Why do I keep attacking the character on the other side of the enemy in front of me?

[Salem Graves]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or a feature, but I'm playing a 2h warrior, which I've never really played before and soooo often in combat, I'll be fighting an enemy in front of me and my follower will be on the other side of the enemy and when I attack, my attacks are hitting my follower and not the enemy right in front of me.. Is this a bug? Or is it because of my weapon's reach and I should stand further back from the enemy? I can see on the top of the screen where it shows my targets health, it shows my follower as my target even though there's an enemy in front of me.

[PatchAdams]

Melee combat is kind of slow and buggy.

It might help to switch to 3rd person for these fights, but I also prefer an archer follower if I am playing as a warrior. A warrior follower is similarly okay for archers and for mage types -- if you want to gain restoration quicky and concentrate on conjuration/alteration, and use destruction carefully.

Having two people with battleaxes swinging slowly and wildly is a recipe for disaster, until you unlock Companion's Insight from the Dragonborn DLC.

Two mages is also not good, your spells will hit each other. Some mage followers also summon atronachs, which can entirely block the narrow paths in many dungeons.

Your follower's health bar is there so you can heal them with spells.

[[STD]Random Lead]

with 2 handed weapons. barring combat mods that might fix this, aim for the enemies groin area. This limits unintended hits with that weapon. Beth made the combat wonky, especially with 2 handers.

[Salem Graves]

I have found that I can stand a lot further away from the enemy and still have my hits land, so I've just been trying to maximize my distance and it seems to be helping me avoid hitting my followers.

[Docsprock]

Keep your distance and know your reach. It does take practice.

[Salem Graves]

Originally posted by Docsprock:

Keep your distance and know your reach. It does take practice.

Yeah, I guess I just didn't give Skyrim's vanilla combat system enough credit.

[mikaeliby]

There also is the Black Book power that negates all damage done to your allies in battle.

[ralphtobybob]

Followers and other NPCs such as guards have always gotten in the way. Fallout 4 even has a perk called Spray and Pray that reduces the damage your character does to followers.
This same follower 'feature' even made it into Starfield, making it almost impossible to lob a grenade.
About all you can do is circle the enemy NPC and try to get behind them to attack.
If there are multiple NPCs attacking it's best to stay out of the fight to avoid having a faction turn on you or getting a bounty for assault or murder.