Aela the Huntress (Skyrim)

"There is a change in the moons, brother."

- Aela The Huntress

 is a lycanthropic female Nord in. She is a member of The Companions and one of the five members of The Circle. Residing in Jorrvaskr with the other Companions, Aela offers lycanthropy, deep into the Companions questline. Additionally, she becomes a candidate for marriage, as well as a follower.

Background
When asked, Aela explains her reasoning behind joining The Companions: "My mother was a companion. And her mother. And all the women in my family, back to Hrotti Blackblade. I stayed with my father in the woods until I was old enough for my Trial. We hunted everything there was to hunt... Good training. Ma didn't live long enough to see me join, but I fight to honor her and all my Shield-Sisters through time."

Relationships
It is rumored among the Companions that she and Skjor are lovers. Eavesdropping on Njada Stonearm reveals this. She hastily and staunchly denies the relationship, however.

Other ambient dialogue between her and Skjor reveals that the two go out at night to hunt in beast form. This is forbidden and is the source of their secrecy as well as the rumors.

Interactions
It is possible to encounter Aela before knowledge of The Companions is acquired. She can be found fighting a giant at Pelagia Farm on the outskirts of Whiterun, along with Skjor and Farkas. She approves or disapproves of the actions depending on the amount of assistance given in defeating the giant; only one successful strike is needed to gain her favor. Regardless, she suggests visiting Jorrvaskr and speaking to Kodlak Whitemane about joining The Companions.

Archery training
After becoming a full member of The Companions, Aela offers Archery training for a fee. She is considered an Expert trainer and can train up to Level 75.

Lyncanthropy
In order to complete The Companions quest line, initiation into The Circle, by becoming a werewolf, must be completed. Aela willingly donates blood, which must be drunk. After the transformation, the new initiate awakens outside of Whiterun, with Aela standing over them.

She offers her congratulations and divulges information about the Circle's rivalry with The Silver Hand, a fierce group of werewolf hunters. Together with Aela, a nearby group, located at Gallows Rock, is raided. The raid does not go as planned, however, as Skjor is slaughtered prior to the raid. Aela vows to kill whomever did it. From that point, stifling the ongoing feud with The Silver Hand, which escalates dramatically, must be completed. After The Silver Hand assassinates Kodlak Whitemane, the Silver Hand must be eradicated. In an effort to cleanse Kodlak's spirit of the beast curse, Aela accompanies Vilkas, Farkas, and the others, to Ysgramor's Tomb. There she helps redeem Kodlak's spirit,. A promotion to Harbinger is given at this point.

Returning lycanthropy
In, Aela is able to give lycanthropy again. Points expended toward the Werewolf skill tree cannot be undone or moved to other skill trees, including the Vampire Lord skill tree. She only does so once.

After destroying the Silver Hand


After destroying the Silver Hand, she becomes a follower and a candidate for marriage while wearing an Amulet of Mara in her presence. She then offers the repeatable Animal Extermination missions, as well as the ability to collect the mythic Totems of Hircine.

Blades
After escorting Delphine and Esbern to Sky Haven Temple, Aela can be recruited into the Blades. Along with two others, she roots out and fights Ancient Dragons. Becoming a Blade, Aela's default armor changes to Blades Armor and her residence shifts from Jorrvaskr to Sky Haven Temple.

Follower
As a follower, Aela tolerates stealing or murdering innocents. When trespassing, she says they, "should not be in here," but otherwise does not turn hostile.

Skills
Aela is a specialist and highly skilled in Archery. Her primary skills are Light Armor and Sneak. Her secondary skills are One-Handed and Speech.

She excels with bows and light armor, is very skilled with one-handed weapons, and is not good with a shield.

Equipment
Aela is equipped with the following items when she first becomes a follower:
 * Skyforge Steel Dagger
 * Hunting Bow (not shown in some cases)
 * Whiterun Gate Key
 * Belted Tunic (not shown in some cases)
 * Aela's Shield (not shown in some cases)
 * Torch
 * 800

Weapons
Aela will accept and equip any melee weapon and shield that is better than her default equipment. She is most skilled with bows and one-handed weapons. Aela uses staves and may pick them up from corpses. In higher levels, she replaces her hunting bow with an Imperial bow.

Armor
Aela's default armor is Ancient Nord Armor. If married, a copy can be purchased from her shop. Aela equips any armor better than her default set. All followers decide which armor is best by the armor's base value. Like all followers, Aela does not equip upgraded version of her default armor, regardless of statistics or enchantments.

Even though her default armor is Heavy Armor, she is unskilled in Heavy Armor usage, and receives minimum protection from it. She is highly skilled in Light Armor, and benefits significantly from Light Armor.

Clothing
Aela can be forced to wear clothes, although the process must be repeated every time a new area is investigated. First, armor must be forced into her shop inventory by giving her a better suit. Proceed to buy both sets of the Ancient Nord Armor, to finally replace the armor that was given to her at first by clothes.

Dismissing
When Aela is dismissed as a follower, she returns to Jorrvaskr by default. If she has been asked to move into a home through marriage, she returns there instead. If she has been recruited for The Blades, she returns to Sky Haven Temple. When Aela has returned to her home, she unequips any weapon and armor she has received, keeping them in her inventory instead. Her inventory must be altered to re-equip the items.

Quests

 * The Silver Hand
 * Retrieval
 * Striking the Heart
 * Totems of Hircine
 * Animal Extermination
 * Stealing Plans

Trivia

 * Aela, Legate Rikke, and several other characters are voiced by Claudia Christian.
 * She cannot be killed while the Totems of Hircine quest is active because of her quest significance. However, once the quest has been completed, she can be killed.
 * This can be exploited to make her invincible by not completing the quest and if leveled by the Wabbajack can make for an extremely effective and useful follower.
 * She can exploited for Archery training, like any other character that offers training. This can only be done at the end of the Companions' storyline, after obtaining the rank of Harbinger. Talk to her and pay for training. After the training that she can offer is maxed out, ask her to be a follower. Talk to her again and to trade some things with her. While trading is a good opportunity to take back all of the training gold from of her inventory. Once trading is done, she can be released as a follower, and she will leave.
 * As a follower, when requested to do so, she will not attempt to steal. Likewise this is also the case when ordered to attack non-aggressive NPCs stating "I don't do that."
 * She and Skjor are the only members of The Circle who cannot be cured of Lycanthropy.
 * She carries two pairs of armor, one to be bought if she is married.
 * If her iron shield is taken away after trading items with her she will refuse to dual wield weapons.
 * It is possible that she was born a werewolf; all her female ascendents were Companions.

Appearances


Aela la Cacciatrice Aela die Jägerin Aela the Huntress