Characters / Baldur's Gate III: Origin Characters

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

Origin-Only Characters

In General

• Anti-Hero: A potential way to play both Tav and Dark Urge. Given the sheer amount of dialogue options in the game, it's possible to play as any sort of grey character the player chooses, ranging from heroic Jerkass who does good deeds while casually insulting everyone they meet to a Nominal Hero who does horrible things to get what they want (up to and including killing children). Githyanki, drow, duergar, and half-orc characters are particularly susceptible to this, as they tend to get harsher dialogue options than other races.
• Beyond the Impossible: Both Tav and the Dark Urge can become mind flayers in place of Orpheus since a mind flayer is needed to deal with the Netherbrain. Ordinarily, the process of becoming a mind flayer results in the destruction of a person's soul and the mind flayer's characteristics are the result of the tadpole perfectly imitating its original host's behavior. If the Player Character opts to commit suicide in the game's ending, however, Withers is surprised to see them in the afterlife, implying that the Dark Urge/Tav are one of the are few, if not the only mind flayer that's managed to keep their soul.
• Character Customization: An original character's appearance, gender, class, skills, voice, and background can all be freely edited. The Dark Urge has most of the same customization options, except for their unique background.
• Charm Person: Besides being able to select the Trope Namer as a spellcaster, you can sometimes use the tadpole in dialogue to impose your will on someone else.
• Chick Magnet: They are basically the most eligible bachelor/ette in all of Farun, capable of making eight of their possible ten companions fall madly in love with them. Not to mention catching the eyes of several NPCs, some of which they can additionally sleep with.
• Cloudcuckoolander: There are some... Interesting dialogue options available.
  • While exploring the Blighted Village, you'll notice someone moaning and screaming in one of the barns. Despite both the narrator and your companions assuring you that this is a couple hooking up, you can let yourself in. When said couple angrily demands why, you can say you were just wondering if anyone was there.
  • When trying to enter the Goblin Fort, one of the sentries may command you to smear dung on your face as "war paint". You can ask if he has any design suggestions and then do it, to his delight and pretty much everyone else's disgust.
  • In Moonrise Towers, they can find a spot in the wall above the kitchen where the mindflayer colony below is seeping through a crack in the brick. They have the option to stick their hand through the crack not just once, but TWICE, much to their companions' dismay.
  • In Shar's Gauntlet, they can find a spider carcass which they can quite bafflingly decide to eat, causing each companion to voice their utter bewilderment at the decision.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Charname from the original duology to varying degrees.
  • Unlike Gorion's Ward, Tav has no backstory to speak of beyond some bits of dialogue choices that relate to their place of birth. They also have no connection to Bhaal, much less any of the other gods beyond being a potential worshipper as a cleric.
  • While (a good-aligned) Charname was able to by and large resist Bhaal's influence, never suffering much more than vivid nightmares, the Dark Urge is far more at their father's mercy: Not only must they actively resist the Urge if they wish to remain good, doing so becomes increasingly difficult as the game goes on and their body practically shrieks at them to murder something already. What's more, the Dark Urge was a prolific serial killer who terrorized Baldur's Gate fifteen years before the events of the game, while Charname started out as just a squire in Candlekeep. Furthermore, Charname was meant to be just another of many sacrifices to fuel Bhaal's resurrection whereas Orin claims Bhaal actually loved the Dark Urge. To really top off the contrast, Charname is a 'normal' Bhaalspawn born from Bhaal and a mortal mother. The Dark Urge was created by Bhaal alone using the latter's divine blood, making them the game series' equivalent to an Artificial Human (or whatever race the player makes them).
• Cursed with Awesome: The mind flayer tadpole grants a wide variety of useful powers, including mind-reading, psychic domination, some seriously powerful telekinesis, and even the ability to shapeshift into a displacer beast. You can choose how much you want you or your teammates to give in to it, but there is a very real risk of giving in too much. And of course, there's the danger that if you don't get the damned thing out it might turn you into a mind flayer yourself, which can make your teammates harder to convince.
• Dark Is Not Evil: It's entirely possible for Tav or the Dark Urge to be a warlock, a Necromancer or a cleric to an evil god like Gruumsh or Lolth, but still behave in a kind, generous and benevolent manner. The latter takes this up to eleven with The Reveal in Act III.
• Deadpan Snarker: There are plenty of snarky dialogue options available, both for yourself and others. For example, a half-elf Tav can quip that people will think they and Shadowheart are cousins when they meet.
• Double Agent: A possible solution to the "Druid Grove" questline: Give Minthara the location of the druid grove, run back, warn the refugees she's coming, and lure Minthara into an ambush.
• Eye Scream: There are a few potential cases, though playing as Wyll limits some as he's already missing one by the story's start:
  • The opening cutscene shows a mind flayer tadpole crawling into Lae'zel's eye. The player then gets to experience it for themselves from first-person perspective as whoever they chose.
  • Depending on how you handle Auntie Ethel the hag, you might be subjected to this. If nothing else, she'll let you pick which eye gets plucked.
  • Volo, in an attempt to free you from your tadpole, can also subject you to this... At least he's nice enough to replace the eye with one that gives you permanent See Invisibility.
• Fantastic Racism: Depending on your race, you're either on the giving or receiving end. A githyanki character, like other members of their kind, can express nothing short of disgust toward other races for being "lesser". In reverse, both a githyanki and Underdark PC get this from everybody else, albeit to varying degrees. Githyanki have a reputation for being xenophobic whereas druager and drow who live in the Underdark and/or are sworn to Lolth the spider goddess are near-universally despised and feared. If you play as either race, don't expect to get a warm welcome.
• Fetish: If Tav or Durge get their feet kissed by Crusher at the Goblin Camp, and talk to one of the nearby trackers afterward, she'll ask how it felt to have their feet kissed. Tav's options are to *Groan in delight*, say "It kind of felt nice," or "I'm turned on just by thinking about it." Hilariously, this is one of the few likely things to be canon about Tav/Durge.
• Friend to All Living Things: Investing in "Animal Handling" — the measure of how well you can tame and get along with animals — makes you this. It's also possible to adopt a dog and an owlbear cub.
• Fur Is Skin: Dragonborn characters, while humanoid, have scales and leathery skin, which is to be expected from a race with ties to dragons. On a downplayed note, playing as a sorcerer with draconic heritage of any race other than dragonborn while have your character sporting scales on their face.
• Girls with Moustaches: The character creator lets you give facial hair to female characters of any race (except elves, who generally can't grow beards, and Dragonborn, who don't have hair). There is a precedent for this for female dwarves at least, even if there haven't been any explicit references to dwarf women having beards since 2nd Edition D&D.
• Good Is Not Nice: Any character can be seriously abrasive and unpleasant in dialogue. Even a Paladin Tav can get away with a lot without crossing into Oathbreaker territory, such as chewing out cowards or unnatural sapient forces.
• Half-Human Hybrid: The D&D classics half-elves and half-orcs are available for character creation along with the tiefling (part fiend) option.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: A custom protagonist's name defaults to "Tav" or "The Dark Urge", respectively, but the player can change it.
• Heroes Love Dogs: It's possible to adopt a dog named Scratch after his previous owner dies.
• Jack of All Trades: Downplayed. Thanks to the game's multi-class system, it's possible for you to dip your feet across all classes, giving you access to a wide variety of abilities. The reason it's downplayed is that you will have only a single level across all classes, meaning you'll only have the absolute basic of spells at your disposal as well as losing access to sub-classes due to the aforementioned low levels.
• Jerkass: Tav can be played as a pretty bad person who only helps others for their own gain, treats their companions horribly, and even potentially coerces Astarion into sex right after he opens up about never having the freedom to say "No" to things he doesn't want to do before, and how he'd rather not be viewed as a sex object by anyone. In some instances, the player can be punished for their poor treatment of others.
• Kick the Dog: Some of what you can do or say is just pointlessly mean.
  • You can steal or smash Alfira's lute to "set her straight". Not especially heinous but certainly a pointlessly dickish thing to do.
  • You can tell Mayrina you have a wand that will revive her dead husband, and then break it in half in front of her for no other reason than to be a dick.
  • If you can get Astarion to admit that he has nightmares of being stuck with Cazador again, you can poke fun at him for apparently lusting after him and he will completely blow his stack at you.
• The Leader: If you pick a Custom Origin or the Dark Urge, otherwise this role falls to whichever companion you pick to be the Player Character. You're essentially the one the others leave to the decision-making, though whether they'll follow you wholly depends on their approval. In one camp event, Shadowheart even calls you the "leader of the pack".
• Mind over Matter: After a certain point in the story you unlock a mind flayer skill tree where you can earn special abilities by consuming mind flayer tadpoles found on dead Absolute cultists and in the overworld. These abilities range from telekenetically pushing foes away and dealing psychic damage in various ways to changing into a displacer beast or making a field that allows you to use bonus actions in place of actions and vice-versa. These abilities can be used once per turn or once per short or long rest depending on the ability.
