Lydia keeps getting stuck behind doors and I think I'm losing my mind

[RiftenWanderer]

I'm on my third playthrough and this is legitimately driving me insane. Every time I go through a doorway in a dungeon, Lydia either stops dead in her tracks or phases through the wall and ends up on the other side staring at nothing. Then I have to backtrack, wait for her to unstuck herself, or just... leave her behind.

Is this a known bug or am I doing something wrong? I'm playing on Switch so I can't exactly console command her unstuck. She's fine in towns and open areas but the second we hit a narrow corridor she becomes a liability. Last run I just dismissed her at Dragonsreach because I got tired of waiting around.

Does anyone else deal with this or is my save just cursed? I've never had this problem before and I have no idea what changed.

 

[DragonbornVet]

Yeah, this is super common in narrow dungeons, especially with followers. Lydia's got pathfinding issues when there's tight corridors and multiple NPCs or clutter in the way - the game basically doesn't know where to put her so she just gets stuck or wedges herself into geometry. It's not really a bug per se, more like the AI just breaks down in those spaces.

Switch doesn't help since you can't use console commands to teleport her to you, but there are a few things that actually work: try backing up and letting her catch up before moving through the door, or if she's already stuck, go back a room and wait a solid 30 seconds. Sometimes just standing still lets the pathfinding reset. If she phases through a wall, she'll usually unstick herself if you move away and come back.

Honestly though, if you're getting that frustrated with it, just swap followers for dungeon runs. Someone lighter like Serana (if you're on Dawnguard) or even hiring a mercenary from the Companions guild for a quest doesn't have the same issues. Or just go solo - Lydia's not essential to anything and the game's easier without managing follower AI anyway.