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Shane is a character that is quite popular in the Stardew Valley community. This grumpy bachelor lives with his Aunt and cares a lot for his goddaughter Jas, and happens to be a bit older than some of the other marriage candidates. When you first move to the valley, he'll be a bit closed off and cold to you, but you can get him to warm up and show you a softer side.

RELATED: Stardew Valley: A Complete Guide To Marrying Haley

By spending some time with Shane, you'll melt away his hard exterior and learn about the sensitive man underneath. For those who want to marry him, this guide can help to make the task much easier.

Updated April 28, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: We've added even more information about Shane in Stardew Valley, allowing you to quickly get on track for marriage. Additionally, we've removed spoilers from cutscenes, allowing you to browse without worry.

Shane's Basic Info

Stardew Valley Split Image - Shane (left - closeup of face) (right - textbox of character talking)

Shane is a unique NPC that can lose or keep his job depending on your chosen story path. Despite his hardened exterior, you will also still gain friendship points for giving him a gift on his birthday.

  • Birthday: Spring 20
  • Home Location: Marnie's Ranch
  • Night Market Visit: Winter 15
  • Occupation: JojaMart employee

Shane does not go to the clinic like other NPCs.

Shane's Schedule

Stardew Valley - Shane at the Stardrop Saloon (left) and Marnie's Ranch (right)

Shane's schedule is one of the more straightforward of the different marriage candidates, but it will change as soon as you complete the Community Center.

Luckily, he will keep the same general routine through all seasons, so as soon as you learn where he goes, it should be easy to find him. Unlike nearly every other NPC, rain does not affect his schedule either.

Spring, Summer, & Fall

Winter

Deviations

WINTER 15

When

Where

7:00 am

In his bedroom

10:00 am

In his kitchen

3:00 pm

Goes to the Night Market

11:00 pm

Returns home

The Best Places To Find Shane

player inside saloon, full of NPCs

Shane will be in the Stardrop Saloon pretty much every night. Rather than visiting him at Joja Mart, you can just swing by the saloon at the end of the day.

Here, you can also find a few other NPCs, allowing you to interact and give gifts to several people at the same time.

Gifting to Shane

Stardew Valley - giving Shane a gift

Next, let's look at the best gifts to give Shane. Overall, he's pretty simple to give gifts to.

Remember, to build your relationship with Shane, you will need to talk to him every day and give him two gifts per week. This will put you on track toward marriage!

Loves (+80 points)

Likes (+45 points)

  • Universal Likes
    • Except Pickles (He hates them)

  • All Eggs
    • Except Void Eggs (He dislikes them)

  • All Fruit
    • Except Hot Peppers (He loves them)

Neutral (+20 points)

  • All Universal Neutrals
  • Milk (any kind)

Dislikes (-20 points)

  • All Universal Dislikes
  • Seaweed
  • Many foraged items (Chanterelle, Common Mushroom, Daffodil, Dandelion, Ginger, Hazelnut, Holly, Leek, Magma Cap, Morel, Purple Mushroom, Snow Yam, Wild Horseradish, Winter Root)

Hates (-40 points)

  • All Universal Hates
    • Except Seaweed (He dislikes it)

  • Quartz
  • Pickles

The Best Gifts To Give

Shane is one of the easiest characters to get loved gifts for. You can go to meet him during his daily saloon visits, buy a pizza from Gus, and then give it to him for the 80-point bonus.

Best of all, buying the pizza will only cost 600g. You can also gift him eggs (except Void Eggs), which he likes, and Hot Peppers, which are easy to grow and which Shane loves.

Dating Shane

Two characters standing at the end of a pier, whatching a lake.

Shane has a ton of different heart events, and they almost all center around the fact that he is dealing with depression.

In total, Shane has a bit more events than other NPCs. Below, you can find each event, and how to trigger it.

Event

How To Trigger

Choices

Two Hearts

Enter the Cindersap Forest between 8 pm and 12 pm.

There are no choices you will need to make.

Three Hearts

  • This is not a cutscene; it's just some mail.

N/A

Shane will send you the recipe for Pepper Poppers.

Four Hearts

Enter Marnie's Ranch

There are no choices you will need to make.

Six Hearts

Enter the Cindersap Forest between 9 am and 8 pm on a rainy day

While in the Cindersap Forest, none of your choices will have any impact.

  • The following day, you will be confronted by Shane, with choices that matter.
    • "I'm glad I was there to help" (+10 friendship points)
    • "You needed a serious wake-up call" (-10 friendship points)
    • "I'm just happy you're still here" (+10 friendship points)

Seven Hearts (Part 1)

Enter Marnie's Ranch

There are no choices you will need to make.

