Should I Kill He Who Was in BG3?

When It Makes Sense

• Good fit: You are playing an evil, violent, or desecration-themed character and want your actions to match your roleplay. Destroying the corpse or taking an aggressive option can be a coherent choice for a Dark Urge or villain-aligned playthrough.
• Good fit: You have already finished the related questline, looted the area, and are doing a subsequent run where you know the exact consequences. In that case, killing or attacking is a low-risk way to satisfy curiosity or test mechanics.

When You Should Avoid It

• Warning sign: You are a first-time player or completionist. Killing the corpse before using Speak with Dead or investigating nearby clues can lock you out of dialogue, lore, and a small quest resolution.
• Warning sign: Your party includes companions who disapprove of harming the dead or unnecessary violence. Taking hostile action may cost you approval with more moral characters.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• May provide minor loot or satisfy a violent roleplay impulse, especially in an evil-oriented run.
• Removes a potentially unsettling object from the environment and can feel like a “clean” solution if you distrust undead or cursed remains.

Cons

• Can block quest progression and cause you to miss context, experience, or items tied to the related encounter.
• Risks companion disapproval and may contradict a good or neutral character’s values, creating roleplay inconsistency.

Decision Checklist

• Have you cast Speak with Dead or interacted with the corpse to learn its backstory and quest relevance?
• Does your current party composition and character morality support killing or desecrating the dead?
• Have you saved the game recently so you can reload if you discover an unintended consequence?

Alternatives to Consider

The most practical alternative is to investigate first. Use Speak with Dead, read any nearby journals or notes, examine the surrounding scene for clues, and resolve the encounter through dialogue or quest actions rather than immediate violence. If you are unsure, simply leave the corpse alone and return later after learning more about the Shadow-Cursed Lands. Saving before the interaction lets you test both outcomes without committing permanently.

Final Recommendation

For most players, the better path is to avoid killing He Who Was until you have fully explored the related encounter. Speak with the corpse, check the environment for quest hooks, and decide based on your character’s morality. Only take hostile action if you are comfortable with potentially missing minor rewards or if you are deliberately roleplaying an evil or destructive character. Because exact consequences can change with patches and depend on your specific party, save your game before making the choice.