So far im finding followers to be rediculous as they seem unable to get killed making any sense of danger non exsistent! any chance of this getting changed/fixed in a patch (360).

Is it just my experience or has anyone elses died?

they get into a downed state. TRUST ME this is good or else they would all die off. they can still die in the downed state but they loose any treat level(no one will attack them) but say if a aoe spell went off they would die. ive already lost 4 followers which pisses me off. ive only got one more left in the companions if I loose him then there's no one else to give me the quests!!!!

Followers CAN die.

yeah they do die if hit when they downed . I've chopped off a companions head by accident lol.

to rebalnz - why not take other companions then ? the pub in whiterun has 2 lovely ladies just waiting for a chance to kill things

I murdered lydia.

This is true. Mine died about an hour ago. Had to reload.

My Lydia actually got a finishing move done on her, I thought at first it was on me cause it was in a dark area but then I performed a finisher on the guy and looked around and saw Lydia's body, I reloaded.

Some evil lich killed my Lydia. I looked down and she was literally a pile of ashes on the floor.

So it seems possible(ish) as im very early in the game i cant truly comment but so far im finding that having ldia on my side is amking every encounter a massacre for any NPC willing to try his luck so im still finding followers overpowered.

By the way thank you for the replies.

Mine only died if i happend to land a blow on then when they were near dead or downed, made me feel horrible, otherwise they can't die from what i've seen,

I can't stand followers and hate the fact that you have to take them in a LOT of quests. They are far more detrimental than helpful. They keep jumping in the way or hitting you from behind, they get stuck all the time. They prevent you from using AoE spells because they get hit or killed as well.

I avoid them like the plague and wish that you'd always get a "I'll take care of it myself, you'd just get in the way." option for all quests.

Followers do not die like normal NPCs. When they damage enough that would normally kill them, followers drop to one knee to begin recovery. During this recovery period enemies will ignore them completely. However, if they take damage while in this recovery phase due to a stray arrow or spell, they will permanently die.
If you are the one to damage them for that final hit, they will skip the recovery phase and die permanently.
While enemies ignore them, it is still very possible for followers to be hit during recovery. It is advised that while follower are recovering, you do not stand near them. It is quite easy for an enemy's attack to miss you and hit (and kill) your follower.

they can die and they do die. so far being my follower has not been a lucky fate for anyone (i guess i lost 6 so far)

So it seems they only die from friendly fire (or sword) ive got to say that strikes me as rubbish surely they should change this in the patch so they can die from the enemy as well.

They CAN die from enemy attacks. When they almost out of health, they crouch down in a "downed state". If they aren't hit again for a short period, they stand back up and continue to fight. But if they are hit again, they die. I've had companions die several times. Lydia just got herself killed helping me in one of the civil war sieges. Went off on her own and got swarmed by a bunch of enemy soldiers..

Me thinks i may be a tad more careful from now on.

Where did you get this notion?

Probably because it is friendly fire that kills them more than anything else.

the mage that you get from Dawnstar (?) after you clear that tower jumped off a dwemer tower and killed himself in my game =\ didn't have a recent enough game save so I went on without him.

That isn't what he said. He said "they only die from friendly fire."

They can kill themselves too.

My final thought is this..

followers dying is good but if its only possible through firendly fire or act of god then totally lame! and if this is the case then it should be fixed.

My Lydia was killed by a dragon priest. I built her a shrine at the word wall where it happened, and gave her a 'three gun' salute by shouting 'fus roh dah' to the four winds of Skyrim. I still put fresh flowers in her room in Whiterun every now and then.

They can die, when they go down and take too much damage.

Four of my followers already died. Well, not my fault if they runs into the enemy with bow in the hands. And me as mage firing shock spells and shouts doesnt help either
I take them with me because they carry my stuff, otherwise they are just useless.