Knowing when to show mercy is just as important as knowing when to kill in Elden Ring. FromSoftware’s action-RPG pits players against innumerable enemies as they journey to the Elden Throne. Many Tarnished will reasonably view the Lands Between as a “kill or be killed” environment because of this. However, certain characters need to be considered outside this hostile mentality and spared by players.

The characters who the Tarnished must avoid killing the most are those who are the most vulnerable. The Lands Between is a war-torn wasteland thanks to the events before the time of Elden Ring, which has left the weak, the pacifists, and the good-willed at the mercy of those seeking power. Characters who fall into these categories tend to have something they can provide to the Tarnished in return for assistance, making them doubly important to protect from harm. That said, even characters with sadistic attitudes toward Tarnished can be more useful alive than dead.

1

Patches Must Survive To See The Next Soulsborne Game

A Recurring NPC With An Optional Boss Fight

For most Elden Ring players,

Patches

seems like the perfect NPC to take their frustrations out on. As Ghostcharm’s video explains, Patches has a history of sadistically tricking the main character of whichever Soulsborne game he’s in; consequently, when players have the opportunity to destroy him in a boss fight in Elden Ring, it feels like the perfect opportunity for revenge. But typical, cowardly Patches will offer a surrender once he’s been reduced to half of his max HP. Players can choose to accept it, or finish him off, but it’s best to avoid killing Patches during this one-on-one duel. If spared, Patches becomes a merchant from whom the Tarnished can buy

Margit’s Shackle

, an item that makes Elden Ring‘s first story boss fight a lot easier.

Patches does still leave a trick chest for players after selling Margit’s Shackle, but even still, killing him for revenge is not a good idea. This is because Patches becomes an important character in the Volcano Manor questline. If players keep him alive, he’ll assign them to kill

Great Horned Tragoth

. This fellow Tarnished may be nice enough to help players fight a dragon, but killing him yields the most effective physical armor in the game: the

Bull-Goat Set

. Patches is the only NPC who can assign players to fight Tragoth, so it’s important to keep him alive.

2

Greyoll Is Too Sacred To Kill In Elden Ring

Rune Farming Greyoll Isn’t Worth It

Elder Dragon Greyoll

became one of the most exploited rune farms in Elden Ring when the game first came out, as she is practicably a defenseless pile of runes. However, Caelid’s white dragon is important to Elden Ring and its world’s history and should not be killed. The dragons were the first race to inhabit the Lands Between, with Greyoll being the mother of them all. Since the rise of humanoids, the dragon population has been in swift decline, and is near extinction by the time of Elden Ring. To kill Greyoll, then, is to kill a monument to the Lands Between’s past and support a genocide against an increasingly defenseless race of beings.

Shadow of the Erdtree reveals further tragic lore surrounding Elden Ring‘s dragons, including its biggest and baddest new dragon boss, Bayle the Dread. Bayle is said to be the oldest of all dragons, and a traitor who once tried to seize

Dragonlord Placidusax

‘s title. His relationship with

Greyoll

isn’t totally clear, but between the two dragons’ connections to early draconic history, it’s likely that Greyoll was affected by Bayle’s treachery and the ensuing war. All the more reason to let sleeping dragons lie.

3

Latenna Deserves To Make It To Elden Ring’s Consecrated Snowfield

One Of Elden Ring’s Most Determined Characters

Latenna

may be the Elden Ring NPC the least deserving of death. Much like Greyoll, Latenna is part of a dying race: the Albinaurics. These beings have drawn negative if not violent attention from the all other inhabitants of the Lands Between simply for being themselves. The Golden Order has deemed them heretical because they are synthetic lifeforms; Rykard of Elden Ring‘s Volcano Manor experiments on their bodies freely because he believes their lives have no value. Needless to say, Albinaurics face a lot of pain and misery in Elden Ring, and since many lose the function of their legs as they age, they have a hard time defending themselves.

Thus, when the Tarnished has the opportunity to guide Latenna to the Consecrated Snowfield, that’s all they should do. There’s no real incentive to murdering the poor Albinauric, other than wanton violence. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: finishing her quest allows the Tarnished to summon her in battle with

Latenna the Albinauric Ashes

. Killing her should be considered a bigger cardinal sin than burning the Erdtree.

4

Players Must Keep Yura Alive To Receive His Armor

Elden Ring players may feel tempted to kill

Bloody Finger Hunter Yura

to claim his amazing armor set, but murdering him would lead to the exact opposite outcome. Yura passes away in Elden Ring‘s midpoint, the Altus Plateau, where he gives players the

Nagakiba

katana. However, his corpse is later inhabited by Shabriri, who can then be killed to retrieve the armor set. Killing Yura at any point before this will prevent players from receiving his armor set.

Yura is one of the few Elden Ring allies to be truly selfless, anyway, so it’s never a good idea to kill him. He hunts down those who attempt to invade other Tarnished, styling himself a defender of the defenseless. He may not get to be the Elden Lord, but he is undeniably a hero – and players can still get the

Ronin’s Set

as long as they wait until he’s possessed by Shabriri to kill him.

5

Miriel Is Too Pure To Murder In Elden Ring

Save The Turtles

Killing all the merchants in Elden Ring may seem like a good idea, as collecting their Bell Bearings can turn the

Twin Maiden Husks

into a one-stop shop for everything players need. That said,

Miriel, Pastor of Vows

– AKA the Turtle Pope – is too innocent to kill. In a land stuck in civil wars between demigods and religions, Miriel is one of Elden Ring‘s few friendly figures and tries to bring unity between Faith- and Intelligence-based magic systems. This lovely sentiment also makes him a prime figure for players to learn all their spells from. Thus, Miriel is not only too pure to kill but too useful to lose.

