By John Walker on November 15th, 2011 at 10:58 am.
Ah, this meeting brings back memories. Childhood days, alto wine, romance! My life was wrapped around the quests. Her name was Lydia. I met her at the Stormreach Castle in 4E 201, marked down from 4E 241.
Ahhhh, Lydia. She was the most glooooorious creature under the suns. Marie, Ajira, Akorithi. Rolled into one.
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia
Now have you met Lydia?
Lydia the uuuuuuuseless companion
She has eyes that folks adore so
And a breastplate even more so
Lydia, oh Lydia, as much use as chlamydia
Oh Lydia the queen of to-dos
In a doorway she’ll stand, if given the chance
Blocking access to chests is her foremost romance
Her ultimate goal is to block your advance
You can’t go anywhere with Lydia
La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
When her bow is unfurled, she’ll fire arrows at the world
But targets need not bother her
She’ll miss rats in Ivarstead, spiders, the undead
And not trouble the wolves of High Hrothgar
La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say have you met Lydia?
Oh Lydia the uuuuuuuseless companion
When you go into a basement
At the entrance she’ll make her encampment
Lydia, oh Lydia, get lost in Kolskeggr
Oh Lydia the queen of to-dos
To both combat and tact you only bring shame
With every yawn you emit, my ire I proclaim
Yet whenever you die I load my savegame
You can’t go anywhere with Lydia
La la la, la la la, la la la, la la la
With profuse apologies to Groucho Marx and Yip Harburg.
15/11/2011 at 11:01 Njordsk says:
She died in an ambush, sorry you learn it on the internet.
Damn thieves !
15/11/2011 at 11:15 Stylosa says:
Lydia got killed, how……I have no idea. She’s dead outside my house in Whiterun. It’s quite funny every time I go back and people stop to stare at the corpse, haha.
http://yfrog.com/gyb9axp
I find corpses funny? I’m not right in the head it would seem….
15/11/2011 at 11:32 psyk says:
“I find corpses funny? I’m not right in the head it would seem….”
As long as you haven’t tried to drag her corpse back inside to put in your bed I think your ok.
15/11/2011 at 12:34 Saiko Kila says:
If you wait for a nude mod before looting the body, then it’s time to start worrying.
15/11/2011 at 14:50 JKjoker says:
I had some female warrior called the unbroken one or something i won by punching her to death in the first inn i used, i thought she was immortal … until the second dragon i met ate her (and now its bones are literally bonning her looted half naked corpse in full motion thx to that wonky havok engine, it was too hilarious to reload and try to keep her alive)
so now im using Lydia, i already have my eye on a mercenary to replace her tho meanwhile im looking for an official red armor to give my companions
btw, has anyone else encountered any cases of raining horses like i did ?
15/11/2011 at 16:54 Alexander Norris says:
She died in Markarth at the climactic moment at the end of the first part of *that* quest (the bit before it goes all Riddick). I considered F5ing, but then decided to live with it because it was dramatic.
15/11/2011 at 16:58 Amnesiac says:
She got mauled by a bear about twenty minutes after I asked her to follow me
15/11/2011 at 17:08 Synesthesia says:
well, i saw a single raining mammoth. That was nice.
15/11/2011 at 11:02 spcd says:
Lydia is a dumb …. Only thing she does is standing in doorways so I can’t get out. So I killed her.
15/11/2011 at 22:09 Daniel Is I says:
That’s not all she’s useful for. She makes great entertainment!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-hKxOhOQ3U
21/11/2011 at 13:26 Davee says:
That is awesome. I need to try this ASAP (before they “fix” it)!
15/11/2011 at 11:02 Vexing Vision says:
I demand an audio-recording. Sheogorath will be pleased.
15/11/2011 at 11:13 Zorganist says:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun for Christmas Number 1!
15/11/2011 at 14:26 stblr says:
Wabbajack. Wabbajack. Wabbajack. Wabbajack!
15/11/2011 at 11:04 Kdansky says:
She followed me for about twenty minutes, then I sent her packing. So bloody annoying. You should have added a verse about her rushing in front of my firebolts (killed her twice by accident) and/or shouting loudly while I try to be a sneaky bastard.
15/11/2011 at 13:53 tehfish says:
My horse likes doing that too
(well not the shouting part)
It’s a remarkably fireproof horse though, seems to not mind being set on fire repeatedly. :D
15/11/2011 at 11:04 TwitchierFish says:
My Lydia died, I’ve not felt this bad since Dogmeat got killed in Fallout 3.
15/11/2011 at 11:13 phlebas says:
What are you talking about? Dogmeat didn’t die in Fallout 3. He definitely didn’t charge off and get himself killed by a mirelurk before I had a chance to do anything about it. That never happened.
15/11/2011 at 11:30 Meusli says:
I left that damned dog at home, it was nothing but a death finder.
15/11/2011 at 11:59 Patches the Hyena says:
I made him un-killable via console. It was glorious.
15/11/2011 at 12:14 mike2R says:
Dogmeat died three times in the space of twenty minutes immediately after I got him.
Third time he stayed dead.
15/11/2011 at 12:32 Werthead says:
The first time I met Dogmeat was when I was returning to Megaton having completed the final quest in BROKEN STEEL. The very last thing I did in the game before retiring it was picking him up and taking him home.
Something tells me that I saved myself a lot of headaches this way.
15/11/2011 at 12:38 jalf says:
My dogmeat got lost for weeks. Sent him to fetch something or other in the middle of a gunfight, as I recall, and when he didn’t return, I figured he’d probably gotten himself killed.
Fast forward several real-world days, and *a long* time ingame, and I run into him some place halfway across the map. WITH THE AMMO I ASKED HIM TO FETCH (I think it was ammo, it might have been something else)
15/11/2011 at 14:24 The Pink Ninja says:
And this is why everyone uses ED:E in New vegas: She can shoot from a distance and has the amazingly useful radar perk.
15/11/2011 at 15:05 Mistabashi says:
I used the Dogmeat armour mod to give the poor fella a fighting chance. It also allows you to strap-on some packs, which besides allowing him to carry stuff for you also makes him look quite amusing.
http://fallout3nexus.com/downloads/images/4474-1-1240242631.jpg
15/11/2011 at 15:17 Kleppy says:
Yeah, but also: Rex from New Vegas is a huge fan of charging a pack of Cazadors, getting poisoned (a robot dog gets poisoned, right) and subsequently dying after I saved. Fuck you Rex, this is why I was supposed to be a lone wanderer.
