Camping within the Shadow Cursed Lands ofBaldur’s Gate 3, players will find a mysterious man known as He Who Was. He’sa tattooed and pale elf accompanied by a white raven, and he seeks the player’s help in bringing a dead soul to justice. He wants to hold an innkeeper accountable for the betrayal of her friends and seeks evidence of her crime with which to do so.
The quest revolving around He Who Was is a simple one,requiring players to retrieve the dead innkeeper’s ledger and return to the pale elf’s camp. There, you may choose to help him torture this dead soul or offer her forgiveness, bringing the wrath of He Who Was down upon yourself. But who exactly is this strange man, where does he come from, and why does he harbor such a grudge against the guilty?
He Who Was Is An Agent Of The Raven Queen
The Only Shadar-Kai inBaldur’s Gate 3
Both He Who Was’s appearance and his title give him away asa “Shadar-Kai,” a specific group of elves who have ties to a god known as the Raven Queen. She is a god with domain over death, fate, and memories, and within the lore of the Forgotten Realms, she dwellswithin the Shadowfell, though she was initially from the Feywild. Her followers, the Shdar-Kai, were once fey themselves, but followed their god to the Shadowfell and were transformed by its necrotic magic.
Other lore that exists around the Raven Queen and the Shadar-Kai links her to the Dawn War pantheon. However, this lore is only pertinent for the Exandria setting and is therefore irrelevant within the context ofBaldur’s Gate 3.
They are now closer to undead creatures than to fey and are distinguished by their pale skin and white hair. He Who Was fits the description perfectly and has an odd raven for a familiar, making him identifiable as a Shadar-Kai even without the title the game gives him, that of “Shadar-Kai Gloom Weaver.”
Interestingly enough,this title matches a specific kind of Shadar-Kai NPC within theD&Dsource bookMordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse.The stat block for this NPC is a little more powerful than He Who Was is inBaldur’s Gate 3, but they both wield spears, possess a deathly aura that debuffs nearby enemies, and utilize shadow magic.
The Shadar-Kai Elves Have A Complex Backstory With Shar
Two Competing Goddesses Within The Shadowfell
We have a pretty good idea of exactly what kind of warrior He Who Was is and where he is from, but that doesn’t explain what he’s doing in the Shadow-Cursed Lands with a dead innkeep. TheMordenkainenbook says thatShadar-Kai Gloom Weavers may leave the Shadowfell on quests “to find the most sorrow-touched items they can findto bring back to their queen’s gloomy castle.” It’s possible that He Who Was is doing just that.
As for the location, if one were to find a Shadar-Kaianywhere on Faerunoutside the Shadowfell, the Shadow-Cursed Lands are probably among the most likely spots.The entire area is entwined with magic from the shadowy plane, allowing creatures from there to roam and hunt mortals as they please. There are even a couple of spots where the players themselves can find entrances to the Shadowfell within this area, proving that crossover is definitely possible.
There’s still one problem:these are Shar’s lands, not the Raven Queen’s.Both are goddesses associated with secrets and darkness that dwell within the Shadowfell, but they are very different in their goals and who worships them. The Raven Queen wants her servants to find painful knowledge, while Shar would seek to erase pain entirely by doing away with memories and light altogether. It seems unlikely that a servant of one would be welcome in the domain of the other, so what is He Who Was doing here?
He Who Was Might Have Betrayed His Own People
A Deserter On His Own Path
While Shadar-Kai may generally serve the Raven Queen, there have been deserters in the past, andHe Who Wasis likely one of them. For one thing,his behavior seems to indicate that he’s in this entirely for himself. He seems to want to bring the soul of the dead innkeeper to justice not for a god, but for his own pleasure, as he revels in her torment. For another, while he does speak to and take the advice of his raven, he also seems to directly go against it in some of his ambient dialogue.
He Who Was is casting spells on the innkeeper’s corpse atop a ritual circle adorned with the symbol of the Raven Queen. This might indicate he still draws magic from her domain, or just that he had used this site for some time, prior to his desertion.
Then, there is the letter that players can find on his corpse, which contains a directive that He Who Has is apparently ignoring or delaying. Written by another Shadar-Kai, named “Of Thine Will,” the letterrequests that He Who Was return at once to the Shadowfell, lest he be driven mad by the Shadow Curse.
It seems another Shadar-Kai, named Lover’s Whisper, fell victim to this madness and killed her raven companion, and the Raven Queen struck her down in turn. Given that He Who Was is still in the Shadow-Cursed Lands inBaldur’s Gate 3after receiving this letter, it seems clear that he disobeyed orders and may be striking out on his own to live a life outside his Queen’s directives.
