There's more to Skyrim than slaying dragons and looting ancient ruins. In this guide we'll tell you how to line your pockets without setting foot in a single dungeon, where to find the love of your life, and how to get on the property ladder.
How to get married
The key to marriage in Skyrim is the Amulet of Mara. This pendant is a way of showing that you're 'available', and wearing it will give you the option to propose to an NPC.
But before the option becomes available, you'll have to complete the following steps...
- First, find an Amulet of Mara. These drop as loot occasionally, but the easiest way to get one is to visit the Temple of Mara in Riften and talk to the priest, Maramal.
- Buy the amulet for 200 gold, then talk to Maramal about Skyrim's marriage traditions. You'll have to complete this dialogue tree to be able to proposition someone.
- Now find someone you want to marry You'll need to be friendly with them first - by completing certain quests, or favours they ask of you. Here are a few suggestions...
-
Aela the Huntress
- Location: Whiterun
- Sex: Female (Nord)
- Marriage conditions: Complete the Companions questline
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Camilla Valerius
- Location: Riverwood
- Sex: Female (Imperial)
- Marriage conditions: Complete 'The Golden Claw'
-
Erik the Slayer
- Location: Rorikstead
- Sex: Male (Nord)
- Marriage conditions: Complete his favour then hire him
-
Lydia
- Location: Dragonsreach/Breezehome
- Sex: Female (Nord)
- Marriage conditions: Become Thane of Whiterun
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Uthgerd the Unbroken
- Location: Whiterun (Bannered Mare)
- Sex: Female (Nord)
- Marriage conditions: Challenge her to a brawl and win
-
Angrenor Once-Honored
- Location: Windhelm (Candlehearth Hall)
- Sex: Male (Nord)
- Marriage conditions: Give him a gold piece
-
There are many more NPCs you can marry, of all sexes, races and ages. You'll know they're available for marriage if there's a dialogue option along the lines of: "Are you interested in me?"
- When the NPC accepts, travel to the Temple of Mara and talk to Maramal again. Wait 24 hours, then meet your spouse-to-be at the altar. You can back out at the last minute, ruining your chances with them forever, or go through with it. When the ceremony is complete you'll receive an enchanted wedding ring.
- Talk to your spouse. If you own a house, you can make that your marital home. If not, you'll use their house instead. Your wife/husband will then make their own way back to your/their house and will be waiting for you next time you visit.
The benefits of married life
As well as earning an achievement/trophy, getting married in Skyrim has a few nice perks.
- Your spouse will become a merchant of sorts. Talk to them once a day and ask "Has the store made any money?" and they'll give you 100 gold. This accumulates, so leave it for a few in-game weeks and you'll get a nice amount of coin.
- Sleeping next to your spouse (your bed will also be 'owned' by them), gives you a bonus called 'Lover's Comfort'. This increases the speed of all ability upgrades by 15% for eight hours. This is the same effect as the Lover Stone.
- Once a day, your spouse will cook you a meal. Talk to them and ask "Could you cook something for me?" This will appear in your inventory as 'home cooked meal' and will give you a health, magicka and stamina boost for a limited time.
Comments
24 comments so far...
FinalBillybong on 21 Nov '11 said:
Just to let you all know, on the money making front. If you complete the Thieves Guild quest line and become the leader you'll get 20,000 gold from the last quest. You can then lie to the other members about the amount and keep most of it for yourself. Not that you'd do a thing like that...........
pRM8 on 21 Nov '11 said:
Also note that there is a glitch that f**ks the marriage up if Lydia is dead before you get married. It Doesn't matter where she died the game will spawn her dead body at the door inside the chapel and the ceremony will fail. You have to drag/shout (unrelenting force) her body out of the way then speak with your wife/husband to be and apologize, then just speak with Maramal to rearrange it.
That happened to me and I had to re-do it but now I cant find my wife. It was funny because everyone started getting up and walking out of the chapel, including my wife, before the ceremony had even finished and I haven't seen her since
heartsounds on 21 Nov '11 said:
I went on a night of drunken debauchery, woke up in another city and found out I was married the next day!
I haven't tried getting married in Skyrim yet...
Headsrinker on 21 Nov '11 said:
CVG, you appear to have forgot to include the 'how to initiate sex' instructions. I have a PS3, so i presume it will be rapidly tap L1/R1 for 30 seconds?
Dalaeck on 21 Nov '11 said:
30 seconds? Jeez... poor wife.
