• Nov 19, 2011  For The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the PC, a GameFAQs message board topic titled 'Found out how to change Wife's gear, instructions'.
• For The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Xbox 360, a GameFAQs. The game cell they're in, your spouse will revert back to their default outfit.

• Change Spouse Clothes Skyrim Special Edition

A simple mod that lets you give clothes to a spouse is Change Spouse Outfits that only works on non followers, there is one just for followers linked on the mod page too (or theres the full follower overhauls like AFT).

False Note[edit]

• If you happen to bring your housecarl Lydia with you to Skyhaven Temple you may ask Delphine to accept her as a new member of the blades. Delphine will ask you if she is trustworthy. Confirm this, and Delphine will make Lydia take the oath of the Blades. She then is a member of the new Blades and no longer your housecarl. You are now free to get a new housecarl from one of the Jarls of Skyrim. This is one way of getting a new housecarl, as you can only have one at a time.

You can have as many housecarls as you like, but you can only have one follower at a time. There is no reason to mention Lydia over all the other available followers. --Legoless 22:21, 9 December 2011 (UTC)

Eligible Followers[edit]

Are there any followers that will refuse to become a Blade? — Unsigned comment by 111.176.214.228 (talk) at 10:34 on 12 December 2011

See the tables at Followers to see which followers will join the Blades. --Alfwyn 10:50, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

If a follower becomes a member of the blades, will you be able to still use them as a follower? — Unsigned comment by 24.179.169.242 (talk) at 02:57 on 15 December 2011

Yup. They'll just live at Sky Haven and not where they used to be. Might be an advantage, actually, having all your followers gather in one place. Tahaneira 04:56, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

is this unlimited? i mean after 3? — Unsigned comment by Themendios (talk • contribs) at 06:45 on 16 December 2011

After you have recruited 3 followers to the Blades, that's it. — Unsigned comment by 99.184.245.227 (talk) at 23:56 on 22 April 2012

Important pending information[edit]

I think the following things need to be added to the article ASAP; I will get around to testing them myself when I am next available to do so:

• When this quest becomes, or ceases to become, available
• If more followers can be added after the initial three required to complete the quest
• If the blades armour they receive can be taken from their inventories in any way, thereby creating more than the initial, solitary set present in Sky Haven Temple
• Whether joining the Blades affects your followers in any way other than armour/default locations
• Where exactly the followers stay in Sky Haven Temple
• Details regarding the dragon hunts available from Esbern, mentioned on the Blades article.

--87.115.180.223 16:52, 25 December 2011 (UTC)

Since I just recently recruited Faendal to the blades (as of 1.4), I can try and fill in some of this info.

• Quest becomes available after completing Alduin's Wall. Delphine and Esbern finish examining the wall, and then explore the place briefly. Then they'll settle in, usually by sitting at the table in the main room. At this time (not sure if you can do this sooner, though), they'll have a dialog option for rebuilding the blades.
• Will test briefly. Other pages indicate that no more than 3 may be recruited.
• After recruiting Faendal and getting him settled in (so he'd stop wearing the armor I gave him and wear the Blade's armor instead), I did not see the Blades armor in his inventory. The only way to possibly get more armor, it seems, would be to either use the console (click on npc, then in console, type `removeallitems cb433` to transfer all their items to the chest in Breezehome's secondary bedroom), or, if the armor at Sky Haven Temple respawns, that would be another option.
• As far as I can tell, the only other way the blades affects your follower is
  • Default armor (blades armor)
  • Default location (sky haven temple)
  • Dialog - whenever you talk to them, they'll usually say something to the effect of 'I'm a blade' and 'As a blade, my duty is to kill dragons'. This does not change their dialog options.
• Recruits generally either sit at a chair (Faendal liked the single chair near the wall, but that was just 1 recruit), sleep in a bed (which bugged out for me so that I wasn't able to talk to them - will test more later), or enters the room with Delphine and Esbern from the cavern entrance, usually to sit down at their chairs again.
• Haven't gotten to dragon hunts yet.

--174.55.124.57 20:17, 6 February 2012 (UTC) (IsmAvatar)

I have confirmed, using the CK, that you cannot induct more than 3 people. The dialog option I brought someone to induct into the Blades. has a condition that a blades count variable must be less than 3, and that's the only dialog option that I can see to induct members. Of course, it looks pretty easy to change it so you can have more, either via a mod or through the console. --IsmAvatar 19:41, 7 February 2012 (UTC)I'm not entirely sure on most of these questions, but I can at least try with a couple of them....

• Without the use of console commands, only 3 followers can be recruited to the Blades.
• They tend to wander around the temple when one isn't in your service. Several of the main places I've found them at are either the barracks, the training grounds at the back, or the entrance/exit to the temple. For the most part, I find that if you released them from your services then the next time you enter the temple, (no matter how long it has been or where you sent them home from even the temple), then they will be coming in from the entrance through the first door into the temple itself.
• This is just speculation on my part, but it may be possible to pickpocket their Blade's Armor from them using the 'Perfect Touch' perk from the pickpocket skill tree. This isn't entirely unreasonable as it is the same method used to take their default armor prior to joining the blades, and would give you a way to generate an infinite supply of Blade's Armor.

