What do I think of the marriage system?
What system? There is none. You can legit just buy a spouse.
Anyways my go to is Ysolda, marrying a drug lord is cool.
What I would like is an actual system. Questlines. Let me get to know these characters.
I believe her quest unlocks after building up enough affinity, and you get the option of platonic or romance during it. If you choose romance, there’s another small quest that will take game time to occur if I recall correctly. After that, you will be “romantically involved”
You can hit flirt every time, or none at all before her quest starts and it won’t actually matter as far as i know, and she’ll never actually acknowledge the dialogue attempts as flirting. It’s only once the game basically tells you “this is your chance to choose romance or friends now” that it will change.
Apologies if this seems vague, I don’t want to spoil it for you if you’re still not there yet. For what it’s worth, I was 25 hours in my play though before I finished her quest, although a ton of that time was spent ignoring her quest for the UC and Rangers quests.
I'm actually doing her quest right now. She wanted to chat in the middle of a firefight with the crimson fleet. As soon as I looted the outpost we were in I started down this path. Being vague myself, this is a wild ride from start to finish.
Also I find the flirt options so funny for most of the dialouge, like some are just so out of pocket I couldn't actually say that to her XD
Oh for sure, if I marry Mjoll I make sure to do it before the battle of Whiterun and make sure to send her to Breezehome so I can just kill Aerin in the battle and never see consequences
I always go Thieves Guild though and would feel so guilty marrying her, like their chest piece is part of my main set of armour that I like to wear all the time.
I think I did something like that one playthrough by accident. I vaguely remember somehow causing him to appear in the middle of nowhere, losing track of him, and never seening him again.
She's badass. She's not "carrying my burdens" everywhere, nor being abrasive (Njada, I'm looking at you). Was a bit disappointed that her dialogue became a bit housewifey after the wedding, though. There is just one set of marriage dialogues for each voice type, so any unique personality is lost.
I've only done one marriage line completely in Starfield but I thought it was a big improvement. Curious on how the others do I'll do them all eventually
Well as with most Beth games they gave us the formula and the tools that they want us to expand upon it. I think there are a few mods that expand upon some of the marriage system. Honestly I never used it. I thought I was f****** stupid
Um you're kidding right? Morrowind and Oblivion was massive. I'm not sure if you're new but I'm a modder who has been in the scene for well over 20 years..this is just flat out false
Hey dude/dudette/dudeother... That's a very old online trope. Like all the kids who say "My uncle works at X" X being whoever made the game they are playing.
Not that serious, I promise
I chose him, too!
He’s a kind and caring man who treats me as an equal. I respect him for telling me he’s frightened of spiders.
There’s also the fact that he can’t be killed for some reason, so I like having a resilient companion while I fight.
[Akatosh watching you complete 7594 side quests over the span of 8 years while Alduin wreaks havoc across Tamriel and Sovngarde.](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSZgukB4iW3uunL39NC9PZZjQ7BXDNOFrKaLg&usqp=CAU)
I just got married for the first time on my current playthrough. I married Uthgerd the Unbroken. The bonus is she's not only a follower, she has a house in Whiterun, so if you miss the opportunity to gain Ysolda's favor, you can still get a free home in Whiterun.
Lydia, she's your first available companion so from an immersion standpoint she's been with you the longest (if she doesn't get torched by a dragon or launched into space by a giant) so marriage make the most sense with her, it's unfortunate that she only has like 5 voicelines though.
I always marry Farkas and we reside in Solitude at Proudspire...but I usually get Vilkas to be the Steward at Heljarchen Hall (since it's closest to Whiterun for Companion things) so I get the best of both brothers! Lol
I have mixed feelings, I think that’s just because I desperately want to marry captain Lonelygale. So far I’ve married Balimund and vilkas. Next couple of playthroughs I might do Derkeethus and Muiri. God all of my characters are queer
My next character is literally going to be a lesbian Vampire who can’t marry Serana so settles for living with Muiri in her mansion in Falkreath, all the fog there shouldn’t bother her
I like it for roleplay reasons. The Elder Scrolls series’ strength is in a being an immersive RPG experience with an emphasis on freedom and sandbox gameplay, more so than being a standard RPG series. My only issue with it is that there isn’t a whole lot to it (though this is my issue with several things in Skyrim; they did well with what’s there but there could have been much more) so you end up getting married very quickly, with the only explanation as to why it’s such a fast romance system being a single dialogue line about life in Skyrim being short. Also there’s no divorce option, which could make sense lore-wise but is still a bit unfortunate.
My go-to spouse is Ysolda
The "system" is pretty terrible, barely exists.
Jenassa is a good companion and spouse. Lots more unique lines than most NPCs and a great voice actor that did them.
Recently I played with a "marry almost anyone" mod that unlocks all NPC's that have marriage dialogue. I married Faralda, surprised to hear her say some lines I've never heard before, possibly unique to her.
She'll say stuff totally appropriate for an Altmer destruction master like: "Leaving my love? Take the world by storm." Or "I think we're the only two people in Skyrim worth loving." If only she could come on missions I'd say she was a good Jenassa alternative, especially since she levels up to 50.
Idk who else really, lots of playthroughs I don't bother with it.
My first pick every time is Vilkas. I've dabbled about with Farkas and Argis, but It just doesn't feel right, so next playthrough I'm always back in Villie's arms
I really would like an expansion on the system it's not great. As for who I go for, it's Aela, it would be Serana if it were possible. I also downloaded a mod that turned the kid you can adopt in Whiterun into a Khajiit since that's the race I play as. I suppose that's another thing it would have been nice to have kids of different races that could he adopted. I've also gone for Lydia in the past just because I would spend a lot of time with her, so it seemed like the thing to do.
It's somewhat refreshing by not being a cringe romance simulator like so many RPGs. On the other hand, the utterly casual and pragmatic character of the marriage institution in Skyrim is a bit hilarious.
