I keep seeing people talk about their companions dying, but I didn't even know it was possible. The only thing that has ever happened to me is that my companion will get beat up, kneel down for a few minutes unable to do anything, then jump up and start fighting again. This happened after getting hit by a giant too, so how can they die?

When they kneel they're low in health but still above zero. If they get hit more, by say a fireball spell that does splash damage, then their health will hit zero and they'll die. Not that I've ever done that by accident or anything. ;)

I killed Lydia when she stepped in front of one of my lighting spells. She flew to the other side of the room with all of my precious gifts to her flying everywhere. At least this happened before I reloaded a save.

LAR pretty much sums it up. I used to think they couldn't die too...

Then one day one of them did... So I trashed the house of the people that killed them and left their naked bodies on the fire.

Yeah, after kneeling they will die if enough enemies hit, or if you manage to hit them. There is a way around this though, if you play on PC. But some people will view that as cheating. I must admit I made my wife (Aela) essential, as well as my dog. I will just load if they die anyway. But when I make my all magic Mage character I won't load no matter what.

Oh, and it seems if companions like Lydia dies they will show up in the Hall of the Dead or whatever in the city they lived in. Which is a nice touch.

The game is very, very reluctant to let a companion get killed by the enemy. The enemy can reduce a companion to the knockdown point, as LAR said; but that's virtually always where things stop.

But the game is not at all reluctant to let a companion get killed by you. So if your companion is already at the knockdown point, and you accidentally hit your companion with a stray arrow or sword swing, that's very likely to be the coup de grace. And if you're a mage who uses lots of Destruction magic, your companions are likely to die like skeevers.

There are people going around saying your companions will only die if the player "finishes them off", intentionally or not. This is inaccurate. I've watched companions get killed without me being involved at all.

Seems like generally when they drop to low health, your followers will fall down and crawl around for a bit. Typically enemies lose interest at this point (they'll attack you) - but sometimes that won't happen...

Especially Falmer seem to be able to kill Lydia really easily - even wearing full legendary upgraded Dragonplate...

The worst part about it is there's no warning. Even in Fallout 3 it'd always prompt you if something happened. Where as in Skyrim, you can spend however long you like finishing off a room of dudes, and never really know what happens to your follower until after you've gone through it all. It kinda sucks. Not to mention, the two followers I had seemed to do nothing but get killed.

Best thing I ever did in Skyrim was to lose the followers and buy a house.

Yeah they can die, but I don't keep them around, I prefer going solo, however I would've kept a companion if you had a more easier way to control them, like in Fallout New Vegas, the companion wheel was a nice way to easily change tactics, weapon style, how close they are etc... and they where allot more useful and smarter in Fallout New Vegas, I don't understand why they chose not have the companion wheel in Skyrim, it was a pretty quick good simple system of controlling your companion.

Especially Falmer seem to be able to kill Lydia really easily - even wearing full legendary upgraded Dragonplate...

@xMP44x: Well... I'm both annoyed and glad that's the case. Lydia's the only follower I rolled with, but she did feel weak... (before I let her guard the house letting me perform a more unsavory career for a while)

On the other hand, feels like Lydia is one of the most common "first follower" for players, shocking that could be missed by QA.

Thanks, though.

Well... I'm both annoyed and glad that's the case. Lydia's the only follower I rolled with, but she did feel weak... (before I let her guard the house letting me perform a more unsavory career for a while). On the other hand, feels like Lydia is one of the most common "first follower" for players, shocking that could be missed by QA.

Thanks, though.

Comapnions are people too! Treat them with the respect they deserve!

The only time I've had companions die is when they were kneeling and I mis-aimed a power attack and hit them instead. Enemies seem to ignore them once they kneel and they can eventually regenerate health. Even in dragon battles or giant battles they can survive since they lose aggro as soon as they kneel. I've had two companions die by my hand accidentally that I didn't reload to save. Mostly because of a boss battle they died in that I did not want to repeat again, like a tough dragon battle and the Wolf Queen final battle with the seemingly infinite undead.

