For the faction, see The Companions.

Followers are companions who will fight for the player after the player earns their trust. They will travel with, battle for, and carry items for the Dragonborn.

A subclass of followers is non-humanoid followers, such as dogs. These followers can neither carry nor equip items. The interaction with these followers is also limited to the wait/follow commands and dismissal.

It is only possible to have one humanoid follower with the player at a time, but in most cases there is no penalty for dismissing a follower and then re-recruiting them later. In addition, one non-humanoid follower may accompany the player at the same time.

Certain followers can also train your skills in exchange for a certain sum of gold. Also, many Followers can be married if you have the Amulet of Mara equipped. A select few also can join the Blades after relocating them to Sky Haven Temple.

Contents 1 Follower Leveling 2 Follower Combat 3 Follower Death 4 Follower Commands 5 Follower Morality 6 Inventory and Equipment 6.1 Effect dismissing has on equipment 7 Multiple Followers 8 Followers 8.1 Housecarls 8.2 Faction Followers 8.3 Mercenaries 8.4 Quest Reward Followers 8.5 Misc Followers 8.6 Animals 9 Notes 10 Followers who are Trainers 11 Bugs

Follower LevelingEdit

Followers will match the current level of the player, up to a certain level cap that varies from follower to follower. The vast majority of followers cap at level 30. Roggi Knot-Beard and Sven notably cap at a mere level 20. All recruitable members of The Companions who are not part of The Circle as well as Adelaisa Vendicci cap at level 25. Mjoll the Lioness, Illia, and all hireable Mercenaries (including Erik the Slayer) cap at level 40. Erandur, Cicero, the members of The Circle (Aela, Farkas, and Vilkas), and all Housecarls cap at level 50. J'zargo uniquely caps at level 81, the same level as the player character.

However, currently in Skyrim Followers (along with all other levelable NPCs) are locked at the level in which they first encounter the player, and will not continue to level up as the player does. The only way to fix this is to use console commands on the PC ("disable" then "enable" the character while they are not in your party), or use Wabbajack to turn them into a mudcrab/goat/etc, then rehire them when they change back. This resets their stats to the current player level, and also does not appear to reset their inventory or quest scripting (although you will need to take an item from their inventory and put it back to get them to re-equip any non-default equipment you've given them). However, it has no effect if they are currently in your party. Essential characters can not be transformed, therefore essential followers can not reset their stats unless using console commands.

There are a couple very specific occasions in which certain Followers will level up due to scripted events in quests; for example, Farkas will level up to the player's current level in the quest Proving Honor after his scripted transformation, likewise Aela will level up after her transformation in The Silver Hand (this is because the game de-spawns Farkas/Aela and replaces them with a transformed version, then re-spawns them later; the same process that occurs when manually using the console to "disable" then "enable" an NPC). Similarly, Erik the Slayer and Cicero "level up" after the first encounter with them, as the version met during the first encounter is actually a different NPC version than the version that can become a follower.

Follower CombatEdit

When dealt a lethal blow by an enemy NPC, Followers will usually be brought to their knees instead of outright killed. At this point, the Follower will be out of the fight, and the enemy NPCs will ignore them and turn their attention to the player or any other allied NPCs. However, Followers can be killed outright if hit by an attack from the player or another Follower. Extremely powerful attacks (especially area-of-effect attacks), such as those from a Dragon, can also kill a Follower.

Morale varies from Follower to Follower. Some, like the Housecarls, will always fight to the death, while others, like Roggi Knot-Beard, will often flee from combat if seriously injured.

All Followers favor two-handed weapons over one-handed weapons, even if they are unskilled in two-handed weapon usage. Therefore, the player should avoid letting followers whose primary combat skill is one-handed weapons have two-handed weapons in their inventory. Additionally, Followers appear to favor magic staffs over melee weapons, and will default to using a magic staff if given one, only switching to a melee weapon after spending several seconds in close combat.

Most non-magic using Followers have a bow as part of their default, non-removable equipment. This bow does not use up inventory arrows, and will fire the strongest arrow available in the Follower's inventory (for example, a Follower with 1 Daedric Arrow in their inventory effectively has an infinite number of Daedric Arrows as long as they are only using their default bow). If a Follower is given a different bow other than their default one, they will use up arrows just like the player.

