I have had a very, very strange occurrence happen and I'm hoping maybe someone can help.

I'm on a 360 so I'm probably limited on a solution but here's my problem.

I did the quest, don't worry, no spoilers, for Louis Letrush. Well, no big deal. But afterwards I saw him just outside the stables in Whiterun and he was sunk half way into the ground (obviously a glitch). He was stuck and could not move. I didn't think much of it and went on about my business. The next time I came to Whiterun I was in for a bit of a surprise.

As I approached Letrush, who was still stuck in the ground, I noticed that there was another man standing next to him, wearing the same outfit. As I got closer I noticed that it was, you guessed it, Louis Letrush. There were two of them. Strange, I thought. But still, whatever, just kind of funny.

Well, I've been doing some quests outside of Whiterun but I had to make a quick stop there just a moment ago. When I got close to the stables I noticed there was a crowd around the two Letrush's. And, yep, you guessed it. There are now four Louis Letrush's. One stuck in the ground and three standing right beside him. While this is definitely annoying I have serious concerns about the stability of the game in Whiterun as I progress.

What about 150 hours from now, are there going to be 100 of these fools? And if so, can the system handle that? The last thing I want to have happen is for the game to crash every time I get close to Whiterun. That would, unfortunately be a game-killer for me and require me to re-start.

I'm trying to think of solutions and the first thing that comes to mind is killing him. But I don't know if I can do this successfully without a witness and the repercussions that come along with murder. I'm just not sure what to do and if anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears. Again, I'm on a 360 so there's no opening the console and resetting anything. I've got to figure something out in-game.

Just saw that this is a common glitch on the wiki. The only solution it provides is opening the console, which I cannot do. Has anyone on the 360 or the PS3 experienced this and come up with a solution?

I stay away from that quest for this very reason, it's a common bug with LL.

On xbox I don't think there's anything you can do unfortunately.

I didn't know about the bug until I saw him stuck in the ground. I knew I should have taken that stinking horse! Like I said, it doesn't bother me too much, but I am worried about stability issues. How many duplicates will there be? Does it continue forever? And if so there could potentially be hundreds of him. I hope Bethesda fixes this in 1.6.

I would say kill him but you can't kill anyone anymore. Everyone is essential

Right. He can not be killed. I tried. I've looked everywhere on the internet for a fix and can't find one for the Xbox.

Yeah, this has happened in every playthrough I've made of the game. I just don't care enough to even bother looking for a fix since it doesn't actually effect anything. Apparently Bethesda doesn't care either since this has been a widely recognized occurrence since day 1 and they haven't bothered to patch it.

If that's the case, then its no big deal. But I've got four of them and I just wonder how long it will take to have 50, or 100, or maybe even 1,000. At some point it seems like it could cause issues with that many people on the screen at one time. Some people seem to have found a fix, kind of. From what I've read if another Letrush is killed in the wild, apparently he becomes non-essential.

If this is the case, you're right. I doubt it will ever be fixed. This is actually pretty frustrating as I frequent Whiterun often. What's the most "clones" anyone's ever had? I just don't want it to cause any actual problems in my game.

I've researched this and it looks like you might be able to kill him on the 360 or PS3 but only after this happens.

From UESP

After the quest is complete (for Letrush), you may encounter Letrush randomly running through the wilderness. He will be stopped by an http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Orc named "Thug" who will strike down Letrush in one hit with the words: "http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Maven_Black-Briar sends her regards, Letrush."

I believe that after this happens Letrush loses his essential status and can be killed. If only there was some way to force this random encounter with the Orc "thug" to happen. I'll just have to wait for it I guess. Until then, the Letrush's will keep piling up.

Whenever I walk to Whiterun, I'm sure to say hi to Louis Letrush. And Louis Letrush. And Louis Letrush. But not Louis Letrush, he creeps me out. Funny, down the road a ways I ran into Louis Letrush, what an upstanding guy.

I managed to get the Whiterun guards and the Louis Letrush clones fight each other. Great fun.

