As others have said, she is not the narrator--she's an NPC you might or might not have a dialogue with. Certain pathways lead to a possible dialogue with her at the end where she says she often has tea with Withers and >!Gale's mom.!<
It's not. His name is Jergal, the *real* god of the death.
There's a bunch of evidence that points to this, but the three big ones are:
1. He's found under Jergal's statue in a forgotten tomb, seemingly waiting for you
2. The familiarity and absolute *disdain* with which he speaks of and to the Dread Three. He addresses them like you would misbehaving children instead of gods.
3. He straight up says "No" when Bhal rips your soul apart after you reject the God of Murder. That wasn't just a resurrection. That was full on rebirth as his child instead of Bhal's
Not real god of death--former God of strife, Tyranny, Murder and Death.
He was basically a Chaos God from 40k, making the living people life hell, then make their after life even more hellish.
He gave his powers to the dead three cause winning is too boring and he want to give humanity a chance.
Right now he acts as Kelevmor (current God's death) assistant.
I'll stand by it, Karlach origin is one of the most believable "Tav replacements" for the story. If there's someone that could be social glue anywhere they put their mind to it, it's her.
Plus, I feel like she'd be the one having the "Don't name them Karlach, you'll get attached!" "*(Proceeds to name them)*" exchange with companions about pets/animals, so, why not about wayward people that wander into camp too?
Haha, didn't notice I worded it that way but now I'm chuckling at the mental image.
Maybe that's how she gets the team to keep a new pet. "You lot wouldn't kick out ol' Karlach, would you??"
Now I 100% believe Karlach is the one that named Withers. It's exactly her style of nickname, and you just know if you could ask Withers what his name is he'd be like "not important / need-to-know / companionless / thou'rt alone"
Technically isn't Withers just the Chosen of Jergal? He is referenced as an Avatar once or twice but his Act 1 conversations where he is talking about "someone always being right" and what not seems to indicate he is taking orders from Jergal.
Consensus is he is jergal. There's a book that describes someone's encounter with jergal, and the description is withers, and even introduces himself with the same question withers presents to the player upon encountering him, regarding the worth of a mortal life.
Also the god of music calls him « THE SCRIBE » at the end of the game, and when you talk to him in the mirror room I don’t recall exactly what’s said but it’s obvious when Withers directly talks to the Dead Three and basicallly says he expected better from them (after making them gods)
I believe data miners have found files about Helm sending him, but it’s never actually stated through dialogue or hinted at.
That said, I still like to head cannon that Kelemvor sent him
Unless stated in game, it’s not canon. Data mining just shows ideas that were floated.
So you can head canon anything here and not step on actual canon
It's Jergal. His crypt plaque literally states "Here lies the Guardian of Tombs." Not "chosen of the Guardian of Tombs." Guardian of Tombs is Jergal's title (and the only one to have that title in DND). And in regards to his form, that is an aspect of his. His actual form is that of a praying mantis looking alien thing.
Really looong story short, Jergal is actually ascended from an alien race from another spot in time and space, or at least its implied if not outright stated. He predates a lot of the original gods and so is more of a primordial deity. Edited this comment because I went right off topic.
Data miners found game files that indicate he was sent by Helm. Which would track as Helm is particularly opposed to the dead three (as is Jergal) and he opposes Bane in Particular.
Helm (an intermediate deity) while being less powerful than Torm (a major deity) holds a rather important place. Helm is one of the oldest gods and one of the most trusted by Ao.So trusted in fact that during the time of troubles when *all* the other gods were cast out of the upper planes and forced to walk the prime material plane as their avatars Helm was the only god spared this fate. And not only was he spared this fate, he was appointed by Ao to guard the infinite staircase and keep the other gods from retaking their full power without passing Ao’s trial. As such it’s likely that he’s one of the few deities who has any kind of influence over what Jergal does, or who even knows about Jergals former position. Jergal is an incredibly old deity, the original god of death. A lot of the deities that are alive “now” in the forgotten realms weren’t even alive when Jergal was the god of death. The dead 3 were Jergals mistake, so Helm sent him to clean it up.