15/11/2011 at 11:04 Nathan says:
Yes, I have met Lydia. And she’s *mine*. Mine I tell you!
15/11/2011 at 11:05 Uglycat says:
I found her very useful as Dragon-breath-target-fodder ™
15/11/2011 at 11:05 Nevard says:
I guess it’s not just my Lydia who has brain damage then
Every time I walk into MY house she says “are you lost?”
15/11/2011 at 11:15 caddyB says:
She’s doing the girl irony thing. She means you never come home so only reason for you to be there is being lost.
15/11/2011 at 11:06 psyk says:
Yep she seems to of taken up squating in my house.
15/11/2011 at 11:10 Kellador says:
She’s always rummaging through my things in my Whiterun house. I’m afraid I’ll have to vacate her from the guest room when she knocks another tankard of the living room table!
15/11/2011 at 11:07 Tyrone Slothrop. says:
One of my favourite songs of the Marx Brothers, bravo Mr. Walker.
16/11/2011 at 02:45 maninahat says:
Thank goodness there are people still familiar with the Marx brothers in this day and age.
16/11/2011 at 03:46 Starky says:
How could anyone not be familiar with brothers who wrote the philosophy that inspired communism?
(jk)
18/11/2011 at 07:48 ptrx says:
Yeah, I’m glad I’m not the only one who had this song stuck in my head from the moment I saw her. Where are the tattoos in this game?
15/11/2011 at 11:08 Zorganist says:
Lydia killed herself by running in front of my sword during a fight with a necromancer. I was killed by a giant whilst kiting a mammoth afterwards, though.
The most useful thing she’s done is carry all of my crap before I can find a vendor I haven’t already bankrupted.
15/11/2011 at 11:09 callmecheez says:
Her sarcastic line when you select the ‘lets trade items’ dialogue is so annoying.
Hope it gets a mod so you can just look at a companion and select “trade”.
15/11/2011 at 11:15 John Walker says:
Oh, a thousand times this.
15/11/2011 at 11:16 Kdansky says:
Now, now, we don’t want a useful UI, do we?
15/11/2011 at 11:59 Mitchk says:
“I’m sworn to carry your burdens(!)”
God I hated hearing that. I’m a massive loot hoarder so I was constantly throwing battle axes and suits of armour at her. Listening to her moan about it drove me insane!
Unfortunately my Lydia is now dead; I climbed a mountain and found an old snowy ruin laden with bandits. During battle, I snuck up on an unsuspecting foe and cracked them over the back of the head with my axe. Turns out it was Lydia!
I didn’t load my quicksave…
15/11/2011 at 12:10 Fox89 says:
I slapped her for that once. I was giving her some Dwarven Gauntlets I had just found and a forsworn bow, both of which were better than the equipment she was using by default. That’s not ‘carrying my burdens’ you ungrateful woman, it’s a present!!
15/11/2011 at 13:02 Squirrelfanatic says:
Fireball -> Dead Thrall -> Fixed.
15/11/2011 at 15:00 Doth Messar says:
At least it’s not as annoying as hearing that idiot in the companions tell you “I would be dead if not for Vignar”. I avoid him because I can’t stand hearing him tell that pitiful tale. One of these times I’m going to bludgeon him with my war hammer, and I will love every second of it.
15/11/2011 at 15:36 Stuart Walton says:
Is there a console command to change her name to ‘Pack Mule’?
If not, let’s hope a construction set is on the way.
15/11/2011 at 11:11 Wertymk says:
I gave her a good fire enchanted great axe, a +15% 2 handed weapon damage amulet and better armor. Now she’s unstoppable. All I have to do is watch and maybe heal her from time to time. So, not so useless if used right.
15/11/2011 at 11:16 President Weasel says:
Wait, you can give stuff to her? So she can be a pack mule AND slightly better equipped?
I’ve not been playing for that long, don’t look at me like that.
15/11/2011 at 11:52 DigitalSignalX says:
If you’re practiced in smithing and enchanting, your companions can actually break the game they’re so unstoppable. Kit her out in superior Dwarven or steel plate heavy with +health stats, some jewelry with ice and fire resists, and a good sword/shield combo and she’ll tank two ice trolls at once. If you give her HP pots she uses them too when things get hectic.
In dungeons we sneaky sneak and I usually one shot everything as it appears despite her rattling like an imperial kitchen behind me. When you get to the “boss fight crowd room” I’ll uncrouch, let her aggro everything and just sit back peppering with arrows while she works.
“Look, a cave! Wonder what’s inside?” – BLOOD AND XP.- “Is that all you’ve got!?”
Boss fight imminent: “I don’t like the looks of this”
Room with hidden exit/door: “I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Glass Sword, Y U WEIGH SO MUCH? “I am sworn to carry your burden…”
Too bad her marriage script is bugged, else I’d make her the full time tank and spank. Ya, I went there.
15/11/2011 at 12:01 Patches the Hyena says:
DigitalSignalX, that is brilliant. I will strive to emulate you… as soon as the game arrives from foreign climes.
15/11/2011 at 12:22 mike2R says:
She’ll use a staff in her off-hand too.
When I faced “that” frost troll early in the main quest, I had a summoned Flame Atronach flinging fireballs, Lydia with a staff casting flames, and my spell-sword self casting more.
Didn’t even get close enough for me to hit it with my mace.
15/11/2011 at 12:47 simonh says:
Yeah, she’s not useless at all!
I gave her the two-handed Axe of Whiterun that you get at the same time as her, and a nice bow. She can hold her own in a fight, has infinite arrows, and effectively doubles your carrying capacity, and as long you don’t hit her she’ll only get knocked down by enemies, never die. Sure she has some problems following you in the world, but she’ll always find you eventually once you stop or enter a dungeon or house.
She’ll even dual-wield staffs if you give her two! The charges will run out quick though so it’s not really worth it other than for some specific hard fight.
15/11/2011 at 14:52 Doth Messar says:
Are you sure she is in invincible? I mean more often than not she does just get knocked down, and I’ve seen a giant launch her into the stratosphere, but when I fought Red Eagle he crushed her with a power attack and left her crumpled in a corner. (Maybe I hit her with my axe, as she was always running in front of me, but I’m fairly certain Red Eagle has that honor)
15/11/2011 at 15:10 Salt says:
When at low health Lydia (like most man and mer NPCs) will kneel on the ground and call for mercy. The enemy AI is set to ignore targets that are doing that. So long as enemies aren’t chopping off too much health in one blow or spewing area of effect attacks she will tend to stay alive.