I play on XBox 360 and recently ended up with three of him, finally could kill him so all three died. Now for my first character I only ever had one, but he was immortal and impervious to anything I tried on him. He would die and then come back to life. Very annoying that was. He was also immortal right from the start with my second character, I followed him to see what would happen. He ended up stuck in the ground not far from where he picked up Frost, practiced my pickpocketing skills while he was there, then tried to kill him, he would not stay dead. There was some bears nearby, I got them all to chase me back to Letrush and they all had fun killing him, eventually got him unstuck, but he would not stay dead. When I next saw him outside the Whiterun stables, I tried again to kill him, no luck. I saw a thug kill him in the wilds, that was sent by Maven, thought that was the last I would see of him. Again he appeared near the Whiterun stables, I gave up.

After the battle for Whiterun, I went by the stables and noticed there were suddenly three of him, cracked it and shot all three. All three stayed dead. the stable people came along noticed the first two and then got all upset about the third. In the end I stripped them and threw them in the bushes. That was last week, yesterday there was still no sign of the pest returning, unless he turned up some where else. Mind you I got three murder raps for it and a bounty that vanished when the last one died, but he stays dead it was worth it. I have gone back to my old character now, so I am hoping to see some clones so I can try that again, mind you one lone Letrush I can probably live with.

If you keep frost I believe he spawns wherever frost is.

I've completed the companion questline and SKJOR the companion who gets killed by the vamps, is still alive and kicking at Jorrvaskr. And not to mention he can still give you quests. Weird or what.

I never had that problem, but then the first time I had Frost, who eventually got himself killed, Letrush never appeared with us unless I went to the Whiterun stables, in which case he was very attached to Frost. Second time I wanted nothing to do with the horse, he just vanished after Letrush got stuck in the ground. But I never really went looking to see if he returned home, Frost was never at the Whiterun stables and was not with Letrush when the Thug killed him.

I've had him spawning every time I would use a carriage and walk up to Frost, so I disabled him on the PC. Oh disable command, getting rid of Letrush and Aerin since 2011.

I only used the carraige at the start of the game, so have no idea if Letrush would have respawned else where if I had. For one character Frost is dead, for the other he has vanished. Will test it out when I do it a third time. Why would you bother using the carriage?

I disabled fast travel, and I now I can't re-enable it without breaking my game. So, I have to. I like the immersion part of it too.

I have three and a half

I haven't tried killing them for fear of getting a bounty for murder os some such rot. So he/they is/are safe to attack without provocation? On xbox of course!

I now have three of this guy, just standing there, and all three mouths move when you click on one of them.
I wonder if I kill one, would it kill the other two as well?

If he is impervious he will just let you shoot him, with a few verbal complaints, if not he might come after you, I never waited long enough to find out. Try it in stealth mode where no one else can see you, you only get a bounty if the sod stays dead. I killed him dozens of times while he was impervious and not always in stealth mode, no one ever did anything. The bounty vanishes if no one else saw anything but the victims, who are all dead hopefully.

To see him killed up in the wilds, you would presumably have to tell Maven of the plot before you stole Frost, I did both times, but it never really worked that well.

i got this glitch with my argonian character. when i shot them with my bow, they multiplied again, and now there are four of him running for their lives everytime i go to whiterun.

I've completed this quest multiple times since purchasing skyrim for the 360 back in November.

I've found that the best way to avoid the cloning Louis Letrush glitch is as follows...

After stealing Frost from the Black Briar Cabin in 'Promises to Keep' quest, follow your quest marker and return to our friend Louis. Once you see him in the wilderness get off frost and open the dialogue screen with Letrush... Select the 'If kill you I can keep frost' dialogue option, the conversation terminates and then simply kill Letrush on the spot there and then... The quest completes and frost is yours, and more importantly there will no Letrush clones outside Whiterun or anywhere else for that matter...

Really hope this helps for future playthroughs, if anyone is interested I also have completed multiple playthroughs for those troublesome 'Blood on the Ice' and 'In My Time Of Need' quests which can lead to troublesome glitches in the gameworld later in the game!. If newer players need help then simply message me here on the forums and I'll do my best help

Cheers Glenneth

This seems to fit what I was suggesting. After the thug kills him in the wilderness, he loses his essential status. Unfortunately, the encounter with Maven's thug is random and there's not necessarily any guarantee that it will happen. I'll be on the lookout for it for sure.