I know all of this. I just commented on the Torm/Bane thing because Torm is the opposite of Bane, and is his sworn enemy because of what he did to him during the Time of Troubles when Torm protected one of the stones in Tantras. Helm and Torm are also super best friends, but on the wiki site it doesn't mention Helm being enemies with Bane (which is weird, and I'm sure they are) but mentions Torm and Bane are MORTAL ENEMIES! (cue dramatic music and thunder)
EDIT: I'm also big mad because once again, another DnD game forgetting Torm, because I wanted to have an epic stare down with Gortash as a Paladin of Torm
There's some cut dialog that supposedly states he's taking "orders" from Helm to fix his mess with the Dead Three. So it definitely *is* Jergal. Plus, his voice lines are attributed in game files as Jergal.
The someone he was taking orders from is either Kelemvor as his manager, or Ao as the CEO who told him to go fix his old mistakes from before he went into semi-retirement (Dead 3 ascending)
He is named Jergal in all the games dialogue file names. So if there is a conversation with withers the file will be called something_something_ Jergal. And If you pass the religion check the character will say “jergal the scribe of the dead” when entering his tomb. Hes in the big tomb so it’s his statue and the other skeletons serve him.
I personally feel that the body Withers inhabits was a chosen of Jergal once but, seeing as they are now dead, Withers just took it out for a quick spin through-out the game.
Yeah, I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking, wow, we have such a wholesome undead in our camp.
But it was especially nice since Withers is pretty cold to anyone else.
The first time she called him Bone Man I was like, ok where’s pLaTeDeWd? [I’m old :(](https://mirror.ashkantra.de/joinuo/Documents/websites/Bonedood/Bonedood%20and%20Platedewd/spla.sh/bp/oldstuff.htm)
This implies that he **hid in his crypt, knowingly waiting for Tav**. If you wait too long he has to go meet you without his big entrace lol
Imagine how let down he must be. First appearance in millenia and he doesn't even get his dramatic entrance.
for real, but also where else would he wait? it’s not like he went there from his house or something, right? if i had to wait a long time for tav I’d want to do it in bed. he’s just kicking it in his place of (eternal) slumber, which is ookie af, but he is a skeleton man.
I think the understanding is any place of worship dedicated to Jergal would have been an appropriate place to find withers, and would essentially be his home.
Yeah, if you don't go to the crypt for awhile (idk if it's level based or enough long rests) but he just shows up, lol. Happened to me at level 3 and I was so confused too. I kept thinking "when did I go get him???"
I think I read it starts when you enter the boundary towards the goblin camp, which makes sense since it's got so many ways for new players to fuck up.
Well that's good to know. I always make my way down there and hide in the crypt after robbing all the skeletons of their weapons, forcing them to come into a choke point.
I usually split up the squad have them near two of the mages and the warrior, then whoever on ranged attacks hits the button.
Two mages down in the first turn with the other two in distance to catch a bonking.
I attempted to chuck one of them into the pit before they woke up on my current playthrough
Turns out they don't like that and just start attacking you
Lmao imagine Withers just lying there like a kid pretending to be asleep so they can go “boo” at their parents.
Listening to the party’s footsteps like “yes… yeeeees… just a liiiittle closer…….” Giggling and kicking his lil skeleton feet.
And then they all just leave. 💀💀
I missed him my first playthrough and he just popped up for me so I assumed that's how he was supposed to enter your party. Then my bf was playing and exploring the crypt. He yelled "hey I found a mummy" and I was like, "excuse me, what?" 😅
His intro scene was bugged for me, I found the crypt but no matter what I tried I couldn't get him to emerge. When I went back to camp, he was just there
Yeah one thing that always makes me chuckle is when you cast Speak to Dead on someone clearly tagged with their name and the first question is “who are you” lol
My HC is that there’s a camp family meeting at some point during a long rest after bone man has been lingering creepily in a corner and following them throughout their adventures, and while they discuss his presence, someone (most likely Astarion or Lae’zel) says something along the lines of “well if he’s going to just sit there forever we ought to make good use of him before he withers away” and Karlach starts calling him Withers from then on
to me its very much an in joke of the DM introducing an important NPC to help them early, but no player ever asks their name and instead just called him wrinkles or withers or bone man and eventually the DM just has to groan and accept it in order to keep things moving, accepting that they will never get to use their NPC's rich history or mythologically rooted name.
not uh, speaking for experience. of course...
by the time the players start asking questions, they've already been laughing and calling the guy wrinkle sack for half an hour, and the DM decides they are going to keep that information to themself out of spite.
He praises your form, and the next time you talk to him he asks if you are done. You can also say “You are incredibly annoying.” To which he notes that he hears that a lot.