She definitely gets more useful in a fight once you give her a set of nice gear. My character is all spells and light armour, so Lydia got the heavy stuff including the odd Daedric artefact.
I’ve now replaced her in adventures with a conjured Frost Antronach. It serves the same role of attracting attention away from my feeble elf but with the significant advantage of vanishing in a puff of magicka when it needs to get out the way or stop making noise.
15/11/2011 at 15:16 Apples says:
Can you actually give the NPCs mercy if they ask for it, or is it just related to enemy AI? I stopped attacking once upon hearing that, but the ungrateful bugger crawled away, got up and started attacking me again. It would be cool if you could spare NPCs and have them offer to join you after they recover out of gratitude.
15/11/2011 at 15:49 mantel says:
I offloaded some stuff I didn’t want to use and she turned in to the anti-bandit. We got ambushed by a few bandits and by the time I had sunk my axe in to one of them she had chopped up two of them with her dwarven sword and was making a mage in to a pin cushion.
15/11/2011 at 21:47 vexis58 says:
I am also here to defend Lydia. She is the best thing ever. She is the only NPC in this game whose name I remember.
The only downsides I’ve found are that she is completely unable to avoid stepping on traps, and she doesn’t understand the concept of “get out of my way, this hallway is too narrow for both of us!”
She carries my junk for me, allowing me to loot twice as much stuff before I have to go back to town to sell everything. She doesn’t judge me if I steal things, she’ll even help me carry them, and sneak around whenever I do. She can’t use magic, but I give her all of those random miscellaneous staves I always forget to use, so she’s always throwing icicles at the dragons, summoning a wolf familiar, and fearing undead into the next room. I gave her a magical two-handed sword and some dwarven armor, and she’s an unstoppable juggernaut who defends my squishy self with her life. She also has a built-in bow for hitting things that are too far away (though lately she prefers to use her icicle staff)
Well, almost unstoppable. I once encountered a lich that I only managed to kill by exploiting the terrain and pelting it with fireballs from the top of a cliff, and when I finally won that fight, I found Lydia dead on the side of the mountain. She had died from the onslaught while I was running around in a panic while chain-guzzling potions and trying to not die. I was very sad that my friend was dead, looted all of the stuff from her body and stashed it in my house, then I heard about a resurrect dev command I could use to bring her back. Yay! Lydia’s okay!
16/11/2011 at 12:36 etusa says:
What difficulty are you people playing when you are saying she is unstoppable? I gave her pretty good armor (dwarwen), good shield+good 1h and some bling but she kept dying pretty fast :o that and stupid ai and stupid path-finding made me from really liking her to hating her. Although I was slightly sad when I couldn’t find her after I told her to return home :/ guess she was bound to fail in that too..
15/11/2011 at 11:12 CaspianRoach says:
Awwww, that’s so cute.
Too bad she doesn’t have any voiced lines apart from about 20 of them. :(
15/11/2011 at 11:13 apocraphyn says:
The errant sexism oft’ displayed by Mr Walker has evidently reached it’s peak through the belittling of this empowered female figure, (likely to affirm his own masculinity).
I, for one, am ashamed.
15/11/2011 at 11:17 John Walker says:
I just wish all the women would go back to Russia.
15/11/2011 at 11:19 The Tupper says:
And take their bloody whippets with them!
15/11/2011 at 11:21 Kdansky says:
Unconvinced that an NPC less spoken lines than a shopkeeper should be called “empowered”.
15/11/2011 at 11:23 Quinnbeast says:
I do believe that he plays Skyrim while listening to that alternative Bob Marley classic -
“No woman no pie…”
15/11/2011 at 11:13 Stitched says:
“Wait here, Pack mule.”
*adventures for several hours and gathers loot*
“Carry this and follow me back to town”.
The only thing missing in Skyrim is the Torchlight ability to send your companions back to town to sell all the crap you give them and bring back the gold.
Mod community – make it happen.
15/11/2011 at 11:14 Taverius says:
I give mine the second armor set, and a good weapon – she’s unstoppable, saved my life more than once :D
15/11/2011 at 11:16 CaspianRoach says:
And if you learn Healing Hands and let her do all the work it’s a good way to level Restoration. (on master difficulty)
15/11/2011 at 11:24 Kdansky says:
I don’t think playing on Master difficulty improves the game. Enemies just have a ton of HP and hit like a truck, which means one constantly kites everything (sprint-shout + exploding runes + bow) and that only breaks immersion.
15/11/2011 at 11:31 CaspianRoach says:
Well yeah there are some rough edges with the master difficulty, for example, brawls. They become a 5 minute left mouse button clickfest because of the enormous hp pools but other than that I’m quite happy with the difficulty. Not to mention that my Atronach + Lidya do all the tanking and most of the mobs die before even noticing me or ringing the alarm (sneak bow crits x3 are awesome).
And there is always a countermeasure to your enemies’ abilities, there’s Armor spells to protect you from melee/archery and there’s potions, resists and wards to protect you from projectile spells. The game was clearly designed with the console difficulty in mind so upping it a bit seems like a logical move to me.
15/11/2011 at 11:35 psyk says:
What is “console difficulty”?
Ninja gadien on the hardest difficulty would like a word
15/11/2011 at 11:38 CaspianRoach says:
“I can’t aim for shit because of my sluggy controller” difficulty. Sup, autoaim. Plus I’m fairly certain you can’t effectively kite and dodge attacks in Skyrim with a controller like I do with the mouse. Almost instant 180 degree spins and precise bow shots are some of the things you can’t do without it.
15/11/2011 at 14:52 psyk says:
I’m using mouse and keyboard.
How do you dodge attacks with a mouse? going to be hard unless you have binded movement to your extra mouse buttons. You know what’s funny people will be completing the game on consoles and with the 360 pad on pc on the same setting your playing on.
““I can’t aim for shit because of my sluggy controller” difficulty. Sup, autoaim. ”
That’s you, for me both just as easy to use MW3 (lol) no aim assist sensitivity on 10 way to easy. Just got to get used to them.