Followers can dual-wield, but will only dual-wield Forsworn Swords as melee weapons, and only if they do not have a shield or other weapon in their inventory. They will also duel-wield magic staffs, regardless of whatever else is in their inventory.

If the player enters sneak mode, humanoid Followers will follow suit; while in sneak mode, they will not attack unless attacked first. Non-humanoid followers (dogs such as Meeko, Vigilance, or the Stray Dogs), however, do not understand the concept of "stealth" and will charge straight at an enemy as soon as they see one, even if the player is in sneak mode.

Ironically, the default equipment of many Followers does not correspond to their actual combat skills. For example, Aela's default armor is Heavy Armor, despite her being skilled in Light Armor, and Erik the Slayer's default equipment is Iron Armor and a one-handed sword, despite the fact he's actually skilled in two-handed weapons and light armor.

Follower DeathEdit

Fortunately for the followers, enemy combatants will tend to ignore them once their health is depleted. This condition is easily spotted as the follower will drop to one knee and stay in that position for a short period of time.

Once they have regenerated a sufficient amount of health, they will stand and rejoin the fight. This does not mean that they cannot die by physical attacks from NPC's. In some cases, especially when left no other target, NPC's will continue to attack a follower until death. In addition, in that near-death state, a follower is in danger of dying by being hit with an area-of-effect spell or attack. Also, your follower can die whilst kneeling down if you accidentually hit them with a medium-power sword, arrow/bow, or spell.

To avoid follower death in this scenario, the best course of action to take is to lead attackers away from the area where the follower is trying to recover. Followers may also be given several healing potions to carry in their inventory. If the need arises, they will use them.

Other ways followers can die include:

• Being killed by the player (including shouting)
• Falling
• Poison
• Traps
• Being hit by an enemy while the player is speaking with them
• Attacked by turrets

Followers can be revived using the console command "player.placeatme <base_id>" without quotes, the base ID in this case is just the base ID of your fallen follower.

Follower CommandsEdit

Permanent followers can be given several commands.

Initiate conversation (outside of combat), and tell them I have something I want you to do. They can:

• Attack another NPC or creature (disposition allowing)
• Wait at a given location (or just simply wait)
• Use an object.
• Open a locked door or container.
• Pick up individual items or take everything from containers.(WARNING PS3 as of patch 1.4: When a follower takes items from ANY container it is flagged as stolen when the player trades it from the follower. This is a result of Patch 1.4 which made an attempt to fix a bug that allowed players to remove the stollen flags from items by placing a stolen item into an owned container and commanding the follower to take all items, which magically removes the stollen flag.)
• Sleep in a bed.
• Sit on chairs and benches.
• Activate a Shrine to receive its blessing.
• Perform jobs such as wood chopping (but not mining ore).
• Leave the Dragonborn's service.
• Pickpocketing (Dragonborn must remain undetected)

There are some additional benefits from using certain commands. These are:

• Followers can pick up skill books that the player may not want to read just yet. These can be safely taken from their inventory and read at a later date.
• Followers can fill soul gems on the player's behalf - provided they have soul gems in their inventory and a weapon with the Soul Trap enchantment.
• Followers will illuminate dark areas with a torch, provided there is one in their inventory.
• Followers do not require lockpicks to pick locks.
• As a vampire, ordering a follower to sleep will allow the player to feed off them.

If told to wait, a follower will wait for about 3 days before they get tired and leave the player. They will then return to their home, or the location where they were originally found.

Follower MoralityEdit

Every follower has their own level of morality. Certain followers, such as Farkas, are lawful citizens and will report the player to the guards if they witness a crime. Other followers, such as Jenassa, will readily commit any crime they are ordered to do and will ignore any criminal behaviour by the player.

If a follower is asked to perform an illegal activity, the player will be held responsible - only if they are not hidden.

