Characters / Baldur's Gate III: Companions And Followers

Baldur's Gate III | Main Character Index
The Origin Characters | Origin Companions (Astarion)
Classes | Other Companions & Camp Followers | NPCs and Factions (The Cult of The Absolute | The Tiefling Refugees | House of Hope)

Non-Origin Companions

Characters who can be recruited as playable companions, but not as Origin characters.

Halsin

Halsin

Voiced by: Dave Jones

Master of the Emerald Grove

"You aided a bear, without knowing if it would savage you? A true friend of nature — or perhaps a lunatic."

Race: Wood Elf
Class: Druid (Circle of the Moon)
Background: Outlander

The leader of a druid enclave inhabiting the Emerald Grove, he joined a group of adventurers who were looking for a powerful relic only to end up getting captured by goblins.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: He admits that animals have been known to take an interest in him when he is in Wild Shape. His scars were given to him by an amorous she-bear who didn't like being rejected during mating season.
• Animorphism: Halsin is a Circle of the Moon druid by default, which focuses more on Wild Shape by making the transformation a bonus action instead of a primary action.
• Ascended Extra: In the Early Access he was originally meant to be a helpful NPC (if you decided to save the grove) that would accompany you through the final portions of Act 1 and later into Act 2 — fans liked him so much that he was made into a fully recruitable character in the actual release.
• Badass in Distress: He's a legitimately powerful druid, but it didn't do him much good against the goblins' sheer numbers. Also, it's possible for Orin to kidnap him in Act 3. AND he was once kidnapped for three years by a noble drow house and made their Sex Slave.
• The Bear: Pun very much intended. Halsin is unusually large and hairy for an elf and is open about being attracted to both men and women.
• Beary Friendly: Halsin is described as, "an elf with the presence of a bear," likes to spend his free time as an actual bear, and is a Gentle Giant and Nice Guy who approves of good actions. Beware the Nice Ones is in play and Bears Are Bad News to his enemies.
• Beware the Nice Ones: A very friendly druid with a strong moral compass and affinity for nature, but do not piss him off. If he comes back to the grove and finds out Kagha tried to enact the Rite of Thorns, he snaps and yells at her for being reckless and forgetting the ways of Silvanus. Even more so if Kagha has Arabella killed, in which Halsin exiles her from the grove, as well as all other groves of Silvanus.
• Big Good: Of the Emerald Grove questline. Several people you talk to within the grove insist that he would never stand for Kagha's way of running things and would be much more sympathetic to the refugees if he were there. If rescued, he'll point you in the right direction to a cure for your tadpole infection and even tags along as a recruitable companion.
• The Big Guy: He's big for a human, let alone a wood elf. This is even remarked on in-game with him acting like it's a frequent comment, and he speculates that he may have some orc in his family tree.
• Breakout Character: Halsin was originally going to be a non-companion camp follower, but proved so popular in Early Access that he was soon upgraded into a recruitable companion and romance option.
• Brutal Honesty: As nice as he usually is, Halsin can be surprisingly vicious when he tells someone exactly what he thinks of them.
  Halsin: It would have been easier if you'd died, Kagha, instead I have to listen to your excuses.
• The Chains of Commanding: Was actually happy to give up his title and position as he had far too many responsibilities to actually be among nature.
  • Finding one of the notes from the original battle of Moonrise Towers says that he had to leave the wounded that couldn't keep up behind. Not out of malice or callousness but because any delay would result in them all dying. This was his first day as Archdruid after the previous one died in battle.
• Color-Coded Eyes: Halsin's bright green eyes are very on point for an Archdruid.
• Combat Medic: Halsin is noted in-story to be a powerful healer, which his druid spells back up, and is also a powerful fighter in both elf and bear form.
• Dreadful Musician: During the ending, he notes that after a drink or five he might inflict his singing on the party, if the city has not suffered enough.
• Elfeminate: Halsin is notable as probably the greatest aversion to this trope to ever appear in a video game, being a large, muscular hunk of a man who isn't the slightest bit effeminate in appearance.
• Ethical Slut: Monogamy is not in Halsin's nature, as he himself readily admits. At the same time, he is highly scrupulous about ensuring his partners (and their partners, if applicable) are informed and consenting before any sexual encounters take place.
• Forgot About His Powers: Realistically, a druid of his level should have been easily able to escape from the goblins on his own by using his Wild Shape ability to turn into something small and stealthy like a rat or small bird and sneak away before they could find him.
• Friend to All Children: Befitting his character as a Gentle Giant, he has a soft spot toward children. If unrepentant Kagha kills Arabella for her theft of the Idol, Halsin angrily refuses to listen to her excuse and consider the Idol to be immaterial compared to the life of an innocent child. When he meets Oliver, the other half of his fey spirit friend, Thaniel, he treats him with gentleness and refuses to see him as a monster born from the Shadowfell. In the ending, after the crisis of the Absolute, Halsin took it upon himself to help orphaned children in finding a new home and they all come to regard him as a father figure. The epilogue goes even further: he talks constantly about the children under his care, who play with him in wildshape, who demand stories from him every night, and who Halsin describes as his "greatest reward." To call Halsin delighted at this is an understatement.
• Friend to All Living Things: Similar to the above: as a druid, Halsin adores animals, and players who can speak with animals will discover the animals often love him just as much. When Halsin is missing, they can talk to a bear, Ormn, who is absolutely devastated at his absence (and overjoyed to be reunited later). Another boar in the grove laments that Halsin promised to find a mate for them. The player gains approval with Halsin whenever they show kindness to animals and children, and loses it when they are cruel to either group.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: His notable size and strength is often commented upon by various characters, but as far as numbers go, he has a mediocre strength score of 10. Strangely, it's a much more robust 16 during his stint as a Guest-Star Party Member in Act 1.^note During Act 1, Halsin is still classified as an NPC and therefore has his own unique stats. Changing him to a full party member in Act 2 also changes his stats to the default allocation recommended for a player-created druid
• Gentle Giant: Larger than any of the origin companions, and also a friendly, charitable individual.
• Good Is Not Soft: He is one of the kindest characters that you can have in your party, but don't think this makes him soft. If Kagha kills Arabella and is unrepentant, Halsin shows no mercy and exiles her from the grove. If you decides to assist Minthara in destroying the grove, he will personally hunt you down in retribution for your actions.
• Heroic Build: He's got some impressive musculature, especially for an elf, and is much nicer than his Number Two Kagha. He even remarks he might have some orc somewhere in his family tree.
• Hidden Depths: He whittles when he manages to get some spare time. Mostly ducks. He likes ducks.
  • The epilogue elaborates on his fondness for ducks as he gives Tav a wooden duck that he has carved for them.
  Halsin: Ducks are my favourite, but I thought they were particularly fitting in this case. They are migratory birds of course, traveling far and wide with the turn of the seasons. Yet they always find their way back to where they belong, just like old friends find themselves back in each other's company.
• Hunk: Halsin is larger and more ruggedly handsome than the more pretty/dandy male origin companions.
• It's All My Fault: Discussed. He's aware that the failure to prevent Moonrise Towers is shared among everyone who tried and failed to stop it. But he's one of the few left alive to regret not being able to stop it, so it falls to him to feel all that regret. He knows it's irrational, but he wants to feel it anyway.
• Made a Slave: After taking part in a group sex with a pair of drow twins, Halsin would soon recount to the player character of his past misadventures in the Underdark, where he ended up being held by a noble drow house as a Sex Slave for three years until he managed to make his escape while a rival drow house was killing off his captors.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Is this with Minthara in Act 1, as recruiting him into your party later on would require rescuing him from the goblin camp as well as killing all the goblin leaders, Minthara included, to save the Emerald Grove. There used to be a way for the player to get both him and Minthara by doing some back and forth between Acts 1 and 2, but later patches would enforce their exclusivity by triggering a cutscene where the player character is forced to choose between the two of them to stay with the party.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite looking quite muscular, like a Hunk, and multiple characters commenting on his physical strength, his Strength score when recruited is 10. That is to say, perfectly average.^note This is due to a quirk of changing him from an NPC in Act 1 to a full party member in Act 2. As an NPC his strength is 16, a much better fit for his appearance, but converting him to a party member also converts all of his stats to the standard recommendation for a druid
• Never Heard That One Before: If you mention that he's big for an elf, he'll comment that you're far from the first to point it out. He's more amused than annoyed, though.
• Nice Guy: He shows nothing but kindness and wisdom to those who serve the side of good, and offers protection to those who needs it. When he returned to the grove, the tiefling refugees were quick to welcome him back and shake his hand.
• Overrated and Underleveled: For an Archdruid, Halsin's ability scores are generally low (his strength is the perfectly average 10, and his intelligence the under-average 8) and he joins the camp the same level as the rest of your party.^note Worth noting that these are the default suggested stats for a Druid; as an NPC companion, his strength is a more impressive 16, and while intelligence is still his Dump Stat, it's still a not-terrible 10.
• Polyamory: If his romance arc is pursued, Halsin is quick to assure you that he has no designs on your independence, and is quite alright with you pursuing other romances alongside him. That said, if the player does romance him exclusively, Halsin will not seek out another partner while the relationship is ongoing.
  Halsin: I will not ask you to dedicate yourself to me. I roam as nature wills me to, and your heart remains your own. I just wish to share in it.
• Power Incontinence: During his romance scene, he gets so worked up after you undress that he involuntarily transforms into his bear form. He manages to compose himself enough to turn back, but the player has the option to ask that he remain in bear form for the encounter.
• Rape as Backstory: When he was very young, he was a sex slave for a drow matron and her patron for three years. A time he spent chained up to the bedroom, where he apparently saw “pelts” of other surface elves. Halsin plays this down a lot when discussing it, implying he enjoyed some parts, but then the actuality is he mentions fearing for his life, wanting his freedom back and having to do things to survive — implying those parts were more than likely his way of coping in a terrible situation.
  • His scars are also from a bear not taking him rejecting her advances well.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: When the tiefling refugees came seeking shelter, Halsin was quick to offer them sanctuary. After returning from his quest in the Goblin Temple, he harshly scolds Kagha for undertaking the Rite of Thorn, but allowed her to defend herself and gave her a second chance by demoting her back to the apprentice level instead of exiling or executing her.
• Really 700 Years Old: Three-hundred-fifty years old and looks like he's barely pushing forty. Wood Elves live for seven hundred years on average, and as a druid Halsin has the potential to stretch his remaining three-hundred-fifty years into thirty-five hundred.
• Redemption Demotion: Halsin has a unique stat block, which is visible as an NPC in Act 1. He loses it if he joins the party in act 2 and is reset to level 1.
• Shapeshifting Squick: During his romance scene, the player character may let him use his Wild Shape to transform into a bear before they hook up. A nearby squirrel sees what happens next and drops its acorn in shock.
• Shock and Awe: As an NPC and Guest-Star Party Member in Act 1, Halsin's prepared offensive spells focus on thunder and lightning.
• Sweet Tooth: He likes honey, and is unashamed of how on the nose it is with his preferred Wild Shape being a bear.
• With Us or Against Us: If you encounter him while he's being tortured (in bear form) inside the Goblin Camp he'll immediately turn hostile and target you in his ensuing rampage unless you turn on the goblins torturing him, even if you're trying not to intervene either way so as to consider your options. This can easily trip up players going in blind who intend to rescue him, since it's not readily apparent that he and the bear being tortured are one and the same.
• You Are in Command Now: How he got to be Archdruid of his circle. Previous one fell at the battle of Moonrise Towers and his very first act as Archdruid was to lead the other survivors to safety.

Minthara

Nightwarden Minthara Baenre

Voiced by: Emma Gregory

True Soul of the Absolute

"A True Soul? Praise be. Are you here to join my hunt?"

Race: Lolth-Sworn Drow
Class: Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)
Background: Noble
Place of Origin: Menzoberranzan

One of the three leaders of a goblin tribe based in an abandoned temple of Selûne. Like the other goblin leaders, she is infected with an illithid tadpole and is regarded as a True Soul within the Cult of the Absolute.

