Lydia (Skyrim)

"I am your sword and your shield."

- Lydia

 is a follower and possible marriage candidate obtained upon completion of the quest Dragon Rising in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. She receives the title of Housecarl from Jarl Balgruuf the Greater in Dragonsreach, after the Dragonborn is promoted to the title of Thane. As Housecarl, she is sworn to protect the Dragonborn with her life, and to carry his or her burdens.

Follower
Lydia can die if she does not get the opportunity to heal herself when knocked down. This can happen if she gets caught in a Dragon attack or if she is mobbed by enemies who attack simultaneously. Also, any damage caused to her by the Dragonborn will harm her and can kill her as any other enemy could. Do not perform an attack shout facing her while she is healing, this will almost always kill her. She can also take damage from your characters attacks.

If the Dragonborn and Lydia part ways, she returns to Dragonsreach, or if you have purchased Breezehome in Whiterun, she will go there instead. If enough time was spent with her, she gifts the Dragonborn with an item upon reuniting with her.

Lydia, like most followers, has the option of being recruited into The Blades by bringing her to Delphine at Sky Haven Temple after the quest Alduin's Wall is completed. She can still be recruited as a follower, but her default Steel apparel will be replaced with a full set of Blades Armor and a Blades sword. This change is permanent.

Combat Behavior and Skills
Lydia is primarily a melee-type character and knows no spells. As with some other melee-oriented followers, she has tendency to simply rush into combat, which, unless monitored accordingly, may lead to her death (and sometimes the player's as well).

She can use spell scrolls and staves, but other forms of magic are beyond her ability. She can use potions and food if given to her. She favors Heavy Armor and One-Handed weapons, but will use any equipment, so long as it beats the current base armor or damage rating of what she wears by default (though, as with all followers, if you possess the Perfect Touch Pickpocket perk, you can, after dismissing her, pickpocket and remove her default gear, forcing her to wear whatever is the next best thing, if anything).

She also has very low Sneak skill, alerting enemies to her presence nearly immediately. Stealth-oriented players will want to have her wait somewhere out of sight before entering a room where you are attempting sneak attacks, although with a high enough sneak skill/stealth-oriented abilities and some skilled play, the player can use Lydia's behavior to conduct sneak attacks and backstabs regardless. Although her Sneak skill isn't high enough to have the perk to do this, she can sometimes be seen doing a roll (when the Dragonborn is crouching) in order to catch up to the player.

Armor and Jewelry
Lydia's default armor is steel armor, boots, gauntlets, and shield. She does not wear a helmet by default, but can equip any if given one. She can also wear any ring or necklace given to her by the Dragonborn, which can be useful due to the added effects these items may have. She can equip armor given to her, if its armor rating surpasses that of her default equipment. She can and will wear light armor, but her high Heavy Armor skill makes it difficult without a high Smithing skill or high-end armor, or the "equipitem" console command. The steel armor appears in her loot if she is killed.

Weapons
She only uses a shield if the best melee weapon in her inventory is One-Handed, otherwise she uses a Two-Handed weapon that the player gives her. Lydia's default weapon is a steel sword. If her sword is removed or if opponents are out of melee range, she uses a Hunting Bow, with an infinite supply of what appear to be iron arrows (the arrows cannot be collected by the player). Similar to her melee weapon and armor, she can be given stronger arrows and a stronger bow, which she will always use instead.

Her initial steel sword is a regular item and can be taken away from her. Her boots, gauntlets and shield are not shown in the inventory swap, but can be stolen away with Pickpocket, so that she is not burdened by their weight. Her bow is more problematic, as it does not show up in the pickpocket menu. However, this is a minor issue, as it is light and she defaults to a better one easily.

Quotes

 * “I am sworn to carry your burdens.” (unenthusiastic voice) — When asked to trade items.
 * “A healing spell? Are you a priest?” — When healed by Healing Hands or Heal Other.
 * “I am your sword and shield.” — When approached or passed by.
 * “Long life to you, Thane.” — When approached or passed by.
 * “Honor to you, my Thane.” — When approached or passed by.
 * “I am sworn to protect you.” — When approached or passed by.
 * “As you wish my thane.” — When asked to do something.
 * “I have a bad feeling about this.” — When entering certain areas in cave or ruin.
 * “Is that one of the old ruins?” — When entering certain areas in cave or ruin.
 * “I have never seen anything quite like that.” — When approaching large, and often spectacular, areas.
 * “Oh!" and "Huh?” — When the Dragonborn "pushes" her, urging her to move.
 * “What's the hurry?” — When the Dragonborn sprints into\past her.
 * “Hey, look, a cave. I wonder what's inside.” — when approaching cave entrances.
 * “Look over there, that's a Dwemer ruin.” — When near a Dwemer Ruin.
 * “You will die this day, dragon!” — When fighting a dragon.
 * “Slay it! Slay the dragon!” — When fighting a dragon.
 * "Stupid dog" — Leave her in a room with a dog.

