Skyrim : Here’s How To Delete NPCs (& Reset Them Back)

At one point in time, we’ve all dealt with Skyrim’s buggy AI system. From quest NPCs not advancing to the next stage to followers stuck, god knows where, being completely unresponsive, we’ve seen it all. Luckily, Skyrim has a pretty rich repertoire of console commands that allow you to modify the game if you know what you’re doing that is. In today’s article, we will be dealing with deleting and restoring NPCs in Skyrim. No matter what your reason for doing so, we’ve got you covered! Let’s see how to delete NPCs in Skyrim and reset them back.

How do I delete an NPC in Skyrim?

Technically, you can’t delete an NPC in Skyrim; the closest you can get is disabling the NPC from the world. In order to delete NPC completely, you will have to manipulate the game files through a different program such as TES Creation Kit. Unless you’re an experienced modder, I advise against using such tools because you can seriously ruin your save game and game files in general. 

Disable command

The next best thing when it comes to deleting an NPC in Skyrim is to use  disable command:

1. Open the console by pressing “~” key 
2. Click on an actor you mean to disable 
3. type disable and press enter 
4. NPC in front of you should disappear instantly 
5. To restore NPC immediately, type enable and hit enter

Disable command is great since it can get rid of essential NPCs as well as non-essential NPCs. 

Kill command

Our next command that we can use to delete NPCs in Skyrim is Kill command. It functions similarly to disable command. 

1. Open the console by pressing “~” key 
2. Click on an actor you want to “kill” 
3. type kill and press enter 
4. The NPC in front of you should collapse if it’s non-essential 

Kill command won’t work on essential NPCs, it will only make them stagger or fall to the ground but they will clearly be very much alive. 

Tai command

There is a third command you can do to disable an NPC, but it won’t kill it or make it disappear like the last two commands. It will only disable the NPC’s artificial intelligence system. The command is tai, and as soon as you use it on your selected NPC, it will freeze in place and be completely unresponsive to any kind of external input, such as combat. Be careful while using tai as you can get stuck in a dialogue with unresponsive NPCs. 

How do I get NPCs back?

Depends on what command you used to remove the NPCs. If you’ve used the disable command, its effects are counteracted with the enable command. If you’ve used kill command you can bring an NPC back with resurrect command. 

How do you reset an NPC?

You can reset NPCs with several commands: recycleactor <destination reference (optional)>, resetAI, and resurrect. 

Recycleactor command

The command recycleactor is interesting since it has a habit of going wrong if you use it on dead NPCs. They can appear headless. Keep in mind that if you use recycleactor on an NPC it won’t reset their whole inventory only the weapon. If you use it on yourself you will be added the following items: a full set of iron armor, an assortment of iron weapons, minor potions of healing, magicka, and stamina, a potion of resist fire and warrior, The Book of Dragonborn, 10x lockpicks, 2x torches. Seems like a perfect starting kit. 

If you use recycleactor on an NPC that has a different starting position, expect him to move there once he is “recycled”

Resetai command

Another command that can be used to reset NPCs is resetai. This command is extremely useful if you use it during combat since it will force an enemy NPC to sheathe its weapon for a moment giving you a precious few moments of advantage. The resetai is also useful if you accidentally attack a friendly NPC as it will calm him down and reset him to its natural non-aggressive state. 

Resurrect command

The resurrect command is mostly used on dead NPCs. It can also reset NPCs’ inventory. If you don’t want that to happen simply type resurrect 1. 

How do you reset an NPC inventory?

When it comes to reseting an NPC inventory you have two choices, to use resurrect command or resetinventory command. The resetinventory command is useful since it works on containers as well. The inventory of an NPC will be reset to its default values which makes it possible to loot items several times. When it comes to containers it’s a bit different, their inventory lists are mostly randomized and your targeted items will not appear every time you use the command. 

How do you reset Lydia?

All commands that we’ve mentioned in this guide can be applied to Lydia as well. There is one thing when it comes to kill command you should be aware off though. Since Lydia is your follower she has her status set to “essential” which means she can’t be killed. If you use kill command on her she will only stagger (see the first image in this guide) this can be avoided by setting her status to non-essential.

To do that use setessential < Lydia’s base ID> <0 or 1> with 0 meaning she doesn’t have essential status and 1 meaning she does have essential status. Once you remove her essential status she can be killed not only with commands but by everything else as well. This command can be used on any essential or non-essential NPC in the game, use it wisely or you can seriously mess up your playthrough.

We’ve covered all commands that can be used to delete, remove, and kill NPCs in Skyrim as well as the commands to reset them and reset their inventories. One last word of advice I can give you is to use those commands carefully since they can glitch a lot of things. Always have a clean save you can back up on, and avoid using those commands on your own character since your game might crash and unexpected things might happen. 

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!