Withers is actually just a very tired DM babysitting the party, trying desperately to keep them on track and not dying from their hubris.

Durge kills Alfira
Durge: can you please resurrect her?
Withers: Sorry it’s a cannon event.

I love how Jergal is basically like "I gave you three numbskulls my job so I could retire in peace, but you're so horribly inept at it" when talking to the dead three.

I love how Withers saving the durge is just him going "damn bruh that was badass. you got more gods to kill still, so get up ."

For some reason, the most amusing thing about him is how he quite literally refuses to elaborate. Compared to how normal people deny some request - by wiggling, making excuses, apologizing he's just like - "No." and that's it. Funny to me for some reason

The interactions between Arabella and, well, "Bone Man" are one of the most wholesome experience of the game.

"You do not stoke fear by reaping your own fields, but by burning your foes." Is such a badass line.

Me, who has zero DnD knowledge: "yep, that sounds exactly right"

If you focus on his divine energy as a cleric of Kelemvor you can ask him if he is a chosen of Kelemvor and he responds "No, but Kelemvor has chosen well to bless one such as yourself."

I love the idea of Jergal trying to pawn off his job on Arabella 😂

I believe the question about a skeleton not being able to talk is a shout out to the original Divine Divinity, in one of the first dungeons there are two skeletons chatting who suddenly realise they shouldn't be able to talk, have an existential crisis and collapse in a pile of bones, it's one of the funniest moments I've seen in a CRPG.

Hi, Old man here, 35+ years of DMing and I have played pretty much all the previous D&D computer games. (huge massive spoilers and history lesson)
This is a good assessment of information available in BG3 - and I think you are almost right. You young man are missing some important data, from previous times. And when you have read this you will love larian even more.
In my opinion BG3 is not only a sequel to Baldurs gate 2 but also a lore sequel to Neverwinter knights 2 and its expansion Mask of the betrayer(MOTB), and even a sequel to the ANCIENT game eye of the beholder (one of the first D&D computer games)
The Emperor's location on the astral realm is actually a previous location from MOTB. It is the corpse of Myrkul, even a dead god has a corpse on the astral.
According to my understanding of what happens in the fugue plane in MOTB withers is actually not jergal himself, rather a split off aspect of the god, a divine shard that imbues an undying chosen. Further more the hand behind this is kelemvor - whom after the events of MOTB chose to take a role in finding a solution to the wall of the faithless - and what happens to souls who do not have a patron god.
now on to really old times: eye of the beholder. it is revealed here that mind flayers (and other aberrations such as beholders) are not from another plane, they are from another crystal sphere - another universe entirely - outside of AO's control. Even the gods don't know IF they have souls, or where those souls go and mortal becoming aberrations is essentially theft from the total balance of the universe (all planes, life and death).
Thanks for reading, and thanks to larian for making this old git happy and giving me a sequel I waited 20+ years for!

I always presumed he was Jergal and the reason he was helping the party was because AO commanded him to clean up his mess he made with the dead 3.

Because he’s just a cool dude

you can also steal any gold you pay him and he straight up does not care. you can do it full view and he wont react.

I genuinely hope they never elaborate on Arabella, it makes the world feel more alive by having her go off and do her own adventures. Who knows, maybe in some future rulebook we'll get a line about a Tiefling wizard on the sword coast with ties to the former god of the dead

I haven't seen it myself, but apparently Withers has unique lines for clerics of Kelemvor that strongly hint to him being Jergal too.

Edit: Spelling

Let's not forget that Kelemvor is not the god of death. He is the god of the balance between life and death. His symbol is literally scales of balance

If you have sought company that cold, lonely night, Withers would butt in with a "reminder" that all pleasures of the flesh are temporary and hold no true value... or something... The guy has no notion of personal boundaries whatsoever. Absolutely fantastic character in both, concept and execution.

Gods in D&D have the ability to project their power into an "Avatar" sort of a physical manifestation of them in the material plane that makes it possible for them to interact directly with mortals without leaving the safety of their own divine plane. withers is almost certainly such an Avatar, rather than [SPOILER] in the flesh or a resurrected mummy/zombie he talks through.

also something you've missed is that withers casts "True Resurrection" (a level 9 necromancy spell with very few limitations including not needing the body of the deceased) rather than revivify (lvl 3) or raise dead which would be the resurrection spells within the level gap of BG3 further hinting at his probably divine status.