This isn`t what you think it is...

I was doing a little bit of the MQ with Lydia when a woman (no names to protect the innocent) asked me into a secret room.

In the room this woman said, "Close the door."

I was too far away from the door to get to it easily, but Lydia was right next to it. I really couldn`t be bothered to go to the door and grumbled to myself that if this was real life I could just tell Lydia to close the door.

"Close the door," said the woman again, then she said, "Are you scared of me?" eh? what? Nevermind.

Then I had a thought. I touched Lydia and chose the `I want you to do something for me` option and pointed at the door.

"Yes, my thane," and she closed the door! Saving my lazy mouse driven ass from doing it. The woman continued her blabbing.

Good to see this option actually has an immersive and practical use. Nice touch, Devs.

Did you just find that out now?

I`ve also just found out that if I hold my Shout button for longer than a moment my shout is actually stronger!

I had no idea until now.

Well, you learn something new every day

Skyrim is no longer safe

I was reading a thread the other day, some players complaining about how all the the shouts were underpowered. I couldn't understand why they were posting... until now lol.

Hmm, I didn't know that until now either. Mostly because I don't use followers anyway, but I thought they were all just for show.

Yes. This was a shock. i`ve been playing for a month or so and am on a rerun (never finished the first game) only to discover I`ve been using shouts at half-power? Doh! I just thought that`s how it was meant to be.

I`m certain the manual doesn`t say anything about holding down the button... but maybe it does.

Blade watcher, you can make your Lydia do all kinds of stuff, just try some actions you would otherwise do yourself:

- use the sawmill...if the mill is inactive, ask her do do something for you, point at a treelog, and she'll put one on her shoulder, and then onto the sawbench-thingy. Then walk towards the lever, point at it, and she'll operate the mill.
- use a grindstone etc.
- use a shrine (some effects are confirmed to work, when you view her stats afterwards, like increase health for x% for 7hrs)
- steal something
- sleep or sit somewhere
- cook a meal
- use an enchanting- or alchemy-table (the animation works, but I haven't seen her actually come up with results)
- pickpocket someone
- pick a lock

There's a nice mod, called Followers can Relax, which adds a new command to Lydia's dialogues ("we'll stay here for a while")...if activated, Lydia will no longer stand there watching every single move you make, but sortof go her own way, within a certain radius of where you gave her the command.
Inside Breezehome for example, she might start cooking a meal for you...or outside Breezehome, she'll head off to the Blacksmith neighbour, and start using the forge or grindstone.
And if you're married, and activate the command on Whiterun's marketplace, she'll take over a free spot at a shop, and start her own bussiness...once a day, you can ask her if the shop has made any profits, and she'll be glad to handover 100gold to you, as your share.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9504#content

Oh, and don't underestimate the meals she cooks for you...they're pretty potent, increasing health, stamina, and magica all at once, for 6 (I think) hrs.

wow. Nifty. I knew some stuff (the bed doesn`t really work), but the rest I must try. Cheers. Oh I have Followers relax by the way.

You can have a follower use a shrine, and it's been confirmed that they get the bonus.

yep, confirmed:

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1352336-followers-and-shrines/page__fromsearch__1

btw, I use the old version of Followers can Relax (=version 1), as v2 gives me bugs inside Dovahkiin Hideout.

actually... paying some attention to the greybeards would help in getting it explained