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• Acquired Poison Immunity: A banter with Gale reveals that she's trying to do this to the player character if they romanced her. She claims that she would slip small doses of poison into the player character's food to build up their immunity, which she deems as a necessity in case the player character is to accompany her to Menzoberranzan.
• Admiring the Abomination: Has this reaction towards the Dark Urge transforming into their Slayer form, which is in stark contrast to the other companions reacting in absolute horror at the same sight.
  Minthara: Ultrin sargtlin. You are exquisite.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: At Moonrise Towers, Minthara begs Ketheric Thorm for mercy as she’s being taken away by other cultists after he decides to dispose of her for failing to find the Astral Prism.
  Minthara: No! Please, mercy! Please!
  • In a sadder example, if you romance her, turn into a mind flayer, and then try to break up with her, she begs you not to leave her and insists on having one more day with you to try and convince you to change your mind.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Compared to the rest of the goblins and their leadership, and to an extent the entire Cult of the Absolute. While the goblins by and large are nothing more than a bunch of murderous marauders who don't really give a damn about you, to the point of always turning on you even if you sided with them in Early Access, Minthara genuinely sees potential in you and can be talked out of doing the same, either by asserting your value to the Absolute or romancing her. If romanced, she can fall for you so hard that she deeply regrets trying to kill you, making it even easier to talk her down. Finally, if you succeed in getting Minthara to side with you, she'll direct you to Moonrise Towers where you can directly commune with the Absolute and seek answers to your predicament, unlike the likes of High Priestess Gut, who was planning to screw you over from the outset despite pretending to want to cure your condition. And if you manage to save her from being executed by the cult for her failure, she'll be more than willing to join you, regardless of your intentions or whether or not you romanced her prior, if only to seek vengeance against the cult for trying to dispose of her.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: While any Origin character can romance Minthara (so long as they keep her at the appropriate approval threshold), she's particularly quick to fall for the Dark Urge, who while not totally evil suffers from random bouts of murderous impulses. Of the recruitable cast, she's the only one who finds their Slayer form "beautiful".
• Ambition Is Evil: Should she join the party, she aspires to usurp the Dead Three's Chosen as leaders of the Cult of the Absolute and seize control of the Netherbrain herself, and encourages the player character to do so. Even if that doesn't happen, a romanced Minthara can be talked into conquering Menzoberranzan or the Sword Coast with her at their side.
• Anti-Hero: Downplayed and very Played With, but through Character Development, she can become something akin to this. While Minthara, at least initially, can be brutally honest and coldly pragmatic, her alignment is closer to being lawful neutral at it's worst. In fact, she despises violence for the sake of it, disapproving of pointless cruel acts and killing without cause, and admits she places a very high value on individual liberty and freedom of choice. Providing you gain her approval and do a generally good aligned run, she can mellow out, becoming less crass and more friendly (especially towards the men of the party), as well as opening up more, becoming a somewhat morally gray person but still retaining her pragmatic ruthlessness and ambitions.
  • If a good-aligned party destroys the Netherbrain, while she partially wishes they took control of it, Minthara can admit it's nice to be seen as a savior as opposed to a conqueror and the Netherbrain's demise was probably for the best.
• Arc Villain: One of the three goblin leaders who serve as the antagonists for the Emerald Grove questline in Act 1. Out of the three, she's The Heavy since she's the most pro-active, organizing and leading raiding parties to capture and/or kill enemies of the Absolute.
• Armor-Piercing Question: In Act 2, she offers one to the player character if they helped her slaughter the inhabitants of the Emerald Grove in the previous act. She notes that while her actions during that event were strongly influenced by the Absolute, you do not have the same excuse and yet you still took part in the raid willingly. She will give her approval if you've done the deed either to impress her or to earn the cult's trust, while she will disapprove of you doing it For the Evulz (or in the case of the Dark Urge, unable to keep your homicidal impulses under control).
  Minthara: When we killed the tieflings, at the grove, I was not in control of my actions. You do not have that excuse. So I ask you — why? Why kill them?
• Art Evolution: Her character design has seen numerous changes over the course of Early Access, particularly her hairstyle and armor.
• Bad Boss: She’s quick to punish and even kill her minions for failure, even going as far as to have Sazza be fed to the spiders even after she revealed the location of the Emerald Grove to her and apologized for her suggestion to backstab the party without knowing they were "True Souls" like Minthara. And when she later ends up getting chastised by Z'rell for failing to find the Astral Prism, Minthara pins the blame on her goblin minions for her failure.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: If she becomes a companion, she would often encourage the player character to hijack the Absolute and use its powers to dominate the world with her at their side. Unfortunately for her, this only ends up reducing her to a mindless thrall under the player character's control through the elder brain. Although this gets subverted if they romanced Minthara, in which case she becomes exempted from being enthralled by the Netherbrain and gets to enjoy the spoils of becoming the Absolute with her lover.
• Black Knight: She's an evil Oath of Vengeance paladin who can (originally) only be recruited by taking the evil route through Act 1, meaning that she'll be competing with Lae'zel for all the spooky, scary heavy armour you can give her. As her profile picture indicates, her starting look owes a certain amount of influence to this trope, although she's more lightly-armoured than most examples until you get her better gear.
• Blue Blood: She was a scion of House Baenre, the ruling drow house of Menzoberranzan, who raised her to be a loyal soldier in the service of Lolth.
• Brutal Honesty: Upon recruiting her, she has no qualms about giving her honest opinions on the other party members, both positive and negative.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She's extremely disapproving of a player character who cheats on her or tries to bring her to join an orgy with two drow courtesans. Justified since part of her character arc is about finding someone who she could love and trust without fearing that they would betray her, and by cheating on her or engaging in polyamorous activities, the player would be taking that trust for granted.
• The Comically Serious: Quite a bit of humor is derived from her extremely serious delivery. When at the circus, for instance, she'll remark that they should kill the clown Dribbles so that they'll be praised as heroes for it, and if volunteered to step up and prompted with a joke about marrying a drider, she'll respond "it was a beautiful webbing" with a look of complete misery (though while sending her up gives disapproval, providing the prompt for that pun actually gives approval).
• Commonality Connection:
  • Defied with a fellow Lolth-sworn drow character if they attempt to bond over their shared heritage, as she has long broken away from the Spider Queen's influence.
  • The party member that she has the most favorable opinion of is Lae'zel, which is not surprising given that they both come from Social Darwinist and warlike societies.
  • She can also strongly connect with the Dark Urge, particularly during Act 3 when the Dark Urge's origins are brought to light. She relates with the Dark Urge's struggle to keep their bloodlust in check, citing her own experiences as a thrall of the Absolute where she's forced to commit numerous atrocities against her will. There is also their shared enmity towards their tormenter Orin.
• The Corrupter: Can become this to the player character, more so if they romanced her, as she would encourage them to obtain the Netherstones from the Absolute's Chosen in order to hijack the Netherbrain and dominate the world themselves.
  Minthara: When we break the other Chosen and claim their Netherstones, we can take control [...] The power of the enslaved elder brain could reshape the world. We could reshape the world. And then we will need no gods. We will be their equal. We will be Absolute. We have a purpose and a bond. By my oath, I will fight with you while that purpose holds.
• Crusading Widow: If romanced by a player Karlach, Minthara exploits this trope by informing her during her final romance scene before the epilogue that she fully intends to travel to Avernus to destroy the archdevil Zariel for all she has done to her lover, so Karlach might as well come along with her (and survive) so that she has someone to watch her back down there.
  Minthara: Zariel is the last of your tormentors who lives. I will find her and punish her, whether you follow me or not. Would you have me navigate the hells without a guide?
• Dating Catwoman: While she can be romanced by a good-aligned player, this trope is especially notable if they are playing as a Seldarine drow or a worshipper of Eilistraee (or both), as long as they keep her approval high.
• Deadpan Snarker: Not her defining trait, but certain conversations can reveal she has a rather dry wit.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Downplayed, as while she still maintains her ruthlessness and cunning throughout the game, pursuing a romance with Minthara would cause her to become more faithful and enamored towards the player character. For instance, the first time meeting Minthara in Act 1 has her performing a Mind Probe on the player character without hesitation. But after being saved from being mind raped by the Cult of the Absolute and, in turn, aiding them in destroying the cult's leadership, the next time she attempts to connect into their mind out of force of habit, she would quickly apologize to them for not asking for their permission.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: As a drow, and particularly as part of drow nobility, her morality, even once freed of the Absolute's influence, is on a different wavelength to most of the party since, like Lae'zel as a githyanki, she comes from a Social Darwinist society where things like slavery are perfectly normal. In Act 3, when she sees the refugees outside Baldur's Gate, she's abhorred by the way they've been kept out but less out of pure sympathy and more because she doesn't understand why anyone would waste such a good potential workforce, arguing they should put the refugees to work as laborers and soldiers. If you respond by pointing out that sounds like slavery, she'll be disgusted that you must want them to just be slaughtered or starved. To Minthara, the idea of simply letting them into Baldur's Gate for protection without expecting them to 'earn' it is completely alien. She's also a misandrist as a result of the heavily matriarchal drow society treating men ranging only second to women and girls at best to sex slaves at worst.
• Does Not Like Men: A more subdued example, but she generally tends to have higher opinion of the female members of the party than the male ones, with a particular disdain for Gale who she doesn't see as worth befriending because wizards tend to die young, this despite liking and admiring Karlach for how she lives in the moment despite her days being numbered thanks to the infernal engine in her chest. When meeting a drow player character for the first time at the goblin camp, she will greet a female drow as a sister-in-arms while treating a male drow with dismissiveness. It's likely that this is another byproduct of her having grown up in Lolth-sworn drow society, where men are treated as second-class citizens at best and slaves at worst. And should she be present when using speak with dead on Ffion's corpse and finding out she was murdered by her own son, she may say this:
  Minthara: Shameful to be killed by your own son. That honor should fall to a daughter.
• Downfall by Sex: Should a Dark Urge player sleep with Minthara after the raid at the Emerald Grove, they have a choice to snap Minthara's neck while she's sleeping in their arms.
• Drugged Lipstick: If you romanced Minthara, she may sometimes invite you to kiss her only to discover that she has laced her lips with poison. As with Acquired Poison Immunity above, she deems this as a necessity in building up your immunity to poison to help you survive the treachery of Menzoberranzan.
  Minthara: Taste my lips. They are already laced with toxins — None shall be spared tonight, not even you.
• Dual Wielding: As an enemy, Minthara dual-wields a pair of maces.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: In Early Access, if you sided with her against the Emerald Grove, she eventually reveals that the Absolute and goblin forces had always intended to have you killed once you'd outlived your usefulness, hence her reason for wanting to kill you in your sleep. In the final release, she tries to kill you because she herself grows suspicious that the voice of the Absolute is getting dimmed in your presence (thanks to the artifact you secretly possess), but is also conflicted because the Absolute has told her to guide you to Moonrise instead, and once you catch her in her murder attempt, she demands that you prove your faith in the Absolute, which is what the subsequent skill check is about.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Upon being freed from the Absolute's influence, she will call you out for massacring the tiefling refugees and druids on your own accord. While she will approve of you justifying your decision in order to impress her or on the grounds of Pragmatic Villainy, she will disapprove if you admit that you did it because you felt like it.
  • She also heavily disapproves of murdering Isobel just so the Dark Urge can obtain their slayer form. While Minthara isn't complaining about the reward, she questions and openly dislikes that you had to kill Isobel, who had been nothing but kind for it.
  • If Scratch dies for whatever reason, Minthara will bitterly mention that everyone thinks she did it and disavow the notion, insisting that she liked him. If he's given back to his abusive owners in Act III, she not-so-subtly hints that she thinks it was a bad idea, and admits she misses him.
  • She has a rather scathing opinion on the goddess Shar and her followers, referring to them as a cult who brainwashes individuals. If you agree to hand Shadowheart back over to Viconia De Vir, Minthara isn't too pleased.
• Evil Virtues: She's a ruthless, paranoid, and fearsome drow paladin who shows her utter devotion to the Absolute by mercilessly hunting down anyone who stands against her goddess. Although she becomes less unhinged and bloodthirsty when freed from the Absolute's influence, she remains loyal and protective of those she trusts (to the point of falling for the player character if they had previously slept with her) while becoming more pragmatic and cunning.
• The Face: Downplayed. You wouldn't know it from your first meeting, but the stern, abrasive drow warrior is the most socially-adept recruitable NPC for an evil-aligned player thanks to having Charisma as her secondary stat (because you've driven away/killed Wyll, your sole Charisma primary, by being evil). If you can't personally handle negotiations, she's your best option.
• Failed a Spot Check: When Shadowheart changes her hair as a result of her storyline, Minthara will comment on the fact she looks different but can't tell what exactly, thinking it might be a new diet. If Shadowheart embraced Shar this isn't that big of a deal as she's just cut her bangs, but if she spared the Nightsong, was rejected by Shar and picked up by Selûne, then she'll dye her hair silver, which makes Minthara's inability to tell the difference all the more comical.
• Fallen Hero: Inverted. She was once a paladin of Lolth but failed her oath, and no longer holds faith in the Spider Queen. Her oath to the Absolute also comes crashing down on her head when she's condemned for her failures. Whether she survives the fallout is up to you, and if she does, she'll consider herself twice-fallen - and with later patches that allowed her to become properly recruitable by good-aligned characters, she can complete her 'descent' by becoming one of the heroes who saves the Sword Coast.
• Fantastic Racism: Upon first meeting her as a non-drow elf, she will greet you with a hint of disdain and refer to you as darthiir, a Fantastic Slur drow use for surface elves (including half-elves). Meanwhile, meeting her as a half-drow will have her greet you with the hope that your devotion to the Absolute can make up for "the impurities of your blood". She would also use the drow word iblith as a slur towards non-elven races.
• Fatal Flaw: Her Pride. Minthara's family are effectively drow royalty, and playing on her pride and entitlement is an easy way to catch her off-guard. She herself admits as much when recounting how Ketheric captured her, lamenting that she fell straight into his trap.
• Femme Fatale: Should the player side with her in raiding the Emerald Grove, she will attempt to seduce them, even taking advantage of her tadpole's mind-probing powers to show the player tempting visions of the two of them having sex.
• Forced to Watch: When she was abducted by the Cult of the Absolute, Orin forced Minthara to watch as her men were either eaten or transformed into illithids, before an illithid tadpole is placed into her eye.
• Good Feels Good: Played with. If you choose to destroy the Absolute, you can ask her if it feels good to actually do the right thing for once. She bluntly says it doesn't, but she does enjoy being seen by others as a hero rather then a conqueror for once.
• Good Powers, Bad People: She's a paladin with the morally-neutral Oath of Vengeance, granting her the class's traditional holy, heroic powerset (with a slightly more aggressive bent than the squeaky-clean Oath of Devotion, admittedly) despite her being evil by default.
• Heroes Love Dogs: While her being a "hero" can be debated, she does have a fondess for Scratch, who can join the camp. If he's given back to his previous owners, Minthara disapproves and not-so-subtly hints that it was a foolish decision, urging to get him back.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Despite her strong and willful exterior, Minthara held feelings of great fear that she kept hidden deep within her psyche. If the player character uses their illithid powers to reach into her fears during her first romance scene, they are then treated to her constant fears of being betrayed and memories of losing many of her loved ones, implying that she had a very rough and dangerous life back in Menzoberranzan before she was taken into the Cult of the Absolute.
  • If she is properly recruited and freed from the Absolute's control, we learn that much of her abhorrent and bloodthirsty behaviors were caused by the Absolute's influence on her mind. Minthara shows that she is a lot more observant and disciplined than initially shown. She makes astute observations of the party members, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses.
  • After Orin's defeat, she'll reflect on her actions in the past, seeing her past self in Orin.
