



On stealth missions for the Guild and assassin missions for the Brotherhood though? She stays behind in Breezehome. Heavily-armored warrior types are NOT good with the sneaky, and it's part of my roleplaying besides. Lydia knows about my Thieves' Guild business because I've taken her on the Honningbrew run which had us killing those rats and that mage and taken her to the Ragged Flagon and the Cistern and dealt with Brynjolf in her presence. But I do NOT take Lydia to the Falkreath Sanctuary, go on assassin runs with her or allow her to see me in my Shrouded gear -- I'm rather a stickler when it comes to the Five Tenets unlike some members of the Brotherhood.

Lydia often gets pack-mule duty whenever we kill a dragon -- those dragonbones and scales are heavy as hell, and I usually sell them off once I get to a kitty caravan or general goods merchant, as I don't plan on using them for smithing until I pass the level 50 mark. The other major stuff I tend to carry myself. That said, Lydia is death on two legs, especially with properly upgraded gear (I recently got her a set of Steel Plate armor and a nice Glass Mace, and am looking to upgrade her shield with one of the shields from the Immersive Armors mod -- I play on PC), and she is a hell of a tank for my archer/assassin, even if I usually make her wait on the sidelines while I snipe enemies off with my bow or stabinate them with my dagger.