Are you tired of being set on fire by evil necromancers? Have all those decorative jugs become just too much for you to carry? Then you need a genuine Skyrim follower! For just the price of a few gold or a demeaning fetch quest, you too can enjoy the company of an ally so devoted that they’ll gladly get the crap kicked out of them while you cower behind a rock and chug potions. We’ve cataloged all potential followers in the game, allowing you to base your decision on crucial factors like skill set, weapon type, beard length, and breast size. Choose your glorified dragon bait today!
Some quick facts about followers:
Followers do a fairly good job of... following your lead. While they do have an annoying habit of getting in the way of your fireballs/arrows and standing in doorways, you’re usually much worse off without them.
Followers can carry a significant amount of weight. This comes in handy if you don’t have anywhere to stash your loot between dungeon raids.
Don’t worry about losing a follower if you want some alone time. Dismissing only sends the character back to from where they came. You can simply find them and ask them back.
If you turn around and you can’t find your buddy, chances are they aren’t dead - just lagging behind. Try waiting a few hours (using the back button).
In most cases, enemies will only temporarily incapacitate your followers and not outright kill them. Be careful not to accidentally finish the job with a stray spell or arrow; once followers are dead, they stay dead.
Don’t forget to upgrade your followers’ weapons and armor. If you give your follower a piece of equipment that is more effective than their stock equipment, they will use it.
Followers aren’t just for combat. You can order them to do things like pick locks and pockets as well.
You can only have one follower and one dog at a time.
In order to marry a follower, you first have to complete any related quests in order to gain their respect, then equip the Amulet of Mara. The amulet can be purchased from Maramal the priest in Riften for 200 gold. He can be found at the inn or the temple.
Note: We are only covering the permanent followers. Those who join up temporarily for specific quests are not listed.
Companions
Members of the College of Winterhold
Members of the Dark Brotherhood
Followers for hire
Quest/Task-locked followers
Daedric-related followers
Housecarls
Doggies!
As you might expect, the companions make great company on your quest. All of these characters are warrior builds (except Aela, an archer), so put a strong weapon in their hands and pile on the armor. If you’re a mage or an archer, these melee fighters can soak up enemy aggression while you focus on ranged tactics. All of the following characters can be found in or just outside Jorrvaskr (the Companion headquarters) in Whiterun. You’ll also need to be a member of the Companions before any of these warriors will join you.
As pictured above, from left to right -
Training: Archery, one-handed, sneak , light armor, speech.
Requirement: Complete the Companion’s main questline.
Marriage: Yes, after the Companions’ main questline.
Location: Jorrvaskr, in Whiterun.
Yay!: Aela is first and foremost an archer, seeing as she can train you in the art. She’s best at medium/long range, but her one-handed skill means she can also fight up close if necessary. As such, she’s a good all around choice.
Training: One-handed, light armor, block, archery.
Requirement: Complete the Companion’s main questline.
Marriage: Yes, after the Companions’ main questline.
Location: Jorrvaskr, in Whiterun.
Nay!: Athis specializes in one-handed weapon fighting and light armor. This makes him a fairly poor choice, as he’ll get downed faster than other melee followers thanks to his combination of aggression and low defense. We don’t recommend him.
Training: One-handed, heavy armor, smithing, speech.
Requirement: Complete the Companion’s main questline.
Marriage: Yes, after the Companions’ main questline.
Location: Jorrvaskr, in Whiterun.
Nay!: His one-handed skill allows him to dish out a fair amount of damage while his heavy armor skill allows him to take plenty in return. The only issue is that he does not specialize in block, meaning his shielding will be weak. Unless you plan on using his smithing skills, we suggest picking someone else.
Training: Two-handed, heavy armor, block, archery.
Requirement: Complete the Companion’s main questline.
Marriage: Yes, after the Companions’ main questline.
Location: Jorrvaskr, in Whiterun.
Yay!: Vilkas is a pure damage dealer. We recommend him because he’s the best two-handed warrior the Companions have.
Training: One-handed, block, speech.
Requirement: Complete the Companion’s main questline.
Marriage: Yes, after the Companions’ main questline.
Location: Jorrvaskr, in Whiterun.
Nay!: Njada would be a decent follower if she specialized in any kind of armor whatsoever. As a melee warrior, she suffers greatly from the low defense. Stay away.
Training: One-handed, heavy armor, block, archery.
Requirement: Complete the Companion’s main questline.
Marriage: Yes, after the Companions’ main questline.
