Aela the Huntress (Skyrim)

Background
Aela the Huntress is a lycanthrope, in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. She is a member of The Companions and one of the five members of the The Circle. She wears Ancient Nord Armor and wields a Skyforge Steel Dagger, Hunting Bow and Aela's Shield, a named Steel Shield.

When asked why she joined The Companions, she says, "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."

Interactions

 * The player will likely first encouter her fighting a Giant at Pelagia Farm on the outskirts of Whiterun. She approves or disapproves of the Dragonborn's actions depending on the amount of assitance given in defeating the Giant. Regardless, she suggests visiting Jorrvaskr and speaking to Kodlak Whitemane about joining The Companions.


 * After joining The Companions and completing the first few quests, Aela donates some of her blood for the Dragonborn so the he or she will be able to become a Werewolf. From that point, she gives the player a series of quests involving The Silver Hand.


 * After completing the quest Glory of the Dead, she becomes a follower and a candidate for marriage.


 * She provides Archery training for a fee and can train the Dragonborn up to Level 75. She only offers this service after the Dragonborn joins The Companions.


 * She offers the repeatable Animal Extermination quests.

Quests

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

Equipment
Aela is equipped with the following items when you first obtain her as your follower:
 * Skyforge Steel Dagger
 * Hunting Bow (not shown in some cases)
 * Whiterun Gate Key
 * Belted Tunic
 * Aela's Shield (not shown in some cases)
 * Torch

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 will use staves and may pick them up from dead NPCs.

Armor
Aela's default armor is Ancient Nord Armor. If married, you can buy a copy from her shop. Aela will equip any armor better than her default Ancient Nord Amor. All followers decide which armor is best by the armor's base armor value (unsmithed, unenchanted).

Clothing
If you can take her armor from her, you can get her to wear clothes, but you have to reequip them everytime you change the location. You can force her armor into her shop inventory by giving her better armor. Then, you just buy both sets of Ancient Nord armor, and then take the armor you gave her out of her inventory, to replace with clothes.

Dismissing
When you dismiss Aela as your following companion, she will return to various places. When Aela has returned to her home, she will unequip any weapon and armor you have given her. She will keep all items you gave her in her inventory. To re-equip weapons and armor, you have to alter her inventory.
 * Married: Aela will return to the place you and her consider as your home. You can change the location by talking to her and telling her to move.
 * As a Blade: Aela will return to Sky Haven temple.
 * Neither: Aela will return to her default home in Jorrvaskr.

Marriage
Aela is a candidate for marriage only after completing The Companions quest line. She considers her room in the basement (Living Quarters) of Jorrvaskr as her default home. If left living there, she will continue to walk around in Jorrvaskr as usual. She will open up a store if asked to move into the player's home.

Trivia

 * Aela and Legate Rikke are voiced by Claudia Christian.
 * Aela is one of the female NPC's of Skyrim that you can marry using the Amulet of Mara.
 * She cannot be killed because of her quest significance. Once Totems of Hircine is complete, she can be killed.

Bugs

 * Aela may disappear randomly. She won't return by waiting or fast traveling to another location. Simply activate the miscellaneous quest "Speak to a Leader of the Companions." Doing so will show a quest marker pointing to Aela (as well as Vilkas & Farkas). (PC): Open up the console and type : " " and then " ".
 * If you've completed A Daedra's Best Friend and a Totems of Hircine quest sends you to Haemar's Shame, the game may crash. On PC, this can be resolved by manually advancing the quest with the console command . There is currently no known fix for consoles. [Moving to Totems Quest Bugs]


 * In the first Companions mission, you're supposed to return a shield to her. The quest indicator may not point to the correct location. Go to the Jorrvaskr Living Quarters, she is in her room at the end on the left and behind the left door.
 * During the quest Glory of the Dead, Aela may get stuck on the set of stairs after you fight the wolf spirit of Kodlak. Either ask her to follow you once you are the leader of The Companions, or wear an Amulet of Mara and ask her to marry you.
 * After turning in each totem for the totem quest, Aela will pray at the statues. After turning in the final totem, if you ask her to be your follower she will make her way back to the underforge and begin praying again. The easiest solution is, after placing the Totem on the altar, use the wait function for 24 hours. Aela will walk out of the Underforge. Wait a few minutes. She should then be inside Jorrvaskr, ready for rehiring.
 * Solution (PC/PS3/XBOX): Dismiss her. She then should walk out of the underforge. Outside the Underforge, immediatly ask her to join you again and then, via "I need you to do something" command, tell her to move somewhere. Draw your weapon and sheath it again, then exit the command mode. Aela will start walking again to the underforge. Talk to her before she enters and ask her to follow you again. Aela should behave normally.
 * Alternate Solution: When approaching the Underforge, RUN to the door an immediately enter. Once in side RUN to the altar and quickly place the item onto it. Aela is stuck in a running position and does not pray. Immediately exit the Underforge. She has been stuck in the running position, but that goes away once the player has fast traveled.


 * All follwers, Aela included, will occassionally switch back to their default bow. Even if removed from their inventory via console commands (PC: removeitem 0010e2dd 99 ), it will repsawn.
 * The "Can you prepare me some food?" conversation option can disappear. There is no known fix to this yet.
 * Some have experienced a bug that involves Aela continuously attempting dialogue with the player. A possible fix is to recruit her, go outside, dismiss her, wait one hour, and then recruit her again.
 * Aela randomly started to run in place while a follower, parting ways does not solve this. She simply slides around and gets stuck in another spot. A confirmed fix is to use Unrelenting Force shout on her.

Appearances

 * The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim