im trying to decide, im thinking lydia but shes a bit too easy, is there any hidden gems?

There's a lot of marriable NPCs, so I don't know what to answer unless you specify a bit, it all comes down to what your character would want their spouse to be like: gender, personality, profession, race, member of x faction, quest NPC or just townsperson, etc.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Marriage#NPCs_available_to_be_married a list of all the marriage candidates in Skyrim, along with the conditions you need to meet for each of them, if that'll help you decide, or at least figure out who you need to choose from. Some are harder won than others.

As for me...my character's still single, and will stay that way until the end of the main quest or just prior to the end, at least. She'll probably marry her long-time companion, Erik, since she's gone through pretty much the entire MQ (so far) with him at her side. Fire-forged friends and all that. On the other hand, she did just meet http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Erandur, and I'm getting increasingly tempted to console him into the marriageable faction for her, since that would be a near perfect match too.

I married http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Shahvee. Probably not your type though, unless you're an Argonian...

First play through, my character married Aela. I thought it would be cool to have a companion spouse who barks and drools. Besides, she was so snide prior to wearing the Amulet that I really liked her tough woman schtick. Turns out she went all sweet and domestic after the wedding and was more interested in wandering aimlessly around Proudspire.

Second play through and I'm staying single. The Lover's Stone works better!

For my male main character i haven't married anybody yet. But he will probably marry Mjoll (even if that results with the other guy who saved her living in my house...he seems like a decent guy )
and for my female main character i married Farkas (for some apparant reason he fits her ''dark'' appearance)

My female character has married Belrand. He makes a great follower... although I sometimes have to take his magic staffs away, as he has a tendency to blast wolves with fireballs. He is SO protective.

Re: Erandur... In my unmarried days he also accompanied me on many adventures. I was getting fond of him until I took him down to Blackreach. Then, suddenly he got really talkative, and went rambling on endlessly about how guity he felt about all the people he had killed and how he felt he was on the verge of losing his mind. He alarmed me so much I rushed him back to the surface world and released him from my service. Even then, he wouldn't leave and followed me around for 3 days like a lost puppy before he would return to his temple in Dawnstar.

So I am happy with Belrand. At least he has a cheerful outlook on life and a sense of humor.

tbh i just want to know who you guys chose

Ysolda the first playthrough, Aela the 2nd, and Sylgja this playthrough.

I refuse to buy a house this time and Sylgja has a pretty cool house.

I married Brelyna.

Note to self: DO NOT TAKE HER HOOD OFF.

'Kay:
My Argonian Ivory http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u476/arconacor/TESV2012-03-0812-12-41-42.jpg (not playing her anymore), my Altmer Raina http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u476/arconacor/TESV2012-02-2616-51-50-83.jpg (not playing her anymore either), my Dunmer Faeron wants to tie the knot with http://i1069.photobucket.com/albums/u476/arconacor/TESV2012-03-2214-35-33-10.jpg (that will likely never happen), and my Nord Luna will most likely marry one of the Companions (either Aela or Athis, I guess).
All my other characters were and are completely single. (not counting Rosarot, I don't even consider her a character anymore, anyway, she married Brynjolf)

My Nord, female, married Ysolda.
My Khajiit, male, also married Ysolda since she is the only one that seems to like Khajiit (and there are no Khajiit's available).
My Orc, male, married Borgakh.
My Dunmer, male, married Jenassa (best follower and spouse IMO due to dialog and DW).
My Nord, male, married Sylgja.

I have yet to marry Aela or Mjoll, but my current character intends to marry Aela (I had to mod her face to look better).

What, is she secretly Medusa and has snake hair?


Erik's the same way, less the staff. More than once I've been backpedaling away from a bandit, trying to heal myself before he hits me again, and then in comes Erik out of nowhere to save the day and squash the bandit flat.

...I can't let him have staffs though. I gave him a lightning staff once (to carry, not knowing followers auto-equip staffs instead of using their usual equipment). For ten minutes. Three electrocution incidents later, I took it back. (He means well, but ranged damage is just not his thing. I keep finding his arrows stuck in friendly NPCs...like an incident in the Reach when, after a tough, frantic battle I stopped and realized Delphine had one of Erik's dwemer arrows sticking out of her posterior. )


Now see, that appeals to my character. She likes fixing people's problems entirely too much. Erandur would fit that bill, and he's sweet and personable to her to boot. Trouble is I'm also totally attached to Erik at this point as well. First world Skyrim problems, man.

My first character married Taarie. Second hasn't married anyone yet.

I married Camilla Valerius from Riverwood. The reason is because she's not bad looking, she wears decent clothes, and she's the only one in the game that has two other guys literally fighting each other over her. So, after ruining their chances I married her. What's funny is the elf bard that tried to manipulate me into helping him win her hand (but I reversed the tactic and made him look like a fool) actualy hangs around Solitude... like a stalker. Every time I walk by him he says something along the lines of "why would I speak with you after what you did to me". It never fails to make me smile... I crushed his dreams.

Ysolda, she buys my stuff and she has the least annoying voice.

I married Aela, simply beca

I married Aela once, simply because of the way she looked really, and I was interested to see the ceremony. (I nearly missed it in fact. Arrived at about 10pm on the day!) Hardly seemed worth it, so I reloaded and haven't married another, (though I might go through it properly with Lydia one day...I can't help it, she is my favourite.)

I married Lydia because she looks nice and has a somewhat likable personality, but it's more than that. When I became Thane of Whiterun, she was bound service for life, so marrying her brought her more up to my equal and companion. On top of everything, now she doesn't spend 24 hours sitting in my room, eating all my sweetrolls and actually runs a productive store and cooks me meals.

Well it's like this...

I was drunk.

If that's a serious question, then believe me.. you DON'T wanna know..

I finally took the plunge and married my character to Lydia. Settled in Breezehome for now, ("her house", she called it...then why did I pay several thousand for it, eh?!), and I was surprised that one of the new options with Lydia is the "What have you got for sale?" menu. First thing I bought from her, (her Gold didn't increase, which was weird), was her armour. (I guess she didn't mind me seeing her in her undercrackers, now we're wed and all that!) But it meant I could dress her in anything I wanted. Saucy Forsworn Armour, a nice set of Tavern Clothes for an evening in the Pub, or, (my preferred option), Thieves Guild Armour or Shrouded Armour...looks good on her. But I wasn't able to buy her other default items, like the Hunting bow or whatever else she might have stashed that's causing her to still be able to carry hardly anything.

Shahvee and Sylgja so far. Not a fan of what happens after though, I was expecting more possibilities. My other characters are/will be single.

Iona. Love at first sight (well that's what my character's rp says, and she's sticking to it, nothing to do with her being the closest Housecarl to the Temple of Mara, honest.)

One of my Khajiit married Ysolda, because she likes Khajiit and traffics drugs.

I fooled around with marriage and the console a few times later on (Cynric Endell, Siddgeir, Sibbi Black-Briar, and many more), but never really had another character marry anyone for real again.

Erandur is definitely striking my fancy though.