History NightmareFuel / BaldursGateIII

Keeping the proud ''Baldur's Gate'' tradition of making players piss their pants.

* The line ''Relish: now your sins can be your own'' when you reject Bhaal. Implying that your character rejected Bhaal not out of a desire to be good, but because they didn't want their loser god for a father taking all the credit for their misdeeds.
* The '''Sins of the Father''' ending is exclusive to the Dark Urge origin character, and is every bit as horrifying as you would come to expect should you choose to embrace its true heritage: Rather than allowing the Emperor to kill the Netherbrain and be rid of your parasite for good, the Dark Urge instead kills him and takes control of the Netherbrain for themselves, essentially [[HijackedByGanon hijacking the Cult of the Absolute's plans as Bhaal wanted them to do]]. Worse still, they corrupt not only the Netherbrain and the mind flayers, but even ''their companions'' with their homicidal impulses from being a Bhaalspawn, turning everyone connected to the Netherbrain into the Dark Urge's personal AxCrazy army. The last scene of the ending sees the Dark Urge sit themselves upon a throne as the mind flayers and a fleet of nautiloids join up with them as they begin a bloody conquest across Faerûn...

** If Isobel dies or is taken, you are treated to a lovely cutscene of the Moonshield breaking and all of the Harpers painfully turning into Shadow cursed undead, as you're forced to fight your way through a ''horde of zombies''. But the worst part is after the fight. When there's nothing but silence, and a darker version of the Last Light theme. No NPCs to talk to, no light, nothing but a shadow cursed waste.

** Even the Last Light Inn isn't really a refuge. Ketheric knew about it all along, sending [[TheMole Marcus there to eventually take Isobel back]], forcing you to enter a difficult fight against Marcus and a load of undead, the moment you seek protection against the Shadow Curse. And if you're the Dark Urge, Bhaal directly tries to force you to Isobel and thus ''everyone in the inn'' or face terrible consequences.

*** The Emperor says Ansur tried to kill him in his sleep as a MercyKill. However, is this really true?Are we not getting the full picture? When we see Ansur's corpse, he's in his full dragon form, in the Wrymway lair, with Balduran's legendary giant slayer sword able to be looted from Ansur's corpse. One has to wonder whether Ansur was really the aggressor here...

* Ketheric Thorm is such a menace throughout Act 2 that the Shadow Curse he's unleashed will literally sap the life out of you unless you take the necessary precautions. The areas where you have to roam with a lit torch at all times are the relatively ''safe'' areas, with large portions of the map completely inaccessible unless you take some very specific steps to acquire a working Moonlantern or the Pixie's Blessing. The Last Light Inn stands out as the ''only'' safe refuge in the entire map, and even their occupants are paranoid enough to immediately try and arrest you upon your arrival until a CharacterWitness (either Mol or Marcus) bails you out. The environment inside Moonrise Towers constantly radiates an aura of terror, even if you can easily infiltrate it as a friendly, with Ketheric showing his nigh-invulnerability in his introductory cutscene in a rather graphic manner. The most horrific part, however, is the illithid colony under Moonrise, which is chock-full of {{Gorn}} and displays of horrific experimentation on humans and all sentient races. Standout examples include Chop, a Bugbear worker clearly suffering a FateWorseThanDeath with the way his mind has been hollowed out, and the Dark Urge's conversation with Kressa Bonedaughter, where she lovingly recounts all the ways she eagerly violated them, and promptly attacks them so she can capture them again.

** The Gauntlet of Shar, the temple created by Ketheric Thorm to guard the Nightsong, the source of his invulnerability. Being a huge temple dedicated to raising an army of Shar worshipping warriors is already pretty bad, but the place is absolutely ''littered'' with corpses and skulls.
** Then there's the revelation of what the so-called Nightsong you've been hearing about all game is. It's not just some magical artifact but an immortal woman imprisoned and sapped of magical energy so Ketheric can stay immortal. Kept chained for over a century, [[AndIMustScream unable to move, sit, sleep, talk to anyone, to even die]]. All so Ketheric can keep ruling over his cursed land. For bonus points, one journal you find in the Shadow-Cursed Lands implies that Shadowheart is not the first aspiring Dark Justiciar to be given the command to kill her; a lot of Dark Justiciars of old used her as the obligatory sacrifical Selunite, forcing her to endure lethal wounds of her own on top of Ketheric's wounds. It's possible the only reason that Shadowheart was able to kill her for good is because Shar allowed it, since Ketheric spurned Shar in the century between the previous candidate and Shadowheart's arrival.
** While we're talking about the Nightsong, why not talk about the person who made her Soul Cage in the first place, Balthazar? [[MadScientist An absolutely deranged lunatic who loves experimenting on living and dead alike.]] Be that the pixies he uses as fuel for his moonlanterns, the countless undead you find roaming Moonrise Towers, or indeed the living victims in Moonrise, the experiments he used to create the Steel Watch, or the countless body parts you find strewn about his chambers. He talks about his centuries-long imprisonment of Nightsong with unfettered pride, with it even being implied that he personally enjoyed torturing her with his own heads during her imprisonment. It's also likely [[TheCorrupter Balthazar who likely converted Ketheric to Myrkul]], after serving as his advisor and thus being able to slowly corrupt him.

