A Skyrim Follower is best described as humanoid or animal NPC (non-player character) who will follow you and obey specific primitive commands.  For example, you can tell a follower to follow you, wait, go to a certain point, trade items with you, pick up items, open doors, attack enemy combatants and part ways with you. Your follower can help shoulder some of the burden of carrying heavy loot and other items, but he or she also has a carry limit. Followers can be found in specific locations, specialize in specific skills, and require you to do specific things before they will follow you (see the list that follows).

Skyrim Follower Names, Locations and Methods of Recruitment

Here are all the followers you can recruit and how you can get them.

Humanoid Followers

Additional Information About Skyrim Followers

• You must meet certain conditions before a NPC will become your follower (see the list that follows).
• You can have humanoid followers as well as animal followers.
• Generally, you can have only one humanoid follower and one animal follower at any given time, but there are exceptions to this (see Getting a Party of Five or More, below).
• If you want to replace someone, you would have to dismiss your current one and ask the other to join.
• 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.
• When sneaking, your follower will sneak with you.
• All the parameters around successful stealth apply to followers, as well. (For example, a follower with Heavy Armor will probably give away your position despite your own prudence.)
• Some followers will use a bow when you use a bow, if the follower has a bow equipped and the target is not at close range.
• If you give a torch to a follower, he or she will use it to light the way at night, or in a dark area. The follower can do this even when holding a two-handed weapon, such as a great sword.
• A follower will not be able to accept additional items from you once his or her weight limit is reached.  You may, however get him or her to carry more than this limit by dropping items and commanding the follower to pick them up.  (This might be a bug, as it does not appear to make the follower move any slower.)
• When a follower's health becomes too low, he or she will stop fighting and crawl on the ground. The follower can be killed while in this state, but if you are near, enemy combatants will turn their attention to you, instead.

Party of Five or More

Although only one follower fights by your side, you can recruit multiple quest NPCs and use other tricks to create an Insane Crown Posse, potentially having many, many people in your current party.

Animal Followers