Do you need to finish the mines to get married?

What exactly is the chain?

It runs in one direction and every link is required:

1. Reach Floor 100 of the mines. This starts the story quest The Dragonsworn Tablet.
2. Reach 8 hearts with both Juniper and Eiland, and watch both of their 8-heart events.
3. Talk to Juniper, then read the Dragonsworn Tablet to finish the quest.
4. Completing it unlocks the Dragon Forge recipes.
5. Craft a Dragon-Forged Core at the Dragon Forge, which is on Floor 90.
6. Craft the Engagement Ring at an anvil.

Only then can you propose.

Why do some guides say Floor 90 and others say Floor 100?

Because both numbers are correct and describe different steps, which is why the conflict keeps showing up.

Floor 100 is what triggers the quest that unlocks the recipes. Floor 90 is where the Dragon Forge you actually use is located. A guide that mentions only one of them is not wrong so much as incomplete.

If you see a source citing a single number with no explanation, that is the gap it is missing.

Is the Juniper and Eiland requirement real?

Yes, and it is the part that catches people.

The Dragonsworn Tablet cannot be completed until you have 8 hearts with both of them and have seen both 8-heart events. A player planning to marry March has no obvious reason to be raising hearts with two unrelated villagers.

If your mine progress is fine and the quest still will not close, this is almost always why.

Is there any way around it?

No. There is no alternative recipe and no substitute for the Core.

The wiki does note that this is the only progression gate on marriage, so at least nothing else is hiding behind it. You do not need a particular house upgrade, a specific town rank, or any festival.

What if you hate mining?

Then this is the least pleasant part of 1.0 for you, and the community says as much.

Players who enjoy the mines describe getting the recipe and running straight down to craft the ring the same day. Players who do not have been blunt about how much of a wall it is, especially if they only wanted to marry someone early.

Some of the frustration is about specific rare materials rather than the depth itself. Several players named a faceted rock gem, a smoke moth and a firesail fish as the things that cost them hours.

(待确认 — those three items are player reports about mine progression generally. They are not on the verified Engagement Ring or Dragon-Forged Core material lists, and we have not confirmed which step they belong to.)

What is the fastest route down?

Buy what you can rather than mining it. The blacksmith sells gold ore and mistril ore, and the carpenter sells stone in bulk, which covers the ingots, the diamonds and the essence stone.

That leaves only the three things money cannot buy: five Monster Cores, one Pink Diamond and one Ancient Firefly. Monster Cores drop on Floors 1–39 and 61–99, so you will collect them on the way down anyway. The other two both come from Floor 81 and deeper, which is territory you have to cross regardless.

In other words, the shopping trip does not skip the mines. It just means you only make the deep run once.