Location: Jorrvaskr, in Whiterun.
Yay!: Ria is essentially the same as Torvar, only female.
Training: One-handed, heavy armor, block, archery.
Requirement: Complete the Companion’s main questline.
Marriage: Yes, after the Companions’ main questline.
Location: Jorrvaskr, in Whiterun.
Yay!: Torvar is a fantastic choice. His skill set makes him perfect tank, soaking up all the enemy aggression while you fight from safety. He’s even got some archer skills for ranged combat.
There are a few mages hanging around the college that are willing to follow you if you do them a favor. If you’re a warrior build, you should join the college just to have access to these followers. You must be a member of the college before any of these mages can join you.
Training: Conjuration, illusion, alteration, sneak.
Requirement: Join college, complete the “Brelnya’s Practice.”
Marriage: Yes - join college, complete the “Brelnya’s Practice.”
Location: College of Winterhold
Yay!: It definitely comes in handy to have a support mage with you who can conjure antorachs. However, since Brelyna has no training in weapons, armor, or offensive magic, she’s better suited to accompany melee warrior builds.
Training: Destruction, One-handed, heavy armor, illusion.
Requirement: Join college, complete the “J’Zargo’s Experiment.”
Marriage: No
Location: College of Winterhold
Yay!: We’d recommend him based solely on his name, but his destruction skill makes him a great damage-dealer, and his melee and armor skills allow him to survive close encounters with no problems.
Training: Destruction, One-handed, heavy armor, illusion.
Requirement: Join college, complete the “Onmund’s Request.”
Marriage: Yes - join college, complete the “Onmund’s Request.”
Location: College of Winterhold
Yay!: Onmund has the same skill set as J’Zargo. His fetch quest requirement is a bit more difficult than J’Zargo’s though, meaning lazy gamers may want to avoid him.
Assassins are good to take around if you’re a stealth build yourself, as they are the less likely to blow your cover than other followers. Under that condition, we’ve listed them both as yay. However, if you aren’t using a sneak build, you should probably avoid these two.
Training: One-handed, archery, light armor, sneak
Requirement: Join Brotherhood, spare his life during main questline
Marriage: No
Location: Dawnstar Sanctuary
Yay!: Cicero has similar skills to the Dark Brotherhood Initiate, but he makes more entertaining comments as he follows you.
Training: One-handed, archery, light armor, sneak
Requirement: Join Brotherhood, complete “Hail Sithis” quest.
Marriage: No
Location: Dawnstar Sanctuary
Yay!: Initiate’s have the same skill set as Cicero, which comes in handy if you’ve killed Cicero. You can choose between a male and female initiate.
Each of these followers offers their services for a mere 500 gold. In most cases, dismissing these followers means you’ll have to pay another 500 to recruit them again.
Training: Destruction, restoration, one-handed, light armor
Requirement: 500 gold
Marriage: Yes, if you first hire him
Location: The Winking Skeever in Solitude
Yay!: Belrand is a mixture of warrior and mage, with an ability to heal. This makes him an extremely useful ally for nearly any build.
Training: Two-handed, block, archery, light armor
Requirement: Convince his father, pay 500 gold
Marriage: Yes, if you first hire him
Location: The farm in Rorikstead
Nay!: If a follower specializes in two-handed weapons, we prefer they also dabble in heavy armor. This is not the case with Erik, so we would avoid him.
Training: Archery, sneak, one-handed, block, light armor
Requirement: 500 gold
Marriage: Yes, if you first hire her
Location: The Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun
Yay!: Janassa is one of the few followers with five skill specialties. She is primarily an archer, with enough back up skills to make for a good melee warrior. Specializing in sneak makes her a valuable ally for players that like to use bow-centric sneak attacks.
Training: Destruction, restoration, conjuration, alteration, sneak
Requirement: 500 gold
Marriage: Yes, if you first hire him
Location: The Bee and Barb in Riften
Yay!: Marcurio is a good choice for players seeking a mage but who aren’t a member of the College of Winterhold.
Training: Two-handed, block, heavy armor, archery
Requirement: 500 gold
Marriage: Yes, if you first hire him
Location: Candlehearth Hall in Windhelm
Yay!: Stenvar is a great tank due to his heavy armor, block, and two-handed skills. He can also deal damage at a distance thanks to his archery skill.
