Marriage (Skyrim)

Marriage is a newly introduced element in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. After obtaining the Amulet of Mara, the Dragonborn has the option to engage in either a heterosexual or homosexual marriage with an eligible NPC. Although is no discrimination based on race, there are currently no eligible Khajiit or Bosmer. Those that can be married generally require that a specific task be completed beforehand. Whether the partner is a merchant or not, he/she is able to purchase and sell general goods, also allowing the Dragonborn to collect a daily portion of his/her profits from their "work". Every 24 hours, the player can ask their partner how their business is faring to receive a share of 100 gold. If the share is not collected, the gold accumulates.

Obtaining the Amulet of Mara

 * The Amulet of Mara can be bought from Maramal for 200 . He can be found at either the Bee and Barb or the Temple of Mara in Riften.
 * Can be found as random loot.
 * Can be found in a tent on a beach North of Dawnstar directly behind the Dawnstar Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary.
 * Can be looted from Kematu in Swindler's Den
 * Received for completing The Book of Love questline.

Marriage must still be discussed with Maramal before proposing, if the amulet is obtained without talking to him first.

Proposing
Maramal must be spoken to about marriage in Skyrim before any dialog related to the Amulet of Mara shows up. The new dialogue is unlocked with certain NPCs if the player is both wearing the amulet and has met the requirement relating to them, usually a quest. The Dragonborn can then express their wish to marry the person. Once that is done, they can speak to Maramal at the Temple of Mara about arranging the wedding.

Wedding Ceremony
The time to start a ceremony takes approximately 24 hours. Maramal alludes to the ceremony time being constrained between dawn and dusk, however the ceremony can happen at any given hour of the day. During the ceremony the player has one last chance to affirm the marriage before the ceremony proceeds.

NPCs for whom the player has previously completed quests may appear at the wedding ceremony as guests.

If the player misses his Wedding Ceremony, they can approach the intended partner and ask for another chance. Maramal will then agree to host another ceremony, the next day.

Married Life
After the Marriage, the partner will ask where the player wants to live, giving him/her the choice between the partner's house or in The Dragonborn's house, if applicable.

The behavior of the spouse changes from the single character once married. Tone of voice and behavior changes, they often refer to the player as "love" or "dear" from that point on. However, if the Dragonborn marries one of his housecarls, they will sometimes refer to him as their Thane using subordinate dialogue.

If the player's spouse relocates to a different city from where they originated, to live in one of the player's houses, they may indicate that they wish to become a shop owner to keep occupied while the player is adventuring.

If the player wishes to relocate the spouse to a different home, (either another one of the player's houses or the spouse's own original home), this can be done so at any time via a dialogue option.

Once a day, the player can ask their spouse to cook something for them. They will make a Homemade Meal that increases the regeneration of magicka, health, and stamina.

If the player sleeps in the house with their spouse, they receive a temporary bonus called Lover's Comfort that boosts the rate of skill-learning by 15% for 8 hours. However, this bonus cannot be obtained if Lover Stone is activated, or if the Blood Ritual has been taken to become a Werewolf.

Note: Because partners act as vendors, the player can buy and sell items from them. However, if they are asked to follow the player, they will only sell him items from their inventory until they part ways. Spouses only act as merchants in the marital home, meaning items cannot be sold to them in a dungeon, to reduce the carry weight, for instance.

Forcing NPC Marriage
Players can force the marriage dialog option to appear on NPCs by opening the console, targeting the desired NPC, and typing the command "addfac 19809 1". This could possibly cause issues with NPCs who were not originally intended to have this option.

A friendship must have been started with the NPC in the form of a quest, as their deposition (which is a hidden stat) needs to be of a certain level in order for them to recognize the Amulet of Mara. Alternately the command "setrelationshiprank player 4" can be used after adding the person to the marriage faction. It is not possible to marry some persons, such as Ulfric Stormcloak.

Divorce
Trying to breakup with partners is, for some reason, impossible without the console. Searching for help "breakup" 4 will bring up dialogue and quests that show reference to what must have been the original intention of breaking up with a spouse.

OPTION #1 The relationshipbreakup quest can be used. Use the console to enter these commands: (This is just formality to reset the "marriage" quest.) The above will prevent the player from having to kill his spouse, although they will comment on how much even the thought of him makes their blood boil. Untested, but possibly setrelationshiprank player 4 can fix this
 * completequest 0007431B
 * resetquest 0007431B
 * resetquest 00021382 

Option #2
 * The spouse must be killed
 * The console command Setstage RelationshipMarriage 10 must then be used
 * The console commands resurrect should next be used on the ex-spouse (and eventually the command setrelationshiprank player 4 on him/her to keep the relationship status obtained with the npc related quests)
 * The old Amulet of Mara doesn't need to be dropped or sold.

ALTERNATIVE #3 (Tested for PC - 11-Dec-2011)
 * The Amulet of Mara necklace must be retained, or another one must be found.
 * Any wanted items should be taken from the current spouse before starting this process.
 * The following commands must be used, after targeting the spouse:
 * removefac 51596
 * player.removefac C6472
 * resetquest 74793
 * resetquest 21382
 * setstage 74793 10
 * The old spouse will immediately exit the house and return to their regular location.
 * 24 hours must be waited.

There is also a poll, for users that wants a normal divorce option for consoles and PC, instead of the "hack". We are hoping to get enough votes to make Bethesda notice.

Bugs

 * Sometimes, Maramal will not show up at the temple until he is talked to at the Bee and Barb.
 * A bug can occur in which a scripted NPC interrupts the wedding if the player chooses to wait overnight in the Temple of Mara. For example: the priestess of Azura might make the Dragonborn miss his wedding if he recently completed the Azura's Star quest.
 * Some users playing as a male character may experience Vilkas chasing after them in Jorrvaskr trying to marry them, with his weapon drawn, and no actual action done by the player.
 * Some people that can be married, (such as Aela the Huntress), have no voice acting recorded for when they are asked to browse their merchandise. The subtitle will appear on screen and their lips still move but nothing will be heard.
 * If Aela the Huntress is taken out to get married while on the quest to recover the Hircine totem, she will continue to follow the player but if he fast travels anywhere she will disappear and that quest will not be able to be completed since the totem must be found with her.
 * If a random companion quest is accepted and the quest requires killing a monster that has invaded a home, that home may be the player's. Upon entering the home no one will be there but the monster and the wife will temporarily disappear from the game.
 * Sleeping in the same house with the partner may not result in the "Lover's Comfort" sleeping buff, only the standard "Well Rested" bonus. ''Additional testing required to determine conditions to trigger this bug.

Trivia

 * It is not possible to marry a Khajiit or a Wood Elf of either gender legitimately, as there seems to be no possible characters to marry.
 * It is not possible to marry Lydia in-game without the use of console commands. She is however, intended to be a marriage candidate, which is confirmed by looking at the data file, (Skyrim.esm).
 * (Lydia's marriage option is fixed in Beta 1.5).
 * To change the clothes of the partner, the console commandequipitem can be used on him (e.g. equipitem 000d191f 1 for the Tavern Clothes) . The console command removeitem  1 can be used to remove items like a Pickaxe (000E3C16), or clothes specifically. Be mindful that every NPC (including followers) come with a set of standard clothing that are tagged as their 'outfit'. Even when removing these clothes through the console, the NPC will try to put on the standard outfit when not following the player, which can result in them being randomly nude while not following the player (e.g: waiting at their house, walking in the city).