Lydia ( Skyrim ) Lydia is a Nord housecarl obtained upon completion of the quest Dragon Rising . She receives the title of Housecarl from Balgruuf the Greater in Dragonsreach , immediately after the Dragonborn is promoted to the title of Thane . As Housecarl , she is sworn to protect the Dragonborn with her life , and to carry their burdens . . She is a follower , as well as a marriage candidate for the Dragonborn . Follower . Just like other followers , Lydia can die if she does not get the opportunity to heal herself when knocked down . This can happen if she is hit by enemies or if the Dragonborn damages her . If the Dragonborn and Lydia part ways , she returns to Dragonsreach . If Breezehome in Whiterun is owned , she will return there instead . If enough time was spent with her , she may gift the Dragonborn with a radiant item upon reuniting with her . Lydia , like most followers , has the option of being recruited into The Blades by being brought to Delphine at Sky Haven Temple after the quest Alduin ' s Wall is completed . She can still be recruited as a follower , but her default Steel apparel will be replaced with a full set of Blades Armor and a Blades sword . This change is permanent . Marriage . Before Patch 1 . 5 , it was only possible to marry Lydia through console commands . If the Dragonborn does marry her , then she opens a shop in town and gives the Dragonborn 100 per day . She can be asked to move to a different house , if a house other than Breezehome is owned . Like all the other candidates for marriage , she will cook a Homecooked Meal once a day that regenerates Stamina , Health , and Magicka . She can only be married once Breezehome has been purchased . Combat behavior and skills . Lydia is primarily a melee - type character and uses no spells . As with some other melee - oriented followers , she has tendency to simply rush into combat , possibly leading to her death . She can use spell scrolls and staves , potions and food if available , and favors Heavy Armor and One - Handed weapons , but will use any equipment if it bests the current base armor or damage rating . She also has very low Sneak skill , alerting enemies of her presence nearly immediately . This may cause problems if the Dragonborn has low Sneak skill , but may prove as an advantage if the Dragonborn has a higher Sneak level , since it allows the Dragonborn to lure enemies using Lydia . Although her Sneak skill isn ' t high enough to have the perk to do this , she can sometimes be seen doing a roll ( when the Dragonborn is crouching ) in order to catch up . Equipment . Armor and jewelry . Lydia ' s default armor is steel armor ( the version without pauldrons ) , boots , gauntlets , and shield . Her default equipment provides a total armor rating of 169 . She does not wear a helmet by default , but can equip any if given one . She can also wear any ring or necklace given to her by the Dragonborn , which can be useful due to the added effects these items may have . She can equip armor given to her , if its armor rating surpasses that of her default equipment . She can and will wear light armor , but her high Heavy Armor skill makes it difficult without a high Smithing skill or high - end armor , or the " equipitem " console command . It should be noted that , similar to other followers , there are multiple options to change her gear . She may be dismissed then pickpocketed to remove her default gear using the Perfect Touch Pickpocket perk . Alternatively , she may be married so that she opens a shop — this then allows the Dragonborn to buy her default clothes , which forces her to wear alternative gear . Weapons . She only uses a shield if the best melee weapon in her inventory is One - Handed , otherwise she uses a Two - Handed weapon . Lydia ' s default weapon is a steel sword . If her sword is removed or if opponents are out of melee range , she uses a hunting bow , with an infinite supply of iron arrows , though these arrows cannot be taken from her inventory . Similar to her melee weapon and armor , she can be given stronger arrows and a stronger bow , which she will use instead . Quotes . With , Lydia has been updated with a set of quotes unique to her , making her much more expressive than before . She may comment on various locations in both Skyrim and Solstheim .