Corrupted Skyrim Files, a blue screen of death, a runaway cat, a smashed mailbox, a replaced mailbox, a STOLEN mailbox and now a sick cat.  How's your life been lately? Let's talk about Anchor Characters.


As most of you know, Benor, Eisa, Valdimar and Erandur are my Anchors in Denizens of Morthal.

 The NPCs who fill the role of an Anchor tie me to a specific place and force me to linger around the area so that I am motivated to splice for them and the other inhabitants. I have specific Anchors in each area I plan to splice for--one representing each voice type. Time will tell if I will manage to enhance all of my anchor characters exactly as I have with Benor, Eisa, Valdimar and Erandur, but I'm already having fun just trying to do so! If I can manage to give them just a spark more of life, I will be quite pleased. (This especially applies to certain members of the Thieves Guild--you guys can't hang out in the Ratway forever!)

Kindred Spirits has many more anchor characters than Denizens--and some that are entirely new because no one from their respective voice types really resonated with me. Most of the new NPCs must have their related quest activated by actions of the player in order to show up in the world--I have never been fond of instant friend-type NPCs, and have no intention of foisting them on anyone else.

Before my unfortunate modding mishap on the 21st of this January, most of the characters that I will go on to list here already had their "How are you?" responses done and some even had a few conversations active with other NPCs. The last I saw, Silus Vesuius had become quite the social butterfly of Dawnstar, hard at work trying to convince his less than enthusiastic neighbors to visit his museum.

Without further ado, here's the list of Anchor Characters:
(Please note that the precise locations characters represent may be subject to change.)

Anchors of Denizens of Morthal: 

Anchor: Benor
Voice Type: Male Brute
Representative of: Hjaalmarch

Anchor: Erandur
Voice Type: Male Dark Elf
Representative of: Hjaalmarch/The Pale

Anchor: Valdimar
Voice Type: Male Nord
Representative of: Hjaalmarch

Anchor: Eisa Blackthorn
Voice Type: Female Nord
Representative of: Hjaalmarch

Anchors of Kindred Spirits:

Anchor: Cosnach
Voice Type: Male Drunk
Representative of: The Reach

Anchor: Ghorbash the Iron Hand
Voice Type: Male Orc
Representative of: The Reach

Anchor: Borgakh the Steel Heart
Voice Type: Female Orc
Representative of: The Reach

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: MaleYoungEager
Representative of: The Reach

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: MaleSoldier
Representative of: The Reach

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: Female Old Grumpy
Representative of: The Reach

Anchor: Rayya
Voice Type: Female Commander
Representative of: Falkreath

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: Female Sultry
Representative of: Falkreath

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: FemaleKhajiit
Representative of: [Pending]

Anchor: Illia
Voice Type: Female EvenToned
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Selveni Nethri
Voice Type: Female Coward
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Vex
Voice Type: FemaleUniqueVex
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Brynjolf
Voice Type: MaleUniqueBrynjolf
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Delvin Mallory
Voice Type: MaleUniqueDelvinMallory
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Karliah
Voice Type: FemaleUniqueKarliah
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Cynric
Voice Type: MaleSlyCynical
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Etienne Rarnis
Voice Type: MaleCommoner
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Rune
Voice Type: MaleEventonedAccented
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Thrynn
Voice Type: Male Bandit
Representative of: The Rift

Anchor: Hadvar
Voice Type: MaleUniqueHadvar
Representative of: Whiterun

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: Male Commander
Representative of: Whiterun

Anchor: From-Deepest-Fathoms
Voice Type: FemaleArgonian
Representative of: Haafingar

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: FemaleCondescending
Representative of: Haafingar

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: MaleGuard
Representative of: Haafingar

Anchor: Valerica 
Voice Type: DLCFemaleUniqueValerica
Representative of: Castle Volkihar

Anchor: Serana 
Voice Type: DLCFemaleUniqueSerana
Representative of: CastleVolkihar/Fort Dawnguard

