to faily treat them all well, give them all some attention, and put up barriers to cruelty/bullying, then fine, have a harem. I can deal.
I’m not a fan of polygamy in my romance either. But I just wanted to add to the debate that for me it helps if I think about it as part of the emperor’s job. Regardless of his feelings he HAS TO have a harem and lots ‘o’ heirs.
What we tend to forget about nowadays is how easily people died back then. Regular, healthy adults would drop like flies all the time. I mean they used to put LEAD in their makeup! So considering that, how do you think the mortality rate for children was? Yeah don’t think about that too much. I don’t wanna be blamed for making people depressed.
TLDR: besides politics the harem was there to make sure the emperor had at least one heir make it to adulthood.