Faendal

"Riverwood is agreeable I suppose. For a Nord village."

- Faendal

Faendal is a Bosmer archer in Riverwood. He and Sven have a rivalry for the love of a local girl, Camilla Valerius. He offers Archery lessons at the Adept level.

Interactions
Faendal is a potential follower if the Dragonborn sides with him by exposing Sven's letter to Camilla or by giving Camilla his own fake letter.

This gains you the gratitude of Camilla as well as Faendal. After completing this quest, you can ask Faendal to follow you and he will readily oblige. If he is encountered before Sven, it is Faendal who will suggest using a fake letter to discredit Sven, mirroring most players' experience.

Faendal's House
Faendal's House is located in Riverwood. Sometimes Faendal will not leave his house, leaving the door in an unlocked state. To fix this, reenter and try again.

Archery
After taking Faendal on as a companion, it is possible to receive free Archery training. Purchase the next training level up from Faendal, then speak with him to open the trade option. Take back the money paid for training. This can be repeated up to five times per level, up to level 50 in archery.

Pickpocket
With any trainer, you can use the cutpurse perk to pickpocket the money back. The total value of gold affects the success rate.

Another way to steal large sum of money from a trainer is to pickpocket them, put a paralyze potion inside his inventory (Which obviously needs a specific Pickpocket perk called "poisoned" ), then when he is paralyzed wait on sneak mode. As soon as the paralyze effect runs out you can pickpocket the gold without him noticing.

Lockpicking
Faendal's house has an Apprentice level lock. To raise lockpicking, the key to his house will need to be returned, if it was taken. With Faendal following, pick the lock to his house, then go back outside. He will lock it again - resetting it so it may be picked again.

Follower
Faendal seems to have a lawful disposition; if you lockpick your way into residences, he will occasionally say, "You should not be in here" and refuses to enter dialog options preventing the 'trade items' and 'pick up items' commands until you leave the area. Also, if you enter combat with City Guards or Imperial Soldiers, he will stop following you and begin attacking you.

Faendal is competent with bows but often prefers to use daggers and swords if given to him. He will use the most damaging bow in his inventory at long range, the most damaging blade available at close range, while at mid range (provided no obstacles) he tends to use any weapon with the highest damage.

Trivia

 * Faendal is able to join The Blades.
 * If the Dragonborn owns Breezehome and has purchased the alchemy lab, upon waking up Faendal will occasionally be found using it, even if he is not a follower, or is fairly aggressive toward the Dragonborn.
 * Upon entering Riverwood as an elf, Faendal says "Greetings Brother/Sister Elf, nice to see a familiar face far from home".
 * Faendal will gladly teach you Archery even if he dislikes you.
 * If the player is married to Camilla Valerius and they live in a home other than her own, Faendal may be found leaving your home as soon as you arrive. If you kill the elf, Sven will send a letter of thanks via courier.
 * If the player helped Sven with the Miscellaneous Quest to give Camilla Valerius the fake letter, Faendal will send Hired Thugs, who will appear the next time the player leaves a city hold and attack you upon sight.
 * If a space is incorporated between Faen and Dal, Faendal's name translates from Norwegian to English as "Damn Valley"
 * Faendal attacks you if you attack any kind of Imperial or Thalmor, suggesting that he may be sympathetic to the Imperial side of the Skyrim Civil War.
 * Faendal may be found wandering Skyrim randomly, and/or slain by one of the many creatures he might encounter.
 * Faendal may not appear in Riverwood if you marry Camilla Valerius. He may be on the way to your house in a city or on the way back.
 * If you kill Camilla Valerius, Faendal will not become your follower and if you are around him, will say "You have some nerve showing up here after what you've done."
 * If you side with Sven, he will say "You want to talk to me? After everything you have done?" In an angry tone.
 * Faendal makes a good follower for potential warriors, since he fights from long distance, if it is his strongest weapon.
 * He is a good follower to recruit for lower level characters, because Riverwood is the first place you visit in the main quest. Therefore, you can have a competent companion for the beginning of the game after you have completed Love Triangle.

Bugs

 * When the Dragonborn enters Riverwood for the first time, Faendal may suddenly attack them.
 * Also when visiting for the first time, Faendal may very rarely be found dead in the center of the town.
 * If Sven and Hilde are killed before finding out about the love triangle between Faendal, Camilia and Sven, Faendal will never offer you the quest because the quest scripting was not designed for this contingency.
 * Faendal may occasionally use his hunting bow instead of the better weapons that the player gives him, not using a Daedric Bow for instance. This is a current glitch in the game that happens with many other followers that have their own hunting bow. To get him to re-equip the more powerful item, take it from him and then give it back, at which point he will equip it instead of his hunting bow. Unfortunately, this is not a permanent fix, as he will still randomly re-equip his hunting bow.
 * Faendal may still come out of your house as you arrive even if Camilla has been killed.
 * If you give Faendal forsworn armor, the game may think it is part of his starting gear.
 * After being killed in battle, he may be found alive and well after many game days back in Riverwood.
 * Sometimes Faendals face may become permannantly stuck in a glitched position where his eyes are covered by his cheeks and his teeth will no longer be attached to his face.