Ok, so i get married with Aela finally and were out hunting and we get attacked by a dragon, i notice that she has a hunting bow out... not attacking the dragon mind you but still, a hunting bow... so being the husband that i am i make her an Elven Bow... esqusit (sorry bad spelling) and you know what... she still uses her hunting bow... why? i make her a nice elven bow that destroys and she uses her useless bow...

They do that for some reason

I dont know as I dont use followers, but can you pickpocket her old bow from her when she sleeps?

because followers are broken and pointless

She did the same to me. So I told her I wanted to trade, and took her hunting bow, and left her with a Legandary bow. She now uses it. Just completely remove the item and then replace it with the one you want her to use. I gave her a Legendary dagger as well. She now lifts people off of the ground when she hits them with the bow !!! Thats my girl !!!

What's the matter? Can't stand the sight of a strong Nord woman?

I'm going to stop quoting Olfina Gray-Mane now. Basically, all followers do this. If you're on PC it can be fixed by using the removallitems console command, and then giving her armour and weapons from scratch. Then she won't have a hunting bow in her inventory.

Did you give it to her on Valentine's Day?

Because your home-made elven-bow is so ugly nobody wants to use it!!!

But Skyrims NPC's AI svcks anyways

As in the gamejam video i want Follower favourites D:
So much good stuff in that video..

You expect a Nord, a high-ranking member of the most Nordic of Nord organizations, to use elven craft? How silly of you.

Curious about this work-around, but, does the removeallitem work a little differently than individually removing items using the 'removeitem XXXXXX' command? I individually remove the hunting bow from their inventory; however, everytime I dismiss them and zone back in after a certain time, I find that same [censored] hunting bow in their inventory :S

I think it respawns in some instances. I've stripped bandits of all their gear and then resurrected them, and they have a bow in their inventory. If you aren't in the same area as her for thirty days, the game probably resets her to the default.

If you are on Xbox, no fix for the bows (except fortify archery items natch), but if they have reset to their stock armour, just remove any item from their inventory, and all that shiny ebony and dragonscale you gave them earlier gets equipped.

Well [censored] me. It svcks cause I've had a look around the CK and oddly enough it feels like the Hunting Bow is hard-coded, because the bow is nowhere to be found in the inventory tab (when trying to edit NPCs). Guess I have to keep digging :S

I'm suspecting that, too, although there's no logical reason for them to have done this. The only other thing that it might be to do with is the 'fighting style' options that you see when creating new NPCs?

Obviously, Aela thinks that skill outweighs gear.