The College of Winterhold is no Hogwarts, but there’s still a lot to love about this mysterious palace of knowledge – like the charming and unique characters that study there.
Among them, Brelyna Maryon is a definite highlight.
This smart Dunmer gal is descended from the influential House Telvanni. Her talent for magic reflects her origins – though she’d prefer you to see her as an individual rather than just a “Telvanni Dunmer.”
Brelyna is an interesting character that could be one of the best marriage candidates for the Dragonborn… if she wasn’t so damn ugly.
Let’s look at some mods to give Brelyna a stylish new look.
Every elven race in Skyrim has a very distinctive facial bone structure that sets them apart from more “normal” looking races like the Imperials, Nords, and Redguards.
While it may be perfectly normal and even attractive to other elves or humans in Tamriel, this uniquely pointy and elongated facial structure is often a big turn-off for the IRL humans playing these games.
This Cuter Brelya Maryon mod succeeds at making Brelyna more attractive by softening her elven facial features.
She still has longer ears and a somewhat pointy chin, but her lips, eyes, and nose are closer to a human’s.
Brelyna is a charming girl once you get to know her.
She’s curious, sensitive, and knows what it’s like for people to assume things about you based on your outward appearance or last name.
Regrettably, her dialogue in Skyrim is pretty limited. Even if the Dragonborn marries her, she’ll never tell you about that book she’s always reading or recount her past in Morrowind.
More To Say is an extensive dialogue overhaul that gives almost everyone in Skyrim more topics to talk about, including this Telvanni descendant.
The voice lines are constructed from other lines in the game, so the voices are 100% accurate.
There are a ton of vanilla followers in Skyrim, ranging from burly warriors to arcane mages – but save for a few exceptions, it’s all the same.
Well not anymore.
Special Edition Followers is a gameplay-oriented follower overhaul that gives every one of the Dragonborn’s companions a unique build and moveset. They also get a higher level cap, better AI, and more.
With this mod, Brelyna can shine as a powerful mage of Telvanni origins with a defense-oriented moveset and potent healing skills any daredevil Dragonborn could benefit from.
Diversity brings an extreme makeover to every NPC in these northern lands.
This mod aims to do for Skyrim what the Oblivion Character Overhaul did for TES IV – that is, update everyone’s faces with higher-poly models that look a lot less dated and ugly.
Of course, this includes Brelyna Maryon.
These new faces are more angular, with clearly defined bone structures and slightly cleaner hairstyles. They also look a lot more like the age they’re supposed to be according to the lore.
A similar effect can be achieved with the Total Character Makeover mod.
According to the creator, this mod is meant to make Skyrim characters look more like real people and not low-poly talking potatoes like it often is in vanilla.
These new textures are detailed and attractive, but they won’t bring down your performance, even on less powerful systems.
I love that this mod enhances details like hands, feet, and teeth, and that it makes everyone look like they belong in the same game.
If you couldn’t care less about the original Brelyna and just want an attractive but bad-ass follower, this mod is for you.
This add-on gives Brelyna a complete makeover, changing her bone structure to something more human, making her eyes a brighter shade of red, and marking her face with intricate tattoos.
For me, the cute layered bob cut is a big highlight.
It gives Brelyna a tomboyish appeal that fits her character surprisingly well.
Bijin Warmaiden focuses on the Dragonborn’s female followers, giving them smoother skin, more attractive features, and very stylish hairstyles.
Brelyna gets one of the most impressive makeovers, going from a rough-looking Dunmer mage to a bombshell with the most delicate, model-like facial features and beautiful shiny hair straight out of a Pantene shampoo ad.
If I had to guess how Brelyna looks just from her dialogue, I’d picture a young and confident mage who’d get the Dragonborn to participate in her experiments by charming them with her looks.
Pandorable’s Brelyna looks just like that.
While the Bijin Warmaidens version of Brelyna might be more beautiful in simple terms, Pandorable’s take on the character feels more believable. She actually looks like a mage rather than a model.
Nelson Chitty is a Venezuelan expat living in Argentina. He’s a writer and translator passionate about history and foreign cultures. His ideal weekend is spent between leisurely playing games of Civilization VI and looking for the next seinen anime to marathon.