Seven Hearts (Part 2)

Enter town between 10 am and 4 pm

  1. You will also need to have two hearts with both Clint and Emily

There are no choices you will need to make.

Seven Hearts (Part 3)

  • This is not a cutscene; it's just some mail.

N/A

  • Shane will send you the recipe for the Strange Bun.

Eight Hearts

Enter Marnie's Ranch

There are no choices you will need to make.

Ten Hearts

Leave your house before 6:30 am

  • After speaking with Shane, go to the bus stop between 4 pm and 6 pm.

There are no choices you will need to make.

  • If you don't go to the bus stop, you will miss the second part of this event.

Once you reach eight hearts with any romanceable NPC, you can start dating them. To get this started, go to Pierre's General Store. You should have received a letter from him, informing you that he's now selling Bouquets for 200g.

Buy a Bouquet and give it to Shane! As long as you still have eight hearts with him, he'll accept your offer and his status in the Social menu will go from "single" to "boyfriend." You'll now be able to increase his friendship level all the way to ten hearts.

Marrying Shane

stardew valley - old mariner selling you a mermaid's pendant

Once you've reached ten hearts with a romanceable NPC, you can get married. Mayor Lewis will send you a letter to tip you off to this fact - he tells you that people propose in Stardew Valley by giving one another a Mermaid's Pendant.

To get the Mermaid's Pendant, the following conditions must be met:

  • The bridge on the beach is repaired
  • You have 5,000g
  • Your farmhouse has been upgraded at least once
  • You're at ten hearts with Shane
  • It is raining

If your answer to all of these is yes, then go to the beach and look above the tidal pools for a special NPC, the Old Mariner, who will sell you the Mermaid's Pendant.

The only way to trigger the Old Mariner's appearance during the Winter is to use a rain totem.

Stardew Valley - Shane wedding (left), Shane spouse room (right)

Once you give the Mermaid's Pendant to Shane and he accepts your offer, the day of your wedding will be set for three days later. If there happens to be something going on in town that day, then your wedding is just pushed back a day.

After a wonderful ceremony with the people of Pelican Town, you and Shane are transported back to the farm. A new room, unique to Shane, will be added to the right side of the house, and he also gets his own little area outside for his chicken.

Marriage Schedule

Stardew Valley - Shane

Shane (as well as every other spouse) will spend most of his time on the farm doing the following activities.

  • Watering crops
  • Feeding animals
  • Watering the animal bowl
  • Repairing broken fences
  • Giving you gifts
  • Decorating the house
  • In his unique outside area
  • In his unique indoor room

However, spouses do occasionally live their own lives and leave the farm. For Shane, that's on Mondays and Fridays.

Shane's Marriage Schedule

MONDAY

9:00 am

In his kitchen

12:00 pm

Goes to Pierre's General Store

5:00 pm

Goes to the Stardrop Saloon

FRIDAY

7:00 am

In his bedroom

10:00 am

In his kitchen

3:00 pm

Goes to the Night Market

11:00 pm

Returns home

Shane's Fourteen Hearts Cutscene

Like the other marriage candidates, Shane has a special heart event at 14 hearts that you can only see if you're married.

It happens in three different sessions, and none of the choices change your friendship level with him.

  • For the first session, enter Pelican Town any day except Friday between 8 am and 5 pm.
  • For the second session, just go into town anytime the next day.
  • For the final part of this event, return to town anytime the next day again.

Maintaining Marriage Or Choosing Divorce

player interacting with divorce book in mayor lewis' house

To maintain a happy marriage with your love, all you need to do is talk to him every day! You won't have to give Shane gifts every day, but he will still accept them; he may even be the one giving you a gift. Overall, just talk to Shane, and try not to get too close to other single residents in town, or Shane may get jealous.

Is marriage not what you hoped it would be? Rather than being locked into marriage forever, you can get a divorce. This is quite simple; all you need to do is head to the Mayor's house and pay a fee. At the end of the day, the marriage will end. For more information, be sure to check out our complete guide to divorce.

After the divorce, Shane won't be your biggest fan. If this is weighing down on you, you can complete a quest for the Wizard to unlock a shrine that will erase the memory of an ex-spouse. It will be like nothing had ever happened. If you happened to have kids with Shane, you can also turn them into doves to get rid of them.

NEXT: Stardew Valley: How To Marry Another Player