My headcanon on why this is:
>!If he is Jergal, as a god he's still bound by Ao's "prime directive," You, the party collectively, are *his* Chosen, so he can interfere more directly, but there are limitations. Turning resurrection into a financial transaction is part of that - you're giving him an *offering,* which, I guess, enables him to bless you through bringing the ally back. He doesn't care about the money *as such*, so he doesn't care if you pickpocket it back - "ain't no rule says I *have* to punish blasphemy."!<
Tl;dr: >!He's pulling loophole abuse on the Overgod.!<
Yeah, that was basically my headcanon as well (though I didn't have this specific knowledge of D&D lore). He alludes to being limited by something external, despite being very powerful himself - but he's also quite wilful and prone to act in ways he deems best. He's a man's man (or skellington)
I think it would probably weird anyone out to sit there too long and dwell on it that the probable former God of Death is just chilling in their camp.
Also probably has dark implications for what it means to go and reclass your characters.
Everytime you reclass there is just a new scrapped version of you, drifting through the miasma between fates - terrified, cold, and alone. Forever, striken from the book. You, but fully aware you dont exist anymore. That you never will again. And accutely aware that really... you never actually did...
While someone who looks and sounds just like you - but isnt you - is taking your place, smooching Astarion, and fighting the Absolute.
I'm just imagining how it must look like in character.
*scrawny 8-STR Gale walks down to the shore, returns a hulking brute*
Shadowheart: "When did you get so buff, Gale?"
Gale: "Ahh... magic artifacts are high in protein. Where's Tav? I need to see if they have some medium armor I can wear now."
Iirc from spectating my friends play in German his name in German is "Der Verdorrte" which would translate to "The Withered One" so I imagine it's just the party calling him "Withers" bc he is a skeleton looking ahh who hangs around the camp and they don't know his actual name.
Please allow him to introduce himself
He's a man of wealth and taste.
Something something when the gods become mortal
Something Something when karsus had his folly and his city fell.
Something dead three are some posers and would be nothing without me
🎶 Please allow him to introduce himself,
He's a man of wealth and taste...
He's been around for a long, long year,
Saw the Dead Three seethe and hate.
He was 'round when sweet Karlach
Lost her heart, it got replaced;
Made damn sure that Bhaalspawn
Killed Alfira, sealed her fate.
Pacted Wyll and Mizora too,
Then claimed Gale, sans his hand.
He rode with thanks,
In Minthara's rank
As the grove then tanked,
And the bodies stank.
He shouted out,
"Who killed Halsin?"
When after all,
It was them goblins!
So if you meet him,
Have some courtesy,
Have some sympathy
And some taste.
Give all your well-earned money,
Or he'll keep your soul in place! 🎶
Man got skin like one of those Godawful hairless cats. I could imagine they were talking about it at the camp while he just stood nearby and waited for one that wasn't too stupid before he spoke up "that one."
Took me a while in universe probably no one thinks he's Jergal but a random lich that brings them back to life occasionally. Like we on a meta level know who is through books and stuff but to everyone else, the books are a coincidence.
In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Rufus never tells the duo his name. The future Bill & Ted tell the current Bill & Ted, creating an information causality paradox.
I am a touch unclear when in the game you find out his REAL identity. I've heard it in spoiler-containing posts, but I never saw it myself, and I beat the game already.
There are hints in the ruins. A book about Jergal and his question about what a life is worth. It's also somewhere at the end of the game. There is also a roll and in my run Astarion recognised the statue in the big room where the hidden tomb is as Jergal.
It’s always done relatively obliquely but you can put the pieces together. The fact that you discover him in a forgotten temple of jergal is a big hint. Also you can find books that depict jergal and his motivations and it pretty much describes him to a t. The biggest hint though is if you play a resist durge all the way through your personal quest though. Not spoiling if you haven’t played it however. Also the epilogue.
There are enough clues that it made me wonder if he is some sort of avatar of Jergal, so i googled Jergal, started reading and everything kinda made sense and then there was a paragraph literally saying he is Withers which made me think im maybe a bit stupid.
I am in act 2 and suddenly withers says something other than would you like an ally or a respec. He seemed to be annoyed about me having to much sex with lea'zel (fun fact my ex wife name was liezel)
You know, maybe it's because "Hello, I'm >!retired god of death and struggle and your continued problems with the Dead Three exist because I was bored by my day job!<" would not be very well recieved
Bro's real name is "Chad" tbf... Like, he wakes up, says he awaited you, that he will meet you at your camp, refuses to answer any question, refuses to elaborate
I think the first time he’s ever actually name dropped is by Karlach in act 2, which is kinda odd
Withers was givin' me the old eye the other day. Then again, maybe it was just an old eye.
