Meeting new faces and hearing their stories is one of my favorite parts of Skyrim.

Skyrim is full of characters to interact with. However, due to so many characters sharing the same voice, the world can sometimes feel empty. While traveling between cities, you can go a long time without seeing anyone else. In my experience, all of these things can make the game feel quite lonely. These mods will breathe a ton of life into your game, and allow you to make some new friends (and enemies) along the way. 

15. Solstheim Merchants in Whiterun

Solstheim friends coming to Skyrim.

One of the best things about this mod is it serves as a link that really makes Solstheim seem connected to Skyrim, not just a separate add-on. This mod introduces two merchants: Skugal (Nord) and Dinmir (Dunmer). They have decided to sell their products from Solstheim in Skyrim. After making a deal with Belethor in Whiterun, they now offer goods from Solstheim… for a fair price, of course.

Features:

• Each of them sells things related to their cultures in Solstheim (Skugal sells items related to the Skaal, while Dinmir sells all things Dunmer culture
• No speechcraft perks will work on them, as their items are exotic and should be treated as such
• Their inventory restocks every 3-4 in-game days

Get the mod here for SE. 

14. Vampire Clans and Bloodlines

Spooky member of a new vampire clan.

Early on in the Dawnguard DLC, the vampires are new so they are fun new enemies to deal with. But after killing waves upon waves of them that look the same and are named ‘vampire’ or occasionally ‘master vampire’, it gets old fast. (Especially once you’re introduced to the Volkihar Clan.) ‘Why isn’t there a variety of clans throughout Skyrim?’ Now, there are!

Features:

• This mod aims to populate 10 dungeons in total with vampires belonging to unique clans and bloodlines
• Each bloodline has its own powers, appearance, and style
• Clan Orlok has sharp claws allowing them to excel in close combat while being skilled mages with unique spells

Get the mod here./se version. 

13. Realistic Elven Children (Aymar and friends reimagined)

A new elven child in this mod.

If you’re someone who can’t help but adopt as many sad orphaned children as you can in the game, you might have noticed all of the children are all of the human races. If your character is of elvish or orcish origin, you might be disappointed that there isn’t more diversity. This mod does just that so that you can adopt children that look more like your character. This is an edited version of the original Aymar and Friends that just fits the visual look of a heavily modded game. 

Features:

• Adds 8 new ‘mer’(bosmer, dunmer, altmer, orsimer) with 2 for each race
• Safe to install mid-playthrough (just make sure RS Children Overhaul is installed)
• They use the default child voices in the game 

Get the mod here for SE. 

12. Populated Lands Roads Paths Reborn

New routes that these NPCs will follow.

Populated Lands: Roads Paths Reborn is one part of a few different mods that work to make Skyrim feel much more busy and alive. The Reborn version of this mod has plenty of fixes that solve high spawn rates that people have had issues within the original mod. You’ll be sure to run into new and old faces on your travels with this mod. 

Features:

• Roads are traveled by adventurers, merchants and their bodyguards, refugees, pilgrims, assassins, and more 
• All of the new NPCs are respawnable 
• This is suggested to go at the top of your load order for maximum compatibility with other mods

Get the mod here. 

11. Organized Bandits In Skyrim

Bandits will be more of a challenge than ever!

If you’re not looking to populate Skyrim with NPCs who will want to be friends, try OBIS! This mod adds tons of bandits and a ridiculous amount of content to your game. If you’re looking for more combat challenges throughout the world, this is a great mod to try. 

Features:

• 2500 new bandits (with their own faces) sorted into 50 bandit types into level lists
• 200 unique named bandits that drop expensive rings 
• An in-game book that goes into the lore of all of the new bandit clans 

Get the mod here./se version. 

10. Travellers of Skyrim 

New NPCs all over Skyrim of all races!

Travelers of Skyrim is the perfect mod for someone who just wants to see adventurers and merchants of all types traveling all over the land. You will run into new faces traveling on roads, or stopping for a bite at the inn. This mod is sure to add some diversity to your game. 

Features:

• 50 new NPCs of many different professions and skills
• Each NPC will travel between 30 locations across Skyrim
• Light version available on the downloads page for those who want 28 NPCs instead of 50

Get the mod here./se version. 

9. Interesting Generic NPCs

New dialogue and personality with these new characters!

Interesting Generic NPCs is technically a ‘teaser’ mod for a large-scale quest mod by the same author. Because of this, NPCs may hint at some of the plot points in that mod (particularly about the Thalmor and the Empire). Whether you have an interest in that quest mod or not, these NPCs have unique personalities and are a fine addition to any game. 

Features:

• Over 100 custom-voiced NPCs added to the game
• Each NPC has a randomized profession, personality, and political views
• Dialogue lines specific to each personality spanning across to new characters

Get the mod here./se version.

8. Anna NPCs

The NPCs in this mod interact with each other like no other.