• Mind Probe: The tadpole and/or the "Detect Thoughts" spell lets you probe the minds of allies and enemies alike in dialogue.
• The Mole:
  • You can play as one during the "Druid Grove" questline if you ally with Minthara. She orders you to infiltrate the grove, learn their defenses, and then lead the charge when they attack. However, it's possible to agree to do this, go back to the grove, warn the refugees that she's coming, and lure Minthara's forces into an ambush.
  • You basically serve as this to the Harpers against the Cult of the Absolute in Act 2. Your illithid tadpole marks you as a true soul, which automatically places you high up the cult's social ladder, but at the same time you aren't under the Absolute's control (which they don't know), which means you can come and go from most of the cult's hideouts unbothered.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: You can pick the bulky body type during character creation, but this has no effect on your character's Strength score.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Outside of co-op, it's impossible for Tav and the Dark Urge to be in the same party; in a Tav playthrough the Dark Urge makes no appearance due to being a decorative corpse in Orin's bedroom, whereas Tav is absent in a Dark Urge playthrough. It's possible that Tav is dead in the latter playthrough because the Dark Urge killed them, if you subscribe to the theory the Tav in the game and the Tav in Blood in Baldur's Gate are the same character. Conversely, if you choose any of the six Origin companions as your avatar, neither will appear as the Dark Urge is still very much dead and Tav is nowhere to be found, also possibly dead.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • If you choose to sacrifice the refugees to the Absolute with the goblins, you can express regret and guilt in the aftermath.
  • In a more humorous example, if you successfully crush a hostless tadpole, the narration will note that the one in your head is filled with "extreme regret."
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: As Tav and the Dark Urge's personalities are shaped by the player, it's possible for this to come into effect depending on what race you play as, especially for races with less than stellar reputations in the Forgotten Realms like the githyanki. A gith character who shows contempt or refuses to adhere to their kind's culture will more than likely butt heads with other gith characters, especially Lae'zel.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Doing certain actions will cause your party members to say "Screw This, I'm Outta Here" and leave your party.
  • In the Act 1 Emerald Grove questline, if you lead the charge against the refugees, Karlach will be so disgusted that she'll leave your party. Wyll not only also leaves your party if you do this, but becomes an enemy you have to fight during the event.
  • If Act 2, should you kill Mizora, Wyll will be dragged into Avernus with her and suffer a Fate Worse than Death as a tortured lemure forever. Not only is this a horrific fate for someone as noble as Wyll, but it will drive Karlach to leave your party as well out of despair.
  • In Act 3, if the player allows Balthazar to capture the Nightsong, Shadowheart will leave your party since she has been tasked with killing the Nightsong by Shar.
  • It's possible to have Gale leave your party if you don't keep giving him magic items. Instead, he makes a Deal with the Devil in the form of Raphael.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: After the Nautiloid crashes, your character can find the mind flayer who captured them dying from its injuries. Should they resist its mind probe, they can then stomp its head into custard... Or just walk away and leave it to bleed out. Either way, it dies.
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: A custom character's gender is segmented into four parts: Body type (generally one feminine and one masculine, though some races have have additional muscular feminine and -masculine builds), voice (equally split into four feminine and four masculine options), identity/pronouns (he/him, she/her, or they/them), and genitals (penis or vulva), all independent of one another and all equally aesthetic.
• Really Gets Around: Players can depict any of the origin characters as a promiscuous pervert, as the flexibility of relationships allows them to sleep with over ten people in just one playthrough. This includes a man who transforms into a bear, a couple of devils, and even a mind flayer.
• Refuge in Audacity: The sheer number of outlandish things you can get away with, up to and including verbally convincing enemies to just kill themselves for you, often fall square into this. Characters may even pull this on each other, such as when the opportunity to deface a picture of Vlaakith presents itself — Lae'zel will complain that you should've been above such an immature act but she doesn't actually disapprove of the action itself.
• Static Role, Exchangeable Character: The player has the same overarching role whether they create their own unique avatar or play as an Origin Character. Though, like Divinity: Original Sin 2, playing as an Origin character will unlock its own unique dialogue options and the character's personal questlines will instead become tied to you.
• Sticky Fingers: Given the game's mechanics, it's very likely they loot/steal basically anything not nailed down, as this is the easiest way to gain money to buy armor, food, and weapons. This was even directly invoked during a promotional DnD campaign played by the Origin Characters' voice actors, in which Tav is injured/incapacitated and the rest of the crew to rifle through their pockets full of random crap for anything useful.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Invoked. A githyanki or drow Tav can admit their surprise at Wyll's nonchalant reaction to their race, to which he jokes that he's sure you're a big softy under the scowling and scary reputation. You can play along and smile at him or keep glaring in response.
• Suddenly Voiced: Downplayed. Tav and the Dark Urge do speak in party banter, when it's their turn in combat, or when the player controls them, but otherwise they stay silent during cutscenes and dialogue. That said, there are certain cutscenes where they do speak, usually via rare circumstances^note Originally, Tav/The Dark Urge were going to be fully voiced like the other Origin characters, but Larian ultimately cut the majority of their dialogue. The closest you get to hear the Dark Urge talk in cutscenes is during their confrontation with Orin when she briefly assumes their form.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Most likely to come up with Shadowheart, if Tav is a cleric of Selûne or even just very devout in their worship of her. They can turn openly hostile towards her once they find out she worships Shar, and Shadowheart herself will mock their religion whether met with hostility or not. That said, the player character generally takes steps to subvert this, quick to remind everyone that they all have a common goal here, and fighting amongst themselves won't help anything. This is also prominent with Shadowheart if you play as a cleric or paladin of another deity, albeit to a lesser degree than if you were to worship Selûne, and even then, her disapproval only happens at neutral approval.
  • May also come up when playing as a bleeding heart good guy with Astarion in their party. He will frequently mock their decisions and complain about being roped into being a hero and them "spoiling" his fun, especially in Act 1, but follows them all the same because he needs protection both from his tadpole and Cazador. He even admits, when romanced in his Spawn ending, that he didn't much care for them when they met.
• The Leader: They are considered the team's leader by default, even when more experienced adventurers like Halsin and Jaheira join the group.
• Too Kinky to Torture: You can agree to let a priest of Loviatar — the goddess of pain — "cleanse" you, and yell at him during for going too easy on you.
• Villain Protagonist: It is possible to play both Tav and Dark Urge as remorseless assholes who consistently do horrible things to sympathetic characters for no real reason. The Dark Urge turns out to be this by default since they used to be a prolific serial killer who painted the streets of Baldur's Gate in viscera and blood fifteen years ago during Blood in Baldur's Gate, nevermind them being Bhaal's original Chosen and the one who stole the Crown of Karsus for the Dead Three.
• Vocal Dissonance: There are four masculine and four feminine voice options available for original characters. However, these are not gender-exclusive, so you can choose a very feminine voice while playing a male character and vice-versa.
• Voluntary Vampire Victim: They can choose to be one regularly for Astarion, both as a platonic friend or lover. Whether they are Hemo Erotic or simply doing so to keep their friend/lover strong and healthy is up to the player's roleplay choices—though the narration and Astarion's own observations about their reaction to his first bite suggests that the former is at least a little at play.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Conversations with Halsin may reveal that they have a crippling fear of krakens, an arguably irrational fear for someone who doesn't spend much — if any — time on the ocean.
• You Are a Credit to Your Race: Typically playing as races who are feared and/or despised by others such as a githyanki or a race found in the Underdark as morally good elicits this reaction from several characters. Zevlor and a few of the inhabitants at the Emerald Grove even express surprise that a Lolth-sworn drow would even want to help them and consider you an exception to your species' dark reputation or a Token Good Teammate.
• You Lose at Zero Trust: Play your cards wrong with your party members by getting their Relationship Values too low, and they'll promptly get sick of you and walk away. You do get a few warnings from them before they leave, including one where your lover will break up with you if you've romanced them. But once a party member has decided they're out, there's no talking them back in.
• You Will Be Spared: Of the non-fatal variety. If either Tav or the Dark Urge is in a relationship with an Ascended Astarion or Minthara, they will be the only ones not enthralled after they take control of the Netherbrain.