Inventory and EquipmentEdit

Followers can be commanded to pick up items even when they are at their carry limit and their movement rate will not be reduced. Although the player can command a follower to pick up any piece of equipment, giving them the same piece of equipment (trading in conversation menu) has a different result, since followers might use it if it has higher stats.

Followers always equip the best possible weapons or apparel given to them. More specifically, the weapon with the highest damage value and the pieces of apparel with the highest armor value are equipped. Followers will not use equipment that is the same as their starting equipment unless it has been improved using smithing or enchantments. Therefore, sometimes followers refuse to equip an item the player gave them (like in the above example: Mjoll the Lioness prefers two-handed weapons over one-handed, but the player can give her a sword and a shield). The player can start trade, take an old item from his follower (to prevent him using that piece of equipment) and then drop it, in order to exchange it with a newer/better piece of equipment, thus forcing the follower to equip the desired item.

Followers will retain their inventories even after the player dismisses them. In this way, it is possible to use them for limited storage, as long as the player does not lose access to them somehow by turning them against the player. If they are killed the player can loot the stored items off the body.

Effect dismissing has on equipmentEdit

If the player sends their follower away (dismiss), and later decides to recruit him again, the player might find the follower wearing their old equipment. The player can fix this by either leaving the area, or by simply taking away any piece of equipment from them, which will in turn "reset" them, causing them to equip their best available equipment. If the player chooses to “reset” their follower, he will use new/better equipment again.

Placing just a single arrow in a follower's inventory will give them an infinite supply of that type of arrow (assuming the follower has a bow), so it is a good idea to keep them equipped with one of the best arrows the player has. It can backfire against stronger enemies that use bows, as this can immediately cause the enemy to equip the one high-end arrow that landed on their body and shoot it back with an infinite supply.

Multiple FollowersEdit

Read the main article Multiple Followers.

Followers are said to be limited to one at a time but there are several ways to exploit this limit. Quest characters triggered to follow the Dragonborn, the Dark Brotherhood Initiate, summoning more than one Atronach, and mods on the  PC   make it possible to build a small army.

FollowersEdit

HousecarlsEdit

Housecarls are essentially bodyguards who protect nobility and important people from threats. Becoming the Thane of a Hold will grant the player a personal housecarl. All available housecarls are Nord warriors.

Name	Location	Prerequisite	Race	Marriage
Argis the Bulwark	Vlindrel Hall, Markarth	Become Thane of Markarth	Nord	Yes
Calder	Hjerim, Windhelm	Become Thane of Eastmarch	Nord	Yes
Iona	Honeyside, Riften	Become Thane of The Rift	Nord	Yes
Jordis the Sword-Maiden	Proudspire Manor, Solitude	Become Thane of Haafingar	Nord	Yes
Lydia	Breezehome, Whiterun	Become Thane of Whiterun	Nord	Yes (as of patch 1.5)

Faction FollowersEdit

Completing certain quests for a faction will grant the player access to followers from that faction.

Name	Class	Faction	Location	Quest	Race	Marriage
Aela the Huntress	Rogue	The Companions	Jorrvaskr	Glory of the Dead	Nord	Yes
Athis	Warrior	The Companions	Jorrvaskr	Glory of the Dead	Dunmer	Yes
Farkas	Warrior	The Companions	Jorrvaskr	Glory of the Dead	Nord	Yes
Njada Stonearm	Warrior	The Companions	Jorrvaskr	Glory of the Dead	Nord	Yes
Ria	Warrior	The Companions	Jorrvaskr	Glory of the Dead	Imperial	Yes
Torvar	Warrior	The Companions	Jorrvaskr	Glory of the Dead	Nord	Yes
Vilkas	Warrior	The Companions	Jorrvaskr	Glory of the Dead	Nord	Yes
Brelyna Maryon	Mage	The College of Winterhold	Hall of Attainment	Brelyna's Practice	Dunmer	Yes
J'zargo	Mage	The College of Winterhold	Hall of Attainment	J'zargo's Experiment	Khajiit	No
Onmund	Mage	The College of Winterhold	Hall of Attainment	Onmund's Request	Nord	Yes
Cicero	Assassin	Dark Brotherhood	Dawnstar Sanctuary	Hail Sithis!	Imperial	No
Dark Brotherhood Initiate	Assassin	Dark Brotherhood	Dawnstar Sanctuary	Hail Sithis!	Nord	No

