*Minor Spoiler*
Let me start by saying im on Xbox.
I had the dark elf, Jenassa following me and helping me pretty much since the beginning of the game. She had gear and weapons leveled to match mine and was a serious force to be reckoned with. I knew i was off to fight Alduin for the final time so i told her to wait in the Dragonhold at the top of Dragonsreach because i didn't want to risk her dying with half my gear and wealth stored on her person. When i got back from the battle I immediately returned to the dragonhold to get her back but she wasn't there. Accepting my loss i went to my Whiterun house to get Lydia (the housecarl) to follow me, but she said i already had a follower with me. If I've lost Jenassa for good is there a way to get other followers or is there a way to get her back?

I just made a similar post...funny how people are speechless on this subject. Nobody has replied to my post either.

I know, I can not find anything related to this either, there seems to be t least 4-5 people if not more with this issue.

I have found out throught the console that my follower count is = 1.00 but I can do nothing else. I have enabled and disabled several people and killed them as well and its till not a fix.
Everyone tells me I have a follower, yet I do not.

bump this cause my follower just disappeared into thin air with a lot of awesome weapons that ill never see again

Happened to me a few times. And by few, I mean it happens all the damn time. I just keep going on with the game and they come back eventually. I even abandoned one of my companions in the depths of a dwemer ruin, and he came back to me a good three hours later. Actually, he came back after I finished a quest which assigned me a new companion, Maven. Right after that quest ended, he came back.

If you haven't done any quests like that, I suggest trying that.

I lost Lydia for a while as she is prone to simply wandering off.

I checked my Breezehome, not there, checked Dragonsreach, not there, tried waiting/sleeping for 100+ hours, didn't return to me. I have the bug where I cannot recruit new followers as well.

I also think I permanently broke this feature accidentally. I conquered Whiterun as a Stormcloak, prompting the new Jarl to ascend to the throne. This also prompted the "I shall declare you Thane if you buy a house" dialogue from the new Jarl, to which I accepted as I had already purchased the Breezehome. When I walked outside I ran into Lydia, but she still believes I have a follower (yeah I did... YOU were my follower Lydia...).

So it seems she completely reset to her initial status when I reclaimed my title as Thane of Whiterun, but my follower status did not so I am now FOREVERALONE :'( :'(.

Try killing her new self. What do you have to lose? It might actually bring the other one back, or might open up the slot again.

First thing I tried.

Did not work .

Mehhhh. You could always go full werewolf in the town and then kill the guards. That probably won't hurt, but it would please me. I'm out of ideas, unfortunately.

my followers vanish also.. i wud usualy notice cus the dog never shuts up,wen ther was no barking i wud look and he wud b gone. not at my house or wer i found him, i kept reloading previous saves. and finaly said screw it and told him to go back to his home. i duno if u've played new vegas but the followers wud run off into the wasteland sumtimes after u fast travel. mayb this is the same bug? hopefully a patch will fix it.... 1 day...

Being alone in Skyrim means lots of trips to market your pilfered goods...

Is this the first Bethesda Game you guys have played? Keep a few old saves for issues like this. When you realize they are missing, rather than trying to fix it endlessly, reload and call it a learning experience.

this happened to me and i found out i simply had a quest that already tagged me with a partner (it was a companions quest) so i found out if you have any quests where you go in with someone else it will not allow you to take a new follower till quest is done.

however if your missing a follower is it possible you accidentally told her/him to wait somewhere. ive done this to and had to wait a few days till they eventually return where they were originally

A quick fast travel to the place you are already at will bring your follower (and your pesky horse) right to you...

MisterSketch, have you looked for her where you recruited her?

I guess the Drunken Huntsman off-hand?

The other lesson to be learned is only play "mindless/simple" games on xbox. Do all "complicated" games on PC. Many have learned this lesson. The console input commands on all games is a wornderful thing.

If fast traveling doesn't work, try this: Save. Wait 73 hours. Save. Re load this last save.

Something about resetting scripts. The game should go through, check where you should be at, and who should be with you, and update it.