Custom Origin / "Tav"

Custom Origin / "Tav"

Voiced by: Josh Wichard (Voice 1), Lynsey Murrell (Voice 2), Ken Nwosu (Voice 3), Emerald O'Hanrahan (Voice 4), Neil Roberts (Voice 5), Muki Zubis (Voice 6), Pieter Lawman (Voice 7), Tina Barnes (Voice 8)

"Shouldn't have wished to live in more interesting times."

An unremarkable adventurer kidnapped by mind flayers and infected with one of their tadpoles at the beginning of the game. A stroke of fortune lets them escape their captors, but the tadpole in their head will still turn them into a mind flayer... Unless they can find a way to remove it.

An original character the player can make if they decided not to play as an Origin. Their default name is "Tav" — seemingly an abbreviation of "Tadpoled Adventurer", the role their voice actors are credited as playing — but it can be changed.

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• Ambiguous Situation: Shares the same name as the main character of the Blood in Baldur's Gate prequel module, though it's never made clear whether it's a coincidence or the same character. If they are, they've been Spared by the Adaptation, as they were brutally murdered by the Dark Urge after failing to catch him in the time he allowed them.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The PS5 version of the game will state during character creation that Tav always felt that they had a greater calling but it never bore fruit. Being kidnapped and infected with an illithid parasite was likely not what they had in mind.
• The Chosen Many: Tav is a dark example of this: They're one of possibly thousands with a strange, slow-developing illithid tadpole in their brain, which the fledgling Cult of the Absolute regards as a prophet of their god they call a "True Soul". A Villain Protagonist can embrace the position, which makes Cult loyalists far more respectful but can alienate other, more ethical/moral True Souls.
• Dark Is Not Evil: If you play as a Lolth-sworn drow, who are almost universally feared and despised for being Chaotic Evil. Wyll even surmises somewhat jokingly that Lolth-sworn drow Tav is, at worst, a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. This also goes for drows who worship other evil-aligned deities and a druager.
• Dull Surprise: One of the few major flaws is that unlike basically every other character in the game, Tav's face is largely locked in an expression of mild bemusement through most cutscenes regardless of what's happening.
• Foil: Most of this comes from your class and race in regards to your relationship and interaction with your party members.
  • Lae'zel acts like the stereotypical githyanki who earnestly and genuinely believes in her race's mission and ideals with a zealous devotion to Queen Vlaakith to boot. A moral Githyanki Tav, while rough around the edges, can be genuinely courteous and respectful toward other races while also expressing little to no admiration or inclination to serve Vlaakith, a trait that does not go unnoticed by other characters.
  • Shadowheart is a Cleric of Shar, a goddess of darkness and evil, yet despite her deity of worship she's one of the more kind-hearted Sharrans out there. She's later revealed to be a Selunite initiate who was brainwashed into becoming a Sharran priest. Depending on how you handle her personal quest, Shadowheart will either become a devout servant of Shar or turn away from her and become a cleric of Selune, Shar's sister and rival deity. A Lolth-sworn drow Tav of any class (and especially a paladin) can be either be just as much of a willing sycophant of their god as Shadowheart is or act as a Token Good Teammate who is otherwise a good person regardless of who their patron deity is despite Loth-sworn drows being feared and despised. In regards to their respective patrons, Shar has spent the majority of Shadowheart's life trying to mentally break her and is either pleased to see her become her champion or puts Shadowheart through a Sadistic Choice as a final act of spite if she converted to Selune. If a Lolth-sworn drow Tav engages in a ritual that's explicitly stated to be defamation toward their patron deity, they'll feel "a thousand spiders crawling down their backs", though ultimately it's Lolth telling Tav not to pull that crap again, which is surprisingly nice of her considering how she usually handles her worshippers pulling stunts like that.
• Meaningful Name: Tav seems to be derived from "Tadpoled Adventurer", the official name given to the character in the credits.
• Only Sane Man: By default, Tav doesn’t have the extreme backstories or hang-ups of the Origins, so they could very possibly be just a normal adventurer who got dragged into a complete Dysfunction Junction and now has to deal with their new allies’ weirdness.
• Spared by the Adaptation: Assuming this Tav is the same one from Blood in Baldur's Gate, they managed to survive the Dark Urge.
• Token Heroic Orc: It's possible to play Tav as such if played as a race that doesn't have a good reputation with others, particularly the githyanki who either Hates Everyone Equally at best or is xenophobia incarnate at worst or a drow, who are almost universally feared by other races.

The Dark Urge (All spoilers unmarked!)

The Dark Urge

Haunted One^*The Dark Urge's default look

Voiced by: Neil Roberts (Default) ^Default?As a custom character, The Dark Urge shares the same voice actors as the generic Custom Origin/Tav. However, the Dark Urge's introductory monologue (seen below) is voiced solely by Neil Roberts AKA Voice 5, and he is the default voice option selected during character creation.

"My rancid blood whispers to me: Kill, kill, and kill again. My ruined body yearns to reap death in this world, and when this foul Urge calls, it possesses my whole being. Injured beyond repair, I know nothing besides this: I must resist the Dark Urge, lest it consume my mind. I must discover who I was, and what happened to me. Before my twitching knife-hand writes a tragedy in blood."

Race: Dragonborn (Default)
Class: Sorcerer (Storm Sorcery) (Default)
Background: Haunted One
Place of Origin: Baldur's Gate

A mysterious, amnesiac individual who suffers from a violent 'Urge', which they can either indulge or resist. The Dark Urge is unique among the Origin Characters in many ways: Though they are canonically a male white dragonborn sorcerer, their race, appearance, gender, and class are all fully customizable; the only exception is their background, "Haunted One." They're also an avatar-only origin, and not available as a companion if not played as your main character.

For good reason.

Unlike other Origins, the Dark Urge has several more scenes and lines of dialogue exclusive to them, shining a new light on their bloody past in nearly every sequence of the game. Their personal story is deeply linked to the primary crusade against the Absolute, similar to the original Baldur's Gate duology. Even when they aren't selected as the main character, their presence can still be felt throughout the story.