Training: One-handed, heavy armor, block, archery
Requirement: 500 gold
Marriage: Yes, if you first hire him
Location: Silver-Blood Inn in Markarth
Yay!: Vorstag is quite similar to Stenvar, only he specializes in one-handed weaponry. A solid warrior. Plus, he can be found drunkenly dancing, so there’s that...
These characters will follow you only after you’ve completed a quest/task/favor for or relating to them. The size and difficulty of the task varies, so we’ve factored that into our yays and nays.
Training: Two-handed, block, heavy armor, archery
Requirement: Agree to kill the leader at Broken Oar Grotto
Marriage: No
Location: Many places in Solitude. We found him in Jala’s house.
Nay!: Ahtar is a good tank build, and his default weapon is his executioner axe. However, he can be quite difficult to track down, and because he’s nothing too special, we would avoid him.
Training: Two-handed, block, heavy armor, archery
Requirement: Beat him in a brawl
Marriage: Yes, if you first beat him in a brawl
Location: Wandering the streets of Morthal
Yay!: Benor is a great tank, and his task is simple. As such, we recommend him.
Training: One-handed, heavy armor, archery, sneak
Requirement: Use speech skill, pay her dowry, or complete a small quest
Marriage: Yes, after she becomes a follower
Location: Training in the orc stronghold of Mor Khazgur
Nay!: Unless you are an orc yourself, you’ll have to complete a quest before you can converse effectively with the residents of Mor Khazgur. Considering that in addition to the work you need to do for Borgakh in particular, we suggest passing on the orc. That, and her skills of heavy armor and sneak seem contradictory.
Training: One-handed, block, heavy armor, archery
Requirement: Beat him in a brawl or buy him a drink
Marriage: Yes, if you first do the above
Location: Silver-Blood Inn in Markarth
Yay!: Cosnach is a tank build that prefers shields, so we definitely like him. Plus, drunkards are always entertaining.
Training: One-handed, block, archery, sneak, light armor
Requirement: Complete a short quest for him
Marriage: Yes, if he has become a follower
Location: Training in the orc stronghold of Dushnikh Yal
Yay!: Ghorbash’s light armor, sneak, and archery skills make him a good follower for stealth builds who haven’t joined the Brotherhood.
Training: Enchanting, Alchemy, Smithing, Archery
Requirement: Complete “Love Triangle” in his favor
Marriage: No
Location: Sleeping Giant Inn in Riverwood
Yay!: Sven is one of the few non-combat followers. Of course he can fight, but his real purpose is to round out players who don’t share his unique skill set.
Training: One-handed, block, heavy armor, archery
Requirement: Beat her in a brawl
Marriage: Yes, beat her in a brawl
Location: The Bannered Mare in Whiterun
Yay!: Because Whiterun is one of the first locations you’ll find in the game, and beating Uthgerd in a brawl is easy, we recommend her as a follower.
Training: One-handed, block, heavy armor, archery
Requirement: Clear his dungeon
Marriage: No
Location: Hillgrund’s Tomb in Whiterun Hold
Nay!: Warrior followers are common, and most don’t require you clear an entire dungeon first before joining you. As such, we recommend you leave Golldir and his problems alone.
Training: Destruction, Restoration, Conjuration, Alteration
Requirement: Clear her dungeon
Marriage: No
Location: Darklight Tower in The Rift
Yay!: Illia is a powerful mage and a great choice for those who don’t have access to the followers in the College of Winterhold. Just make sure she doesn’t get too close to the enemy, for she has no armor skills.
Training: Speech, Smithing, Enchanting, Alchemy
Requirement: Complete the side quest “Rise in the East” given by Orthus Endario.
Marriage: No
Location: East Empire Company at the Windhelm docks
Nay!: Adelaisa has a rare skill set for a follower, and is recommended if you are already completing her associated side quest. However, there are a couple other followers with similar skill sets that are easier to obtain (such as Sven).
Training: Archery, sneak, one-handed, light armor
Requirement: Complete “Love Triangle” in his favor
Marriage: No
Location: Riverwood, near the lumber mill
Nay!: You should side with Sven instead, because Sven has a fairly unique set of skills. Faendal is pretty ordinary.
Training: Two-handed, heavy armor, block, archery
Requirement: Retrieve her sword
Marriage: Yes, if you complete her quest
Location: Streets of Riften
Yay!: Mjoll is a standard tank build, but she does wield a unique sword (her quest requires you retrieve it). She clashes with the Thieves Guild, so you may want to avoid her if you are completing Thieves Guild quests.
