How do you bring back a dead character?

[nub]

How do you bring them back? Alvor died but I don't want him to die because I need him.

[JDaremo Fireheart]

you don't. ressurecting him will break your game because he is a scripted character.

[nub]

ok thanks

[Moon-and-Star]

Ingame, make sure to face Alvor. Press the key above the TAB key and to the left of the '1' key to bring up the console (the key is ~ if you have an American keyboard, ° or ^ if you have an European keyboard).

Then click on him until you see a number appear in the top-middle of the console window (that would be his ID).

Then type into the console: resurrect

And press the key above TAB again to close the console, he will be alive.

But a warning: If you want to keep getting achievements, you need to save and restart the game because using the console will lock achievements for the rest of your play session (only until you restart the game again).

[Moon-and-Star]

Originally posted by JDaremo Fireheart:

you don't. ressurecting him will break your game because he is a scripted character.

He died for me too a couple of times (probably after finishing his quests though) and resurrecting him was no problem

[Docsprock]

Originally posted by Danika:

Originally posted by JDaremo Fireheart:

you don't. ressurecting him will break your game because he is a scripted character.

He died for me too a couple of times (probably after finishing his quests though) and resurrecting him was no problem

Resurrecting scripted characters will break your game. It will work however, for unscripted NPCs.

For example: Alvor dies. You use the resurrect command on him, he returns to 'life'. But the game considers him dead. His scripts have terminated, and any interactions will be buggy at best.

Now, if you kill a random bandit, use resurrect, and they come back to life, they will still act like a random bandit. (As long as there is no script or quest attached to them).

If for some reason an important character, (NPC) dies, such as Belethor in Whiterun, or Alvor in Riverwood, the best thing to do is reload a previous save.

[mpd1958]

I used the resurrect command on Alvor once and he worked fine, but his wife and child continued to act as if he were dead.

This is what the wiki says about the Resurrect command: Unless you use this command the instant the NPC is killed, the game will still register the target as "Dead" and they will subsequently not be mentioned in dialogue and sometimes specifically referred to as "Dead" during a quest. Adding a tag of "1" at the end (i.e., resurrect 1) will make the target get up instead of vanishing and reappearing, thus allowing them to keep their equipment. [verification needed — see talk page] If an NPC's corpse has vanished already, you will also need to enable the NPC. Using this on the player character will not dismiss the "Load last save?" screen, and the camera will behave as if you were still lying dead on the ground. However, if you use the resurrect command before the loading message appears, the player will revive, but the camera will be centered on the feet rather than the head. Note that accidentally using this command on yourself while you're still alive can also have unexpected consequences, among them losing the ability to dual-cast spells (which will be fixed on reload), and losing any blessing effects (but not the blessing itself - which can be complicated in the case of Standing Stones. The game will not let you restore that Standing Stone power unless you first visit another Standing Stone and come back.) NPCs who are dead at the beginning of the game (such as Mage) cannot be resurrected via this command.
Also see kill.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by mpd1958:

I used the resurrect command on Alvor once and he worked fine, but his wife and child continued to act as if he were dead.

Because the game had run the death script, which means the game views him as dead, and resurrecting him can bug out your game.

Which is why JD (first post) said don't.

[mpd1958]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by mpd1958:

I used the resurrect command on Alvor once and he worked fine, but his wife and child continued to act as if he were dead.

Because the game had run the death script, which means the game views him as dead, and resurrecting him can bug out your game.

Which is why JD (first post) said don't.

I am fully aware of that! I did it a very long time ago and then researched it further. Which is why I posted the information from the Wiki for the OP.