I'm thinking of letting my current one go as she always seems to ruin stealth bow baragges. I will start to stealth damage a group with arrows, but as soon as she starts firing they seem to find us faster. That and she constantly gets in the way of spells or arrows I shoot. Although she can be a great distraction and aggro taker which is great during dragon battles or those with big groups! So it's kind of an even split of useful and annoying.

I have lost every companion that I've had follow me... I've stopped using them for fear I'll have all of them killed...

@Bawlsz said:

Yeah they can die, but I don't keep them around, I prefer going solo, however I would've kept a companion if you had a more easier way to control them, like in Fallout New Vegas, the companion wheel was a nice way to easily change tactics, weapon style, how close they are etc... and they where allot more useful and smarter in Fallout New Vegas, I don't understand why they chose not have the companion wheel in Skyrim, it was a pretty quick good simple system of controlling your companion.

I agree. The only reason I don't use companions is because there isn't enough control over their tactics.

My companions never die... well not for good anyway. :) I use the dead thrall spell for choosing my companions. I have a Master Necromancer companion who can kill most things in one or two hits and if he dies which I haven't seen happen yet (besides by my hands), I can just reanimate him again permanently. I usually kill him myself so I can stuff thousands of pounds in his dead body if I go on long and multiple quest. Then I reanimate him while he is carrying thousands of pounds and he walks/runs like he's light as a feather. ;) If you like using companions and don't like running back and forth between quest, conjuration is for you. Plus, you can level to 100 in less than 30 mins starting at level 1. Just use soul trap on a dead body over and over. Mage stone, archmage robes, and the mask that regenerates 100% magika, and lots of magika for you character help the process tremendously. But you can still do it in less than 30 mins without all that stuff. Best thing besides your companion will never "truely" die and can carry unlimited weight is they can be anyone. As long as you can kill them you can make them your zombie companion. Warning: Few make zombie noises alot which can become annoying, but thats only a handfull of humaniods. Also, never use lightning on them if you have the disintegration perk. You will turn them to ash and of course not be able to use them anymore. As far as I've seen, you are the only one able to disintegrate things, so watch your friendly fire.

Lydia kept getting in my way so I would go around to the opposite side so we could attack one enemy from two angles. I took a huge swing that sailed right past the enemy and struck Lydia down in one blow. I travel alone now.

Yeah, I'm guessing this is all about Lydia. I had her die on me on the very first quest I did with her. Other characters just take a knee and will be down for a couple minutes. But I've never seen any of the other characters die. Companions are usually pretty descent in general. Even my summons don't act as foolish as Lydia does.

I was travelling with my house carl for the entirety of my game. A few nights ago, I was in some random cave, and I just figured she got stuck somewhere and would reappear next time I went into a new area. . . she didn't follow. It was also an area where you can't backtrack as you're falling down multiple holes where you can't climb back up, so eventually, I exited the cave at a different location, went back in, went down a hole and found her body. I was actually sad, but thought it'd be best to live with it as otherwise, it'd hollow the experience of losing a companion I had for so long. Too add insult to injury, I slogged out of that dungeon at a terrible pace as I had looted her body, and couldn't go back the way I came in. I thought about ditching her armor, but I gave her the good stuff as I wear light, and I need a new tank.

Game's pretty awesome. I think the ability to lose companions is also a good move. If the player doesn't want it to happen, they always have the option of reloading an older save which is a fitting punishment for allowing your companion to die in the first place.

Pretty sad moment. I fought one of the priests and when I had finally killed him I noticed Lydia didn't run up to me. I went back up the slope and there she was lying face down in the snow. At that moment one of the more morose tracks started playing. Coincidence, but still really nice. I really wanted to give her a proper burial.

I lost Lydia fighting a necromancer and around a dossen skeletons/draugr in a Daedra quest dungeon. A little shitty losing her, but that boss was rough so reloading was out of the question. I usually never roll with a companion though, so I didn't really care for her that much. Only one more of my companions have died, but I guess that was because I intentionally sacrificed him... ahem.