Of the various followers that can be found throughout Skyrim, only a small number of them are incapable of dying. These characters are marked as essential for one reason or another, usually due to their involvement in important quests during Skyrim's primary storylines, and consequently might be more helpful to have around, especially at higher levels.
Skyrim takes a different approach to story-important NPCs than Morrowind did. In Morrowind, every character was capable of dying, regardless of whether or not it rendered the main questline incompletable. On one hand, this made the RPG feel more immersive. On the other hand, it could prove frustrating for players who weren't aware of the consequences in advance. As of Skyrim, however, important NPCs will instead only be temporarily knocked back down before getting up. This makes them particularly useful in combat as a follower.
There are around 50 followers in Skyrim, with even more becoming available if players have also installed the Dragonborn and Dawnguard DLCs. These consist of various minor characters from storylines such as the College of Winterhold, mercenaries located in inns around the region, and even non-human companions such as dogs and armored trolls. Of these, only 8 followers are technically essential and cannot die. The number goes up to 10 if one counts the two unnamed Initiates that players meet at the end of Skyrim's Dark Brotherhood storyline.
The followers who can't die in Skyrim are as follows:
- Barbas
- Frea
- Erandur
- Mjoll the Lioness
- Derkeethus
- Serana,
- Cicero
- Farkas
- Dark Brotherhood Initiates
Each of these companions is acquired in a unique way as Skyrim progresses. Barbas is technically a temporary companion, acquired as part of the Daedric quest "A Daedra's Best Friend". Frea and Serana, respectively, are part of the Dragonborn and Dawnguard DLCs. Erandur can optionally be obtained as a follower by choosing to reject Vaermina's offer in the quest "Waking Nightmare". Mjoll the Lioness can be found in Riften, and will provide players with the sidequest "Grimsever's Return", and Darkeethus is part of the mission "Extracting an Argonian" located in the town of Darkwater Crossing. Farkas is an essential part of the Companions questline, and Cicero and both of the Dark Brotherhood Initiates play a role in the Dark Brotherhood questline.
For the time being, it's unclear how exactly Elder Scrolls 6 plans to approach the game's companions. Some have speculated that it could take a similar approach to Morrowind, allowing players to injure or even kill any NPC regardless of their importance to the story for the sake of storytelling and immersion. The game could also allow all followers to be incapable of dying, and could potentially make their story importance and relationship to the player character more of a prominent part, as seen in other RPGs like Fallout 4. Regardless of which option Bethesda takes, the next game in the franchise will undoubtedly borrow at least some inspiration from Skyrim's followers, both essential and non-essential.
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