12 Best Lydia Mods For Skyrim

Lydia is one of the more well-known housecarls because she was the first one most people played.

So you can have her with you from the start of the game, and she can stay with you for the whole adventure in Skyrim.

In the fandom, she is known for making snarky comments about carrying the Dragonborn’s burdens and for setting off traps and making enemies notice her when she is trying to sneak up on them.

But for most Skyrim fans, she’s still a treasure.

So, if you want to change Lyida in your game, this list should help you upgrade this classic character.

Note: All of the mods on this page work with Skyrim Special Edition (SSE).

12. Beautiful Lydia Replacer

This mod replaces the appearance of Lydia, a character in “Skyrim,” and changes her default gender behavior to be more neutral. Additionally, it sets her as essential.

The mod is not compatible with other mods that change Lydia, and the author is not open to changing or adding anything to the mod.

Any issues can be reported to the author with screenshots. The author also states that opinions are subjective, and the mod is optional to download.

11. A Beautiful Lydia Replacer or Lacey Custom Follower

This mod offers two options for players of “Skyrim”:

1. To change the appearance of the character Lydia without altering her stats.
2. To add a new follower named Lacey who has a custom appearance and uses your body and texture files.

The mod also includes a patch that allows for the use of Improved Follower Dialogue – Lydia by Roadhouse699.

10. Stealthy Lydia

Lydia’s clumsiness in dungeons is almost endearing, but mostly annoying.

The vanilla game offers no solution to this though.

So here’s a mod for players that want Lydia to match their more specialized playstyles as a sneaking thief or assassin.

Or at the very least, just have her stop setting off traps or alerting enemies when attempting to sneak.

With this mod, Lydia will be given leather armor and a few skill perks for archery, light armor, one-handed, and most importantly – the sneaking perk Light Foot.

This makes her a stealthier (and far more lethal) rouge.

9. Marianne as Lydia

If you’re looking for one of the more realistic appearance mods for Lydia, look no further.

With this one you’ll find some deep details added in her eyes and face, matching that of a woman somewhere in her early 30’s that really outshines most of the other appearance mods available for Lydia.

Granted this is always opinion, but definitely give this one a try and see what you think.

If you’re looking for one of the more realistic appearance mods for Lydia, look no further.

With this one you’ll find some deep details added in her eyes and face, matching that of a woman somewhere in her early 30’s that really outshines most of the other appearance mods available for Lydia.

Granted this is always opinion, but definitely give this one a try and see what you think.

8. Less Annoying Lydia

Most of Lydia’s notoriety comes from her snarky off-hand remarks each time you ask her to carry things.

The Dragonborn is a thane of Whiterun, and demands more respect.

So with this mod installed, her line, “Sworn to carry your burdens” will be replaced with “What do you want me to carry?”

Ah, much better.

That wasn’t too much to ask for, was it?

7. Alex’s Lydia – Housecarl of Whiterun

Here’s a really strong appearance mod that’s absolutely worth checking out.

Lydia will get an updated lore-friendly appearance, all in one go. But she’ll also be given a few nice tweaks as well, so this mod goes beyond just aesthetics.

Some tweaks include custom Lydia tracking, so you’ll never have to run around looking for her just to find her stuck in a ditch somewhere.

Also her vanilla character maxes out at level 50, but now she’ll scale with you up to level 999!

So get out there and start grinding for that exp.

6. Lydia Face Preset

If it’s not enough to have Lydia as a companion, well, then maybe you need to take it to the next level.

Maybe you want to become Lydia.

You could try all kinds of other mods installed on top of eachother, but don’t waste all that time.

Just use this preset for female Nords instead.

You’ll become the long lost twin that Lydia never knew she had!

5. Better-looking Lydia_Spellsword

Lydia’s fighting style is very much in line with her Nord race:

Purely physical attacks.

But that means you’ll find no magic abilities in her catalog of skills.

This mod can make her a spellsword, where she’ll not only retain her skills with swords and bows, but also have magic at her disposal too.

So this makes her more lethal than ever in combat.

The mod also comes with an appearance update, so she’ll not only be better at fighting, but she’ll look good doing it.

4. Essential Lydia

Essential NPCs in Skyrim cannot die, no matter how hard you try.

Most of these NPCs are essential during certain missions, or after certain events in the game.

Unfortunately, Lydia is not one of those essential NPCs. And she can die.

There’s nothing more frustrating than completing an entire dungeon, only to discover she was killed early on, forcing you to make the choice…

Do you load an earlier save when she was still alive and replay the entire dungeon?

Or just let her rest in peace and find a new companion?

By making her essential with this mod, you no longer have to worry about her dying.

Now you can just enjoy your time together as you raid dungeons and storm castles.

3. Lovely Lydia

The NPCs of Skyrim are given a set of pre-programmed body animations.

And just one look at Lydia should tip you off that she was definitely given a tougher, more masculine walking animation.

We can change that with this small mod.

So now she’ll not only have a touched up facial appearance that looks far more feminine, but she’ll also have the feminine walking animation that most women in Skyrim have.

2. Improved Follower Dialogue – Lydia

Despite Lydia’s popularity, she’s still rather “stock”.

Her voice is used by many different characters in the game, and she doesn’t have many unique interactions.

In an effort to make her truly unique, this mod totally overwrites her dialogue – which has now been completely redone by the voice actress known as Leebeewilly.

Now Lydia will have radiant dialogue, plus custom interactions with other characters, and even unique dialogue options that appear as you progress in the main questline.

So now you have motivations to keep her as a companion throughout the whole game.

There’s also the option to pursue some romantic conversations with her too, if you’re into that kinda thing.

1. Bijin Warmaidens

It’s no surprise Bijin Warmaidens is one of the most popular mods on the Nexusmods website.

And it’s no surprise that it ranks at the top of our list here.

You’ll find no greater appearance enhancement mod for Lydia anywhere else.

With this installed, Lydia will look far more realistic and beautiful, compared to her vanilla face model.

There are also appearance enhancements for many other female characters here, such as Aela the Huntress and Mjoll the Lioness.

So if you just want pretty-ified Skyrim girls (including Lydia) then this is a mod to check out.