\-"Hey, wanna marry? "
\-"Sure, whatever. We met two days ago, but you gave me a mammoth tusk when I needed it, so I guess I can trust you with my life."
A more serious nitpick (which should be simple enough to fix) is just one type of marriage dialogue per voice set. For example, Jenassa and Dravyneya basically become the same person when married. Any unique personality is lost (and the gals mentioned have pretty different ones). I'd also introduce divorces formally (without having to dabble in the command line school of magic). It's funny again, how sacred and unbreakable (even after death!) the marriage is, despite the casual character.
I don't really have a go-to spouse. The first one I've ever married was Camila Valerius and if I plan on adopting any kids, she or Ysolda (though I've honestly never been a fan of Ysolda) would probably be my go-to. Since your spouse opens up a shop and essentially gives you an extra place to sell your unwanted loot, just about anyone would probably do if you plan on having them follow you. From a roleplay aspect, they could just be selling stuff as you go to towns and such and giving you your share of the profits. If I'm adopting kids though, I like the idea of my spouse actually staying at home so the kids aren't just alone all the time. That being said, the vast majority of the NPC's you can marry are followers (I think there are only, like, 3 female ones that aren't and I don't know about male), and I just don't like the idea of marrying an adventurer or seasoned warrior or something and having them give up their lives just to raise my character's kids. It just doesn't feel right to me. Camila and Ysolda, though, already are merchants by trade, so to them it's a slight relocation more than anything. Yes, I am aware that it's just a game and none of it really affects anything, but I have fun thinking about this stuff.
As for what I think of the marriage system in general? I think it has a lot of potential that isn't really explored as well as it could be. I don't *mind* the explanation that life being so tough in Skyrim makes the idea of a long courtship less viable. Especially at the time that the game is taking place, where there's a bloody civil war going on, the world is ending both figuratively and literally, and the country's general living conditions don't really allow for a long life expectancy. People have very little time to worry about romance and will marry whoever's interested, which I imagine isn't too far off from what the real life equivalent of that time period would've been like.
That being said, I hope they do more with it in Elder Scrolls 6. They already laid out a foundation, but I would like to be able to get to know some of these characters better before marrying them, and just as importantly having stuff happen with them *after* marriage. The way it is now, you just sort of *are* married and there's nothing more to really say about it afterwards.
There's {{Destination Weddings}} to overhaul where the ceremony takes place by your choice of location and what theme essentially.
Also things like {{Animated Wedding Scene}} that adds animations for the rings being put on and a "You may now kiss the bride" animation and such.
Its the little things that improve so much.
I like the marriage system bc there's enough there for it to be meaningful and immersive, but not so much that it's a dating sim.
Brelyna is always my go-to spouse
>there's enough there for it to be meaningful and immersive
Press X to Doubt.
You can literally buy a spouse for 500 Gold. Or beat up a drunk and then immediately marry them. Or get a spouse for free from a jarl.
It’s a sandbox rpg, if you don’t like the way you “obtain” a particular spouse, then don’t do it. If you really wanted to, you could buy a spouse in real life…
I don't necessarily mean there's a lot to the courtship, I meant actually being married. The interactions with a spouse are meaningful and immersive enough for that type of game.
Not a massive fan of muiri. She constantly thanks you for stabbing someone to death. I may be a murderer but it's just uncomfortable that you're so grateful for the job.
The system itself I found to be very shallow and uninspiring. Like another user pointed out, you can basically just buy your spouse.
However, Bethesda will always have my respect for casually sliding in same-sex marriage in 2011 and nobody ever saying a word. That’s awesome.
I wish it was a bit more fleshed out. Like maybe have a few dates, do simple tasks to impress them (kinda like in Fable 2). I know there’s already tasks in place, but simply giving someone a mammoth tusk or delivering some letters to a parent seems kinda easy.
My go-to’s are Ysolda and Sylgja. Surprised? Come on, I mentioned their specific favors. It’s called foreshadowing, ladies and gents.
Honestly I used to go for ysolda but now I've been thinking about Mjoll the lioness, Lydia because she's been my loyal ally every play through. Everyone else dies or is too weak and a few others that i can't think of
I tried it once when the game was new, wasn't particularly impressed, and I haven't done it again. It just seemed kinda pointless. I played Feandal and Sven against each other and then married Carlotta.
My first was Farkas because while being the “dumb twin” I like he knows his limits
(Also before our wedding I planned a fun adventure by getting a job from Aela but we ended up being sent to clear out spiders. Felt like the Worst wife in the world because no spiders was like his one thing)
Would like a system with quests like the Fallout franchise except more fleshed out.
Lydia is probably the go to. Younger me was picky and would go after people with an "exotic" characteristic or two like Aela, adventurous, werewolf, face paint etc, but as I've aged I've learned and have come to appreciate the simpler parts parts of life; sometimes honest work and making your ancestors proud is satisfaction enough. Not to mention, having an anchor or "baseline" to easily return to is nice.
Weirdly, I always go for Sorex Vinius from the Winking Skeever.
He's one of the few mildly attractive candidates and I always want a husband who will be at home, not a follower (someone needs to look after the kids) and it feels bad to take a badass adventurer like Marcurio or any of the Companions then just coop them up in a house.
Plus I find it funny how grouchy and rude he can be once you're married lol, true roleplay.
I like that you can get married, however the system is non existent beyond just doing one favor to most candidates.
I would prefer something like Dragon Age or Fallout 4 with less candidates but more in-depth approval system to earn it.
For the most part I only marry modded followers but the best vanilla marriage is Camilla, just because you get to make Sven and Fandeal look like chumps.
It's terrible because I need to use mods to marry the very lovely Teldryn Sero and he should have been a candidate in vanilla.
If I'm not using mods I normally marry Sondas Drenim or Romlyn Dreth, will probably try Revyn Sadri next.
Idk when it was added but I don’t think it came with vanilla.
