Dark Brotherhood Initiate

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The Dark Brotherhood Initiates are skilled assassins that show up in the Dawnstar Sanctuary after the Dragonborn successfully murders Titus Mede II and speaks to Delvin Mallory about repairs. There are both male and female versions of the initiate.

The Dragonborn can ask an initiate to follow them as a helper, they can follow commands, hold items and so forth. Their default weapon is a one handed dagger. There are usually two initiates available at one time.

Interactions

Follower

Despite being assassins, the Initiates can only dual wield if they have at least one Forsworn sword or pickaxe. Because they do not have default arrows, their inventories must be kept stocked with arrows in order to make ranged combat viable.

The Dark Brotherhood Initiate is one of the few followers that will level with you past level 50. In addition, the Initiates are marked Essential, and will not die. This makes the Initiate a good choice of follower at high levels for stealthy characters.

Multiple followers

Main article: Multiple Followers

"The new initiates are working out well. Eager, dedicated, and not afraid to get their hands wet."

―Nazir

The Dark Brotherhood Initiate is one of the quest characters that can be exploited to follow the Dragonborn throughout Skyrim along with another follower. Also, using this to the player's advantage, it is possible to have two essential followers. For example, the Dark Brotherhood Initiate and Mjoll the Lioness or Derkeethus, as neither can be killed by anything.

Quotes

"How may I serve you, my Listener?"

―Dark Brotherhood Initiate

"Yes, Listener. I'll return to the Dawnstar sanctuary without delay."

―Dark Brotherhood Initiate when prompted to part ways

"Of course, Listener."

―Dark Brotherhood Initiate when commanded to do something

"Oh but you seem to already have assistance ... surely you mean to remain inconspicuous."

―Dark Brotherhood Initiate when asked to follow you when you already have a follower.

"And you thought I was just a pretty face?"

―Female initiate when fighting.

"Huh? What? Oh! That felt nice!"

―Female initiate when being healed.

Gallery

Female Dark Brotherhood Initiate

Trivia

• Dark Brotherhood Initiates are unable to be killed. They are essential characters, which means they will fall to their knees when their health has been depleted and then get back up even if they are hit again while they're down.
• The Initiate will sometimes not equip better armor than their default Shrouded Armor, but will wear other armor. They will also switch to the Ancient Shrouded Armor if given to them.
• Dark Brotherhood Initiates are the only followers in the base game, other than J'zargo and Barbas, that will level with the Dragonborn indefinitely.
• Unlike other followers, Initiates will not fire an infinite amount of any one equipped arrow. To get an initiate to use a bow they must be given arrows.
• Their default weapon is an ebony dagger.
• As with all other unkillable allies, the Dark Brotherhood Initiate will not accept Kinect "Ally" commands.
• There is an analogous type of follower, known as "Dark Brotherhood Murderer" available to the Listener in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
• Dark Brotherhood Initiates cannot be spoken to when trespassing in someone's house or business. They will merely state, "You should not be here," and will be unable to be interacted with until no longer trespassing.
• The male Initiate is voiced by the actor that provided Falion, and the female Initiate's voice actor is the same as Vivienne Onis's.

Bugs

This section contains bugs related to Dark Brotherhood Initiate. Before adding a bug to this list, consider the following: Please reload an old save to confirm if the bug is still happening. If the bug is still occurring, please post the bug report with the appropriate system template  360  /  XB1  ,  PS3  /  PS4  ,  PC  /  MAC  ,  NX  /  PS5  ,  XS  , depending on which platform(s) the bug has been encountered on. Be descriptive when listing the bug and fixes, but avoid having conversations in the description and/or using first-person anecdotes: such discussions belong on the appropriate forum board.

• They may lose all the equipment given to them if the Dragonborn is sent to jail or dismisses the Initiate.
• They can only wear Light Armor with an armor rating over 33, such as Gilded Elven Armor and Scaled Armor.
• When told to take a dropped stack of items, (anything over 5), only one of that item will appear in the initiate's inventory. All other items will be deleted.

Appearances

• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim