Game Skyrim Forum

Simply decide that you are. That's all there is to it. It is a roleplaying game, after all.

What do you mean "That's not the same thing. I want to be able to marry Serana in the same way I can marry other NPCs!"? Come on, now. Is that really what you want?

Your opinion may differ from mine, but to me, the combined benefit of a daily homecooked meal, the Lover's Comfort bonus, and the convenience of an in-home merchant simply isn't worth what the marriage mechanic does to an NPC--- reducing them to the status of an annoying talking doll that pulls it's own string every time you brush past them. "Yes my love? What do you need?" Nothing, for Christ's sake! Didn't you just ask me that five seconds ago?

Yes, Bethesda has somehow made fantasy marriages even less interesting than real marriages (a feat I didn't think was possible). Just for once, I'd like to be able to go off adventuring away from home for several days, and then arrive home only to discover that my wife has tossed all of my stuff onto the front porch. And that she won't speak to me. And that I'd have to go buy her a gold necklace or something in order for us to return to business as usual. Or heck, toss in a PMS mechanic that raises your wife's aggression level for seven days a month, and has her doing things like throwing pots across the room and yelling at you without provocation.

Marriage in Skyrim is static, repetitive, and gets very dull very fast. So who cares if you can't technically get married to Serana?

Besides which, I don't need an in-game mechanic to dictate what sort of a relationship I have with an NPC. Serena is great in that you can easily pull off imagining a marriage to her. She and I currently reside in Honeyside (Riften). When we're at home I tell her to wait in the kitchen and she remains there (you know, like a good wife should) where she'll alternate between using the cooking pot and chowing on a loaf of bread. When I feel like sitting out on the deck. I'll bring her along with me and she'll sit across from me. Or she'll lean up against the rail and peer out at the water. I can make her wait anywhere in the house where she won't get in my way (depending on what it is I'm doing) and at the very least she'll interact with things and won't just stand there like a golf caddy like other follower/spouses do.

But most importantly, she doesn't yammer my ear off with that same repetitive dialogue which is unavoidable when it comes to "real" Skyrim marriages. Best Skyrim marriage I've had so far.

There basically is romance with her in the game. It's subtle and without marriage but it's there.

Yep. I only posted this because there seem to be a number of complaints from players who believe marriage to Serena should have been possible even though the marriage mechanic generally svcks, and the option to employ it would have added very little to the existing relationship you already have with her. If a player really insists on a PC/Serana marriage, it's a simple enough task to pretend that one already exists.

Loved your point Little Beard, although I must say that there will be a Marry Serana Mod in less than 2 mins after Dawnguard is released on the PC....in fact a mod called UFO already makes any Follower a candidate for marriage, even followers introduced by other mods so theres that

Sadly, this won't stop them. They will want it until they get it, which is unlikely to ever happen.

How to really marry Serana.

- Press tilde key
- Left click on Serana
- Type in "addfac 19809 1"
- Hit enter
- Hit the tilde key
- Ask her to marry you with the Amulet of Mara
- ???
- Profit

One could actually take an xbox 360 save to the PC and do this with ease.

You aren't taking into account that she probably doesn't have marriage dialogue.

You bastard, you got my hopes up that you found a way to actually marry her . But yeah I was planning on roleplaying that we were married, and I have said this before in other threads, I don't want to be able to marry Serana unless they make it different form other marriages and she doesn't become a "doll" as you said like all the other spouses.

You aren't taking into account that this method works on every single NPC in the game.

LOL. I real wife saw my in game fake wife and how she acted and asked if that is how I want her to be. There is such little interaction that marriage is a joke in Skyrim. Just another vendor and income source. The item that they can turn on you would be funny. Come home and see someone sneaking out the door or something.

Marry Camilla. Then find Faendal in your house when you come home.

It's funny because I actually do this (except my character is not married to her, just in a relationship). Role playing makes everything better.

You've got a great point, LB ... marriage in Skyrim is not supposed to be a great romantic thang, so maybe what you have with Serana is better than that. (Personally I'd have happily staked on her on one of my characters, but let's assume that one can suffer a vampire to live.)