---Gamer3427 06:25, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Esberns potion[edit]

Also I'd like to know what this potion does the description says it gives dragon infusion perk but I seen difference Do you only get this potion once? Or can it be created limitlessly? — Unsigned comment by 188.55.71.157 (talk) at 22:03 on 26 December 2011

Gives the user 25% Defence towards dragon, but as of a console bug, this potion is useless. — Unsigned comment by 108.227.66.76 (talk) at 13:51 on 20 July 2012

This bug is patched as of version 1.6. --Xyzzy^Talk 21:07, 20 July 2012 (UTC)

Marriage[edit]

The follower page and follower discussion has no information on this-- can your spouse become a member of the blades? If so, does it no longer make them your spouse? 75.80.97.155 05:10, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Answer: She still stays your spouse (dialogue options that only your spouse can say). If she becomes a blade however, she will not go home if you say 'its time to part ways' — Unsigned comment by 99.243.3.38 (talk) at 16:10 on 4 January 2012

Will not go home? Whose home? Their home? Your home? Not go back to Sky Haven Temple? The article should be explicit about where they go to (i.e. if they go to Sky Haven Temple when you part ways, it should say that) — Unsigned comment by 67.239.158.14 (talk) on January 11, 2012 11:51

As far as I know, marriage/spouses is completely irrelevant to recruitment. Blades recruitment only works for Followers, because they need to follow you to the temple and take the oath. Spouses don't follow you unless they are also a follower. Also, I would assume that once a follower/spouse is recruited, they should take up residence at Sky Haven Temple, just like any other follower. For instance, assume you marry Camilla Valerius. She is not a follower, so she cannot be recruited to the blades. However, if you marry someone like Iona (Your personal housecarl of Riften), who is a follower, you can then command them to follow you, take them to Sky Haven Temple, and recruit them, and they should set up new residence there. --174.55.124.57 08:03, 7 February 2012 (UTC) (IsmAvatar)

I understand what the OP is asking, and it makes sense to me. He is wondering whether a spouse/follower that is made into a Blade will permenately set up residence in Sky Haven Temple, or if it is possible to make them into a Blade and still have them live in a different house. He also wants this information to be clearly posted on the page, as, (now that I think about it), this could be of some concern to quite a few players since most will marry a character that is also a follower. I'm just trying to clarify his question......---Gamer3427 06:30, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

I was curious about this myself and finding all information on the web...to not have a clear answer I just backed up my save and tried it. I should mention that I did this on the PC with all expansions, so I'm unsure if it would be the same on PS3 or 360. I took Lydia and had her join the blades. I did get her back to my Breezehome. I'm not sure if the way I went about doing so was necessary but what I did was; as soon as she had taken the oath (she hadn't even put on the armor yet) I told her I wished for us to move. At the time I only owned breezehome so I selected (Paraphrasing) 'Your old place would suit me just fine' then immediately went through the option once more and selected Breezehome (I didn't realize at the time either way this would have worked out to be the same as she is the Housecarl of Whiterun) I left and waited a time and then went to Breezehome and found her there in her Blades armor. So long story short my wife Lydia is in the blades and still back at Breezehome. I hope this helps- Dragonborn Scourge

Death[edit]

This page should/could also note what happens if one of the recruited blades die. Happened to me and wondering whether I can recruit new ones (or not). — Unsigned comment by 213.10.180.187 (talk) at 09:16 on 3 January 2012

No, once a recruited Blade dies you can't recruit another to fill their spot --SPMcKinney 04:28, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

'Ask Esbern about dragon lairs' is bugged?[edit]

I have given three followers to Delphine and I have gained the 'Ask Esbern about dragon lairs' objective. The marker points to Esbern, but he is walking around somewhere south of Whiterun instead of somewhere in Sky Haven Temple! And when I try to talk to him, I don't have any dialogue option! He just says 'Do you need something?', nothing about dragon lairs! Is this a bug? Does anybody else have it? How can I solve this? RobertoO 18:55, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

Answer: You dont need tot talk to esbern just talk to that other chick. they both tell you the same thing. — Unsigned comment by 99.243.3.38 (talk) at 16:07 on 4 January 2012

Here's a question: Who's the 'other chick'? — Unsigned comment by 144.64.53.234 (talk) at 19:45 on 23 January 2012

I think he means Delphine.RIM 20:31, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

(←) Another answer: This won't work if you do this after you turn in the Elder Scroll, then talk to Paarthurnax. You can do the recruiting, but Esbern will not help unless you kill Paarthurnax. — Unsigned comment by Dogwjc (talk • contribs) at 14:14 on 11 February 2012

I killed Paarthurnax and Esbern still refuses to initiate conversation outside of the generic 'Did you need something?' Any fixes? OptimalGrime 21:06, 25 July 2012 (UTC)

Dragon Lair bug[edit]

Esbern points to a lair that was already cleared. There is no dragon to kill at the quest pointer. Killing other dragon won't complete the objective. There is a similar bug in Dragon Seeker quest, although in Dragon seeker quest, by reloading and doing other quests to pass time, Farkas/Vilkas will eventually point to a different lair. I am not sure if that fix will work for Esbern.(ZekunD 05:15, 9 January 2012 (UTC))

Waiting 30 game days didn't solve. The lair seems to be bugged (PS3). Now I have 2 bugged lairs (Dragontooth Crater and Bonestrewn Crest). (ZekunD 01:40, 11 January 2012 (UTC))