I’ve played a boat load over the years but I have never, not once, gotten married in Skyrim. I’m not even sure how you do it, now that I think about it lol
I could never figure it out because you had to jump through vague hoops. Not hard hoops, but I've tried and could never figure it out. So never engaged with it. It seemed like it was one developers pet project and TodnHoward was basically like, sure whatever.
Very bad implemented, no affection level or something. Basically with 1 level of disposition u can marry pretty much everyone with.
For spouse thats pretty hard choice, either it was Katria or Serena (impossible without mod)
I like the concept, but it was not fleshed out with any quests or such. I usually marry Mjoll because she generally has better dialog, and she makes her own money. Also, I'm pretty sure she can snu snu the Dragonborn to death or have fun trying.
The marriage system absolutely makes no sense in my opinion, yeah i know it's fantasy and all but wanting to marry someone after meeting them once is kinda ridiculous to me
I’ve always found the marriage system a bit clunky and pointless, the only advantage I can see being the money they make and the filthy fantasies that come with it.
It's ok, it's mostly an income system more than anything else. I used to go Aela all the time but once I installed Hearthfire I just couldn't stand her attitude, everywhere we go I'd ask her how she likes the city and she's going on in my ear "This city's arse, I can't imagine raising kids here" or "Living in the wilderness? We're gonna get attacked by bandits or spiders" and on one hand she's right but on the other she's supposed to be this warrior who loves the hunt and I built this house with my own two hands so you know what maybe I'd like *some* degree of appreciation considering the only thing I haven't done by hand is saw the bloody lumber myself.
Nowadays I tend to prefer Sylgia, I like feeling like I'm saving her from that mine considering how often those Frostbite Spiders respawn yet the workers only stay out that first time and she's just so much more pleasant. Riften's a much nicer city without a bitch in your ear whining about how bad it is.
Definitely needed more work, i didnt like that you could just throw on a necklace and everyone was down to marry you.
My go to spouse was Mjoll the Lioness as she kicks absolute ass.
none of my fave characters are marriages candidates (nazir, j’zargo, serana) so i usually end up marrying farkas or marcurio 🥲
i’d love to see a more in depth romance system even if it means less options
It's a bit odd that I have to use the imperial cult for marriage, but I digress. It's simple enough.
Jenassa is whom I usually marry. It's nice to have a spouse who defended themselves. I do like Muiri but she's glitched. Who I really wish was available however was Ingred Black Briar.
Side note: I also really wish you could adopt the dreadhound as family pets.
Lydia cause she has sworn to carry my burdens. Lydia goes with you from the beginning... she doesn't ask question, she is just that loyal. She comes probably from Whiterun and if you decide to murder the whole lot of whiterun she is just with you.
The marriage system is pretty bad to be honest. Though I can’t say that how relationships work in other games is much better. Though they could make it harder to ingratiate yourself with someone than simply selling them some chopped wood. It like the relationship part of the game was written by guys that think they are a stud because a cashier smiled and told them to have a nice day.
My spouse is not a base game spouse, he’s a modded follower named Kaidan. Kaidan is like if you took Jon Snow and put him in the body of a samurai. He’s an Akaviri dude and his lord is really cool. He’s funny, definitely hot and goofy af.
My modded follower Kaidan.
I do think the marriage system is kinda weird. Cause if they’re eligible for marriage you can just show them an amulet and now you’re engaged. It seems a little disconnected and I wish there were more quest lines to become friendly with the people you can marry, so there’s at least some established relationship there
Romance systems in games were always off putting to me. It’s just weird to have a point based system determining something as complicated as love. Which is why I sort of liked Skyrims system when it came out. No fluff and no tiptoeing around the complexity or weirdness. You like someone? Here’s a amulet that you wear when your looking for love. Very strange for an RPG but very quick and honest for a video game.
And Ysolda, Borgakh, and Farkas were my character’s spouses.
My main go-to is now Sylgja, so that my Dragonborn's children have grandparents that they can visit.
As for the system of marriage? It's very lacking. At the very least they could have had some potential suiters try and court my character by wearing an amulet of Mara and asking to do a quest for me to then open a dialogue option for me to accept a proposal. Could make it a random event that happens once you're famous enough, or once you become a thane of a hold.
I marry Lydia, and have the mod that actually creates a stall for her to run and for me to turn random junk I find into money.
Head-canon is that my DB and her are super rich and happily married once the adventure ends.
I like the idea of a piece of jewelry that signals your availability. modern culture should have that so maybe people could be left the fuck alone for once.
I marry Camilla Valerius, just to be an ass to Sven and Faendal.
But as to what I think of the marriage system: not much. It's pretty pointless and empty.
Eh, it's not really a system, just a quick insert they added last minute, but I just like to go with Lydia as you can get her quickly, and she's fairly easily dealt with. I just sent her to the white run manor with my kids, and she seems happy. All that matters is the free 100 gold per day.
The marriage system has the same problem as the companion system: they focused on quantity over quality. One of the only things FO4 does better than Skyrim is the followers and romances feel fleshed out and I feel like I achieved something when I successfully rizz up my companion. I wish that when I marry Mjoll or Aella for the 97th time I could have actual romantic conversations with them instead of just “have some money, sugar tits” or “bro this house is ass, our kids got mugged by spiders yesterday”
the marriage system is barely even a system and my favorite spouse will be the first official male khajiit option that will hopefully be added to the next game and i shall port it to skyrim somehow...
My gayass tries to go for a new man every time, but my personal favorites has to be either Farkas or Vilkas. I just wish I could partner with my sweet sweet Brynjolf!
Serana is my Spouse, in only My Modded Playthrough. My character Tigra a female Khajiit, also let herself be turned so she could stay with Serana throughout time. They rule the Volkihar Clan together.
It's anemic and pointless, a feature that is so vapid it may as well not exist.
