Followers fight alongside you, carry your loot and can become your spouse. Skyrim has dozens of recruitable companions — this guide ranks the most useful, says where to recruit each, and shows how to summon or teleport any of them with console commands. For the full searchable roster, see the Skyrim followers list.
The best followers in Skyrim
- Serana (Dawnguard DLC) — essential, uncapped, and a devastating mage. The strongest companion in the game if you own Dawnguard.
- Mjoll the Lioness — found in Riften. Essential (unkillable) and a tough two-hander, making her one of the safest melee followers.
- Aela the Huntress — join the Companions in Whiterun to recruit her. A strong archer with no level cap.
- Farkas & Vilkas — also Companions; heavy-armor warriors that scale well.
- Jenassa — a mercenary archer hired at the Drunken Huntsman in Whiterun. Available very early for a few hundred gold.
- Marcurio — a hireable mage at the Bee and Barb in Riften; excellent Destruction damage.
- Housecarls (Lydia, Argis the Bulwark, Jordis, Iona…) — free followers granted when you become Thane of a hold and buy its house. Lydia of Whiterun is the most famous.
How to recruit and command followers
- Most followers join after a short favor or, for mercenaries, a gold payment. Housecarls join automatically once you're Thane of their hold.
- You can have one humanoid follower plus one animal at a time. Dismiss your current follower before recruiting another.
- Wear an Amulet of Mara around a marriage-eligible follower to propose — see the marriage partners list.
Follower console commands
Open the console with the tilde (~) key. With an NPC selected (click them):
setrelationshiprank player 4thenaddfac 5C84D 1— make almost any NPC recruitable as a follower.player.placeatme <BaseID>— spawn a copy of a follower (find base IDs on the followers list).prid <BaseID>thenmoveto player— teleport a specific follower to you if they're lost. See the spawn NPCs guide.
Notes & tips
- Non-essential followers can die for good — avoid friendly-fire from fire/frost cloaks and area spells.
- Followers level with you up to a cap (varies per follower); uncapped ones like Serana, Aela and the Companions stay strong into the late game.
- A dead essential-flagged follower only collapses temporarily, so they're the safest pick for high-difficulty playthroughs.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the best follower in Skyrim?
For raw survivability, the strongest vanilla followers are the ones flagged essential (they can't be killed) and those with no level cap. Mjoll the Lioness, Aela the Huntress, Farkas and Vilkas are popular picks; with the Dawnguard DLC, Serana is widely considered the best follower overall — she's essential, scales without a cap, and casts powerful Conjuration and frost magic.
Which Skyrim followers are essential (can't die)?
Essential followers can be knocked down but never killed. Examples include Mjoll the Lioness, Serana, Frea, Cicero and most quest-tied companions. Non-essential followers (like Lydia or Jenassa) can die permanently, so be careful with area-of-effect spells.
How many followers can you have at once?
One humanoid follower at a time in the base game, plus one animal/creature follower (and an extra summon like a Dremora). You can stretch this with multiple-follower mods or by giving commands through certain quests.
How do I get a follower with console commands?
Open the console with the tilde (~) key, click an NPC to select them, and type setrelationshiprank player 4 then addfac 5C84D 1 to make them recruitable. You can also spawn a copy with player.placeatme using the follower's base ID.