J'zargo is my favorite simply because of one quote. "If anyone sneaks up on us, I will smell them coming. Or I might not. We'll see."

*Has Serana as his follower in all the clips* I wOnDeR wHiCh WiLl Be NuMbEr OnE

The fact that we saw Serana wander on the screen in about 50% of the ranks 71 to 2 might be a slight clue on her final ranking.

Marcurio's "If these ruins frighten you, take comfort in the knowledge that I am here." gets me every time.

Also know as "Who to sacrifice to Boethiah, best to worst"

I played this game for years and haven't heard of like 60% of theses people

Lydia will always hold a special place in my heart for 2 simple reasons. She was the first person I ever married (had to use scripts to make it happen) and one time (in a completely different playthrough) I crafted and enchanted an entire set of legendary ebony armor for her with axe and shield, walked up to a guard in Whiterun, and punched him in the face. I then proceeded to watch as Lydia DECIMATED the entire population of Whiterun with little to no effort. Great time.

When the kids found J'zargo, I decided to speak like him for a phrase and they laughed, then started speaking like him too. And suddenly, everyone in the room was J'zargo. Great character.

"Cicero is loved by some and hated by some" *Astrid sweats in the corner*

I love J'zargo because of his line "Dragons were never gone, just invisible... and veeery very quiet."

One of the nice things about Lydia that most people don't notice is that she's the only base-game companion who was given extra lines for the Dragonborn DLC - take her to Solstheim and she has a bunch of new lines during combats and the main quest.

I was annoyed with Cicero at first, then I read his journal and I felt so bad for him and I began to understand just why and how he became mad. He didn't deserve what happened to him

“She’s a cannibal” Do you know what I had to do to level up werewolf perks tree?

“The privilege of being Lydia” Yes a life of abuse from the Dragonborn is the upmost privilege.

Also something to mention: Cicero and Serana are the only followers marked as "essential NPCs", aka they can not be killed ever.

Eola was my favorite follower. She died literally as soon as we freed serana. (She was killed by a Draugr Deathlord. I did use Namira’s Ring to feed on her body, because I think that’s how she would have wanted it.) I think Eola would have loved Castle Volkihar and I’m sad she never got to see it :(

Kharjo is the most noble khajiit you'll ever meet. He is protecting his caravan, and will refuse to lockpick houses if you ask him because that's a crime. What a lad. My favorite.

still remember lydia getting yeeted into the air by a giant and for my entire playthrough i was unable to get another follower eventually i was walking back by to whiterun to explore more places and past the giants camp that lydia left me at (i had already gone to all the giant locations trying to find her when i found out i couldnt get others by didnt know where it happened) and BOOM lydia slams into the ground then gets up and starts crawling because low hp. still the one and only time i was genuinely happy to see lydia i could finally tell her to leave.

Marcurio is by far my favorite. His personality is unique, and his mage abilities are on another level. He gets even better when you give him items to use and wear. He is slightly overpowered which can be aggravating in low level areas because he will kill everything before you reach them, but he will also save your ass in most situations where you are outmatched in levels.

I don’t typically take followers in my Playthru’s. But when Lydia was given to me in white run I kept her around for a while. I’m not sure exactly win but eventually I noticed that she was no longer beside me and I didn’t see her for a very long time. Eventually I found myself in that skooma den and once I drink the sleepy skooma and they put me into the jail cell below all of a sudden who do I notice next to me in that jail cell in the bottom of theskooma den? None other than Lydia! I bust us out And together we fight our way back to the service and we have never been closer. we also both agreed to never speak of that night ever again

My number one is a glitched aela. Somehow in a playthrough she never turned back from her werewolf form. She would talk like normal but in combat she was a werewolf and fought like one. It was funny watching her walk around in towns as a werewolf and no one batted an eye

*Literally, anything happens* Serana: sO tHiS iS tHaT bEaUtiFuL sKyRiM wEaThEr iVe aLwAyS hEaRd AbOuT

Teldryn is always my sidekick, and he is awesome in battle, as well as being gorgeous when you pickpocket his helmet off. I love when we have a lot of enemies we’re battling at once, because his dialogue in combat is hilarious to me. “Boethia inspire me!”, “Azura curse you!”, “Ninnevar guide me!”, and with the first enemy hit, “you’re dead!”, and he always makes it happen. I’ve got him in studded dragon scale armor, and he is one fine looking Dunmer, who is also a lethal weapon with destruction magic and a sword. I split my gold with him because he is worth it, and I don’t have crap to spend it on in Skyrim anyway, lol. He’s almost got 200k gold in his inventory now, lol, and I’ve got about the same.