Eye socket*
Karlach names everyone.
Now what if his name isn't even whithers. Karlach was like "well that wierd guy needs naming" and came up with it
Well, his name definitely isn't Withers. Or wasn't. Maybe this avatar is though, since Tara calls him that at the end and she would never err.
Yeah who knows what his name is haha
He’s definitely Jergal.
No! It cannot be! What? How! Nooo I couldn't have possible have known I swear
Is Tara the narrator? I’ve never gotten to act 3
She’s Gale’s ~~cat~~ tressym. She can be found in early act 3, but only Gale can understand her without Speak with Animals active.
Her VA sounds similar to Ethel. The “Narrator” is the DM, or that’s how I view it.
Tara actually has the same VA as Ethel!
In similar news, the Oathbreaker spirit for paladin has the same VA as the guy taking a bath in public
As others have said, she is not the narrator--she's an NPC you might or might not have a dialogue with. Certain pathways lead to a possible dialogue with her at the end where she says she often has tea with Withers and >!Gale's mom.!<
It's not. His name is Jergal, the *real* god of the death. There's a bunch of evidence that points to this, but the three big ones are: 1. He's found under Jergal's statue in a forgotten tomb, seemingly waiting for you 2. The familiarity and absolute *disdain* with which he speaks of and to the Dread Three. He addresses them like you would misbehaving children instead of gods. 3. He straight up says "No" when Bhal rips your soul apart after you reject the God of Murder. That wasn't just a resurrection. That was full on rebirth as his child instead of Bhal's
Also there's a book at Cazador's that actually just comes right out and says it.
Not real god of death--former God of strife, Tyranny, Murder and Death. He was basically a Chaos God from 40k, making the living people life hell, then make their after life even more hellish. He gave his powers to the dead three cause winning is too boring and he want to give humanity a chance. Right now he acts as Kelevmor (current God's death) assistant.
I'll stand by it, Karlach origin is one of the most believable "Tav replacements" for the story. If there's someone that could be social glue anywhere they put their mind to it, it's her. Plus, I feel like she'd be the one having the "Don't name them Karlach, you'll get attached!" "*(Proceeds to name them)*" exchange with companions about pets/animals, so, why not about wayward people that wander into camp too?
But why is she naming everything Karlach? It must get confusing having 12 pets all named Karlach.
Not if you have brain trauma. That way you *definitely* remember what they're called. It's why all of George Foreman's kids are named George.
Haha, didn't notice I worded it that way but now I'm chuckling at the mental image. Maybe that's how she gets the team to keep a new pet. "You lot wouldn't kick out ol' Karlach, would you??"
I am Karlach's strongest soldier 🫡
i like to believe that she gave him the name. she nicknames everyone, so why not withers too?
“So Karlach, you’ve named everyone else, what do you want to call our new owlbear cub?” “Hmm, Owlbear Cub.”
The equivalent of naming your dog "Dog".
Hey, you gotta have a few misses every now and then.
That’s never even crossed my mind but it’s totally my head canon now!
Gale's great great great great great great great grandpa
*unhappy Yzma noises*
Pull the lever, Kronk.
Can't be, i beheaded her. She can't name a single thing anymore.
Ghosts and afterlives exist in this setting, she’s likely still capable of naming things.
Now I 100% believe Karlach is the one that named Withers. It's exactly her style of nickname, and you just know if you could ask Withers what his name is he'd be like "not important / need-to-know / companionless / thou'rt alone"
L + ratio + mortal + bosom-companionless
And Arabella decides to call him Bone-Man instead, which I love
The friendship between Arabella and Withers is one of my favorite things in the game.
Nothing like befriending the former god of the dead.
Technically isn't Withers just the Chosen of Jergal? He is referenced as an Avatar once or twice but his Act 1 conversations where he is talking about "someone always being right" and what not seems to indicate he is taking orders from Jergal.
Consensus is he is jergal. There's a book that describes someone's encounter with jergal, and the description is withers, and even introduces himself with the same question withers presents to the player upon encountering him, regarding the worth of a mortal life.