Ultimately, there’s absolutely no benefit to killing Miriel. He doesn’t put up a fight, so don’t expect some epic battle. But he also has high defense due to his shell, so killing him feels like more of a chore than anything else. He only drops

Miriel’s Bell Bearing

and a bit of

Turtle Neck Meat

, so players don’t gain anything special from killing him – they just lose access to his spells.

6

Loretta Is One Of Elden Ring’s Only Good-Willed Characters

Royal Knight Of The Haligtree

The Tarnished should never kill

Loretta, Knight of the Haligtree

. While her death is necessary to reach Malenia, Loretta is too well-meaning of a character to murder. Loretta was once a leader among the Carian Knights, but she eventually left this position to become a defender of the Albinaurics, the Misbegotten, and all those treated poorly in the Lands Between. Her honorable efforts led her to become a knight of the Haligtree, Elden Ring‘s safe haven for the weak. Killing Loretta only to kill more people within the Haligtree’s roots is thus pointlessly cruel.

There is only one way to end Elden Ring with Melina alive and the Lands Between safe from the Frenzied Flame: be embraced by the Three Fingers, kill Malenia for the Unalloyed Golden Needle, and become unwoven from the Frenzied Flame’s grasp. But even if this is the case, it doesn’t justify killing Loretta. Melina wants to serve as kindling to burn the Erdtree – to go against her wishes by visiting Elden Ring‘s Three Fingers is a mistake the Tarnished should pay for, not Loretta.

7

To Kill Elden Ring’s Boc Is Pointlessly Cruel

Boc Is A Harmless Seamster

To kill

Boc the Seamster

is to commit senseless evil. Boc is one of the saddest, most innocent figures in Elden Ring. Spurned by his own kind and saddened by his own appearance, all he wants is to be accepted by others and himself. Players have the opportunity to help him do this in his questline – or they can instead feed his insecurities by helping him become human in a process that ultimately kills him. Considering all the work the seamster offers, it’s only fair that players help him out rather than contribute to his depressing demise. It’s one of the few good things the Tarnished can do in Elden Ring.

Moreover, Boc actually has a very useful cosmetic role – he can alter the player’s armor, doing things like removing capes, shortening brims, et cetera. There’s nowhere else to alter armor in Elden Ring, so while this service doesn’t provide any gameplay benefits, it’s best to keep Boc alive so he can continue his work.

8

Varré Has It Coming, But Killing Him Cuts His Questline Short

White Mask Varré

has become somewhat infamous: he’s the first NPC to greet the player when they start a new game of Elden Ring, and he’s downright nasty about it. He insults the Tarnished, calling them “maidenless” and deeming them “fated to die in obscurity.” As a result, many players have simply attacked him on sight, especially those new to FromSoft games who don’t yet understand that NPC death is permanent and irreversible.

Killing Varré might feel good in the short term, but doing so will prevent the player from completing his quest. It’s not the most pleasant, but does offer the player an alternate option for PvP invasions: the path of the Bloody Finger. Eventually, this questline provides the opportunity to kill Varré anyway, so as long as players wait until his red summon sign appears near the Dynasty Mausoleum Midpoint, they’ll have an opportunity to get their revenge.

9

Thiollier Has One Of The Most Interesting Subplots In Shadow Of The Erdtree

St. Trina’s Disciple

First met near the Pillar Path Cross Site of Grace,

Thiollier

is, admittedly, a little creepy. He’s uncomfortably obsessed with poison, repeatedly trying to offer some to the Tarnished. If they deliver him an item provided by Moore, Thiollier will also offer a bottle of a mysterious, black concoction, whose flavor text claims it’ll kill any normal mortal who ingests it. So, it’s a little understandable that some players are wary of Thiollier. However, killing him – at least on first meeting him – is a bad idea.

Thiollier is closely tied to St. Trina, one of the more interesting figures in Elden Ring‘s DLC. She appears to be a physical manifestation of a poisonous flower, and is implied to be Miquella’s other half, whom he abandoned on his quest for godhood. Keeping Thiollier alive is the best way to meet St. Trina in Shadow of the Erdtree, allowing for the complete experience in her questline.

10

Killing The Hornsent May Lock Off His Questline In Shadow Of The Erdtree

The Needle Knight’s Compatriots

Another somewhat suspicious NPC that the Tarnished will meet during their journey through the Land of Shadow is the

Hornsent

, a masked follower of Miquella. As a rule, it’s best not to attack any friendly NPCs on sight, but it’s important to continue to protect the Hornsent long after. Historically, the Hornsent as a group are revealed in the DLC to be an unspeakably violent group of bigots. That said, this particular Hornsent is attempting to atone for his forebears’ sins by following in Miquella’s footsteps.

If the Hornsent is kept alive throughout

Needle Knight Leda’s

questline, players will also have the opportunity to invade and kill him. However, it’s probably better to invade Leda instead; this keeps the Hornsent’s questline open and available through the rest of the game. It also provides some unique opportunities to interact with

Ansbach

.

Not all of Elden Ring‘s NPCs are antagonistic demigods, dragons, or gargoyles looking to kill the next Tarnished they see. Many, like those at Roundtable Hold, are more interested in collaborating with players to achieve their common goals. Learning to discriminate between enemies and friends can be difficult in Elden Ring, but it’s crucial for this reason: with so many challenges and hostiles in the Lands Between, it’s important to keep those who can be trusted or of use to the Tarnished alive.

Source: Ghostcharm / YouTube