  Minthara: Bhaal, Lolth... the Absolute. They do not have followers — they only have victims, and they reward devotion with death. It is only because of you that I did not meet the same fate as Orin. Lost to madness and blood. If you had killed me when we first met, I would have been just one more casualty of your crusade against the Absolute. And nobody would remember me.
  • She can reveal that she has a high value on liberty and choice, despite her culture and society clashing with most of the party's. Even if she may not entirely agree with someone's choice, she will respect that they're sticking to it.
  • Similarly, she condemns Shar and her followers, referring to them as a cult who brainwashes their individuals and removes their sense of identity.
• Hyper-Awareness: As Hidden Depths show, Minthara is pretty observant of the camp members if recruited. Albeit, her insight is still colored by her background holding a low view on men and is coldly pragmatic.
• Ignored Enamored Underling: She has one by the name of Klagga, a goblin minion who is present within the goblin camp in Act 1. You can find some letters written by Klagga where he voices his admiration for the drow, as well as his personal ideas for a love letter to her.
• In Love with Your Carnage:
  • If the player character successfully aided her in killing the refugees and druids in the Emerald Grove, Minthara will be so impressed by their ruthlessness that she offers herself to spend the night with them to celebrate.
  • Should a Dark Urge player discover their true identity as a Bhaalspawn and reveal it to Minthara by sharing to her memories of their past atrocities, she will only be more enamored with them.
• Irony:
  • Despite having to commit some of the cruelest acts in the game to flag her for recruitment, she'll privately reflect on her own atrocities and disavow them on the grounds that the Absolute overrode her free will — a mitigating factor that applies to you not at all.
  • If the Dark Urge reveals to her that they're a Bhaalspawn, she will become so enamored with them to the point of encouraging them to reclaim their place as Bhaal's Chosen. This is despite the fact that she had previously suffered greatly under Orin, another Bhaalspawn. Although in Minthara's defense, she firmly believes that unlike Orin, the Dark Urge is capable of keeping their murderous impulses under control.
• It Meant Something to Me:
  • During Early Access, if the player character hooks up with Minthara without peering into her inner fears and later catches her trying to kill them in their sleep, the drow laments that she can't actually bring herself to do it, even under the Absolute's orders, as she has quickly grown to love them.
  Minthara: I take no pleasure in what I must do. In another life, I would have taken you as my consort in Menzoberranzan. But the Absolute demands your death [...] Killing you would be... bitter. I have never needed anyone, but I want you. I give you your life, on the understanding that you belong to me now — and I to you.
  • While the above dialogue was removed in the full release, she still shows shades of this during her Mind Rape scene in Act 2 if the player character has slept with her in the previous act. In it, they will hear from one of the questioners torturing her that among her "weaknesses" was "a longing for acceptance and affection from a mortal", indicating that she actually cherished her passionate night with them.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Although she did it mostly to save her own skin, she isn't wrong in pointing out to her superiors that her goblin minions were incompetent given what we've seen of them.
• Kill the Ones You Love: In one of her banters with Karlach, Minthara reveals that her first lover, a high priestess of House Vandree, ended up becoming the target of her House and she was chosen to carry out the assassination. Minthara said that she remained at the high priestess' side afterwards, whispering words of comfort as the poison slowly killed her lover.
• Lonely at the Top: She admits that despite being a member of the most powerful drow house in Menzoberranzan, she led a rather lonely life as the ruthlessness of drow society caused her to live in fear of intrigue and betrayal. This leads to her having a lot of trust issues, with the player character potentially becoming the first person in a long time she can feel comfortable opening up to.
• Mind Rape: She is subjected to this after being judged by Ketheric Thorm within Moonrise Towers. Depending on the player's choices, they can either help her break free by dealing with the questioners that are torturing her or erase her mind themselves, the latter of which causes her to be reduced to an Empty Shell.
• Mook–Face Turn: She can be subjected into this by the player character in Act 2, assuming that she lives past the Emerald Grove questline in the previous act. Arriving at Moonrise Towers will treat them to Minthara being tortured by the Cult of the Absolute for her failure to find the Astral Prism, and they must help her break free either by tricking the cultists into letting them leave with her, or by killing everyone on their way out. Once either condition has been met and they have directed her to their camp, Minthara would then be willing to join the party in the fight against the cult, if only to get back at the Absolute's Chosen for disposing of her.
• More than Mind Control: If saved from her fate in Moonrise Towers, Minthara describes the Absolute and the mind flayer tadpole working together in her mind so as not being compelled to act against her will, but feeling ecstatic to serve the goddess.
• Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed. While her default outfit is practical armour that shows off little to no skin, her nightwear is a plunging v-neck that shows off some sideboob. Her romance scene, whether it be with a male or female player, is also the most sexually explicit.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Is this with Halsin in Act 1, although you won't be able to recruit her immediately until part-way through the next act. For this to happen, she would have to live past the Emerald Grove questline by letting her slaughter the tiefling refugees and druids inhabiting the grove. And if this happens without killing Halsin in the goblin camp beforehand, he will eventually hunt you down at your camp in retribution for the massacre at the grove with the game forcing you to kill him. Furthermore, she's also one to Wyll and Karlach if you side with the Goblins in Act 1 against the Grove. However, if you simply avoid taking a side and move on to Act 2, she can be recruited there while keeping Wyll and Karlach. Halsin will still refuse to join you though. Patch 5 added the ability to recruit her in Act 2 if you knocked her out on Act 1.
• Nay-Theist: This is generally her attitude towards the gods once you've recruited her into the party, partly born out of her disillusionment with the Absolute for tampering with her free will. She sees most gods as fickle and self-serving jerks who in turn see their followers as pawns that can be disposed to their advantage, and she would often make comments about her viewpoint whenever the party encounters any of them or those strongly associated with them (e.g. the Dead Three, Mystra, Shar, Vlaakith).
• Never My Fault: When Z’rell chews out Minthara for her failure to retrieve the Astral Prism, she attempts to shift the blame on her goblin minions while insisting that she would’ve been able to fulfill her mission if she had drow warriors at her command instead of goblins. Both Z’rell and Ketheric Thorm are having none of it, and the latter sends her to her doom for her lack of accountability.
  Z'rell: You were ordered to retrieve the artifact — you failed to do so.
  Minthara: If I had been given drow warriors instead of goblin trash!
  [...]
  Z'rell: Let me make sure I understand this — you're claiming that General Thorm gave you the wrong soldiers?
  Minthara: Yes — no!
  Z'rell: You blame the Absolute's Chosen for your failure?
  Minthara: Of course it is not the General's fault.
  Z'rell: Whose, then?!
• Never Sleep Again:
  • During the night with the goblins after their successful raid on the Emerald Grove, Minthara attempts to kill the player character in their sleep. Fortunately, the player character narrowly avoids this as they have foreseen it in a dream.
  • A Dark Urge player can kill her while she's sleeping after they have sex.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Shows shades of this if the Dark Urge reveals their true heritage to her by projecting their Ax-Crazy thoughts to her mind. The narrator then describes her absorbing every detail of their murderous tendencies just as the Dark Urge senses a strong desire from her.
  Minthara: Elgg-hor... duk-tak... slayer. There are many names for you, and all of them inspire dread. You are exquisite.
• Now or Never Kiss: She offers one to her romantic partner before the Final Battle in Act 3.
• Older Than They Look: She may look like she's between her late 30s to early 40s, but she was around when Viconia DeVir had been exiled from Menzoberranzan, making her at least 200 hundred years old. Given as she is an elf, this is not surprising at all.
• Only Sane Woman: Apart from Astarion, she is the only companion who takes a Dark Urge's confession to having homicidal tendencies seriously, as she's witnessed a similar case among her people back in Menzoberranzan.
• Opposites Attract: Her favorite of the other playable characters is Karlach, who is extremely unlikely to actually be in the party in a run where Minthara is recruited. As a centuries-old drow nevertheless keenly aware of her own mortality, Minthara deeply admires Karlach's live-in-the-moment ethos despite her terminal condition, and if a playable Karlach returns to the Hells alone, Minthara will vow to bring her armies to her aid in the epilogue. When asked why, she says only that it is a matter of the heart and the words to explain it do not exist with the loss of the tadpole connection, implying that she has fallen in love with Karlach despite not being romanced in the game proper.
• The Paladin: Serves as this among the recruitable companions, albeit a vengeful and villainous one.
• Pet the Dog:
  • While giving her honest opinions on Karlach, Minthara admits that there is something beautiful about Karlach's desire to live in the moment as a free woman despite knowing that her days are numbered thanks to the engine in her chest.
  • In a rather literal example, she has genuine affection for Scratch, the camp's dog.
  • She also opposes the player turning Shadowheart over to Mother Superior/Viconia to be "re-educated" for defying Shar's teachings, even when Mother Superior promises to lend her followers' support against the Cult of the Absolute, arguing that it would result in Shadowheart's Death of Personality. It's implied Minthara was drawing from her own experiences under the Cult of the Absolute, hence her sympathy for Shadowheart's situation.
• The Power of Hate: As an Oath of Vengeance paladin, she literally gets her supernatural powers from hating someone or something enough - if you recruit her, she's gunning for the Cult of the Absolute as revenge for mistreating and discarding her.
• Psycho Supporter: As a potential companion, Minthara will become this if you recruit her. While there are plenty of companions with dark histories and questionable morals, Minthara is the most ruthless and unhinged even by their standards, and a major reason she takes a liking to the player character is because of their capacity for cruelty and bloodshed. However, downplayed once she joins the party proper as we learn that much of her unhinged personality were strongly influenced by the Absolute. While she still approves of violent and cruel choices, she prefers that they are done so strategically and pragmatically.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Her general philosophy once she's freed from the Absolute's brainwashing and joined the party. She supports evil acts done for personal gain but disapproves of doing evil for evil's sake. Unsurprisingly, she would support the suggestion of forging an alliance with Enver Gortash during Act 3 in order to keep the Netherbrain under control.
• Reforged into a Minion: If the player kills her in Act 1 or fails to save her in Act 2, she will reappear in the Mind Flayer Colony as one of Balthazar's zombie minions.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Befitting of the divine oath she took as a paladin, she would spend the entire second act enacting her vengeance against Ketheric Thorm for sentencing her to her doom by aiding the party in cutting off the source of his immortality and eventually storming Moonrise Towers. Minthara is so set on this goal that any attempt to backtrack to any of the Act 1 areas would cause her to remain in camp to plan on Ketheric’s downfall, only joining the party again upon their return to the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
• Save the Villain: Upon meeting her in Act 2 should she survive the previous act, especially by knocking her unconscious at the goblin camp and finishing the Emerald Grove questline in favor of the tiefling refugees, you have the option to save Minthara from being Mind Raped by the cultists. Doing so will cause her to abandon the Cult of the Absolute and join your party.
• Shed the Family Name: A romanced Minthara can potentially do this by the end of the game if the player character decides to accompany her back to Menzoberranzan to help her conquer it from her own family or take over Baldur's Gate with her at their side, telling them that their new drow house will carry the name of her lover.
  Minthara: My name belongs to my mother, so our House will have a new name — your name — and the world will learn to fear it.
• Signature Move: She has one in the form of “Soul Branding”, a Status Buff feature that grants her or her ally increased movement speed as well as bonus fire damage on the next weapon attack that hits.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Heavy on the Ice, especially at the outset of the game when she's still under the Absolute's control (especially being a proud member of drow nobility). After her Humiliation Conga and subsequent recruitment into the party, she's only marginally nicer than before, having a sharp remark for everyone save Karlach. However, if she's romanced, then she swings hard into Sugar, where she's the most openly passionate and romantic love interest aside from Karlach. By Act III, she's very aggressive in her kissing animations, often grabbing the player character by the neck and pulling them close, even occasionally dipping them for a deep kiss. And yes, she even does this to male characters.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Viconia DeVir from the first two games, being a drow who serves as the party's Token Evil Teammate who was cast out from Menzoberranzan and became a devotee to a Religion of Evil other than Lolth. Humorously enough, Minthara will regard Viconia (and House DeVir in general) with disdain should she be in the party during Shadowheart's companion quest, which is typical of inter-house rivalries in drow society.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Despite having her sentenced to death for her failure to find the Astral Prism, Minthara cannot help but feel pity for Ketheric, seeing him as a tragic pawn of the gods he worshipped and respecting his abilities as a commander. That said, Minthara admits that she could never forgive Ketheric for pawning her off to Orin.
• Token Evil Teammate: Serves as this out of all of the recruitable companions, as she openly serves the Cult of the Absolute, the very organization that most of your companions are fighting against. And though she herself has a falling out with them after the raid on the Emerald Grove, it's largely a result of her failing her actual mission and refusing to accept accountability for it, though it is eventually established that Minthara is far less bloodthirsty and unhinged when freed from the Absolute's influence. Even then, she's still the most vocal in urging the player to seize power over the Elder Brain for themselves.
• Tribal Face Paint: Minthara has the glyph of House Baenre tattooed on her neck.
• Unholy Matrimony: If the player character romances her, they become this by the game’s end as they can make plans to either take over Baldur's Gate or conquer Menzoberranzan.
  • As of Patch 6, if she is the player character’s love interest and they end up controlling the Netherbrain, she is then spared from becoming enthralled unlike the other companions and gets to enjoy commanding the Absolute's army with them.
• Vapor Wear: Her camp top is a plunging v-neck that also reveals some Sideboob. Prior to Patch 1, her camp top could even reveal the female wearer's nipple from certain angles.
• Villain Cred: In line with her Brutal Honesty, she will give credit to her enemies when it's due as she would with her allies.
  • Even after defecting from the Cult of the Absolute, she will still express respect for its leaders Ketheric and Gortash. She respects the former for his capabilities as a general, and the latter for his Pragmatic Villainy and ability to control the populace of Baldur's Gate. The sole exception is Orin, whom Minthara both fears and despises for what she put her through.
  • While she sees Viconia as a Dirty Coward for fleeing Menzoberranzan after she forsook Lolth, she admits that she still respects Viconia's tenacity, pointing out that she would not have survived for as long as she did otherwise.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Can develop this relationship with a playable Gale, going from refusing to learn his name and casually insulting him to grudgingly respecting him as the "finest wizard she has ever known" and giving him advice on Mystra (admittedly, slanted by her own perspective on deities after her experience with Lolth and the Absolute). In the epilogue, she will still refuse to call him by name, but will admit that she knows it full well and she just enjoys teasing him. If Gale has become a god, they can even share a hug.
• We Can Rule Together: After defecting from the Cult of the Absolute and joining the party, she can urge the player character to seize the Absolute's powers for their own gain. Even if that does not come to pass, a romanced Minthara can suggest they can conquer and rule either Baldur's Gate or her former homeland of Menzoberranzan together.
• Would Hurt a Child: She has no qualms about murdering even the child refugees in the Emerald Grove. And in Act 3, she would tell the player character that she would cut off the hand of any child urchin that tries to pickpocket her.
• You Can't Go Home Again: When speaking about Menzoberranzan, Minthara remarks that after abandoning her faith in Lolth to join the Cult of the Absolute, she'll be killed on sight (or worse) if she ever returns home. If she was the player character's romantic partner by the end of the game, she will support their idea of returning to Menzoberranzan with the intent of conquering it together.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
  • Should the player character sneak Sazza out of the Emerald Grove and accompany her back to the goblin camp, the goblin will reveal the grove's location to Minthara. The drow then orders that she be thrown into a spider pit, unless the player character decides to intervene.
  • If you side with her during the raid on the Emerald Grove, she'll soon try to kill you during the celebration at night unless you talk her out of it.
  • She ends up on the receiving end of this in Act 2 if she survives the previous act, with Ketheric Thorm sentencing her to her doom for failing to find the Astral Prism.
• You Have Failed Me: If she lives past the Emerald Grove questline, the next time the party meets her at Moonrise Towers, she ends up at the mercy of Z’rell and Ketheric Thorm for her failure to retrieve the Astral Prism, eventually sentencing her to death unless the player character decides to intervene.

