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CHARNAME & Party members of both games
Party members: Baldur's Gate | Baldur's Gate II | Enhanced Editions | Siege of Dragonspear
NPCs: Friends and allies | Main villains | Other villains
Dark Alliance

Party members that can be recruited in Baldur's Gate.

Note: In the original Baldur's Gate, if you took a character's portrait as Charname's during character creation they would have a new picture to represent them. The following pictures are their original portraits.

Warning: Here there be spoilers!

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    Khalid 

Khalid

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/khalid_660.jpg
"I don't want to seem c-confrontational, but could you be a little less... well... evil?"
Voiced by: Jim Meskimen

Race: Half-Elf
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Neutral Good
Place of origin: Calimshan

Jaheira's husband and fellow Harper, Khalid is a Calishite adventurer who upon Gorion's request offers to join Charname on his travels at the Sword coast. Khalid is a very timid man with huge self-esteem issues, while his wife ironically is one of the most outspoken party members. Along with Jaheira, he is one of Charname's canonical companions in BG1.

In Siege of Dragonspear, he and Jaheira are on a Harper mission to fight Caelar and her crusaders, and he becomes commander of the troops at Bridgefort.

Early in BG2, after having been taken captive by Irenicus and separated from the rest of the group, Jaheira tries to track him down, only to find his body, tortured and defiled through the mage's experiments. Jaheira refuses to have him resurrected, believing there is some suffering from which one does not simply return.


  • Adventure Duo: With his wife Jaheira, before his untimely demise. Both are Harpers, a semi-secret organization devoted to rooting out evil in the Realms, and fought alongside Gorion for years.
  • Apologetic Attacker: When attacking enemies, he frequently says the line, "Oh, my heart's really not in this."
  • Apologizes a Lot: Khalid isn't very confident and tends to apologize before, after, and during much of his dialogue.
  • Battle Couple: With Jaheira, both of them being fighters dedicated to fighting the good fight on behalf of the Harpers.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: In Baldur's Gate II, he's found dead in the beginning of the game, the victim of Irenicus's torturous experiments, much to Jaheira's dismay. His body is so defiled that it is explicitly stated to be beyond resurrective magics.
  • Extreme Doormat: A downplayed version: He grew up in a large family where his biography implies that he was ignored and disregarded as a child.
  • The Generic Guy: He's a fighter with nondescript stats and no special abilities. There is some evidence to suggest that Khalid was meant to be a Fighter/Mage, but was changed to Fighter because there weren't any good-aligned pure Fighters. When they changed his class, they forgot to change his Intelligence, which is why it's so high. There are mods that restore him to this status.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Like Jaheira, a half-elf.
  • Happily Married: Despite their differences, he and Jaheira are portrayed as having quite a loving marriage.
  • Henpecked Husband: Subverted if you read his biography. Khalid was always very insecure due to family issues, and actually appreciates Jaheira's take-charge attitude because he knows he'll never be able to speak up for himself either way. Nevertheless with Jaheira's forcefulness and Khalid's stammer, the appearance of the trope is frequently in play. Lampshaded:
    Khalid: If at first I don't succeed... the wife won't let me forget it.
    • And if Khalid dies in BG1, Jaheira says "I swear, you'll never hear the end of this!"
  • Heroic Bastard: Implied by his biography — his father was a wealthy merchant, which in Calimshan implies he was human, and paid more attention to Khalid's half-brothers — possibly fully human and his legitimate heirs, rather than a half-elf like Khalid.
  • Insecure Love Interest: At times, he seems unsure himself how he ended up with Jaheira, but she only has eyes for him.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: If Jaheira's dreams are a little more than just dreams, his spirit gives its blessing to their budding romance after his death. The Master Wraith impersonating him, however, tortures her with insults about moving on to Charname quickly.
  • Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: With Amazonian Beauty Jaheira, naturally.
  • Nervous Wreck: Very insecure about his lot in life. He also panics very easily, making him not quite as good as a Stone Wall as he could be.
  • Neutral Good: In-Universe. He has the official alignment for which his wife is an extremely vocal advocate (though she doesn't share his alignment mechanically, given the limitations of druids in 2nd Edition). Nervous as he is, Khalid is a Harper and calls out you and your evil companions for your nastier acts.
  • Nice Guy: By far one of the unconditionally friendliest and most good-hearted companions you can recruit in the first game.
  • Overshadowed by Awesome: Probably his biggest issue is that every single fighter in the first game is better than him at what fighters are meant to do. Kagain, Yeslick and even his own wife Jaheira are better at tanking, Coran and Kivan are better ranged attackers and Dorn, Minsc and Shar-Teel are better damage dealers. Even Rasaad, who suffers from the Monk class's Magikarp Power being limited by a very low XP cap, reaps the benefits of some class-specific special abilities that Khalid can't.
  • Parental Neglect: Implied by his backstory; his father took more of an interest in Khalid's half-brothers than he did Khalid. Khalid dealt with this by becoming part of the city militia.
  • Porky Pig Pronunciation: All the time. One of his Stop Poking Me! blurts is even a Shout-Out to the trope namer:
  • Sacrificial Lion: His death in SoA frees up Jaheira for a romance, serves as a Player Punch for Irenicus and demonstrates the pitfalls of resurrection in the D&D world.
  • So Proud of You: He referred to Gorion, a friend of his, in case you raised your reputation or kept it high.
    Khalid: Gorion would be proud of your actions!
  • Stone Wall: Featuring a 16 DEX, 17 CON and fighter access to shields and armour, Khalid is only outdone by Kagain in the 'take hits' department and is better at dodging. On the flip side, his 15 STR is dreadful for a melee combatant (which is ironic considering that naturally rolling better than 15 with 3d6 happens less than 5% of the time — which actually says a lot about the AD&D ability tables, where one wouldn't get any significant bonuses for stats below 15).
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: It wouldn't be possible to romance Jaheira in BG2 if he were still around, would it?
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Not ugly, exactly, but not very charming, with a relatively low Charisma score and massive self-esteem issues. Several NPCs seem to think Jaheira is out of his league. Faldorn is one of them, but whether she believes it or is just trying to irritate rival druid Jaheira is debatable.