Faendal will always have a place in my heart, he was my follower all throughout my first playtrough

Having Sven as a companion is like having dandelion in Witcher

"She is almost the same as Lydia, but there is one thing .. She's not Lydia."

So happy to see my absolute favourite Marcurio so high up. His voice and personality instantly won me over on my first playthrough, and he's pretty reliable to boot. Husband of my heart

Okay, so I know Inigo is a mod and not "official", but there was more work put into him than most of the other followers combined. He has a ridiculous amount of dialog (something like 7,000 lines according to the developer), an incredibly in-depth backstory, which may or may not unfold as the game progresses, and he's just a straight up badass. He has unique interactions, depending on where you're located, even asking where the toilet is in the Solitude house (which he does have a point!) or composing his own songs if told to rest while at the Bard's College. He actually feels like a "real" companion. Plus, you can have him in addition to your other follower, so you never have to leave him behind. This can be quite amusing if you're travelling with Lydia, as he directly interacts with her. I don't know if they spliced together words of her dialog or got the voice actress to record lines, but their sidebar conversations can be quite amusing (even if they do make Lydia seem like a bit of a dumbass, who Inigo at times finds disturbing). Heck, he even shouts encouragement to her during combat! Unfortunately, he's not "DLC" aware, which is too bad, as I'd love to see him interact with Serana! 😄

I had J'zargo as a companion because I figured he'd stand back during a fight and I wouldn't accidentally kill him with my great sword. I was right, I didn't kill him like I had Lydia. But then, because Bethesda, one day he disappeared into the void and I never saw him again. He didn't load into new areas, he didn't show up in previous saves, he wasn't at the college. He wasn't dead because the game even recognized I had him as a companion and it wouldn't let me pick up a new person. He was just. Gone. J'zargo, I loved your personality and you were great in a fight. I hope you found peace in the *Bethesda Void*

What type of madman puts Sven over Faendal?

Derkeethus is still my favorite, since his essential status is bugged and doesn't go away after the quest. Plus he always thanked me when I healed him with spells. Edit: oh my god I forgot about Cicero!! How could I?!? My Listener character was driven near insane by his constant ramblings, he was so great. Plus essential followers are pretty much a must for me.

I recently got Erandur as a follower and I've already grown very attached to him. I have a soft spot for characters redeeming themselves for past misdeeds, so I'm obviously biased. But aside from that, his voice lines feel authentic to me- the way he comments on his surroundings or talks to my character makes me think I've really got a friend by my side. He's so worth passing up the Skull of Corruption!

He’s not exactly a follower, but if you cast dead thrall on Ulfric Stormcloak he’ll use shouts in combat with seemingly no cooldown. It’s pretty OP

I started the game with Lidia, I finished the game with Lydia. Few times we got separated in the mountains, and each time it felt so lonely without her. I hated her when she annoyed me, but every time she wasn't there...I was missing her a lot 😂

I have a nostalgic fondness for Erandur so often pick him, due to a happy coincidence on one of my favourite save files. I married Sylgja from Shor's Stone who has an injury when you meet her (asking you to deliver a letter to Darkwater Crossing) and she says it is healed by a Priest of Mara from Dawnstar. Erandur is the only Priest of Mara in Dawnstar so it must have been him - and by blind chance it so happened that he was my follower at that time. I always loved that - also he has so much intriguing dialogue and is pretty strong - an excellent Mage as well.

it’s absolutely insane to me how much content is in this game, especially because of it being an older one. I’ve played Skyrim since I was 10 back when it first came out in 2011 and I still haven’t completed probably even half of all of the shit in this game man and i’m 23 now!! Best game ever made

"None of us wants generic Nord #35 over a vampire princess"

I used to like having Sven because if I ever lost him I could just stand still until he started playing the flute and follow the noise.

The dwemer sphere and spider are pets meaning you can have followers alongside them. What i loved to do was have teldryn summon a flame attronach and id summon two more so we'd be like a small army.

Truthfully, I honestly don’t know why Serana is my favorite Follower. Yeah she’s really fleshed out and has an amazing backstory but that’s not really what comes to mind, she just has this vibe to her that makes traveling around Tamriel feel more fun somehow and I find her voice to be a bit soothing. If you include Mods that let me have multiple Followers, my party usually ends up like this: Serana, Aela, J’zargo, Inigo and Miraak

The best part about Serana is that she performs all of the idle animations in the game like choppping wood etc.

