Talonflight Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I find it funny that no one likes Lydia. Sure, she can get mouthy about carrying your burdens, but she's sworn to follow you whether you like it or not. Lets elaborate on that, shall we?Lydia is the first real companion you get if you're just following the main quest. She swears to follow you with her life, and willingly gives her life for you. She is devoted to you.... yet shes relegated to a prop who stands around sometimes swinging at your enemies?Why not give her a backstory? Quests? Ideas, thoughts, commentary, a REGARD system which shows just how much she respects you as her Thane? Perhaps an eventual romance blossoming in your travels, and giving a REASON as to why your bodyguard would want to marry you? There is a lot of untapped potential in Lydia, to create a backstory and quests and perhaps win her to follow you even if you lose your Thaneship and were just a normal man. I realize there would be obstacles such as Voice Acting for this, and if it WAS to be completely voiced they'd have to replace all of her Vanilla lines (or find someone who sounds a hell of a lot like her). But I think Lydia gets the rough end of things. She's more than just a walking bag that is sworn to carry your burdens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpatLuke Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 This is always where the Elderscrolls games fall short. The characters in their games never have fleshed out or interesting back-stories. They're great at creating immersive world environments, but the people you meet in them are empty and stale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robberfox Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 That might not be a half bad idea. Lydia suffers from the same bland stock character syndrome every other character suffers from, I don't like or hate her any more than the other characters with like two lines in the entirety of their backstory. Replace her voice type, add a few more quests revolving around her and the Dragonborn's relationship, Lydia might be interesting if someone gave her half a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Novem99 Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I find it funny that no one likes Lydia. Who said that?! I love her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talonflight Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 I got onto this tangent actually from reading fan-fiction, believe it or not, and it got me really into Lydia as a person. It was the journey of the Dragonborn from Lydia's perspective. She wrote in a diary every night, and had her own thoughts, emotions, fears. She was terrified of Spiders, utterly hated Forsworn and Hagravens because they once captured her and the Dragonborn, delighted in the taste of black briar mead, and had her own emotional confusion over how she was supposed to get along with a man who stopped every 5 minutes to chase down mudcrabs. When the Dragonborn went missing in A Night To Remember quest, she grabbed Faendal, Hadvar/Raelof, and Farengar and went on her own little quest to find him and bring him home.The best part was a slowly blooming romance between her; from the first time she saw the Dragonborn and thought that Jarl Baalgruff's brother was actually her new Thane, to the moment when the Dragonborn FUS RO DAH'd the bars off of her cage door to save her from the hagravens, to the moment where she thought he was dead from finding his old weapons and armor on the ground in the middle of the road along with a pile of bandit bodies, to the moment where she proceeded to tear up the entire city searching for him when he was arrested in the Markarth Conspiracy and even went into the dwemer ruins by herself to find him halfway. All in all theres a LOT of beautiful opportunities for her Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hexxagone Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 So you think one of the most loved and popular Skyrim characters is not liked because you read Fan Fiction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talonflight Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 So you think one of the most loved and popular Skyrim characters is not liked because you read Fan Fiction?No no, you misunderstand. I think Lydia is not well liked because I see hundreds of people every day on forums and other such things discussing how she's the most annoying follower and that Mjoll is a much better fighter as well as more interesting. Plus im always hearing complains about "I am sworn to carry your burdens." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaTelamon Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Talonflight, I 100% agree with you, and have thought the same thing since my first run through Dawnguard. It seems that Skyrim was designed with adventure foremost in mind, whereas character development is more of a jrpg thing. But it would be pretty cool if we could get both. Modders try to fulfill that hunger with followers built from scratch, but they have overlooked one thing that makes Lydia special, and that's her attachment to the events that unfold in the story. She has a tangible place in this world. She served the Jarl of Whiterun, but the Jarl has appointed her to the player. On the flipside, a follower built from scratch will always be someone who the player must seek out and recruit, but they will never truly engage in the story. They will only be an observer. A commentator. An extra sword.Surely the creative freedom that comes with a completely original follower is difficult to resist, but I have a hunch that getting inside Lydia's brain would astound the masses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akaTelamon Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Talonflight, I 100% agree with you, and have thought the same thing since my first run through Dawnguard. It seems that Skyrim was designed with adventure foremost in mind, whereas character development is more of a jrpg thing. But it would be pretty cool if we could get both. Modders try to fulfill that hunger with followers built from scratch, but they have overlooked one thing that makes Lydia special, and that's her attachment to the events that unfold in the story. She has a tangible place in this world. She served the Jarl of Whiterun, but the Jarl has appointed her to the player. On the flipside, a follower built from scratch will always be someone who the player must seek out and recruit, but they will never truly engage in the story. They will only be an observer. A commentator. An extra sword.Surely the creative freedom that comes with a completely original follower is difficult to resist, but I have a hunch that getting inside Lydia's brain would astound the masses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talonflight Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Talonflight, I 100% agree with you, and have thought the same thing since my first run through Dawnguard.It seems that Skyrim was designed with adventure foremost in mind, whereas character development is more of a jrpg thing. But it would be pretty cool if we could get both.Modders try to fulfill that hunger with followers built from scratch, but they have overlooked one thing that makes Lydia special, and that's her attachment to the events that unfold in the story. She has a tangible place in this world. She served the Jarl of Whiterun, but the Jarl has appointed her to the player. On the flipside, a follower built from scratch will always be someone who the player must seek out and recruit, but they will never truly engage in the story. They will only be an observer. A commentator. An extra sword.Surely the creative freedom that comes with a completely original follower is difficult to resist, but I have a hunch that getting inside Lydia's brain would astound the masses. Thank you, sir. This guy gets it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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