15/11/2011 at 15:10 Joe The Wizard says:
She’s my front line. If she gets killed, I reload. And, if she’s in the way, I just Shout push her out of the way. Done and done.
15/11/2011 at 22:10 DrGonzo says:
I play it with both controller and mouse and keyboard depending on whether I’m playing in bed or at the desk. It is indeed much, much easier with a mouse and keyboard.
15/11/2011 at 11:15 riflez says:
I really need to trade her in for a newer model..”I am sworn to carry your burdens” Yes and I swear I’m locking you in a crypt shortly.
15/11/2011 at 11:23 protospork says:
My Lydia is locked in a crypt, unfortunately. When you complete Meridia’s quest she teleports you-and-only-you out of the dungeon, then locks the door behind you.
I miss you, Lydia :(
15/11/2011 at 11:37 diebroken says:
Ha! At least she’s no where near as annoying as the Adoring Fan in Oblivion. Who coincidentally got ‘accidentally’ lost on one of the planes of oblivion… ;)
15/11/2011 at 11:15 quaunaut says:
Shut your mouth, Lydia is the best. I love you honey.
15/11/2011 at 11:16 JM88 says:
She makes a good pack mule, made her carry all my dragon crap before I could buy a house.
15/11/2011 at 11:17 Avenger says:
Wonderful…
15/11/2011 at 11:17 sneetch says:
I left her in the pub. I’m a busy dunmer! I gots sneaks to sneak and peeps to backstab brutally and some lady in clunky metal armour isn’t gonna help that!
Mind you, I didn’t know you could change her gear, I’ll put her in my house when I get one, got my first horse (very fat horse, gonna cost a fortune to feed it) yesterday so I’m a bit skint.
He may be fat but he is a ninja horse! I dismounted to go take on some bandits and he went apeshit on them!
15/11/2011 at 11:26 psyk says:
She just moves in as far as I could tell. I left her in the castle went to get some gold brought my house dumped the library I had in my pack went off for more gold came back and she was walking down the stairs thought I was getting robbed at first.
15/11/2011 at 11:43 AmateurScience says:
My horse was killed :( died right under me.
We got too close to a giant and he had a swing at us. Mr Tubbs (he did like the sugar cubes) took the hit but survived. As we galloped away we jumped over a rocky outcropping. There was a short drop and he took some damage from the fall, he collapsed and I was thrown from the saddle. There was nothing I could do for him.
One of the most upsetting things that has ever happened to me in a game. I don’t think I shall be buying another horse…
(sorry for off topic but this has hit me rather hard)
15/11/2011 at 11:48 psyk says:
:( Is like the time I killed the supposedly ultra hard horse in RDR:undead (name?) by sliding down a cliff no leaving the ground involved made me sad.
15/11/2011 at 11:58 Quizboy says:
My horse was killed
Mine just accelerated away sideways, while standing stock-still. I was happily trotting over a bridge when some scoundrel tried to accost me. I get off my horse to remonstrate with the riff-raff, and Captain Sugarlumps just levitates merrily away, through the bridge and trees, gathering speed as he vanishes over the horizon in a horsey blur.
I like to think he’s okay. Out there. In space. Possibly with a poptart body and trailing a rainbow.
15/11/2011 at 12:01 Telke says:
AmateurScience, I know the feeling – I was devastated when my main RDR horse, personally hunted, lassoed and broken in, slipped down a cliff and died while fleeing bandits.
15/11/2011 at 12:36 sneetch says:
@AmateurScience
I’m sorry for your pain. :(
@Quizboy
I’m hoping my horse is too fat to be able to approach the speed of light like that I don’t think I’ll be able to afford another horse.
On a completely unrelated note, I was delighted (although it was a minor pain) to find out that you can’t fast travel while encumbered. So much for my plans to load up on all teh lewts then zip back to town before strolling slowly to see some random shopkeeper and dump them on him for gold.
15/11/2011 at 12:38 Yargh says:
At least you didn’t accidentally shoot your favourite horse in the back of the head while hunting deer Telke…
15/11/2011 at 12:45 Saiko Kila says:
Is there any special horse in Skyrim, as it was in Oblivion? The oblivion special (Shadowmere) was not only exceptionally good, it was unkillable. It was the first and only horse in Bolivion I was attached to emotionally. Kind of, both Shadowmere and my character were female.
15/11/2011 at 12:51 Apples says:
Nevermind special horses, are there any that just aren’t really slow? All the ones I’ve seen are 1000G, and I could probably run faster than mine.
15/11/2011 at 13:01 Kandon Arc says:
I gave up on horses after my first interrupted my stealthy approach on a bandit camp by charging in and attacking everything. The fact that it was agonisingly slow didn’t endear it much to me either.
15/11/2011 at 13:28 jealouspirate says:
I’ve gotten two horses killed so far. I’d buy another but I fear for its safety.
The first horse died when I was swarmed by three ice wraiths. He died bravely defending me.
The second had an unfortunate encounter with a dragon.
15/11/2011 at 13:34 Archonsod says:
Use sprint (alt) to make it gallop. As the loading tip says, what they lack in speed they make up for in endurance.
15/11/2011 at 14:58 Heisenberg says:
i had to put my horse out of its misery.
…not because he was injured, i just didnt like the crappy/laggy animations and it actually seems worse then the horses in oblivion.
15/11/2011 at 15:20 Salt says:
According to UESP.net, all horses in Skyrim have the same speed and 1,000 gold cost. Only difference is in the colouring.
I’m a special snowflake and ride a horse named Frost that there’s a quest around in Riften. I don’t think there’s a way to end the quest where you keep the horse, so I just galloped off on it and used the console so that mounting him wouldn’t count as theft every time I did it.
Bring up console, click horse, type ClearOwnership
15/11/2011 at 11:19 noodlecake says:
She kills more things than I do! I’ve got her kitted out with kick ass equipment so she tends to get to stuff with her greatsword before I can fireball them. She gets in the way a bit sometimes but I can normally squeeze past.
15/11/2011 at 11:25 Snidesworth says:
Likewise. I could do without her getting in the way and the endless moaning whenever I’m trying to give her stuff, but she’s currently rolling around with a bunch of dwarven gear (greatsword included) and she destroys most things I come across.
And, as Uglycat said, she’s top tier dragon bait.
15/11/2011 at 11:23 GenBanks says:
I just leave her in my house. In theory she’s supposed to protect it from thieves right?
