Can You Kiss Your Partner in Skyrim?
The answer is a resounding yes! Once you put on an Amulet of Mara and find a willing partner, you can get married and initiate kisses with your beloved spouse. This guide has all the details on kissing, marriage, family, and enhancing romantic bonds in Skyrim that you‘ll need for a fairytale playthrough – or just spicing up your Dragonborn‘s personal life!
Stealing Kisses as the Dragonborn
Kissing in Skyrim is an intimate gesture reserved for spouses – but it also confers tangible buffs. After locking lips with your partner, you‘ll gain the "Lover‘s Comfort" status effect:
Lover‘s Comfort
- +15% Learning Rate
- +100 Carry Weight
- +10% regeneration of Health, Magicka and StaminaThe effect lasts a full 8 hours real-time – longer than almost any other buff in the game! It also stacks with resting bonuses. According to player reports, the timer refreshes with each new kiss. So once you pop the question and tie the knot, be sure to smooch often!
As the Dragonborn, having a supportive spouse also checks off some emotional needs. There‘s no one better to come home to after facing yet another dragon…or bandit gang…or crypt full of draugr. We all crave intimacy, even legendary heroes!
Finding a Spouse: Taverns, Quests and Amulets
Marriage candidates in Skyrim range from humble shopkeepers to great warriors. Across 10 races and genders, over 60 NPCs are available as potential love interests. But first you‘ll need to equip a key item – the Amulet of Mara.
| Obtaining the Amulet |
|---|
| Buy from Maramal in Riften |
| Loot in the Lover‘s Tent near Dawnstar |
Wearing this ancient necklace announces your availability for marriage. Suddenly, paired dialogues open across Skyrim as interested men and woman take notice. To figure out who‘s open to romance in your game, the Amulet is critical equip.
Many candidates have requirements before the flirtation begins:
Common Marriage Prerequisites
- Complete associate questline
- Aid NPC in some way
- Improve relationship with gifts/favors
- Have Amulet equipped at key dialoguesSo speak to everyone you encounter to uncover new quests. Help townsfolk in need across Holdings. Once you build rapport – and don the necklace – marriage options come available.
Then comes the ultimate romantic gesture (no, not an arrow to the knee). If your affection is returned, wearing the Amulet allows you to pop the question by requesting a spouse accompany you to the Temple. And no issues with race, religion or gender to worry over in free-spirited Skyrim!
Skyrim Wedding and Marriage Benefits
So assuming your betrothed says yes, it‘s time for a Skyrim wedding! Every marriage begins with a ceremony arranged through Maramal at the Temple of Mara in Riften.
Your partner will set up residence in your chosen home, bringing sweet bonuses:
- Spouse opens a shop with daily gold income
- Can act as traveling merchant if made a follower
- Gives homecooked meals granting buffs
Partners also make comments about your adventures and relationship status. Little gestures like a prepared meal after dungeon-crawling shows the power of playing with romance!
And touching those who touch you back has its gameplay advantages. That Lover‘s Comfort continues to pay dividends when stacked with Well Rested and other buffs. Talk about bringing work home with you…
Now, what of the biggest decision in marriage – raising kids?
Children and Adoption in Skyrim
After exchanging vows, players often want to start a family. If you own the Hearthfire DLC, adoption is indeed possible regardless of gender or romance. By expanding your home with furnishings and beds for children, you can take on orphaned boys and girls across Skyrim cities and give them a new life.
Each child has a backstory that brought them to the Honorhall Orphanage in Riften. You‘ll connect with little Runa Fair-Shield still mourning her father, or sweet Lucia begging on the streets of Whiterun. Speak to caregiver Constance Michel to ask about adoption prerequisites.
With room in your heart and home, up to two children can be adopted. You might one day come back from adventure to hear them calling you Pa or Ma – which never fails to melt the hardest dragon-slaying hearts!
Enhancing Relationships with Mods
On PC and Xbox platforms, installing relationship mods takes Skyrim marriages to the next level. Popular picks include:
Immersive Spouses – spouse commentary on quests/locations, gift giving, romance dialogue
Romance Dialogue Overhaul – expanded loving chatter, new romantic interactions
Amorous Adventures – refined seduction, more reactivity to player‘s adventures
Mods also introduce activities like taking your spouse out on dates, having a wedding ceremony with guests, or even starting a family with pregnancy. The Steam Workshop has hundreds of picks for any romantic style.
For players yearning for more intimacy, romance in Skyrim has never been better. And mods to smooth awkward base-game animations make those affectionate moments feel that much more authentic!
Becoming Your Follower‘s Lover
As the legendary Dragonborn, some of your best allies can get very personal. Followers who fight by your side through deadly battles often become compelled by your mythic charisma.
Many follower mods turn companions into marriage candidates for power gamers – and roleplayers – alike. When out adventuring, having your husband or wife support you with blade, bow or spell adds real synergy (and Chemistry)!
Highly skilled warriors like Lydia are already popular in vanilla Skyrim for kickass power. Other companion mods like Vilja, Sofia and Lucien give fantastic bound weapons, healing skills and so much character depth when set to spouse.
But even without mods, housecarls and hirelings in the base game can detect the Amulet of Mara on sight. Followers you‘ve built friendship and trust with over adventures may ask for your hand – if you think you‘re ready for that kind of commitment!
Creating Your Own Romantic Adventure
While Skyrim provides excellent open world mechanics, roleplaying your Dragonborn‘s personal narrative breathes incredible life into the game. With possibilities wide open, romance is a powerful story element.
Does your noble hero court the fairest maidens in each town they save? Or stumble into love after years adventuring alone? Will an urbane vampire swept you off your feet – then sink in their fangs?
With robust relationship systems, the journey matters as much as destination. Slow burn courtships, star-crossed lovers, regency romance rivalries. Wooing a spouse with poems or wildflowers picked on the tundra. Sneaking off to the gardens behind the Jarl‘s hall for secret trysts!
In other words, the blessings of Mara enrich far beyond stat boosts. Play the bard instruments together as giddy newlyweds. Adopt orphans born under the thief or warrior signs. RP wedding speeches, drama with in-laws, raising babies between epic quests.
As a gamer I‘ve seen it all – from subtle flirtations to X-rated loving with custom animations. Filling in your own backstory connects you to characters deeply. So why not write a romance worthy of legends?
May love find you – and shower you with gifts both great and small. Keep that Amulet of Mara close, my friends. Because you never know when a fetching companion will come along…and catch you by the heart.