“When you make your way through the dangerous lands of Skryim...” Shows footage of what’s technically considered as a territory of Morrowind.

My best playthroughs have been with Erandur. I remember when I first discovered him and I was just blown away with his personality. Most immersive follower in my opinion and he doesnt require you to be "epic" (ie you dont have to beat miraak or defeat the ancient legendary vampire lords and you dont really have to do any dragonborn stuff), you can just be a normal adventurer with a dunmer priest companion. Damn I might do another playthrough of skyrim all in all bc of him

Serana and Lydia were always my favourites. As soon as I was able to get Serana as a companion I put the Dawnguard quest line on hold and gone trough the entire game with her by my side. I love her look, her hatred for mudcrabs and the talent to allways snipe ME with her strikes in a combat. Lydia was my first companion and I love her loyalty, but she doesn't stand a chance against the hot goth vampire princess :)))) The marriable Serana was hands down the best thing that ever came out of Nexus Mods :)))

"Oohhh... Cicero's heard about the Butcher. Interesting knifework. Just... Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab! And then... Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab!"

I'm pretty sure on my very first playthrough I found cicero on the side of the road before ever starting the dark brotherhood questline and thought he was going to end up being a creepy stalker that tries to kill me so I killed him

I always grabbed Derkeethus as my follower, mostly because I love Argonians and it's nice that he cannot die and is the only Argonian follower

Erandur is a ton of fun. I love going to hang out with him in the temple and then going out adventuring. He has some very dark dialogue at times

Cicero is hilarious especially when in a serious conversation like when you have to sit down with storm cloaks and imperials up in high hrothgar.

"Just the average drunk guy in Skyrim." - *sums up entire Nord nation*

just made my first female orc character and stumbled upon borgakh pretty early on. she then quickly became one of my favorite followers and we adventure across skyrim as two independent and badass girlbosses

Barbas is the best follower in the game. He has infinite hp, can never be staggered and pulls aggro like a WoW tank. Only downsides to Barbas is his size, you may get stuck on him a few times in certain corridors and he is a temporary follower. As long as you don't finish his quest, he is far and away the best follower you can have.

Special mention to Inigo, he´s not cannon but we love him too.

I love how literally in every shot serana just crashes everything lol

Actually ingjard is the only dawn guard companion who doesn’t mind if you’re a vampire, she has a unique speech where she says “I won’t kill you but I can’t follow you in that condition”

I would always play with Lydia and nicknamed her “Lydiot” because she always gets in doorways and stuff. J’zargo is by far my favourite, and I use him all the time, all his lines are so funny, and his shock spells are amazing. 👌 Since Serana isn’t a follower that you have to ask to follow you, you can have both of the best and have both her and J’zargo. Pretty cool.

I think you’re crazy for putting Teldryn Sero that low. Dude has more lines than all the housecarls put together and oozes character.

I love Durak because he's Durak. He's Durak.

Mjoll the lioness is what gets me through the beginning of a new play through she’s mariable and can be turned into a vampire, pretty dope. She also has some interesting dialogue and a great accent. Only downside is she’s capped at 40.

Teldryn Sero just holds a special place in my heart, works with any playstyle and has such a cool story whilst still having a shroud of mystique around the character. My personal GOAT

I saw that you said Vilkas and instantly thought "wait that means wolf in Lithuanian" so I googled it and apparently Farkas means wolf in Hungarian and I just found that interesting

The constant Serana in the background shows that this guy is a cultured man.

I like that telling Jordis to wait, talking to her again, and leaving her waiting will cause her to say "be careful, and come right back." It's just...awww, she cares.

"Janessa holds a warm place in everyone's heart" *Me staring at her lifeless body at the Shrine of Boethiah* ...yes.

If you’re like me, you personify everything and pretty much assign personalities to all the followers so it doesn’t matter.

Sven is only good for sacrificing him to the daedra.

I think I might’ve picked up Teldryn as a follower due to this video, quite a while ago (I remember I was watchin a ton of your ranking vids back when I returned to Skyrim), so thanks! I adore him so much haha, wouldn’t wanna go on an adventure as my current character without him :> Very helpful & enjoyable video :)

Annekke is one of my favorites. You can marry her daughter too (she doesn't do combat), so it's kinda nice that you can actually have a family with her and her daughter Sylgia. So if you marry Sylgia, you get Verner Rock-Chucker and Annekke Crag-Jumper as in-law parents and can use Annekke as a companion :)

A bonus of having a Reikling Warrior is that you can equip them with one arrow and they will start using it as their throwing spear so at the end of a fight you can pick up all the extra arrows they threw for free. I have a huge stock pile of dragon arrows thanks to my Reikling friend.