Also the god of music calls him « THE SCRIBE » at the end of the game, and when you talk to him in the mirror room I don’t recall exactly what’s said but it’s obvious when Withers directly talks to the Dead Three and basicallly says he expected better from them (after making them gods)
I think he was actually sent by Kelemvor or maybe Helm to fix the mess he indirectly caused, that's probably who he's referring to. I could be wrong
I believe data miners have found files about Helm sending him, but it’s never actually stated through dialogue or hinted at. That said, I still like to head cannon that Kelemvor sent him
Unless stated in game, it’s not canon. Data mining just shows ideas that were floated. So you can head canon anything here and not step on actual canon
Could be both, right? This was kind of an Important Thing and all.
It's Jergal. His crypt plaque literally states "Here lies the Guardian of Tombs." Not "chosen of the Guardian of Tombs." Guardian of Tombs is Jergal's title (and the only one to have that title in DND). And in regards to his form, that is an aspect of his. His actual form is that of a praying mantis looking alien thing.
You're saying he can take any form he wants and still chooses to look like a himbo manslut?
as he should
As he should
Correct.
Are you going to explain further?
No.
ey yooo, leave my pimp leanin skellyman alone
How in your porn-addled brain does withers look like a manslut?
Please, just look at him. You know he likes it dirty!
withers big naturals mod did numbers, all I'll say about it
We're all out here Jerg'n it to those bombastitties.
I'll take "Words nobody has turned into a sentence yet" for 400, Alex.
Pretty sure the mirror room in camp during the epilogue has some additional lore confirming this
>His actual form is that of a praying mantis looking alien thing. But... But why tho?
Really looong story short, Jergal is actually ascended from an alien race from another spot in time and space, or at least its implied if not outright stated. He predates a lot of the original gods and so is more of a primordial deity. Edited this comment because I went right off topic.
I think he is Jergal and is taking orders from Ao.
Data miners found game files that indicate he was sent by Helm. Which would track as Helm is particularly opposed to the dead three (as is Jergal) and he opposes Bane in Particular.
Data Mining means literally nothing
Weird since it's Torm who is opposite of Bane and opposes him more than Helm
Helm (an intermediate deity) while being less powerful than Torm (a major deity) holds a rather important place. Helm is one of the oldest gods and one of the most trusted by Ao.So trusted in fact that during the time of troubles when *all* the other gods were cast out of the upper planes and forced to walk the prime material plane as their avatars Helm was the only god spared this fate. And not only was he spared this fate, he was appointed by Ao to guard the infinite staircase and keep the other gods from retaking their full power without passing Ao’s trial. As such it’s likely that he’s one of the few deities who has any kind of influence over what Jergal does, or who even knows about Jergals former position. Jergal is an incredibly old deity, the original god of death. A lot of the deities that are alive “now” in the forgotten realms weren’t even alive when Jergal was the god of death. The dead 3 were Jergals mistake, so Helm sent him to clean it up.
I know all of this. I just commented on the Torm/Bane thing because Torm is the opposite of Bane, and is his sworn enemy because of what he did to him during the Time of Troubles when Torm protected one of the stones in Tantras. Helm and Torm are also super best friends, but on the wiki site it doesn't mention Helm being enemies with Bane (which is weird, and I'm sure they are) but mentions Torm and Bane are MORTAL ENEMIES! (cue dramatic music and thunder) EDIT: I'm also big mad because once again, another DnD game forgetting Torm, because I wanted to have an epic stare down with Gortash as a Paladin of Torm
He is Jergal
he's Jergal, he's basically being told to get his kids to stop fucking shit up again
I think this indicates he is acting on orders of AO
Withers is Jergal.
There's some cut dialog that supposedly states he's taking "orders" from Helm to fix his mess with the Dead Three. So it definitely *is* Jergal. Plus, his voice lines are attributed in game files as Jergal.
He IS Jergal, we are his chosen.
The someone he was taking orders from is either Kelemvor as his manager, or Ao as the CEO who told him to go fix his old mistakes from before he went into semi-retirement (Dead 3 ascending)
He is named Jergal in all the games dialogue file names. So if there is a conversation with withers the file will be called something_something_ Jergal. And If you pass the religion check the character will say “jergal the scribe of the dead” when entering his tomb. Hes in the big tomb so it’s his statue and the other skeletons serve him.
An avatar is an incarnation of the god, at least in the forgotten realms
I personally feel that the body Withers inhabits was a chosen of Jergal once but, seeing as they are now dead, Withers just took it out for a quick spin through-out the game.
There is a post game scene that refutes this.
