Summary
Elden Ringis a vast open-world game that is full of brutal enemies for you to deal with and also get absolutely destroyed by. The Tarnished are given an amazing landscape to discover and search from top to bottom. Along the way, they will come across a myriad of different personalities. The land is filled with non-playable characters to discover and their stories to be told. Some of these characters are warm and inviting, while others are not so inviting.
Whether the NPC is one of the more favorable or not, many of them have something in common: mortality. Yes, many of the NPCs inElden Ringare killable just likeFromSoftware’s other classics. Some NPCs players should even kill for the in-game benefits that their death may bestow upon them. Conversely, other characters should be left alone as they are too valuable alive.
Either way, it is up to the Tarnished to be the Judge, Jury, and Executioner of these NPCs.
Updated June 19th, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter:With The Shadow of the Erdtree DLC (at the time of writing this)only a few days away, so many people are returning to replay Elden Ring. Nobody wantsto go into the Land of Shadowall rusty at the game, so a lot of players are doing entirely new playthroughs or refreshing themselves with a side playthrough to get used to the combat again. And, in either of these playthroughs, it pays to know which NPCs are worth it to kill early and which aren’t. A lot of the NPCs listed below do provide either the same or additional rewards when you finish their questlines, but some of their questlines don’t conclude until the final areas of the game. So, these are the NPCs where, if killed early, it doesn’t change things all too much and it will typically give you an item that makes getting through the game quickly that much easier.
In the Roundtable Hold
The Omen Armor Set & Sword of Milos
The Omen Armor Set, Sword of Milos, & The Mending Rune of the Fell Curse
The Dung Eater is probably one of the most iconic characters inElden Ringoverall. Anybody who knows the game knows of the Dung Eater, and his questline is probably one of the most involved. However, unless you’re going for the Fell Curse ending for the game, going through his whole questline, especially on a repeat playthrough, isn’t all that worth it.
The only real different rewards you get for not killing the Dung Eater as soon as you possibly can is the Mending Rune of the Fell Curse and also the slim (and complicated) opportunity to turn the Dung Eater into a Spirit Ash summon. So, if none of those rewards interest you, it’s better just to kill the Dung Eater when you can,take his Omen Armoras well as the Sword of Milos.
1500 Runes & Warrior Jar Shard Talisman
Shard of Alexander Talisman & Alexander’s Innards Key Item
Starting things off with a sacrilegious first choice, the beloved pot-bro Iron Fist Alexander actually has a pretty decent reward if killed early. That said, very few people naturally ended up doing this, as he’s just such a beloved character. However, players who don’t seem to relate to the giant boisterous sentient pot can kill him as soon as they meet him near the Saintsbridge Site of Grace forthe Warrior Jar Shard Talisman. Of course, if they do his entire questline they’ll get the Shard of Alexander Talisman, which is just a flat improvement on the Warrior Jar Shard, but this reward isn’t gained until players are basically at the end of the game.
Hoslow’s Petal Whip & Diallos’s Mask
1x Numen’s Rune, Hoslow’s Petal Whip, & Diallos’s Mask
While at first Diallos looks every bit the standard naive noble with natural good looks, this guy is actually a pretty tragic character. He’s someone who sees himself as the ‘shame’ of House Hoslow, and he’s constantly down on himself and assuming everyone around him sees him the same way.
However, if players progress his questline all the way through, they’ll see that he finally starts making his own choices and finding his own happiness in Jarburg, but it takes quite a bit of progress intoElden Ringfor Diallos to get to Jarburg. So, if players don’t really care about his questline, his story, or the Companion Jar Talisman, they can kill him as soon as they find him outside of the Roundtable Hold to get both the Hoslow’s Petal Whip and his Mask.
Volcano Manor
Consort’s Mask, Consort’s Robe, & Consort’s Trousers
A shortcut to the Site of Grace directly before Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy
The whole Volcano Manor side plot and the concepts it brings along with it are probablysome of the most interesting parts ofElden Ring’sstory. While the Greater Will, Marika, and the Tarnished are also all interesting, Rykard and the Volcano manor give players a lot of information about the time before the Erdtree, info about the Crucible Knights, and reveals that there is a faction in the Lands Between that resists the Erdtree’s influence.
However, players have to reallydig into conversation logs and item descriptionsto get a clear picture of this, and most just see the Volcano Manor as an optional path to reaching Rykard faster and gaining some neat extra gear along the way. For the people who aren’t into this idea, however, they can ‘kill’ Tanith in the Volcano Manor. Alternatively, they could just progress the Vocalno Manor questline to the end and then kill her at the end of it, either way works, but waiting until Tanith is ‘feasting’ to kill her does reward something extra with the Aspect of the Crucible: Breath.
