Where do followers go when not at their home?
Recently, I noticed my follower Cicero disappeared on me. I went to the sanctuary, but he was not there, so I used the console command moveto to bring him to me. Interestingly, instead of following me, he walked out of the sanctuary and off into the wilderness. I followed him until he was attacked by a saber cat. After which he resumed normal follower activity. The question is, where was he going? Where do followers go when they aren't going home? I think it's a glitch, but they have to be going somewhere right? Is there default location that NPCs go to?
Best Answer
Followers walk home.
Followers don't simply disappear from your side and magically appear at home when they're dismissed; rather, they have to take the long way home -- that is, they have to walk.
Skyrim, of course, is a dangerous place. While walking, they can be attacked just like you. It sounds like your buddy Cicero here did exactly that. Followers are also quite persistent -- once a battle starts, pretty much the only way it ends is when one side or the other is dead (followers have no concept of "the better part of valor"); the death of that saber cat must have reset his battle AI, whether or not it's what he was fighting when you teleported him. (Do note, however, that NPCs other than those referenced by quests -- including invisible quests, so this includes followers -- simply won't spawn outside of a given distance from you, so once a follower gets a certain distance from you they aren't likely to run into anyone. Not unless you again come within "range" of them.)
Note that similar things can happen without dismissing your follower -- sometimes they get attacked by creatures you don't even notice while walking with you. They'll again fight to the death in that situation, and meanwhile you may not even know there's a fight going on at all! (This happens to me all the gorram time!) I don't think this is what happened in your case, though, because entering another worldspace (in this case the Sanctuary) will pull your (active, i.e. not-dismissed) follower out of an active combat and have them appear next to you again.
All of that said, sometimes the game just simply glitches. I've seen all kinds of bizarre behavior in Skyrim from glitches. If you hadn't dismissed Cicero (relatively) recently, then a glitch is probably the most likely explanation. Do note that if you're using the console anyway, you can almost always reset any character by using disable followed by enable.
Pictures about "Where do followers go when not at their home?"
Where do followers go when dismissed?
When dismissed, the follower returns to wherever you first found them (e.g. Lydia can be found at Dragonsreach in Whiterun). You can equip followers with additional, or better weapons and armor to make them even more valuable assets to combat situations.Where did my follower go Skyrim?
You just need to be patient... Make sure you have a save available before he disappeared, then do what Purrington said, or wait for three days. By then, it should say "Your follower tires of the waiting" or something like that, in which case he will return to his starting place.Do followers go to your house Skyrim?
You can give each of your followers their own home. Dismissed followers will return to their new home. The new home can be any place, including custom player homes. They will wander around, eat, sleep, use furniture and tools.How long does it take for a follower to return home in Skyrim?
If told to wait, a follower will wait roughly three days before they get to leave the Dragonborn. They will then return to their home or the location where they were originally found.AREA21 - Followers (Official Video)
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