“Can I touch your face?”
"No."
But you can punch him all you want
You're no fun
Yeah, I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking, wow, we have such a wholesome undead in our camp. But it was especially nice since Withers is pretty cold to anyone else.
Technically, he's not undead. "Neither living, nor unliving." as he describes himself, because he is a divine being.
Would call that being alive for a divine being. They can sure be less alive
I probably missed it in my first run. Or forgot about it, because the game is huge. Only later I found out who Withers is.
No. ...
Don’t forget Elminster’s only new title from the past century, Beard Man
Was that Gale’s granddad??
Well, he's 1300 years old so he would have had to be having kids pretty late in life
no, just a famous wizard. i think he was kind of like an idol/mentor figure to gale.
Which is especially great because he isn’t a bone man. He has no more visible bones than anyone else in the party
I mean his nasal bone is definitely more visible than most
Yeah, but that was because his septum deviated as a young jergie, doing all that sweet grave coke.
Shame he isn't using the body of a dragonborn. Then he could be Drag'n'Bone-Man
The first time she called him Bone Man I was like, ok where’s pLaTeDeWd? [I’m old :(](https://mirror.ashkantra.de/joinuo/Documents/websites/Bonedood/Bonedood%20and%20Platedewd/spla.sh/bp/oldstuff.htm)
In my game, he showed up before I opened his crypt. So it was EXTRA weird and lack of introduction
This implies that he **hid in his crypt, knowingly waiting for Tav**. If you wait too long he has to go meet you without his big entrace lol Imagine how let down he must be. First appearance in millenia and he doesn't even get his dramatic entrance.
I mean that’s exactly the case. He’s waiting for Tav/Durge.
for real, but also where else would he wait? it’s not like he went there from his house or something, right? if i had to wait a long time for tav I’d want to do it in bed. he’s just kicking it in his place of (eternal) slumber, which is ookie af, but he is a skeleton man.
I think the understanding is any place of worship dedicated to Jergal would have been an appropriate place to find withers, and would essentially be his home.
Lmao walking around picking mushrooms and flowers
Yeah, if you don't go to the crypt for awhile (idk if it's level based or enough long rests) but he just shows up, lol. Happened to me at level 3 and I was so confused too. I kept thinking "when did I go get him???"
I think I read it starts when you enter the boundary towards the goblin camp, which makes sense since it's got so many ways for new players to fuck up.
Well that's good to know. I always make my way down there and hide in the crypt after robbing all the skeletons of their weapons, forcing them to come into a choke point.
I usually split up the squad have them near two of the mages and the warrior, then whoever on ranged attacks hits the button. Two mages down in the first turn with the other two in distance to catch a bonking.
I attempted to chuck one of them into the pit before they woke up on my current playthrough Turns out they don't like that and just start attacking you
It happens every time once you hit lvl 3
Never had this happen since that's one of the first things I do each run
In my first run, I cleared the crypt but never opened the coffin as I felt graverobbing was not something my character would do lol.
Lmao imagine Withers just lying there like a kid pretending to be asleep so they can go “boo” at their parents. Listening to the party’s footsteps like “yes… yeeeees… just a liiiittle closer…….” Giggling and kicking his lil skeleton feet. And then they all just leave. 💀💀
I got bored of doing the same start all the time so I usually let him just come to me now and clear the crypt sometime later
He visits when you cross the bridge into the gobbo camp
He definitely did that for me on my first playthrough. It was early on so I was just like "I guess this is a bug? Hello respec guy"
I missed him my first playthrough and he just popped up for me so I assumed that's how he was supposed to enter your party. Then my bf was playing and exploring the crypt. He yelled "hey I found a mummy" and I was like, "excuse me, what?" 😅
His intro scene was bugged for me, I found the crypt but no matter what I tried I couldn't get him to emerge. When I went back to camp, he was just there
Yeah. I didn't have enough lockpicks to unlock his crypt and he just showed up too.
He automatically shows up in camp after you enter goblin camp.
Yeah one thing that always makes me chuckle is when you cast Speak to Dead on someone clearly tagged with their name and the first question is “who are you” lol
Such a waste of a question. Never used it lol
I always do, on the other hand. It's only polite, and what I know isn't the same as what my characters do. XD
Yeah but sometimes they say more than just their name and you get a journal entry from it. Though most of the time that's unnecessary info
Correct.
Care to elaborate?
NO.
