Skyrim followers: where to find every follower

Best Skyrim followers ranked

Three things matter when we rank Skyrim followers: whether they are essential (cannot die), how high their level cap goes, and how useful their combat style is next to yours. Marriage and skill training are tie-breakers. Here is our top 10.

1. Serana (Dawnguard). Essential, levels with you to 50, casts Vampiric Drain and raises the dead to fight for you. The only follower with her own questline and dialogue.
2. Cicero. Essential, level cap 50, dual daggers with sneak attacks. Only available if you spare him during The Cure for Madness.
3. Frea (Dragonborn). Essential and no level cap, so she never falls behind. Sword and shield with some magic.
4. J'zargo. No level cap. A Destruction mage who scales into the late game better than any other College follower.
5. Mjoll the Lioness. Essential, level cap 40, two-handed. Also marriageable, which makes her the safest spouse who fights.
6. Teldryn Sero (Dragonborn). Level cap 60, spellsword with conjured atronachs. Costs 500 gold and is worth it.
7. Aela the Huntress. Expert Archery trainer, marriageable, and a strong bow user who stays back and does not block doorways.
8. Lydia. Free, early, level cap 50, heavy armor tank. Not special, but she carries everything from Bleak Falls Barrow onward.
9. Dark Brotherhood Initiate. Essential and armed with whatever you give them. Two of them exist, so one can guard a house.
10. Marcurio. Cheap lightning mage from Riften with a low level cap of 30, but excellent for the first twenty levels.

Weak picks: Sven, Faendal (except as a free Archery trainer) and the Orc stronghold followers, who cap out early.

How the follower system works

You can have one humanoid follower and one animal at a time. Talk to a follower and pick the follow option; use the dismiss line when you want them to go home. Followers level with you until they reach their own cap, which differs per follower.

• Inventory: ask them to trade items. They wear the best armor and use the best weapon they can, but only if the item is better than their default gear.
• Waiting: a follower told to wait gives up after about three in-game days and walks back to their home location.
• Death: most followers can die when they run out of health during combat. Essential followers (Serana, Cicero, Mjoll, Frea and the Initiates) only kneel.
• Commands: hold the interact key on a follower to order them to pick locks, attack, wait or grab an item.
• Trainers: Aela, Athis, Farkas, Njada, Vilkas, Faendal and Talvas are trainers. Pay for a lesson, then take the gold back out of their inventory.

Followers you can marry

Many followers double as marriage candidates once you wear an Amulet of Mara. Every housecarl (Lydia, Argis, Calder, Iona, Jordis, plus Gregor, Rayya and Valdimar from Hearthfire) can be married. The same goes for all seven Companions, Brelyna and Onmund from the College, the five hirelings (Belrand, Jenassa, Marcurio, Stenvar, Vorstag), and Mjoll, Benor, Cosnach, Derkeethus, Roggi, Uthgerd, Borgakh and Ghorbash.

Followers who cannot be married: Serana, Cicero, Frea, Erandur, Kharjo, J'zargo, Faendal and Sven. See our Skyrim marriage guide for every candidate and the full ceremony steps.

Where followers gather on the map

Whiterun Hold has the densest cluster: seven Companions in Whiterun, Lydia, Jenassa, Uthgerd, Faendal and Sven nearby in Riverwood, and Erik in Rorikstead. The Rift has Marcurio, Mjoll, Iona, Illia and the Dawnguard crowd at Fort Dawnguard. The Reach holds four followers in Markarth plus the two western Orc strongholds. Use the map button above to see all of them at once, or open the holds page to browse by region.