Thrice i've asked him to come along with me, and thrice he's been mauled by some bandit/lion/bear/mudcrab along the way. I'd be on my way with him to the gildergreen, and meet some bandits. After taking care of the bandits, i turn around to see that [censored] dead on the ground, as usual.

I loot him naked out of rage.

I proceed to chop down the gildergreen out of rage.

I fast traveled. Sadly, I learned you could do that only the... third or fourth time I did that quest. Before that I just let him die on the road and resurrected him.

Fast Traveled

Sheer luck.

Next time I'll do that quest, it's fast travel all the way.

do it on easy.your attacks will count for more, theirs for less.

I've taken him along twice, no fast travel, no difficulty adjustments, he always gets there safe and sound. The second time I rode a horse and he had to run behind me all the way and he still made it.

OTOH I'm pretty sure I had a follower along both times. I'm sure that helped, more likely the two of us just took out any threats before Maurice had a chance to get himself killed.

Never had trouble with that, and never fast traveled. I've found the best way is to go to Darkwater Crossing, and from there the Sanctuary is just a short trip away.

Difficulty doesn't affect companions and summons.

You could fast travel as mentioned above. Another method is to ask him to wait, clear the path you intend to take and then have him follow you. I hate that he's such a toolbag.

The first time I did that quest, I didn't even have him along (must have left the temple before he could ask to tag along) and I was pretty disappointed with the outcome - damn spriggans killing the pilgrims.

To keep the idiot alive, I usually have to get well enough ahead of him and kill anything within eyesight of the road (usually a bear and a pack of wolves). The worst is when a dragon spawns. I now usually do that quest before moving along in the MQ so I don't have to worry about dragons. I like keeping my NPCs alive.

Casting courage to buff him, a bit of luck, and also having another follower.

The only thing I have done that was sucsusful other than faes traveling there was just babysitting his dumb ass the entire way. And quicksaving every 1000' or so on the trip so that he makes it.

Really this is the worst example of bad AI I have ever seen in a game. [censored] ownes a bow, but if you let him he charges in with fists... WTF!?

Yes the best path is the one that leads South East from Valtheim Towers to Darkwater Crossing.

And I learned in TES games that if you have temporary squishy followers and want to keep them alive, you have to 'tank' for them all the time. Meaning you run up ahead of them so the enemy is focused on you first and sees you as the primary threat.

Also just before an enemy goes red dot, drop a weapon you would like Maurice to use and he may pick it up. As for dragon attacks, if you can't tank it, because your a squishy mage or a puny thief then your chances of keeping him alive drop considerably, unless you can do enough damage to the dragon that when it does land it dies quickly

With my arcane archer, I took Faendal along as well and went past the towers to Darkwater. I had healing hands for if he started taking damage, but mostly just tried to take out as many bandits as possible from afar so he wouldn't reach them and get himself killed. I hadn't started to main quest at the time, so there weren't any dragons to worry about.

Fast travel is the best way.