Anchor: Fura Bloodmouth
Voice Type: DLCFemaleUniqueFura
Representative of: Castle Volkihar

Anchor: Garan Marethi
Voice Type: DLC1MaleUniqueGaran
Representative of: Castle Volkihar

Anchor: Isran
Voice Type: DLC1MaleUniqueIsran
Representative of: Fort Dawnguard

Anchor: Gunmar
Voice Type: DLC1MaleUniqueGunmar
Representative of: Fort Dawnguard

Anchor: Florentius
Voice Type: DLC1MaleUniqueFlorentius]
Representative of: Fort Dawnguard

Anchor: Gelebor
Voice Type: DLC1MaleUniqueGelebor
Representative of: [Pending]

Anchor: Tolfdir
Voice Type: MaleOldKindly
Representative of: Winterhold

Anchor: Brelyna 
Voice Type: FemaleYoungEager
Representative of: Winterhold

Anchor: J'zargo
Voice Type: Male Khajiit
Representative of: Winterhold

Anchor: Nelacar
Voice Type: MaleElfHaughty
Representative of: Winterhold

Anchor: Orthorn
Voice Type: MaleCoward
Representative of: Winterhold

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: MaleNordCommander
Representative of: Winterhold

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: MaleEvenToned
Representative of: Winterhold

Anchor: Silus Vesuius
Voice Type: MaleCondescending
Representative of: The Pale

Anchor: Gabriella
Voice Type: FemaleElfHaughty
Representative of: The Pale

Anchor: Festus Krex
Voice Type: MaleOldGrumpy
Representative of: The Pale

Anchor: Veezara
Voice Type: MaleArgonian
Representative of: The Pale

Anchor: Cicero
Voice Type: MaleUniqueCicero
Representative of: The Pale

Anchor: Nazir
Voice Type: MaleUniqueNazir
Representative of: The Pale

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: FemaleOldKindly
Representative of: Eastmarch

Anchor: Dravynea the Stoneweaver
Voice Type: FemaleDarkElf
Representative of: Eastmarch

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: MaleUniqueGalmar
Representative of: Eastmarch

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: MaleUniqueKodlak
Representative of: [Pending]

Anchor: Frea
Voice Type: DLC2FemaleUniqueFrea
Representative of: Skaal Village

Anchor: Sinding
Voice Type: MaleCommonerAccented
Representative of: Solstheim

Anchor: Neloth
Voice Type: DLC2MaleUniqueNeloth
Representative of: Tel Mithryn

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: FemaleUniqueMirabellErvine
Representative of: Tel Mithryn

Anchor: Ralis Sedarys
Voice Type: DLC2MaleDarkElfCynical
Representative of: Raven Rock

Anchor: Slitter
Voice Type: DLC2MaleDarkElfCommoner
Representative of: Raven Rock

Anchor: Brelas
Voice Type: FemaleCommoner
Representative of: Raven Rock

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: FemaleShrill
Representative of: Raven Rock

Anchor: [REDACTED]
Voice Type: DLC2FemaleDarkElfCommoner
Representative of: Raven Rock

All of the vanilla/DLC anchors will have their dialogue conditioned to both their voice type and character ID, so if anyone else decides to mod them and gives them a different voice type, they won't suffer from split personalities or shift between different voices.

I received a request many moons ago to expand the personalities and backstories of all of the available housecarls, and I still intend to do this. Valdimar and Rayya are the only true Anchor characters from the set of housecarls, so they will have a much deeper expansion, but the rest (Lydia, Jordis, Argis, Gregor, Iona and Calder) will still have fleshed out backgrounds and personal dialogue.

I would hope the fact that I am very pro-patch is quite clear by now. If you prefer another creator's interpretation of any of the characters that I have edited or expanded, then you are more than welcome to create a patch to block out my dialogue additions.