From my understanding, they have the same meanings but different implications. They bother refer to children out of wedlock but "illegitimate children" is the umbrella term for those who have no legal relation to either parent at the time of birth, and "bastard children" are those who have been legally accepted into the family after their birth. If it makes more sense: "illegitimate children" do not have inheritance rights, but "bastard children" do. It's a square vs rectangle situation where a bastard is an illegitimate child but an illegitimate child is not necessarily a bastard. Also, it is important to note that an illegitimate child can be socially accepted into to family without being bastards, as the differentiation is about legal status.
But that differentiation isn't shown often in fiction, so you more commonly see the difference shown in their social standings. A bastard child specifically has a low social standings while an illegitimate child tends to be more neutral. Also, because of their inheritance rights, a bastard is especially treated poorly by the legitimate members of the family. That's why it's commonly used as an insult!
So as a summary fun fact, when you see an illegitimate child in any comic having the legal right to inherit any title/property that is usually only given to legitimate children, they are technically actually a bastard child.
I hope I explained it well! Let me know if you have any questions :)
To add on about the social standings, bastard children have low social standings because of how the legitimate family members treat them due to the inheritance issues. If you're an outcast of your family, that treatment spreads into social society so you wind up getting treated poorly there (case in point, our Ryu Sango)
Aaahhh, yes very good explanation. Thank you!
In ancient china, nobles had multiple wives and concubines
however the wives were ranked and one of them became the main wife
the main wifes children are the legitimate children while that of others are illegitimate
a child born outside of marriage ie. not of the wives, is a bastard
usually legitimate children inherit and only if no legitimate children are born the illegitimate ones inherit
i am not completely sure but this is my rudimentry understanding from the chinese novels i have read
I think this applies more! My definition was definitely more european thanks to the books I've read (I love you robin hobb), but that doesn't consider the case of multiple wives, which is most likely the case here. Thanks for sharing :)
I lovee Robin hobb
I am absolutely obsessed with the elderling series (especially with fool fitz and althea)
and it makes me so happy to find more people who have read these books!!!!
The world building and charecterization along with the sheer poetry of her writing has me so mesmerized that i have given up on finding any series on par
ps sorry for ranting , would love it if u could recommend anything similar
OMG??!! I like never find fellow readers of hers (≧∀≦) I love the Farseer trilogy sm, it got me through a very difficult exam season. It's very hard to find an author at her caliber, but a series (uncompleted) that I love that has similar character building is "Dark Rise" by C.S. Pact. If you get past her writing "said" for every dialogue, it's suuuuuuper good!
I don't have a reading list for books and I haven't had time to go to the library since June, so I know I'm forgetting a ton of stuff that I would recommend otherwise. I'll message you if I remember more later, and please send me some recommendations as well! ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
I am definitely gonna check it out as soon as i can!!!
I dont have a reading list either but i would definitely reccomend Name of the wind by Patric Rothfuss, other than the fact that i dont think he will ever complete the trilogy, it has a similar intricacy in world building but the characters are not as well fleshed out
Just wanna say u kinda made my day ╮(￣▽￣)╭
1. That guy is even more pathetic than I thought
2. Ryu Baekchol is hot, but also trash
3. Wtf is the difference between an illegitimate child and a bastard? The fact that the woman the father cheated with is either a noble or a commoner? Still can’t understand why kids get blamed for shxt like that. I really hope there’s more to it than that when it comes to why his oldest brother hates him, otherwise the shxt head should be hating their own father instead.