Companions are a bit part of the Skyrim experience. The first one most players get, Lydia, isn't the best there is, nor is she the most personable as she complains about how she has to do your bidding by carrying any of the stuff you give to her. But like the rest of the companions in the game, she's handy in a fight and can hold her own unless accidentally tagged by one of your spells or arrows.
Modders have done much to make the companions more interesting to have around, by adding more audio cues and even developing all new companions to have around. One modder—it's hard to say whom it was, because the file is no longer present on the Skyrim Nexus—put together a companion based on Tomb Raider's protagonist, Lara Croft.
She's a splitting image of her from the latest game that she's in and though her presence in Skyrim may seem anachronistic, she's handy to have around. You can grab Lara here and install her into your game.