I had this problem with Mount Anthor, except I hadn't previously killed the dragon there. I tried walking the entire distance from Sky Haven temple with no luck, and I tried fast-traveling to a nearby location and then walking there with no luck. I also tried fast-traveling directly there after walking there first, which did work, but for whatever reason, I could only make it work by making the quest the only active quest and following the indicator on the map bar at the top of the screen, which didn't point me to Mount Anthor or the dragon's actual location. Instead, it led me to Markarth. Once in Markarth, the pointer led me back to the door I had just entered, so I went back through the gate, and then it pointed me back to Markarth. Eventually, I tried fast-traveling to Mount Anthor again, and voila! I haven't had to try it again, but I'm curious to know if it will work with other dragon lairs and also if it will point to other locations to find the wormhole. 71.29.154.157 17:04, 26 March 2014 (GMT) Jacob of Iron Town

We should add some recommendations for new Blades recruits, and why[edit]

Kharjo and Belrand are good Blades by me.--Aleksa 13:14, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Housecarls make for the best Blades. They all have the 4 skills they'll use the most already tagged, and, unlike most followers, can level up to 50. J'Zargo and Onmund are also very efficient, and having a mage or two on your side while fighting a dragon can really help. Marcurio and Derkeethus aren't the best around, but they can't die so it's not so bad 82.243.194.53 10:52, 9 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree, this article could use a section discussing good choices for blades, and the reasoning behind each. --174.55.124.57 01:58, 7 February 2012 (UTC) (IsmAvatar)

I would suggest that if you really want to fight dragons in this setup choose either three fighters or three mages. The reason is due to Friendly Fire which result multiple followers start fight each other after the main enemy defeated. For example, when one of my thrall is a mage and my follower is a fighter this occurs regularly because the mage hit the fighter almost surely. --89.23.180.18 11:45, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

The Friendly Fire note probably belongs on the main article. A huge list of every NPC that someone thinks makes 'a good Blade' does not: it's just inviting arguments, and will eventually end up as a list of every possible Follower in the entire game as different levels and different playing styles pad it more and more. Aliana 12:45, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

The best Blades recruits should be specialized in Heavy Armor because the Blades Armor becomes their default. 1H and Block is also highly recommended. — Unsigned comment by 76.126.175.242 (talk) at 07:36 on 23 February 2012

Who the 'best' Blades are is purely a personal choice. I do not believe it is feasible to list all the 'best' Blades. A mage, for example, may want to recruit mage followers as Blades, and a thief may want thieves for Blades. This proposed list is purely personal preference, and just a waste of effort, as such a list could never please everyone without just outright listing every follower who can become a Blade ES^{Question?•Email•Contribs} 07:41, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

(←) There is a small number of advantages to be gained from recruiting a follower into the blades. While It's probably not a good idea to put such a long list on a quest page, it'd be useful as a separate page. The idea (my idea anyway) is not to give list of 'best candidates' but rather to provide a table showing which followers would benefit from joining in which way. Skillsets of housecarls (and some other followers) fit well with blades equipment, hirelings can be recruited for free from then on, and essential followers guaranty that you'll not 'run out of helping hands'. Some followers give more than one benefit, and eventually users might discover some quirks for specific followers (think in the direction of recruitment and quest bugs) that should be noted.

We aren't talking about personal tastes and aesthetics here. We're talking about efficiency. There's no reason to make a blade out of a thief it's not like you're going to ambush a dragon is it? And thieves don't go well with heavy armour either. If a player has his/her own personal reasons to recruit specific followers (such as having all the favourites hang out in one place) it has nothing to do with a wiki. The only thing a wiki can provide for such a player is a bug warning (if/once bugs are found). Meanwhile, there are quite clear practical reasons to have a follower join the blades and those are worth mentioning and discussing. — Unsigned comment by 79.172.70.209 (talk) at 19:27 on 24 February 2012

I disagree. Thieves, or specifically archers, are probably the BEST followers to have in the Blades. Additionally, equipment is irrelevant; you can reequip members of the Blades however you see fit. Sure, three Housecarls are good if you're lazy or really want to keep the default Blades gear. I think the only real requirement is that the follower is level 40, because you need that for them to maximize their relevant skills. The difference between 40 and 50 is relatively negligible. --Theothersteve7 19:37, 24 February 2012 (UTC)

'Thieves' isn't the same thing as 'archers' since not every thief excels at archery (according to the classes table that should be Marksman trainers). And combat specialization is a matter of choice, since some may prefer to ground a dragon and go full mele on it. We could make a list of 'best at their trade' followers, but that has uses outside of blade recruitment and is thus a separate mater. There is no 'real requirements' either, because, frankly speaking, dragons can be taken out solo. There's just a number of benefits to be had, and none of them will dramatically impact the game to be honest. What the 'list' can do (if there will be one) is point out those advantages and make it easier for users to chose whatever suits them more. And equipment is a factor. Sure, some players will chose to re-equip every blade, but some may choose not to, and we can provide these people with a list of followers specializing in blade's gear. — Unsigned comment by 79.172.101.105 (talk) at 11:34 on 25 February 2012 (UTC)

(←) This proves my point why we shouldn't have that list. Who a good Blade is varies from player to player, so it is in no way practical to start listing NPCs on the pages, unless EVERY follower was listed, which would be a waste of time to do. Who is recruited is subjective to each player, and what they specialize in can be located on their individual pages or the Followers page, which is where someone would look to see if that player could join the Blades. ES^{Question?•Email•Contribs} 12:14, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Removing Follower[edit]

