Statue of Meridia - "forever alone" companion bug

[quickclay]

There is a bug at the Statue of Meridia that under certain circumstances can cause you to lose access to your follower forever, and never be able to get another one! (minor spoilers ahead)

In the final battle of the Meridia / Dawnbreaker quest you are locked into a room with an undead army. At the end of the battle (spoiler) you are teleported outside to receive your reward. The problem is that if you told your follower to "wait here" at any point inside that battle room, they will become forever stuck in that room and you can not get back there. The door remains sealed from the outside when you are teleported out. The game still sees you as with that companion for the rest of the game, though you will never see them again. You are forever alone. :ohdear:

 

Is there a way to edit the location of a companion to get them out of that room, or perhaps to reset their "wait here" location/status? This really sucks!

Thanks for any help.

Edited November 17, 2011 by quickclay

[quickclay]

Update: the way to fix this is to stand before the final locked door and use the console to unlock it. Then run in, get your follower, unlock it again from the inside, and leave and never come back.

Thanks for any help.