** Then there's the matter of Ansur. He glosses over this initially, but Ansur is how he became free of the Elder Brain's influence to begin with. The Emperor was initially none of other than Balduran, the legendary founder of Baldur's Gate. Ansur tried for years to find a cure for his lover's Illithid nature, only to eventually realise nothing could be done. So the Emperor killed him, having taken a liking to being a mind flayer. Not realising that he was becoming a soulless illithid. And best of all, you only learn all of this after the Emperor constant lying and manipulation of you leads to you straight into a fight against a furious undead dragon.
*** The worst thing about the Ansur debacle is that when Ansur says 'you were becoming Illithid' with such venom, he wasn't referring to the Emperor's physical form, but rather, the fact he was becoming the manipulative husk of his former self we've come to know throughout the game. By the time we meet Ansur, we've learned about Stelmane's mental degradation and how the Emperor physically tortured her for years so he could run Baldur's Gate from the shadows. We've been constantly misled and manipulated by him, had to beg him to save Minsc, had to deal with him probing into our thoughts, saw how he enslaved Orpheus, had to deal with him constantly trying to push us to become more Illithid ourselves with no regard for what we want to do with our own body. Most likely, Ansur had to deal with the Emperor's manipulation and abuse in the same way we have throughout the game, and like us, couldn't take it anymore. Except in his case, he knew the man he was before being a mind flayer. He even sees it as we might at this point, calling us the Emperor's thrall.

* Then there's the fact that the Absolute was planning every event in the game from the beginning. She was the one who freed the Emperor from her control, and let the Chosen know about the Astral Prism. Which then led to you eventually bringing the Netherstones to her. You were playing into her hands all along without even realising it.

* The memories the Dark Urge can restore by eating a Noblestalk paint a horrifying picture of just what they were like before. Imagine being an amnesiac and finding out that before you lost your memories you ''killed babies'' and ''dissected living victims''.

*** You can tell Ascended Astarion that you want to break up with him because he's just another Cazador and becomes ''furious''. Yet, more perhaps disturbingly ''he doesn't deny it''. As if deep down, by completing the ritual, Astarion knows exactly what he's become - the very thing he hated the most. And again, '' '''you are complicit in this'' '''. You had the chance to talk him down, to talk some sense into him, save him from himself. '''But you didn't'''.

* Over the course of Lae'zel's personal questline, your party arrives at a githyanki creche where a cure supposedly lies. The "cure" is a zaith'isk, a githyanki-built piece of OrganicTechnology using illithid components. It's ''true'' purpose is not to cure, however, but forcibly extract an infected githyanki's memories and parasite, killing them in the process. If you send Lae'zel into the zaith'isk and fail to convince her to stop, she'll suffer a permanent debuff to her ability checks, possibly the result of brain damage.

* Orin the Red is ''made'' of NightmareFuel. She's an AxeCrazy Bhaalspawn who [[ForTheEvulz takes pleasure in mayhem and murder for its own sake]], and she leads the cult of Bhaal, who hang out underneath the city discussing torture and murder techniques as casually as one might discuss recipes when they're not out actually ''committing'' those murders. The party can come across a number of truly grisly murder scenes carried out by the cult, and there's even a sidequest involving collecting the body parts of a dismembered victim. Even worse, she's a VoluntaryShapeshifter, which means [[ParanoiaFuel she can perfectly disguise herself as anyone and show up anywhere without warning.]] The game plays up that latter aspect by having multiple [=NPCs=] transform into her as you interact with them, and later Gortash can inform you that your camp has been infiltrated. Sure enough...

* Ketheric Thorm is such a menace throughout Act 2 that the Shadow Curse he's unleashed will literally sap the life out of you unless you take the necessary precautions. The areas where you have to roam with a lit torch at all times are the relatively ''safe'' areas, with large portions of the map completely inaccessible unless you take some very specific steps to acquire a working Moonlantern or the Pixie's Blessing. The Last Light Inn stands out as the ''only'' safe refuge in the entire map, and even their occupants are paranoid enough to immediately try and arrest you upon your arrival until a CharacterWitness (either Mol or Marcus) bails you out. The environment inside Moonrise towers constantly radiates an aura of terror even if you can easily infiltrate it as a friendly, with Ketheric showing his nigh-invulnerability in his introductory cutscene in a rather graphic manner. The most horrific part, however, is the illithid colony under Moonrise, which is chock-full of {{Gorn}} and displays of horrific experimentation on humans and all sentient races. Standout examples include Chop, a Bugbear worker clearly suffering a FateWorseThanDeath with the way his mind has been hollowed out, and the Dark Urge's conversation with Kressa Bonedaughter, where she lovingly recounts all the ways she eagerly violated them, and promptly attacks them so she can capture them again.
* Perhaps the most horrifying thing about Ketheric is that he was, by all accounts, once a good and decent man. A benevolent ruler who deeply cared for his family and his people. Slowly transformed by grief into a power hungry monster, unable to accept that death is a natural part of life. When you remove the fantasy elements, the idea of a good man being driven mad by grief and an inability to control his surroundings is scarily plausible.