This also makes it exceedingly difficult to talk about them without spoiling major reveals about their nature, history, and identity. Thus, all spoilers for the Dark Urge shall be unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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• Abusive Parents: Their only parent is Bhaal, the literal god of murder. If you refuse his whims, you are faced with truly horrific punishments, for example, if you refuse to kill Isobel, your punishment is that you are left hairs away from killing your lover, having to make a Wisdom saving throw to keep them alive. It’s not a leap to imagine the Dark Urge being put in other situations like this growing up, leading them to become what they were before the game.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: In Blood in Baldur's Gate, the Dark Urge is a male albino dragonborn. While the game proper uses this as their default appearance, the player can freely change their race and gender.
• Adaptational Heroism: They serve as the Big Bad of the prequel novel Blood in Baldur's Gate, terrorizing the city and leaving a trail of messy corpses in their wake. Thanks to their amnesia, though, the Dark Urge can unknowingly pull a Heel–Face Turn, though now they have to fight off the Urge lest innocent bystanders like Alfira or Quill Grootslang find themselves at the wrong end of the Dark Urge's "twitching knife-hand".
• Admiring the Abomination:
  • In Act 1, the Dark Urge can express nothing short of glee and adoration when they witness a newborn gnoll rip itself free from a hyena's womb.
  • In Moonrise Tower, the party encounters a group of "domesticated" gnolls under the control of a halfling named Linsella. If you free them from Linsella's control, the gnolls immediately recognize the Dark Urge and are ecstatic to see them, reverently referring to them as "Lord". Keep in mind gnolls are Chaotic Evil and view all other non-gnolls as either seedbeds and/or food, so the fact that they show such respect is a good indication as to how bloodthirsty and depraved the Dark Urge was prior to their amnesia.
  • The Absolute was impressed by the depths of their bloodlust and desire to kill everything, so much that it would have willingly gone along with their plan to use the Absolute and start a bloody war across all of Faerun in Bhaal's name had Orin not screwed them over.
• Aerith and Bob: Yes, they do actually call themselves "The Dark Urge". Almost no one ever bats an eye at this. Almost.
  Fist Ulthred: You got a name?
  Dark Urge: I usually say 'The Dark Urge', but I've been workshopping 'The Sleepless Knife' and 'The Death Dream'.
  Fist Ulthred: Move along, godsdammit. Bloody freaks everywhere.
  • Funnily enough, the Dark Urge still gets the option to call Shadowheart's name unusual when they first meet. The irony is lost on them.
• Albinos Are Freaks: The Dark Urge's default appearance is a white dragonborn with bright red eyes, and to call them a freak is as mild as you can put it. If in their default look, a cat in Moonrise named Steelclaw sarcastically dubs them 'ghost dragon' for kicking them in the past.
• All There in the Manual: The Dark Urge's backstory and relationship with Sceleritas Fel, their self-proclaimed "butler", is explored in Blood in Baldur's Gate.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: To the Player Character from Knights of the Old Republic. Both are amnesiacs with only a dim recollection of their past (by nature of The Dark Urge being an avatar-exclusive origin), are the leaders of their respective parties, and have a giant secret hidden underneath their amnesia. Specifically, the PC from KOTOR is actually Darth Revan, current Lord of the Sith and the one responsible for igniting the Jedi Civil War and resulting in immeasurable bloodshed across the galaxy, whereas the Dark Urge is a Bhaalspawn Serial Killer who left a river of blood flowing through Baldur's Gate fifteen years ago. Depending on the player's actions, both their cases of amnesia can result in them pulling a Heel–Face Turn or they can go From Bad to Worse and become even more of a monster than they ever were before. The revelation of their true identities also makes for a Mid-Season Twist in their respective stories, and can cause much consternation within the party when they find out.
• Ambiguously Evil: Prior to their amnesia, the Dark Urge committed a series of brutal murders in Baldur's Gate. It's not entirely clear whether these murders were intentional or the Dark Urge just failed to curb or suppress the Urge, though they did have enough control of themselves to deliver a taunting letter to Tav daring the detective to catch them before they added Tav to the pile. The memory described after consuming a Noblestalk gives us a glimpse of the Dark Urge pre-amnesia, but it's ultimately up to the player to decide whether they were just as helpless against the Urge then as they are now. Gortash also claims that when the Dark Urge was Bhaal's Chosen and representative in the Cult they showed restraint, though this just raises the question of whether the Dark Urge's "restraint" was because they were resisting the Urge or just Pragmatic Villainy. A note called "Prayer for Forgiveness" found in the Necrotic Laboratory next to the severed head is asking Bhaal to forgive them for showing respect to Bane's Chosen Gortash before rambling how they're going to slaughter everybody, with a separate note from Balthazar stating they were right about "Orin's sibling".
• Amnesiac Hero: While this applies to all Origin characters on some level, the Dark Urge has it the worst: They don't remember anything about their past beyond their name and the violent impulses that crop up every now and again. One of the Dark Urge's goals is to reclaim their lost memories, though they may not like what they find. It also turns out that while the Dark Urge can be a force for good, they did not start off that way; They were the serial killer terrorizing Baldur's Gate fifteen years ago.
• Amnesiac Villain Joins the Heroes: They were the Big Bad during Blood in Baldur's Gate but ended up with the heroes (for a given definition of "hero") due to their amnesia. How this plays out is up to the player. It turns out to be played completely straight much later in the story: Before Orin took their place as Bhaal's representative in the Cult of the Absolute, the Dark Urge came up with the plan to enslave the Netherbrain and personally stole the Crown of Karsus. In other words, you're quite literally undoing what you did.
• And I Must Scream: The Dark Urge suffers a strange affliction where they are compelled to kill or brutally maim the nearest living being. Sometimes, this Urge will overtake them completely; in one instance, they will either kill Alfira or Quill with no memory of having committed the act. For a morally good Dark Urge, this is plenty bad enough. One possible fate for them in the epilogue is far worse; if they still have Bhaal's blood in their veins, but defy him at the last possible second by destroying the Netherbrain and then choose to imprison themselves in a jail cell, they will reappear at camp six months later. At this point, the Urge has fully taken over and reduced them to a shambling, twitchy mess who can only speak praises to Bhaal and espouse how they're going to turn their former allies' bodies into offerings. Any token effort of resistence only amounts to speaking in pitiful groans, reduced to little more than a slave trapped within their own body.
• The Antichrist: As the child of Bhaal, God of Murder, they are effectively this. In fact, if you believe Sceleritas Fel on the matter, the Dark Urge was spawned directly from Bhaal himself rather than through procreation with a mortal like all other known Bhaalspawn. The Dark Urge is an Antichrist figure in the most literal sense imaginable for the God of Murder.
• Anti Anti Christ: Can potentially become this if they're played as a morally good character who resists the Urge and ultimately refuses to be Bhaal's chosen.
• Archnemesis Dad: Bhaal can serve as this, if they resist the Urge or at the very least reject Bhaal in the end. It’s outright stated if the Dark Urge has Heal used on them after rejecting Bhaal that they were once a happy child, before murdering their adoptive parents thanks to the Urge and being thrown into Bhaal’s madness. Where every time they tried to get away from Bhaal, the Urge would come back and force them back into his service. Astarion, an expert on the subject of being enthralled into slavery thanks to Cazador, outright sees the Dark Urge’s relationship with Bhaal for what it is if you confide in him that you’re terrified of Bhaal, and BEGS you to try to resist Bhaal. Jaheira also knows that the harder you try to resist Bhaal, the more he will twist your thoughts to bring you back to him. This can be seen where either you kill Isobel to sate your agonising hunger for murder or are goaded by Sceleritas and likely Bhaal himself into trying to kill your lover as punishment for not enacting Bhaal’s will. However, this works both ways too, as by rejecting Bhaal, the Dark Urge can leave Bhaal without a Chosen, without a Temple, without meaningful worshippers, without any mortal children to inherit his will, with his plans utterly destroyed, and with his own former child as an enemy, in the epilogue potentially looking into their own past to find into ways to keep Bhaal from resurfacing for good.
• Artificial Human: A variant, given that the Dark Urge's race is up to the player, but Sceleritas Fel states that the Dark Urge was not born naturally; Bhaal used his own blood to create them. This might also explain why Bhaal favored the Dark Urge over all other Bhaalspawn, as the Dark Urge is literally the closest to him in terms of blood relation.
• Artificial Insolence: Their violent urges sometimes take on a life of their own. They murder Alfira (or her replacement, Quill Grootslang, if you knock Alfira out beforehand) in their sleep, and will do the same to their love interest later if they fail a Wisdom saving throw.
• Ascended Extra: Sort of. The Dark Urge is by no means a minor character, as they were the overarching villain of Blood in Baldur's Gate, but they don't make a physical appearance until the very end and even then much of their identity, motives, and personality are shrouded in mystery. Here, the Dark Urge is one of the seven potential Player Characters.
• The Atoner: An unknowing example. Since the Dark Urge suffers from amnesia, they don't remember either their murder spree from fifteen years ago or their dark past as a Bhaalspawn until Act III, but they can still try to suppress the Urge at the worst moments. This winds up being the main reason Withers is able to revive them after Bhaal rips his divine blood from their body. If the Dark Urge says they deserve to die for all their atrocities, Withers rebuffs them with the following encouragement:
  The Dark Urge: I deserve to die — for all the evil I have done.
  Withers: The sole way to atone for thine actions is to do better, in a new dawn. That dawn has come.
• Ax-Crazy: You'd have to be this if you wanted to be a serial killer. The Dark Urge is a Sadist who enjoys watching people suffer and wants to inflict pain on everyone around them. It's ultimately up to the player whether the Dark Urge goes back to being the monstrous serial killer who plagued Baldur's Gate fifteen years ago or treat their murderous urges as invasive thoughts. It's eventually revealed that the Urge comes from their Bhaalspawn heritage: Being Ax-Crazy, as it turns out, runs in the family. It's implied the Dark Urge might actually be far worse than other Bhaalspawn, since Bhaal — who previously planned to sacrifice most or all of his progeny to resurrect himself — considered them his "favorite child".
  Narrator: (after the Dark Urge kills Alfira/Quill) If you could craft a corpse like this in one night, what masterpieces have you sculpted in your forgotten decades?
• Badass Cape: The Deathstalker Mantle, a red cape gifted to them by Sceleritas Fel for the death of an innocent bard, regardless of whether they wanted it or not. It acts as an Invisibility Cloak that activates upon killing an enemy, which then helps you kill another over and over again. Due to their rarity, it's guaranteed to be the first magical cloak obtained in the game, and remains powerful and useful throughout.
• The Bad Guy Wins: They make good on their threat to kill the detective in Blood in Baldur's Gate when they fail to uncover the Dark Urge's identity within the allotted time, leaving him free to continue his murders. Depending on your actions in the game, the Dark Urge can pull this yet again when they reclaim their mantle as Bhaal's Chosen and take control of the Netherbrain, corrupting it and starting a bloody crusade "in Bhaal's name".
• Bad People Abuse Animals: The Dark Urge's twisted whims frequently target animals, including ones that pose no threat to them. Pre-amnesia Dark Urge was also a case of this, with no restraint. Animals that remember them make it clear they were cruel and abusive to any creature they encountered.
