Who killed Merrick in Sea of Thieves? Answered

Once a lowly hunter and fisherman responsible for the Sea Dogs faction in Sea of Thieves, Merrick is now something much more. Beyond being dead, he now has some critical information the Sea’s sinister factions kill for, and worse. But who is responsible for his murder, and can we do anything about them?

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Merrick’s killer in Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves players are likely somewhat familiar with Merrick’s murderer, even if they haven’t kept regular tabs on its ongoing story. Her name is Amaranta, and she was first a Sea Dog posted in the Glorious Sea Dog Tavern as an Arena representative.

Following the Smuggler’s Fortune update, she vanished, ostensibly to pursue a fortune of her own. Though dark for quite some time, she was eventually implicated in the murder of another NPC, DeMarco. She returned to hiding following the crime, eventually joining the Dark Brethren, the villainous faction behind much of the misfortune in Sea of Thieves.

Amaranta was either directly or indirectly involved in most of the events of the previous Adventure storylines, especially ones that involved the Sea of the Damned, as she’s been able to travel between worlds after acquiring a powerful artifact.

Part of A Hunter’s Cry is about pursuing Amaranta as an auxiliary task to rescuing Merrick, as both she and the Warsmith, another leader of the Dark Brethren, are present in the Twisted Seadog Tavern, along with Duke. She manages to escape at the activity’s end, but not without warning that Merrick, and the information he holds, are still very much in the Brethren’s interest to acquire. The next Adventure is called The Siren’s Prize, and the Sirens are responsible at least for luring Duke to the Brethren, so whatever they want to claim, or perhaps already have, can’t be good.