Lydia (Skyrim)

 is a follower obtained in Dragonsreach upon completion of the quest Dragon Rising in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. She receives the title of Housecarl from Jarl Balgruuf the Greater, 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 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 by the Dragonborn will harm her and can kill her same way as any other enemy. Do not perform an attack shout facing her while she is healing, this will almost always kill her.

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 also 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 as normally, but her default Steel apparel will be replaced with a full set of Blades Armor, and a Blades sword. This change is permanent. She also calls the player Dragonborn after joining the blades.

Combat Behavior and Skills
Lydia is primarily a melee-type character. As with some other melee-oriented followers, she has tendency to simply rush into combat, which, unless babysat 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 Two-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 sneaking 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.

Equipment
Lydia's default armor is Steel armor, boots, gauntlets, and shield. She only uses the shield if the best melee weapon in her inventory is One-Handed. She does not wear a helmet by default, but can equip any if given one. She can equip armor given to her as well, if its armor rating surpasses that of her default equipment. 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.

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, also with an infinite supply (these can be collected) and a stronger bow.

Oddly enough, if Lydia does not have a helmet, she will don enchanted mages' robes in her inventory over any other type of armor such as steel plate (seen on PS3), 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 not been determined if this is a bug or due to the way the game calculates the relative quality of items.

Bugs

 * 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 from the desktop or if unlocked, use Unrelenting Force on her. Removing and replacing an item in her inventory will also correct this issue. (PC, 360, PS3)
 * (360) Giving her a stronger bow, such as an enchanted Daedric Bow, will cause her to not equip it. Instead she will continue to use her original hunting bow (PC: if the stronger bow is not enchanted she will use it).
 * To fix the random appearance of her body, simply wait a week or so and stay around the area where her body was killed until it has finally disappeared, thus allowing you to marry a NPC.
 * (PC, 360, PS3) Sometimes if you dismiss her and then rehire her after following her to a different room the equipment you gave her will be unequipped until you fast travel, you exit the current room you are in, or you add/remove something from her inventory. (PC) This can also happen when she is temporarily replaced as a follower by Farkas during the Proving Honor quest. When you return to Whiterun to retrieve her, she is wearing her default gear rather than the equipment you gave her.
 * There is a bug related to companions' stats, which aren't updated on leveling (followers have the same level as player). There is a workaround (PC): Dismiss and wait until "Follower dismissed message", open console, select follower with mouse an type "disable" (without quotes), then type "enable". This is inventory-safe, and followers have no penalty for being dismissed, so you can hire them again for free.
 * In the quest to defend Whiterun from the Stormcloaks, Lydia will follow you out of Dragonsreach, but will not follow you out of the city to help defend the drawbridge.
 * If dismissed, she will return 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 asks her to do something and the told to wait somewhere away from the chair.
 * (360) If Lydia is killed at anytime in the game, her body might appear during the Imperial quest to defend Whiterun.
 * When carrying more weight than her capacity limit allows (ie. ordering her to "pick up" items rather than trading through inventory) she may not equip certain weapons and armor despite their improved stats (ie. Ebony Bow, Plate Gauntlets). -Please delete if this is not bug related
 * (Xbox) 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 over all 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 there is a Whiterun Helm in her inventory, Lydia will wear it over several (but not all) superior helmets (e.g. she will wear Dwarven but not Dragonbone).

Lydia