MercenariesEdit

Mercenaries are typically found in taverns across Skyrim. They cost 500 to hire for any length of time. Dismissing a mercenary will send them back to the tavern they were found, and will come back to your service for no charge. (since you already paid)

Name	Class	Location	Race	Marriage
Belrand	Spellsword	Winking Skeever, Solitude	Nord	Yes
Jenassa	Assassin	The Drunken Huntsman, Whiterun	Dunmer	Yes
Marcurio	Mage	Bee and Barb, Riften	Imperial	Yes
Stenvar	Warrior	Candlehearth Hall, Windhelm	Nord	Yes
Vorstag	Warrior	Silver Blood Inn, Markarth	Nord	Yes

Quest Reward FollowersEdit

These followers typically have a quest attached to them and it must be completed in order to gain them as a follower.

Name	Class	Location	Prerequisite	Race	Marriage
Adelaisa Vendicci	Warrior	East Empire Company	Rise in the East	Imperial	No
Ahtar	Warrior	Castle Dour	Complete Kill the Bandit Leader.	Redguard	No
Annekke	Warrior	Darkwater Crossing	Complete Kill the Bandit Leader.	Nord	No
Aranea Ienith	Mage	Shrine of Azura	If the player chooses to return the broken star to Azura in The Black Star	Dunmer	No
Eola	Nightblade	Hall of the Dead, Markarth	Help her in The Taste of Death	Breton	No
Erandur	Mage	Windpeak Inn, Dawnstar	Help him in Waking Nightmare	Dunmer	No
Erik the Slayer	Warrior	Frostfruit Inn, Rorikstead	Convincing his father to let him become an adventurer.	Nord	Yes
Faendal	Archer	Riverwood	Help him in Love Triangle	Bosmer	No
Golldir	Warrior	Hillgrund's Tomb	Help him in Ancestral Worship	Nord	No
Illia	Mage	Darklight Tower	Help her in Repentance	Imperial	No
Kharjo	Warrior	Ahkari's Khajiit Caravan	Retrieve his Moon Amulet	Khajiit	No
Lob	Warrior	Largashbur	Complete The Cursed Tribe	Orc	No
Mjoll the Lioness	Knight	Riften	Retrieve Grimsever for her	Nord	Yes
Ogol	Warrior	Largashbur	Complete The Cursed Tribe	Orc	No
Roggi Knot-Beard	Warrior	Kynesgrove	Find his family's ancestral shield	Nord	Yes
Sven	Bard	Riverwood	Help him in Love Triangle	Nord	Yes

Misc FollowersEdit

These followers have no specific quest attached to them. Gaining them as a follower may sometimes be a trivial affair, or could be as easy as Brawling against them and winning the match

Name	Class	Location	Prerequisite	Race	Marriage
Benor	Warrior	Morthal	Beat him in a brawl	Nord	Yes
Borgakh the Steel Heart	Warrior	Mor Khazgur	Pay her dowry or persuade her	Orc	Yes
Cosnach	Warrior	Silver Blood Inn,Markarth	Beat him in a brawl	Breton	Yes
Derkeethus	Rogue	Darkwater Pass	Free him from captivity	Argonian	Yes
Ghorbash the Iron Hand	Warrior	Dushnikh Yal	Convince him to travel with the Dragonborn	Orc	Yes
Uthgerd the Unbroken	Warrior	The Bannered Mare, Whiterun	Beat her in a brawl	Nord	Yes

AnimalsEdit

Animal followers can be used alongside any humanoid follower, this means that the player can have one human and one dog follower simultaneously and Barbas for a total of 2 animals.