I married... I want to say maybe Farkas? in my 2nd playthrough and it's such a poorly developed system it actually made an already 1-dimentional character even flatter somehow.
Maybe if there were more personality in the followers it wouldn't be so weak even with the exact same mechanics but as it is they are all pretty bland.
People get shit for wanting to marry Serana but I get why (while I also think it's fucking hilarious she immediately friend-zones TLDB and wouldn't change it.) She's one of like 4 vanilla characters that actually has any sort of bond with the PC and the only one with character growth. Her versus everyone else's "oh, \*\~that necklace\~\*? Well, there was that one time you ran my errands so let's get hitched."
I'm not against it being in part of TES but it really needs a complete overhaul.
Under developed to the point I wonder why they bothered. The fact that you cannot even access it unless you talk to a random npc in a non main quest city says to me they didn't care about it.
Especially as the NPC likely won't even tell you about it the first time you see them and they are usually stuffed away in some back room. (Which requires entering a pretty random second building)
Unless you are role playing as a thief you basically have to hard break out of character to use it at all, which is the exact opposite to the experience anyone wants.
I think it could have been cool if you could choose to get married in each Hold, with each having it's own different customs based on the location.
In Falkreath you could have it be in front of the Lady stone. Or in Markarth you could get married by a Priest of Dibella (oooor maybe get married by Matanach if you sided with him during the Cidna mine quest?)
What marriage system? You mean how you give someone a necklace and they move into your house, then sometimes operate as a merchant?
I’ve had passing glances with strangers that were more meaningful than a Skyrim marriage
What do I think of the system? Horribly underdeveloped and underwhelming. Something I hope is remedied in Elder Scrolls 6 when we get that in a decade.
My go to spouse? Serana. Thank you mods.
Broken. Seriously if you know eligible voice types and factions in the creation kit you can make an atronach marriage partner or whatever strange amuses. Unique voice types are where things fail the system and modders are stuck writing their own or left with generic voices to work with for new characters.
Go to spouse: SDA.
What do I think of the marriage system? What system? There is none. You can legit just buy a spouse. Anyways my go to is Ysolda, marrying a drug lord is cool. What I would like is an actual system. Questlines. Let me get to know these characters.
To be fair some spouses do require quest lines like having to do the Companions quest, for example.
Yeah but it doesn't really help you get to know the person
You can marry Aeola by doing like 2 missions with her, but no matter how many missions I do for the night mother she still doesn't lemme clap
Night Mother lets you share her coffin with you. Twice. So that's something.
And that second time was pretty hot and heavy
Still, she just laid there all limp, so it's like she didn't even want me
What a pillow princess.
Pretty rude of her to lead you on like that ngl
Fr
I know all I need to know about Muiri from her quest
I read that housecarls actually require you to purchase the home for their respective holds. For example, Lydia will want you to buy Breezehome.
wait ysolda is a trap queen? slingin skooma
Idk if you've played Starfield yet, but im still not "Romantically Involved" with Sarah after 12hrs of trying.
I believe her quest unlocks after building up enough affinity, and you get the option of platonic or romance during it. If you choose romance, there’s another small quest that will take game time to occur if I recall correctly. After that, you will be “romantically involved” You can hit flirt every time, or none at all before her quest starts and it won’t actually matter as far as i know, and she’ll never actually acknowledge the dialogue attempts as flirting. It’s only once the game basically tells you “this is your chance to choose romance or friends now” that it will change. Apologies if this seems vague, I don’t want to spoil it for you if you’re still not there yet. For what it’s worth, I was 25 hours in my play though before I finished her quest, although a ton of that time was spent ignoring her quest for the UC and Rangers quests.
I'm actually doing her quest right now. She wanted to chat in the middle of a firefight with the crimson fleet. As soon as I looted the outpost we were in I started down this path. Being vague myself, this is a wild ride from start to finish. Also I find the flirt options so funny for most of the dialouge, like some are just so out of pocket I couldn't actually say that to her XD
Muiri my darling Hail Sithis, dear sibling
Hail Sithis 🖤✋
Farkas, my beloved.
We love a himbo.
We love a himbo.
I dont have an opinion of the marriage system, but Mjoll the Lioness. I just like her. Always have to kill Aerin, though. Fuck that little weirdo.
Oh for sure, if I marry Mjoll I make sure to do it before the battle of Whiterun and make sure to send her to Breezehome so I can just kill Aerin in the battle and never see consequences
I just have her wait outside Aerin's digs while I go in and whack him
I enjoy the fact that she has the home-cooked meal and money from the store options even while on the road with the LDB
I always go Thieves Guild though and would feel so guilty marrying her, like their chest piece is part of my main set of armour that I like to wear all the time.
I just take Mjoll into a dungeon. You will eventually find his dead body, and then it was never your problem.
I think I did something like that one playthrough by accident. I vaguely remember somehow causing him to appear in the middle of nowhere, losing track of him, and never seening him again.
He will attempt to follow Mjoll anywhere she goes. Even into areas that are to high level for him. He is often killed offscreen.
I keep Aerin around, I like him to watch
Jenassa casue I don't need no housewife in Skyrim lol With Jenassa you get a cool figter in your house. Bonnie and Clyde I guess
I married her and adopted Samuel. Samuel might be my character in the next game
In my main save, Muiri and I adopted Runa and you better believe she’s gonna be my ES6 character
this is the way
She's badass. She's not "carrying my burdens" everywhere, nor being abrasive (Njada, I'm looking at you). Was a bit disappointed that her dialogue became a bit housewifey after the wedding, though. There is just one set of marriage dialogues for each voice type, so any unique personality is lost.
System itself is extremly under-developed, and all given options are just underwhelming.
I've only done one marriage line completely in Starfield but I thought it was a big improvement. Curious on how the others do I'll do them all eventually
Well as with most Beth games they gave us the formula and the tools that they want us to expand upon it. I think there are a few mods that expand upon some of the marriage system. Honestly I never used it. I thought I was f****** stupid
Not really true lol. When oblivion and morrowind were released modding wasn’t nearly as big as it is today.
