And if they don't do they return somewhere for you to pick them up at? I've lost track of a certain follower that you get for doing an early Main Quest quest.

also where can I find a smelter?

According to the QL they can, but I've been rolling around with this archer dude that got shit kicked out of him when he followed me through a tunnel with swinging axes. He dropped to his knees and dragged himself on the ground, but his health regenerated fairly quickly, got up, and he was good to go.

I don't care if the environment can kill them, i wonder if i can kill them >:D

@wolf_blitzer85 said:

According to the QL they can, but I've been rolling around with this archer dude that got shit kicked out of him when he followed me through a tunnel with swinging axes. He dropped to his knees and dragged himself on the ground, but his health regenerated fairly quickly, got up, and he was good to go.

Yeah but literally any more damage and he's have been gone forever. I had that happen in the exact way Patrick described. Frost troll.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

I don't care if the environment can kill them, i wonder if i can kill them >:D

Yeah and you get their inheritance. It's weird.

Somehow, in a mere Ice Wolf ambush on road, my follower Faendal died. Dude was cool, we chilled through a few areas sneaking and shooting our bows and even defeated a dragon together - yet the Ice Wolves got him... Went solo for a bit, but now hired some arrogant dude from the Inn in Riften to help me through a quest I have a hunch will be difficult. After raiding a bandit lair, I took all the wine and ale bottles I collected and poured them out (dropped them) in Faendal's bachelor pad. Looted him for the key. Cruel place, Skyrim is.

One of my followers died while I wasn't watching. Either that or she took off with my stash :|

I guess this is what happened to mine, then :(

I loved the way she used to call me "My Thane"! Fuck you, dragon.

@Jawshua: I found a smelter in the camp area outside a mine near Whiterun. It's the only mine I've been to so I don't know if there is one in every mine.

Lydia's the one you get for being Thane of Whiterun early in the Main Quest and she fucking died fighting the first enemy I brought her against. So then I loaded an autosave, gave her a shitton of my stuff, and told her to go sit in the Dragonsreach and think about what she'd done.

Also, there's a smelter right outside the Maiden's something right when you enter Whiterun.

@XII_Sniper said:

@wolf_blitzer85 said:

According to the QL they can, but I've been rolling around with this archer dude that got shit kicked out of him when he followed me through a tunnel with swinging axes. He dropped to his knees and dragged himself on the ground, but his health regenerated fairly quickly, got up, and he was good to go.

Yeah but literally any more damage and he's have been gone forever. I had that happen in the exact way Patrick described. Frost troll.

Fuckin' frost trolls...

If I recruit someone, I'm basically telling them that they aren't ever coming home. All of my followers have died. There are times when I could have reloaded a quick save and retried some parts, but I'd say the awkwardness of the AI isn't too great a companion anyway. They can be good to draw aggro, but the monsters that are hard enough to make you want a tank are probably too tough for your stupid AI friend... so he'll die. I play on the 'harder' difficulty setting, so maybe that's why. The game's still incredibly easy.

Yeah they can die, but unfortunately there's no way to check their health as far as I know. It seems somewhat random too, since Lydia went down several times during tough fights but yesterday died when she triggered a cave-in inside a dungeon.

The only follower I've had die was this guy (Maurice?) who wanted me to take him to some place I was going to anyway. He was unarmed but kept starting fights with wolves and, well, a dragon ended his life. He did get a few good punches in so, it was an honourable death.

I've been using that angry chick in Whiterun that wields a greatsword. I've kept her alive through an all out royal rumble with a white dragon, some mammoths, a crab, a moose, and I think a wolf got in the fight as well. The dragon almost killed her as she tanked his fire, but I was there with healing hands. Healing Hands is a must if you have followers with you. They're great as an extra sword and as a back pack.

@golguin: I had her for a long time as well, she was really handy to have on my side as a Mage but she just kinda....disappeared toward the end of the Mage College quest line. :(

Yeah, I think my boy Beral (was that his name) died during an attack on a hold - we conquered the city, but I haven't seen him in a few days. I'll trip on over to the village I recruited him from and see if he's still there. At least he wasn't carrying much loot, but I had geared him out pretty well.