Name	Location	Prerequisite
Barbas	Outside Falkreath	Begin Speak to Lod
Meeko	Wandering near Meeko's Shack	None
Stray Dog	Random location	None
Shadowmere	Dark Brotherhood Sanctuary	Begin The Cure for Madness
Vigilance	Markarth Stables	500

Barbas does not count as a true follower since he is tied to his quest but unlike other quest forced companions ( e.g. Farkas) the player's current animal follower will not be dismissed. Animal followers cannot be given items and thus cannot use equipment. As animal followers die with any killing stroke, they are not recommended late-game nor for use with powerful melee players, as a single attack from a high-level well-equipped player will result in the immediate death of the animal follower.

Notes Edit

• Most, but not all, characters that can be married can become followers as well.
• Followers can be ordered to take all the contents of a container, even if they would not be able to hold the equivalent amount of weight, however the items taken will be marked as stolen. This means that your follower can hold an infinite amount of items. This can be especially useful for dwemer metals and dragon scales and bones.
• Use caution when giving followers unique weapons as they can lose them when attacked by Draugr that use the Disarm shout.
• Only rogue and rogue-like characters are able to open any chest if you ask them. If they cannot, either they are not a rogue, you've asked them to unlock a door or this is a bug.
• Every humanoid follower with the exception of Cicero and the Dark Brotherhood Initiates can be recruited into the Blades, and will be given a free set of Blades Armor and a Blades Sword. Up to 3 followers can be recruited by speaking to Delphine at Sky Haven Temple. After followers have initiated as Blades, they will no longer return to their home or starting location, instead taking up residence at Sky Haven Temple.
  • The free set of blade armor will replace the follower's current armor, even armor given to the follower. This makes it impossible to get the items back. Higher level weapons, however, will still be chosen by the Follower over their new Blades weapon.
• If the player starts the quest Alduin's Wall and lets Esbern and Delphine follow him to the objective, he effectively gains two extra human followers who can not die permanently as long as he does not actually attempt to complete the quest.

• If this is combined with the conjuration perk Twin Souls, a traditional follower and an animal follower, the total number of creatures following and fighting for the player can be brought up to six. This can however make it difficult at times to backtrack through doors and passages.
• With 90 skill in Conjuration, reanimation of two conjurers / summoners who then summon an additional two minions, the unique mount Shadowmere, Delphine, Esbern, a minion that can be summoned by Esbern, a regular Follower, a Dark Brotherhood Initiate and an animal Follower brings the amount of followers up to a total of 10, and even 11 if one regular follower is a mage who can conjure a familar, or if a follower is given a staff of summoning, for example, the Sanguine Rose. If the player chooses not to complete A Daedra's Best Friend and keep Barbas and Mercer Frey, he could potentially have 15 followers.
• If the quest Arniel's Endeavor is completed, the player will be able to summon Arniel's shadow along with his regular conjured familiar(s), and increase his amount of followers by one.

• Some followers will give the Dragonborn the key to their house which will allow to freely loot the entire place without stealing or killing the follower.
• Certain quests may require the follower to leave his service. The follower will then leave with any items he received. To regain the follower, meet him where he was originally found. If he is a hireling, he will most likely ask for another 500 gold depending on how much time has passed or whether they're particularly fond of the player.
• If you give the follower any kind of arrow, it can be duplicated as the follower attacks someone.
• If you have acquired a bounty, and wish to pay it without losing your stolen items, you can place them into your follower's inventory, and then pay your bounty to a guard. After you are freed, you may retrieve the stolen items from your follower's inventory.
• Sometimes when you free something from a cage they will attack your enemys instead of you.
• It is unknown if followers get effects from enchanted items.

Followers who are TrainersEdit

Some potential followers are also Trainers, who can train the player in particular combat skills, allowing him or her to increase the skill level for those skills. The training is not free, but once these trainers become the player's followers, he or she may may receive training without any permanent cost this way: If the player asks a follower to train him or her in a particular skill, after receiving the training, he or she may access the trainer's inventory and recover the spent gold. The following followers are also trainers. (Note: All but Faendal are Companions who require the player to significantly advanced the Companions quest-line before they become recruitable as followers.)