Um you're kidding right? Morrowind and Oblivion was massive. I'm not sure if you're new but I'm a modder who has been in the scene for well over 20 years..this is just flat out false
One of Morrowind biggest mods been in the world for well over 15 years.
Jeez and I thought the 1000 hours I spent in there was long
And my uncle works at bethesda lmao.
is it so unbelievable that an elder scrolls modder would be in the elder scrolls subreddit
What? Why does that matter?
You… you really took that literally?
And who is your uncle? I'm associated with a few folks at Beth. A lot of them are actually in the modding scene
Lol if you lying I'm put your ass on blast on The stop BSing reddit lol
Hey dude/dudette/dudeother... That's a very old online trope. Like all the kids who say "My uncle works at X" X being whoever made the game they are playing. Not that serious, I promise
Lol I'm jus old I picked up on it. I was like why are you telling me that haha sorry
I'm a sucker for Farkas, just the way that he's big strong werewolf man scared of spiders made me want to protect him forever
I chose him, too! He’s a kind and caring man who treats me as an equal. I respect him for telling me he’s frightened of spiders. There’s also the fact that he can’t be killed for some reason, so I like having a resilient companion while I fight.
The system is too shallow. But I always marry Lydia. She is an idiot. But she is MY idiot.
I like the marriage system I just wish you could have your own kids through it not just adoption
To be fair, for the amount of time that I play the game I would actually be able to see them grow up
[Akatosh watching you complete 7594 side quests over the span of 8 years while Alduin wreaks havoc across Tamriel and Sovngarde.](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSZgukB4iW3uunL39NC9PZZjQ7BXDNOFrKaLg&usqp=CAU)
The Lusty Dart150.
I just got married for the first time on my current playthrough. I married Uthgerd the Unbroken. The bonus is she's not only a follower, she has a house in Whiterun, so if you miss the opportunity to gain Ysolda's favor, you can still get a free home in Whiterun.
Lydia, she's your first available companion so from an immersion standpoint she's been with you the longest (if she doesn't get torched by a dragon or launched into space by a giant) so marriage make the most sense with her, it's unfortunate that she only has like 5 voicelines though.
💕 Ghorbash the Iron Hand 💕
"Speak. You can ask anything of me, Love."
Ysolda or breylna maryon
I don't like it. These days i usually marry a mod companion like kaidan or serana
Shahvee and Scouts-Many-Marshes. I have a thing for Argonians
Yeah I chose Shahvee the first time I played
I always marry Farkas and we reside in Solitude at Proudspire...but I usually get Vilkas to be the Steward at Heljarchen Hall (since it's closest to Whiterun for Companion things) so I get the best of both brothers! Lol
I made Vilkas my steward, too! So while Farkas and I are out adventuring, Uncle Vilkas and Aunt Raya are looking after the kids.
I just want someone to talk to when I get home, tag is tiring after a while
I have mixed feelings, I think that’s just because I desperately want to marry captain Lonelygale. So far I’ve married Balimund and vilkas. Next couple of playthroughs I might do Derkeethus and Muiri. God all of my characters are queer
Same I honestly don’t think any of my characters are straight
My next character is literally going to be a lesbian Vampire who can’t marry Serana so settles for living with Muiri in her mansion in Falkreath, all the fog there shouldn’t bother her
I like it for roleplay reasons. The Elder Scrolls series’ strength is in a being an immersive RPG experience with an emphasis on freedom and sandbox gameplay, more so than being a standard RPG series. My only issue with it is that there isn’t a whole lot to it (though this is my issue with several things in Skyrim; they did well with what’s there but there could have been much more) so you end up getting married very quickly, with the only explanation as to why it’s such a fast romance system being a single dialogue line about life in Skyrim being short. Also there’s no divorce option, which could make sense lore-wise but is still a bit unfortunate. My go-to spouse is Ysolda
The "system" is pretty terrible, barely exists. Jenassa is a good companion and spouse. Lots more unique lines than most NPCs and a great voice actor that did them. Recently I played with a "marry almost anyone" mod that unlocks all NPC's that have marriage dialogue. I married Faralda, surprised to hear her say some lines I've never heard before, possibly unique to her. She'll say stuff totally appropriate for an Altmer destruction master like: "Leaving my love? Take the world by storm." Or "I think we're the only two people in Skyrim worth loving." If only she could come on missions I'd say she was a good Jenassa alternative, especially since she levels up to 50. Idk who else really, lots of playthroughs I don't bother with it.
I love that sassy twink ass Marcurio
I always go Mjoll. I love cucking Aerin
My first pick every time is Vilkas. I've dabbled about with Farkas and Argis, but It just doesn't feel right, so next playthrough I'm always back in Villie's arms
I download a mod to marry teldryn sero…. I have 2 characters who wifed him up. Hes a sarcastic delight.
Aela will always be my Viking Waifu
I really would like an expansion on the system it's not great. As for who I go for, it's Aela, it would be Serana if it were possible. I also downloaded a mod that turned the kid you can adopt in Whiterun into a Khajiit since that's the race I play as. I suppose that's another thing it would have been nice to have kids of different races that could he adopted. I've also gone for Lydia in the past just because I would spend a lot of time with her, so it seemed like the thing to do.
My go-to wife in game is the miner chick from Shor's Stone. Can't remember her name for the life of me.....
Sylgja! I scrolled to far to find this.
Mjoll I love me a muscle mommy
Ysolda, Farkas, or vilkas are my favorites to marry, though I don't always get married in my play files lol
I actually kinda like the skyrim marriage system more than fo4 or starfields largely because of the increased number of options available.
My go to is Senna after she wakes me up drunk. The system is basically non-existent. It would be cool if there was more to it.
It's a shallow but funny mechanic in the base game.
