Stardew Valley Characters: Every Villager, Bachelor, and Bachelorette

Pelican Town is built around its people. Every villager in Stardew Valley keeps a daily routine, moves between locations by season and weather, and reacts to the gifts you hand them. Some can be courted and married. Others simply give quests, run shops, or fill out the world. Knowing who is who, and which group each person belongs to, makes friendship and romance far easier to plan around.

Quick answer: There are twelve marriage candidates split into six bachelors and six bachelorettes. Everyone else is either a non-marriage villager you can still befriend with gifts, or a non-giftable NPC who only appears for story and shop purposes.

Marriage candidates in Stardew Valley

Twelve villagers can be romanced and married once you reach the required friendship level and present a Bouquet, then later a Mermaid's Pendant. They are evenly split between bachelors and bachelorettes.

Non-marriage villagers you can still befriend

These residents cannot be married, but they accept gifts and build friendship hearts. Raising their affection unlocks heart events, recipes, and small rewards in the mail.

Non-giftable NPCs

The following characters exist for story, services, or special events. You cannot give them gifts or build a friendship meter, but several are central to quests and shop access.

How to find and befriend villagers

Every villager follows a seasonal schedule, so the same person appears in different places depending on the time of day and the weather. Medical appointments and festival days can override the normal route, which is why someone may be missing from their usual spot.

Step 1: Locate the villager during their active hours. Most residents leave home around 8 am and return at night, so mid-day is the reliable window to catch them outdoors.

Step 2: Talk to them once per day. A short conversation alone raises friendship slightly, and it costs nothing.

Step 3: Hand over a gift they like or love, up to twice per week. Loved gifts give the largest friendship boost, while hated gifts lower it.

You will know it is working when hearts fill in on the villager's profile in the social menu. Heart events trigger automatically at set thresholds when you enter the right location during the right hours.

Bachelor details and best gifts

The six bachelors each have set birthdays, schedules, and preferred gifts. Birthday presents count for eight times their normal friendship value, so timing a loved item to a villager's birthday is the fastest way to climb hearts.

Alex lives south of Pierre's store with his grandparents Evelyn and George, runs the Ice Cream Stand in summer, and spends winter days at the Spa. Elliott lives alone in a cabin on the beach and drifts between the shore, the forest, and the library across the seasons. Harvey lives above his clinic in town and keeps close to the clinic and the saloon. Sam lives north of the river with his mother Jodi and brother Vincent, works at Joja Mart, and chases a music career on guitar and drums. Sebastian lives at the Carpenter's Shop with Robin, his stepfather Demetrius, and half-sister Maru, and tends to stay in his room or by the lake.

Once you understand who fits into each group, the rest of the valley falls into place. Befriend the non-marriage villagers for recipes and quests, keep talking to the non-giftable NPCs for story progress, and focus your loved gifts on whichever bachelor or bachelorette you plan to settle down with. The full cast and shop hours are documented on the official Stardew Valley site if you want to confirm a schedule before tracking someone down.