Jaheira

Jaheira

Voiced by: Heidi Shannon (BG1 & BG2), N/A (SoD), Tracy Wiles (BG3)

High Harper of Baldur's Gate

"We fight, we die, and when our time comes we just hope that there is someone else to take our place."

Race: High Half-Elf
Class: Druid (Circle of the Land)
Background: Soldier
Place of Origin: Tethyr

A battle-scarred veteran of the Bhaalspawn Crisis, a Harper, and a zealous protector of nature, Jaheira returns to the Sword Coast determined to eliminate the threat the Cult of the Absolute poses.

See Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 Party Members for her character entry in the previous games.

---

• Actually Pretty Funny:
  • During the mission to rescue Minsc, Jaheira at one point laments her failures and blames it on her age. The player can quip to her that she's "not old; she's ancient"; Jaheira will burst out laughing and gain approval, while also calling the player a bastard.
  • One camp conversation lets you comment on her calling you "Cub", and when she asks if you're alright with that, one reply is to say you're cool with it if she's cool with you calling her "Crow". She gains approval while commenting that "The Cub and the Crow" sounds like some kind of cautionary tale.
• Anger Born of Worry: Much like how she treated Khalid and her other companions in the original trilogy, Jaheira gets angry when she cares. She has a platonic example with Minsc, where successfully rescuing him unlocks a camp scene where she ends up chewing him out for charging ahead and making her leave him behind. Minsc, of course, doesn't fully understand why she's upset.
• Became Their Own Antithesis: If you bring Jaheira to the Murder Tribunal, you can convince her to cooperate with Sarevok's demands despite her very clearly hating his guts (and you will take an approval hit for this even if you clear the required skill check). Doing so causes Sarevok to eagerly gloat about how he and your Player Character managed to turn her into an Unholy Assassin of Bhaal, the very God she spent so much of her life opposing. She brushes off Sarevok's taunting on the grounds of pragmatic heroism and even snipes back by saying that at least she's still fighting for something, but if you speak to her in camp, she will admit to feeling sullied by the whole experience.
• Blue Blood: Jaheira is originally of Tethyrian nobility, but fled the country with her parents as a child during the Tethyrian Civil War (the war ended around the same time the original Baldur's Gate trilogy did). Going to her house in Act 3 reveals her youngest daughter found her old family tree and is pretending to be royalty due to her newfound 'lineage'. Jaheira, of course, has little care for this.
• Call-Back: Her house in Act 3 is full of call-backs to the original game, including her possession of Belm and the Staff of the Ram (two of her most popular weapons used by players in the orginal game), the reveal of her original biography as a Blue Blood from the original game, and finding Khalid's gift from Siege of Dragonspear.
• Combat Medic: Jaheira's focus on magic also includes healing spells, something druids have a good select of choices to use, and synergizes with her Magic Knight playstyle as a Circle of the Land druid. During the assault on Moonrise Towers, she will use magic to assist both the player (if they sided with her) and her fellow Harpers.
• Deadpan Snarker: Has shifted more towards this in her later years. If you complain about how no one ever just says hello to you, she'll say hello. While currently having you completely bound up in vines while her subordinates point crossbows at you. Her adopted kids learned greatly from her.
• Despair Event Horizon: If the player finds Minsc and kills him instead of knocking him out using non-lethal options, she will permanently leave the party, wanting to return Minsc's body to Rashemen.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: When the party recruits Minsc, the Emperor initially refuses to extend the artifact's protection to him. In response, Jaheira threatens to take the artifact from the player and throw it into the deepest lava pit she can find, an action that would probably guarantee the Absolute's victory. The Emperor notes that surely she wouldn't be willing to risk that much for one life; one of the player's potential responses is politely advising him not to call that bluff.
• The Dreaded: Cazador warned his spawn to stay away from her part of the city because the last time she saw a vampire spawn lurking around her house, she buried them in the cobblestones until the sun came up.
• Dual Wielding: Jaheira wields twin scimitars by default, her primary weapon scaling off her Wisdom instead of Dexterity, making it a good weapon for her to use by default.
• Failed a Spot Check: Even though she uses a jar containing a mind flayer tadpole to help identify True Souls, she still fails to identify the Flaming Fist Marcus as a mole, something that the player characters themselves can call her out for.
• Famed In-Story: After the Bhaalspawn crisis, she went on to rejoin the Harpers, and became one of the most famous protectors of the cities. Enough so that children literally grew up hearing stories about her, and Karlach freaks out if you have her along when you first meet Jaheira.
• Friend-or-Idol Decision: Before the events of the game; in her case, the friends were Minsc and Boo, and the idol was warning everyone about the dangers of the Cult of the Absolute. She chose the idol.
• Goofy Print Underwear: Yes really. Her underwear has little ducks embroidered on them.
• Happy Ending Override: Inverted. Her non-romanced epilogue in Throne of Bhaal said she never returned to the Sword Coast and had a chilly relationship with the Harpers. A hundred years later she's the head of the Harpers in Baldur's Gate. And while she's never remarried, she's adopted a handful of orphans.
• Heroic Team Revolt: While she can still join your party if you massacred the tieflings in Act 1 (as she was never witness to it) and can put up with a number of morally questionable decisions, such as allying with Gortash, and even becoming an Unholy Assassin of Bhaal if you clear a skill check, there are three ways to permanently alienate her. The first is to kill Minsc while he's brainwashed, which causes her to chew you out and leave, albeit peacefully. The second and third are turning on Isobel (and gloating about it afterwards) or embracing your Bhaalspawn heritage as the Dark Urge, both of which will result in her trying to kill you.
• History Repeats: In a Dark Urge playthrough, Jaheira once again finds herself interacting with the Bhaalspawn, including the PC. She's aware of this and treats the Dark Urge cautiously because of it, especially if they obtain their Slayer form. While she will work with the Dark Urge, she warns that she will kill them if they prove too unstable. She's more willing to give the Dark Urge a chance if they have been fighting off their murderous urges or at least managed to resist the worst of them.
• An Ice Person: When Jaheira fights as an NPC in Act 2, she makes heavy use of the Ice Storm spell as her opening move.
• Immortality Seeker: A much more benign and positive variant. In the secret room of her secret basement in her home, you can find a partially completed scroll for the "Timeless Body" ritual, a druid (and monk) ability that causes them to age more slowly. Jaheira will explain it's something she's currently working on because it feels like there's always more work to be done. However, if she has a positive view of the player, she essentially gives up on the ritual and states she's willing to leave the heroics to the next generation.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Her facial features are a combination of the Baldur's Gate II version of Jaheira and those of her voice actress Tracy Wiles, making her look exactly like, well, an aged Jaheira.
• Knight in Sour Armor: Even more so than in the previous games, as she's now an Old Soldier (with all the weariness that implies) and still fighting the good fight. In one dialog she'll admit there is some truth to the tales about her helping save all the realms, only to add that it doesn't sound as good once one realizes they never stay saved.
• Large Ham: In the World of Ham that was the first two Baldur's Gate games, Jaheira didn't stand out much; with a combination of over 20 years of development in the art of video game voice acting and Tracy Wiles being very accurate in her recreation of Jaheira's original mannerisms, this has changed.
• Magic Knight: Jaheira's default build has her as a Circle of the Land druid, which focuses more on spellcasting, while wielding two scimitars; one of those scimitars runs off of her high Wisdom stat. She can still use Wildshape, but unlike Halsin who is built around using it as a Circle of the Moon druid, it isn't as helpful for Jaheira to use it in battle as a Circle of the Land druid due it taking an Action to use it, unless needing the animal form to do things she can't cover on her own or give her extra HP for battle.
• Mama Bear: Her adopted half-orc son Jord can relate a story about how he was harassed by a merchant over his true parentage when he was a child. Apparently when Jaheira was done with the merchant he didn't have to worry about sons of his own.
• Mercy Kill: Offers to do this for a morally good Dark Urge. She knows they've been fighting off the Urge, but it's growing stronger with each successful attempt to overcome it. In her view, killing the Dark Urge as they are now is better than letting them turn into a Bhaal-worshipping maniac. Despite this, she stays her hand as they are still in control of themselves and hopes they will be able to overcome their Bhaalspawn heritage.
• The Mourning After: As the non-romanced path is canon, she never remarried after Khalid died.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Played for Laughs when you recruit Minsc. Her first words afterwards are to say the player has made a terrible mistake by allowing her to convince you to save a "madman and his rodent".
• My Greatest Failure: Well recently at least. She had to leave Minsc behind in the Underdark to make sure that word about the Cult of the Absolute would get out.
• No Hero to His Valet
  • Jaheira is a famous hero, the subject of songs and legends, but her children don't waste any time chewing her out for not contacting them more often.
  • Jaheira makes it clear to the player that she greatly prefers being treated this way, and tends to approve of more irreverent responses.
• Noodle Incident: She apparently once burned down a teashop that was a front for a drug den. Although she maintains that it was the proprietor's own fault for improperly storing the drugs.
• Not So Above It All:
  • Keeping up with the underwear gag that most of the Companions have, her underwear has little ducks embroidered on them.
  • She can throw Boo like all your companions and has lines relating to it. One of her lines has her claim Boo likes her more than Minsc. The rest have a subdued but wholesome familiarity unlike everyone else's high energy excitement at the prospect of throwing a space hamster in someone's face, with only Minthara having one line not all in on it.
  • At the Circus of the Last Days, when Dribbles the Clown makes a groan-inducing pun, Jaheira laughs at the joke wholeheartedly.
  Jaheira: Ha ha ha! [turns to the player] What? Shut up!
• Older and Wiser: Time has mellowed Jaheira greatly. While she still possesses her snark and wisdom, she is now less headstrong and haughty, her Rightly Self-Righteous having been toned down considerably.
• One Last Job: She originally intended to lay down her swords once Ketheric Thorm is defeated, having become weary from over a century of constant battles, but seeing the player's progress encourages her to keep up the good fight.
• Old Soldier: After her adventure with Gorion's Ward, Jaheira has continued her fight against forces of evil. By the time you meet her, she has been fighting for over a century. Despite being as active and determind as ever, the long years of fighting has clearly worn her down.
• Overrated and Underleveled: Downplayed, but when you meet her, she's level matched to the same level as your current party, which, as someone who survived the entire Bhaalspawn saga and then another century as a Harper, is rather underwhelming. Possibly justified due to her age. She states after the player finds her attempt on the Timeless Body ritual that she's Feeling Their Age and isn't as young and powerful as she was before.
• Panthera Awesome: As an NPC, Jaheira favors the panther Wild Shape once she has used up her magic.
• Parental Abandonment: She has several adopted children in Baldur's Gate, all of them who are rather miffed that she's rarely ever around. Rion in particular notes that Jaheira doesn't even bother sending letters or messages to them except to tell them to get out of the city (which they don't even do, much to Jaheira's annoyance, because while they think Jaheira's a terrible mother, they're also positive that she'll end up saving the day). Ultimately it is downplayed in that they are more frustrated with not knowing if she's alive or dead, but otherwise they do greatly love her.
• Parents as People: Jaheira's frequent and prolonged absences have left a rather bitter taste in their mouths, most notably Rion and Jord, who primarily took up Jaheira's duties while she was gone and when she returns with the party, the two of them don't let her off easy. That said, her children do clearly love her despite it all.
• Really 700 Years Old: She certainly doesn't look like someone well into their second century of life, that's for sure. As a half-elf, she naturally has a longer lifespan, but her being active still at her age is a minor plot point to learn about if the player desires it.
• Redemption Demotion: Loses her original Baldur's Gate statblock when joining the party (which she has as an NPC in Act 2), becoming a generic druid instead.
• Sadistic Choice: Leave Minsc, her oldest friend behind to fight and die alone, or die by his side and leave the world unprepared for the Cult of the Absolute. She chose to leave Minsc behind. At one point she admits to the player that it's not the choice itself that bothers her, but how easy it was for her to make it.
• Silver Vixen: She's looking middle-aged nowadays and still looks amazing.
• So Proud of You: She never outright says it but visiting her home in Baldur's Gate has her subtly imply that for all her faults as a mother, she's proud of Rion and Jord for stepping up where she did not.
  • Various instances can have her act this way to the party as well.
• Team Mom: Just like in the old games, she continues to act as a mother toward the party, now with the decades and actually is a mother to match the trope. The dynamic comes across most when she's dealing with fellow Harpers, or with Minsc, whom she's not afraid to call out for his more idiotic moments in a tone not unlike a mother exasperated at a child. Minsc, meanwhile, shows more restraint around her and is even terrified of Boo mentioning comments he made about her to Jaheira. She'll also take to calling the player character "cub", which she also calls her actual children.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With the Dark Urge if they freely indulge in their murderous impulses. Once she realizes they're a Bhaalspawn (and possibly worse than Sarevok ever was), she becomes apprehensive and wary. The only reason she doesn't opt to slit open their throats is because the Cult of the Absolute is a much bigger threat. If the Dark Urge becomes Bhaal's Chosen, she and Minsc (if he was recruited) will turn on the Dark Urge and convince your companions to do so as well.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While she was never malevolent in the original games and definitely served the side of good, she could be something of a self-righteous bully and had a headstrong attitude to everyone. Time has mellowed her out considerably. She is now openly affectionate toward people who have earned her trust, especially to Minsc whom she regard as her oldest friend.
• Tragic Keepsake: If you find your way to her secret lair beneath her house, in her desk you'll find an ancient love letter from Khalid she's kept, including a magically made portrait of the two of them he had made. She also keeps several items from Baldurs Gate 1 and 2, including Belm and the Staff of the Ram, calling them tragic memories. Lastly, you can find Khalid's Gift from Siege at Dragonspear kept in a hidden display case.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: She almost always approves if the player makes fun of her, particularly her old age. It's heavily implied that it's because people often treat her as a Living Legend and so she finds the player's irreverence to be a breath of fresh air.
• Warts and All: She's extremely exasperated with how much the legends of her paint her as an unstoppable badass that could probably give Ao a run for his money, and repeatedly stresses that she's just a normal person.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Viconia and Sarevok.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When the Dark Urge awakens one night after suffering a nightmare, Jaheira confronts them about their Bhaalspawn heritage. If they've been actively suppressing the Urge and fought it off up to that point (or at least suppressed it at its worst moments), she advises the Dark Urge to continue fighting off their murderous impulses, even willing to become their Morality Chain so they don't lose themselves.

Minsc & Boo

Minsc

Voiced by: Jim Cummings (BG1 & BG2), Matthew Mercer (BG3)

The Mad Rashemaar

"If there is one thing Minsc hates more than beasts with bad breath - It is those who are tricksome with the truth! And turnips. But you are no turnip. Let that be of comfort, in your final moments."

Race: Human & Miniature Giant Space Hamster
Class: Ranger (Hunter)
Background: Folk Hero
Place of Origin: Rashemen

The Beloved Ranger himself and his stalwart miniature giant space hamster who got petrified by an evil wizard and spent nearly a century as an ornamental statue in the Wide of Baldur's Gate. They were eventually freed from their curse by the wild mage Delina and have been adventuring ever since. See Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 Party Members for his character entry in the previous games.

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• Actor Allusion: One of Minsc’s rare voicelines upon clicking on his character portrait one too many times has him asking Boo “How do you want to do this?”, which is a reference to Matthew Mercer’s iconic catchphrase as the Dungeon Master of Critical Role.
• Adaptational Badass: In the first two games Boo is an inventory item for Minsc and any ass-kicking done by him is offscreen and may be the work of Minsc's imagination. Here Boo is a summonable pet with a whopping 20 HP and hits comparable to a long sword. To the point where there's several videos online of Boo delivering the killing blow to various Act 3 villains.
• Arch-Enemy: He and Jaheira hold a deep grudge over their former allies Sarevok and Viconia. The latter in particular he and Boo have a special loathing for after they attempted to kill Boo with a knife, with the incident traumatizing Boo so deeply that simply hearing Viconia's name sends him into a panic.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a cheerful Nice Guy, but he has very little mercy when it comes to evildoers. He even approves of executing Viconia whereas the much more hardened Jaheira doesn't.
• Comically Missing the Point: Wouldn't be Minsc without it. But after punching his way out of a Mimic that ate him he complains there wasn't any gold in there.
• Chaste Hero: Every other companion except Jaheira is romancable and Jaheira was married (and potentially romancable by the PC in Baldur's Gate 2) but throughout three games and over a century in-universe Minsc never expresses the slightest interest in sex or romance.
• Does Not Like Spam: In his rant when he punches his way out of a Mimic that ate him he mentions that he hates turnips. Jan most likely ruined them for him.
• The Dreaded:
  • As the Stone Lord, he becomes a dreaded figure within the criminal underworld of Baldur's Gate.
  • His more heroic exploits have made him a sort of boogeyman amongst the drow as well, with Minthara recalling how they would tell ghost stories to their children about Minsc.
• 11th-Hour Ranger: You can only recruit him (and Boo!) partially through Act 3.
• Fastball Special: Everyone gets in on using Boo as a projectile. Even better, every party companion has multiple dialogue when doing it.
  Jaheira: Go on, rodent. We both know you like me better anyway!
  Jaheira: Eyes, et cetera. You know what to do.
  Astarion: Eat hamster, fiend!
  Karlach: Fly free, land hard, Boo!
  Lae'zel: The mighty Boo strikes!
  Wyll: What would Minsc say? Oh yes. 'Go for the eyes, Boo!'
  Gale: Pete Occulos,^note "Attack the eyes" Boo!
  Gale: Well, this is a novel use for familiars...
• Dumb Muscle: While he has a fair amount of Hidden Depths, Minsc is canonically not the sharpest tool in the shed and is very self-aware of it.
• Fighting from the Inside: Unlike other tadpoled characters who are not under the protection of the Astral Prism, Minsc shows frequent signs of trying to resist the Absolute's control. Ultimately the cult has been forced to put a shapeshifter in the guise of Jaheira to tell him what to do, and lock Boo away from his sight, to get him to go along with their plans, but even then his behavior is highly erratic.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Sometime after his adventures with the Bhaalspawn in the 14th century DR, he somehow ended up being petrified and became a fixture at the Wide in Baldur's Gate for over a century.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • Throwing Boo at an opponent can force them to make a save or be blinded. "Go for the eyes", indeed.
  • One of his comments on Minthara is that, as a former pawn of the Absolute, she can't be much cleverer than him. In purely statistical terms he is likely correct; as a paladin, her default Intelligence score is an 8, the same as Minsc's unless one has bothered improving either score.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Minsc's huge muscle and great strength are often brought up, by himself, Jaheira, other NPCs and the player. His introductory cutscene has him toss a Mimic around like it weights nothing. And indeed in the first two games, Minsc had a strength of 18/93, one of the highest scores a human could achieve. However he's also famously a ranger, and in 5th edition rangers are primarily Dexterity-based. As such, in this game Minsc's strength is a middling 12. while his Dex is an awesome 17. A player can choose to avert this trope by re-speccing him into a strength build, which is entirely possible by swapping his "Beast Master" favored enemy for "Ranger Knight".
  • Minsc's NPC-only stats, which are visible when you fight him in the cistern, are almost identical to his stat block in the original Baldur's Gate (his strength is 20 rather than 18/93), and he wields a great sword and heavy armour in that fight as he would do in the original games. The game simply re-specs him to the generic stat block used by all playable characters when he joins the party afterwards, using the 'recommended' setting for Rangers.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Not about a straight up fight, but if you take him with you when Jaehira is arguing with her kids he's too scared to say anything or else they might turn their ire on him.
  Minsc: Some battles even Boo is too scared to fight.
• Large Ham: It wouldn't be Minsc without his top-tier overacting.
• Late Character Syndrome: Downplayed, as he can be leveled up to your current parties general level right as you get him, but as the last party member you get, Minsc joins at what is the last chunk of the game, lacking unique equipment to use, and generally won't right away do enough to make using him worth it. However, him being a Ranger does give him a unique role no other companion by default has, if only handicapped by how the player is likely already set in terms of gear and party setup. So he does have something to offer, but likely won't get used unless you really like him due to how late you get him.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: One of his combat quotes is him complaining about being unused to the "Taking of turns", a reference to the game swapping to turn-based combat from the real-time with pause combat of the original trilogy.
• Leeroy Jenkins: Deconstructed. Before the start of the game, Minsc and Jaheira discovered the Cult of the Absolute. With no planning or warning, and desiring to protect Jaheira, Minsc recklessly charged at the cultists. Not only did this force Jaheira to leave him behind in order to tell everyone about the cult's plan, but Minsc wound up being brainwashed and inadvertently aided the Cult in spreading their influence.
• Living Legend: After being freed from petrification for over a century, he becomes this within the present day as he continues to kick evil's butt wherever his adventures take him to.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Only in-universe, about Boo's status as a Miniature Giant Space Hamster. It's been confirmed to the audience for years. That said, he's the most notable animal on which you cannot use "Speak to Animals" thus anything Boo "says" comes from Minsc and can therefore be interpreted as Minsc's own imagination.
  • If you take Minsc with you for the final fight, the brain will acknowledge the presence of "the Space Hamster", hinting that Boo indeed comes from space and is not a regular animal.
• Nice Guy: Wouldn't be Minsc if he was otherwise. He's cheerful, friendly, supportive, and immediately calls the player a friend once he's been rescued. He even agrees to help Nine Fingers by training her guild to be much more honorable do-gooders, much to her exasperation.
• Odd Friendship: Besides his amusing devotion to his hamster Boo, he surprisingly takes a liking to Astarion of all people. If he doesn't ascend and becomes an adventurer in the Epilogue, Astarion will even comment that Minsc keeps visiting him in his travels, whether he likes it or not. This is particularly funny, seeing as the undead used to be Minsc's preferred prey.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Minsc is very open about how much he loves smiting evil, but he generally keeps a lighthearted and carefree demeanor even when in combat. This goes out the window when dealing with Sarevok and Viconia, both old acquaintances who had the chance for redemption and refused. He makes it very clear he’d kill them on the spot given the chance and even approves if the player executes Viconia (whereas the much more jaded Jaheira notably doesn’t).
• Overrated and Underleveled: Ultimately justified. Despite having been petrified and coming back in his prime, the comics dealing with the Descent to Avernus had him fall to the River Styx and lose most of his memories. Presumably, his skills and levels went along with it. And averted with Boo who hits as hard as a legendary animal companion should hit.
  • Of course by the time you get to him you're usually Level 10-12 so while he is nowhere near where he was at the end of Throne of Bhaal, he's nothing to sneeze at.
• Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: After his tenure as the Stone Lord ends, his first action upon reuniting with Boo is to offer the latter the opportunity to kill him for his villainous deeds. Boo refuses.
• Proud Beauty: Downplayed, but during a conversation when he asks the player the first thing they notice about him, if they respond with his tattoo he cheerily replies that of course they would be drawn to his 'handsome face'.
• Real After All: While the original games gave off the impression that Boo was a normal hamster and that Minsc was simply delusional, this game's depiction of Boo carries far more implications that he truly is a miniature giant space hamster, with his prowess in combat, Speak with Animals not working on him, and astral creatures such as githyanki regarding him with some respect.
• Reassigned to Antarctica: He mentions what he did after Throne of Bhaal before being petrified. He returned to Rashemen, where the Iron Lord, having heard of his deeds, tried to declare Minsc's dajemma complete and recruit Minsc as his minion. Minsc politely disagreed on both points, as Dynaheir had died and he had sworn himself to Boo. After the argument, as the Iron Lords was being carried away, the witches gave Minsc a sack of provision and politely recommended he continue his adventures, very far from Rashemen.
• Redemption Demotion: Similarly to Halsin and Jaheira, Minsc loses his unique stat block and abilities (including the ability to enter Barbarian Rage, a nod to his unique 'Berserk' ability in the original games) upon joining the party.
• Replacement Goldfish: After being chewed out by Jaheira during their reunion, he points out she's always been the smartest of the two and tries to offer her the position as his Wychlaran ^note  when a Rashemi berserker travels abroad it's usually as a bodyguard to a Wychlaran, a Rashemi witch, whose job it is to direct the berserker's rage and provide them with healing and support. Minsc's original Wychlaran, Dynaheir, was murdered in the opening of Baldur's Gate 2. Jaheira refuses, pointing out she's his friend and doesn't want to officially be in charge of him.
  • He can also reference Aerie, his original Replacement Goldfish from the second game^note Minsc can also offer Nalia the position in Baldur's Gate 2, but Aerie is always prioritized if both are in the party, who apparently went in search of a way to repair her lost wings some time before Minsc was turned to stone.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: A one-sided variant with Halsin. Ask Minsc about his opinion of Halsin and he claims to not know who you're talking about. Boo's comments indicate that Minsc is holding a grudge because the latter beat him in an arm wrestling match.
• Smarter Than They Look: While still the lovable idiot he always is, he shows that he's not as dumb as he might appear. Ask him about how he could've trusted Gorion's Ward despite them being a Bhaalspawn and he makes an anecdote about Nature vs Nurture and how just because the Ward was a Bhaalspawn doesn't mean they'd immediately follow in their murderous father's footsteps any more than he himself didn't inherit his mother and father's red hair. The player can even point out that he's not half as dumb as he seems.
• Spot the Thread: Boo, of all people, is the one who notices Astarion is a vampire, informing Minsc of the fact, who assumed Astarion shaking when seeing Minsc bloody wounds and running away was because Astarion was a coward.
• Swallowed Whole: His introduction here is punching his way out of a Mimic that he was tricked into opening. And then complaining that there wasn't any gold.
• Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: The Emperor is terrified of the chaos in Minsc's mind and has to be threatened by both the PC and Jaheira to extend his protection to Minsc as he does the rest of the party. Hilariously, this also goes for the Absolute as well, as you can find a journal Minsc kept during his time as the Stone Lord where he kept sketching Boo and missives from Orin to "Jaheira", which describe the incredibly difficulty in keeping Minsc under control and she actually advises against killing Boo, knowing it would break the hold on him permanently. That said, Orin is still confident she can maintain the Absolute's control over Minsc, as she plans to have him eventually eat the rodent once she's certain he can't be swayed.
• Undying Loyalty: To Jaheira, to the point that the Absolute Cult is able to use a doppelganger posing as her to control him.
• The Unintelligible: Boo, whose squeaks cannot be understood even with Speak with Animals active^note the Baldur's Gate 3's version of Speak with Animals even works on animal-like Monstrosities, such as Owlbears, Displacer Beasts and Tressym, which would also cover Miniature Giant Space Hamsters (which are Monstrosities, as opposed to regular Giant Space Hamsters who are Beasts). At best, the player can intuit his meanings from Minsc's responses.
  Player Character: I speak with animals - why can't I understand him?
  Minsc: Can you not? Do you not see his noble bearing? The deep wells of wisdom that are his eyes? Boo speaks of much - perhaps, one day, you will be ready to listen.
• Volleying Insults: Minsc has a savage back-and-forth with Sarevok should you bring him into the Court of Murder while in your party, leading it devolving into them trying to kill each other should you allow it to keep going.
• We Used to Be Friends: With Sarevok and especially with Viconia, since she tried to murder Boo the last time they met. He even gains approval if you choose to execute Viconia rather than sparing her.

