How would you improve Marriage features in Skyrim?

No, this is not a marriage counseling thread, it's for ideas that you think would make marriage in the game a bit more interesting than just receiving a daily income of 100 gold pieces and a sleeping buddy (that didn't sound too good, did it?)

Here are some of my thoughts...

More challenging/extensive requirements
It's OK for Companions, because you have to go through quite a lot of quests before you can propose to one of them, but for other partners, you just beat them in a pub brawl or pay their fee and they're all yours. With some of my characters, I actually ended up traveling with hirelings or brawlers and doing a few quests with them before getting married, so I could "imagine" my character falling in love with the person. Perhaps they could have made it so you do have to have the character as a follower for a certain amount of time before you can become a couple.

Updated dialogue
Especially if they're following you. If you ask them to trade items or part ways, they still answer you like a friend or client. Couldn't they say something a bit more intimate, like "I'll take that, love" or "See you back at home, dear".

A proper wedding reception
The moment you tie the knot, everyone including your spouse starts leaving the temple before Maramal even finishes giving his blessing. It's a quick scramble to catch up to all your guests if you want to hear their congratulations. Could they not perhaps linger for a cup of wine and a chat? Roggvir's execution turned out to be a better do than my f#cking wedding.

Sleeping animation
I just think it would be nice if I could see my character and spouse lying next to each other when I choose to sleep in our house or a campsite. We have sitting in chair animations, and we see NPCs lying down on beds all the time. Let me see some spooning, please.

Any other thoughts?

I think you should be able to give them gifts like you can your adopted childeren.

To be able to marry every NPC in the game. Some would get in love with you over time by being hired by you while doing "good guy" or "bad guy" quests... depends of the NPC personality. And some with sweet words and some by doing some radiant favors.

A wedding cake.


Pie even...

I think the "cook me something to eat" feature is redundant. I never even use food items in this game, I just treat them like bits of scenery. Plus it's not even in character for most of the marryable people. You're shacked up with a thug for hire who makes a living chopping up other thugs and monsters, and suddenly he's like "here you go darling - I cooked this up fresh for you xxx". Heck, they could even give us the option to hire an NPC chef to cook meals for us, rather than making it out that my husband who likes bludgeoning bad guys has surprising culinary talents.

How about the ability to introduce our partner (or other followers) to other NPCs, like the Jarls or shopkeepers that we make friends with? You say "This is my husband" and they're like "It's a pleasure to meet you" and have a little banter with each other. This could even contribute to your speech skills.

1 Word. Divorce. I now realize that marrying my wife was a mistake, and she needs to go. SHE NO LONGER MAKES ME FOOD!

More NPCs available for wedding definitely. More variety in races.

1. More diversity in choices, race- and occupation-wise.
2. Could give gifts plus have other ways to express affection, like dialogue or animations.
3. Your spouse would wear appropriate attire when at home or the clothes you give them. (Additionally, there needs to be more cloting options, even sightly customizable pieces.)
4. Could have them accompany you for at-home activities like meals, sleeping, sittng on the patio enjoying the view from the house you built for the two of you, without them being a follower and having to command them to sit here or there.
5. More interactive and diverse dialogue. Please. Marcurio's a great hubby but his always saying what a fine house I have makes him seem like an idiot.
6. Divorce. For when you get sick of your spouse. Or, like I did with my Dunmer, you make the wrong choice. Or as should be the case with my Rogue, you get caught cheating or they're sick of you being a slacker. I so want to have my Rogue come home to find a courier waiting from him: "I've been looking for you, got something I'm suppose to deliver...let's see...oh, from the Temple of Mara in Riften. Apparently your spouse has petitioned for a divorce! What did you do to make him/her leave you, may I ask? Not that it's my business..." Make it happen, Bethesda!!! (Added bonus would be that after the divorce, whenever you cross paths with your ex, they hurl nothing but insults and abuses at you, unless you do favors to get back in their good races or even earn a shot at marrying them again)
7. Like sticky runes suggested, some kind of courtship quest would be cool, methinks. And tailor them to the prospective spouse. Variety!
8. More of the NPCs should be available for marriage, especially given that there's so little diversity in the current options.

sticky runes said:

I think the "cook me something to eat" feature is redundant. I never even use food items in this game, I just treat them like bits of scenery. Plus it's not even in character for most of the marryable people. You're shacked up with a thug for hire who makes a living chopping up other thugs and monsters, and suddenly he's like "here you go darling - I cooked this up fresh for you xxx". Heck, they could even give us the option to hire an NPC chef to cook meals for us, rather than making it out that my husband who likes bludgeoning bad guys has surprising culinary talents.

How about the ability to introduce our partner (or other followers) to other NPCs, like the Jarls or shopkeepers that we make friends with? You say "This is my husband" and they're like "It's a pleasure to meet you" and have a little banter with each other. This could even contribute to your speech skills.