Is there a way to use the console command to remove a follower from the blades? — Unsigned comment by 141.161.133.20 (talk) at 20:24 on 20 January 2012

SetConsoleScopeQuest FreeformSkyhavenTempleA

EmptyRefAlias Blade01-03 — Unsigned comment by 178.36.210.211 (talk) at 09:32 on 21 August 2013

After that, if you ever want to recruit a new follower as a Blade you must open console and click on the desired NPC typing the following: (Although, maybe they will not have access to the Blades armor as their default outfit)

SetConsoleScopeQuest FreeformSkyhavenTempleA

ForceRefinToAlias Blade01-03

How do we also go about reverting the follower's default armor back to their original outfit rather than the Blades default? — Unsigned comment by 81.96.91.160 (talk) at 19:36 on 16 August 2015

Follower's stats after recruiting[edit]

Do folower's stats reset after recruiting (to match your current level)? Can anyboy on PC check it?

Because if it is so then this provides some kind of fix to the non-upgrading stats problem if you meet your favorite follower too early (like if you come to Riften and meet Marcurio and Mjoll at level 1).--89.23.179.32 04:41, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm using Faendal on patch 1.4, and his level already matches mine (23 - I met him and joined up with him somewhere between levels 1-5) prior to and after recruiting. --174.55.124.57 07:54, 7 February 2012 (UTC) (IsmAvatar)

The problem is that the formal level of a follower upgraded correctly but actual stats (Health, Magicka, Stamina, Skills) remain unchanged after you meet him/her at first time. So if you meet Lydia or Vilkas when they have 100 Health they keep this impressive stat through the rest of the game.--89.23.180.18 11:36, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Patch 1.4: `getavinfo health` and stamina report the same values before and after recruiting to the blades. In Faendal's case, 92 for health from a reference base value of 250 (huh?) and 83 for stamina, base value of 210. --IsmAvatar 19:09, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Did you test it after they appear in the Blades uniform? The point is that right after oath to Delphine they still carry the same default armor but when you find them in courtyard they wear the Blade armor.--89.23.171.6 23:07, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes. I tested before the oath, right after while they were still wearing the old armor, and rested for 24 hours until they were wearing the new blades armor and tested again. All three times the output was the same. If there's any other AV stats you want me to try out, just ask, because I have a save right before recruiting Faendal. I could also try recruiting other NPCs like Lydia, and report that Just give me specifics if you want to know (I'm obviously not going to sit here tediously testing a lot of NPC's/stats) --IsmAvatar 00:11, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

OK, it is pity that is not working (you were level 23, right? So lvl 6 Faendal should get better stats for sure). Thus the console users need to use the Wabbajack to upgrade their followers (save, try to Wabbajack them to animals, hit once, and they reset in a human form). Unfortunately the Wabbajack doesn't transform essential NPC including Mjoll, Vilkas and Aela - in theory one best archer and two best 2H followers. All of them you meet very early so they stuck at level 6 for now.--31.128.139.226 10:48, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Lost Armor[edit]

According to the article: Any armor given to them prior to their induction will be removed from their inventory. I am unable to confirm this.

I'm using patch 1.4, and I just inducted Faendal into the blades wearing Dwemer armor. At first, he continued to wear his original armor. I then had him follow me, and then told him to leave, and then I waited for about a day. When I returned, I found him wearing the blades armor. I told him to follow me again, and then traded with him to see his inventory, and he still had the Dwemer armor and all the other items I had given him. I was unable to see his new Blades armor, so it must be a new hidden default. When I gave him some item (a 1H sword), he immediately switched back to his original gear (the Dwemer armor, etc) as expected. Until someone can explain where they got this idea from, or if it is indeed fixed in 1.4, I'm altering the article to say that they may lose their armor. 174.55.124.57 08:21, 6 February 2012 (UTC) (IsmAvatar)

Yeah followers will always go back to their blades armour when they are just mingling around the temple. Kinda sucks, gave them all my old armors (legendary ebony and the ebony mail quest reward, some legendary dragonbone and legendary glass armor) to look pimped out and be better but it doesn't seem to work that way. — Unsigned comment by 86.170.195.95 (talk) at 02:13 on 12 February 2012

It is the default armour of the follower that is replaced, not the armour you have given them. I tested this with Lydia, who has steel armour as default. After recruiting her to the blades she equipped blades armour. She re-equipped the ebony armour I had previously given her after a few cell changes (a delay which in my experience is normal when upgrades are given to followers). If you take all of the amour out of her inventory she will wear blades armour, and if you console remove the blades armour she will wear nothing (even after cell changes). So the default steel armour was replaced with default blades armour. — Unsigned comment by Arliya (talk • contribs) at 13:36 on 2 July 2012

I just had a Blade inductee completely lose the Ebony Mail that she was wearing. So it doesn't always happen, but it definitely happens sometimes. It can be easily circumvented by taking all of your follower's armour away before talking to Delphine, then giving it back once your follower is a Blade. --Morrolan (talk) 15:28, 22 September 2013 (GMT)

Inducted Blades don't put on Blades Armor?[edit]

I'm on my third playthrough of the game, and was surprised to notice that, even several days after their recruitment, the followers I sent to Sky Haven haven't equipped the standard set of Blades gear that they're supposed to. They're all wearing the Akaviri Katanas - but their armor is default.

