Lydia is the housecarl you get from from Whiterun right?

Everyone goes on and on about her but she died fairly quickly to a swarm of falmer. All my followers have been pretty weak. I even oufitted a sellsword in full Dwarven Armor and he got knocked off a catwalk in a dwemer ruin. Followers so far have been nothing but baby sitting for me really. I am on my second character now, Khajiit assassin, and I don't think I am even going to bother with them this time. Although there are times I could use the help because I am very weak in open combat, I still don't think it's worth all the trouble.

She will only have died if you attacked her while she was down on her knees .. you murdered her and try to blame others.

Right. She's the housecarl from Whiterun. Anything else we can do for you?

I just know she was fighting 2-3 falmer, and died. She did go down on her knee, but when I started kiting away and came back she was dead as a doornail. And I fought this battle several several times and she died everytime. I couldn't do it without her initial help but she couldn't survive it no matter how I played it.

followers level depends on what level you are when you hire or get them the first time, so if your level was low when you got her she's gonna be no good at all

She`ll die if you even use a Shout. For instance if she`s way far from you but in front and you use a Shout while she`s on her knees, the Shout will travel all the way down and kil her. And that`s if she`s even a bit to the side.

I`ll guarantee it was you somehow killed her.

Falmer are the only creatures I've encountered who murder downed followers. That's sad, almost all of those I've lost have been from Falmer.
Stupid elves.

Seriously, I mean it. I did not have any Shouts at the time, and I was out of arrows. Stupid Falmer.

Who needs Lydia when you can have Derkheethus

You can use something in the game to fix this. Search for Wabbajack and Followers in the Spoilers section.

or just look for another follower if your older one is starting to be weak, there's a lot of them

It all depends on how you play, and how well you learn to use them properly. They can do a lot of annoying things, no doubt, and they aren't intended to do all the work for you, especially at lower levels... but they can save your life in a lot of situations, when played right. One thing that does hold them back, is that they don't level up with you as you progress, for instance, if you get Lydia at level 6, she will stay that way and continue to be quite weak and easy to kill, even as your char becomes much more powerful later on, and goes up against much more powerful enemies. Why they didn't let followers level up with you, I have no idea. But if you are on PC, you can fix this problem by following the instructions in this tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkxVqveNDVs

Very handy.

Yeah, don't shout at Lydia when she's http://i42.tinypic.com/6zvq4x.jpg

I accidentally wabbajacked Lydia by accident one time when trying to hit a zombie.

Maybe that`s why i`ve had no problems with her...

Thank you! I will use this this game.

I use followers as buffers. Even a low level follower like Lydia is useful in that she takes the attention off my character for long enough to make a difference; even at higher levels. If she can fight for 20 secons before collapsing that's usually enough for me to have killed at least one enemy, thereby evening up the fight. At adept and even expert, followers aren't ever necessary, but at Master they're helpful. That said, I did my first run-through on Master without ever using a single follower, with the exception of those you're given on certain quests.

As to any follower dying, I'll repeat what everyone else has said; you can friendly fire them to death quite easily.

All the housecarls I aquired died easily as well. Really, it only took 1 or two swings.

On the bright side, I make sure to drag their bodies and put em in their bed, in their own rooms.. you know, the one room in the house that they never go.

Lydia at level 46 is a beast.

"Lydia, oh Lydia!
Lydia the taa-aa-tooed lady..."

No tatoos but recently she shellacked the whole of Ulfric Stormcloak's special reserve. All the while sworn to carry my burdens, too!

Ah, yes the Falmer they can kill followers you know what i recommend is you should of sneak attacked them and if you fail at that (be high level like someone else said because your level is the same as your follower) attack them hopefully not on an open bridge where follower could fall to his/her death don't worry! just don't get ahead of your self if your low level and once you are higher level your follower will be a medieval Chuck Norris!

I need Human meat....and some doritos

Do you mean nachos?


*apologies, it just looked weird to me*

What about the poisoned weapons that the Falmer tend to use?

I believe that the DoT effects from poison will kill a follower that is on the knee.

Followers dying in combat should be expected and it totally adds to the experience of Skyrim's harsh world. If only there was a way to have proper burials. Do dead followers appear in the halls of the dead in the cities? Would be cool if they did.

Anyway, only the strong (good AI is also a plus) shall survive!

Once you've leveled up a bit hire one of the mercenaries to follow you. The level you meet them on is the level they stay at. Also check UESP to see what their main skills are, and give them equipment based on that. It all helps!

I have to back this guy up here, Flamer have killed Lydia a few times in my games. And other housecarls. I don't know if it is a bug that disregards the protected status against Flamers.

If Lydia died fighting Falmer, it was probably due to poison. Wiki's confirm that if poisoned followers can die unless you keep healing them.
Poor Lydia.