Click to expand...

I only married Aela on one playthrough so i could tell a werewolf to make me a sandwich whenever i wanted.

On a more serious note, more effort in the voice acting. More romantic quests. Better personalities. Vary the marriage location. Proposing needs to be much improved. And MUCH too much to name it all. Many people complain about Serana. She is afraid of temples? GET MARRIED SOMEWHERE ELSE! That is all for now.

Grimjulf Winter-Heart said:

(( I'd like to see some affection animations. We don't need sex in the vanilla game. But a kiss on the cheek. A hug. This would add to the idea that we are really married, as opposed to being just roommates with a financial agreement.

More marriageble NPCs for sure. More guests at the wedding (one of mine had only one -- a beggar). A real reception. Longer quests. Some NPCs would surely play hard to get. Make them hard to get, then. ))

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well you could have a ''woohoo'' animation just like the sims instead of sex

Maybe your spouse could write to you and have it delivered via a courier if you have been away from home in a number of days.

-Some kind of dialogue between your spouse and kids (besides the ever redundant "Pa's gonna take me hunting..") would be nice.
-Being able to have different dialogue between you and your spouse would also be good (I feel like a douche when all I ask for is food and money)
-As mentioned above, the ability to give gifts to your spouse and to have some kind of affection options would also make the roleplaying aspect more appealing.

Babies, and lore and a questline about Dragonborns having superbabies or whatever. It would work for my character's story, because my character's husband's best friend got killed by either the forsworn or the dragon attacking, so now I want my character to have a son named after him.

And Khajiit options, cause that's just weird otherwise. >.<

It would be nice if your spouse would stop thanking you for whatever problem you took care of for them.

How about some passion? I'm not talking about a graphic sex mod, just some more romance. It would be nice if your spouse acted more like a lover and less like a friend.

How about a kiss when I get home from saving the world, you bastard?

Or the option to take your spouse out to a romantic dinner in town, followed by a moonlit walk?

Then, maybe a little pillow talk before you hit the sheets? Nothing too dirty. Just the implication that you don't have to back into a weapon rack to get some action!

shadowqueenMedea said:

How about some passion? I'm not talking about a graphic sex mod, just some more romance. It would be nice if your spouse acted more like a lover and less like a friend.

How about a kiss when I get home from saving the world, you bastard?

Or the option to take your spouse out to a romantic dinner in town, followed by a moonlit walk?

Then, maybe a little pillow talk before you hit the sheets? Nothing too dirty. Just the implication that you don't have to back into a weapon rack to get some action!

Click to expand...

That dark elf from the dark brotherhood has a passionate opinion about moonlit walks. See the "...favorite quotes..." thread or whatever its called.

First of all, I'd overhaul conversation to actually give the companions some personality. Conversation options would open up over time, so you don't exhaust them all at once. Preferably, said options would reference things you've done together and perhaps your class so it isn't just the guards who are talking about your spells, weapons, and armor. You could also ask questions of them to explore their background and they would do the same to you. That way, there could actually be a bond between the PC and spouse.

A sammich making option of course! (I had to.)

In truth, I would like to see more schedule-based events (with the exception of falling asleep/waking up). Such as your spouse making dinner at a specific time to serve as a "dinner time" type of scenario, your spouse going out at a certain time to ACTUALLY work for a bit as opposed to magically coming up with 100 gold, and so on.

Second, to counter the divorce thing (which I'm all for), is a renewal of vows type of option. Say about after a year or so of marriage, one could renew the marriage on their anniversary and obtain some type of bonus as a result. Those happy and satisfied with their spouse can choose to renew, while people who hate their spouse's guts could simply ignore the option entirely, and leave them locked in the house while adventuring as I'm sure they have to this point.

nice to see lots of feedback!

We definitely need more race options. I was shocked that we couldn't marry any khajiits. I use Kharjo quite a lot as a follower, and his quest of finding a jewel seems quite appropriate for a proposal, he'd have been perfect for my khajiit thief character. But no, I had to settle for any race BUT khajiit.

I like the idea of affection animations. It would bring more depth to the characters. The only human interaction animations I've seen besides fighting and killing moves, are when somebody gets kicked onto the execution block, or when Aela has her paw slashed during the initiation ritual. How about some hugs??

Maybe some exclusive quests that you only get if you're married to a certain character. so if you're married to a hireling, he or she receives a commission from an old client, and you get to go on a new quest together. If you're married to a blacksmith, he asks you to find certain materials, and forges you a unique weapon.

And some dedications. Carve your lover's name into a tree to receive a blessing, or build a shrine to you and your spouse on a roadside. come back later to find offerings that travelers have left in thanks.