• Beyond the Impossible: Like Tav, the Dark Urge has the option to become a mind flayer. If they commit suicide in the game's ending, believing themselves to be too dangerous to live or risk harming others with their newfound Horror Hunger, Withers finds them in the afterlife, implying they managed to keep their soul despite the transformation process eradicating all traces of their original form. Unfortunately for the Dark Urge, not even this seeming impossibility is enough to save them; if they became Bhaal's Chosen but defied him at the last minute by destroying the Absolute and imprison themselves, they show up six months later fully consumed by the Urge, showing that not even the mind flayer transformation was enough to free them from Bhaal's influence.
• Big Bad: Of Blood in Baldur's Gate. They committed a series of brutal murders and are hunted by Tav.
• Birthday Hater: On account of not having one in the first place.
  Naaber: Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy biiiiiiirthday dear...
  Dark Urge: I was sculpted from a slice of Bhaal's own dead flesh. I have no birthday.
  Naaber: It isn't? Shoot. What did you think, anyway? Could I be a good bard?
  Dark Urge: I'd cut out your tongue, but I want to know you've inflicted this misery on the rest of the city.
• Blatant Lies: How the Dark Urge "justifies" the deaths caused at their hands when they succumb to the Urge. If they confess to killing either Alfira or Quill Grootslang (depending on who showed up at camp), they can tell everyone it was self-defense and Alfira/Quill attacked them. The party will only believe you if you pass a skill check.
• Blessed with Suck: A constant urge to kill would be pretty bad for anyone but the most psychopathic of players. In case you were hoping it wanes or you learn to better control your urges, they only get worse the more you resist. The Dark Urge even lampshades this in their Origin introduction in the character creator menu.
  Dark Urge: Injured beyond repair, I know nothing besides this: I must resist the Dark Urge, lest it consume my mind.
• Bloodbath Villain Origin: When recounting a Paladin Dark Urge's history, Sarevok states they returned to the Tribunal covered in "the blood of [their] order", implying they slaughtered everyone.
• Blood Knight: Even if the Dark Urge isn't succumbing to the Urge at its worst, they really seem to enjoy brutalizing and killing their enemies. When Ketheric Thorm prepares to sentence the goblins and/or Minthara for their failure, they can be very excited at the prospect of seeing bodies hit the floor, something Ketheric comments on with amusement before allowing them to do the honors. They're so much of a Blood Knight that if the Dark Urge tells her they have bloodthirsty thoughts, Lae'zel, a freaking githyanki, advises them to keep their bloodlust under control. Unsurprisingly, their desire to fight and kill stems from their Bhaalspawn heritage. They wouldn't be a child of the God of Murder if they weren't.
• Call-Back: At one point, we see the Dark Urge surrounded by a magic circle bearing the symbol of Bhaal... Most of it, anyway; they're standing where the skull should be. Act III confirms that they are indeed a Bhaalspawn.
• Cain and Abel: A potential Abel to Orin the Red's Cain. Both are Bhaalspawn, the latter being Saverok's granddaughter and the Dark Urge given life from Bhaal's own blood, thus making them niece and uncle/aunt respectively. Although the Dark Urge was just as psychotic and bloodthirsty as Orin in the past, their amnesia gives them the chance to fight off the Urge while also opposing Orin and her fellow cultists. It also helps that Orin personally despises the Dark Urge because they're Bhaal's favorite child, and she betrayed them in the hopes of earning the God of Murder's favor as their 'replacement'.
• Can't Stay Normal: The Dark Urge did have a genuinely happy childhood, and if they're a paladin they even joined a knightly order to do good. Neither life lasted very long for them, because their Bhaalspawn blood all but enforces this trope: No matter how hard they fight it, the Urge can and will take over their body, leaving them to stew in the aftermath of their unknowing blood fugue. It's heavily implied that the Dark Urge all but gave up trying to fight their murderous impulses and decided to freely give into it, left with no other choice but to accept their heritage as a child of the God of Murder.
• Cartwright Curse: If you're in a romantic relationship with one of your companions, Sceleritas Fel will appear and inform you that you will kill them that night. Whether they survive because you fight off the Urge or die because you don't depends on passing a skill check.
• Cassandra Truth: If you try to tell your new allies you've been feeling violent urges ever since you woke up, most of them write it off as nothing to worry about and say that everyone has those feelings from time to time. After the Dark Urge unknowingly succumbs to their impulses while asleep and murders either Alfira or Quill and chooses to confess to the crime, the party realizes that they were not kidding.
• Character Development: Thanks to their amnesia, the Dark Urge can unknowingly become The Atoner for their horrible acts during Blood in Baldur's Gate, albeit while still struggling to control their murderous impulses. This newfound capacity to do good and acting on it at almost every opportunity is the main reason why Withers claims he was able to resurrect the Dark urge at all if Bhaal kills them for refusing to take up their mantle as his Dark Messiah once more: While Bhaal stripped them of his divine blood (and in doing so took away the Urge), he did not remove — and couldn't destroy — the "new part" of the Dark Urge that was slowly cultivated throughout their journey.
• The Chosen One: A very dark example as Bhaal's prior chosen and favorite child, to the point that — aside from Orin — they were worshipped by every Bhaalspawn, even Sarevok himself, as the pinnacle of everything their twisted lineage should aspire to be until they were dethroned. They can regain this status from Bhaal upon killing Orin should they choose, and resume being the pinnacle of what the Lord of Murder desires in his followers and children alike.
• Criminal Amnesiac: Before the start of the game and during Blood in Baldur's Gate, they were a notorious serial killer.
• Cruel to Be Kind: The only way for Dark Urge players to spare Alfira is to attack her non-lethally and knock her out the day before she shows up to the party camp asking to join. It's an ugly, harsh, and flawed solution that leads to another innocent character, Quill Grootslang, dying in her place, but it provides a way out for those who've grown fond of Alfira. In the epilogue added with Patch #5, Alfira will send them a letter recognizing that what they did ultimately saved her life and thanks them.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Before their amnesia, they were completely devoted to Bhaal and eager to please him with their depravity. And Bhaal himself favored them. Should the player will it, they can even usurp control of the Absolute for Bhaal.
• Dark and Troubled Past: The Dark Urge was created by Bhaal using his own blood, making them the most pureblood Bhaalspawn to ever exist. Unfortunately, their "purity" came with the Urge; a seeming instinctual desire to maim and/or murder every living thing. While the Dark Urge was adopted by a seeming normal family in Baldur's Gate, the Urge within them awoken and bid them to slaughter their host family. Depending on your class and dialogue choices, the Dark Urge was by all accounts a normal child before their Bhaalspawn heritage reared their ugly head, and a Paladin Dark Urge proved unable to truly fight it off as they eventually slaughtered their entire order. By the time of Blood in Baldur's Gate, the Dark Urge freelly gives into the Urge and starts a bloody murder spree. Unsurprisingly, the truth of their bloody past horrifies a morally-good Dark Urge.
• Darker and Edgier: In comparison to Tav. While a Custom Origin character can be a Jerkass in every way possible, the Dark Urge is a thousand times worse on account of having a bloody history of violence as well as committing atrocious acts Tav is unable to do in-game, such as what the Dark Urge does to poor Alfira or Quill.
• Dark Is Not Evil: As "not evil" as you can get with this cast, anyway. The Dark Urge has the unfortunate desire to kill everyone around them, but they can try to do as much good as they can while fighting off these impulses, albeit with mixed results. Their default class is also a Sorcerer, which starts them off in a black robe with gold accents. This is doubly so when you learn in Act III the Dark Urge is a Bhaalspawn.
• Dark Messiah: Considered this by the Court of Murder and Bhaal himself. The Dark Urge's depravity was so vile and visceral that they impressed Bhaal to the point the God of Murder adored them, much to Orin's jealousy. Should the Dark Urge reclaim their mantle, Bhaal officially appoints them as his champion and they usher in a new, bloody age of murder and conquest across all Faerûn.
• Despair Event Horizon: If they fail to reign in the Urge and kill their lover, the Dark Urge is so horrified and traumatized by what they've done that they outright beg their companions to kill them so they can't kill anyone else. This even applies to a Dark Urge who has indulged in their murderous impulses, as they've finally crossed the one line they never wished to.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Like Tav, the Dark Urge can mouth off to other divine entities in the game and even Vlaakith who, while not a god, is well on her way to becoming one (although doing so will get them killed). They can even tell Bhaal, the God of Murder and their father mind you, in no uncertain terms that they not will become his champion and to screw off. Like with Vlaakith, this also results in their death, though it doesn't stick for very long as Withers resurrects them because they've risen above their Bhaalspawn heritage and they had the balls to defy Bhaal in the first place.
• Die Laughing: One possible ending for the Dark Urge (should they at first accept their mantle as Bhaal's Chosen, but then allow the Netherstones and the Netherbrain to be destroyed after the final boss fight, thus saving the world from its dark fate) is to commit suicide afterwards. Bhaal is sure to inflict horrific punishment on you for backing out at the eleventh hour^note and he will by default, should you follow this path, reducing you to a degenerate, feral, raving lunatic comitting atrocities, so your final act of defiance at this point is to take your own life. Choose to do so and the Dark Urge will take out a knife and stab themselves in the abdomen repeatedly, carving out their guts in gory detail, all while gleefully laughing. Withers/ Jergal is outright proud of you for this and serves as your advocate in death.
  Narrator: You've butchered so many before - each death a gift to your Father. But this one, you will take from him. This one is just for you.
• Disney Death: If they resist the Urge for most of the game (or at least its worst moments), then towards the end Bhaal will forcibly reclaim his divine blood from them, killing them in rage for their defiance. However, Withers is so impressed by the Dark Urge's resilience and integrity that he resurrects them free of charge.
• Doom Magnet: Regardless of whether or not they choose to succumb to the urge, the Dark Urge is a danger to everyone around them at all times due to their horrifying need to murder the nearest thing to them. Which makes sense; As a Bhaalspawn, no matter how noble they are or whatever attempts to restrain it, they are doomed to struggle with the affliction brought by their association with their murder-hungry father. This is also why Withers refuses to revive Alfira/Quill: If they can't control themselves, those who've suffered at their hands are better off staying dead rather than go through yet another horrific death.
• Double Consciousness: An easily-missed scene in Act 1 — accessible only by Long Resting alone before fending off the initial goblin attack — sees the Dark Urge wake up from a nightmare and wonder about their past. If they think about their heritage, they realize that they don't actually feel any connection to their race despite knowing how their kind should act. A dragonborn Dark Urge can even admit this to fellow dragonborn Quil Grootslang. The revelation that they're an Artificial Humanoid created by and from Bhaal sheds some light on this, as they were presumably given Fake Memories to better fit into society. This also justifies the myriad of race-specific dialogue options that aren't exclusive to the Dark Urge: for instance, dragonborn constantly espouse honor and loyalty to their clan, which is absolutely not the case when it comes to Bhaalspawn.
  Narrator: (about a drow Dark Urge) Images of the Underdark's famed torments sometimes flicker in your head, but your place amongst your kin seems long-lost.