Hirelings

Hirelings

Assorted souls slain by the forces of the Absolute, whom Withers can resurrect to aid you for a price.

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• Empty Shell: Most of their mind and personality is gone thanks to their time dead. What's left of the original is enough to serve their role in combat; anything beyond that is merely Withers puppeting them.
• Our Zombies Are Different: Unlike their shambling, rotting, corpse counterparts; the Hirelings' bodies are perfectly maintained and undamaged, making them nigh-on indistinguishable from a regular person.

Brianna Brightsong

Race: Lightfoot Halfling

Class: Bard

• The Bard: Her class is bard, and she performed in a tavern before being killed by an Absolute cultist.

Danton

Race: Mephistopheles Tiefling

Class: Druid

• Animal Motifs: Peacocks. He reared them, and used his druidic powers to wildshape into one in an attempt to escape when attacked by Absolutist marauders.

Eldra Luthrinn

Race: Gold Dwarf

Class: Barbarian

• Girls with Moustaches: She is a dwarf woman with an impressive beard; whether this is commonplace among dwarves has been a subject of debate through the entire history of D&D, with illustrations generally falling on the "no" side of the debate.
• Hollywood Drowning: When she was hunting cultists of the Absolute, they drowned her to death.
• Trademark Favorite Food: It was said that she was a slayer of cups of sweet pear tea.

Sir Fuzzalump

Race: Rock Gnome

Class: Wizard

• Ambiguous Situation: The only hireling with no mention made of how or why he died, nor why he hates the Absolute enough for Withers to return from the dead.
• The Stoic: He was mocked among other gnomes for being dour, and claims to have not giggled in over a decade, nor has he ever frolicked.

Jacelyn

Race: High Half-Elf

Class: Sorcerer

• Magical Seventh Son: He is/was one, and the Absolutist who killed him joked that his parents 'Probably should have left it at six.'

Kree Derryck

Race: Duergar

Class: Warlock

• Bald of Evil: The only bald hireling, and one of only two who was an Absolutist in life.
• Token Evil Teammate: As much as an empty shell can be evil, she was one of two hirelings who fought for the Absolute in life.
• Words Can Break My Bones She could 'kill with a whisper,' though it's unclear whether there was a lethal trait to her voice itself or if she had a Compelling Voice.

Maddala Deadeye

Race: Human

Class: Rogue

• Forced to Watch: A particularly cruel example. She refused to join the Cult of the Absolute, so a True Soul cured her blindness just to make her watch her village be burned to the ground before killing her too.
• Meaningful Name: 'Deadeye' not as in accurate, but as in her eyes are dead. She was blind before a True Soul cured her.

Kerz

Race: Half-Orc

Class: Paladin

• 10-Minute Retirement: They briefly retired from being an adventurer after befriending a group of pleasent ogres. When the ogres were attacked they took up their weapon once again.
• The Paladin: They were an Oath of Devotion paladin in life.

Sina'zith

Race: Githyanki

Class: Monk

• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Among her Proud Warrior Race kin, she was a misfit for choosing a monastic life.

Varanna Sunblossom

Race: Wood Half-Elf

Class: Fighter

• Ironic Name: A surname like Sunblossom is opposite of a Absolute cultist.
• Token Evil Teammate: As much as an empty shell can be evil, she was one of two hirelings who fought for the Absolute in life.

Ver'yll Wenkiir

Race: Lolth-Sworn Drow

Class: Ranger

• Lovable Rogue: His Background is Criminal, and he's a Lolth-Sworn-born Drow, but the last seconds of his life was spent refusing to join the Absolute.
• Mythology Gag: A drow ranger? Where have we heard that before?

Zenith Feur'sel

Race: High Elf

Class: Cleric (Selûne)

• Continuity Nod: Zenith is Evereskan and his backstory states he had a "dour father" who thought his trip to Faerûn would end in doom, implying his father is Xan from the original Baldur's Gate or at least that this is a typical Evereskan attitude.
• Light 'em Up: He uses the Light Domain by default, which primarily focuses on causing Radiant damage.^note Light is not one of Selûne's domains, but her Twilight Domain is not available to the player, so the game appears to treat the Light Domain as a substitute
• Playing with Fire: As a Light Domain Cleric, he also has plenty of Fire spells.
• White Mage: His class is cleric, which lets him use healing spells to restore his party's health.

Temporary Companions

Losiir

Losiir

Voiced by:

"Lae'zel — you still live! May the Queen's favor be yours."

Race: Githyanki

A githyanki fighter who only appears in the prologue if Lae'zel is the main player character.

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• Guest-Star Party Member: He exists only to fill Lae'zel's normal role in the prologue if you're playing as her.
• Mr. Exposition: He's responsible for delivering all exposition in the prologue that would otherwise be done by La'ezel, and most notably, he's the one that directs her to seek out her creche for a cure, which as a companion is a decision she makes entirely of her own accord.
• Nice Guy: Seems quite affable for a githyanki especially, his introduction being pleased at another’s survival, and he remains unerringly supportive of La'ezel, even more than she herself is as a companion in other playthroughs.
• Uncertain Doom: Exactly what happened to him when Lae’zel isn’t the main character. Was he not abducted? Did he stay trapped in his pod? Did he simply die earlier?
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Once he's served his role in the prologue, he dies without much fanfare.

Glut

Sovereign Glut

Displaced Myconid Sovereign

Voiced by: Matt Addis

Race: Myconoid

The myconoid sovereign of a circle destroyed by duergar.

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• Adipose Rex: Glut is overweight and served as the myconoid Sovereign of their own circle until it was destroyed by duergar working for the Cult of the Absolute. They plan on becoming sovereign of their own circle again by killing Sovereign Spaw.
• Awesome, but Impractical: They can turn the bulette into a spore servant. It's hands-down the most powerful thing he can animate and is exactly as deadly under your control as it was against you. But by the time you're strong enough to kill the thing and have him reanimate it, there's probably not much left down in the Underdark to fight. And if there is, the bulette is hampered by its size and often takes a lot of micromanaging and jumping to let it follow the party, much let to get it into position to attack. But once you do get it into a good position, the awesome kicks in.
• Badass Boast: If the player advises Glut following them will be dangerous, Glut responds, “I am the danger.”
• Failure-to-Save Murder: The reason Glut gives for commanding Spaw’s death even after the latter offered them sanctuary is because Glut views Spaw as a coward who ignored their cries for help while their circle was being slaughtered by duergar.
• Guest-Star Party Member: They can join you for the Underdark portions of Act 1 to aid against the duergar.
• Necromancer: Their biggest asset is their ability to make spore servants, reanimating corpses with fungus. The servants only have half their living hitpoints to begin with, but they have all of their abilities and can be healed back up to full. Useful if you reanimate a dead duergar, even more so if you get a minotaur or hook horror, or even the bulette that roams around the area.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Essentially why Glut follows the player. They want revenge for the duergar wiping out their people. He will also want revenge against Spaw for not helping his colony as it was being massacred by the duergar.
• Ungrateful Bastard: After the duergar are killed Glut demands that you kill Spaw's circle for not attacking the duergar even though Spaw's circle gave Glut sanctuary. If you refuse Glut attacks you even though you're the one who helped kill the duergar.

Camp Followers

Characters who accompany the party throughout the journey and can often be found at camp.

Withers

Withers

Voiced by: Stephen Boxer

"So he has spoken, and so thou standest before me. Right as always."

Race: Undead

A mysterious and powerful undead being interred in an ancient temple of Jergal.

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• All-Powerful Bystander: All-Powerful might be overselling him. Might. But he is far more powerful than he lets on, and is content to sit in camp and let you do all the work. His "The Reason You Suck" Speech that he levels towards the Dead Three after their plan fails miserably in The Stinger implies Withers is definitely towards the All-Powerful side, with how brazenly he talks down to the three gods, even going so far as to say he "overestimated" their capabilities and that they aren't fit for the title of "gods". This is most likely because he is implied to be Jergal himself, the one who made the Dead Three gods to begin with. He’s certainly powerful enough to resurrect a Bhaalspawn who has defied Bhaal, taking them away from Bhaal’s influence in the heart of Bhaal’s temple.
• All There in the Manual: Concrete details about his situation, namely who is his (Jergal himself) and why he was in that sarcophagus where you found him (the god of Justice Helm locked him in there as punishment for giving the Dead Three his powers) are only found within gamefiles.
• Almighty Janitor: It's made obvious early on that Withers is far stronger than the normal undead, and is even implied to be none other than Jergal himself. Despite possibly being one of the strongest characters in the setting, he's content on being merely an All-Powerful Bystander and watch things unfold from the sidelines.
• Antiquated Linguistics: He speaks this way, to emphasize just how ancient he must be.
• Berserk Button: Ruining his party. If the player starts killing companions in the post endgame party, Withers pulls them aside, expresses annoyance for once, and then opens a portal to banish the player from his party.
• Beyond the Impossible: If playing as a heroic Dark Urge, he can do something that the previous games explicitly said was impossible to do: resurrect a Bhaalspawn. Then again, when it comes to the dead, what is impossible for mortals is perfectly within the reach of Jergal.
• Big Good: For the most part, he doesn't meddle overmuch in mortal affairs, usually only going as far as resurrecting fallen party members in exchange for a fee. What isn't immediately apparent is that he is no less than Jergal, himself. He goes beyond his station to resurrect a heroic Dark Urge who rejects Bhaal, and in the Playable Epilogue, is the one who gathers the surviving heroes to reunite for a celebration.
• The Comically Serious: Withers' dry and direct nature is sometimes Played for Laughs, such as when he bluntly refuses to elaborate on just what exactly he is — or when he curiously observes that Tav has (or hasn't) become close to one of their companions.
• Dare to Be Badass: Is very deeply impressed when the Dark Urge refuses to rejoin Bhaal's service, despite dying in the process as Bhaal reclaims his blood from them, which encourages Withers to show a glimpse of their true power by invoking their own claim to prevent the Dark Urge's soul from passing into the Fugue Plane under the condition they continue to defy expectation and rise to the challenge.
• Death Is Cheap: Literally. Cough up the 200 gold he asks for — less than the going price for most magical items and scrolls, and 100 gold less than is needed for a revivify in the source material — and he can resurrect any dead party member. He'll refuse to revive Alfira or Quill Grootslang, however, reasoning that they are better off staying dead than risk being near the Dark Urge when it becomes clear that they can and will lose control of their murderous impulses.
• God Was My Copilot: All signs point to him not being a mere Chosen of Jergal, but rather Jergal himself. A book found in Act 3 recounts someone's encounter with Jergal. The description given of the god's appearance (masked in gold, skin fine and worn as parchment) matches that of Withers. Furthermore, the book notes Jergal's greeting to the author was to ask him what is the worth of a single mortal's life, which Withers also asks towards the player upon their first meeting. Lastly, Jergal's demeanor as described matches Withers's, detached and dispassionate, and like Withers, Jergal shows neither approval nor disappointment in the answer. The Stinger sees him use a familiar tone to address the Dead Three (who were originally mortals to whom Jergal passed his divine duties). His tone and the fact he demonstrates knowledge he feels they lacked resembles that of an elderly figure disappointed with his successors. There's also the fact that he will revive a dead Dark Urge should they defy Bhaal during Act 3, calling himself their advocate both here and in the City of the Dead. When asked who he is he uses several titles held by Jergal: A scribe ^note Jergal is called "The Final Scribe" in the aforementioned book, Seneschal^note Jergal is Kelemvor's, and formerly Myrkul's, Seneschal and Record-Keeper^note The aforementioned book refers to Jergal as the "Death-keeper". Clerics of Kelemvor also receive unique dialogue that hints towards Withers' personal familiarity with the god, while other clerics and paladins can ask him why they feel a "divine spark" in him, but he does not answer. During the epilogue, Milil the god of songs will credit Withers with having saved him from the Fugue Plane, which implies that Withers is a being of equal or higher standing than himself.
• Invulnerable Civilians: He's only given 1 hit point, but he literally cannot take any damage. The damage isn't even reduced to zero.
• Loophole Abuse: Although he claims to be completely neutral and can't become involved personally in the game's events, he's the one controlling the Hirelings he provides, interacting with the player through them.
• Mysterious Stranger: Given his seemingly prophetic knowledge, his power over life and death, and his decision to aid you for reasons only he can tell, he's just a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The only thing he'll reveal is that he has some sort of longstanding relationship with an "arbiter of sorts". He later describes himself as a "Seneschal", which further implies he's Jergal himself. Jergal serves as a seneschal to Kelemvor, the current god of the dead, who also holds the title of Judge of the Dead which Jergal once held, hence the aforementioned "Arbiter".
• Not So Above It All:
  • Despite his utterly impassive and fatalistic demeanor, and his implied level of power absolutely dwarfing that of the party, he still takes the time to comment on the player character's romantic paramour — or lack of one.
  • He's the one who recruits Milil, the god of songs to play music during the Epilogue reunion party. Milil notes that it's something Withers has him do frequently - play music to honor worthy heroes.
• Pet the Dog: Despite being connected to Jergal, the former god of Fatalism, he has his moments.
  • He calmly puts up with Arabella's behavior, and soothes her when she finds out her parents died. He even shows her the path their deaths set her on, giving her a reason for why they died. Arabella herself has no fear of the "Bone Man", and seems quite fond of him.
  • He'll refuse to bring back Alfira when the Dark Urge origin kills her because it would be horrible to undergo such a fate for a second time.
  • He even invokes this trope explicitly when he revives the Dark Urge after rejecting Bhaal, as he states by all measures he should allow the rules set by the divine to permit and allow them to be cast to the Fugue Plane for being abandoned by their father and rendered faithless; their sheer brazenness and courage to face to the inevitable to overcome their urge impresses Withers enough to say Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! and revive the Dark Urge on the spot. Which is all the more significant if Withers is indeed Jergal himself, meaning that the god of fatalism decided to say Screw Destiny and allowed the Dark Urge to survive their fate against their father because he liked them.^note For those unaware of lore, Bhaal was only a god in the first place because Jergal gave him, alongside the other members of the Dead Three, aspects of his old job when he got sick of it, which also means if Withers is indeed Jergal, he basically pulled rank on his unruly underling and their plans because he liked their child way more.
  • In the extended epilogues included with Patch #5, Withers will appear before a Dark Urge who became Bhaal's Chosen but destroyed the Absolute and opted to commit suicide before they could be overwhelmed the Urge, congratulating them for their sacrifice and swearing he will remember them. Similar to the event where Withers revived them after defying Bhaal, Withers ensures their soul will still live on and free from their father's corrupting influence.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: To meet him, you have to free him from a sarcophagus hidden inside a secret room in an abandoned temple guarded by undead warrior scribes. Though the "evil" part is admittedly ambiguous — he doesn't seem to have any evil plans of his own, even if he'll help an evil character just as readily as he will a good one. For that matter, even the "sealed" part is ambiguous; for all that he reveals to you, he may have been a Play-Along Prisoner or even have placed himself in that tomb.
• Secret-Keeper: Toward the end of the game, he confesses that he knew the Dark Urge was a Bhaalspawn the entire time, but kept this information to himself, stating that revealing such important information would be the same as interfering and influencing the actions of the avatar, which contradicts his purpose as to "observe".
  Withers: I know all, but to state truths is to interfere, for the minds of mortals are easily swayed. My place, for the most part, is to observe.
• Straw Nihilist: Of the everything turns to dust one day type. Fitting for a being connected to the god of Fatalism. Or being the Ex-God itself. That said the trope is zigzagged. Withers shows great interest in people who perform great deeds, especially so if they do it while defying expectations Like a good-aligned Dark Urge and his attitude towards them changes considerably. This especially shows in the epilogue, especially with A Dark Urge chosen of Bhaal who committed suicide to deny the god of Murder. Withers goes out of his way to assure them that their death will not be the end of their story.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In The Stinger he gives one to the Dead Three, pointing out that since mortal souls are destroyed when mortals become mind flayers, the Trio's plan was doomed to failure as it would have inevitably drawn the attention of all the gods, much like how it drew Withers's own attention. He further says that the three having met their defeats at the hands of mortals whom they keep underestimating only further shows they are very poor excuses for Gods themselves.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: If the Dark Urge resists their murderous impulses and rejects Bhaal near the end, then after Withers resurrects them after Bhaal kills them, they can ask why he would do that after all the crimes they committed in their past life. Withers will tell the Dark Urge that, for as horrible their past crimes were, the fact that they've become determined to be better, to the point that they were willing to defy their father to his face, is proof enough for him that they do deserve a second chance. He will also give similar sentiments to a Dark Urge who became Bhaal's Chosen but defied him by destroying the Netherbrain and either locked themselves up for everyone's safety or killed themselves to prevent Bhaal from turning them into a mindless killing machine.
  Withers: The sole way to atone for thine actions is to do better, in a new dawn. That dawn has come.

