Why did he have to be put in the game? You can't give him any orders to wait somewhere while you clear a room of daedra. He just charges in like the [censored] [censored] he is! Even going so far as to follow an enemy off a cliff into some lava. Why, Bethesda? He should never have been put in Oblivion ever! Whose idea was this?

IIRC Farwil is the Dunmer son of the Count of Cheydinhaal that you help close Oblivion gates. He survived in my game without too much effort. If it's too irritating, turn down the difficulty slider, and switch to ranged weaponry to kill any enemy before he even gets close enough to get hit.. I can't think up a fix for making him run into lava..

Actually I can; but it involves a glitch. You need a lot of paintbrushes; like more than 50. Simple "drop" them one by one in a circle around him. If you don't have the unofficial patch, they should float. After you've completely trapped him, he won't be able to move despite trying. Then you should be free to close the Oblivion gate without him.

Bear in mind though; I don't know if this method causes future problems or glitches. Also there's a chance that if a Daedra finds him when you're not in the same cell, he'll be killed without you even knowing.. Try it, but it's not 100% guaranteed success.

I have all the unofficial patches, so I can't use the floating paintbrushes glitch. And my current character is at level 19. (Also running Francesco's overhaul.)

Still, what the hell was Bethesda thinking programming the AI like that? Radiant AI? More like Short Bus AI!

Relax. Yeah, the AI is stupid sometimes and just goes running off the bridges into lava, even enemies do that. Oh well. With Farwil, it's really simple. He follows you. After every fight, wait for one hour. It'll fully restore his health along with his companions. Pretty easy making it through the entire gate with everyone alive if you do that consistently.

His behavior makes sense with his character though. He's a fool. He wants to charge in and kill everything and be the hero and brag in a tavern.

Even so, you'd think he'd at least have some tact.

Makes me wonder if Bethesda even TESTED the AI before releasing it, because if that's their idea of Radiant AI, they did a shoddy job.

I think everyone hates farwil, he made life hell for my mage, running in front of my spells and whatnot

Absolutely agreed. I only did "The wayward knights" yesterday and it has the be the single most annoying person I have encountered in the game. The fact that he seems to take credit for the closing of the gate is even more irritating. Running into battle when Valkynaz and dremora archers are up ahead. Standing if front of targets. The first thing I did once given the amulet is throw it as far as I could...

I think you may be missing the point. Farwil is meant to be irritating. He is the spoiled son of a Count. Why would he take orders from the likes of your character. In his view your character should be taking orders from him. In this case the AI is very reasonable I think.

I should also point out that saving him is entirely optional. Even if he dies, the Count of Cheydinhal will still send troops to Bruma. I don't think you get the reward of the sword or staff, but it isn't like it's required to continue on through the quest line or anything.

But at this point, your character's the Hero of Kvatch! It shouldn't even matter if Farwil's the son of a count or some beggar on the street--HE should be taking orders from YOU!

You can also completely avoid Farwil in Oblivion by not entering the cave leading down, but simply scaling down the slope and avoiding getting to close to iniate conversation. Some skill in acrobatics is handy.
The gates to the tower will not open this way, so some lava walking is also neccesary.

He will appear in Cyrrodill with you when you close the gate, together with his aide.
Mind that you must have iniated the quest by talking to the guards outside the oblivion gate, or you will not get the reward amulet, as the topic wont appear.

Its a bit of a cheat, but Farwil is indeed a very annoying Dunmer.

It would be wise of him to follow your orders. But he isn't wise, that's the point.

This is usually what I do. Use a water-walking spell to get across the lava faster. Still hurts though.
Or if you have good acrobatics, go underneath the bridge and jump across, landing on it's support beams from underneath.

For some amusemant:
After you close the gate and Farwil "thanks" you officially for rescuing him, talk to him again and bring his disposition down to zero via speechcraft. Then stand by and watch the Cheydinhal guards kill off the Count's son. Even so you can still collect your reward from the Count (provided your journal was updated after Farwil "thanks" you) and be on your merry way. :whistling: