Let's here your favorite (and opinion of most beneficial non-modded wife/husband/kids.

[Pronoun Paladin ☯]

Title. Whose your favorite NPC to marry in this game (non-modded) and do you have favorite kids you typically adopt, and why. Also which spouse/kids offer the greatest benefit.

[Skumboni]

Maven Blackbriar's daughter, if you side with the empire your wife will become yarl some day, until then there is a meadery in the family to enjoy.

[Qua2ar]

Lydia or Ysolda.

[Nabinkemper]

I would say the following for vanilla wives -
Idgrod the Younger (daughter of the Jarl of Morthal)
Sylgja (miner at Shor's Stone)
Ingun Black-Briar (mentioned above by Skumboni)
Annekke Crag-Jumper (Sylgja's mom at Darkwater Crossing)

For kids, I usually choose -
Lucia (Whiterun)
Sofie (Windhelm)

They both are sleeping outside, especially Sofie. It's heartbreaking seeing her sleeping on the cold stone in the middle of winter.

I generally send the kids to Proudspire Manor as it's the safest location.

[smr1957]

Originally posted by Nabinkemper:

I would say the following for vanilla wives -
- snip -
Annekke Crag-Jumper (Sylgja's mom at Darkwater Crossing)
- snip -

Annekke is not marriageable (she is already married to Verner) - though you can appoint her steward of one of your Hearthfire homes.

[Ihateeverybody]

I have always been partial to Uthgerd mostly. I couldn't tell you what she looks like in Vanilla anymore. I think currently she is Pandorable version (Though Bjinn was a favourite for a long while).

[Nabinkemper]

Originally posted by smr1957:

Annekke is not marriageable (she is already married to Verner) - though you can appoint her steward of one of your Hearthfire homes.

Yeah I caught that. I was trying to remember Sylgja's name and after looking it up had forgotten she was Annekke's daughter. I copied her over by mistake.

[matt]

Aela the Huntress, I guess. It's a marriage of convenience, but she satisfies all my criteria:

1) She's a potential follower. No wasting that XP boost.
2) She's good with a bow. I prefer my followers to use archer AI so they stay out of my way.
3) Her max level is 50, so you don't have worry about far outpacing her in the mid-game.
4) She's voiced by Claudia Christian, an actress I've always liked and who's become a Bethesda regular.
5) She's an expert trainer. You don't get a discount, but you can train whenever you want.
6) She's gives quests. And what's more immersive than receiving busy work quests from your spouse directing you to fight a bear to the death?

[arcasor]

Before I installed "Song of the Green" I used to marry Ysolda; she seems to be a nice person (though she has a dark secret), and I trust she will take good care of my adopted kids while I'm adventuring.
As to the children, I have a mod allowing me to adopt six kids; so I always adopt the four homeless ones (Lucia, Sofie, Alesan and Blaise), to save them from an awful life, plus Runa from the Honorhall Orphanage (as I don't like the idea of her being bullied by the other kids into doing all the chores) and Sissel (after her abusive father gets misteriously killed by a poisoned arrow from the shadows).
As to the benefits, I never considered them, as they are not a factor in my choice of the spouse and of the kids to adopt.

[Ilja]

Originally posted by arcasor:

Before I installed "Song of the Green" I used to marry Ysolda; she seems to be a nice person (though she has a dark secret)

This is actually a misconception. Sap is not illegal in Skyrim, despite it's strong narcotic effect. She is acting withing laws of Whiterun and Skyrim in general.

I used to marry Sylgja. Hardworking girl melted my heart. I don't plan on marrying anyone during this run. My current character is very interested of ladies, but not exactly the marrying type.

[Rez Elwin]

Ingun isn't a marriage option either.

Before mods I always married Aela, at least on my main character, I like to have a spouse I can adventure with rather than one that stays at home, which I am rarely at.

[arcasor]

Originally posted by Ilja:

This is actually a misconception. Sap is not illegal in Skyrim, despite it's strong narcotic effect. She is acting withing laws of Whiterun and Skyrim in general.

My bad, I just checked the wiki and you are right.
I thought it was illegal because it can only be purchased from shady skooma dealers, and there is a sample of it in Redwater Den. It always seemed a bit out of character for Ysolda to deal in illegal stuff, but I thought the developers wanted to point out that even apparently good people can have a darker side.

[Ilja]

Originally posted by arcasor:

It always seemed a bit out of character for Ysolda to deal in illegal stuff, but I thought the developers wanted to point out that even apparently good people can have a darker side.

She is a bit ruthless, relying on adventurer suffering from "skooma incident" to get the stuff. However, that seems to be common thing in Skyrim.

I have her as one of my followers (mod added follower), so that she can man my trading stall. Usually I sit there myself, but sometimes it gets simply too cold or boring. Ysolda doesn't mind freezing her butt in Pale; she is determined to come the best trader in Skyrim.

Yeah... I might be using and abusing her eagerness to sell stuff.

[Docsprock]

I think I have had every female in the game as a spouse at some time or another.

Mjoll is good as a follower as well as Brelyna Maryon, two of my favorites.

But for non-follower spouses, Miuri and Senna. (Sylgja comes close).

[Mooselager]

Whichever follower drinks the most water is my juice.

When I play with survival mod, I need to make sure I do not become dehydrated.

Drinking my wife's pee mod really helps

[Qua2ar]

Originally posted by Mooselager:

Whichever follower drinks the most water is my juice.

When I play with survival mod, I need to make sure I do not become dehydrated.

Drinking my wife's pee mod really helps

sus