Volo

Volothamp Geddarm

Voiced by: Rob Paulsen (BG1), Stephen Hogan (BG3)

Race: Human

Class: Wizard

A famous explorer and author of several novels who always gets himself into trouble.

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• Ascended Extra: In previous entries of the franchise, he only made cameo appearances at taverns in Nashkell and Saradush. Here, the player can run into him multiple times during the main storyline.
• Beware the Silly Ones:
  • Heavily downplayed in that his attempt to remove your illithid tadpole goes about as well as you'd expect, but where Ethel leaves you with an eye that specifically weakens you against Hags, Volo gifts you a fake eye that not only doesn't convey this sort of malus, but instead adds a See Invisibility buff.
  • Once saved from the goblins, he also manages to get to Baldur's Gate entirely independent from you.
  • Despite not being sure himself of how much he can help, his contribution to the final battle is the buff "Volo's Guide to Monsters", which gives the entire party +2 to all attack rolls, saving throws and ability checks.
  • By the time you meet him in Baldur's Gate (and save him from the mob the Absolute sicced on him), he also manages to figure out not only Bhaal's involvement with the Absolute, but that Orin is his Chosen. And the Dark Urge, should you play as them. The only part he gets wrong is that he thinks Bhaal is solely responsible.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Volo is very vain and an outright gloryhog... but he's skilled enough to get in and out of a variety of situations before the Party comes across him, prints mostly accurate (if heavily embellished) guides to monsters and various other fauna of Faerûn, and only stumbles in his travels because the Cult of the Absolute has made his usual tactic of "Get into trouble and use my silver tongue to get out of it" completely useless.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: When first meeting him at the druid grove, a bard character can compete with him to add more and more ridiculous exaggerations to the narrative of the goblin attack.
• Hidden Depths: As much of a fool as he is, Volo is nothing if not perceptive. By the time you find him in Act 3, Volo will have already deduced that the Cult of Bhaal has resurged and the Lord of Murder is back in action. Similarly, he will also have deduced that the Dark Urge is also a Bhaalspawn.
• It's for a Book: In Act 1, Volo visits the goblin camp in order to research their worship of the Absolute. As a famous writer who hasn't yet heard of this newly-worshipped deity, his intent is actually pretty genuine. It didn't stop the goblins from assuming he was a spy and tossing him in a cage, or course.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Downplayed example as he does know the basics about adventuring, but Volo tends to exaggerate the things he puts in his books. You can find a draft copy of Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate with notes from his editor mentioning it's "surprisingly accurate for once" with still some criticism. He inserts a dragon into his account of the fight between yourself and the goblins outside the Emerald Grove, and Balazthar has note in his room about not wanting any Volo books purchased by for his library because of their inaccuracy.
• Meatgrinder Surgery: He offers to surgically extract the tadpole from the player's eye with a hook and subsequently an icepick. If you don't tell him to stop, he'll take your whole eye out, but he'll give you an enchanted false eye that gives you a permanent See Invisibility buff.
• Painful Rhyme: Invoked when he's forced to perform at the goblin camp. Evidently his strategy for improvising rhyming couplets under pressure is to say whatever he wants for the first line, then end the second line with a completely made-up word to rhyme with the first.
• Really 700 Years Old: Given the gap between Volo's first appearance in the setting and the time of Baldur's Gate 3 Volo must be well over a human's natural lifespan. Then again he is a wizard and may have found ways to magically extend his life. Being an anchor for the Weave imbued by Mystra's silver fire without his knowledge may also have something to do with it.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Smartly, he does this if he knocks out your eye. He also does it if you refuse to let him attempt to remove the tadpole (or stop him mid-"surgery"), stating he has no desire to be around you when you turn.
• Unreliable Expositor: It wouldn’t be Volo if he wasn’t willing to bend the truth for a more interesting story, i.e. insisting that the small band of goblins that attacked the gate of the Emerald Grove had a dragon with them.

The Dream Protector (Spoilers)

The Dream Protector

Voiced by: Diana Bermudez (Female), Ethan Reid (Male)

Race: Custom

The Dream Protector is a mysterious entity that you customize in character creation. They appear to the player character in their dreams.

For tropes related to the Dream Protector's true form, please see the Emperor's entry under Baldur's Gate 3 Other NPCs and Factions.

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• A Form You Are Comfortable With: With the reveal that the Guardian is not just a manifestation of the tadpole in your head but a being within the artifact that Shadowheart carries, its appearance is this. You don't get to see how your party members see the Dream Protector, but most of them describe their Guardians as very beautiful and powerful. Gale specifically refers to them as a "she" while the Dream Protector may appear to you as a man depending on your choice at the start of the game and when fought at the end of the game, they tend to be all female aside from the player-created one (if made a man), though their appearences seem to be randomized. Goes a step even further upon the reveal that the Dream Protector's true form is that of a mindflayer, albeit a mindflayer that has broken free from the Illithid hivemind and has zero desire to go back.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: From how the Dream Protector was portrayed in early access compared to the full release. The Dream Visitor was more transparently implied to be a Honey Pot disguise for the illithid tadpole in early access, trying to tempt the player into embracing the tadpole's powers. Come the full release, the Dream Protector still wants you to use the illithid powers, but presents itself as more a mentor than as a seductive fantasy, and they're not actually the tadpole. The Protector is also actively working against the Cult of the Absolute and their temptations come off as them being a Well-Intentioned Extremist, while the early access visitor made no comment about the Cult and instead showed an ominous vision of you dominating Baldur's Gate by burning it to the ground and remaking it in your image, with the strong implication that they were a corrupter who wanted you to embrace this future and rule Baldur's Gate together with them.
• The Bus Came Back If The Emperor is hostile during the final battle, he will summon 4 versions of the Dream Protector — the same ones who had appeared to you and each of your party members — to fight with him. Disturbingly, they will persist after his death, suggesting that they may have been projections from the Netherbrain.

Yenna

Yenna

Voiced by: Rebecca Hanssen

Race: Human

A young girl left presumably orphaned in Rivington. She joins the camp and can serve as their chef.

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• Ambiguously Absent Parent: Somewhat, since Yenna mentions her mother was sick and then disappeared, though hopes she'll come back. Speaking to Grub has him heavily imply that her mother left to go die peacefully, comparing it to a cat losing their last life.
• Cheerful Child: Despite quite a few terrible things happening to her she quickly bounces back and remains quite chipper and friendly.
• Developer's Foresight: Alienate or kill Lae'zel, Halsin, Gale and Minthara throughout the previous acts? Yenna exists so that Orin has someone whom she can impersonate and infiltrate your camp.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Can have one with the player and other companions.
• Missing Mom: When the party first meets her, she's recently orphaned and mentions her mom has gone missing, and that she was sick. Although Yenna holds out hope that she'll return. Speaking to Grub via Animal Speaking heavily implies that she left to go die quietly away from her daughter, though it's left somewhat ambiguous.
• Red Herring: She mostly exists as one. She's encountered at the very start of Act 3. Then Gortash will reveal Orin The Red has had someone infiltrate the camp. The player's natural instinct will be to look to Yenna who is usually exactly what she claims to be. She's only ever the imposter if Lae'zel, Halsin, Gale and Minthara weren't replaced first.
• Team Chef: She mentions she's a decent cook. If she survives an attempt on her life by Orin, she will sell soup to the player.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: When you first meet her, you can refuse to give her any food or money and tell her to beat it. When she shows up at your camp later asking for a place to stay, you can be cruel and refuse.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Assuming she survives it's unclear what happens to her after the completion of the game. Presumably a good aligned player character would find somewhere for her but this is not shown.

Pets and Summons

Scratch

Scratch

Voiced by: Shaun Mendum

Race: Beast

A dog that can be found in the Forest outside the grove, mourning his dead owner. The player can adopt him, recruiting him into camp.

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• Big Brother Instinct: If both are recruited and you have Speak with Animals, he shows this towards the Owlbear. He's very protective of the cub who looks up to him as a mentor.
• Canine Companion: Was a dog companion for his previous owner Gomwick, who worked as a messager in Baldur's Gate, traveling with him all over the Sword Coast. If recruited, he'll do the same with the party, staying in the camp most of the time and sometimes bringing gifts to you, such as healing potions, but he can also be summoned as a familiar with the special skill to sniff buried chests and guide you to them. Also, uniquely among summoned creatures, he use the "Help" action, freeing trapped characters or stopping downed characters from dying.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: When asked on what killed Gomwick, he describes the scent of the ambushing gnolls as "rotten" and "evil".
• Intellectual Animal: He's actually one of the most intelligent and perceptive beasties you can talk to when using Speak With Animals, particularly when it comes to tracking the emotional well-being of the camp's residents.
• Loyal Animal Companion: You can find him still guarding his owner's body, who died from his wounds from a Gnoll ambush. He'll be upset with a player who points out Gomwick is dead, and hostile if they mess with his body.
• Please Wake Up: Being a dog, he still carefully guards Gomwick's body and says that his "injured" friend needs rest, though he seems to understand on some level that his master is dead; the diplomatic dialogue route has the PC honor this and invite him to follow their scent back to camp "if he doesn't wake up". Later, Scratch mentions that he stayed with his master "until I knew he was gone", in a tone of voice that shows what he really needed was time to grieve and accept the loss.
• Permanently Missable Content: There are multiple ways to fail to recruit him in your initial encounter, making him unavailable for the rest of the campaign. If you did manage to earn his trust, there's another opportunity to lose him again in Act III if you take the wrong approach with the abusive dog kennel owner in Rivington.
• Team Pet: The party adopts him as one of their pets, and doing so and being nice to Scratch is an easy way to get approval from most of the party.

Owlbear Cub

Owlbear Cub

Voiced by: Rosie Jones

Race: Beast

A young owlbear whose mother was killed during the events of the game. The player can adopt him, recruiting him into camp.

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• All Animals Are Domesticated: Played With. As an owlbear, he's at first far more wild than Scratch, but after a few camp events, he'll start becoming more domesticated and will even allow you to pet him.
  • Under the right circumstances, he can become a pet for Halsin or Shadowheart in the epilogue.
• Big Eater: Most of his dialogue revolves around food. One of the arguments you can make to free him from the goblins is his enormous food upkeep, your first camp encounter with him consists of giving him something to eat, and he expresses his appreciation of you by proclaiming he won't eat you although you smell delicious.
• Hero of Another Story: If he survives to the epilogue and has his battle armor, he can recount (via a Speak with Animals spell) that he had an epic offscreen adventure wherein he befriended a turtle, a cat, and a kraken, but the kraken betrayed him by eating the cat and so he killed it.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Apparently, his older brother was eaten by his mother. There's a reason why he quickly settles into camp.
• Permanently Missable Content: If you fail to get the goblins to hand him over one way or another, he won't show up at camp later. His presence in the goblin camp to begin with also may or may not be tied to encountering him with his mother earlier, which happens in an easily missed cave slightly off the beaten path.
• Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Is all grown up by the final battle, sporting armor and able to be summoned in combat. If Dammon is alive, he implies that an unconventional combination of potions was involved.
  • He remains this size in the epilogue, if he survives the final battle.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: He's a fluffy ball of feathers the size of a dog, with a face dominated by huge puppy eyes, making it pretty much impossible to not find him adorable.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Downplayed. Owlbears have a reputation for being such, and the cub is indeed very food focused and gets (offscreen) in fights with larger animals than himself. His greeting to the player if he likes them is "You smell delicious but I will not bite you!" and he lists the food as a reason he's staying with the camp.
  • In the epilogue, despite not being invited to the gathering, he will find it anyway by following the player's scent.
• Team Pet: The part adopts him as one of their pets, and while he acts wild at first and is scared of the rest of the party, he eventually permanently joins the camp and even befriends Scratch.
• You No Take Candle: His phrasing isn't the most sophisticated out there, possibly due to being the owlbear equivalent of a toddler.

Shovel

Shovel/Fork/Basket

Voiced by: Ellie Heydon

Race: Quasit

A quasit who worked as an assistant to Ilyn Toth and can be summoned by a scroll.

