Does Vilkas Respawn (I call BS on this)

[Sierra_G719]

Ok I feel I was cheated out of a Follower. I did Dragon Seekers for Vilkas first of all, went to Dragonsteeth Crater, killed the Dragon no big deal simple Dovahkiin stuff. And then Vilkas stares at it and the quest didnt even say I killed the Dragon.

Thinking it was an obvious bug and fast traveling to Jorrvaskr, I was met by a courier who gave me Vilkas' letter of inheritance. I walked in and found Vilkas dead for no reason whatsoever. I stripped him of his Wolf Armor and put his body into Vignar's room (The man is Jarl now so...)

I then went on to wait for 30+days, but still his body refuses to despawn and he is not coming back (like people said) Please help me out.

Note: I gave him an necklace that increases his health by nearly 1809501431 points so the wilds couldnt have killed him.

 

[aussiegirlz]

Vilkas shouldn't be killable unless you marry him and remove his essential NPC status. If ya did then I think you're screwed - otherwise looks like a glitch - reload previous save and try again.

 

[Sierra_G719]

Failed to mention this is Xbox. And his essential tag goes away after the questline

 

[Dagmar]

Why would you believe he respawns? He's a unique NPC. Even the few glitchy ones that sometimes respawn like Skjor don't do so in any predictable way.

 

[Sierra_G719]

Because people have times where NPCs like Vilkas come back to life after a lot of time passes.

 

[DrunkenMage]

I find respawning can glitch at times, I had a save where things wouldn't respawn. Guards would stay dead, bandit camps wouldn't respawn etc.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Ok I feel I was cheated out of a Follower. I did Dragon Seekers for Vilkas first of all, went to Dragonsteeth Crater, killed the Dragon no big deal simple Dovahkiin stuff. And then Vilkas stares at it and the quest didnt even say I killed the Dragon.

Thinking it was an obvious bug and fast traveling to Jorrvaskr, I was met by a courier who gave me Vilkas' letter of inheritance. I walked in and found Vilkas dead for no reason whatsoever. I stripped him of his Wolf Armor and put his body into Vignar's room (The man is Jarl now so...)

I then went on to wait for 30+days, but still his body refuses to despawn and he is not coming back (like people said) Please help me out.

Note: I gave him an necklace that increases his health by nearly 1809501431 points so the wilds couldnt have killed him.

Re: necklace
once a follower has left your cell , they quickly revert to their default apparel and will not have the benefit of custom enchantments on jewelry or armor until you recruit them again and have them re-equip your supplied gear. Only weapons and shields can help them in the wilds.

Re: Companions who respawn after death.
I`ve had this happen with Ria but not with Skjor(whose body still remains at Gallows Rock).
I understand the respawn may occur because of the random hunting expeditions that the Companions sometimes do if they are not otherwise occupied.

Without a conclusion to your Dragon Hunting quest and with Vilkas dead , my guess is that it is unlikely that a hunting expedition will ever initiate since Vilkas is the leader for such.
Because you found Vilkas dead inside Jorrvaskr and not near enemies , a glitch is strongly suspected

 

[Sierra_G719]

I was thinking, maybe the necklace was the problem. I mean Vilkas was a follower and he had the necklace at Jorrvaskr and was wearing it during the fight. Maybe the game thought he was dead due to the copious amounts of damage the Dragon did to him (was playing Master)

 

[Adam Warlock]

I was thinking, maybe the necklace was the problem. I mean Vilkas was a follower and he had the necklace at Jorrvaskr and was wearing it during the fight. Maybe the game thought he was dead due to the copious amounts of damage the Dragon did to him (was playing Master)

That`s entirely possible given my experience with Dead Thrall equipment.

Again as I understand it , it may occur that a thrall incurs more damage than the hp they started with but not enough damage to kill them outright because of their added health enchantment.
When this happens they survive the battle but may die(again) when going through a door or after a fast-travel loading screen.
I have noted that using Necromantic Healing spell after the battle but before transition will prevent this.

 

[Professor Skalvar]

Found something very interesting from Ask.com related to this:

Vilkas in the Companions in Skyrim should respawn within 30 game days. However, delays may be caused by scripting error in which Vilkas is treated as a guard. You need to either fast travel or target the character in console.

As skeptical as I was about this, I decided to look to a UESP article on Vilkas to confirm this.

Skyrim:Vilkas - UESPWiki

If you look in the list of factions, it does indeed say that he is treated as a guard. So perhaps your bug is related to this. Since you play on xbox, either fast travel a bit or reload a previous save as aussiegirlz suggested. Otherwise, your save may have been permanently glitched.