The NPCs in question are Golldir, Illia, and Erandur. Does this issue have something to do with the particular followers? Has anyone else encountered it? It's hardly game-breaking, but is certainly quite annoying. — Unsigned comment by 173.28.219.50 (talk) at 00:06 on 11 May 2012

I don't think it has to do with the particular followers, as I have Illia as a member of the Blades, and she wears full Blades armor. I think this may be just a glitch with joining in and of itself, as it affected all three of the followers you inducted. It's possible that something caused them to not have their default equipment changed, but they still obtained the Blade's Sword that get's placed into their normal inventory........ ---Gamer3427 02:59, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Have you tried taking them out on dragon hunting missions, or asking them to follow you? If you have them as followers you should be able to look at their inventory and see if the Blades Armor is there. --Morrolan (talk) 14:04, 7 April 2013 (GMT)

I encountered this bug, and I discovered its source(I think). Are you using a mod? UFO(Ultimate Follower Overhaul) mod affects the default armor and weapon of your follower(You could dress better option), I discovered this bug, and play along with it, but after uninstalling UFO, by viewing their inventory,(this time using AFT[Awesome Follower Tweaks]), I found the blades' armor in their inventory and took the armor i gave them, thus, equipping the Blade's Armor. Hope this helps. Evonflux 17:46, 2 September 2013

Unmentioned Quest Fix[edit]

In the notes section there is a bullet that says 'Players who have the bug where they cannot obtain a follower, as possible followers say the player already has one, can be fixed using this method, but can only be done 3 times.' What is the method it mentions and if one does not exist shouldn't it be removed? This note was added 06:15, January 16, 2012 (http://www.uesp.net/w/index.php?title=Skyrim:Rebuilding_the_Blades&oldid=857870) --SPMcKinney 05:55, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Unfortunately, that edit was made by an IP address, and that was their only edit to the site, so there's no chance of asking them. • JA^Talk 05:59, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

So if it can't be verified then it should be removed right? It will only end up confusing those out there, well it has already that is the reason I made this trying to find out for him.--SPMcKinney 15:10, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I believe it means that, when a new recruit joins the blades, they automatically leave the player's service, so a new follower can be recruited, but this can only be done three times...I think that's what he/she means. Cowleyj 20:06, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

I would have to agree with Cowleyj here. That's what I understood the note to mean as well. I'll go ahead and edit the note so it's more clear. ABCface^◥ 13:12, 26 May 2012 (UTC)

Ahh ok the edit clarifies that point much much better than the original did thanks (and it is written much better than I would of been able to lol)--SPMcKinney 19:11, 26 May 2012 (UTC)

Followers losing Dragon Priest Masks - busted![edit]

Tested on Xbox with the follower Marcurio. Interestingly irritating, he actually kept his other armor and weapons, and only lost the mask

I recruited Jordis the Sword-Maiden as a follower, gave her Vokun (which she immediately equipped), then took her to Sky Haven Temple and recruited her into the Blades. She immediately left my service, but kept the mask on. I then went outside, came back in, found that she had removed the mask, and was wearing Blades armor. I recruited her as a follower again, and checked her inventory. She still had Vokun. It appears that followers do not lose Masks when recruited into the Blades, at least not on the PC. --Xyzzy 07:13, 23 June 2012 (UTC)

I never encountered the bug that caused them to lose the masks, but it's entirely possible that it only happens to certain masks. Someone needs to go through and test it for all the masks, as well as multiple followers, that way we can know the specifics about this bug..... ---Gamer3427 03:03, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

It has happened to me, Xbox 360 follower was Brelyna Maryon and mask not sure of the name now it's gone but it was the one where it grants the wearer 100% magic regen. She had all the daedric armor and so forth just not the mask. — Unsigned comment by 50.15.28.175 (talk) at 21:24 on 29 July 2012

It happened to me as well, Marcurio was wearing the Blue mask(100% Magic regen) when I showed him to Delphine. He left my service briefly but I asked him to follow me again. We then excited the temple and fast traveled to High Hrothgar. Now I noticed that he had different attire and was no longer wearing a mask. When I looked at his inventory, it had disappeared. I am playing on the PC right now.119.224.40.138 11:55, 29 April 2013 (GMT)

No Quest[edit]

So I'm way passed the Alduin's Wall quest (as in I'm actually finished the main quest) but I am not allowed to recruit into the blades and don't get the dialogue options to recruit. So anyone know of something I'm missing? 205.206.24.252 00:26, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Did you kill Paarthurnax? If you don't kill him, the Blades aren't happy with you. The Silencer speaks^Talk 00:43, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Ok so finish getting word walls from Greybeards, kill Paarthurnax and all should be happy. Ok. 205.206.24.252 02:45, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Odd, I've chosen not to kill Paarthurnax and still received the Rebuilding the Blades quest, so I don't think it's a prerequisite. --Negativeiamacapsicle 07:05, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

It's not a prerequisite, but it will interrupt the quest if it isn't finished. The Silencer speaks^Talk 12:27, 22 July 2012 (UTC)

Can't Finish Task[edit]

I don't know if I messed my game up or if its a bug that can be patched. But I 'brought a follower to Delphine' (lydia) and found a new follower I wanted. (Ghorbash the iron hand) an orc. I married him and brought him to Delphine. Now their both blades and if I tell either of them to 'part ways' they go to the sky haven temple. But the task to bring Delphine a follower is still not completed... what do I do? — Unsigned comment by 66.87.7.156 (talk) at 02:00 on 4 August 2012