Serana in the corner of every scene Serana: Christ is he going to interview every follower...I guess he is and I’m in for the ride - Divines take me!

I unironcially find these videos really interesting and useful and also give me ideas for future playthroughs, because I’ve never properly used so many of these followers

I remember climbing to Hrothgar and Lydia decided to Leeroy Jenkins a giant while my back was turned. I heard the swing and the giant grunt. When I turned around I saw the dust and Lydia was nowhere to be found. I then proceeded to do all of Ivarstead's quests, climb the mountain, and eventually I found Lydia stuck in a rock on the last bend after the troll before High Hrothgar. ... She was very much alive and totally fine.

I just realized that Farkas is Skyrim’s resident himbo. That alone gives him points lmao

I love how you actually included EVERY follower, not just humanoids.

This was very cool. Thanks for putting this together.

Don’t forget you can upgrade most followers without mods simply by smithing up some good replacement weapons and removing their old weak weapons. Lyds loves a Legendary smithed Nordic sword…slice ‘n dice. Rayya can have her two cutlasses max smithed, she’s like a living food blender. These pair remain at Lakeview while I go adventuring, but when we get the bandit attack, the girls go to work!

Ganging up with Cicero makes me feel *N A U G H T Y*

I had Sven as my first follower cause I thought he was hot and he died almost instantly when we ran into 2 bandits on the road... He crumpled like a piece of paper

easily my fav Skyrim commentary of all time love your personality

I’ve had Erandur for so long and grown so attached to him I could not push myself to switch followers. He’s been by my side through everythinnnnnng.

Barbas the freaking immortal dog is my favourite follower hands down. He's an adorable Daedra doggo that can talk and never dies.

My favorites are Serana, Teldryn Saro and J'zargo for their personalities,

Thanks maté great video would of taken awhile to do appreciate the time u put in making it very helpful 👍👍👍

Teldryn Sero is my favorite follower ever since my legendary survival permadeath play through region locked to Solstheim. Needless to say I owe him one for carrying my ass during that play through

This was just your way of telling us you wanted a vampire goth gf huh...

Can't believe skyrim is getting content till this day, amazing

First time listener. Subscribed in the first minute. I like what you're about !

Brelyna is underrated I think. Her ability to summon the atronach and at the same time stay behind the frontline and provide some fire support makes her really strong. Just give her bow with enchantment on paralysis, the results will be amazing (and this bow will also won't need to be reloaded often). Now matter what is your health pool if the enemy just won't be able to reach you. Also she is quite good in stealth and really cute and adorable when out of combat.

I took Meeko with me to some word wall hunting. In one of them he died trying to defend me from one of the drungar overlords. I literally redid the whole quest and then took him home where my kids made him a pet. Haven't moved him since because his "death" hit me hard

I love Serana's constant photobombing.

I don't normally comment but I wanted to let you know I appreciate the work for this video and the spouses one, thanks.

I've been dragging Marcurio (or rather, he's been dragging me) through two of my saves now, but now I really gotta go give J'zargo a go, he sounds pretty dope, I wouldn't have guessed. Thank you for the list!

Cicero is my favorite his personality keeps the game lively. Hes crazy as hell but its fun to hear his commentary. I always travel with him.

I’m really sorry, but I was traveling with meeko the dog, and I was going to an orc settlement, and the giant outside killed him, and I never forgave myself. Happy to see him so high on the list.

I like to get serana and frea at the same time in most of my saves. Not only are they the two biggest dlc’s most well put together followers, they also compliment each other very nicely in combat

I use Marcurio and he’s grown on me, I protect him more than myself , he’s been with me a while, now I treat him well with nice armor and he treats me well with great convo & he’s great in combat ❤

I can't believe Cicero is under half these people. A note: Cicero is all round the best follower for Sneak characters, with a maximum of 100 Sneak 100 One-Handed 97 Archery 97 Light Armor 558 health and 61 alteration (for some reason) Cicero is a great follower to use for a looong time for the fact he won't randomly get detected.

The low tiers are LITERALLY fodder for Boethia's proving. (And for the new AE/CC farm where you need to appoint someone to take care of your farm)

As far as I'm concerned your top three is dead ass!! With mine. The rest that never really put much thought in, but all in all I think you did a great job with your picks.

Not related to the video, but your accent is so unique, some words you pronounce with a southern accent and some have a northerner accent, its super cool