Still, what I think people wanted was the reward of a unique relationship ... it would have added a real new dimension to the expansion if there had been some meaningful companionship at the end .

Wrong. Try Vex or Astrid.

What a brilliantly simple but very effective solution !! You're spot on about the marriage thing being pretty naff in Skyrim. Much better to use one's imagination instead of the "Stepford Wife" the game gives you! Well done my friend!!

I can understand that, but I'm not sure what they could have realistically done. More dialogue I suppose, but her dialogue can't go on forever. Eventually, it would have to come down to a selection of post-game interactions that could be repeated with her and I can't think of what those might be that would satisfy anyone's definition of meaningful companionship without them having to use their own imagination.

You can already travel and fight with her. You can already live with her in either the castle or the fortress (depending on your alignment). If you want her to live with you in your choice of Skyrim home, well, you can simulate that on your own provided you remain in the house with her and, if you must step out, then just don't leave her in the house waiting for you for too long.

What's left? The ability to bed her, I suppose. But unless Bethesda was willing to accept an ESRB rating of "advlts Only" (not a chance), then it's unlikely that this would have amounted to little more than a bit of suggestive dialogue beside the bed followed by a brief fade to black. Hardly thrilling and a player could simulate that him/herself right now by just imagining the dialogue and then closing their eyes for a few seconds.

I really feel she's perfect the way she is now in that she's almost completely silent. I can therefore stand directly in front of her and imagine any sort of conversation taking place between us that I can think of. I can't do that with a Skyrim spouse because they bombard me with repetitive dialogue whenever my character is within a few feet of them. Besides being annoying, it's also immersion-breaking.

Although, I suppose the argument could be made that this is, in fact, more realistic. I just now walked over to my real-life wife and stood in front of her saying nothing for a few seconds. She told me "What the hell's your problem?" I guess that's close enough to "What do you need?"

two each there own lad

I don't have DG yet but the character sounds great.
I have one question; I know she's a follower but can I ask her to "wait" or "Stand around" somewhere? Because I could just park her in my house and bam, instant spouse/roommate/house guest.
Or does she go away after a while?

She'll use the standard Nord wife dialogue.

There are certain points during the main Dawnguard questline where Serana can neither be made to wait nor can she be dismissed because she's integral to that stage of the quest. But once you've completed the DLC, Serana can be dismissed/reacquired or made to wait somewhere at any time just like any other follower. And like any other follower, if you leave her to wait somewhere for too long, she'll eventually return to her designated "home" (either the castle of the fort depending on which faction you've sided with). So no, you can't park her in your chosen home indefinitely, unfortunately.

But unlike other followers, Serana will interact with objects in her immediate vicinity whether she's being made to wait somewhere or not. If she's your follower and you're just standing idle somewhere, she may sit down on a nearby chair, or begin to use an alchemy workstation if you happen to be near one. It's actually rather amusing sometimes. I was exploring a cave with her when she surprised me by starting to mine a nearby ore vein that I hadn't even noticed. She doesn't actually extract any ore though, she just goes through the animation. In taverns, if there's a bard playing, and she's standing close enough, she'll pull out a mug and start drinking and dancing along with the song.

Apparently. Vilkas avoids the bed like the sheets been used on plague victims. I can never get the "lover's comfort" bonus.

Then why doesn't it work on the likes of Vex?

.... and she can get glitches where once you make her wait or dismiss, you can't get her back again.... I may decide top reload where we just completed the MQ and she was good.

BTW - did you 'cure' her or is she still a vamp. I wonder if that has anything to do with her 'glitch' - I'd like to see that fixed!

The only time I've encountered the problem you've described was during the "Touching the Sky" chapter of the quest. While that quest was active, Serana had no "Come with me" dialogue option to get her to follow you again after making her wait somewhere. Once that quest was over, the problem was fixed.

In answer to your question, no I never cured her and she's still a vampire. Perhaps curing her causes the same problem? Her dialogue options change and somebody involved forgot to make sure "Come with me" gets put back in after making her wait or dismissing her?