Aela the Huntress

Aela the Huntress is a Nord werewolf, a member of The Companions, and one of five members of The Circle. Residing in Jorrvaskr with the other Companions, Aela offers lycanthropy to other members of the companions who become members of "the circle". She comes from a long line of women who where Companions, although her mother died before she joined. When she was younger, she lived with her father in the woods and learned to hunt and use the bow until she was old enough to join the ranks of the companions.

Role
The Dovahkiin will first encounter Aela fighting a giant alongside Farkas and Ria at a farm outside of Whiterun. If the Dragonborn approaches, whether or not he/she decides to help them battle the giant, Aela will start a conversation with them and tell him/her about the Companions. If the Dragonborn is interested, they can ask her how they can join, to which she will respond by telling them to talk to Kodlak Whitemane, the Harbinger of the Companions. Her views with this thought will vary depending on how the Dragonborn preforms in battle against the giant.

After joining them, Aela can be asked for any jobs needed to preform, to which she will give the Dragonborn the task of exterminating a hostile animal that has invaded a home.

Soon, after preforming several jobs, they will be asked to meet her, along with Farkas, Vilkas, and Skjor in the Underforge, a secret chamber located under the Skyforge. There they will be initiated as a member of the circle, a higher ranking group of Companions members who are unknowingly werewolves. After getting used to their new transformation, the Dragonborn will wake up next to Aela outside a fort under control by an enemy group known as the Silver Hand. There, the two of them invade the base to see what the group of werewolf hunters are hiding. To their shock, they discover Skjor, captured and murdered.

Upon returning with a witch head to cleanse Kodlak of his lycanthropy, the Dragonborn will learn that the Silver Hand made a surprise attack while they were gone and ended up killing the harbinger and stealing the shards of Ysgarmor's legendary axe.

Upon eradicating the Silver Hand with Vilkas and attending Kodlak's memorial service, she and the remaining members of the Circle decide to travel to Ysgramor's Tomb, where they will respectfully fulfill the recently deceased harbinger's last request of cleansing his lycanthropy. She will be the only member of the Circle besides the Dragonborn who will travel all the way through the tomb to reach Kodlak's spirit. She will be astonished by the fact that Kodlak grants the Dragonborn the title of the new harbinger upon successfully cleansing his wolf spirit.

She is an expert level Archery trainer, as well as a candidate for marriage and a follower after The Companions' main quest-line.

Aela is also a Daedric Worshipper as she worships Hircine the Daedric Deity of hunting, animals and Lycanthropy.

Personality
She is strong, honorable and serious. Due to her childhood of living in the woods she prefers to spend her time hunting, tracking, fighting, training and exploring rather than sitting around all day.

Unlike most members of the Companions Aela sees her Lycanthropy as a gift then a curse much like Serena and her vampirism.