NPCs In Elden Ring You Can Kill And Why You Should (2024)

While it's not a traditional RPG experience, NPCs are a big part of the world of Elden Ring. If you're inclined towards getting immersed in the story, it's easy to become attached to these various characters, their goals, and their lives.

The trouble is, some of them are carrying really nice items. So if you happen to be absolutely heartless and in the mood to turn on a few innocent NPCs, decide to embrace a forbidden flame and take it to its logical conclusion, or whether you just have a brutally efficient means of cleaning house before moving to the next NG+, it can be useful to know who you need to be going after.

Update on July 17, 2024, by Alfredo Robelo: Shadow of the Erdtree, Elden Ring's DLC, has finally arrived, and with it, many NPCs that need to meet the pointy end of your blade. We've updated this list to include a few characters exclusive to the Realm of Shadow so you know when to end them and why.

15 Edgar

A Lovely Halberd

If you do this, you really have no soul. The first time you meet Edgar in Castle Morne, he's broken. A conflict between soldiers and creatures took place, he has lost the castle, and he's ready to give in. However, a letter from his daughter cheers him up... even if destiny has something sad in mind for them.

If you want to give him mercy and finish a completely broken man before he invades you, you'll obtain the same reward: a Banished Knight's Halberd +8, which is a pretty good weapon if you do this early in the game.

14 Patches

I Won't Let You Troll Me

You might wonder why we would call you a monster for killing Patches, a character famously known for making your life miserable in most Soulslike titles made by FromSoftware. Well, it has to do with one little thing: tradition.

Come on, while you'll hate Patches, you are also curious about what he will do next. Plus, he has some interesting side quests! But if you're not interested, killing him early on (apart from the fake boss fight) will give you a nice set of leather armor, a spear +7, and 800 runes.

13 Old Knight Istvan

Gain The Scaled Set Through The Volcano Manor Contracts

One of the few Tarnished to reach old age, Old Istvan has helped many of his younger brethren. Unfortunately for him, he's first on the murder list you are given by Lady Tanith. If you feel entirely comfortable running up to an elderly man and beating him to death with a heavy metal object, you can get his gear as a reward.

The Scaled Set is a versatile armor that isn't too heavy, has nice all-around protection, and looks pretty great. Murdering Istvan also opens up more Volcano Manor quests, letting you go after more undeserving Tarnished to loot the clothes from their backs.

12 Great Horned Tragoth - Bull-Goat Set

The Only Way To Get The Bull-Goat Set

Great Horned Tragoth is a stalwart and reliable Tarnished who goes out of his way to help others of his kind. This isn't only rumored but actively demonstrated by how many of your fights he's willing to assist you in. His signs can be found at Magma Wyrm Makar, The Draconic Tree Sentinel, and even Starscourge Radahn.

While Tragoth has helped any number of Tarnished, he's not gone without attracting bad attention. Patches will ask you to kill him to relieve him of a task given to him by the Volcano Manor. Invading and murdering the kindly warrior will yield his trademark armor. The Bull-Goat set is an impressive heavy armor, with an impressive amount of poise if weighing as much as a semi-truck doesn't bother you. It's nothing compared to the weight of your sins anyway.

11 Millicent

A Fitting Tragic Ending

Millicent, the mysterious one-armed woman, is a fascinating individual. Afflicted with the deadly scarlet rot, she still sets out to try and take control of her own destiny. Despite being disfigured by the rot, she is even able to take up a sword again and assist you in battle with the help of a prosthetic arm.

Indeed, if you happen to be the treacherous type and decide to turn on Millicent after helping her replace her arm, you'll receive Millicent's Prosthesis, which not only boosts your dexterity but grants a damage boost on subsequent hits. The downside is, obviously, that you just murdered a sick amputee and stole her possessions. How could you?

10 Iron Fist Alexander

An Early Shard Of A Warrior Jar

Alexander, the jolly old fighting jar, can be found stuck while on his way to fight Starscourge Radahn. A fighter by nature, and a living jar that eats dead people, he is nothing but flawlessly polite and courteous towards you. In fact, he may eventually ask you to fight him, which is honorable enough.

If you decide to smash the jar man before then, you will receive a piece of a warrior jar, which boosts damage from skill use by 10 percent. You lose out on a boosted version of the talisman, but you can get the shard far earlier in the game when its power gives you a lot more to work with.

9 Sellen

An Easy Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone

Sorceress Sellen could be your teacher in the art of sorcery. A tireless and protective tutor, she supports your goals to become Elden Lord, but would even promise you a home with her at the academy should you not succeed in your quest.

Sellen isn't without enemies, though. As you progress on her quest, you get the opportunity to side with Witch-Hunter Jerren, betray your mentor, and kill her as she is on the verge of achieving her dream of pushing the limits of glintstone sorcery. Doing so will award you an Ancient Dragon Smithing Stone, which lets you level a weapon to +25. This might tempt some of Sellen's less academically-aligned students into betrayal.

