Should I Kill Tanith After Rykard?

When It Makes Sense

• Good fit: You have completed the entire Volcano Manor questline, turned in all assassination targets, and accepted the reward for the final hunt. Once Rykard is dead, Tanith’s role as quest-giver effectively ends, and attacking her is the only way to obtain her unique equipment and trigger a hidden encounter with her guardian. If your goal is full item collection, boss encounters, or spell acquisition, eliminating her after Rykard is a sensible next step.
• Good fit: You are playing a completionist or New Game Plus run where you already know the outcomes and want every piece of content tied to Volcano Manor. Because Tanith does not offer new services after Rykard’s defeat and remains at the scene of the battle, killing her provides closure to the faction storyline and access to rewards that are otherwise permanently missable in that playthrough.

When You Should Avoid It

• Warning sign: You have not finished all Volcano Manor assassination contracts or have not exhausted Tanith’s dialogue. Some NPC questlines branch through Volcano Manor rewards, and removing Tanith prematurely can block turn-ins or interrupt the narrative flow of the recusants. If you are uncertain whether related characters still need her, leave her alive until you verify there is nothing left to turn in.
• Warning sign: You prefer to keep characters alive for roleplaying reasons, or you are wary of locked content in your first playthrough. Elden Ring does not warn you before making NPCs hostile, and killing Tanith is irreversible without reloading an earlier save. Players who value immersion, regret consequences, or want to preserve every possible interaction should avoid striking her.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• You gain unique Tanith-related equipment and trigger an additional encounter with her Crucible Knight guardian, which can drop a valuable incantation. For collectors and build experimenters, these rewards are only available if she is killed after Rykard.
• The action cleanly resolves the Volcano Manor storyline. Once Rykard is defeated, Tanith no longer assigns contracts or advances other quests, so killing her turns a static NPC into meaningful gameplay rewards rather than leaving her as set dressing.

Cons

• Attacking Tanith locks out any remaining interactions with her and may feel narratively punishing. If you change your mind, absolution with Celestial Dew will not restore a dead NPC, so the choice is effectively permanent for that playthrough.
• If you have not collected nearby items or explored the manor thoroughly, a hostile guardian and a suddenly violent encounter can complicate backtracking. The fight also consumes resources that might be better spent on the next major area.

Decision Checklist

• Have I turned in every Volcano Manor invasion request and collected the associated rewards from Tanith?
• Have I exhausted her post-Rykard dialogue to confirm she offers no further quests, items, or lore?
• Am I willing to lose access to Tanith permanently in exchange for her drops and the guardian encounter?

Alternatives to Consider

The simplest alternative is to leave Tanith alive and simply move on to other regions. She remains at the manor with no practical consequences for leaving her untouched, so this is the best choice for cautious players or first-time runs. If you attacked her by accident, you can use Celestial Dew at the Church of Vows to reset her hostility before she dies, preserving the quest state. Another option is to make a manual save backup on PC before the decision, or to wait until New Game Plus to kill her once you have experienced the questline fully.

Final Recommendation

For most experienced players, killing Tanith after Rykard is a reasonable choice because her questline is functionally complete and the rewards are otherwise missable. For first-time or roleplay-focused players, leaving her alone is the safer default that avoids regret and preserves narrative continuity. If you are unsure, complete every Volcano Manor task first, save your game or make a backup if possible, and then decide based on whether you value loot and boss encounters more than keeping the character alive. Because this is a single-player game decision with no real-world stakes, choose whichever outcome improves your enjoyment.