An entire list of female spouses, and females in general. Several great looking Altmer... and who is my only Altmer marriage option? One of the snotty sisters from Solitude who looks like she's getting far into her Altmer life...

Let's not forget the comple lack of Kajiit and Bosmer/Wood Elf marrage options... for both males and females.

Oh god yes this too. So disappointed when I couldn't find a single Khajiit female to marry on my Khajiit Archer. Probably one of the few things thats legit disappointed me in Skyrim.

And let's not forget the Redguard marriage option. A Dibella priestess who attends the wedding and goes back off to the Temple of Dibella in Markarth.

What about Argonians?

Agreed. It's probably a sign that the developers got too carried away with the "Nord" thing. As if everyone is just like the character in the trailer or something.

My Altmer female pick would probably be Faralda. I can't believe they limit it to Taarie? lol... Hell, this might be more of a sign that the mages guild is half done in general. I mean, you can marry just about anyone in the Companions. But mages are limited.

i married that lioness chick in riften just because she can fight and give me money . . . but there a guy that i think is her husband already the one who saved her when she lost her sword i killed him in solitude and i got a bounty in riften and my wife attacked me.

I married the chick from the river wood trader....I wish she'd stop saying she's so happy the claws back where it belongs though ;/. She's much nicer than my first choice on my other character though, Temba Wide Arm aka the first person to ask if I wanted to get married lol. I was like huh? why not, I should reload that character and help her experience an accident ;x

What I don't understand, is why they did it like that. I mean, just from playing around with the console commands, its clear that nearly anyone could have been a marriage option with little to no detriment or side effects.

Moral of the story?

Marriage in Skyrim svcks.

I'm beginning to hate anything I read about a single player game that includes the word "balance".

Really people?
Complaining about a lack of "balance" in an in-game relationship now?

Shoot me please.....

I forgot, single player games aren't supposed to be balanced.

Also, in a game that features like... 8~ish races, only five of them or so should be marriage material to both male and female, because limiting them just makes sense.

Everyone knows the Khajiit divorce rate is so high they aren't allowed to marry.

This has nothing to do with balance in the gameplay sense. I think it just means balance, from a storytelling point of view.

Every messge pounded into our skulls about this game is about Nords. From marketing to within the game. It needs to take a rest. Of course, the game should be Nord centric, but for [censored]'s sake.

Yet another thing that will get fixed with mods. Hopefully with more effort than putting on a necklace. Vilja courtship style.

Is there an Argonian option?

2 males and one female.

And one (a male, Derkeethus) is an archer follower who will accompany you once you do his companion quest. See spoiler tag for details.

The other two are dockworkers (Scouts-Many-Marshes, the male, and Shahvee, the female.) Both are in Windhelm, in the Argonian Assemblage, but are not followers/companions.

Supposedly, Derkeethus is flagged as essential while a follower as of 1.4, meaning he can't die while in your service. gamesas admits this is an oversight on their part, but I'm not sure if he was "fixed" in 1.4.

The simple question is "Why the hell didn't they allow it?" As re123 said, pretty much anyone can be marriage material through the console, provided their race/gender has the proper dialog (at least that's the only thing that I think determines it). So maybe 5 or 6 lines, 10 max, per race and gender to make them all suitable for marriage?

I don't understand why marriage is in Skyrim at all... It doesn't add anything to the game. I don't see why people would be genuinely disappointed because they can't marry the NPC they want to. It doesn't make any difference does it? If Bethesda was trying to add immersion or roleplaying possibilities, I can think of many better things they could've spent their time on in order to do that.

There's no point discussing what ifs. It's already done. What matters at this point is that it is a "feature" in the game, and it was added in poorly.

Any roleplaying possibilities is a good thing. I'm sure you could think of better ways too. I personally don't care about the marriage feature either, but if it's there, it shouldn't be done like this. Beside all this, the way it's done for some races is a sign that other races weren't much of a focus, period. It's telling me that the developers were thinking constantly about Nords in their little brainstorming sessions. "Lets flag this Nord guy as marriageable. Oh, and this Nord woman. And this one. And that one. And this one. Oh, and that one." And then when it comes to Khajiits or Bosmer - none. And one atrocious looking altmer. lol. Like they barely gave a thought to it. I guess Dark Elves and Bretons get some better options. There are more signs of breton/dark elf activity/communities, in general. They feel like they belong in the world more.

More Argonians is never a bad thing.

The amount of Nord marriables didn't confuse me as much as the amount of undesirable marrying options. Such as the elder Nord woman busybody, or the parcel of homeless drunken folk. I have been around immersive gamers for decades, and never once heard of a player saying..."Oh man, I wish that busybody were free to marry.."

That said, traveling the whole of the land you get to see so many missed opportunities. There are widow folk a plenty in Skyrim, and there are also some of the follower folks that seem perfect for the life companion, yet they aren't. Mind you I am talking from the console perspective as I am not using the PC version yet, but when I run the list of who is available, a great many are almost comically offered.

Through trial and multiple savings, I had run the list with one of my characters. Mjoll in Riften was a decent spouse, except for two things; she comes with Aren, her savior, and for a warrior who says she is well traveled, you'd figure she would have learned to be a little more quiet when sneaking around a Falmer den. The Huscarls, or as I call them, the sisters 4(the gals) vary in tone from mildly annoyed (Lydia) to outright chipper (Jardis), with Jardis the most enjoyable. Jenassa the Dunmer lass with no fear is pretty dang handy, when you give her a couple of staves to wield before making you a home cooked meal.
Then there are the ones that fool you, like the gruff mannered Temba and Gilfre, who are quite hard when you meet them, but really soften up in the verbiage once their quests are done and that Amulet of Mara is around your neck. Oh, and don't let that poor coughing Arethi Dunmer lady fool you on her farm. Marry her, and you'll see just how much you'll want to get right out into caves and ruins again.

Funny thing is, the extraneous NPC's that abound in the game such as the sisters of the marrying ones or their brothers seem more appropriate, from an immersive point of view. That the Bosmeri and Khajitti got the short end of the stick really ticked off many, and the same can be said for the Breton and Redguard fare as well. After spending time around Mirabelle at the College of Winterhold, would have been nice to pepper a few like her here and there throughout the land for companionship. Same for the only orphanage in the land. A parcel of children that cannot be adopted? Not at all? That just seems so off, even if it is a quest related issue.

I have to laugh and agree about the Redguard short end too. The one and only companionable Redguard woman and she just happens to have a job as priestess of the Dibella Temple. Enter your own Moonlight Bunny Ranch joke at any time. One that could have been a great choice was Saadia, in Whiterun, if the choice to side with her were instigated. Sort of a "Wow, thanks for saving my life." kind of thing. But like Oblivion before it, the comical thing is how it seems all the bandits, cultists, and other threats just seemed to possess the most attractive of the enthicities. Not a single marrying Bosmer gal, but literally dozens looking to put an arrow into your skull.

Sometimes, I honestly believe that this was intentional, the gaming equivalent of the thumb on the nose with the wiggling fingers kind of razz.

Cool post. You touched on a lot.

Also, cool name. That happens to be one of my character's names.

Eirik's post pretty much hit all the points I would bring up. I expect much of this to be addressed in the future as I have read Bethesda plans to improve on the game in more ways than merely DLC. So here's hoping.