Lydia

Overview

Lydia is the first housecarl players have access to, shortly after they discover that they are the Dragonborn (Dovahkiin). Lydia is assigned to the Dragonborn, along with the title of Thane, for their service to the city of Whiterun.

Like most companions Lydia can be killed in combat if she is not given an opportunity to heal herself. She has no spells and favours heavy armour and melee weapons but will use most items the player gives her, so long as its attributes are higher than that of her base equipment. Her initial equipment consists of steel armour, a steel shield and a steel sword. She has a very low sneak skill and will often alert enemies to a player's presence.

Bugs

• At release, Lydia was bugged twice, since it was meant to be possible to marry her when the Amulet of Mara is equipped. Due to a bug Lydia is not in the faction of people who can be married, though PC players can use the console to change her faction alongside that of anyone else in the game, thereby making anyone available for marriage.
• Her level increases alongside the player's, but it did not scale meaning she was weaker as the player got stronger and the chance of Lydia dying increased. This could be considered a bug or intentional, intending to make players experiment with the other companions they can bring along.