Skyrim player wanted to give the fallen Lydia a "Viking funeral" but instead accidentally launched her half-naked corpse into the stratosphere

No companion in video game history has died as often or as absurdly as the Whiterun housecarl. Over the years, Lydia has been thrown into dragon fire, dropped off cliffs, forgotten in Dwemer ruins, and loaded with loot until she resembled a pack mule. Now the list includes a Viking funeral in which her body flew off into the stratosphere.

A player posted a short Skyrim clip on Reddit. The Dragonborn fires a flaming arrow at Lydia's fallen body, using a paid Creation Club item that Bethesda sells separately from the game. Instead of a solemnly burning ship drifting across the water, there was an explosion, and the housecarl's body went into orbit. One commenter said they expected a sequel: the player would find where she landed and shoot her again so Lydia would finally reach the water.

The funeral soon got an emotional backstory. Lydia was the hero's wife, and the player admitted to being genuinely upset when they realized she was no longer following them. They then framed her death as the fulfillment of a last wish:

no she asked for this. we were sitting at a bonfire to decompress after clearing out a bandit mine, and we started talking about life and death, our dreams and sorrows. we talked about our hypothetical funerals, joking around with some black briar mead in hand. i used to think she would outlive me..

The question of why the deceased went to her final rest without clothes came up more often than any condolences. The explanation was very much in Lydia's spirit, given her famous line "I am sworn to carry your burdens." She was holding the hero's best loot, and he accidentally pressed "Take All." The cherry on top was the admission that the player then sold the fallen wife's gear.

Lydia's grim reputation also comes down to how the game is built. Unlike story-critical NPCs, the housecarl is mortal, and her survival depends on the player. In combat, Lydia does not die but simply drops to her knees, then gets back up after a minute. But if a player accidentally (or deliberately) hits their companion with a sword, arrow, or spell at that moment, she goes straight to Sovngarde.

Lydia can also be sacrificed, and the game provides an official reason for it. In the Boethiah quest, the Daedric Prince demands a follower as a sacrifice, with Ebony Mail as the reward. Those in the know suggest putting someone less valuable on the altar, such as Faendal or the possessed Dunmer miner from Raven Rock on Solstheim. Commenters also recalled an old truth:

Whenever you see a dead Lydia, just remember, the Dragonborn did it.

The Dovahkiin can defeat the World-Eater, but can't keep their own wife safe.