My advice, keep adding to the Blades. See if that fixes it or not. Or if you can get more than three blades members. — Unsigned comment by 98.95.58.26 (talk) at 00:08 on 4 October 2012

The task requires three members, from your post you are saying you have brought two, therefore another follower is needed to be converted. Silence is Golden^{Break the Silence} 00:23, 4 October 2012 (GMT)

Mjoll the Lioness as Blade[edit]

I completed her Grimsever quest and decided to make her a Blade. I read about the equipment bugs so I traded the Grimsever first before taking her in. To my surprise, when I found her again not in Sky Haven Temple but in Kilkreath Ruins, she was wearing the Blades' armor with the Grimsever in her back. Now there are two Grimsevers. I guess the unofficial patches were over-correcting? 50.0.25.231 08:00, 19 January 2013 (GMT)

Cannot induce followers[edit]

Change Spouse Clothes Skyrim Special Edition

After quite a one year hiatus I picked up Skyrim again, trying to get Erik the Slayer to join the blades. I have no dialogue option with either Delphine or Esbjern to let Erik join. The quest is in my diary (strangely though in English instead of German, which is my set language). A 'getstage' shows stage 10, which is also correct. Any suggestions? --Ulkomaalainen (talk) 21:56, 7 April 2013 (GMT)

The dialogue option is only with Delphine. You need to meet Erik, get him to follow you, then travel back to Sky Haven Temple and talk to Delphine while he's following you. He is eligible to join the Blades, so that should work. Does it? --Morrolan (talk) 23:54, 7 April 2013 (GMT)

I'm having the same problem. I take the follower (Whats-her-name the Steel Hand- an orc) to Sky Haven and talk to Delphine- the dialogue for giving my follower over to her does not appear. Any ideas?--123.115.6.140 17:40, 20 April 2013 (GMT)

I checked my multiple followers mod off to check if that was what was causing it but it isn't. I'd be interested to know what it is.--123.115.6.140 17:49, 20 April 2013 (GMT)

I am having the same issue. Switching off follower mods doesn't seem to help. Checked load order and have all unofficial patches. Lydia became a member of the Blades when the quest was first offered, but since then I cannot get Delphine's dialogue option to show — Unsigned comment by 80.235.146.209 (talk) at 15:27 on 3 August 2013

Adding Initiates (through the console)?[edit]

For whatever reason I am unable to recruit my followers into the Blades. After enabling/disabling a good portion of my Mods (I don't run that many, either) the problem persists. What happens (or, more accurately, what DOESN'T happen) is when I tell Delphine that I have a recruit, she asks if I'm sure (to which I reply 'Yes') and then says she'll say the Oath.

However, she doesn't. After fiddling around with the game a little, I figured out that Delphine will say the Oath if I set the Quest Stage forward during the conversation. However, my Follower doesn't say their part of the Oath, and acts as if nothing happens. Is there a script that they should recieve, or a faction I can put them into, that would effectively make them react as if they had become a Blade? I noticed there was a 'BladesRecruitsFaction'. but I don't know it it's actually used, or how/when to add said follower to it. Piffinatour (talk) 06:42, 9 February 2014 (GMT)

Steward & marriage notes[edit]

I added a note that steward blades remain at the houses they're stewards of. This was to make this page consistent, because there's a note on it to the effect that Blades spouses live at the Dragonborn's house.

My note was removed from this page because there's a note on the Steward page about blades stewards. I know, I added it. :) However there's also a note on the marriage page about blades spouses. If we're going to be consistent, shouldn't the blades spouse note be removed from this page as well then? --Morrolan (talk) 21:01, 15 August 2014 (GMT)

The information only needs to be on a single page, whichever it's most relevant to. Which page that is is up for debate, but the important thing is that we avoid redundancy. Zul se onikaan^{Laan tinvaak} 03:28, 16 August 2014 (GMT)

Followers recruited into the Blades walk back to their own point of recruitment[edit]

This bug is actually only briefly noted on the Followers page, but no talk about which followers it affects. Cosnach turned around and walked out of Sky Haven Temple as soon as I got Delphine to accept him in, while his own page also doesn't note it happens to him. I tried loading before the point I picked him up myself, but that didn't change anything. Oddly enough, loading before I recruited the prior Blade, Ogol, did change it. Ogol was recruited in, and afterward I brought Cosnach there like I did before, but this time he actually did not walk away for some reason.

I noticed online talk that a lot of mods influence/break this quest, but as I'm on PS3 that isn't the case with my game. — Unsigned comment by 83.85.60.24 (talk) at 06:43 on 18 September 2015

I've recruited both Ogol and Cosnach. I've never seen this behaviour from any Blade, playing on 360. Where was Cosnach going? --Morrolan (talk) 23:49, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

He was making his way back to Markarth, I guess back to his old schedule? — Unsigned comment by 83.85.60.24 (talk) at 06:43 on 21 September 2015

That suggests that the bug was that perhaps his old schedule wasn't correctly replaced by the quest script. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that the problem may be that old Elder Scroll chestnut, interrupted conversations leading to quest scripts not updating properly. --Morrolan (talk) 19:22, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

• LevelSkip»
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Want to Change your Character's Name and Appearance in Skyrim?

Important:You can only change your character's appearance and name if you have the PC version of Skyrim.

With all of the character customization options that you get with Skyrim, it's easy to go overboard and choose an appearance for your character that's exciting at first, but then quickly loses its appeal.

