What happens if you kill Kalé in Elden Ring?

One of the many traditions of FromSoftware’s Souls-likes is the ability to kill almost every NPC you encounter. Elden Ring is no different. Characters like Ranni, Melina, and Ij, are unkillable for various reasons, but if you so choose, you can kill the merchant Kalé, one of the first characters you’ll likely meet in the game and one of the nicest. But should you?

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What do you get if you kill Kalé?

Sitting in the Church of Elleh, waiting to offer guidance and sell his wares, is Kalé, one of several wandering merchants across The Lands Between who sell valuable items, hints, and other equipment for a modest price. Like other friendly NPCs, Kalé won’t attack you unless provoked; however, you can still kill him if you wish. You’ll need to hit him a few times to make him hostile, and he’ll protest until you do enough damage to make him angry enough to attack you.

Once Kalé starts to fight, you might find yourself in over your head, as he’s certainly the weakest of the wandering merchants but is by no means a pushover. During combat, he may try to mount his donkey, and if you’re an absolute monster, you can kill the animal as well, which also goes down fairly easily. When Kalé dies, he’ll drop the following items:

• 500 Runes
• Kalé’s Bell Bearing
• The Finger Snap gesture

Should you kill Kalé?

In short, no, you should not kill Kalé. Doing so rewards little of immediate value besides his Bell Bearing, but unlike some of the other merchants in the world, Kalé is very easy to get to. You can give his Bell Bearing to the Twin Maiden Husks at the Roundtable Hold, but you have to travel a bit farther to reach them than you would by simply warping to the Church of Elleh. You can also get the Finger Snap gesture without resorting to murder, which, combined with the pittance of runes he rewards, leads us not to recommend killing Kalé. Just let the merchant live in peace and pay him a visit when you need to purchase some items.