• Aela the Huntress, Archery expert trainer (trains to level 75)
• Athis, One-Handed expert trainer (trains to level 75)
• Faendal, Archery adept trainer (trains to level 50)
• Farkas, Heavy Armor master trainer (trains to level 90)
• Njada Stonearm, Block expert trainer (trains to level 75)
• Vilkas, Two-Handed master trainer (trains to level 90)

BugsEdit

Click to show

Some Companions are glitched in such a way that they will not use any bow other than their default bow, regardless of the quality of any bow the player might provide them with. Some Companions will only use a "Heavy" bow i.e. Dwarven, ebony, Daedric. Others will only use a "Light" bow i.e. glass, or elven. Armor type seems to dictate bow type. Followers can be commanded to pick up items off the ground or from unlocked container that would otherwise exceed their carry capacity and continue to move normally. In this way, followers can carry an "infinite" amount of loot. All items picked up this way will be marked as stolen item however. Followers can get stuck on terrain. In some cases it is possible to free them by using any knockback effect. It may be impossible to get to where the Follower is stuck. In this case the console command TCL can be used to turn off collision and position the player. Press the tilde (~) key to open the console, type TCL, press the tilde key to close the console. Reverse the process to turn collision back on.  PC    PS3  In some areas, when the player goes through a door, his follower will spawn from a different door in the same area. Meaning, if there is more than one door to enter somewhere, the follower may enter from a different door than the player. This can cause serious problems, especially due to the fact they can get into a fight.  PS3  If most followers are given Blades armor before asking Delphine to make the follower (if applicable) a member of the Blades, they will not receive any of the free Blades armor that usually replace their natural armors.  PC    PS3  When trespassing in an area, followers will act like the owners of the trespassing area, meaning that no dialog can be opened with them (they instead use a generic "You're not supposed to be in here" line for their gender and race), rendering the player unable to perform any actions with them. If selecting them from a distance so the dialogue menu won't show up, the Dragonborn will be able to command them to take, steal, etc., but still will not be able to trade with them since this requires bringing up the dialogue menu.  PS3  At some point after the quest A Blade In The Dark, potential followers might comment on the player having someone with him if asked to follow him, despite having no followers, no matter where he go or how often a recent save is reloaded. Dismissing and rehiring Followers can result in their default starting equipment being added again every time they are rehired. Much of this equipment may not be displayed in their inventory. As a result, followers' carry capacity will diminish every time they are rehired since this default equipment has weight. The speed at which Followers will ultimately reach an effective zero carry capacity is effected by the weight of their starting equipment and the number of times they've been rehired.  360   It is possible to have a wolf as a follower, but this is a very rare occurrence. When faced with a wolf it will most likely attack the player, but it would sometimes run up to the player without attacking. One reason this glitch is hard to find is because most people attack the wolf not knowing it is friendly. Even though the wolf is friendly guards and allies will attack it as if it were hostile. If a bounty is placed on the Dragonborn's head in every region of Skyrim, followers will keep coming up and talking to him over and over and over as if they were guards pulling him over. During this time, if they are asked to follow just before killing them, the player will never be able to have another follower as the game thinks the dead follower is still following the player. There are no known fixes. Followers of any kind can be often killed by Falmer power attacks and magic, so it might be a good idea to order them to wait before an intense fight. (Sure this isn't an accidental kill? Never had a follower die when that was not the case, even letting a large mob Draugr beat on them while Dovakhiin is hidden.)  360   If the "activate" key has been remapped to a button other than A, followers will not listen to the player's commands, they will just stand there. The way to fix this is by changing the "activate" key back to default. Sometimes, items given to the follower cannot be removed, displaying the message "you cannot take your follower's starting armour". The only known ways to recover the item(s) are to dismiss the follower then pickpocket them or kill the follower and loot their body. Most followers have infinite arrows. If you give them an stack of arrows, they will use all of them but the last. The last arrow always seems to be in their inventory. It does NOT work on all followers, however. Housecarls like Lydia seems to have an infinite supply, but companions like the Dark Brotherhood Initiate needs to get a stabile supply. Sometimes when you want an follower to follow you they will say that you already got someone with you even though you don´t have a follower with you. This bug is often triggered by the death of a follower or by fast traveling. To fix this bug you can: -load a save when your follower is with you. -open the console and type in "set playerfollowercount to 0". (open the console with ~ or §)