BG3: Should you side with He Who Was or Madeline?

When you finally make your way to the Shadow Cursed Lands in Baldur's Gate 3, happenings become more dark and unusual. Amidst battling it out with Shadows and avoiding nefarious traps, you’ll likely run into a peculiar man with a need for vengeance: He Who Was.

He Who Was seeks to punish a deceased person, Madeline, for their wrongdoings at a nearby tavern, and he’s looking to you for help justifying his revenge plan. With that, you’ll be sent on a side quest called ‘Punish the Wicked’ and must determine whether you side with He Who Was and punish Madeline, or side with the corpse by forgiving her.

Without further ado, here’s whether you should side with He Who Was or Madeline in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Should you side with He Who Was or Madeline in Baldur’s Gate 3

You’ll kick off the ‘Punish the Wicked’ side quest in Baldur’s Gate 3 when you first speak with He Who Was in the Shadow Cursed Lands. You’ll find this particular NPC at coordinates X123, Y104, hanging out with a white raven and Madeline’s corpse.

After speaking with He Who Was, you’ll find that Madeline’s actions have resulted in some deaths, and He Who Was wishes to punish her further. As if death wasn’t enough.

That said, he needs some more evidence first, and wants you to acquire it.

He Who Was will send you to find Madeline’s Ledger, which can be found at a tavern in Moonrise Towers: The Waning Moon. You’ll want to visit Last Light Inn in the west first, and speak with Isobel to acquire a blessing that’ll help you across the Shadow Cursed Lands.

Once that’s done, leave the protected town, where you’ll be sent to take down a convoy; this will bag you the Moonlantern that you need to stay safe from the shadows and other traps.

You can then continue following the convoy that grant you the Moonlantern, if you didn’t kill them, through the Tollhouse. Continue heading straight ahead from the Tollhouse and you’ll finally reach The Waning Moon at coordinates X-208, Y-69, but the vibes around here aren’t all that jovial or friendly.

We recommend saving your game here!

At the tavern, you’ll run into Thisobold Thorm; he’s a huge wretched distiller at the back of the room that you can’t miss. Go sit at the bar and have a chat with him where you’ll have a choice; you can attempt to outdrink the bulbous beast, or you can fight with him.

To drink with Thisobold Thorm, you’ll need to pass a Saving Throw or Sleight of Hand check during dialogue. Other options, such as refusing to drink, or attacking, will result in an unnecessary fight.

You’ll have options to learn more about Thisobold, but ultimately, he wants you to keep drinking with him. So, unless you’d rather fight it out, continue doing just that.

Eventually, and following a gruesome display, Thisobold will have had enough to drink, leaving you free to explore the tavern.

Behind the bar where you and Thisobold will have been drinking are some loose planks. You’ll need to pass a Perception check to see them, first. If you’re having any trouble finding it, press ‘Alt’ on your keyboard to have the floorboard labelled for you.

Interact with the loose planks to discover Madeline’s Ledger underneath them. With the ledger in hand, you can now return to He Who Was and give it to him.

Eventually, Madeline will tell her side of the story through He Who Was (provided that you do not attack first). When this happens, you’ll be presented with the all-important decision of who to side with:

• [Persuasion] Anything? Then hurt yourself as Ben and Marc did - stab yourself. - He Who Was will stab himself before starting combat. If you want to attack, this is the best option, as a small portion of his health will already be gone.
• [Persuasion] Yours is a classic tale of cowardice. Were you a character in a tale of mine, I would kill you off - immediately. - Madeline will be punished, and He Who Was will reward you.
• [Persuasion] When I tell this tale, you won’t be the villain - I promise. The Dark Justiciar is to blame. - Madeline is forgiven, but He Who Was will attack you. You can get his reward by looting his body after killing him.

The final two lines of dialogue above vary slightly from what you may see, as I’m playing a Bard in my playthrough, but they’ll generally say the same thing. As ever, failing any of the checks will also result in combat.

To help you judge which option you want to go for, the reward that He Who Was will give you for letting him punish Madeline (the second option above) is the Ravens Gloves item. This item will allow whoever wears it to use a Level 3 Conjuration Spell and summon Quothe the Raven.

If, on the other hand, you kill He Who Was using the first or third options above, you won’t get much. You can loot his body for an Arrow of Roaring Thunder and in my experience, a completely random Scroll. I ended up with a Scroll of Fire Bolt on my first time killing He Who Was, and a Scroll of the Phantasmal Killer second time around.

All in all, though, siding with He Who Was is likely the best option, unless you would just rather give Madeline the forgiveness she clearly deserves.

For more on Baldur’s Gate 3, check out where to find the Nightsong, and where to find the Blood of Lathander.