If you've already invested dozens of hours in your character, earned a ton of gold, and completed numerous quests, it's not surprising if you don't want to go back and do it all over again with a new character just to change the way you look. Fortunately, there is a way to change your character's name and appearance later in the game by using the console. Read on to learn how.

Note: You can also use this to change your sex if you want, just don't change your race! (See the notes later on.)

Before we begin, don't forget the number one rule of modding: Always make a new save before making any changes to your character's appearance or name, like you should for all console changes. This will allow you to revert to a working saved game if for some reason changing your character causes any problems.

To change your character's appearance:

1. Open the console by pressing '~', which is located in the top left corner of standard North American keyboards.
2. Type showracemenuin the console and hit Enter. This will pull up the character creation screen that you first came across when you initially created your character.
3. Press the '~' again to close the console so that you can start making changes.
4. You can change anything about your character's appearance, including the gender. Avoid changing the race, though, as it may mess up your stats. (More on this below.) When you are done, just select 'Done.'
5. You will be prompted to re-enter your character's name and the game will resume.

To change your character's name:

1. If you just want to change your character's name, you don't have to make any changes to your appearance, just select 'Done' and type your new name.

Warning: Changing Your Race Changes Your Stats

If you change your character's race, your stats will change as well. This is because each race in Skyrim has different strengths and weaknesses—these are reflected in the different starting levels in different skills. Therefore changing your race should, in theory, change your skill levels because your old racial modifiers will be removed and your new racial modifiers will be applied. However, this isn't the case. Instead, changing your race may result in the following:

1. Mismatched experience and skill levels. Unfortunately, the game doesn't automatically allocate your previous experience with the same skills that you've built up while playing, so your new skill levels won't match the levels you had before. In fact, it seems to just sort of dump all of your experience into Destruction and Restoration (at least in all my attempts.)
2. Rebalancing your stats and changing levels. Even worse, it affects more than your skill levels. Changing your race also leads to the effect of either rebalancing your Magicka, Health, and Stamina stats by setting them as all equal, or it'll set them all to 100. The changes to your skills may also result in your level changing as well.
3. Losing particular racial powers. Changing your race may also cause you to lose the racial power you had when you started the game, but won't necessarily add the racial power for your new race.

All in all, changing your race using showracemenu is a bad idea.

Using SetRace and SetPlayerRace to Change Your Race

Can you change your race without using showracemenu? You can use the console commands setraceraceId or setplayerrace raceId (you need to change raceId to the ID of the race, like ImperialRace or KhajiitRace, etc.) to change your character's race. However this has the unfortunate side effect of causing the game to forget where your head texture is located: the next time you load the game, your head will be missing!

Therefore, there is no known way to permanently alter your character's race without causing a bug of some sort.

The weight slider allows you to adjust your character's build, but it doesn't give you any control over the character's size. If you want to make your character taller or shorter, therefore, you have to use the console.

To change your character's size:

1. Open the console '~' and type: player.setscalex.x (where x.x is the scale you would like your character to be set at—for example, setting your character's scale to 0.98 will make them a little smaller, and 1.02 will make them a little taller. The default is 1.0.)
2. Type '~' again to close the console when you're done.
3. You can check the current scale of your character by typing player.getscale (you don't need to provide a number.)

Note: Don't go crazy with these settings because it's very easy to blow your character way out of proportion. (Unless, of course, that's what you want to do.) Usually adjusting them by .2 or .3 is enough to get the effect you're looking for. If you make your character too small or too big, you may run into gameplay issues. (For example, I set one character to 0.5 and after a couple of minutes they started to run really slowly.)

As always, use console commands at your own risk.

Play as a Non-Player Character

In response to a number of requests, I've started uploading screenshots of the slider settings for various NPCs from Skyrim.

You can use these settings to make your character look like another character from the game (tweaking them however you like, of course) or, if you're a PC gamer, use the plugins or save files I've created to play as one of these characters 'out of the box.'

If you have any special requests, just shoot me an email or comment below.

• Sorry...I can't remember...I went to a pgae that had a listing of all in-game characters that you could download and play as...I can't recall how I got there or the page...would somebody please give me the URL to get there.

• I just wanted to add that as far as appearance goes, you can still change your characterif you play on consoles, but not your race or name. Just go to the Ragged Flagon and pay the creepy lady on the bench by the water 1,000 Septims. You can change your appearance as many times as you like that way, but if you are a vampire or werewolf she will not allow you to do it.

• xbox360 and ps3 u just go to riften near thieves guild and talk to the altmer lady

• For XBox 360:

  1. Copy profile and gamesave from 360 to flash drive

  2. On the PC extract the gamesave with Modio or Horizon

  3. Get your gamesave which should be a .exs

  4. Change the extension to a .ess

  5. Load the .ess file on Skyrim for PC

  6. Follow the tutorial

  7. Save the game

  8. Get the .ess file and change back to a .exs

  9. Inject to flash drive with Mod

• I use the same character appearance I use in Saints row IV (to do this, I needed mods), so is unlikely i will grow sick of him. I will edit him more to make him match, or at least to make him closer to his saints row counterpart (I already succeeded for most part)

• Had a wood elf character, I changed his height only by 1.075, and one of the shop owners in Skyrim referred to me as a nord...

• This one is very pleased with your insights, friend. May your path lead you to warm sands.

• wow, this is very helpful! now I don't have to start all the training again just to change my character hair. thank you so much for sharing this

• When I did it and tried to change my name, it showed some weird code(like ,1000140 or something) and wouldn't let me back out.