@seanfoster said:

@golguin: I had her for a long time as well, she was really handy to have on my side as a Mage but she just kinda....disappeared toward the end of the Mage College quest line. :(

That wouldn't happen to have been the part where

You defend the town from those flying magic shits

would it? She first died, then after reloading, seemed to dissapear on me there.

I would have really prefered if companions simply got knocked down untill combat was over, you can't really count on followers surviving.You defend the town from those flying magic shits

Before they die they "go down". They will fall to their hands and knees and enemies will no longer attack them, this makes it look like they are invincible. But if you hit them when they are down they will die for good, so watch out for magic and shouts and stuff.

Man, i hit friendlies all the time :-S

Yeah it seems your companions will fall to the ground and say "I yield" and then the enemies go and attack you. I assume there are still ways though. Like say if a giant launches them into the stratosphere, you aint comin back from that.

I must be lucky, 29 hours in and still with my first companion - i thought they were invicible :(

I got sick of Lydia getting in my way while I tried to walk through narrow caverns. I told her to wait in a corner.

I haven't seen her since. I'm guessing she's still in that corner. Good for that bitch. She pissed me the fuck off.

Yes. Rest in peace Jenassa.

I just became archmage. There's been many times that I've had to reload my savegame, tell Lydia to go sit in the corner and go kill an enemy / boss. Last one on the mage quest is not easy! I tried 4 times.

I LOVE that they can die. I was saddened in a good way when my first two companions died. Lydia while fighting a giant Frostbite spider, and Sven when... well... I used a destruction spell with a wide area of effect and accidentally burned him to death. Goddamn vampires.

Companions will fall down when their health is almost down, after the fight they will get back up. Only by you delivering the lethal blow will they die for good, Or at least that's what the Strat Gulde says.

Well, now that I know they can be killed, they're utterly useless to me. Its nice to see Obsidian figure out a way to make companions useful and interesting in a Bethesda style game, and then Bethesda just completely ignores it. Oh well, doesn't really change how I play most of the game anyway.

Haven't had anyone die on me, but Lydia, at one point, vanished while traveling, keeping me from using any other companions.

Usually fast travel spawns her at your side, but that didn't work, and I had actually been exploring the world and crafting for about 4 hours, so I didn't know she was gone, and didn't want to roll back to before that point.

So I spent 2 more hours looking for her, but then decided to use the console and spawn her manually, and that actually worked (though she had lost that full set flawless dwarven armour I had made for her).

Now today, after about 10 more hours, I return to my house in Whiterun, with Lydia in tow. I put some loot in my chest, turn around, and fuck me if there isn't a Lydia sitting in a chair, next to "the other" Lydia I've been with for a while now.

@bioblood22 said:

Companions will fall down when their health is almost down, after the fight they will get back up. Only by you delivering the lethal blow will they die for good, Or at least that's what the Strat Gulde says.

I'm not sure about that... I'm pretty sure Lydia got killed when she got stuck in a couple of Dwemer traps... (big swords flying around, and a propeller-blade thing)... and I'm pretty sure that a few times she's died (I tend to reload...) that I haven't been the one to deliver the final blow.

However, I'm going to keep an eye on that in the future. If that was the case, then I'd feel a lot more comfortable - I tend to worry in the more difficult fights.

... I've started appreciating that she's around. Feels good to have a bodyguard to share my adventures with :)

@jakob187 said:

I got sick of Lydia getting in my way while I tried to walk through narrow caverns. I told her to wait in a corner.

I haven't seen her since. I'm guessing she's still in that corner. Good for that bitch. She pissed me the fuck off.

Well, after a while, you'll get a message saying something along the lines of: "Your companion has tired of waiting.", They'll just go back "home."

I've had Lydia with me fighting frost trolls and dragons, and the most I've seen is her falling to her knee's.  I assumed she was completely invincible, it must really take a lot to kill them. 
I've been careful with quicksaving anyway, as the game has a habbit of crashing to desktop.