    Dynaheir 

Dynaheir

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dynaheir_3946.jpg
"For right! And I always am!"
Voiced by: Jennifer Hale

Race: Human
Class: Mage (Invoker)
Alignment: Lawful Good
Place of origin: Rashemen

Dynaheir is a wychlaran, a sort of spiritual leader versed in the arcane arts, from the far eastern nation of Rashemen and Minsc's protegée, whom he accompanied on her journey to the Sword Coast prior to the first game. Unfortunately, she has been taken captive by a group of gnolls and can join the player, should he feel inclined to rescue her. Like Minsc, she was in Charname's canonical party in BG1, and likewise, she returns as a possible party member in Siege of Dragonspear.

When Irenicus captured Charname and his party he murdered Dynaheir in front of Minsc's eyes just to anger him.


  • Action Girl: And does a pretty nifty job of it too, with her invoker school geared toward the most offensive, high-damage wizard spells.
  • Adventure Duo: With her berserker bodyguard Minsc. She is meant to guide and instruct him while he protects her on his dajemma, a Rashemi rite of passage.
  • Black Girl Dies First: She's the first major character from BG1 you find out has been killed in BG2, murdered offscreen by Irenicus.
    • While still true for BG2, with Siege of Dragonspear now out, Dynaheir is now the second to chronologically die, after Skie.
  • Brains and Brawn: With Minsc, the brainy witch to his brash but brawny young warrior.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Minsc, who is sworn to protect her and follow her orders. After her death, it shows how it affects his behaviour, going further off the rails in his pursuit of justice and having greater trouble reining in his berserker rages.
  • Crippling Overspecialisation: As with other Invokers from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rulesetnote , Dynaheir lacked access to spells of the Conjuration and Enchantment schools in the original version of the game. The Enhanced Edition mitigated this somewhat by changing things so that she is only barred from learning Enchantment spells.
  • Damsel in Distress: She needs to be rescued from a pack of gnolls who have captured her before you can recruit her.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Unlike with Khalid, it's totally offscreen and you never find her body, so it's almost a Bus Crash.
  • The Generic Girl: Somewhat. Your other choices for party mage in BG1 are Edwin, the scheming red wizard who's the best mage in the series; Xan, the chronically depressed elf; Xzar, the psychotic necromancer with multiple personalities; Quayle, the nerdy gnome with an obnoxiously high opinion of his own intelligence; and in the Enhanced Edition, Neera, a scatterbrained wild mage (who are pretty much eccentric by their very nature). Dynaheir comes off as positively boring next to them. On the other hand, she's the only good-aligned wizard if you don't dual-class Imoen, and maybe a steadying influence on the rest of your Ragtag Band of Misfits might not be such a bad thing. She's also part of a package deal with Minsc — if you enjoy his antics, Dynaheir's presence is non-negotiable.
  • Graceful Ladies Like Purple: Prim, proper, purple, and powerful with purple robes.
  • Insufferable Genius: Not up to Quayle's level, but she does have a rather high opinion of her knowledge and acumen and will make her displeasure known when anyone — such as the player character — acts against her advice.
  • Lady of Black Magic: Graceful, proper, and in-game the only playable Invoker — a specialist mage in Invocation, the most offensive school of spells.
  • Lawful Good: In-Universe. For her, it's important to do right in the right way.
  • Mutually Exclusive Party Members: With the Red Wizard Edwin. Given that he was out on his way to kill her, it makes sense that she doesn't like him very much, and Edwin will eventually come to blows with Dynaheir and Minsc — a fight he is almost certain to lose. The Red Wizards of Thay have an infamous reputation in neighboring Rashemen, which they have historically enslaved, and Edwin seems to have targeted a Rashemi witch specifically to curry favor with his superiors.
    • It's actually possible to get them both in the party at the same time, by basically ignoring Edwin until she and Minsc are recruited. That said Edwin and Minsc will eventually come to blows over it leaving one of them, likely Edwin, dead.
  • Proper Lady: Very proper, which contrasts her all the more with Minsc.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Well, Invocation is the most offensive-oriented of the Arcane spell schools.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Blue Oni, calm and measured. Guess who the red one is.
  • Rightly Self-Righteous: She's always right, or so she says. As one of the wychlaran, she is one of the ruling wise-women of Rashemen, expected to do right by her people and accustomed to being obeyed.
  • Sassy Black Woman: Kinda. She's pretty opinionated and thinks that she should be in charge.
  • Sword and Sorcerer: With Minsc, again. The sorceress to his swordsman.
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?: A mystery which puzzles most players still to the present day. It seems to be somewhere between British, Russian, and something vaguely Caribbean.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Her vocal gimmick is misapplyingeth a lot of doths and dosts and so forth whenever she speaks.

    Xzar 

Xzar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xzar_3854.jpg
"I wanted infravision like the elves... But 'tis more than just taking their eyes..."
Voiced by: Frank Welker

Race: Human
Class: Mage (Necromancer)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Place of origin: Unknown, maybe Zhentil Keep or Darkhold

An eccentric - to say the least - wizard met only a short way away from Candlekeep, Xzar is the official crazy guy of the playable NPCs, and he fills the role well. He is also in the employ of a mysterious organization with sinister intentions, but for his own part, Xzar is happy to hang out with his partner "Monty" and you.

He doesn't join the party in BG2, but he asks for the player to find a way inside the Harper HQ in Athkatla and rescue Montaron. As it turns out, the Harpers have already done away with him, and the mad wizard meets the same fate at the hands of an assassin.