15/11/2011 at 11:23 Carra says:
Spoilers, spoilers, oh no!
15/11/2011 at 11:26 Clavus says:
I turned my Lydia in a Space Marine: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11217331/screens/2011-11-14_00003.jpg
She tanks the f*ck out of everything while I get the chance to get some spells out. Plus she can carry all that heavy loot when we raid another dungeon.
She never dies for me either. She only kneels down at some point after taking too much damage.
15/11/2011 at 11:30 amorpheous says:
Yeah, my Lydia does the same even after being blasted by a dragon 3 or 4 times. She just kneels for a bit then gets up and starts fighting again.
15/11/2011 at 11:32 Apples says:
I think companions have some kind of health regen/damage threshold mechanic going on, because I’ve seen mine doing the ‘damaged crouch’ and getting back up – but also she once died after taking a whole load of damage at once.
15/11/2011 at 11:38 Snidesworth says:
Yeah, when companions get down to critical health they drop to one knee and become disabled until combat ends. Most enemies will ignore them. The ones that don’t, or the ones that hit sufficiently hard to take huge chunks of health off, will still kill your companions though. As will you, if your companion drops down in the middle of a hectic fight.
15/11/2011 at 12:32 mike2R says:
Yeah it is a clever mechanic, sort of half-way between stupidly immortal and stupidly dying all the time.
Probably works better if you are a melee character though… I keep Emperor Palpatineing my companions to death.
15/11/2011 at 15:51 Grayvern says:
Companions tend to be pretty unkillable if a fight goes on long enough they sometimes get back up from the damage crouch.
The game pretty much ignores them when they are crouched but they can be killed if you or the game accidentally hit them.
15/11/2011 at 11:26 Apples says:
I’ve got the woman from Azura’s Shrine instead (Lydia buggered off somewhere after getting lost). I accepted a quest in the mage’s college, turned around, heard screaming and saw a “quest failed” line appear across the screen. She’d walked in front of the questgiver’s practice spell and murdered him. Brilliant AI.
15/11/2011 at 15:07 Doth Messar says:
That’s hilarious. I can’t fault her that, I would have done the same thing. As for Lydia, she’s in Whiterun’s Dragonsreach, waiting for you at the tables, most likely.
15/11/2011 at 11:27 Jockie says:
Mine died after she was set on fire by some nasty wizards, then stumbled onto a pressure plate unleashing one of those slamming wall traps. Nice way to go.
I had to get a new companion and return to the cave to pick up all the useful gear she was carting around (I eventually married her replacement).
15/11/2011 at 11:28 amorpheous says:
I gave my Lydia a two-handed Dwarven axe and an Elven bow and now if I take her with me she tends to kill off enemies off before I can even touch them, which is annoying as I’d like to level my own skills up. >_<
15/11/2011 at 11:30 Wubble69 says:
Vigilance is more annoying!
Barking ALL the time.
I traveled as far away from his home as possible and then sent him home so he had to walk the complete length of the map to get home.
THAT will learn him!
15/11/2011 at 11:32 godgoo says:
Cudos for the Marx Bros reference.
15/11/2011 at 11:34 Jams O'Donnell says:
I can’t remember where I left my Lydia. Hopefully she’s not stranded in the wilderness somewhere.
15/11/2011 at 11:34 Inglourious Badger says:
Oh yeah! Lydia. I’d totally forgotten about her. Literally the next quest I did after being, err, given her (is that the least sexist term?) forced her to stay at home as I had to bring a ‘Companion’ with me, from the Companions funnily enough. He was useful but sometimes when I was sneaking I was SO sneaky that he lost me and I had to run back and get him. And now I have no one. It’s better that way (and in the game…etc)
15/11/2011 at 11:39 Belmakor says:
Lydia doesn’t die. You KILL her.
To elaborate; she will just drop to one knee if her health hits zero during combat (mouse over her to see her health). Either she regenerates her health a little and rejoins the fight or you accidentally hit her with a spell, sword or arrow and she will immediately die. Try it!
She is awesome.
15/11/2011 at 12:03 Nevard says:
Actually that’s not true, she does enter that life saving mode at low health yes, but it’s not exclusively you that can kill her.
She doesn’t become invincible, any damage will finish her off and often she’ll be killed dead before she enters safe mode.
15/11/2011 at 13:36 Archonsod says:
Enemies stop targeting her when she’s down though, so it’s only if you kill her or you’re up against something using AoE attacks.
15/11/2011 at 15:11 Doth Messar says:
As I’ve said earlier (and read other people’s accounts and explanations) I’m fairly certain they can die from high damage dealing enemies (Bosses etc). I lost my Lydia to Red Eagle as he bashed her brains in. I was far across the room healing up, so there was no way I could have killed her. I also lost that “Uthergred the Unbroken” to a Dwemer Centurion/Morlock (forgot their names, but they live underground) combo.
15/11/2011 at 11:41 Drake Sigar says:
When she fires off an arrow, her face will flush red
For she regularly plants them, in the back of your head.
15/11/2011 at 16:39 sneetch says:
A beautiful rhyming couplet. Well done sir or madam!
15/11/2011 at 11:43 Bluerps says:
Heh. She approached me and explained her position as a housecarl. I nodded gravely, understanding the honour that had been conferred to me. Then I ended dialogue, walked out of the door and have not spoken to her since.
I like that the game gives me an underling, I just don’t want to take anyone with me while adventuring (independent of their usefulness). I think I will buy a house soon, so that she has something to do (because someone has to guard it).
15/11/2011 at 19:46 Shadram says:
And clean it. And cook.
15/11/2011 at 11:53 Christian O. says:
How can you make a game like Fallout 3 and have someone make Fallout: New Vegas, then make a new game on a new engine and manage to make the companion A.I. somehow worse?
Anyone tried the Eldergleam tree mission? Where you have to escourt a dude from Whiterun to Eldergleam if you want “the good” option? He attacks everything that even glance at me, including dragons, an entire bandit hideout and a giant spider, and he can’t be healed and has no weapons. Whoever designed that mission needs to transfer to Hell.
15/11/2011 at 12:16 zontax says:
A new engine? what game have you been playing?
It’s obviously a slightly modified gamebyro engine.