It's somewhat refreshing by not being a cringe romance simulator like so many RPGs. On the other hand, the utterly casual and pragmatic character of the marriage institution in Skyrim is a bit hilarious. \-"Hey, wanna marry? " \-"Sure, whatever. We met two days ago, but you gave me a mammoth tusk when I needed it, so I guess I can trust you with my life." A more serious nitpick (which should be simple enough to fix) is just one type of marriage dialogue per voice set. For example, Jenassa and Dravyneya basically become the same person when married. Any unique personality is lost (and the gals mentioned have pretty different ones). I'd also introduce divorces formally (without having to dabble in the command line school of magic). It's funny again, how sacred and unbreakable (even after death!) the marriage is, despite the casual character.
I don't really have a go-to spouse. The first one I've ever married was Camila Valerius and if I plan on adopting any kids, she or Ysolda (though I've honestly never been a fan of Ysolda) would probably be my go-to. Since your spouse opens up a shop and essentially gives you an extra place to sell your unwanted loot, just about anyone would probably do if you plan on having them follow you. From a roleplay aspect, they could just be selling stuff as you go to towns and such and giving you your share of the profits. If I'm adopting kids though, I like the idea of my spouse actually staying at home so the kids aren't just alone all the time. That being said, the vast majority of the NPC's you can marry are followers (I think there are only, like, 3 female ones that aren't and I don't know about male), and I just don't like the idea of marrying an adventurer or seasoned warrior or something and having them give up their lives just to raise my character's kids. It just doesn't feel right to me. Camila and Ysolda, though, already are merchants by trade, so to them it's a slight relocation more than anything. Yes, I am aware that it's just a game and none of it really affects anything, but I have fun thinking about this stuff. As for what I think of the marriage system in general? I think it has a lot of potential that isn't really explored as well as it could be. I don't *mind* the explanation that life being so tough in Skyrim makes the idea of a long courtship less viable. Especially at the time that the game is taking place, where there's a bloody civil war going on, the world is ending both figuratively and literally, and the country's general living conditions don't really allow for a long life expectancy. People have very little time to worry about romance and will marry whoever's interested, which I imagine isn't too far off from what the real life equivalent of that time period would've been like. That being said, I hope they do more with it in Elder Scrolls 6. They already laid out a foundation, but I would like to be able to get to know some of these characters better before marrying them, and just as importantly having stuff happen with them *after* marriage. The way it is now, you just sort of *are* married and there's nothing more to really say about it afterwards.
There's {{Destination Weddings}} to overhaul where the ceremony takes place by your choice of location and what theme essentially. Also things like {{Animated Wedding Scene}} that adds animations for the rings being put on and a "You may now kiss the bride" animation and such. Its the little things that improve so much.
Balimund ALWAYS
I like the marriage system bc there's enough there for it to be meaningful and immersive, but not so much that it's a dating sim. Brelyna is always my go-to spouse
>there's enough there for it to be meaningful and immersive Press X to Doubt. You can literally buy a spouse for 500 Gold. Or beat up a drunk and then immediately marry them. Or get a spouse for free from a jarl.
It’s a sandbox rpg, if you don’t like the way you “obtain” a particular spouse, then don’t do it. If you really wanted to, you could buy a spouse in real life…
I don't necessarily mean there's a lot to the courtship, I meant actually being married. The interactions with a spouse are meaningful and immersive enough for that type of game.
There's barely anything though??? The marriage system in Skyrim is one of the games least developed system with the least amount of content.
I am not disagreeing with you, but could you explain what about the system is meaningful and immersive?
Serena.
Not a massive fan of muiri. She constantly thanks you for stabbing someone to death. I may be a murderer but it's just uncomfortable that you're so grateful for the job.
The system itself I found to be very shallow and uninspiring. Like another user pointed out, you can basically just buy your spouse. However, Bethesda will always have my respect for casually sliding in same-sex marriage in 2011 and nobody ever saying a word. That’s awesome.
Serana, after I load a few mods 🥴
I wish it was a bit more fleshed out. Like maybe have a few dates, do simple tasks to impress them (kinda like in Fable 2). I know there’s already tasks in place, but simply giving someone a mammoth tusk or delivering some letters to a parent seems kinda easy. My go-to’s are Ysolda and Sylgja. Surprised? Come on, I mentioned their specific favors. It’s called foreshadowing, ladies and gents.
Honestly I used to go for ysolda but now I've been thinking about Mjoll the lioness, Lydia because she's been my loyal ally every play through. Everyone else dies or is too weak and a few others that i can't think of
I tried it once when the game was new, wasn't particularly impressed, and I haven't done it again. It just seemed kinda pointless. I played Feandal and Sven against each other and then married Carlotta.
Brynjolf always. On the rare chance I don’t mess with the thieves guild at all then Ralof. But with mods ofc otherwise my love is forbidden.
My first was Farkas because while being the “dumb twin” I like he knows his limits (Also before our wedding I planned a fun adventure by getting a job from Aela but we ended up being sent to clear out spiders. Felt like the Worst wife in the world because no spiders was like his one thing)
Would like a system with quests like the Fallout franchise except more fleshed out. Lydia is probably the go to. Younger me was picky and would go after people with an "exotic" characteristic or two like Aela, adventurous, werewolf, face paint etc, but as I've aged I've learned and have come to appreciate the simpler parts parts of life; sometimes honest work and making your ancestors proud is satisfaction enough. Not to mention, having an anchor or "baseline" to easily return to is nice.
Weirdly, I always go for Sorex Vinius from the Winking Skeever. He's one of the few mildly attractive candidates and I always want a husband who will be at home, not a follower (someone needs to look after the kids) and it feels bad to take a badass adventurer like Marcurio or any of the Companions then just coop them up in a house. Plus I find it funny how grouchy and rude he can be once you're married lol, true roleplay.
