Okay, this is silly to talk about, but I was wondering if others share the same feelings I do regarding Lydia. She is one of the only, if not only, npc's in the game I have trouble connecting to. It could be the fact that I have played the game since launch, spending countless hours during the time Lydia wasn't a valid marriage candidate, that made me feel more disconnected from her as a character. It could also be the fact that the game practically just hands her to you free of charge, or the fact that she hardly ever talks to you other than the occasional sarcasm that we have grown to hate/love. Not to mention the exposure to many memes about Lydia on the internet about her f*cking things up and being an overall goofball that has desensitized me. Basically, with all other followers, I feel there is someone actually following me and adventuring with me. With Lydia, it feels like this weird, sarcastic android is following me around simply to be used as a pack mule. Does anyone else understand where I'm coming from here? Anyways. I guess I can look into mods to try to bring her to life more. I really, REALLY, want to feel more connected to this character as weird as that sounds haha. It's just hard for some reason.

All housecarls are the same. they're all just boring pack mules.

I really loved serana.Lydia did feel rather generic.

She's a moderately useful robot-slave quest reward. Valdimar is the best Housecarl I think, simply because he's proficient in Heavy Armour, One Handed, Destruction, Alteration and Restoration.

Well said!

I think what Is going against Lydia is not her fault.

Most people who started the game for the first time and followed the quest indicators end up in Whiterun fairly quickly. This results in most people as well also getting breezehome as their first home. Then they get saddled with this poorly coded housecarl. Our very own servant. Our first one. And first impressions count. Sadly poor Lydia at the time had a rather "meh" approach to Skyrim. She is tossed into your house with no background. No one knows who she is or where she came from. She hates carrying things... can't blame her and due to her poor coding oftentimes sat in YOUR room... not her own. Eating your stale bread and saying "Yes my thane?" when you woke up in the morning.

Things get even more awkward when you try and bring a lady friend home... Lydia does not seem to understand the meaning of NOT entering my bedroom when I am entertaining a guest. Tripping over the armor tossed in front of the door was not a big enough clue it seems.

But I like her all the same. She is easy on the eyes. Thanks to mods she does not stand like a well built man. And thanks to the unofficial patches she also uses her own room now and that "i'm sworn to carry your [censored]." line seems to have been removed.

I just think of she had made a better first impression to us all, we might have warmed up to her more.

For as much hate as she gets though, there seems to be twice as much love. Have you seen all the mods for her on Nexus? Name me one other character with that many mods? Serana may be close. But her constant interactions with things and complaining about the sunlight... shut up...

Sad but true.

That said, I rather like her, just not enough to do anything with her other than make her a steward for a Hearthfire home (because, yes, I actually feel a little bad leaving her to sit all alone in Breezehome, in my bedroom, staring at my bed like a lovesick fangirl).

Indeed, more coding and a few tweaks would have made her much more endearing.

I adventured with Lydia exclusively for a very long time, but these days I am trying out different followers. She does make a decent Steward for a Hearthfire home.

There is 1 thing I like about the housecarls having nothing interesting about them. You get to make up their backstories so they aren't just boring pack mules. but they still wil be boring pack mules.


They will always be the boring pack mules that we love.
or hate.

http://igamershood.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/best-picture-lydia-skyrim-meme.jpg

She is of course sworn to carry your burdens.

You mention USP. I have been debating on whether or not I should get that patch, because I have heard it does things to the game that sometimes just aren't welcome and that the creators should basically stick to what they are supposed to be doing which is patching the game. If I am to get that patch, I might only do ver. 1.0 if any at all... I just think the more versions I download, the more things that get changed that don't need to be changed.

I adore Lydia. I'm so used to dragging her around Skyrim and hearing her sarcastic little comments that it feels weird without her.

Still...she gets dreadfully boring... :/ I can imagine a personality and dialogue for her and all that, but my imagination doesn't fill the empty silence when traveling with her, nor does it change "I'm sworn to carry your burdens..."

The game is 100 times better with the patches. Trust me.

I just dunno lol. I have read some stuff that I don't really like regarding the patches personally. meh. It feels to me that instead of it being simple patches, it's the devs' way of saying "this is OUR vision of what the game should be" sometimes.