Questline Reward
Kenneth Haight
On top of the ruins near the Third Church of Marika Site of Grace
500 Runes, Golden Seed
Erdsteel Dagger, 1x Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone
Kenneth Haight can only be described as a damsel in distress. Found in the game’sfirst area called Limgrave, Kenneth has been overthrown in his castle and is stranded on a broken piece of a building. When passing by, the Tarnished can hear Kenneth calling for help.
Unfortunately for Kenneth though, he drops a very important resource for the early game. Upon death, Kenneth drops a Golden Seed which is used to increase the number of healing flasks the player can hold. Guess the Tarnished is not the Knight in shining armor Kenneth was hoping for.
Stormveil Castle Entrance
Gostoc’s Bell Bearing, Silver Pickled Fowl Foot, Glass Shard
After getting him, Nepheli Loux, and Kenneth Haight to Godrick’s Throne Room, he’ll have 1x Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone in his Merchant Shop for 20,000 Runes
AtElden Ring’s first major dungeon Stormveil, players will notice that the front gate is completely shut tight. With the inability to press on, they will go through a little room on the side of the gate where they will meet a peculiar man. Gatekeeper Gostoc reveals his disdain for Godrick and aids the player in traversing the castle. Gostoc is not as generous as he seems though.
At various points in the dungeon, Gostoc can be foundstalking the playeror conveniently being seen in hidden places near the player as they progress. This is because when the player dies, Gostoc will take 30 percent of the Runes the player dropped. Not only that, but Gostoc will even actively attempt to trap the players in different dangerous scenarios to get them killed, such as closing them in that pitch-black room with the Banished Knight.
Merchant’s Bell Bearing (of all different types)
15
Imprisoned Merchant
Abandoned Merchant
The Nomadic Merchants are NPCs that players will often come acrossduring their adventures throughout the Lands Between. These helpful fellows provide the player with an abundance of different resources and items, for the right price. Granted, if players look into their backstory and dig deep, they’ll find that the Nomadic Merchantsprobably have the most horrifying backstoryout of anyone inElden Ring, but that doesn’t stop them from being very helpful NPCs.
Most of them are extremely nice and friendly, and this makes killing them so much harder. The merchants are scattered throughout the world, so it can be pretty annoying to find them again. Because of this, most players end up killing them to get theirBell Bearings, making the Twin Maiden Husks a one-stop shop for all of their needs.
Knight Bernahl(Recusant Bernahl)
Warmaster’s Shack
2000 Runes, Bernhal’s Bell Bearing, Beast Champion Full Set, Devourer’s Scepter
Gelmir’s Fury, Blasphemous Claw, Access to his Ash of War shop
Found at the Warmaster’s Shack in Limgrave, Knight Bernahl aids the Tarnished byselling/teaching them all kinds of Ashes of War. This can be extremely helpful to players at the beginning of the campaign because this early on, mostElden Ringplayers are severely lacking in AoW choices. Granted, Bernahl does provide only the most basic ones, but these can still absolutely turn the tide of battle.
Knight Bernahl is also one of the main NPCs of the Volcano Manor quest line, during which he goes by Recusant Bernahl instead of Knight Bernahl. At the end of this questline, however, he leaves the Manor and will invade the player later on. Killing him during this invasion is recommended rather than doing it earlier, but either way works.
Clinging Bone & Royal Remains Full Set
‘What Do You Want?’ Gesture
This brazen skeletal man is a servant of Gideon Ofnir who can be found leaning against Gideon’s door frame in Roundtable Hold. Unsuspecting players were most likely caught by surprise when they got attacked by Ensha in the hold after obtaining either of the Haligtree Secret Medallion Halves.
This event triggers Ensha to turn into an invader and attack the Tarnished where they feel most safe, AKA in the Roundtable Hold. Because of this, most players are forced to kill Ensha anyways, which is fine considering his lack of conversation made it pretty difficult to get attached to him anyway.
Patches
Murkwater Cave
800 Runes, Spear +7, Leather Armor, Leather Gloves, Leather Boots, Patches' Bell Bearing
Merchant Access, Calm Down Gesture, Magma Whip Candlestick, Dancer’s Castanets
When speaking about killable NPCs in a FromSoftware game it would be blasphemous to omit the king of killable NPCs. Patches is a staple in the series because he will constantly attempt to hoodwink and betray the player in just about every appearance. Veterans of the franchise are no strangers to the antics of this trickster,whether it’s inBloodborne,Armored Core,Dark Souls,orElden Ring.
InElden Ringspecifically, Patches has a lot of different interactions to be had. Although many players have a soft spot for Patches, for some reason, killing him is actually a pretty decent decision in the early game ofElden Ring. After slaying Patches players will acquire a +7 Spear which is a considerable weapon for how early someone can fight him, though these rewards aren’t nearly as good as the rewards players can get from going through his entire questline, buying everything from his shop, and keeping him around as an NPC Merchant.
