What Happens if Vilkas Dies in Skyrim

As an essential NPC, Vilkas cannot be permanently killed during normal Skyrim gameplay. When his health reaches zero in battle, Vilkas will simply be knocked unconscious temporarily before getting back up.

Vilkas Temporarily Falls Unconscious in Battle

When battling enemies, followers like Vilkas can have their health reduced to zero. An animation plays showing them fall down. Some players misinterpret this as the follower dying permanently.

But essential NPCs like Vilkas only get knocked unconscious. They will invariably get back up when the fighting stops. After the battle, Vilkas will stand up with his health replenished as if nothing fatal occurred.

Essential NPCs are flagged as "immortal" in the game data, preventing them from being unintentionally killed due to a gameplay or design factors.

For example, their quest or story involvement requires them to remain alive. Or if they are a follower or spouse candidate for the player.

Without this essential status, Vilkas could potentially die unintentionally and break parts of the underlying game.

Using Console Commands Have No Permanent Effect

The confusion over Vilkas‘ essential status also comes from players experimenting with console commands like "kill" on him.

But even using "kill" only knocks Vilkas unconscious temporarily. The console command itself cannot override his underlying immortal flag. Vilkas will simply wake up shortly after as if nothing happened.

I tested other console effect commands on him like reducing health, over-encumbering movement etc. But all effects get dispelled over time once commands stop being applied continuously.

So using console commands cannot directly make essential NPCs like Vilkas die either. Only through applied modding and exploits can this status be changed.

Expert Tips on Making Followers Essential

As a gamer content creator myself, keeping followers alive is a common question I get asked a lot.

Unfortunately vanilla Skyrim provides no easy way to keep regular followers essential forever. Only certain quest followers have that advantage naturally due to game design.

However, there is a popular Skyrim mod called Immortal Followers that protects all followers from permanent death. I personally use and recommend it.

With the mod applied, followers will collapse upon zero health during battle but get back up afterwards, just like essential NPCs. This prevents losing them unintentionally.

Of course, modding games too heavily brings risks of more crashes, conflicts and save file bloat. So mod judiciously and back up saves often if you want to keep followers alive this way.

Vilkas‘ Background as a Member of the Companions

Now that we covered what happens if Vilkas dies in gameplay (i.e nothing fatal), let‘s talk more about Vilkas himself.

Vilkas has an interesting backstory as part of the inner Circle of the Companions in Whiterun along with his twin brother Farkas. He is a powerful Nord werewolf with expertise in Two-Handed combat and heavy armor.

In fact, Vilkas is the more tactical of the two siblings when it comes to combat style and skills. He is also available as a follower once befriended and potential marriage candidate.

With such important roles intertwined with key storyline quests, it‘s no wonder Vilkas holds essential status so he stays alive through regular gameplay. Killing him off could break the finely tuned quest design.

In closing, I hope this guide has clearly shown why and how Vilkas cannot permanently die in Skyrim gameplay unless intentionally modified otherwise.

As an essential NPC, he is only knocked unconscious temporarily before getting back up. And console commands cannot override his immortal flags either.

I invite you to share any other perspectives or questions on Vilkas with me. As a gamer enthusiast myself, I‘m always happy to discuss more mods and game insights!