Anna NPCs is a mod that adds 10 very unique new characters to your game. They are all available as followers and that is what they are primarily made for. Simply having them in your game will add new content to discover, and even if you don’t want to keep them as followers for long, they are sure to brighten up any game!

Features:

• 10 highly interactive NPCs/followers, aware of each other with conversations between them, they are also quest aware
• If you do want to bring them along on your travels, they come with several quests, player homes, and much more
• Over 9,000 lines of custom dialogue, plenty of those interacting with each other 

Get the mod here./se version. 

7. Inconsequential NPCs

These NPCs will talk to you in a much more natural way.

Inconsequential NPCs has been around for quite a long time, but this mod is so well-loved that it feels wrong to do a list of NPC mods and not include it. This mod aims for a more immersive NPC, one that doesn’t immediately chat you up with their entire life story just because you walked in their direction. These new NPCs don’t really care that you’re Dragonborn, and they certainly won’t battle alongside you for free. 

Features:

• 94 new NPCs along with 71 new dialogue scenes
• Laws and changes depending on who controls different holds: Windhelm under the rule of Ulfric Stormcloak will turn away Argonaians and Khajiits at the gates
• Fully custom voice acting for all characters

Get the mod here.  

6. Populated Cities Towns Villages Reborn

Tons of new NPCs to populate your cities!

Another in the series of Populated Lands, Populated Cities Towns Villages Reborn is a fixed and improved version of the original. The original mod had complaints of certain bugs and some definite overcrowding, so this version has fixed those issues. This mod will make cities feel much less empty!

Features:

• 200 new NPCs across all of the major holds, and even smaller cities such as Dragon Bridge
• NPCs vary from laborers, pilgrims, priests, veterans, and citizens
• Script free, NPCs and respawnable and have their own daily routines

Get the mod here.

5. Full Random NPC Pack

More variety for races of guards and much more!

Full Random NPC Pack adds a ton of new characters throughout the world, as well as a small number of travelers that are rarely seen. This mod focuses more so on just having more people around the world, so don’t expect them to take you on unique quests and such. But there will be a ton of new faces to see!

Features:

• 300+ brand new NPCs to the random lists of guards, vampires, soldiers, bandits, etc
• 2 versions upon installation: vanilla hair and KS Hairdos version (which requires KS Hairdos)
• A few travelers that are hard to find to discover 

Get the mod here for SE. 

4. Interesting NPCs SE

Interesting new khajiit NPCs and many more new characters to speak to.

Interesting NPCs has been around for many years, but it took a very long time for someone to port it to Special Edition! It has been known to have its share of compatibility issues and bugs, but it is definitely worth a spot on the list. All of the NPCs added are unique, from their voices to their backstories. You also have much more choice as to how to respond to these characters.

Features:

• 250+ custom-voiced NPCs, 25+ followers, 15+ potential spouses, and over 50 quests
• Bug fixes and features that are unique to this ‘from scratch’ port to SE
• Your dialogue choices allow further roleplaying and immersion, and you get to choose what kind of person your character is

Get the mod here for SE. 

3. Diverse Skyrim

Diversity all throughout Skyrim to make things less repetitive. 

This mod takes a lore-friendly approach to increase the diversity among different areas in Skyrim. The mod author noticed that almost every vampire in the game just so happened to be a type of elf and that J’zargo is one of the only mage Khajiits in Skyrim. 

Features:

• Over 300 new NPCs with unique appearances for more diversity
• Nothing that is isn’t lore-friendly: you won’t have High Elf Hunters or Khajiit Legionnaires
• Added races to different areas and professions to make those NPCs feel much less repetitive

Get the mod here./se version. 

2. More Immersive NPCs

Nighttime will be more dangerous among many new features!

It’s a common occurrence while playing Skyrim to be traveling the roads for hours at night and only come across a few wolf packs. With this mod, you’ll say goodbye to empty streets. Traveling at night will be more dangerous, and there will be many more people to run into on your travels. 

Features:

• Lots of new unique NPCs: fugitives, Daedra worshippers, adventurers, skooma dealers, and many more
• 16 ‘companion’ NPCs that go on adventures during the week, who you can request to come along and help you on your travels
• If you happen to use Open Cities, this mod is fully compatible out of the box

Get the mod here./se version. 

1.The People of Skyrim 2

You will never run out of new friends to talk to with this mod. 

The People of Skyrim 2 adds plenty of guard patrols and travelers throughout the world. It certainly adds much more than that, (new settlements, dungeons, interior inn content, and more) but with a name like The People of Skyrim, it is about the people. Compatible with 1000’s of town and city-related mods.

Features:

• New areas and new people to meet in those areas: dungeons, caves, settlements, bridges, and much more
• New travelers on the road for all races and classes
• Dawnguard patrols, new content related to the ongoing war in Skyrim

Get the mod here for SE. 

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• [Top 15] Skyrim Best Builds of All Time
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