She'll be out hunting down real Nord soon enough. Work on that stamina stat.
IbanezLewis on 21 Nov '11 said:
Hey everyone, a little glitch that makes buying a house much, much cheaper (free actually). Make sure that the person who you need to talk to about buying a house is near a chest or some sort of container (even a sack will do). Talk to them about buying a house, then when accepting to buy, back out of the conversation whilst they are still talking and then store all your money in the container. You'll get the key to the house for free. All you need to do then is take your money and you can repeat the same steps to have it fully furnished too! Obviously save before you do it in case you don't do it in time but it's worked for me everywhere so far!
Sammy_bham on 21 Nov '11 said:
Or... play the game and find out for yourselves?
Felly117 on 21 Nov '11 said:
Dont you mean the dark brotherhood?
Budly Moore on 21 Nov '11 said:
I cant find a Temple of Mara in Whiterun, is it meant to be Riften???
Budly Moore on 21 Nov '11 said:
I can confirm the Temple of Mara is in Riften, not whiterun.
Keyran-Solo on 21 Nov '11 said:
I completely forgot about the marriage thing in Skyrim, I'll have to do it sometime.
To make an easy 20,000 gold, join the Dark Brotherhood and at the end of "Hail Sithis!" you will get 20,000 gold as a reward for completing the quest. Good luck!
glavias on 22 Nov '11 said:
Skyrim: How to get married, buy a house and make a fortune...
I'm sorry that does not make sense!!! Get married, buy a house, make a fortune... yeah!! take away the married bit and I will agree with you!
kilatomato on 22 Nov '11 said:
Tried to get married to Mjoll the Lioness but somehow a corpse managed to gatecrash the wedding and ruin the entire thing, so I reloaded my save. Im thinking if I want to get married in skyrim now, Ill have to endure at least one ruined wedding, reanimate the corpse and then destroy it.
Also, Ive used smithing to make money, but its a pain in the arse. The ore in the game is so disproportionately in favour of crap ones that you have to buy large amounts of expensive materials. But the time youve finished and made all the armour and weapons and upgraded them, its probably not a very large profit.
Still, I got dragonscale armour out of it all, and it kicks ass.
Headsrinker on 22 Nov '11 said:
Budly Moore
I can confirm the Temple of Mara is in Riften, not whiterun.
Budly Moore is correct- PLEASE AMEND THE ARTICLE CVG.
pRM8 on 22 Nov '11 said:
Reloading wont fix the wedding glitch, I tried that and the wedding kept failing until I moved the corpse out of the way then re-organized the wedding.
Unless your loading up a save before that particular NPC had died, then you should be ok.
flashurpixels on 23 Nov '11 said:
I can't seem to get married at all!
whether it's the beggar in windhelm or my companion.
I've had issues with companions since day 1 with this game they insta-die from 1 hit and i'm on my 9th companion so far.
but everytime the "attend the wedding" thing starts my soon to be lover pops up with a dead companion
I keep redoing it over and over and they keep bringing my long lost companion corpses.....
also the beggar in windhelm does NOT hang out in the inn. I camped that inn for 1 week (game time) and I finally gave up and searched the alley's and found him.
I've had alot of issues with this game and it's for the 360 I dunno if it's glitches or just how it is.
obidanshinobi on 24 Nov '11 said:
I would like to marry Lydia but I think there is a glitch that means you can't.
Chop chop patch !
jm3811 on 21 Dec '11 said:
Platinum trophy: you win a real kid. Is there any cheat?
Phaedros on 28 Jan '12 said:
On making money, just get the banish daedra enchant and enchant iron daggers. Or, you can make high level potions such as fortify two-handed with other effects or poisons of slow with an added damage health.
JBurby on 26 Feb '12 said:
excellent guide, marriage here I come!
Mattoto on 26 Feb '12 said:
"Lovers comfort" buff... hell what do they mean here ? is there something happening when sleeping ?
TehSlenderMan on 27 Feb '12 said:
Now to follow these instructions in real life.
summerlove on 27 Feb '12 said:
They lived long and happily
JRawr on 14 Apr '12 said:
Was it that Sam guy? The daedric prince? Well if you find him in his "Little Grove" place he gives you a staff the summons a (REALLY AWESOME!) Daedra to fight for you. The staffs called the Sanguine Rose or something like that. It's really cool. It shaped like a rose.