*** When you think about it, the characters the Emperor took and infected all make perfect sense and show how ahead he was of you the whole time. Shadowheart provides a perfect cover story for the Prism being taken. Astarion would appreciate being infected since it gives him freedom. Gale contains the same magic as the crown. Lae'Zel gives the Emperor the means to keep his enemies, the Gith, closeby and monitored. Wyll and Karlach both have good reason to hate Gortash. And if you're the Dark Urge, well - you're probably the centrepiece of his plot. The one who started this whole thing to begin with, who now has personal reasons to turn against the cult.

* The SadisticChoice that the Dark Urge faces in Act 2: either they have to kill Isobel and thus everyone in Last Light to sate their [[HorrorHunger urge to murder]], or if they don't, their punishment is that when they fall asleep they will go mad with bloodlust and brutally murder likely the only person who they've ever truly loved and been loved by. The Dark Urge can prevent the latter from happening by a hair but being thrust into that situation by no fault of your own is a horrifying fate.

* Cazador's Palace is incredibly unsettling. Not only does the place appear to be infested with bats, but there are creepy mindbroken servants roaming around who serve Cazador ''of their own free will'' and bodies scattered from the latest party-turned-massacre. You can find the plain, squalor little "dormitory" for the Spawns and get an impression of the way they were played against each other to compete for the "favourite" room, as well as the "kennel", where Astarion was tortured so often. Exploring the place really gives you a vivid image of the bleak, depressing existence Astarion was living prior to the plot of the game--which is only heightened if you bring him along, as he gives some running commentary on everything.

* The "bad" ending to Astarion's romance route is downright blood-curdling, due in large part to [[RealismInducedHorror how accurately it follows the beats of many real-world abusive relationships]]: After years of hellish physical, mental/emotional and sexual abuse, the victim [[HopeSpot manages to get out and even finds a new partner who treats them with patience and affection and who they genuinely grow to love]]... [[DownerEnding Only to succumb to their worst qualities and the habits they learned from their abuser]], becoming [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis the very monster they were running from in the first place]]. And thus [[TheChainOfHarm the cycle]] begins anew...

*** You can tell Ascended Astarion that you want to break up with him because he's just another Cazador and becomes ''furious''. Yet, more perhaps disturbingly ''he doesn't deny it''. As if deep down, by completing the ritual, Astarion knows exactly what he's become - the very thing he hated the most. And again, you are complicit in this. You had the chance to try to talk him down, to talk some sense into him, and save him from himself. But you didn't.

* Gale isn't exactly [[SquishyWizard hard to take down.]] And were he to die somewhere no one could get to his body within two days, '' '''BOOM!!!''' '' No more Sword Coast. [[NothingIsScarier And the rest of the world would have no idea how or why it happened]].

** Gortash out of all the villains is by far the most close to real life. It's unlikely you know a deranged serial killer like Orin or a power hungry general like Thorm. But Gortash? The charming narcissist with a quick smile who sweet talks and plots his way to the top, disposing of people as he sees fit? You can find people like that everywhere. And what's more, it works in game! [FridgeBrilliance After meeting Gortash, most people will work with him, at least going for Orin first, even after knowing what he did to Karlach]]. Most people will most likely stumble across the Iron Throne by sheer accident, hunting someone who killed a mermaid, and only to go in the water to see what's going on, then realise the true extent of what an evil bastard Gortash is.

*** Worse? He will be outright furious if you make any efforts to try to free Orpheus. He sees nothing wrong with subjugating him in this way, sees his submissive slumber as 'beautiful', and at the end even tries to ''eat his brain to steal his power''. It's implied that the reason he's so insistent on keeping him subjugated instead of working with him is so he'll have leverage over you. When you free him, he simply goes back to being a slave to the Netherbrain because he knows any control he has over you is over.
** If you reject his advances in a blunt way, he will reveal to you the truth about Duke Stelmane. She was enthralled by the Emperor and forced into being his companion, with him controlling her every movement. People around her began to notice that something was off, including Wyll, and Gortash has a note about it hidden in his safe (this is ''how'' he discovered the Emperor's true nature). He then drops the manipulative act since he knows you won't fall for it anymore. He outright calls you his puppet, tells you that you can't get rid of him no matter how much you want to because you have 'no other choice', and worse, tells you to reconsider 'unlocking your potential' (become more Illithid) because if you do, he ''will force you''. It's telling that your character looks absolutely furious

*** [[FridgeHorror He also refers to his relationship with Duke Stelmane as]] [[FridgeHorror ''intimate'']] in a previous conversation. It's up to interpretation in what way, but at the very least he subjected her to years of psychic enslavement, mental degradation and torture. At the very worst... well.