  Narrator: (about a githyanki Dark Urge) You have been fighting since birth, such as Vlaakith preaches, but you feel little connection to any creche. Barely a call to your queen.
  Dragonborn Dark Urge: (to Quill) I don't think I've ever been to our homeland... I know nothing of our clans.
• Draconic Humanoid: The Dark Urge's default race is a white dragonborn.
• Dramatic Irony: The Dark Urge is practically The Antichrist born from Bhaal's own blood who's worshipped and feared by all Bhaalists for their ability to kill things in the cruelest, most sadistic way imaginable before they could expect it... And is dealt a crippling blow by Orin that led to their amnesia to begin with when they least expected it, which can actually lead to their death if not chosen as the Player Character. It's kind of hilarious that despite being the avatar of Bhaal in all but name, they are not immune to the same Chronic Backstabbing Disorder that permeates their murderous cult regardless of how indispensable they were to Bhaal's plans for the Absolute.
• The Dreaded: Their unique background gives them proficiency in Intimidation, advantage in a couple of Intimidation checks, and even new Intimidation dialogue options. Being a Bhaalspawn only adds to their infamy; Astarion even remarks that Bhaalspawn are probably more feared than even vampires. It's only because of heroic Bhaalspawn of the past that others will possibly give the Dark Urge the benefit of the doubt when they reveal their nature to them.
• Even Evil Can Be Loved:
  • Downplayed. The Dark Urge can romance anyone in game. But even the most murderous like the Dark Urge can find a romantic partner, though their actions may limit them to more evil characters like Minthara, Lae'zel, or Astarion.
  • With the exception of Orin the Red — who hates their guts — the rest of the Court of Murder and even Bhaal himself adore the Dark Urge, in large part because their capacity for brutality was so awe-inspiringly vile. This is largely why Bhaal names them his representative in the Cult of the Absolute before Orin tries to get rid of them and take their spot.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Even though the Dark Urge can be played as a dyed-in-the-wool monster who commits horrific atrocities, they can also be nothing but affectionate and thoughtful with their Love Interest. Succumbing to the Urge and killing their lover is potentially the one and only time they express horror and guilt for what they've done, even to the point of begging their allies to kill them.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • While it's possible to freely indulge in your impulses at every given opportunity, it's possible to play the Dark Urge as having lines they will never cross, such as murdering their lover. If they do cross that line, it breaks them so hard that they beg for death.
  • Even if you play as a Dark Urge who convinced Shadowheart to embrace Shar (something Bhaal incentivizes as he wants you to kill Isobel and revel in the consequent destruction of the Last Light Inn) they will be disgusted when Shar reveals the full extent of what she's done to Shadowheart, with the narration noting her words make your skin crawl. What the Dark Urge does next is left to the players' discretion, but it's still a notable instance of them being aghast at how cruelly Gods toy with mortals they take an interest in.
• Evil Counterpart: To the Custom Origin, in a sense. While both characters' personalities and traits are entirely up to the player, the Dark Urge always has independent murderous thoughts and plans to kill those around them. While Tav can be just as much of a dick, the Dark Urge takes a much greater satisfaction in their atrocities and is capable of doing things Tav would never think of doing or is entirely unable to, such as their horrific butchering of Alfira or Quill (Tav can kill Alfira, but they can't mangle her the way the Dark Urge does). It also helps that while Tav has what is implied to be an otherwise unremarkable background in comparison to other Origin characters, the Dark Urge is a Bhaalspawn and lead a very bloody life before losing their memory.
• Evil Overlord: Becomes this in the Sins of the Father ending: They betray the Emperor at the last minute and take control of the Netherbrain, corrupting the mind flayers and even your companions into their own personal army and laying waste to the world. In an interesting twist, the Dark Urge becomes an Overlord Jr. and The Dragon for Bhaal as they now begin their bloody conquest in his name. Played entirely straight if the Dark Urge rejects Bhaal after killing Orin but still takes control of the Netherbrain to embark on personal conquest in the Absolute Power Corrupts ending.
  The Dark Urge: In my name.
• Eviler than Thou: A Dark Urge who succumbs to their urges can be one to both Ketheric and Gortash.
  • Ketheric's fall to villainy was motivated by his desire to save his daughter, and while he does show a disregard for her wishes by trying to brainwash her, he never wanted to kill her. The Dark Urge does want to kill her however, and given that they used to work with Ketheric and likely knew of his motivations, the whispers of the Urge could very well be Bhaal showcasing some sadism towards Myrkul's Chosen. Succumbing to your Urge therefore makes you cross the one line even Ketheric never would.
  • Despite being one of the ringleaders of the Cult — who has no qualms about sowing terror and destroying innocent lives to further his goals — Gortash is ultimately a staunch pragmatist who values peace and stability and has no interest in perpetuating mayhem for its own sake. Bhaal, however, does, and his original plan was to leverage Gortash to bring all of Faerun to heel under the Absolute, before the Dark Urge turned on him and laid everything to ruin. Suffice to say, Gortash would not have been happy to see the Dark Urge embrace their Bhaalspawn heritage and use the Absolute the way they do in the Sins of the Father ending.
• Face–Heel Turn: If they're healed by the 6th level heal spell, a flashback shows that the Dark Urge did manage to have a life before embracing Bhaal, struggling with their urge as they do now. The Oathbreaker Knight outright confirms to a paladin Dark Urge that they tried and failed to be a good person. This also explains other strange class options like being a Monk despite having zero inner peace and little self-control^note However some of the unique Monk dialogue choices are quite fitting for a repentant Dark Urge trying to maintain control and balance against their brutal nature, or being a cleric dedicated to another deity^noteBhaal — along with the rest of the Dead Three — cannot be chosen in character creation, as it would likely conflict too much with a cleric's loyalties over the course of the game.
  Dark Urge: I'm a child of Bhaal — How could I ever have become a paladin?
  Oathbreaker Knight: Nobody belongs entirely to their bloodline, even those fathered by a god. You chose a path, made a pledge, and Bhaal had no part in it.
  Dark Urge: Did I break my oath before, when I went to the Temple?
  Oathbreaker Knight: Yes, and not for the first time. We have met before. I expect we will meet again.
• Fake Memories: While the Dark Urge's memories are mostly gone, their personal history is at least partly intact as they can remember or have extensive knowledge of their homes like a githyanki creche or the Underdark. That said, they feel as if they don't really have a connection to their homes (a gith Dark Urge will note they have no desire or inclination to serve Vlaakith with the same near-religious zeal Lae'zel does). In reality, these are fake memories and the Dark Urge was born and raised in Baldur's Gate, left in the care of a loving adopted family until the Urge manifested and returned to Bhaal's side.
  • A great example of this can be found in the Underdark, where a Drow Dark Urge who thinks they grew up serving Lolth can describe the ritual to remove the Phalar Aluve from the stone as blasphemous. A standard Tav performing this ritual will receive a warning from Lolth. A Dark Urge does not, because they were never sworn to Lolth in the first place, they just think they were.
  • Ironically, only a dragonborn Dark Urge's fake memories are the closest to being real as dialogue choices list them as hailing from Baldur's Gate. When meeting Quill Grootslang, a fellow dragonborn, the Dark Urge even states they have no memory of having ever been to their homeland.
• Fallen Hero: The Oathbreaker Knight can reveal to an Oathbreaker Dark Urge that they did become a paladin of their own volition and tried to be good, but still succumbed to Bhaal's influence and broke their oath. Sarevok later reveals the circumstances behind how they broke their oath:
  Sarevok: I remember the first time you set foot in the Tribunal. Fallen paladin, coated in the blood of your order. Pure corruption, I knew you would go far.
• Fatal Flaw: Prior to getting amnesia, Sarevok states that pride was theirs. Because they were so ridiculously good at murdering things, they felt themselves untouchable. It made them blind to Orin's treachery until she attacked them and damaged their brain to the point that they forgot everything.
• Foil: With Shadowheart, especially if the Dark Urge is a fellow cleric, a paladin, a Lolth-sworn drow^note The Lolth-sworn will automatically worship the Spider Queen regardless if they are a cleric or not. In fact, a cleric Lolth-sworn drow has no other option but Lolth when asked to choose which deity they worship.
  • Shadowheart was originally a Selunite initiate who was kidnapped by the Sharran priesthood as part of an experiment by Shar to see if she could corrupt one of her sister's followers. Part of this experiment involved wiping Shadowheart's memories almost periodically if she became too empathetic. The Dark Urge is a Bhaalspawn who was Happily Adopted up until the Urge manifested, after which they brutally slaughtered their foster family and joined the Cult of Bhaal to enact a bloody murder spree across Baldur's Gate. According to Sarevok, a paladin Dark Urge arrived at the Tribunal "coated in the blood of their order", implying they slaughtered their fellow paladins after succumbing to the Urge.
  • In regards to their respective character arcs, Shadowheart's personal questline ends with either her turning away from Shar and becoming a Cleric of Selune or embracing Shar and become a Dark Justicar. In both routes, she's faced with the Sadistic Choice of either killing or saving her captive parents, and performing the former as a "final test" on the Dark Justicar path breaks her to where she begs Shar to erase her memories again so as to not live with the guilt. The Dark Urge, regardless of they are played up to this point, can either choose to embrace their Bhaalspawn heritage and claim their place as Bhaal's Chosen or reject Bhaal and subsequently redeem themselves, putting them on the proper path of atonement.
• Foreshadowing:
  • There's a clever bit of this in regards to the Dark Urge's Fake Memories if you play as a Lolth-sworn drow. In the Underdark, you find a sword used by followers of Elisatree, with a ritual used to pull the sword out from the rock it's stuck in. Said ritual is also more or less an act of defilement toward Lolth. If a Lolth-sworn drow Tav performs the ritual and obtains the sword, Lolth gives them a stern warning not to pull that crap again. If a Lolth-sworn drow Dark Urge does it, there is no such warning.
  • Even before the Wham Episode that is Act III, some keen-eyed longtime fans of Baldur's Gate figured out the connection between the Dark Urge and Bhaal. In their Origin introduction video, the Dark Urge is shown standing in a glowing red symbol resembling the symbol of Bhaal, albeit lacking the skull. The Dark Urge also suffers from strange bouts of murderous thoughts, wanting to inflict extreme pain or death on the closest living thing. Unsurprisingly, the Dark Urge is revealed to be a Bhaalspawn who was beloved by Bhaal for their bloody talents. Furthermore, the Dark Urge is perhaps the most pureblooded of their kin, as Bhaal created them using his own blood; note that even before becoming the official God of Murder, Bhaal really wanted to kill every living thing around him for little to no reason.
  • There's heaps of foreshadowing in Act II. Several characters in Moonrise Tower will act as if they know the Dark Urge personally, with a cat in the back of the tower telling them they took pleasure in kicking her around whereas the gnolls address the Dark Urge as "Lord". When you first meet Ketheric Thorm while General Z'rell delivers judgment upon the goblins and/or Minthara for failing to retrieve the githyanki artifact, the Dark Urge feels as if they've been to Ketheric's throne room before, with the narrator later mentioning how the last time the Dark Urge was greeted there they were treated like a god. Ketheric himself is surprised, then baffled, then amused upon seeing them and says they'll enjoy the goblins/Minthara's punishment "even in [their] diminished state". The narrator notes how Ketheric knows who the Dark Urge is, but he will not say a word. It's the first hint that the Dark Urge's Mysterious Past is tied to the Cult of the Absolute and that they have a personal connection to its leadership.