• They really do need to add a change character appearance option into the game.

• It really rox

• @Justin D on my ps3 it only shows the last 4 times I've saved so how do i change my character, I'm so far into the game i don't want to start over. I'm just wondering how to change my character?

• I should have clarified, but this glitch was tested and replicated succesfully on the Xbox 360, current with Skyrim's latest patch as of 02/08/12

• Alright, I can do Justin D's glitch with a 100% success rate. I actually ran into it by myself by accident, and it took me quite awhile to replicate the bug. Justin is on the right track, but he's missing a few crucial steps. This is what MUST be done, and I tested it for days.

  1. Preset has to be the same, as Justin said

  2. Weight has to be the same, as Justin said

  3. Sex, race, and preset, as Justin said

  Now for what Justin DIDN'T say

  4. All facial 'types' must match the base model. For example, you have the second nose selected for the character you want to edit. To re-edit him, you HAVE to select the SAME nose type or the glitch will not work.This goes for colors, too, and hair and facial hair styles. Make EVERYTHING match, but do NOT worry about the proportion sliders. Like the nose example, it has to be the same 'type', but you can shape it however you want with the proportion sliders.

  5. Eye color MUST be the same

  6. Scars must match. If they are present. I tested this and I found that ADDING a scar will cause the glitch to fail, but adding warpaint CAN be done. I do not know why.

  7. Even the minute details MUST match. Even mouth type, but colors as well. This includes lip color, eyeliner, and any eye shadow, etc

  And bam, those are the missing keys to the puzzle. Obviously, due to everything needing to macth, the glitch isn't too terrible useful except to maybe give your guy minor tweaks. Say you made his eyes up a bit to high, you can lower them, or trim down his nose or adjust his jawline, etc. You cannot give him a haircut or add scars, but you CAN add warpaint.

  Final detail: The game uses your original base model for any modification. Transforming into a werewolf and back will reset your face to what it was when you first made him, and becoming a vampire will do the same.

  Conclusion: You can tweak the face, but ultimately, only gonna be useful for the really nit picky or for those who wanna try out new warpaint. WHIIIICHHHH in and of itself is actually kinda cool. I did not test if removing the warpaint is possible. The change is permanent, and can only be undone by becoming a vamp/werewolf, OR loading your previous save on a separate memory unit (flash drive), then loading your your other save again after will change him back if you screwed up. Keep in mind the change will affect ALL of your saves with that character, even if the image on the save doesn't reflect the changes. So don't freak out, it's still easily reversible, and if you don't have a flashdrive, vampirism is easily cured and can be contracted endlessly. And yeah, the guy that does the ritual is immortal and can't die, and if your a werewolf, transform ONCE and back again and your golden. Enjoy

• An excellent article - thanks so much!

• What type of Hide Armour is that?

• Justin, On Xbox if we do what you said with the glitch can we then load back to where we were currently playing with our new appearance or would we have to start completely over?

• Interestingly enough your perks remain after changing your race with showracemenu. Fortunately i can now increase once more my levels sky high with blacksmithing (which in my case was reset). Archery is way too high though. Anyway it seems interesting (thank god i had already made the damn dragon armor).

• Haha, don't lose your head over it. xD Still laughing... Heeehhhh...

• The trick to using Showracemenu bug free is not to switch to a diff race or to a preset, if you leave these untouched you should be able to still chance scars, hair, skin tone, etc.TIP- If you see your avatar arms cross, you've changed something and reset the majority of your stats to LVL 1 ranks; and must restart your save.

• Justin I have tried following your steps but it doesn't seem to work. Can you perhaps make a video, or post a more detailed description of how you got it to work? I think it would be really helpful for all the Xbox 360 owners who have Skyrim. Thanks!

• I play on Xbox 360 and have found a glitch which allows you to change your appearance on any character. What you must do is:

  1. make a save with the character you want changed

  2. load the first save of the game where you are still the nord prisoner (before you customize your character)

  3. choose the same race, sex, preset, and weight as the character you want to change

  4. once you have done that, you may change the face however you want, DO NOT name your character

  5. load the save you made in step 1.

  Presto! Your character will look like the one you were just making. I've done this twice now in a row and it worked perfectly each time as long as you start with the same preset and weight. May work on PS3, but I don't have one so I cannot confirm.

• i play on xbox 360, is there anyway to change it on there? cause i hit 'b' on accdent and canceled all of it and i didn't think it was a big deal at the time cause i thought i could change it, but so far i don't think you can:( so do you think there is a way? or they might come out with it in the furture?

• my advice is to write down all your skill levels, shouts learned, etc. even your health, magicka and stamina levels... save that for later. Now look online for the way to alter those stats which is 'player.setav (skill) (number value of skill desired)' Write all of these in one text(txt) file, one on each line. It'll be kind of long because you need a line for every skill, your health/magicka/stamina bars and your shouts. I think that's all the stats it will mess up. Once you've saved this as a filename you'll remember (in .txt format) save it in your Skyrim directory in My Computer. Right inside the skyrim folder. Load up the game, go to the character that has the now messed up stats from changing race... type in the console command 'bat (name of file)' and enter. It will run through all the commands you entered in the text file and bring your character back to what it was before you altered its race. Now, if you ever want to alter your character again, you just load that file up, update it to what you are now before changing... make your changes, then run that file again. Best workaround I came up with.