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• Absurdly Sharp Claws: As quasit their primary weapon is their sharp claws. Ilyn Toth apparently used it to dig and to hack up corpses for his necromancer experiments.
• Adoptive Name Change: You can change its name after summoning it to either "Fork" or "Basket". It won't really care.
• Affectionate Nickname: Refers to its previous master, the necromancer Ilyn Toth, as "Illy". Though affection is debatable given the first thing it does is insult Ilyn when it presumes he is the one summoning it, calls him a prick when asked about him, and bluntly says it does not know or care what happened to him. The only thing it seemed to admire about Ilyn was how evil he was, considering murdering people under the guise of healing them as brilliant.
• All There in the Manual: Shovel (or whatever name is chosen) is apparently female but given the complete lack of sexual characteristics on quasits and the fact that they all have high pitched voices the only way one would know would be the use of a feminine pronoun in the achievement for summoning her.
• Eats Babies: Implied. It takes to being renamed “Basket” because it likes baskets. Babies can be found in baskets and they’re its favorite.
• Familiar: A unique quasit familiar with its own personality and quirks, which can be obtained via a scroll at Ilyn Toth's hidden workshop. If the scroll is learned by a wizard (such as Gale), it can become the permanent quasit familiar to the party. Addressing her as a warlock or sorcerer makes her summonable to them without a spell slot, and she remains their personal familiar even if their class is changed.
• The Imp: A near literal example since quasits are wicked, infernal creatures used as familiars by evil sorcerers (though it would likely object to being called an imp, given that actual imps are devils and quasits are demons, opposite sides of the Blood War). It relies on stealth and scaring its enemies in a fight as much as its claws, and despite its small size, it mouths off to its masters who are much bigger and stronger to it. The name of its summon even calls it a “Cheeky Quasit.”
• Laughably Evil: Shovel is literally made of evil, being a fiend, but their dialog about all the evil things they like to do is played entirely for comedy.
• Lazy Alias: It's implied Ilyn Toth called it "Shovel" because that what he saw it as, a shovel to dig up corpses for him.
• Invisibility: Like all Quasits, it can turn invisible at will.
• Permanently Missable Content: If the coffin holding its summoning scroll is smashed, the scroll won't appear on the ground and will be lost for good. Notable since a good chunk of the other coffins in the room hold undead who will happily smash every other coffin in the room trying to wake up their fellows should you happen to disturb any of them. So if you want Shovel, you better choose well when deciding which coffin to loot first.
• Third-Person Person: Constantly refers to itself in the third person.
• Villain Cred: It really respected its former master, the evil necromancer Ilyn Toth for how vile his actions were. It becomes disappointed if the player tells it they will not be doing any similar evil, the quasit calling its new master boring.

Us

Us

Voiced by: Clare Corbett

"Yes! You've come to save us from this place, from this place you'll free us!"

Race: Intellect Devourer

A minion of the mind flayers which you can encounter during your escape aboard the nautiloid.

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• A Form You Are Comfortable With: If saved from the mind flayer prison beneath Moonrise Towers and summoned to your party, they will project an illusion to passers-by disguising them as a cat, and only your closest followers will see their true form.
• Brain Monster: It is an intellect devourer, which is essentially a four-legged brain-like creature with claws and tendrils.
• Department of Redundancy Department: Its speech pattern is structured like this, usually consisting of two consecutive sentences that say the same thing in different ways.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: If asked why you were "forced" onto the nautiloid:
  Us: To know you. To love you. To give you our gift.
• Guest-Star Party Member: It serves as one for the nautiloid level. It can later be met and recruited again in Act 2, if they survived the Nautiloid escape.
• Power Limiter: You can choose to give it a minor lobotomy, weakening it. The only thing this does is end up giving you a weaker companion.
• Took a Level in Badass: When encountered on the nautiloid, Us can only claw at enemies (although they are somewhat tanky for the time, having more health than the level one characters). If it survives the nautiloid and is found again in Act 2 its health is higher and it now possesses reasonably impressive psionic attacks.
• Token Heroic Orc: Possibly due to the less than ideal nature of its (for lack of a better term) birth Us is not properly connected to the mind flayer mental network. As such, it is loyal to the player character over the ilithids (although how "heroic" this makes them is up to the player's behaviour).
• Vocal Dissonance: It has a sweet, rather childlike voice for a walking brain that you literally just pulled out of a corpse.
• Voice of the Legion: Not simultaneously, but its voice seems to change slightly from sentence to sentence, almost like it's voiced by multiple, similar-sounding children.

Grub

Grub

Voiced by: Sean Baker

Race: Beast

Yenna's pet cat, who joins her in the player's camp.

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• Best Friend: He mentions Yenna as this.
• Captain Obvious: If the player talks to him via a potion of Animal Speaking, he insists they talk to Yenna because he's "just a cat!"
• Hates Being Touched: Downplayed, but, if the player asks if they can pet him, he politely asks they do not.
• Killed Off for Real: Depending on who is taken by Orin in Act 3, it is possible for Grub to be killed and eaten.
• Speech Impediment: If he's spoken to after using a potion of Animal Speaking, he has a minor stutter when forming sentences.

Character-Specific Followers

Sceleritas Fel

Sceleritas Fel

Voiced by: Brian Bowles

A mysterious individual who exclusively appears on a Dark Urge playthrough. He appears before the player early in their quest, claiming to be their personal "butler" and encouraging them to give in to their Urge's murderous desires.

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• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: If you think you can spare Alfira or Quill by killing the Dark Urge before taking a Long Rest, we have some bad news for you. Sceleritas will murder Alfira/Quill in the Dark Urge's stead, partly to make the Dark Urge think they did the deed and in the hopes it will convince them to indulge in the Urge.
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: When asked what the worst thing the Dark Urge ever did was, he recounts, in a horrified tone, the time you were nice to a beggar.
• Bad Samaritan: He is essentially the devil on the Dark Urge's shoulder, encouraging them not just to indulge in their murderous impulses, but to revel in it. He’s implied to be an aspect of Bhaal himself.
• Bearer of Bad News: In Blood in Baldur's Gate, Sceleritas appears in front of the detective investigating the ongoing murders and hands him a letter written by his master, after which he proceeds to inform him he will suffer a most unpleasant death before disappearing.
• The Corrupter: Sceleritas constantly tempts the Dark Urge to not hold back on their desires, with said desire being the urge to brutally kill the nearest living creature. He's either very happy to see you following his advice or annoyed you're holding yourself back. To drive the point home, an official art piece shows him eagerly egging the Dark Urge on as they stand amidst a group of dead bodies.
• Disappointed in You:
  • If you successfully resist the Dark Urge throughout the game (or at least its worst moments), he voices his disappointment in his former master, warning them they have only a single chance to prove themselves lest Bhaal decide to rid himself of their existence.
  • If you disappoint Bhaal by losing your duel against Orin and being bailed out by your companions, Sceleritas will later announce that your Slayer form (if you had it) is now forfeit, and that Bhaal will eventually permanently erase Sceleritas as well thanks to your failure. He then spends the rest of the game sulking in camp about his impending doom.
  • If you don't show up to the duel in the first place, he'll accuse you of being a coward - not of Bhaal, which he's not ashamed to admit everyone in the cult is pants-shittingly afraid of, but of yourself, to the point that you gave up on your destiny. Then, as if you'd permanently fired him, he'll claim won't have books written about you... but if they do, to let them know that Sceleritas Fel died of a broken heart. And then Bhaal crushes him into a ball and he explodes.
• Foil: To Gorion from the previous games, acting as the mentor for the hero. Like Gorion, Sceleritas watched and mentored their charge for most of their life. While Gorion raised their Ward with virtue and kindness like providing them with a stable home, Sceleritas is actively encourging the Dark Urge to indulge in their desire for murder, and even influence them to kill their loved ones. Gorion directly intervened in a Bhaalist ritual to save their future Ward's life, adopted them and raised them as a hero. Meanwhile, Sceleritas was directly charged by Bhaal to ensure that the Dark Urge become a killer and a Chosen of the God of Murder. While Gorion dies early at the beginning of the game, his virtuous legacy, and the positive influence he leaves behind potentially succeeds in helping his Ward in conquering their Bhaalspawn nature. Sceleritas remains a dark presence throughout the game, either staying permanently after the Dark Urge reclaims their status as a Chosen or vanishes permanently after they defied their father.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Bhaal announces his presence to the Dark Urge by having blades explode from Sceleritas' body.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Sceleritas is very vocal about his approval about the Dark Urge's bloodlust, especially if you give in the Urge. Unsurprisingly, he's a servant of Bhaal and works for the Court of Murder, being zealous in his service toward the Dark Urge. The Noblestalk even gives the Dark Urge a brief glimpse of Sceleritas assisting during what was presumably their murder spree from fifteen years ago.
  Sceleritas: My, my. We will be reintroducing necrophilia to your schedule in no time.
• Meaningful Name: Sceleritas is latin for villainy.
• Minor Major Character: He has only two scenes in the Blood in Baldur's Gate prequel, but he's a major character and heavily tied to the Dark Urge's Mysterious Past.
• Nigh-Invulnerable: In the traditional sense, nothing can harm Sceleritas, not even being used as a mouthpiece for Bhaal, which involves being impaled from the inside out by numerous blades. The only thing that can kill him is becoming obsolete. If the Bhaalspawn members of his species are assigned to (the Dark Urge in his case) doesn't need them anymore (in your case by having Bhaal's influence forcibly evicted, or alternatively dismissing his services), they will die instantly by being compressed into a vaguely orb-like shape, before violently exploding into a shower of gore.
• Number Two: He claims to be a faithful servant of the Dark Urge and obeys their every whim. At least until they start rejecting their Bhaalspawn heritage and their psychotic urges.
• Obviously Evil: He has a sinister appearance, and he tells you to just give in to your baser instincts. He's the most trustworthy individual in the game, surely?
• Red Herring: Sceleritas shows up after the Dark Urge commits their first major indulgence (albeit unknowingly) and tempts them to not only indulge in them, but to revel and submerse themselves in their acts of carnage. This makes it seem as though he comes off as being The Corrupter who wants to turn the Dark Urge into a monster until you start getting hints that the Dark Urge was not a good person before they lost their memories. Blood in Baldur's Gate and consuming a Noblestalk reveals that Sceleritas is indeed the Dark Urge's butler, and assisted them in some of their more…disturbing kills.
• Shame If Something Happened: If, as a Dark Urge, you don't kill Isobel the first chance you get, Sceleritas will visit your camp and explicitly state that your Urge demands her blood. He then begins to hint at your Urge possibly getting out of control if you don't do as he says, which is proven correct as he'll switch targets to one of your own companions, or your Love Interest, if you refrain from killing Isobel. And this time, you have to clear multiple skill checks to resist the Urge as it tries to get you to kill one of your own loved ones.
• Shout-Out: Upon introducing himself as the Dark Urge's butler, the latter expresses confusion he has one, eliciting this response from Sceleritas:
  Sceleritas: One Hell of a butler, the most unprincipled servant you could hope for.
• Stupid Evil: Debatably it’s also Bhaal that categorizes as this, but if the Dark Urge doesn’t go through with killing Isobel, Sceleritas won't give a damn if you try justifying it with Pragmatic Villainy; if Bhaal wants something done, it gets done. This gets further driven home when as punishment, he demands that you kill your own Love Interest or highest-approval party member, something so transparently spiteful and against the Dark Urge's best interests that they can directly cite it as one of the reasons they're rejecting Bhaal in Act 3.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Y'know, if the equally-psychopathic parent approved of an increasingly toxic childhood friend. Sceleritas was always helping The Dark Urge with their worst murders and cheering on their groundbreaking forms of murder art. Some fans have theorized that the real reason The Dark Urge could always find their way back to a path that would make most spree-killers cringe in horror was because Sceleritas was the one friend who would never see them as a tool or run in pants-wetting terror of the real Urge, in the same way that Orin was fanatically devoted to her craft because it appeared to earn her praise from her 'beloved' grandfather Sarevok. Conversely, when The Dark Urge loses all memory of their friendship and manages to find friends who can accept who they are without being completely insane, it puts them on a potential path to redemption, and Sceleritas feels increasing amounts of rejection and shame from this shift in their life-long blood brother.
• Undying Loyalty: Sceleritas is in the service of the Court of Murder, specifically Orin and the Dark Urge and serves them faithfully, though he's especially zealous in his efforts with the Dark Urge and assisted them in some of their more grisly murders. His loyalty to the Dark Urge post-amnesia will cease if the latter resists and refuses to indulge in the Urge and goes back to serving Orin and the Court, though not before telling the Dark Urge they have one more chance to prove themselves. It’s implied that the reason Sceleritas is so loyal is because Bhaal is terrified that yet another of his kids will turn against him. Thus he created an avatar of himself to be the person ensuring the Dark Urge stays in Bhaal’s thrall.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: An In-Universe example. A morally-good Dark Urge frustrates Sceleritas and disappoints him, seeing as how his former master was a serial killer who left behind a bloody trail of bodies in their way from fifteen years ago. His attempts to corrupt you are mostly an attempt to "revive" the Dark Urge's Ax-Crazy self and nudge them back into becoming Bhaal's Dark Messiah.
• You Will Be Spared: If the Dark Urge embraces their Bhaalspawn heritage, they can later ask Sceleritas if embracing Bhaal will require them to murder their beloved. Sceleritas assures them that won't be necessary, if only to ensure the Dark Urge has a viable mate to sire more Bhaalspawn with. It turns out to be a case of Exact Words come the Sins of the Father ending, where your Love Interest will survive, but unless they're Minthara or Ascended Astarion they get brainwashed, and the Dark Urge has no problem with that.

Quill Grootslang

Quill Grootslang

Voiced by: Jodie Steele (speaking), Ben Arnold (throat singing)

Race: Dragonborn

An enthusiastic but unlucky young silver dragonborn bard with dreams of becoming a published author in Baldur's Gate and just wants to stay one night by your camp. She only appears in a Dark Urge playthrough, and only if Alfira is dead or was knocked out by you.

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• Cosmic Plaything: Been robbed more than once. Been robbed just before meeting you (which included losing her pants). Gets horribly murdered by you.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: If Alfira isn't there, Quill will be disemboweled in her place.
• Developer's Foresight: Go out of your way to keep Alfira from coming to your camp? Guess who comes along instead?
• Dreadful Musician: Dragonborn throat songs are... an acquired taste if your character's reaction to them is any indication. At least she does warn you.
• Hope Spot: After getting robbed by goblins, she finds a camp that may seemingly be willing to let her stay the night and let her get on her way to Baldur's Gate. Unfortunately, that camp has The Dark Urge in it.
• Kill the Cutie: She's a very nice young lady, and she will be horribly murdered if you encounter her.
• Meaningful Rename: She cast aside her clan name after she abandoned her old life and named herself after a long-dead poet.
• Runaway Fiancé: She had an arranged marriage but did not like the prospect of not marrying someone for love.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Alfira. She even shares the same stats and has Hellish Resistance like Alfira.
• Vocal Dissonance: Her throat singing is much deeper than her normal voice.

Mizora

Mizora

Voiced by: Tamaryn Payne

Race: Cambion

A powerful cambion who made an infernal pact with Wyll, granting him his warlock powers. She is also an agent of the archdevil Zariel.