** Then there's the matter of Ansur. He glosses over this initially, but Ansur is how he became free of the Elder Brain's influence to begin with. Ansur tried to find a cure for the Emperor but saw how what he was, Balduran, was truly dead, and in his place, a Mind Flayer remained. So the Emperor killed him. Regardless of whether The Emperor was right to do this, there's no more compelling evidence of what the Emperor really is. Ansur outright calls you the Emperor's thrall before his fight, seeing the situation as you might at this point.
*** On that note, the fact that Balduran, the legendary hero who founded Baldur's Gate, has been reduced into a Mind Flayer. For centuries, the people of Baldur's Gate must have wondered what became of Balduran as his name passed into legend, not realising that he was kidnapped and reduced into an Illithid. Worse? He's ''proud'' of it. If you tell Duke Ravenguard what happened to Balduran, he constantly barges into your mind, telling you how brilliant being a Mind Flayer is and how he's risen. He doesn't seem to care that biologically, mind flayers ''have to eat the brains'' of sapient creatures.

** Perhaps the most horrifying thing about Ketheric is that he was, by all accounts, once a good and decent man. A benevolent ruler who deeply cared for his family, transformed by grief into a power hungry monster who wants to control everything around him. When you remove the fantasy elements, the idea of a good man being driven mad by grief is scarily plausible.

*** [[FridgeHorror He also refers to his relationship with Duke Stelmane as]] [[FridgeHorror ''intimate'' in a previous conversation.]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil The obvious implication is both disgusting and horrifying.]]

** The reason you’re not a Mind Flayer, and are protected by the Prism? He’s leveraging a githyanki’s psychic power by enthralling him to serve his will. [[AndIMustScream Orpheus is aware of this the whole time]].
** If you reject his advances in a blunt way, he will reveal to you the truth about Duke Stelmane. She was enthralled by the Emperor and forced into being his companion, with him controlling her every movement. People around her began to notice that something was off, including Wyll, and Gortash has a note about it hidden in his safe. He then outright admits that he thinks of you as his puppet, and that you can't get rid of him no matter how much you want to.
** The notes you find after defeating Gortash? They’re all about the Emperor. The one that stands out the most? Gortash sending out ‘a tadpoled strike team in a regrown nautiloid, piloted by the Emperor, to retrieve the Astral Prism. Most likely, the nautiloid in the opening. The implication is obvious, and horrifying - the Mind Flayer who infected you WAS the Emperor. Likely so he would have leverage over the player character and their party.

** Then there’s the matter of Ansur. He glosses over this initially, but Ansur is how he became free of the Elder Brain’s influence to begin with. Ansur tried to find a cure for the Emperor but saw how what he was, Balduran, was truly dead, and in his place, a Mind Flayer remained. So the Emperor killed him. Regardless of whether The Emperor was right to do this, there’s no more compelling evidence of what the Emperor really is. Ansur outright calls you the Emperor’s thrall before his fight.
** On that note, the fact that Balduran, the legendary hero who founded Baldur’s Gate, has been reduced into a Mind Flayer. For centuries, the people of Baldur’s Gate must have wondered what became of Balduran as his name passed into legend, not realising that he was kidnapped and reduced into a mind flayer.

** You can persuade the Emperor to take control of the Netherbrain and [[WeCanRuleTogether use it to rule the Sword Coast alongside you.]] Once you succeed in convincing him, however, it becomes clear that [[DidntThinkThisThrough handing that much power over to a mind flayer while having no control over the situation yourself was a poor decision]], as he [[HoistByHisOwnPetard immediately uses the Netherbrain's power to turn you and your entire party into his own personal thralls]], unable to do anything but cheer as the Emperor takes your suggestion to TakeOverTheWorld.

--->'''The Emperor:''' In ''my'' name.

** The one thing that's worse than all of that is the revelation that Orin is Sarevok's granddaughter... [[VillainousIncest and his daughter]]. It's possible to confront him about this, and Sarevok admits that he viewed Orin as little more than a future sacrifice to Bhaal. The fact that Sarevok ordered Helena to murder Orin as an offering to Bhaal, only for Helena to die at Orin's hand first, only makes it bite deeper.