8 Blackguard Big Boggart

Claim His Iron Ball

Blackguard Big Boggart may seem like a surly fellow at first glance, but if you buy from his seafood boil, he'll soon warm to you. He'll even warn you of potential threats like the Dung Eater. He'll also start selling delicious and useful boiled crab. Boggart will even help you out with Magma Wyrm Makar. Obviously, the big fellow is just misunderstood.

If you, like another he mentions, have nothing but ill intentions toward your prawn-loving buddy, you can slay him for his fist weapon, the Iron Ball, and his mask. Even worse, you could free the Dung Eater and let him get to Blackguard first. Compared to that, dispatching him with a sword is practically charitable.

7 Nepheli Loux

You Can Keep Her As A Spirit Ash

Nepheli Loux is a triumph of good-hearted determination. She takes a stand against cruelty and injustice, even if doing so comes at a great personal cost for her. While killing her yields her Stormhawk Axes, there's arguably a fate even worse you can inflict upon her for your own benefit. Seluvis, up at Three Sisters, will ask you to give her a potion.

Handing the potion over to Nepheli will result in her getting turned into one of the sorcerer's mindless puppets. If Seluvis is removed from the picture, you can use her enslaved form to help you in battle as a summon. From a moral standpoint, that is probably far, far worse.

6 D, Hunter Of The Dead

You Don't Even Have To Do It Yourself

D is an NPC you're likely to run into fairly early on. He hunts the undead and deals in miracles. He introduces you to Gurranq, the Beast Clergyman, and sets you on a path of fighting skeletons in canoes. He'll also jump in to assist with the Black Knife Assassin and one of the Mariners.

While D obviously has good intentions, he also wears really cool-looking armor. If you want to get your filthy hands on the Twinned Set, D has to die. This is accomplished either by jumping him on the first meeting or following an errand for Fia that involves giving him an item that'll have dire consequences for his health.

5 Kalé And The Merchants - Bell Bearings

Keep All Merchants In One Location

One of the first few people you're likely to run into in the Lands Between is Merchant Kalé, a man with goods and a donkey, who seems rather surprised you're not about to attack him. Kalé's people, as it turns out, were discriminated against horribly and nearly wiped out entirely. This has driven them to set up in remote locations, struggling to survive.

Killing the merchants yields their bell bearings, which can be given to the Twin Maiden Husks in the Roundtable Hold to allow you to do all of your shopping in one place, if you're fine with exterminating the last members of an entire culture just to save yourself extra loading screens.

4 Blaidd The Half-Wolf

His Armor Just Looks Too Good

Poor Blaidd. This one is possibly the least morally questionable, and yet it hurts the most. Blaidd will help you through a number of fights should you decide to assist his mistress, Ranni, though there may come a time when it is expedient for you to give him the Old Yeller treatment. You could probably avoid him and never have to do such a thing, of course, but if you do put the dog down, you can get his equipment.

In addition to his armor set, you will get your hands on the Royal Greatsword. The colossal sword class weapon scales well on strength and intelligence. It even has a unique weapon skill that hits twice with frost damage, so you can feel as cold outside as you do on the inside after what you did.

3 Dragon Communion Priestess

You Are Rewarded For How You Deal With Her

The Dragon Communion Priestess, an NPC exclusive to Shadow of the Erdtree, resides in an area where no hostilities are possible, so you might be wondering how you'd go about killing her. Well, you can simply fulfill her questline (killing Bayle the Dread), which will grant you her heart, a way for you to become dragonlike.

That, believe it or not, was the good ending, since she likely ascended to her Lord Placidusax in a place beyond time. If you give her Thiollier's concoction during nighttime, she'll lose her connection to her Lord, and once you beat Bayle, she'll feel completely lost. Interacting with her will reward you with her Spirit Ashes, which augments your defense while lowering the lighting resistance of enemies around you.

2 Moore

He's Such A Pest

Moore is one of the sweetest characters introduced in Shadow of the Erdtree, and he even works as a vendor when you first meet him, so if he's such a nice and useful guy, you might wonder why it is recommended to kill him. Well, believe it or not, you'll have to kill him no matter what, since he can be a part of an NPC gauntlet, throwing gigantic pots of rot at your face.

Dealing with him is incredibly simple, since you can do it with a simple dialogue choice. When Miquella's illusion is broken, go talk to Moore and tell him to "remain sad forever," which will spill his demise when you rest at a Site of Grace. The best part is that you still get his gear and shield. You just need to loot it from the Church of the Crusade.

1 Redmane Freyja

An Inevitable Fight

Freyja is another NPC that will fight you on the final gauntlet of the game, and if you don't want to fight her, you'll have to completely ignore her. This is because if you complete her questline, she decides to fight you alongside her companions just before the final boss of the DLC.

Now, if you do want to fight her (and more importantly, get her gear), you should attack her when she's still nice to you. The best place to do so is the Seventh Floor Storehouse of the Shadow Keep, since she'll be completely isolated as well as right next to a Site of Grace, making that fight much easier than if you had to face her with two or three other enemies at her side.