15/11/2011 at 12:37 Jigowatt says:
Oh man I did the Eldergleam quest yesterday. That guy is such an idiot. At one point he ran off the road, waded through some rapids and started trying to take down a large frostbite spider by PUNCHING IT IN THE FACE. Needless to say, he didn’t last long. I ended up loading and frantically shooting the spider with arrows before he could get across the river!
BUT THEN, when we finally arrived at the sanctuary, he just stood around and didn’t say a word to me, so I had no idea there was an alternative to cutting the tree! Thus, I blame the deaths of those innocent worshippers on fucking Maurice Jaundice or whatever his name was.
Haven’t met Lydia yet, but I have Jenassa from Whiterun following me. She’s not that annoying actually, and seems to be pretty useful in a fight.
15/11/2011 at 15:15 Doth Messar says:
Yeah Janessa is bad ass. I never gave her any new armor or anything and she pretty much holds her own. She also doesn’t speak much, which is a plus. And when she does it’s fairly relevant.
15/11/2011 at 11:53 The Tupper says:
I now have that song going through my head repetitively: the bloody Muppets’ version.
Thanks a bunch, John.
15/11/2011 at 15:39 Rhygadon says:
Yep, I’ve got the muppets version stuck in my head now too, despite having last heard it, oh, probably about 25 years ago. That’s some evil songcraft.
15/11/2011 at 12:03 Gnarf says:
Lydia not actual companion. Actual companion Horse.
15/11/2011 at 13:01 JackShandy says:
In any game, the only good companion is one you can ride.
Yes.
15/11/2011 at 12:04 3lbFlax says:
I keep meeting new potential companions, but I don’t want any of them because I’m too fond of the woman whose name I forget but whose companionship I earned by bare-knuckle fighting her until she loved me. She wields a greatsword so I don’t have to, though I am starting to wonder if she’s stealing all my XP with her murderous antics.
15/11/2011 at 15:03 JKjoker says:
the unbroken one!, mine got eaten by a dragon :D
15/11/2011 at 12:14 TheBigBookOfTerror says:
She’s not as stupid as the Jarl of Morthal who’s gone off to confront her wizard because he’s been upto mischief but instead of telling him off, she just stands in his house, day and night, just staring at him. Her daughter is being a bit uncommunicative too, which is really annoying as apparantly she is supposed to give me the third bit of a quest to allow me to become Thane of Morthal.
I leave Lydia at home to guard my cool chest that I’ve filled with tankards I’ve nicked from every pub. I either take Aela or Ria with me on quests. I gave Ria some nice armour and she isn’t completely useless. I never met them outside Whiterun though, I did find the corpse of a giant. Apparantly I missed out on an introductory scripted event there.
15/11/2011 at 12:29 theblazeuk says:
Lydia was a useful distraction and able fighter in levels 2-3. Then I walked into the Falmer cave ahead of schedule and we bravely fought through the three monsters guarding the front of the cave, before encountering their pets.
One of those hideous things nearly killed me so she sacrificed herself, giving me the chance to finish it off with my last magicka. Then I noticed that four more of the things were scrabbling around the corner, so I looted her corpse and legged it. She will be remembered, though she will not be buried.
15/11/2011 at 12:31 Dominic White says:
Lydia lasted until I hit around Level 12, then she got jumped by a pair of trolls and a dragon. Useless? Far from it – she handled most of the heavy stabbing up until that point.
15/11/2011 at 12:39 Belsameth says:
I actually love her to bits!
Now that dog for the Deava quest was annoying. It ran through a lair murdering *everybody* and when not going on a mad killing spree it was so busy humping my leg, it actually pushed me away. Very, very annoying. (Yes, that dog even murdered the boss room. All I had to do was loot).
Already been decking out Lydia, but reading this she’ll get a nice new set of armour too… :)
15/11/2011 at 12:45 Calderwook says:
She can’t be killed in my game for some reason. She just submits for a bit then gets up again.
15/11/2011 at 22:26 Squiddity says:
They enter that state, but if they take more damage, they can still be killed.
15/11/2011 at 12:54 Kandon Arc says:
When I first met Lydia, I thought ‘Companions? In a Bethesda game? That’ll end well’ and so left her in the Jarl’s palace. Seems that was the right decision.
15/11/2011 at 12:56 sneetch says:
Does Lydia or other companions have a horse or do you have to buy them one or do they just run along after you?
15/11/2011 at 13:09 Apples says:
They just run along. It looks silly, and probably causes problems when you go up a very steep slope (since the horses can go up steeper ones than people can, even though that makes no sense)
15/11/2011 at 13:05 Metonymy says:
What’s kind of hilarious to me is that I’ve been mercilessly murdering everyone I find even remotely annoying, and so far there have been like no repercussions.
I killed some poor old lady in a forest, and then it turned out, yep, she’s a witch. Now I’ve got my own witch’s hut.
15/11/2011 at 13:58 plugmonkey says:
That’s nothing new. Bethesda have a slightly odd approach to morality. In Fallout 3, I murdered Allistair Tenpenny solely in order to steal his suit. Yup. He had this cool smoking jacket thing going on, so I snuck out onto the balcony, shot a helpless old man in the back of the head, stole his clothes and threw his naked body over the side.
I got “goody” points for doing that. It turns out Tenpenny was a Republican.
15/11/2011 at 13:13 jealouspirate says:
So a lot of people use companions, eh? Personally I can’t stand having some NPC always fumbling around beside me, especially since I sneak a lot, so I bought a house in Whiterun to store her and my loot.
Haven’t tried any of the other companions.
15/11/2011 at 13:24 Edgar the Peaceful says:
Lydia doesn’t seem to exist in my world :(.
I’m level 10, already have a companion and have just completed the second quest in the main plotline. The Jarl has mentioned Lydia but she’s nowhere to be found. Any ideas?
15/11/2011 at 15:19 Doth Messar says:
If you have a house she goes there, if not she hangs around in Dragonreach hall, go there when everyone is eating dinner and you’ll usually find her sitting at the end of the table, stuffing her face.
15/11/2011 at 13:40 thekeats1999 says:
Is it me or does sheathing your weapon turn of the AI’s psycho mode? I find Lydia happily follows me up until i start throwing electricity about, next thing i know she’s off slaughtering anything in a 3 mile radius.
I had to send her home trying to climb those bloody 7000 steps and she starts taking potshots at a dragon I was quite happy to ignore.
Bit of a pain finding out that you can kit her out, especially after selling that dwarf armour.
