He Who Was in Baldur’s Gate 3 is a Shadar‑kai servant of the Raven Queen you meet in the Shadow‑Cursed Lands, tied to the quest “Punish the Wicked.”

Who He Who Was Is

  • He is a pale, tattooed elf (a Shadar‑kai gloom weaver) accompanied by a white raven that often “speaks” through him.
  • Shadar‑kai are elves bound to the Raven Queen, a deity of death, fate, and memories who dwells in the Shadowfell.
  • His duty is to collect and judge memories of the dead, but the Shadow‑Curse has twisted this into a cruel obsession with punishment and torment.

In essence, he embodies BG3’s moral gray areas: he’s not a simple villain, but a zealot whose purpose has rotted into cruelty.

Where You Find Him

  • Location: Ruined Battlefield / Shadow‑Cursed Lands, near a ritual circle where he’s casting Speak with Dead on a dwarf named Madeline.
  • Coordinates noted by players and wikis are around X:129, Y:106 on the main road through the cursed area.
  • He is mid‑ritual over Madeline’s corpse, with Raven Queen iconography around the circle.

The “Punish the Wicked” Quest

He Who Was draws you into judging Madeline, an innkeeper who recorded complaints against Ketheric Thorm in a ledger.

Step‑by‑step outline

  1. Speak to He Who Was
    • He tells you Madeline is a murderer and demands justice, while his raven hints that your party could help.
  1. Find Madeline’s Ledger
    • He sends you to the tavern/distillery where Madeline worked to retrieve her ledger.
 * The ledger reveals she recorded patrons’ grievances about Ketheric Thorm as ordered by a Dark Justiciar, who later forced two patrons to stab each other using that information.
  1. Return and Begin the Trial
    • Bring the ledger back and give it to He Who Was; he channels Madeline’s spirit through his own body for questioning.
 * You can ask what happened and who is truly responsible for the deaths.

Your Main Choices and Outcomes

During the “trial,” you effectively decide whether Madeline is guilty and how harshly to punish her.

Core options

  • Have Madeline stab herself (violent punishment)
    • Persuade her to stab “herself” while inhabiting He Who Was’ body (first check around DC 14).
* First stab: He Who Was accepts this as suitable punishment and is satisfied.

* If you push for a second stab, he feels the pain through his own body, snaps out of the trance, and becomes hostile, triggering a fight.
  • Call her a coward and shame her (verbal condemnation)
    • You can condemn her as a coward for not resisting or for her role in the events (Persuasion around DC 10).
* He Who Was considers this sufficient judgment and is pleased.
  • Tell her it wasn’t her fault / forgive her (merciful path)
    • You argue she was coerced and more victim than villain (Persuasion around DC 10).
* This enrages He Who Was, who sees mercy as an injustice; he and his raven attack your party.

Paladin oath implications

  • If you shame Madeline or make her stab herself , many guides note that Paladins of the Ancients, Crown, or Devotion can break their oath due to endorsing cruelty over mercy.
  • Choosing mercy (absolving her) can preserve your oath but leads to a confrontation with He Who Was instead.

Lore and Deeper Context

  • He Who Was is described as the only notable Shadar‑kai present in BG3, visually and thematically tied to the Raven Queen.
  • A letter found on or near his body, from another Shadar‑kai “Of Thine Will,” orders him to return to the Shadowfell before the Shadow‑Curse drives him mad.
  • The letter mentions another Shadar‑kai, Lover’s Whisper, who killed her raven in madness, prompting the Raven Queen to strike her down—implying He Who Was is at risk of a similar fate.
  • His behavior and this ignored summons suggest he may effectively be a deserter: still drawing on Raven Queen iconography and magic, but pursuing his own obsessive justice rather than her will.

Why This Encounter Stands Out

  • It’s a compact moral trial: you judge a dead woman on incomplete, politically loaded information, under pressure from a fanatical “judge” tied to a god of death.
  • The design highlights BG3’s focus on reactivity: class (especially Paladin oaths), background (e.g., Acolyte can gain “No Rest for the Wicked”), and your moral stance all meaningfully affect the outcome.
  • Many players discuss He Who Was online because he encapsulates the game’s themes—corruption by the Shadow‑Curse, religious fanaticism, and the blurred line between justice and vengeance—in a single eerie side quest.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.