• Forgotten First Meeting: If the Dark Urge is an Oathbreaker Paladin, they can ask the Oathbreaker Knight whether they've met prior to their amnesia. The Oathbreaker Knight confirms this, stating the Dark Urge broke their oaths in the past. In Act III, Sarevok explains how they broke their oath in the first place, having returned to the Court of Murder covered in the blood of their knightly order, heavily implying they succumbed to the Urge and slaughtered their comrades.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: The Dark Urge's bio states they are plagued by bloodthirsty thoughts, described by the Dark Urge and the narrator as "the Urge". This separates them from their Custom Origin counterpart Tav as these thoughts include new bits of narration dialogue, and on a more worrisome note, skill checks that determine whether you give in to these violent urges. And sometimes, you won't get a choice in the matter.
• Good Counterpart: Only if the Dark Urge is portrayed as a morally-good character who fights off the Urge.
  • To Orin the Red. Whereas Orin is an unabashed psychopath who fully embraces her Bhaalspawn heritage and gleefully kills anyone and anything she feels like, the Dark Urge can actively resist their murderous impulses and potentially fight back against their "other half".
  • They can also become one to Bhaal himself once their origins are made clear; as the Dark Urge is effectively a manner of clone born from Bhaal's own blood instead of through procreation, and thus their desire to murder can be as pure and irresistible as his. Unlike Bhaal, they can resist their violent urges and refuse to rejoin the service of their father, effectively proving that they are not controlled by the desire to kill like Bhaal is and can destroy everything their father hoped to achieve, even if it ends with their own permanent death. This is vastly unlike their father, who constantly attempts to save himself by siring children for his resurrection.
• Good Is Not Soft: Just because the Dark Urge can be played as an unknowing atoner who deals with seemingly random bouts and thoughts of blood and murder doesn't mean they're nice. Their background is permanently set as "Haunted One"; in gameplay terms, this provides a bonus for Intimidation skill checks and violen acts earn Inspiration. Similarly, this also goes for their default race; Dragonborn race-specific dialogue has the Dark Urge come off as stern and threatening, even when they're trying to be polite (though this is primarily due to Dragonborn having Blue-and-Orange Morality when it comes to expectations and honor).
• Greater-Scope Villain: Pre-amnesia Dark Urge was the one who kickstarted the entire plot of Baldur's Gate 3: They masterminded the plot with Gortash and personally stole the Crown of Karsus from Mephistopheles's vault, they were the one who led the Temple of Bhaal and started the series of killings in Baldur's Gate, they were even supposed to be the Chosen for one of the Netherstones until Orin usurped them. Whether you resume your role as a villain or become a hero remains up to you.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: If you do not fully reject Bhaal's influence but choose to destroy the Absolute instead of taking control of it for Bhaal, though the Dark Urge will attempt to imprison themself to avoid causing anymore death, a mere few months later, the Urge will completely consume them, turning them into a twitching slobbering mess that can barely speak anymore and compels them to murder their old companions in their sleep post celebration for saving the world. The game goes to credits as they sneak into the camp, so we do not find out if they succeed or not.
• Heel–Face Turn: Fifteen years ago, the Dark Urge began a brutal murder spree in Baldur's Gate. Thanks to their amnesia, they've forgotten most of their past and can become genuinely heroic if they try to fight the Urge, or at least curb the worst of it. It's subverted if you portray the Dark Urge as an Ax-Crazy Sadist like they were in Blood in Baldur's Gate.
• Heroic Suicide: If they fail to overcome Bhaal's influence and are forced into his service, they're still able to defy their father by destroying the Absolute instead of subjugating it as Bhaal demanded, then killing themselves before Bhaal has the Urge consume them in retribution.
• Hidden Depths: Their Haunted One background provides proficiences for the Intimidation and Medicine skills. While the former isn't surprising, that the Dark Urge has advanced knowledge in medicine shows that they are far from being simply good at killing.
  • It may also be a reference to the conspiracy theory that real life killer Jack the Ripper was the Royal Surgeon, sent to kill to conceal a shameful secret at Queen Victoria's request.
• Hijacked by Ganon: A rare instance where the protagonist inflicts this: The Sins of the Father ending has them essentially take over the Cult of the Absolute's plan for themselves, corrupting the Netherbrain and everyone connected to it into their own bloodthirsty army to wage bloody conquest "in Bhaal's name".
• I Cannot Self-Terminate: If they succumb to their impulses and murder their lover, they can become so overcome with grief and guilt that they beg their remaining companions to kill them before they can kill anyone else, and they reluctantly oblige in a unique Game Over.
• I Love the Dead: Sceleritas Fel can tell the Dark Urge that they had a taste for necrophilia in the past, if they call the bard's gore "a fair perfume".
• In the Blood: Their urges come from being a Bhaalspawn, as their father's nature as the God of Murder implores them to, well, kill everything. Even if they despise it, there's still a part of them that revels in the death of the helpless.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: The Dark Urge is notably one of two Origin characters to have a personal beef with the Chosen of the Absolute, specifically Orin. Not only is Orin their "niece", but she's also the one who wiped their memories and personally shoved the mind flayer tadpole into their brain. While the Dark Urge's animosity differs between character interpretations, an Ax-Crazy Dark Urge is especially pissed that Orin had the gall to try and usurp their "birthright" as Bhaal's favorite child and Overlord Jr..
• Jack the Ripoff: During Blood in Baldur's Gate: Not only did they get off scot-free for their crimes and their identity remained largely unknown, but the Dark Urge had the Brass Balls to send a taunting letter to the detective investigating the murders, daring them to find him and threatening to kill them if they didn't figure out who he was in time.
• Karma Houdini: If you pass the necessary skill checks, the Dark Urge gets away with killing either Alfira or Quill with no one the wiser. Alternatively, you can fess up to your crimes and tell everyone what happened, though you can also lie and tell everyone it was self-defense. They also managed to get away with their murder spree back in Baldur's Gate fifteen years ago.
• Kick the Dog: Squirrel in this case, and quite literally. It's by far the most tame action the Dark Urge committs in comparison to future acts of violence spurred by their homicidal urges. See for yourself.
• Killed Offscreen: If you don't play as the Dark Urge, you can find their corpse in the Temple of Bhaal, specifically in Orin's quarters. It's all but stated outright that she killed them herself to take their place as Bhaal's Chosen.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Dark Urge lost all their memories at some point, implied to be when they had the tadpole shoved into their skull. Their amnesia is what gives them the opportunity to redeem themselves of their bloody past from Blood in Baldur's Gate and pull a Heel–Face Turn. You later learn that while the process of implanting the tadpole was part of the reason the Dark Urge lost their memories, the major reason is that Orin carried out the procedure herself and was probably actively trying to kill them.
• Leitmotif: The Legacy of Bhaal and its variations, shared with their Bhaalspawn kin Sarevok and Orin.
• Light Is Not Good: The Dark Urge's default appearance is an albino dragonborn. Regardless of how you portray them, the Dark Urge constantly battles with seemingly random bouts of bloodlust, and they will occasionally succumb to their murderous impulses whether you like it or not. That's not even going into the fact that, before they lost their memories, the Dark Urge was a Serial Killer responsible for a string of bloody murders throughout Baldur's Gate.
• Meatgrinder Surgery: The origin of the Dark Urge's tadpole infection is much messier than any of the other origin characters. Rather than having had the tadpole inserted through a nostril, ear canal, or eye socket, which itself is a rather unpleasant experience, Orin decided to split open the Dark Urge's skull and inserted the tadpole into the open hole.
• Missing Mom: There's no mention of the Dark Urge's mother anywhere in the game, even when they learn the full extent of their parentage. It's later revealed that the Dark Urge wasn't "conceived", only created through Bhaal's blood; The reason their mother is never mentioned is because they quite literally don't HAVE one.
• Munchkin: When they indulge in the urge to kill, their actions and attitude are eerily similar to a D&D character played by the Murderhobo variety of this. Fittingly, they turn out to be a Bhaalspawn, directly related to the in-universe patron god of murderhobos.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Failing a Wisdom skill check when the Dark Urge suddenly feels like murdering the closest living thing will have them succumb to the urge. Once the figurative blood fugue wears off and the Dark Urge regains their senses, they're immediately horrified.
  • In the event where either Alfira arrives at your camp and asks to join you, or Quill Grootslang stumbles upon it and asks to seek refuge, the Dark Urge awakens to find their hands covered in blood and Alfira or Quill's mutilated corpse on the ground. Their response to seeing the body varies between jubilation and admiration of their handiwork or being frightened and appalled at what they've done.
  • By far the worst and saddest moment for them is when they unintentionally Shoot the Dog through no fault of their own by killing their lover. The emotional damage is so bad the Dark Urge outright begs their companions to kill them before they murder anyone else.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: If the Dark Urge becomes Bhaal's chosen but destroys the Absolute in an act of penance or atonement, their "reward" is the Urge consuming their mind to the point they're little more than a twitching, shambling wreck who wants to kill anything and everything. Unlike prior instances when the Urge took over, there is no way for the Dark Urge to fight back against it and has become a slave to their murderous impulses.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Their titular "Dark Urge" is the instinctive desire for the death of everything, including themselves. Sarevok notes that the Urge is the sign that they're purest Bhaalspawn to have ever lived. They can choose to resist it, but doing so only makes it worse.
  Dark Urge: At the end of this all, Father, there will be not a single creature living. Everyone will die. Everyone will die for YOU.
• Overlord Jr.: In the Sins of the Father ending, they become their father Bhaal's right hand after usurping the Cult of the Absolute and the Netherbrain. He's quite proud.
• Overrated and Underleveled: The Dark Urge is eventually revealed to have been one of the leaders of the Absolute, putting them on a level of power similar to Gortash, Orin or Ketheric at the very least, but they still start the adventure at level 1 like everyone else. This is eventually justified by Orin wounding their body and severely damaging their brain when she usurped their position.
• The Paragon Always Rebels: Heroic inversion: A good Dark Urge was once Bhaal's favorite child, but after suffering amnesia became disgusted with their murderous instincts and rejected his influence.
• Parental Favoritism: Surprisingly for someone like Bhaal, The Dark Urge was actually Bhaal's favorite prior to losing their memory, in sharp contrast to the bastard Bhaal normally is to his offspring: He typically sees them as nothing more than fragments of his essence meant to be ritualistically slaughtered en mass to revive him so he can get back to his murder spree, but the Dark Urge's depravity and lust for carnage seemingly rivaled Bhaal's own with the scope of their ambitions. That said, they are not exempt from his bloody games or his wrath — Bhaal did nothing to punish or prevent Orin from usurping the Dark Urge despite the disastrous repercussions it had for his plans, forbade Sceleritas Fel from revealing the Dark Urge's past to them after discovering they had survived, and should a reformed Dark Urge reject his offer to make them his Chosen once more, he will immediately kill them without remorse.