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• Badass in Distress: She's a powerful Cambion, but ends up getting captured by the shadows of the Shadow-Cursed Land while scouting the place, and ends up imprisoned by the Cult of The Absolute, where she'll need to be rescued by the party.
• Card-Carrying Villain: She's quite open about being an evil, manipulative devil whose job is to make Wyll's life more miserable.
• The Corrupter: To Wyll, of course. This is pretty much her job description, in general.
• Deal with the Devil: She tempted Wyll into making one in a moment of desperation, and has been forcing him to hunt down her enemies as his patron ever since. His personal quest involves finding a way out of her control. He can succeed and even save his father despite her interruption, but she makes it clear she'll try to go after the Duke in the future.
• Did You Just Romance Cthulhu?: She may invite the Player Character to an infernal tryst with her, which involves a taste of all nine circles of the Hells, complete with narrated descriptions that sound like a Slaaneshi cultist's wet dreams. Needless to say that agreeing to this is not the brightest of ideas for any number of reasons, general companion disapproval being the least of them.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Her scant appearances in Early Access saw her as much more of a generic seductive demon, including concept art of Wyll having her clinging to him and licking his face, something you can still see in the game during loading screens. She is changed to a much more classical devil taskmaster archetype in the game, if a flirty and petty one, likely due to how more traditional succubi have always been demons in D&D^note though they are more general fiends in 5th Edition, which this game is based on. She was also mysteriously missing in Early Access, having been captured along with Wyll in the Nautilid and later taken to Moonrise Towers, with Wyll being motivated by a desire to find her and break off his pact, whereas in the game she's encountered later in Act 1 and early in Act 2 to give Wyll new tasks, though it is eventually revealed in Act 2 that the diabolic asset that she sent Wyll to rescue was in fact her, with her earlier appearances having actually been astral projections. In Early Access, she also had a human form that is notably absent in the final product.
• Evil Is Petty: She seems capable of being a competent and professional Rules Lawyer devil when she wants to be, but she enjoys messing and talking down to people too much to act like one, even though that gets her nothing in return and actively makes people trust her less.
• Evil Redhead: She's an evil cambion with bright red hair, in both human and diabolic forms.
• Faux Affably Evil: She has an affable and almost polite attitude when interacting with the party, but her condescension and Sugary Malice tone make it obvious that it's all a mockery and she occasionally drops the attitude when she gets frustrated.
• Foil: Like Halsin, she can offer the player character a no-strings-attached sexual encounter. Unlike Halsin, who is an Ethical Slut to the core, Mizora couldn't care less about whether the player character is already in a relationship or about any of the fallout that might ensue.
• Foreshadowing: When she approaches the party to task Wyll with rescuing one of Zariel's assets from the Cult of the Absolute, she doesn't appear in person but through an astral projection. The player that passes an Insight check can also detect a sense of desperation from the normally haughty cambion, which they can then leverage against her. Both instances hint that Mizora herself is the asset.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Once she decides to ally with the party, she will insert herself into the camp, despite the fact that nobody wants her around. Even the evil party members aren't fond of her haughty, condescending attitude.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She's part of Zariel's inner circle, but was envious of Karlach for being Zariel's favorite, despite her seemingly unimportance. When Karlach escaped and her death was ordered, Mizora was all too eager to take the job.
• Hot as Hell: She's an attractive female cambion who enjoys acting like a seductress.
• Human-Demon Hybrid: She's a cambion, born from a human mother and a devil father.
• Humiliation Conga: It depends on player actions but the latter half of the game can turn into a real bad time for her. First she gets captured and imprisoned by the Cult of the Absolute (this part happens automatically). Then, once freed, she will try to get Wyll to sell his soul to get the location to rescue his father and can be rejected, leaving her with only the consolation prize of revenge, in that that Wyll's father will die. Then even that consolation prize can be taken away if the PC and Wyll find and rescue Duke Ravengard anyway, leaving Mizora's dealings with Wyll a complete failure for her. To top it off if Wyll decides to become the Blade of Avernus he makes hunting and killing Mizora his top priority, meaning she's very likely to die in the near future.
• Jerkass: Immensely so. She relishes in the power she has over Wyll and loves reminding him just how much he’s doomed himself with his pact.
• Karma Houdini: Unfortunately for the player, she can’t really be killed or punished outside of killing her when she’s captured in Act 2, which also kills Wyll. The worst thing that can happen to her is she’s forced to break Wyll’s pact and the party rescues Duke Ravengard anyway, but even then she brushes it off and makes it clear she’ll keep hassling Wyll’s family in the future. You can’t even eject her from the camp when she sticks around. She refuses when you order her to and can’t be killed because of Zariel’s protection.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Being a devil and thus devoid of traditional morals, she comes across as petty and sneering in her dealings with him and gleefully subjects him to a variety of awful choices... but a Tav/Durge with a high Insight and Arcana saving throw can realize that Mizora's punishments are downright tame compared to other what other demonic Patrons do to their unruly charges, so she's fond of Wyll on some level. Even the punishment of being transformed into a Lemure for failing to save her (or outright killing her) in the Mind Flayer colony reflects this, as Wyll is technically still alive and could theoretically be reverted some day.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • How she punishes Wyll for not killing Karlach on the grounds of breaching their contract. When Wyll protests and states his job is to kill devils, which Karlach is very much not, Mizora cites a clause that states what he is to kill, which includes the infernal, the abyssal, and the heartless — and then points out that Karlach falls under the last category^note Karlach is a nice and moral girl, but is literally heartless, as in her heart has been replaced with magical machinery. While it's obvious to anyone she's punishing Wyll out of spite as Karlach is Zariel's favorite and hates her guts because of it, she uses the loophole to put Wyll through a Forced Transformation that makes him look something close to a tiefling.
  • When saved from the mind flayer colony under Moonrise Towers in Act 2, she agrees to sever her pact with Wyll as agreed to for helping her… but nobody ever told her it had to happen right then, so she agrees to end the contract in six months, as per her terms written in the contract itself.
• Magical Barefooter: Despite how opulent her dress is, it keeps her feet bare, hinting at her magical nature.
• Manipulative Bitch: Befiting her half-devil nature, she's quite manipulative, having managed to tempt Wyll into making a warlock pact with her before he really knew what he was getting into. She often tricks him into doing what she wants by omitting information or using Exact Words, such as having him hunt down Karlach by making him believe she's a terrible person and not a slave soldier of Zariel.
• Mean Boss: She's hardly a benevolent patron to Wyll, as she enjoys belittling him and using tricks and manipulation in order to have him to her dirty work.
• Mouth of Sauron: She's one of Zariel's favored servants and acts as the liaison between Zariel and the party.
• Moving the Goalposts: She loves pulling this on Wyll, changing the terms of release of his contract by stating a previously unknown clause that she gleefully recites every time.
• Ms. Fanservice: She's an attractive Hot as Hell devil who wears a revealing dress with Navel-Deep Neckline and slits at the sides and she has a unique Optional Sexual Encounter in Act 3.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her dress has a neckline that plunges all the way down to her navel.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: She sticks around the camp and will even help with the fight against the Absolute, but only because they kidnapped her in Act 2 and she can’t take that kind of insult lying down.
• Out-Gambitted: In Act 3, Mizora will offer Wyll to either break his pact now, or renew it eternally, in exchange for Mizora's help in rescuing his father. It is possible to break the pact and rescue Wyll's father (though difficult, and this may come at the expense of other prisoners the player may wish to rescue and requires one to know where the Duke is being held or accidently wander into the concealed entrance). Should the player succeed, Mizora will concede you made a mockery of her.
• Pet the Dog: She can be seen in the background cheering for the heroes just before the final battle with the Netherbrain and will willingly lend you her aid as a summon, though the latter is obviously motivated by Pragmatic Villainy given the threat the Netherbrain poses.
• Pragmatic Villainy: She's an antagonist evil devil who's heavily involved in Wyll and Karlach's pasts, but will still ally with the party since she considers the Cult Of The Absolute to be a bigger threat. She'll drop trying to assassinate Karlach after trying once, although she will resist any attempt at trying to break her contract with Wyll.
• Rules Lawyer: She loves to dig out clauses in Wyll's contract to keep him on her leash.
• Sadistic Choice: Forces one on Wyll in Act 3. He can bind his soul to her for eternity in exchange for his father's life or break the pact and ensure his father dies. The player can Take a Third Option and rescue the Duke even with Mizora attempting to stop them, but even then she makes it clear she plans to go after the Duke in the future since breaking the pact assures that the Duke shall fall "at the hands of an enemy".
• Serial Homewrecker: She will try to seduce the player regardless of whether they are in another relationship or not, and will be delighted when the affair is exposed, gleefully rubbing it on the face of the player's lover, sometimes with a Better Partner Assertion line.
• Sex Goddess: She thinks very highly of her sexual prowess, and her Optional Sexual Encounter is indeed described as incredibly satisfying, with her using her magic to transport you to realms of hell associated with carnal pleasure. She even acts as if sleeping with the player only once is a punishment.
• Small Name, Big Ego: She always acts like she's a highly manipulative devil, when she's actually a cambion, the lowest ranking fiend on the demonic totem pole. Her smugness easily goes away whenever her plans go awry in even the slightest manner such as when it's revealed that she's been captured by the Cult, where she starts begging to be released, only to return to the smug attitude when she's released.
• Smug Snake: While she absolutely revels in watching Wyll squirm as she tasks him with rescuing an important devil from the clutches of the Absolute, a perception check will reveal she's desperate enough for Wyll to succeed that she'll agree to break his pact as a reward. When it is revealed that she is the devil that needs rescuing, she drops the act and angrily demand the party free her... and then upon being freed, proceeds to smugly exploit a loophole in Wyll's pact that will keep him in her service for several months before it can be broken. Even if the player goes along with her whims, it's clear she derides much of her power from being able to torment Wyll, and any time something throws a wrench into it, she's quick to get angry or spiteful.
• Story-Driven Invulnerability: Mizora is unkillable due to her unique trait "Zariel's Protection" which reduces any damage done to her to 0. In-Universe, she's just warping back to hell the moment you attacked her and will pop back soon after. The only time she can be killed is when she's trapped in the Mindflayer's Pod in Act 2, though killing her at that point will also kill Wyll.
• Stripperiffic: Fitting for her Hot as Hell status, her dress is very revealing, having a Navel-Deep Neckline and slits on both sides.
• Sugary Malice: She often speaks with people with a condescending mock-polite tone filled with Terms of Endangerment.
• The Tease: Wyll claims she often acts coy and flirtatious with him, though it only seems to make him more nervous and afraid of her, as he's fully aware she's doing it to manipulate and mess with him, and she will indeed try to seduce the player character in Act 3.
  Wyll: Mizora would come after battle. Kiss my neck, touch me just so. Dangle just one more promise over my head. A game with no winner and no end.
• Uncertain Doom: If Wyll becomes the Blade of Avernus, he states Mizora will be the first devil he hunts down. Whether he succeeds is unknown, especially since this scenario would entail him losing his warlock powers.
• The Unfought: Despite being a personal antagonist to both Wyll and Karlach, there's no climactic confrontation with Mizora and she can never be attacked. She can be killed in Act 2 via the Mindflayer Pod, but that doesn't require a fight and it causes Wyll to die.
• Ungrateful Bastard: When you free her from the mind flayer pod, a situation where she could have been killed or transformed very easily, rather than let Wyll out of his contract like you potentially agreed, she smugly exploits a loophole to keep him for at least half a year longer and disappears without so much as an acknowledgment that you saved her. The only "thanks" you can get is if Wyll is brought along, and certain choices are picked to hand over a weapon for Wyll.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: She appears in her full devil form right outside Gortash’s coronation. No one gives her a second glance.
• Vapor Wear: The amount of Sideboob exposed by the plunging neckline of her dress makes it clear she's not wearing a bra.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: The player can cheat on their partner with Mizora. If the partner is Wyll or Karlach, there's an extra dose of cruelty given their past histories with her. And unlike with Halsin, who is respectful and absolutely scrupulous about the player's partner when making his proposition, Mizora delights in throwing it in the partner's face when discovered.

Oathbreaker Knight

Oathbreaker Knight

Voiced by: Gordon Cooper

Race: Undead

Class: Paladin (Oathbreaker)

A mysterious undead knight that appears before a paladin should they break their oath.

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• Adaptational Heroism: In the tabletop game Oathbreakers must always be evil, a Paladin only becomes an Oathbreaker if they break their oath to commit evil acts. A Paladin who breaks an evil oath to serve good does not become an Oathbreaker, unlike in this game.
• The Atoner: He was an Oath of Conquest paladin before he was an Oathbreaker, renouncing the path of cruel brutality to guide others having doubts.
• Bad Powers, Good People: He's an Oathbreaker, a paladin who draws power from his willing abandonment of his oaths...and said oath was him being a Noble Top Enforcer to an Evil Overlord who finally stood up for himself and his morality.
• Black Knight: He fits one to a tee. An undead warrior, he once served a brutal lord and committed numerous bloody deeds in his name before finally snapping, breaking his oaths.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Surprising, given the Oathbreaker subclass's history in the tabletop game. The Knight is also a believer of this regarding the powers gained as an Oathbreaker, and says as such when you choose to walk that path.
  Oathbreaker Knight: Though born of a vile source, these powers can be used for good or ill.
• Defector from Decadence: If you ask him about his past, he reveals that he once served a noble lord and fought for him without question. When the Knight finally realized what he had done, he confronted his lord and broke his oath by slaying his lord.
• Forgotten First Meeting: The Oathbreaker Knight and a paladin Dark Urge have met before, though the latter obviously does not remember them meeting because of their amnesia.
• The Oathbreaker: He committed several atrocities in the name of the nobleman he was sworn to. Once he finally hit his limit, he killed his liege.
• Secret-Keeper: Like Withers, he knows the Dark Urge is a Bhaalspawn^note Though only if the Dark Urge is a paladin. He likely chose not to reveal this information for the same reason as Withers, believing it was not his place.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: He encourages a Dark Urge paladin to keep themselves to their oath no matter how many times they may break it.
• We Will Meet Again: Done heroically with a Dark Urge paladin. The Dark Urge paladin has broken their oath before, and will break again in the future due to their nature as a Bhaalspawn. And he will be there each and every time to help the Dark Urge.

Elminster Aumar

Elminster Aumar

The Sage of Shadowdale

Race: Human

Class: Wizard

Voiced By: Frank Welker (BG1), Jeff Bennett (Throne of Bhaal), Crispin Redman (BG3)

Arguably the most powerful and famous wizard in all of Faerûn, Elminster has a millennia-long career of saving the Realms or helping other heroes do it. He is also Mystra's favored Chosen and a friend of Gale.

For tropes about Elminster as it pertains to the campaign setting, see here.

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• Absent-Minded Professor: He tends to go off on tangents both times you talk to him, forcing either you or Gale to get him back on track to the matter in hand.
• Actually a Doombot: The two times you meet him, it's actually a simulacrum he's made. He's not anywhere near Baldur's Gate at the moment, which of course means he's not available to help with the Absolute.
• The Archmage: One of the setting's most powerful mages, and certainly the most famous, Elminster appears as a personal envoy of the goddess Mystra to deliver a message to Gale. Notably, he's level 20 (the traditional max level in DnD), almost twice the max level of most every other character in the game at level 12. Furthermore, his passive features include the 10th level wizard features of both the Conjuration and the Evocation subclasses, something truly impossible for a player.
• Bearer of Bad News: Mystra charged him to deliver her request to Gale that he use the orb to detonate himself and the Absolute. He's not super thrilled about it as he does care for Gale.
• Big Eater: His appetite is as prodigious as his talents for magic. He introduces himself asking to accompany the player to their camp so that he can have something to eat before talking with Gale, and if sent ahead to the camp, Gale will bitterly bemoan that most of their provisions will likely be gone by the time they return.
• Continuity Cameo: Elminster continues his streak of dropping by once or twice in every Baldur's Gate game for brief but important moments.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In response to Elminster's news that Mystra has ordered Gale to embark on a suicide mission, the player can potentially make a mean-spirited joke that it's no great loss. Elminster will be extremely pissed off and call the player out for making such a cruel joke.
• My Rules Are Not Your Rules: He has the 10th level wizard features of both the Conjuration and the Evocation subclasses, something truly impossible for a player.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He appears as a rambling old man obsessed with food when you meet him. Gale will note that it's mostly an act (at least the rambling old man part - he really does love food).
• Pungeon Master: Unleashes a score of food based puns after receiving Gales hospitality in camp, forcing Gale to have to remind the centuries old wizard of the point of his visit.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers a written one to Gale in the epilogue, if he ascends to godhood. It even comes with an Implied Death Threat.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: He takes quite some time to get to the point, even while promising not to.
  Elminster: I'll speak as plainly as I can, forswearing the accustomed frills that decorate my speech.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: He could probably resolve the Absolute situation on his own, or at least make it a whole lot easier on you by supporting you directly, but this would skip pretty much the entire game as is, so of course he's currently unable to do either.
• Wizard Classic: Elminster always plays the trope to some degree depending on the artist, but his appearance in the game goes all in on this trope, giving him his pointed hat (and bearing quite a resemblance to a graphically superior version of his sprite from the first two games◊).

Tara

Tara the Tressym

Race: Tressym

Voiced By: Rena Valeh

Gale's former familiar, Tara is a Tressym, a race of sentient magical, winged cats. She only joins the camp if Gale is the player's avatar. Otherwise, she will appear as a vendor in Act 3.

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• The Confidant: She's this to Gale, filling the role Tav or another player character would have with him when Gale is the player character.
• Disproportionate Retribution: If the player harasses or tries to steal from her on the rooftops in Act 3, she will blink away and launch a fireball at the party.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Tara can show some surprising Jerkass tendencies towards Gale's love interest. She is, however, at least self-aware enough to admit she really doesn't like feeling replaced, but that she'll get over it.
• Mistaken for Romance: When Gale first mentions her to the player, he doesn't make it clear she's a familiar and a Tressym, which can lead the player to assume Gale is talking about a former lover.
• Last-Name Basis: Always refers to Gale as "Mr. Dekarios".
• Odd Friendship: The epilogue reveals that she and Gale's mother have regular luncheons with Withers.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the epilogue, she calls Gale "Gale" instead of "Mr. Dekarios" if he becomes a god to show her lack of respect for the path he chose.
• Practical Currency: Tara will accept fish in exchange for items in Act 3.
• Undying Loyalty: Gale lost all of his friends (what few he had) after his affliction with the orb. Tara, however, stuck by him, helped figure out the treatment, and went about securing artifacts to feed him.

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