Training: Archery, one-handed, block, light armor, sneak
Requirement: Clear Uttering Hills Cave of bandits
Marriage: No
Location: Darkwater Crossing
Yay!: Annekke is a stealth build. Normally we would pass, but she can train you in light armor and has five skills.
Training: Archery, one-handed, light armor, block, sneak
Requirement: Free him from Darkwater Pass
Marriage: Yes, if you free him
Location: Darkwater Pass, then Darkwater Crossing
Nay!: You have to find his cell in Darkwater Pass, find the lever above his cage, and unlock it (requires Expert skill). It’s a lot of hassle for a fisherman. He is the only Argonian follower, though, so there’s that... Note: We simply talked to him without unlocking his cage and he appeared, completely freed, next to us once we exited Darkwater Pass anyway.
Training: Alchemy, smithing, enchanting, one-handed
Requirement: Fetch his shield from Ansilvund
Marriage: Yes, if you complete his quest
Location: Kynesgrove, just south of Windhelm
Yay!: Roggi is one of those unique followers that isn’t particularly good at combat, but is great at other skills that you may not have. If that’s the case, he can be great to have around for a while.
Training: One-handed, archery, block, heavy armor
Requirement: Fetch his amulet
Marriage: No
Location: In Ahkari’s caravan traveling between Riften, Whiterun, and Dawnstar
Nay!: We don’t recommend pursuing Kharjo because it can be extremely difficult to track down his caravan (we found him just outside Riften). If you are completing the Thieves Guild quests you will eventually run into him.
These followers all require you to complete a Daedric-related quest before they will join up. Because these quests could be considered desirable on their own, we aren’t going to consider the difficulty of each one in our yays and nays.
Training: Destruction, restoration, conjuration, alteration
Requirement: Complete her quest, “The Black Star”
Marriage: No
Location: Shrine of Azura in Winterhold
Yay!: Aranea is a powerful offensive mage and a great companion for warrior builds. She’ll usually summon antorachs during battle, which gives enemies yet another target that isn’t you.
Training: One-handed, sneak, alteration, destruction
Requirement: Complete her quest, “The Taste of Death”
Marriage: No
Location: Hall of the Dead in Markarth (first speak to guard outside)
Nay!: Eola is an odd build. Her combination of skills might work better if she weren’t governed by underwhelming AI, but such is the case, and therefore we can’t recommend her.
Training: Alchemy, speech, conjuration, restoration
Requirement: Complete his quest, “Waking Nightmare”
Marriage: No
Location: Windpeak Inn in Dawnstar
Nay!: Two of Erandur’s skills are not combat-related. There are better mage followers to choose from.
Training: One-handed, block, light armor, archery, sneak
Requirement: Speak to Atub and complete “The Cursed Tribe”
Marriage: No
Location: Largashbur in The Rift
Yay!: Lob has five skills, and has a nice mixture of stealth and combat ability.
Training: One-handed, heavy armor, archery, sneak
Requirement: Speak to Atub and complete “The Cursed Tribe”
Marriage: No
Location: Largashbur in The Rift
Nay!: Ogol can be recruited around the same time as Lob, but he has the archery and heavy armor combo that we don’t like.
Training: One-handed, block, light armor, archery, sneak
Requirement: Speak to Atub and complete “The Cursed Tribe”
Marriage: No
Location: Largashbur in The Rift
Yay!: Ugor has the same skill set as Lob and becomes available at the same time. It’s a matter of preference.
These characters become your servants as soon as you become Thane of their area and purchase property there. Becoming Thane requires you to complete quests for the Jarl, then help a certain number (as determined by the Jarl) of local residents. All Housecarls have the exact same skill set (One-handed, block, heavy armor, and archery) and the same armor, making them virtually indistinguishable. They can all be married as well.
Location: Housecarl of Markarth
Location: Housecarl of Riften
To become Thane without joining the Thieves Guild, speak to Wujeeta at the Riften Docks. After completing that questline, do favors for the citizens of Riften until an objective appears telling you to speak to the Jarl.
Location: Housecarl of Solitude
Location: Housecarl of Whiterun
Location: Housecarl of Windhelm (not pictured due to game bug)
There are three dogs you can recruit throughout Skyrim. You can recruit them in addition to a human follower. They all look alike, so there shall be but one screenshot:
Speak to Banning, who is found at the stables in Markarth, and you can purchase Vigilance for 500 gold.
This dog can be found in or around Meeko’s Shack in Hjaalmarch, east of Dragon Bridge.
Finding a stray is random, though the odds are slim.
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