• Patient Zero: Implied. Kressa Bonedaughter recognizes the Dark Urge almost immediately, having personally nursed them back to health while studying the illithid tadpole in their head, implying the Dark Urge was the very first of the tadpole infectees for the Cult of the Absolute.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Their murderous Urge isn't limited to just good and innocent people; they can inflict just as much cruelty on villainy, such as biting off a goblin's toe, letting a True Soul be devoured by their own gnolls at Moonrise Towers, and snapping Minthara's neck after having sex with her. Most companions actually approve of this, seeing as its probably the best way the Dark Urge can satiate themselves.
  • This can even be seen with their unique Background goals, as many of their Inspiration points come from violent actions against anyone and everyone, their morality be damned. For instance, one goal— "Killing Spree"— requires you to kill 5 enemies in a single round of combat, while another goal— "Unfriendly Fire"— has you do the same thing against neutral creatures instead.
• Pet the Dog: According to Scleritas Fel, the "worst thing they've ever done" was being nice to some poor beggar.
• Permanently Missable Content: The Dark Urge stands out from the other Origin Characters in that they make no appearance if you play as another character or create your own, and thus they cannot be recruited. Playing as the Dark Urge leads to some minor changes in story beats on account of the character suffering from an unexplained urge to kill everyone around them; in gameplay, this translates to passing skill checks. Fail any of them, and the Dark Urge will kill someone whether they want to or not. Alfira, Quill Grootslang, and your Love Interest can potentially find this out the hard way.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their default appearance has red eyes & scales, and when paired with their black Sorcerer robes gives them a rather ominous look. Even without their default appearance this still applies, as the Dark Urge is often associated with blood due to their heritage.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Their default appearance is a pale dragonborn with red eyes. On top of suffering from an unexplained urge to murder people around them, they're also Bhaalspawn. Oh, and did we forget to mention they're the serial killer from Blood in Baldur's Gate?
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: A peculiar example. Fifteen years ago, the Dark Urge was a serial killer responsible for no less than seven murders. While the Dark Urge can go through a Heel–Face Turn thanks to their amnesia and fight off their impulse to kill everything in sight, they still struggle to stop themselves and will occasionally lose control whether they like it or not. It's not they haven't been tamed per say, but rather they're trying to stay tamed and sometimes failing.
• Reluctant Psycho: If played as actively trying to resist their sadistic tendencies, they react with complete and utter horror if and when they slip up. While players can embrace their murderous impulses, the Dark Urge Origin intro displays them as struggling with these uncontrollable acts of violence and rightfully terrified of themselves. This makes them one of the few heroic Bhaalspawn out there. That said, it's possible they only ever really became "reluctant" after they lost their memories, as they're revealed to be the serial killer from Blood in Baldur's Gate, though the memory described after eating a Noblestalk does imply (based on the player's choice of dialogue) that the Dark Urge similarly struggled to control their bloodlust then.
• Sadist: Their defining trait. They deeply enjoy causing others pain and suffering, though whether they embrace or resist this trait is up to the player. They were quite creative in how they murdered their victims in Blood in Baldur's Gate, too. This might have to do with the fact that they're a Bhaalspawn; the God of Murder isn't exactly known for pulling his punches.
• Semi-Divine: The revelation that they're actually a Bhaalspawn paints them as a darker version of this. Interestingly, Sceleritas Fel clarifies that the Dark Urge wasn't actually conceived in the normal fashion, but brought to life by Bhaal alone through his blood.
• Serial Killer: Fifteen years before the events of the game, the Dark Urge was a notorious serial killer with no less than seven kills to their name, and an Intelligence check at the start of the game when the Dark Urge investigates a corpse implies their body count may be in the low thousands. While it's ultimately up to the player whether the Dark Urge relapses or their amnesia makes them a better person, traces of their old self still persist in the form of violently bloody thoughts and the temptation to murder those around them. It's also implied that these homicidal thoughts are derived from their Bhaalspawn heritage.
• The Speechless: Downplayed and played with. Outside of random dialogue when you take control of them or when starting their turn in battle, the Dark Urge is like other origin characters in that they're otherwise silent in cutscenes when speaking to other characters. The one time you do get to hear the Dark Urge's voice, aside from their introduction video in the character creator menu, is when Orin briefly takes on their form to mock them. The Dark Urge shares the custom Origin's voice actor and dialogue pool, though they also have unique flavor dialogue referring to their Bhaalspawn nature in addition to the Orin speech.
• The Starscream: The Absolute Power Corrupts ending sees them pulling this on Bhaal himself by rejecting his influence, but then seizing control of the Netherbrain themself.
• Statistically Speaking: Downplayed, because they're entirely customizable, but their default appearance, actions in the prequel, and the urges they get are all about raw physicality, implying brute strength. By default they're also a sorcerer with a Strength score of 8, which is slightly below the average human peasant.
• Token Heroic Orc:
  • One of the very few Bhaalspawn that isn't batshit crazy (or at the very least not willingly homicidal), assuming you're not trying to murder everyone first chance you get. It's worth noting that they weren't like this before the amnesia according to Orin, who was deeply envious of their murderous ability, their borderline genocidal scope in helping Bhaal prepare to take control of the Netherbrain and their status as Bhaal's favored child^note As the previous games and stories all love to point out, Bhaal is an infamously Abusive Parent who sees all his children as to next-to-nothing beyond harboring his essence, so for Bhaal to actually see one of them in a favorable light hints at the sheer depravity the Dark Urge possessed before losing their memory before betraying them herself, implying that without the amnesia, the Dark Urge was way, way worse than most Bhaalspawn.
  • Inverted in regards to their default race. Dragonborn as a whole prefer Honor Before Reason, and while they do often come across as arrogant, they can and will show respect to those around them regardless of race. The Dark Urge showed absolutely none of that when they started a bloody murder spree in Baldur's Gate fifteen years ago. This, of course, can be chalked up to their father being Bhaal; any child of the God of Murder is bound to have a few screws loose, no matter what race they are.
• To Serve Man: Upon entering the Goblin Camp, the Dark Urge can comment that whatever they're cooking smells delicious. While there are a handful of normal meats, the most prominent items on the spit are Dwarf parts, which the Dark Urge can actually eat for a bit of health recovery.
• Tragic Monster: Only if the Dark Urge is played as morally good and horrified by their own murderous impulses; they were quite unapologetic fifteen years ago. Their origin intro even displays the Dark Urge as being scared of themselves and their violent urges. This is especially prominent in one possible ending where the Absolute is destroyed, but the Dark Urge is either Bhaal's chosen or still has his blood in their veins; in the new epilogue set six months after the Absolute's defeat, the Dark Urge returns the camp, stumbling and twitching and covered in blood. The Urge has fully taken over their mind to the point where they can barely talk, and all they want to is bathe in their companions' blood.
• Trapped in Villainy: Somewhat implied to be this before the events of the game, or at the very least can be inferred to be this. It’s implied the Dark Urge Used to Be a Sweet Kid until their Urge kicked in and they murdered their adoptive parents, and were suddenly forced into a murder cult as a child. It can be very possible to imagine a Dark Urge character trying time and time again to make a life for themselves away from Bhaal but being forced back because of their Urge that made them his. At the very least, the Dark Urge probably suffered intense emotional abuse given how they fully think of themselves as vile, tainted, and unloveable. How many times would they have been forced to kill someone close to them growing up? Losing control of their body while Sceleritas goads them on to kill their pet or loved one or friend? How many times would they have tried to resist the Butler’s kill commands only to have been punished by Bhaal for doing so? What place did they have to even live in other than the Temple of Bhaal, given that they would kill everyone around them if they tried to make any kind of life away from Bhaal? Astarion outright sees the way Bhaal controls you as incredibly similar to how Cazador controlled him, somewhat lending credence to this.
• Tomato in the Mirror: The Dark Urge was behind the horrific murder spree in Baldur's Gate fifteen years ago.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Under a very specific set of circumstances, it's possible for the Dark Urge to ever-so-slightly remember playing tag with friends and living with foster parents when they were little, implying they had a normal, happy childhood until the Omnicidal Maniac genes kicked in.
• Walking Spoiler: There is good reason why the Dark Urge is a Player Character origin and doesn't show up at all, either as a companion or as an NPC, otherwise. They're also similarly difficult to talk about without spoiling the fact that the Dark Urge is the mysterious serial killer from Blood in Baldur's Gate.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: This is something of a given for the Dark Urge if played as a dragonborn^note The dragonborn as a species set extremely high standards for both the individual and society as a whole, and they work their asses off to earn the approval of those close to and/or higher-ranking than them, but it's especially prominent in their case. According to Orin, the Dark Urge was Bhaal's favorite child on account of their sheer brutality and ability. This is what fueled her jealousy and it's why she inflicted Laser-Guided Amnesia on them in an attempt to get rid of them and/or turn them into a brutally effective mind flayer.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: If the Dark Urge is not the Player Character, they make no appearance at all in the game, either as a companion or as an NPC. Notably, they're the only character origin this applies to. When Tav arrives at the Temple of Bhaal, they can find the Dark Urge's corpse in Orin's quarters.
• White and Red and Eerie All Over: By default they're a white dragonborn with red scales, evoking the image of blood splattered on snow.
• You Have Failed Me:
  • If the Dark Urge has managed to fight off their murderous impulses for most of the game (or at least managed to suppress it at the worst moments), Bhaal decides to rip his divine blood out of them, no longer deeming them worthy of being his champion as they no longer possess the monstrous qualities that earned his favor in the first place. The process kills them, but Withers undoes Bhaal's efforts by reviving them afterward on account of the Dark Urge impressing him with their stubbornness.
  • If the Dark Urge falls during their one-on-one duel with Orin, forcing their companions to bail them out, Bhaal will deem them a disappointment. He still resurrects them, but makes it clear that he fully intends for them to succumb to their urges and become an impotent savage in time, whereupon he will turn his attention to someone truly worthy. In gameplay terms, this locks you out of being able to reject Bhaal, since he's the one who resurrects you, and also locks you out of the Slayer form (if you had it) and the Power Word Kill spell. You can still achieve the Sins of the Father ending by taking control of the Absolute in the endgame, however, thus "redeeming" yourself in Bhaal's eyes.

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