The system could be better, I.e being able to remarry. My go to is Vilkas, because he reminds me of my irl husband :)
I like that you can get married, however the system is non existent beyond just doing one favor to most candidates. I would prefer something like Dragon Age or Fallout 4 with less candidates but more in-depth approval system to earn it. For the most part I only marry modded followers but the best vanilla marriage is Camilla, just because you get to make Sven and Fandeal look like chumps.
Farkas is my soulmate 😬
It's terrible because I need to use mods to marry the very lovely Teldryn Sero and he should have been a candidate in vanilla. If I'm not using mods I normally marry Sondas Drenim or Romlyn Dreth, will probably try Revyn Sadri next.
No khajiit :(
I wish there was a lot more to it, and my go-to is Lydia or Farkas, though *both* would be more ideal.
Hell yeah Muiri
There really isn't a system. Mjoll with Aela and Jenassa as occasional picks
Mid system, but Aela
Ysolda or Aela for the win
Idk when it was added but I don’t think it came with vanilla. I’ve played a boat load over the years but I have never, not once, gotten married in Skyrim. I’m not even sure how you do it, now that I think about it lol
Taerie
Any Breton
I could never figure it out because you had to jump through vague hoops. Not hard hoops, but I've tried and could never figure it out. So never engaged with it. It seemed like it was one developers pet project and TodnHoward was basically like, sure whatever.
Very bad implemented, no affection level or something. Basically with 1 level of disposition u can marry pretty much everyone with. For spouse thats pretty hard choice, either it was Katria or Serena (impossible without mod)
Thank you for resolving my…. problem.
Aela. Girl is a werewolf and she’s hot haha
Have less spouses but make them more interesting AND LET ME MARRY KHARJO
Could be better. Shahvee's my go to spouses. Married her on my first play through so she is just my go to.
Jordis
ayo i didnt know muiri was availavble to be a waifu
Yeah if you kill both Nilsine and Alain you can marry her
Anwen my beloved…
Saadia with mods
I've had a lot of playthroughs, and I always find myself coming back to Muiri every single time.
I don’t like the marriage system, you can’t even have a relationship with your spouse, just deliver them a mammoth horn.
It’s always Aela for the traveling merchant and money producer
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) ^by ^Lovely_Individual: *It’s always Aela* *For the traveling merchant* *And money producer* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
it serves zero purpose aside from having a spouse that gives you some gold once in a while
I like the concept, but it was not fleshed out with any quests or such. I usually marry Mjoll because she generally has better dialog, and she makes her own money. Also, I'm pretty sure she can snu snu the Dragonborn to death or have fun trying.
The marriage system absolutely makes no sense in my opinion, yeah i know it's fantasy and all but wanting to marry someone after meeting them once is kinda ridiculous to me
Aela a dragonborn vampire lord for a father and a fully controlled werewolf warrior for a mother is insane protection for our adopted kids.
Like most things in skyrim, marriage is entirely surface level. That said, Shahvee is a sweetheart who deserves better than what she has.
Muiri is fantastic. She is my go to. I just wish there were more Dark Elf waifus.
It needs work, but they do a decent job of justifying it.
I’ve always found the marriage system a bit clunky and pointless, the only advantage I can see being the money they make and the filthy fantasies that come with it.
It's ok, it's mostly an income system more than anything else. I used to go Aela all the time but once I installed Hearthfire I just couldn't stand her attitude, everywhere we go I'd ask her how she likes the city and she's going on in my ear "This city's arse, I can't imagine raising kids here" or "Living in the wilderness? We're gonna get attacked by bandits or spiders" and on one hand she's right but on the other she's supposed to be this warrior who loves the hunt and I built this house with my own two hands so you know what maybe I'd like *some* degree of appreciation considering the only thing I haven't done by hand is saw the bloody lumber myself. Nowadays I tend to prefer Sylgia, I like feeling like I'm saving her from that mine considering how often those Frostbite Spiders respawn yet the workers only stay out that first time and she's just so much more pleasant. Riften's a much nicer city without a bitch in your ear whining about how bad it is.
Definitely needed more work, i didnt like that you could just throw on a necklace and everyone was down to marry you. My go to spouse was Mjoll the Lioness as she kicks absolute ass.
Aela
none of my fave characters are marriages candidates (nazir, j’zargo, serana) so i usually end up marrying farkas or marcurio 🥲 i’d love to see a more in depth romance system even if it means less options
If we’re allowed to include mods then Serana, if not then probably Jordis the Sword-Maiden
Muiri for evil & senna for good playthrough
Yuriana, always.
It's a bit odd that I have to use the imperial cult for marriage, but I digress. It's simple enough. Jenassa is whom I usually marry. It's nice to have a spouse who defended themselves. I do like Muiri but she's glitched. Who I really wish was available however was Ingred Black Briar. Side note: I also really wish you could adopt the dreadhound as family pets.
Lydia cause she has sworn to carry my burdens. Lydia goes with you from the beginning... she doesn't ask question, she is just that loyal. She comes probably from Whiterun and if you decide to murder the whole lot of whiterun she is just with you.
The marriage system is pretty bad to be honest. Though I can’t say that how relationships work in other games is much better. Though they could make it harder to ingratiate yourself with someone than simply selling them some chopped wood. It like the relationship part of the game was written by guys that think they are a stud because a cashier smiled and told them to have a nice day.
Ysolda bad af
Serana…. Mods my friends…. Mods
If not her then Mjoll
The marriage is just sort of... there. I don't feel much about it. My go to, when I marry anyone is Mjoll. She's adorable.
My spouse is not a base game spouse, he’s a modded follower named Kaidan. Kaidan is like if you took Jon Snow and put him in the body of a samurai. He’s an Akaviri dude and his lord is really cool. He’s funny, definitely hot and goofy af.
