Short answer to the question we get most: Erik the Slayer can die, but only by your hand. UESP lists him as protected: enemies can knock him into a kneeling bleedout state, but only damage you deal, including your own area spells and stray arrows, can kill him. Serana and Mjoll the Lioness are essential and cannot die at all.
Updated 14 October 2026. Follower flags below are checked against UESP's character pages.
Essential, protected and the rest: what the flags mean
- Essential: cannot be killed by anything. At zero health they drop to one knee and get back up once the fight is over. Serana and Mjoll the Lioness are flagged essential.
- Protected: only the player can kill them. Enemies drop them into bleedout and usually move on to you. Lydia, Erik the Slayer and Marcurio are protected.
In practice, a protected follower who "died to a draugr" was usually finished by something the player did: a Fireball into the melee, a Chain Lightning arc, or an arrow through the gap.
Erik the Slayer: getting him and keeping him alive
- Where: the Frostfruit Inn in Rorikstead.
- How: his quest, Erik the Slayer, asks you to change his father Mralki's mind. You can bribe, persuade or intimidate him. Once the quest is done you can come back later and hire Erik for 500 gold (UESP).
- What he does: he levels with you between 10 and 40, and his main skills are light armour, two-handed weapons, archery and block.
- Keeping him alive: keep him out of your area spells and shout cones. Because he is protected, nothing else can kill him.
- Known quirks: Companions inside Jorrvaskr may attack him when he follows you in, and UESP records an unconfirmed report of him turning hostile after the Stormcloaks take the Reach. He can also be recruited into the Blades.
Choosing a long-term follower
- Serana (Dawnguard): essential. She raises corpses (Revenant at higher levels) and casts frost and lightning spells that scale with her level. During Chasing Echoes she offers to make you a Vampire Lord; if you sided with the Dawnguard, she will insist you cure it (UESP).
- Mjoll the Lioness (Riften): essential. She joins after Grimsever's Return, which sends you to Mzinchaleft for her sword. Heavy armour and two-handed weapons (UESP).
- Marcurio (The Bee and Barb, Riften): protected, 500 gold. A Destruction and Restoration mage who brings Chain Lightning and healing (UESP).
- Aela the Huntress (Jorrvaskr): available only after you finish the Companions questline, and she is essential only until Glory of the Dead, so treat her as killable once she follows you. A strong archer for stealth builds (UESP).
- Lydia (Whiterun): protected, and she levels with you up to 50, so she is a better long-term pick than her reputation suggests (UESP).
Habits that keep any follower alive
- Do not cast area spells into a melee your follower is in. Switch to single-target spells or reposition first.
- When sneaking, tell your follower to wait and line up the shot alone; heavy-armoured followers give stealth builds away.
- Repeated hits can turn a follower hostile, so stop attacking the moment you clip them.
- Check a follower's essential or protected flag on their UESP page before you plan a long playthrough around them.
If you are still settling on a character, our Skyrim builds hub is the place to start.
Who ended up as your permanent follower, and did you keep them because they were the strongest or because you got attached?
