Originally Posted by Gray Ghost
Does he canonically always come back to life or does he only come back if you do certain things?

Always, first 10minutes into Throne of Bhaal he is brought back and you can only do one thing: bring him back via sacrificing a miniscule part of your Bhaalspawn essence to do that, or have Imoen do it (she volunteers too). He is brought back as a some sort ghostly being (which is why his portrait in game has shining eyes and a glow around his whole person). Thing is, you canonically have no choice but to bring him back cause he holds vital information to you and he is basically sort of blackmailing you: "bring me back and I will tell you what you need to know, but if you refuse, I go na na na". Then the next choice is: do you keep him around (as a companion) or tell him to fuck off, so he literally just disappears from the game entirely.

And I think Larian went the 'fuck off' route with him. Abdel Adrian(the 'canon' Gorion's Ward from the books) had him stick around for a bit.