I don't know if it is a bug or oversight by devs, but i was in Fort Greymoor that is belong to the Imperial, just hang out there with Lydia, sleeping and eating before continue adventure. While on the courtyard, i feel like want to ride the free horse there alone. So i dismiss Lydia inside the fort. Suddenly all the Imperial soldiers turn hostile on her drawing their swords saying "Move along! Move along! You have been warned!". Lydia just walk pass them but get near one of the soldier, the soldier attack her, so there is a fight. After few seconds Lydia kill him, the rest of the soldiers sheathe their swords and watching Lydia walk away like a boss. I just LOL seeing that.

Why is that? Why they turn hostile after i dismiss her? And then they just watch her walk away after killing that man

Or it's simply "don't mess with Lydia" moment?

Edit : Forgot to mention, i did try second time, but just outside the fort, i dismiss her, then i hear a soldier shout "You are trespassing!"

Looks like some weird glitch.

An awesome glitch.

But no, I don't think it's a glitch. It's simply the mechanic given to guards of forts to tell players and their accomplices to move along. They were just acting as they were scripted to do so.

Apparently, Lydia was scripted to be a total badass.

Interesting.

Possibly she is not in a faction that is on peaceful terms with the Imperials.

I am with the Imperial, so i think the game don't register a follower to any faction the player is at all, when they are with us, they just become "invisible" to NPCs, when we dismiss them, they are on their own

And yes, i think you should try it and see it yourself, i loled the way Lydia walk away after killing that man like a boss

Yeah, I'm going to go try it now. I'll post back in this thread with results when I'm done.

Skyrim is a fascinating game with wonderful glitches. What may happen to one person won't happen to someone else. Thats why we have this awesome board to post the cool things like that on.

I would like to know if it is universal or just in my game lol

If it is universal, then there must be the game mechanic that followers are actually "do not exist" when they are with us, they "re-appear" when we dismiss them

It will probably have to do with factions the follower is in or not.

These decide disposition and agression among NPC's or towards the player.

The reason that a whole town comes after you when you kill a chicken is that they share a faction. It's sort of a hivemind.

I've stopped seeing glitches.

I just see two Beth Devs sniggering to one another and pointing at a screen in January 2011.

Lydia messes stuff up and impresses me all the time. I'm sneaking up to some bear and the moon is behind it, so I want to take a picture...

Lydia didn't like that idea. Rushes past and kills the thing in three swings.

She interjects in my affairs mroe than she should. The bloodlust is strong with this one.