OK, I'll admit I've thought about killing the SOB myself (HE IS ANNOYING). But tonight, in Chapter 2 (and I think I must be nearing the end of Chapter 2 as I've destroyed the Minecrawlers nest) I was moving from the Old Camp to the New Camp to check on some things, and Mud is following, and I cross the bridge near the New Camp and here this loud "AAAGGGHHH".
I turn around and poor old mud must've fell off the bridge, because there he lays at the bottom, dead. I pick his body and get only 5 ore and a couple other things. But now I'm worried. Is Mud's death going to make this game unable to complete?? IIRC there were some NPC's that if they became killed it would end up making certain necessary things unlock in the game (at least I thought I read that somewhere, on the forums or in the manual). So, is Mud's death going to be a game killer?? Or can I now walk around in peace without getting interrupted every 10 seconds??? Or is he going to miraculously revive tomorrow???? I know plenty of times I've lost him before and he would always find me upon waking up for a new day in the Old Camp. But I never seen him die before either.

Not in any way I could think of. I remember around here we used to kill that bugger as soon as possible, anyway, for it it very satisfying ;P
You're good to go. Really :)

I have never let him survive till the end of the game.
I think you could get rid of him for a while by beating him down, without doing the killing move.
So no problem, nearly everybody kills him.

I think he's modelled on a german version of ryan seacrest that the devs hated at the time, just there to be murdered.

Oh thank God !!
I thought at first that it was a pain in the ass way to get some exp or stuff, just by standing the guy for more than like 20 minutes.
But then I had to come to reason : this whiny son of a b**ch is just completely useless.
Aah, good. I'll go find the closest bridge now..

Actually, it's more rewarding killing him yourself ;-)))

Yeah, I was wondering if there was some method to the madness too. I still can't believe I put up with him for as long as I did, although I did learn early on that whenever I found some critters he would run away and leave me alone, so usually first thing I did after he hooked up with me and started interrupting every 5 friggin seconds, I'd run out and find some animal somewhere. He'd run, and I'd be done with him for that day at least, at least until I went back into the city.
It was funny though when he did die, cause he was following (as usual), and I was ahead of him and just heard that "AARRGH". It was a flood of emotions when I went back and saw that pain in the a$$ laying there dead. Relief, giddyness, humor, and a bit of worry cause I was wondering if his death would screw something up. Oh well, next time I play I'm gonna take my own sword to his obnoxious butt. (Wicked grin crosses my face as I'm Imagining even MORE GLEE ! ! !)

Back when it was originally released I remember that I jumped off a cliff and he would follow. Sadly he didn't have the stats required to survive the fall....

I just wigged out and started to hack at him within a few minutes. After a few hits, he ran away and I haven't seen him since. I'll be sure to do the job right next time....

He's sitting on a bench near that cook guy who gives you the quest to find those mealbugs and mushrooms if you want him so bad.

so it IS ok if he is killed? Because I murdered him already...

LOL, I bet THAT felt good. Man I wanted to so badly so often. I can't believe I put up with him for almost two chapters. But I was so worried that there was some reason to his madness that might affect gameplay later I didn't.
But I did slash him a couple of times, and he ran away. And he ran away fast. So, how were you able to do it? I couldn't catch up with him because he ran so fast.
I'm asking because when I play it next time, I'm going to take great pleasure in that final "kill" move where you drive the sword into his chest. Never a more deserving NPC in any game, IMO.

arrows arrows arrows. he doesn't get very far if you can do it near a crowded area. Like someplace with lots of trees or people to block his path.

I had just found Mud a couple days ago but he did not follow right away. Today I had him follow me along a cliff edge and in about 5 seconds I heard a thud and went back down and collected the goods.
I only had to listen to him one time while he followed me; nice!
:o)

you're very lucky
It's so annoying, and for some reason, he has these strange sexual undertones about him...
Did anyone notice he says things like "Mmm, lets go someplace alone? To uh... Talk?"