Bethesda's fantasy RPG Skyrim allows players to marry certain NPCs, from dedicated followers such as Lydia to more minor characters that can be encountered across the map. There are several characters in the game, though, who aren't featured as a marriage candidate despite how much unique dialogue they have. In the eyes of many Skyrim fans, it feels like a missed opportunity. Here are a few Skyrim characters that really should have been marriageable but, for one reason or another, weren't.
Marriage in Skyrim isn't as fleshed out as the romances in similar RPGs such as Mass Effect tend to be. Even Bethesda's other popular RPG series, Fallout, tends to go more in-depth with its romance mechanics. Fallout 4 in particular allowed players to gain affinity with their companions in a way that wasn't implemented in Skyrim, even allowing romantic storylines to be pursued once approval was high enough. BioWare's Dragon Age: Inquisition operated similarly.
It's worth noting that most other Elder Scrolls titles didn't feature marriage as an inherent part of gameplay at all, though there are mods available for Morrowind and Oblivion that change that. The Elder Scrolls Online added romance and marriage as well, however, which could imply that Bethesda was merely testing out the feature during the release of Skyrim. If that's the case, marriage could be significantly improved upon with the eventual release of The Elder Scrolls 6.
Dawnguard's Serana Could Have Provided Unique Dialogue
Most Skyrim DLC characters, particularly those from the Dawnguard expansion pack, aren't marriage candidates despite the fact that many of them serve as companions in battle. The vampire follower introduced during Dawnguard's main questline, Serana, is often considered one of the most popular companions in Skyrim particularly due to how much unique dialogue and story content she provides. As such, her exclusion from the marriage mechanic is something of a disappointment.
Marrying Thieves Guild & Dark Brotherhood Guild Members
Skyrim's Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines are both full of memorable characters such as Brynjolf, Vex, Karliah, and Astrid, and many of them serve as temporary followers at one point or another. Their unique role in their respective storylines, as well as their close relationship to the Dragonborn, could have made them great marriage candidates. Unfortunately, however, the majority of the characters in both guilds aren't included in Skyrim's list of marriage options.
Skyrim Has No Khajiit Marriage Candidates
Overall, Skyrim's marriage options suffer from being too limited in terms of species. Despite there being ten major Elder Scrolls races, the vast majority of the game's marriageable characters are Nords. On one hand, this makes sense given how much of Skyrim's overall population is Nordic. On the other hand, there are plenty of great Dunmer or Argonian characters that could have been romanceable instead in order to provide more diverse options for players. In particular, Skyrim doesn't include a single Khajiit character in its list of marriage options, which - especially given the scope of the series' focus on freedom and choice - feels like a missed opportunity.