Mjoll the Lioness. Just get Grimsever back for her and she's all yours. No buying houses, getting made thane, or long questlines; just one short, relatively easy fetch mission.
I have heard so much good about Mjoll the Lioness (who can not be killed) fighting abilities and very few bugs her..except..U can not give her a gift then take it back..or it will be labeled as stolen! LOL So perhaps that is not the one that will solve his particular problem..LOL (It would not bother me unless i need to store things in her inventory, but he needs to do that it seems)
Other than Mjoll the Lioness, i agree that Jordid the Swordmaiden (Solitude Housecarl for Proudspire) is one of the prettiest marryable followers, and yes she is a blonde Nord female) I have heard of no bugs with her, but she can get killed if u also use her as a folllower for fighting and not just a housecarl or wife, so be sure u give her very good gear to work with in a fight.
She can not be your follower nor marry u until u do the quests/meet all requirements to buy Proudspire Manor in Solitude. But she is no doubt, worth it.
As for Lydia, she might not have stole your weapon on purpose..she is buggy and reverts back to her initial bow..unless u use codes (twice) to take it away from her and give her a better bow..if u think your other weapon did not wear out or vanish to the void and that she still has it..try pickpocketing to get it away from her....if it is not there then it is not her fault...(u can pickpocket her or use codes to get her starter armor away from her also, to get her into better armor without having that extra weight still there in her inventory of her old one, but she needs 'Heavy Armor' or she does not want it. Always be sure what u give your follower is better than what they have for their fighting/class type or they won't use it. By default they want to use their fiercest weapon. If u temporarily gave her a stronger weapon and then took it away and she could not revert back to the old weapon u gave her it is possible that she had to drop something (such as this at the time) because u overweighted her carryable weight for a bit, not sure but it is one of many possibilities. Anyway, Lydia is sweet, but still buggy. Without work arounds u have these glitches.
BTW did u notice that when Lydia is at the table eating bread, the bread already on the table does not disappear? She must have her own respawning bread for when she is stuck bored at the table waiting for u to need her. poor baby.