15/11/2011 at 14:01 plugmonkey says:
I just gave her some stuff to carry. She put the stuff on, and now I have to tell her to wait outside if I want to get to kill anything myself.
15/11/2011 at 13:41 Nim says:
Do outsource the companions to someplace like Obsidian next time. The followers of New Vegas were actually quite alright. I would put up with these characters if they just had anything plot going for them at all.
15/11/2011 at 13:46 Quine says:
Oh Lydia, poor Lydia,
In combat I just didn’t need ya.
With my Flame Atronach
It’s a walk in the park
But it does somewhat stress my Nvidia.
15/11/2011 at 14:03 AndrewC says:
Nice!
15/11/2011 at 14:05 Hodge says:
Well played, sir.
15/11/2011 at 13:51 zoombapup says:
I’ve got a lydia staying back at home in whiterun. I actually use beredic? (something beginning with B) as my main companion, given I went with a woman as my character, I figure it makes sense. I even went as far as getting the amulet of mara in case I ever fancy tying the knot with a companion, although old B is a bit.. well, old. So I’d maybe have to go girl on girl marriage.
I’ve met a few other companions in my travels (I’m an explorer in the game) and most of them seem reasonable. I met a good looking guy in a bar in that city to the south east. Bee and Amber or something the bar was called. But he looked shifty to me. Dont trust good looking companions I say!!
Mine’s got hellish good armour etc, but he’s still a bit of a wuss when it comes down to it. Cant think of much else I can do to buff him up. Anyone know who the strongest companion is? Are they different at all?
Mine uses only 2 handed weapons it seems. I gave him the waraxe thingy with the good stats you get in whiterun.
15/11/2011 at 14:14 karumpa says:
I miss “my” Lydia. I was too embarrassed to ask what a thane’s role was or what a housecarl was supposed to do. Her passive aggressive answers about holding some loot for me kinda got on my nerves but I was always glad to have her take the brunt of the punishment because, I, being a mage, was rather frail. I gave her a bunch of armor to carry around, and ignited her a few times but she always remained faithful.
ENTER J’ZARGO. With his dumb fucking scrolls that kill me every time.
Anyways, needless to say I was in a cave, testing the scrolls and I always almost died. Being in close quarters meant that Lydia always took a shit ton of damage and actually turned on me. No matter how much time I would run away, she’d come at me (bro) still super pissed, swinging MY awesome greatsword of something and wearing my extremely good looking dwarven armor set. Needless to say, I had to defend myself and soon had to pick and choose which of my own loot I would be bringing out of the cave.
I got back to that asshole J’Zargo and well, let’s just say he is now my helper and I don’t even care when he gets in front of my firebolts.
15/11/2011 at 14:43 Mic2070 says:
How’s J’Zargo as a helper? I found him hilarious, adventuring with him must be a blast.
15/11/2011 at 15:24 Mirdini says:
I laughed at “ENTER J’ZARGO”.
Those scrolls nearly killed Farkas (who I’ve been using as a companion when I really need one).
As for my Lydia, I had just picked her up out of Whiterun and headed off to complete a bounty, when down swoops a dragon.
Five minutes later both the dragon and Lydia are dead, and I’m merrily on my way to kill some bandits. Poor girl hardly lasted half an hour.
15/11/2011 at 15:35 Apples says:
J’Zargo, that fucker. I saved his scrolls for when I was literally surrounded by undead, out of potions and near death. I suspected something, but it was my last chance, my last ditch effort to live through a full-on draugr assault.
Next thing I saw was everyone in the room, including myself and my companion, being catapulted towards the ceiling at the speed of light…
15/11/2011 at 16:22 karumpa says:
J’Zargo is ok. He seems to not be in the way, but he is quite the pussy(pun intended). His lightning magic is pretty good but I prefer Lydia in any open combat situation. The best time I’ve had in this game was when I got attacked by a dragon in the sulphur springs. Anyway, I ran away only to stumble on a glitched mammoth fighting a random team of npc’s (1 was wielding a sword, another a bow, another was using bare fists). At this point it was a 3 way battle between the NPC’s vs the dragon vs the mammoth. Lydia was shooting arrows at the mammoth I think, I helped out the npc’s by casting a few firebolts but in all I did the least work. It was nice seeing the mammoth vs the dragon. The melee mammoth had a huge disadvantage. Also, the fists-only guy died and so did the archer. For Lydia and I, it was a dragon AND a mammoth kill.
15/11/2011 at 14:18 JackShandy says:
I left my lydia for dead fighting three mammoths and a giant. I saw her go down on one knee, then ran.
I managed to reach the safety of a nearby fort, and sat down to grieve. Minutes later, though, I saw a figure running out of the hillside towards me.
It was Lydia. Lydia is the true Dovahkiin.
15/11/2011 at 14:22 Quine says:
I tried using that huntress lady from the White Companions for a bit, but her habit of coughing or sighing loudly as we stealthed our way through various ruins wore my nerves enough to P45 her.
I so totally want a mechanical spider or similar now.
15/11/2011 at 14:38 Lakshmi says:
And no one has mentioned the dim but strong Farkas. What better use for a big, tough warrior than having him at home cooking my meals.
15/11/2011 at 15:45 chabuhi says:
“Skjor says the companions picked me for my strength. They picked Vilkas for his brains.”
“Skjor says the companions picked me for my strength. They picked Vilkas for his brains.”
“Skjor says the companions picked me for my strength. They picked Vilkas for his brains.”
“Skjor says the companions picked me for my strength. They picked Vilkas for his brains.”
“Skjor says the companions picked me for my strength. They picked Vilkas for his brains.”
“Skjor says the companions picked me for my strength. They picked Vilkas for his brains.”
“Skjor says the companions picked me for my strength. They picked Vilkas for his brains.”
EVERY time I walk in the fucking door!!!
15/11/2011 at 23:18 Nick says:
and thats not even what he says..
16/11/2011 at 17:11 chabuhi says:
I know – you’d think after hearing it so many times I’d have it memorized, but I stopped listening about the second time.
15/11/2011 at 14:56 Eukatheude says:
My Lydia died once. So i revived her through a console cheat. Hey, it’s useful to have a second backpack, and she helps a lot in battle, especially if you’re playing a thievish character like me. And she looks good in that ebony armor i gave her.
