Legends of Tamriel (Skyrim Extras)

Extra 2: My Absolute Favorite TES:V Characters

Hey guys! It's been awhile since I've written up a legitimate extra in this book, and, as I'm not in the best writing mindset as of now but I want to do something, I've decided to make this chapter all about my absolute favorite Skyrim followers and npcs, and why they're my favorites in particular. They're listed in no set order, though you'll probably be able to tell my favorites of those favorites from the rest if I start gushing senselessly about them. Hope you all enjoy!

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- Teldryn Sero

Just. This nerd. This freaking nerd. Oh my gosh, I honestly don't know where to begin with talking about him. So, you can hire this guy at The Retching Netch in Solstheim, and he's worth at least twice the amount of gold I paid for him as a follower. For starters, he's adorably sarcastic and refreshingly witty, and oh my gosh he says the best things at the best times. you know the whole Bard's College  "questline"? Well, at the end during the festival, he deadpans, "Solitude... Home to the East Empire Company, the heartless bastards." Brilliant timing. 

Aside from that, though, his voice is freaking gorgeous and his face is also - if you can get him to take his freaking helmet off. Oh, and he's actually a massively useful follower, and to put the icing on the metaphorical cake he's also my favorite 'class': he's a spellsword. 

In all seriousness, he's one of the most interesting and likable NPCs I know of, and one of my absolute favorite followers thanks to the fact he does have a bit of a backstory and he definitely has a well-developed personality. And his looks and voice definitely have some influence on the fact that I like him so much, haha. I still can't believe Bethesda didn't make him a marriage option though - or anyone on Solstheim for that matter. I mean, really? Bethesda, why?

- Lydia

Okay, unpopular opinion time: I actually think that Lydia's a really cool character. She may not have an interesting backstory or anything like that, but she's honestly not as "awful" and "bland" as she's made out to be. I don't know if it's just the fact that I downloaded Hearthfire or not, but she rarely says her sarcastic "I'm sworn to carry your burdens" unless I previously overloaded her with dragon bones or something, and she's generally a very pleasant and eager follower. And, in fact, she's the only person who's ever actually given my characters a gift with a rather enthusiastic-sounding "I'm so glad we're friends!" So in conclusion she's an awesome follower and a pretty rad NPC. Though I have to say she does get stuck in doorways veeery easily.

- Ghorbash the Iron Hand

Honestly, I really like Skyrim orcs in general, as I find their culture fascinating and their awesome, serious attitudes to be rather refreshing, but Ghorbash is most definitely my favorite Orsimer out of all of the NPCs in TES:V.  His background is a very interesting one, as he's the only Orsimer I know of in Skyrim who's ever been in the Imperial Legion, and his dialogue is pure gold as well. He can also be a bit snarky which surprised me a lot, considering if your character uses Healing Hands or Heal Other on him, he'll respond to it with "If you heal away any of my scars, we're gonna have a problem.", which made me crack up the first time he said it. Also, despite having a serious personality, he's never boring to have around and does make comments on areas on occasion, which is always nice. I may or may not also be biased because his general disposition reminds me a bit of Sten from Dragon Age: Origins, who without a doubt is my favorite character from that whole game. Tl;dr he's a really rad character that I like quite a bit and a follower I commonly hire when I play.

- Erandur

For starters, let me just say I've never gotten the achievement for getting all the Daedric Artifacts. No matter how many times I've done the Waking Nightmare quest, I just can't bring myself to do what it'd take to acquire the Skull of Corruption. Erandur's character and backstory is just... it makes me really want to give the poor sod a hug. Despite the fact he does lie to you at first, his desire to right his past wrongs is admirable and, all in all, he's become a v good person in spite of who he used to be. Killing someone who just wants to right their past wrongs is just not okay from my point of view. (Though I tend to be a bit more of a 'sensitive' gamer, haha.) Also, badass priest follower? YES PLEASE. XD And, as is the case with most of my favorite followers, he has a bit of an attitude too - though his is less 'sassy' and more sarcastic than most of my other snarky favorites. Basically, I kind of view him as like a mentor/rad badass uncle character - at least, in relation to the characters I've done his questline with so far - and a character like him with such an interesting backstory and a cool personality is hard not to really like, in my opinion.

- Ettiene Rarnis

THIS GUY. THIS GUY. I swear, he's the most under-appreciated character in the entire Thieves' Guild faction, for so many reasons. To begin with, he's seriously one of the sweetest characters in the whole game - if you save him during Diplomatic Immunity and treat him the way any decent human being would (which is to say, you don't pretend to be an interrogator), when you see him again in the Ratway, his reaction is absolutely heartwarming:

(I'm currently on vacation and can't find his exact quote, but I'll put it here as soon as I can, ^^; Let it suffice to say that he's really happy to see your character in one piece.)

Honestly, if I could choose to make any of the Thieves' Guild characters into a follower, I'd definitely choose him - he's a sweet, likable guy who had serious potential to be more integral to the plot of the game, and seriously, how awesome would it be to have a thief follower? Even if you did eventually end up getting chased out of a hold because they couldn't help themselves and took everything of value that wasn't bolted to the floor.

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Also, I've got an 'honorable mention' list for other characters I particularly like, but I feel that I've rambled on enough about the ones I've listed already, and you guys would be here for awhile if I gave all the reasons I like these guys too. However, if you have any questions as to why I like certain characters on the following list, I'll gladly expand on the reasons why. ^^ Heck, I may do that later when I have more time anyway.

- Marcurio

- Pretty much every member of the Companions. (oops)

- Onmund

- Niruin

- Breylna

 - Talvas

- Sanguine

- Nazir (Dark Brotherhood Nazir, not to be confused with Whiterun's #1 horker-face: Nazeem)

- Parthurnaax, (Br)Odahviing, and Durnehviir

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So, who are your favorite characters, and why? I'd love to hear about them, and who knows? We might have a few favorites in common. 

- AA