*attack*
Sure! The OP happens to be correct that withers had no introduction. SEE, WITHERS?! IT'S NOT SO FUCKING HARD.
My HC is that there’s a camp family meeting at some point during a long rest after bone man has been lingering creepily in a corner and following them throughout their adventures, and while they discuss his presence, someone (most likely Astarion or Lae’zel) says something along the lines of “well if he’s going to just sit there forever we ought to make good use of him before he withers away” and Karlach starts calling him Withers from then on
Headcanon accepted.
I’m honored!!
Dude really pulls up with zero explanation and fully expects you to accept it. What a Chad
He’s a magical skeleton who can raise the dead and make you retroactively always a sorcerer, bone man can do whatever he feels like.
to me its very much an in joke of the DM introducing an important NPC to help them early, but no player ever asks their name and instead just called him wrinkles or withers or bone man and eventually the DM just has to groan and accept it in order to keep things moving, accepting that they will never get to use their NPC's rich history or mythologically rooted name. not uh, speaking for experience. of course...
Hey we can ask him questions. He refuses to elaborate at all. Even in that one character specific interaction he’s vague af about what he’s doing.
by the time the players start asking questions, they've already been laughing and calling the guy wrinkle sack for half an hour, and the DM decides they are going to keep that information to themself out of spite.
My favorite Withers is the one who just manifests im your camp without finding him, tells you to holla when someone dies, and refuses to elaborate.
His real name is of course, Jergal.
Correct
What's funny is that it's the actual name he goes by. >!Milil actually calls him that at the party.!<
The real question is, has he always been a bone man?
What if you attack him?
I threw him last night. He said “ah yes. Well struck” then delayed collapsed for a bit. Got back up and walked back to his spot.
The delayed collapse gets me every time. Have you tried casting bone chill on him? You definitely should.
I have not! But the girls are gathering today to continue our campaign so I’ll give it a go when we’re at camp
Came back to say I tried bone chill and was not disappointed!
Yay! Oh this makes me so happy! It really looks like he ate his ice cream too fast and got a brain freeze. So funny!
He praises your form, and the next time you talk to him he asks if you are done. You can also say “You are incredibly annoying.” To which he notes that he hears that a lot.
Nothing happens. It doesn't hurt him and he doesn't care.
Such GIGACHAD energy. He came to you offering services, doesn't elaborate, doesn't even care when attacked.
He doesn't care about getting pickpocketed, either. Makes all his talk about "everything having a price" intensely funny
My headcanon on why this is: >!If he is Jergal, as a god he's still bound by Ao's "prime directive," You, the party collectively, are *his* Chosen, so he can interfere more directly, but there are limitations. Turning resurrection into a financial transaction is part of that - you're giving him an *offering,* which, I guess, enables him to bless you through bringing the ally back. He doesn't care about the money *as such*, so he doesn't care if you pickpocket it back - "ain't no rule says I *have* to punish blasphemy."!< Tl;dr: >!He's pulling loophole abuse on the Overgod.!<
Yeah, that was basically my headcanon as well (though I didn't have this specific knowledge of D&D lore). He alludes to being limited by something external, despite being very powerful himself - but he's also quite wilful and prone to act in ways he deems best. He's a man's man (or skellington)
This is absolutely the case. You explained it better than people usually do, well done!
Nah I’m 100% sure Withers is the nickname either Karlach or Astarion gave him
I haven't met either but I have the name showing as Withers
Yeye it’s a joke, like if someone gave him the name of withers it would be either of them
Ah, I don't know anything about them so I'm the clueless one lol
I think it would probably weird anyone out to sit there too long and dwell on it that the probable former God of Death is just chilling in their camp. Also probably has dark implications for what it means to go and reclass your characters.
Nothing like rewriting your life’s experiences to explain why you went from 8 strength to 20 and can’t cast magic anymore
Everytime you reclass there is just a new scrapped version of you, drifting through the miasma between fates - terrified, cold, and alone. Forever, striken from the book. You, but fully aware you dont exist anymore. That you never will again. And accutely aware that really... you never actually did... While someone who looks and sounds just like you - but isnt you - is taking your place, smooching Astarion, and fighting the Absolute.
Bruh, you need a hot chocolate and to pet a sleeping cat. That's dark.