15/11/2011 at 14:59 Blackberries says:
As an archer I’m finding her quite useful for engaging the attention of enemies while I pepper them with arrows. She hits quite hard, too. I’m happy for her to stick around for a while.
15/11/2011 at 15:14 greenbananas says:
Although rife with disappointment, TES always have this satisfying particular.
Apparently, this Lydia character must be some sort of star, that one “celebrity” I don’t know but that keeps popping up everywhere. Never met her, and considering the companion I got is like a mix between Thor and a snow plow, I can’t say I’m particularly looking forward to. Likely she’s not fit to polish Mjoll’s boots.
15/11/2011 at 15:26 dnch says:
Lydia is dumb, but quite usefull, she carries all my dragon scales, and after i equipped her with some good armor and weapons i sometimes feel like im just picking up loot after her
15/11/2011 at 15:38 vecordae says:
Yeah, the companion AI can be annoyingly stupid at times, but I do like having Lydia around. Her relationship with my lizard bloke is one of stoic, phlegmatic, platonic professionalism. It’s rather like having my very own Jurgen. Even if I opt to take someone else along on an adventure, it’s good to know she’ll be back at the house, guarding my collection of naughty lizard magazines and brewing up a hot cup of tea for me.
16/11/2011 at 13:22 DK says:
If only she had a Melta for those tough encounters.
15/11/2011 at 15:49 Buttless Boy says:
When I accidentally AoE’d Lydia after she ran into a room of horrible undead bloodsuckers I was trying so very hard to sneak up on, I just loaded her corpse up with loot, dragged it to the entrance, and made a few trips to a merchant and back. Waste not want not.
Now I’ve got What’s-Her-Face The Unbroken tagging along though and she does pretty well. I even kinda like her, in a “relatively innoffensive Bethesda character” way. From now on I’m only letting people hang out with me after I beat them up in a bar.
15/11/2011 at 16:05 Keneu says:
My Lydia died in a Dwarven ruin somewhere and so I asked that other woman from Whiterun (who wants you to brawl her) to be my companion – she died in another Dwarven ruin. Then later I was testing the water with the whole marriage thing (with Mjoll the Lioness), just after some people arrive and start congratulating us Lydia’s body tumbles through the door and Mjoll tells me she never wants to see me again. I never saw it coming. Damn you, Lydia – your death wasn’t my fault!
Screenshots: http://bit.ly/vitA7m http://bit.ly/s4vw0x
15/11/2011 at 16:09 chabuhi says:
Did you have a prenuptial agreement -er- I mean, did you have a recent save file?
15/11/2011 at 16:05 Jimbot says:
Followers have a tendency to get in your way a lot. They don’t seem to die from enemies but the player can kill them by mistake by hitting them in their “downed” state. I find the mage followers to be better because they like to deal out damage from afar and don’t get in your ways if you melee or use magic. However, the downside of using them is that it makes sneaking impossible due to the fact that they like to engage enemies that are on the other side of walls and other silliness like that.
I wonder if the setessential command works. Regardless, they do make great pack mules!
15/11/2011 at 16:31 strange_headache says:
I don’t get this article. What did I miss?
15/11/2011 at 16:53 Brun says:
Brun the Breton Nightblade doesn’t use companions – he works alone.
15/11/2011 at 16:56 CaLe says:
She fell off a cliff and died..
15/11/2011 at 18:22 Jengaman says:
Shes my favorite pack mule
Carry my burden!
15/11/2011 at 20:36 Ian says:
I won’t take her anywhere in case she dies. :(
15/11/2011 at 20:57 the_fanciest_of_pants says:
Erandur is clearly the superior companion choice; Bad-ass Dark elf Priest of Mara. He shoots fireballs; he hits things, he wears armor, he uses shields- He even cheerily offers to help with carrying stuff when you ask to trade with him.
It’s mostly the fact that his battle-cry is “NEREVAR GUIDE ME!” though.
15/11/2011 at 21:51 Squiddity says:
It’s the dog I hate. He keeps barking nonstop, and it’s a really annoying bark. Plus, for whatever reason, he runs into me.
Like… I’ll be standing there, having a conversation, and he’ll walk straight into me and push me around. Or I’ll be crouching, trying to loot something, and he’ll push me sideways so I can’t get at what I want. The only time it doesn’t happen is when he’s killing soldiers for me.
It’s sad, because he’s a rather hilarious character otherwise.
Lydia, on the other hand, is awesome. I give her nice equipment and, in turn, she murders things. I had to send her home before one mission, though, as the two draugir, the necromancer, and the strangely-invincible skeleton that I was facing murdered her in a matter of seconds, and nearly did the same to me.
15/11/2011 at 23:24 TariqOne says:
Oh Lydia. Housecarl of my dreams. My second character married her.
Yeah, I went spelunking on the internet for a console command to fix her marriage bug. She’s just that awesome.
As is Skyrim.
16/11/2011 at 02:45 DrSlek says:
As a massive Marx Bros. fan, I heartily approve of this song!
16/11/2011 at 04:05 urza4315 says:
Lydia doesn’t deserve all this flak. As an archer she’s been extremely helpful acting as a tank and a pack mule. Getting in doorways is a minor inconvenience that holds you up for a few seconds at most.
Although, she’s pretty useless in stealth situations.
16/11/2011 at 04:15 DOLBYdigital says:
You know why I love this game, because its so different from person to person. For example, Lydia in my game is like a machine or the terminator. She is almost unstoppable and just tanks her way into the fight. She is the exact opposite of useless and has actually become integral to me playing the game. I’ve made it through so many dungeons and dragon fights with her that I had absolutely no chance by myself.
The only thing I wish is that I could actually interact with her more. I really like how different this game is for everyone though…
19/11/2011 at 02:39 BrownBunny says:
Lmao I was in the middle of a fight and I backed up to change my weapon and she ran in and was killed. I had to laugh before I was was like damn it now who if gonna carry my stuff.
20/11/2011 at 01:25 Syra says:
haha yeha lydia was annoying as hell with the burdens line. She got killed by bandits at a blockade in the road, fool girl ran off into the madness alone and met their leader. I laid her to rest on a burning pyre with her battleaxe across her chest.
My first fallen follower. Well anyone is better than uthgerd the unbroken ><
21/11/2011 at 13:58 Gwynor says:
“When you go into a basement
At the entrance she’ll make her encampment”
Pure genius.