There are a ton of followers in Skyrim, 66 to be exact. These followers, or companions, journey with the player across Tamriel and help accomplish missions, and while some players prefer to travel alone, others feel like it's nice to have a companion. When facing a particularly difficult enemy or quest, it's also beneficial to have another person to help or serve as a distraction. Skyrim also has an inventory management system that can benefit by having followers carry additional weapons or sets of armor.
Every companion in Skyrim comes with their own set of pros and cons, and players often choose their followers very strategically. For players who prefer the stealth/archer build for their character, it's a good idea to have a follower with more of a melee build. For others, it's beneficial to have a follower that is skilled with stealth or ranged magic attacks. Skyrim requires players to prioritize the development of certain skills over others like most RPGs, so a follower is a great option to cover the playable character's weaknesses.
It's also often advised to recruit an "essential" follower, meaning that they can't die due to being essential to the plot. Essential followers include Serana, Cicero, Barbas, and initiates of the Dark Brotherhood. Altogether, it seems like there are a lot of followers that should be better than Lydia, the housecarl assigned to the player after they become a Thane of Whiterun. So why does Lydia always come to mind when Skyrim companions are brought up?
Lydia is the One Follower Every Player Has in Common
The first reason for this is pretty simple: every Skyrim player who's gotten anywhere in the main story has met Lydia and traveled with her for some time. Players can always dismiss their followers, but most players will do at least a couple of quests with her, especially as a low-level Dragonborn on a first playthrough.
It's extremely helpful to have anyone's help when encountering an overpowered enemy in the wilderness or accidentally embarking on a quest that's a little too advanced. Lydia levels up with the player until level 50, so she might not be an ideal companion for late in the game, but it takes a while to reach level 50 and players who keep her around for that long may develop an attachment.
Other followers can be more strategically chosen and may offer more benefits than Lydia, but they often have strings attached or additional requirements. Many of them aren't available until later, after the player has poured countless hours into leveling up. Some followers may not even be encountered at all. Players who aren't interested in the College of Winterhold may not meet J'zargo, the loveably arrogant Khajit mage, and players who don't want to follow the Companion storyline and become a werewolf won't have the opportunity to have Farkas as a follower.
Lydia, on the other hand, while not as personalized, is available to everyone and players can keep her around as long as they'd like. Unfortunately, Lydia is not an essential follower, so failing to protect her or accidentally leaving her in a closed-off location will end the relationship. But unless players completely ignore the main quests for the entirety of their playthrough, they will meet Lydia, which automatically gives her an advantage above the other 65 followers.
Lydia is the Subject of Countless Skyrim Memes
There is no shortage of Skyrim memes, and Lydia is the subject of an awful lot of them. Part of that reason correlates with the previously mentioned fact that she's available to nearly every Skyrim player. Because Lydia is usually the first follower available to the Dragonborn, she's also the first experience most players have with the follower system.
Followers are amazing and Skyrim has one of the most versatile follower systems in gaming, but the system is not without its quirks that can be frustrating, hilarious, and endearing. Everyone has had a follower block their path through a doorway or rush out to fight an enemy when they were trying to be stealthy (or worse, trigger a booby trap), or stubbornly take the main road when the player would rather take a shortcut across a river or through a mountain pass.
A lot of players have also probably experienced losing track of their favorite Skyrim followers, usually because they didn't want to take that shortcut. Followers can turn on the Dragonborn for no apparent reason (although it's usually because they were accidentally hit by the player's sword one too many times), and they're obedient to a fault, sometimes patiently waiting in a cave that closes after the quest has concluded. And when non-essential followers die unexpectedly, players have to go back a save or move on without many of the valuables their follower was carrying.
All of these things and more apply to Lydia, but there's one more thing that makes her stand apart: her attitude. Lydia is a loyal servant of the Dragonborn, but she's also incredibly sassy. Her most iconic line, "I am sworn to carry your burdens," is delivered with exasperation rather than reverence. That line almost singlehandedly made Lydia iconic, second only to the knight who took an arrow to the knee.
The memes circulated as memes tend to do, and now Lydia is easily the most recognizable follower in Skyrim. She has a sense of humor and an interesting personality, which isn't true for every follower. It's also refreshing and very funny to have a follower in a medieval game who's impatient and snarky towards their leader.
Lydia Actually Isn't a Terrible Companion
When all is said and done, people make fun of Lydia, but she's not actually a bad follower. For that reason, a lot of players choose to keep her around longer than they technically need to. She levels up alongside the Dragonborn until hitting level 50, and makes a great companion for players who prefer ranged attacks and need someone to lead the charge. Just make sure not to hit her too much, or it won't end well for the Dragonborn. Lydia automatically uses heavy armor, she's an expert at one-handed attacks and at her highest level, she's pretty strong.
Her main weakness is stealth, but just because she's not good at it doesn't mean the player can't be, so this doesn't have to be a disadvantage. For Skyrim players who prefer stealth, this can actually be a huge advantage as she can distract enemies while the player gets into a better position to take everyone down from afar.
Lydia has many flaws and her attitude can become annoying, but it's also what makes her so enjoyable. Thanks to all the memes and the fact that every Skyrim player can relate to the ups and downs of traveling with Lydia, it's no surprise that she's the most memorable companion in all of Tamriel.
Skyrim is available now on all major platforms.