Trivia

 * Oddly enough, if Lydia does not have a helmet, she chooses enchanted mage's robes in her inventory over Lydiaarrowtrick.png other type of armor, which lends to some roleplaying situations but offers little to no practical combat advantage. If she has a helmet in her inventory, she will then equip that and remove the robes. It has yet to be determined if this is a bug due to the way the game calculates the relative quality of items on a follower.
 * If Lydia dies, a courier will approach you the next time you are in town to give you a small sum of money she left in her will (100 gold, 10 of which is taxed by the Jarl's court).
 * Lydia is one of many companions that tends to stand in front of a doorway when you walk into a small room. To move her, use Unrelenting Force to push her out of the way; sprint into her and she will stagger and back up a bit; or tell her to wait somewhere else through dialogue commands or by activating her.
 * Give Lydia a single arrow of the best type you can find. She will then use an infinite supply of those arrows, which you will be able to retrieve after from fallen foes or the ground.
 * Lydia will not follow you over rough or steep terrain. She will instead take an easier path around and catch up with you. This could result in you not seeing her for several minutes or her attracting danger to herself. You should also look for bridges or close islands when crossing rivers, as it seems Lydia is not a very strong swimmer.

Bugs

 * It is not possible to marry Lydia in-game without the use of console commands. She is however, intended to be a marriage candidate, which is confirmed by looking at the data file (Skyrim.esm). Meaning she is most likely bugged.
 * Workaround: The console commands to rectify this are [Prid 000A2C94] and [Addtofaction 19809 1]
 * If given a stronger bow, she will not equip it. All followers are currently bugged to revert to their default bow over time. in some cases, she will equip non-enchanted bows given her by the player.
 * Workaround:  will remove her hunting bow temporarily, it will return eventually as with all followers who have a default bow.
 * Sometimes, if seriously injured in combat, she will crawl and continue to crawl even after combat has concluded, despite full health. To fix this, fast-travel to another location or restart the game. Removing and replacing an item in her inventory will also correct this issue. Using a shout on her will likely kill her.
 * If given better equipment, when you dismiss her she will not have it equipped. When you tell her to follow you she will re-equip any better gear she may have when you enter / exit an area. Taking an item from her inventory will also cause her to re-equip her best gear.
 * If dismissed to Breezehome, It is possible to have her stuck in a chair upstairs eating. If you ask to travel together, she will get up out of the chair and then sit back in the chair. This can be stopped if the player sits in the chair.
 * When carrying more weight than her capacity limit allows (i.e. ordering her to "pick up" items rather than trading through inventory) she may not equip certain weapons and armor despite their improved stats.
 * If given the Whiterun's Shield, it may give an error message saying you can not take her starting equipment adding 3 lbs to her overall weight. (Reload before you had given the item to her.)
 * Sometimes Lydia will run in place, even when you stop to talk to her, she will continue running.
 * If you give Lydia the Blades Armor that you receive in Sky Haven Temple, Before you ask Delphine to make Lydia an official Blade, Her starter armor will not be replaced, and she will not receive another set of Blades armor.
 * Lydia can sometimes disappear and won't be at Dragonsreach or Breezehome. This can be problematic if you've given her important or valuble items. In such situations, the following console commands might be helpful:
 * To teleport the player to her location, use the console command: player.moveto 000A2C94
 * To teleport her to the player's location, use the console command: prid 000A2C94
 * Then type moveto player
 * Sometimes no courier arrives to carry out her will by giving the player a small sum of gold, should Lydia die.
 * Lydia will not be able to carry any extra weight if you cast soul trap on her enough.
 * Lydia will carry an infinite amount of loot, if you tell her to pick up items from environment. But these items are likely to be marked "stolen" afterwards.
 * Sometimes after giving Lydia Dragon Priest Masks to hold, upon trying to retrieve them, they will be treated as Lydia's default armor, and therefore unable for the Dragonborn to retrieve them.

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

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