Call me crazy, but isn't it the guards' job to, you know, GUARD things? Keep the peace? Be the strong arm of the law? Why is it, then, that whenever I come running through a hold or village with a hostile creature in tow, they run the other way? I'm trying to play a hunter who avoids dungeons like the plague and only kills defenseless furry things, so when I accidentally stumbled across a furious mama bear I naturally bolted towards Ivarstead, which was mere meters away, to seek the protection of its guards. Unfortunately, the guards took one look at the bear and started sprinting away alongside me. As the professionals, people who are paid (I assume) for their skill in combat, turned tail and fled, a motley crew of unarmed farmers stepped in to rescue me and took down the bear with their bare fists. This happened again only minutes later when I rubbed a nameless Redguard the wrong way and he lunged at me with sword blazing. Same guards cowering away, same farmers playing hero. And then again when I scurried into Falkreath with an assassin in my wake. And then again when I irked three or four people during a quest in Markath. Is there any way to trigger the expected hostility in guards - console commands, mods? - or am I to be forever forced to endanger the lives of innocent townsfolk because the authorities are cowards?

i hear ya.

why bethesda chose to go this route is ridiculous!

Guards in my game don't run. They don't fight either. They stand there, watch, and say stuff like " My moneys on the big one."

most of those guards are probably peasants paid by the thieves guild to look the other way.

I'm not sure about the console commands. From what I've seen in the actor value list there are ways to increase/decrease their desire to fight or flee as well as commands to change their faction. Might be worth investigating.

Don't they just say that during unarmed brawls? I've yet to hear them making bets when I'm engaged in armed combat.

No they do it in real combat as well, like when Hired Thugs appear.

This is strange to me, in Dawnstar the guards zerg a damned wolf. Let alone assassins, trolls and dragons.

But, if something follows me into Falkreath... they just stand there like jackwagons unless its a dragon.

Regional based? Faction based?

I don't know, but guards are interesting in combat to say the least.

Hm. I never thought of the possibility of it being a regional/factional quirk. Whiterun's guards tend to be eager to take down bandits and so, apparently, are Dawnstar's. Perhaps the guards of Stormcloak-controlled holds are more likely to attack than Imperial ones or vice versa? I'll have to look into that.

Well that may be the case then. The Rift is known for its connections in malicious organisations so a fair amount of guards could be on the take. Making them lazy, more or less.

yea, once i was outside the doors of whiterun, and 4 armed thugs were attacking me.
And the guards just stood there and watched.

Of course when i got to a higher level i made sure to assassinate as many guards as i can

Yeah, it is brawl dialogue. They still say it when they see me in battle.