Essential Characters (Skyrim)

An essential character is defined as a character that at some point during the game cannot be killed in any way whatsoever. If their health is depleted they will fall to one knee, but will shortly recover back to normal.

Throughout the game there are many characters who are vital to the progression of quests, and if killed would effectively break said quest. To safeguard against this certain characters are marked as "Essential" by the game.

It should be noted that there are also many characters that cannot be killed - but at a later point during the progression of the game will be marked as "unessential" and can then be killed (such as at the end of a quest)

The following is a guide to how essential characters are listed:

The following is a list of essential characters that appear in Skyrim, and at what point some of them become marked as "unessential".