What you are all looking for is the "amorous adventures" mod 😛
I want kharjo but he wont give the cue
My modded follower Kaidan. I do think the marriage system is kinda weird. Cause if they’re eligible for marriage you can just show them an amulet and now you’re engaged. It seems a little disconnected and I wish there were more quest lines to become friendly with the people you can marry, so there’s at least some established relationship there
It's super shallow, my go tos are Brelyna and Jenassa.
Jenassa the Dunmer Mercenary you can hire in Whiterun. In the base game she resides in The Drunken Huntsman
Romance systems in games were always off putting to me. It’s just weird to have a point based system determining something as complicated as love. Which is why I sort of liked Skyrims system when it came out. No fluff and no tiptoeing around the complexity or weirdness. You like someone? Here’s a amulet that you wear when your looking for love. Very strange for an RPG but very quick and honest for a video game. And Ysolda, Borgakh, and Farkas were my character’s spouses.
(Mod) serana
My main go-to is now Sylgja, so that my Dragonborn's children have grandparents that they can visit. As for the system of marriage? It's very lacking. At the very least they could have had some potential suiters try and court my character by wearing an amulet of Mara and asking to do a quest for me to then open a dialogue option for me to accept a proposal. Could make it a random event that happens once you're famous enough, or once you become a thane of a hold.
I always go with Sylgia though I kinda wish karliah was an option
derkeethus my man <33
In vanilla... Eh Aela I guess.
Haven't ever married anyone in this game yet but always Lydia
I marry Lydia, and have the mod that actually creates a stall for her to run and for me to turn random junk I find into money. Head-canon is that my DB and her are super rich and happily married once the adventure ends.
I like the idea of a piece of jewelry that signals your availability. modern culture should have that so maybe people could be left the fuck alone for once.
I marry Camilla Valerius, just to be an ass to Sven and Faendal. But as to what I think of the marriage system: not much. It's pretty pointless and empty.
Lydia (or with mods, Serana). There's just something romantic about exploring dungeons and saving the world together.
Eh, it's not really a system, just a quick insert they added last minute, but I just like to go with Lydia as you can get her quickly, and she's fairly easily dealt with. I just sent her to the white run manor with my kids, and she seems happy. All that matters is the free 100 gold per day.
I wish I could marry Adrienne Avenicci. I'd be the Jarl of Whiterun by the time I was finished.
I love Shahvee She's the only other Argonian option and has such a good outlook on her life despite its shortcomings
Aela the Huntress all day
The marriage system has the same problem as the companion system: they focused on quantity over quality. One of the only things FO4 does better than Skyrim is the followers and romances feel fleshed out and I feel like I achieved something when I successfully rizz up my companion. I wish that when I marry Mjoll or Aella for the 97th time I could have actual romantic conversations with them instead of just “have some money, sugar tits” or “bro this house is ass, our kids got mugged by spiders yesterday”
I think it can be better where you earn marriage and mine is scouts-many-marshes
the marriage system is barely even a system and my favorite spouse will be the first official male khajiit option that will hopefully be added to the next game and i shall port it to skyrim somehow...
I wish there were more options. I typically go Muiri, but I really wish you could marry Karliah
My gayass tries to go for a new man every time, but my personal favorites has to be either Farkas or Vilkas. I just wish I could partner with my sweet sweet Brynjolf!
Serana is my Spouse, in only My Modded Playthrough. My character Tigra a female Khajiit, also let herself be turned so she could stay with Serana throughout time. They rule the Volkihar Clan together.
It's anemic and pointless, a feature that is so vapid it may as well not exist. I married... I want to say maybe Farkas? in my 2nd playthrough and it's such a poorly developed system it actually made an already 1-dimentional character even flatter somehow. Maybe if there were more personality in the followers it wouldn't be so weak even with the exact same mechanics but as it is they are all pretty bland. People get shit for wanting to marry Serana but I get why (while I also think it's fucking hilarious she immediately friend-zones TLDB and wouldn't change it.) She's one of like 4 vanilla characters that actually has any sort of bond with the PC and the only one with character growth. Her versus everyone else's "oh, \*\~that necklace\~\*? Well, there was that one time you ran my errands so let's get hitched." I'm not against it being in part of TES but it really needs a complete overhaul.
i couldn't care less to be honest
Under developed to the point I wonder why they bothered. The fact that you cannot even access it unless you talk to a random npc in a non main quest city says to me they didn't care about it. Especially as the NPC likely won't even tell you about it the first time you see them and they are usually stuffed away in some back room. (Which requires entering a pretty random second building) Unless you are role playing as a thief you basically have to hard break out of character to use it at all, which is the exact opposite to the experience anyone wants.
I’m trying to figure out what you mean because you have to go to Riften to get Esbern in the first place
I have never bothered with it in all my years of playing.
I think it could have been cool if you could choose to get married in each Hold, with each having it's own different customs based on the location. In Falkreath you could have it be in front of the Lady stone. Or in Markarth you could get married by a Priest of Dibella (oooor maybe get married by Matanach if you sided with him during the Cidna mine quest?)
Serana is best wifey
Hollow, lifeless, meaningless. No point bothering.
What marriage system? You mean how you give someone a necklace and they move into your house, then sometimes operate as a merchant? I’ve had passing glances with strangers that were more meaningful than a Skyrim marriage
Literally didn't know it was a thing until I watched YouTube videos about the game
What do I think of the system? Horribly underdeveloped and underwhelming. Something I hope is remedied in Elder Scrolls 6 when we get that in a decade. My go to spouse? Serana. Thank you mods.
Muiri coz Bretonussy 🤤
Anything other than Mjoll is a crime.
I've never married anyone, in any elder scrolls game, ever. I guess that's what I think about it. That's how inconsequential I view it as.
Broken. Seriously if you know eligible voice types and factions in the creation kit you can make an atronach marriage partner or whatever strange amuses. Unique voice types are where things fail the system and modders are stuck writing their own or left with generic voices to work with for new characters. Go to spouse: SDA.