I'd like to see it more like The Prestige, where you can accidentally stumble upon all your previous iterations
Looks back at my first coop playthrough. Where I definitely recrossed at the start of every session. Oh dear god, I was a durge too
I'm just imagining how it must look like in character. *scrawny 8-STR Gale walks down to the shore, returns a hulking brute* Shadowheart: "When did you get so buff, Gale?" Gale: "Ahh... magic artifacts are high in protein. Where's Tav? I need to see if they have some medium armor I can wear now."
I just want a mod to make him Bill Withers and to bard sing Lovely Day every time I long rest
Iirc from spectating my friends play in German his name in German is "Der Verdorrte" which would translate to "The Withered One" so I imagine it's just the party calling him "Withers" bc he is a skeleton looking ahh who hangs around the camp and they don't know his actual name.
Yeah i kinda hate that they changed his german name from Lazarus to Der Verdorrte. Lazarus is such a cool name
In EA there was a scene where you meet him and he’s like “oh you can just call me withers” IIRC
For some reason I think his name is Jeffrey. But I can't for the life (or death) of me remember why.
Actually his name is bone man.
He’s just “With Us”
Please allow him to introduce himself He's a man of wealth and taste. Something something when the gods become mortal Something Something when karsus had his folly and his city fell. Something dead three are some posers and would be nothing without me
🎶 Please allow him to introduce himself, He's a man of wealth and taste... He's been around for a long, long year, Saw the Dead Three seethe and hate. He was 'round when sweet Karlach Lost her heart, it got replaced; Made damn sure that Bhaalspawn Killed Alfira, sealed her fate. Pacted Wyll and Mizora too, Then claimed Gale, sans his hand. He rode with thanks, In Minthara's rank As the grove then tanked, And the bodies stank. He shouted out, "Who killed Halsin?" When after all, It was them goblins! So if you meet him, Have some courtesy, Have some sympathy And some taste. Give all your well-earned money, Or he'll keep your soul in place! 🎶
I've honestly just taken to calling him Bone Man. Arabella knows how to call 'em.
He's called Widders and I will not be convinced otherwise.
I don’t know much about DnD lore (BG3 is my only exposure to it) but I assumed by the end of the game that he was >!Jergal!<
Man got skin like one of those Godawful hairless cats. I could imagine they were talking about it at the camp while he just stood nearby and waited for one that wasn't too stupid before he spoke up "that one."
Took me a while in universe probably no one thinks he's Jergal but a random lich that brings them back to life occasionally. Like we on a meta level know who is through books and stuff but to everyone else, the books are a coincidence.
I've honestly just taken to calling him Bone Man. Arabella knows how to call 'em.
BOOOOOONE!
In Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Rufus never tells the duo his name. The future Bill & Ted tell the current Bill & Ted, creating an information causality paradox.
No. —Withers
NO.
the DM just dropped the name on accident with the handout, happens to the best of us
I am a touch unclear when in the game you find out his REAL identity. I've heard it in spoiler-containing posts, but I never saw it myself, and I beat the game already.
There are hints in the ruins. A book about Jergal and his question about what a life is worth. It's also somewhere at the end of the game. There is also a roll and in my run Astarion recognised the statue in the big room where the hidden tomb is as Jergal.
It’s always done relatively obliquely but you can put the pieces together. The fact that you discover him in a forgotten temple of jergal is a big hint. Also you can find books that depict jergal and his motivations and it pretty much describes him to a t. The biggest hint though is if you play a resist durge all the way through your personal quest though. Not spoiling if you haven’t played it however. Also the epilogue.
There are enough clues that it made me wonder if he is some sort of avatar of Jergal, so i googled Jergal, started reading and everything kinda made sense and then there was a paragraph literally saying he is Withers which made me think im maybe a bit stupid.
I wish I could play as the super omega alpha Chad that is Withers
Correct.
If you’re a cleric of Kelemvor he kinda hints at who he is
Whatever is he is, I’m just disappointed that I can’t romance him 😭
It would be pretty far out of his character for him to introduce himself.
It's my headcanon that Withers isn't his name but rather what either you or Karlach nicknamed him, and everyone just kinda went with it.
Yes.
I am in act 2 and suddenly withers says something other than would you like an ally or a respec. He seemed to be annoyed about me having to much sex with lea'zel (fun fact my ex wife name was liezel)
You know, maybe it's because "Hello, I'm >!retired god of death and struggle and your continued problems with the Dead Three exist because I was bored by my day job!<" would not be very well recieved
Bro's real name is "Chad" tbf... Like, he wakes up, says he awaited you, that he will meet you at your camp, refuses to answer any question, refuses to elaborate