  • Adventure Duo: A villainous version of this, with Montaron. The two of them are mercenaries employed by the Zhentarim, the Harpers' semi-secret rivals, a syndicate of criminals and priests of evil gods interested in securing wealth and power.
  • Affably Evil: Surprisingly yes. He is actually one of the friendliest of the party members towards Charname in the first game, despite being, you know, totally balla-balla.
  • Arch-Enemy: Along with Montaron, to Khalid and Jaheira. Justified in that he and Montaron are agents of the Zhentarim, an evil network opposed to the Harpers, a secret organization of do-gooders.
  • Ax-Crazy: Xzar is delighted when the party's reputation gets pulled down by gratuitous acts of violence.
  • Bad Boss: In the second game, you overhear a couple his apprentices talk about how cruel their master is. Xzar punished one apprentice for miscasting a spell by pulling out three of his toenails!
  • Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: He becomes really disgusted if you perform too many good deeds.
    Xzar: Must we be so insufferably CHARITABLE!?!
  • Beard of Evil: Only a thin mustache, but evil without a doubt. It appears to be painted on. He's like evil crazy fantasy Groucho Marx.
  • Card-Carrying Villain: He's a member of the Zhentarim, an evil secret society, so this is a fairly literal example. Considering how Obviously Evil he is, 'secret' might be debatable.
  • Chaotic Evil: In-Universe. A morbid, sadistic necromancer of the completely, utterly insane variety.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: And not the nice kind either, a blackly comic split-personality in league with one of the most evil organizations in the Realms. That being said, it's not clear how much of Xzar's insanity is real and how much is simply played up to throw others off-balance — when he's not shrieking, sobbing, or laughing like a maniac, he can be quite calculating, seeming quite lucid when pursuing his mission on the Sword Coast.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Despite being quite quite violent in his own right, Xzar still seems to be markedly less bloodthirsty than Montaron — who in turn seems to be the more lucid of the two, albeit not exactly sane by any normal definition. Between the two, Xzar leads the cell, being more dedicated to the Zhentarim's goals, at least enough to stave off violence as a first resort, but Monty keeps 'the mad wizard' from going off the rails in his...enthusiasm to do evil deeds and then gleefully rant about it to passersby. Basically, if Montaron is Ax Crazy, then Xzar is Ax Crazy.
  • The Corrupter: Encourages you to embrace your inner darkness.
  • Demoted to Extra: In the second game, although at least he plays a fairly major role in the Harper sidequest.
  • Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: What he seems to think. Said family includes apparently Montaron and you.
  • Evil Mentor: He seems to think of himself as one to you, or at least he behaves himself that way. It may actually be the main reason why Jaheira distrusts him so much.
  • Funny Schizophrenia: Hollywood Split Personality version. Constantly lapsing into different personas, or at least capable of doing a variety of different wacky voices, some of whom argue with each other. Among the most prominent are a soft-spoken, Wicked Cultured Card-Carrying Villain with a Hair-Trigger Temper which seems to be his default personality ("I ate his liver with some fava beans and A Nice Chianti."), an exaggerated dimwit who speaks in a Simpleton Voice ("Du-uhhhh- tell me about the rabbits, George."), and a girlish, childlike alter who seems to come out when Xzar is at his most distressed, when he's dying or when you click on him too much ("Mummy... I don't feel so good...").
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Believe it or not, but Xzar is actually the character in the first game with the highest overall mental scores (17 intelligence and 16 wisdom). The Intelligence may be justifiable, but common sense isn't exactly one of his strong suits - however, it's a requirement for Necromancer specialists (even though the series gives several characters a pass when it comes to these requirements, f.ex. Minsc in either game or Anomen in BGII, who would both require a WIS of 14 and 17, respectively).
  • Green and Mean: Dresses in green robes and is about as Obviously Evil as it gets.
  • Hitchhiker Heroes: Almost literally; he and Montaron are encountered on the road after the PC leaves Candlekeep. They just seem to be waiting for an adventuring party to come along so they can join them on the road to Nashkel. It's not entirely clear how or if they knew Charname (or possibly Gorion) would be passing this way
  • Informal Eulogy: If Montaron dies:
    Xzar: Montaron! I... I never loved you!
  • Insane Equals Violent: Quite insane, and quite violent.
  • Large Ham: Justified however in that he is absolutely, completely insane.
  • Laughably Evil: Undeniably one of the most entertaining party members in the first game, with some of the series' most quotable lines.
  • Lean and Mean: Stringy but tough— as his portrait above shows, he's a rangy sort. He's also a bloody-handed mercenary mage working for the Zhentarim.
  • The Mad Hatter: Heavily implied. Xzar seems to revel in how unnerving his madness is to others.
    Xzar: Those the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad, mad, MAD!
  • Mad Scientist: In the second game, he runs a laboratory down at Athkatla's docks, where his apprentices have been creating hideous monsters (who appear to be nothing but ordinary goblins in-engine) on his behalf.
    • An examination of the game files revealed they were originally supposed to be ghasts and a flesh golem, but they were replaced by generic goblins for some reason. The Unfinished Business Game Mod restores the original monsters.
  • Mood-Swinger:
    Xzar: Montaron, you are so AGGRAVATING! ...'tis disturbing to my demeanor.
  • Morality Pet: Subverted. He is nice towards Charname, but that seems to be mostly because he hopes that the two of them are Birds of a Feather.
  • Mutually Exclusive Party Members: With Harper do-gooders Khalid and Jaheira, unless Charname has a Charisma score high enough to prevent a fight. Otherwise there is a real chance that he and Montaron will engage them in a duel (and usually lose).
  • Necromancer: His specialization school, under 2nd Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules.
  • Obviously Evil: Played with. He's very friendly, as if he's straining to cooperate with whoever comes along to help put an end to the iron crisis, but his craziness and evil just keep spilling out all over the place any time he's not directly engaging someone in cooperation. What's weirder about this is that although Khalid and Jaheira actually do seem to immediately notice something's wrong, it still takes some time for the two pairs to come to blows, possibly just so as to not tip their allegiance to their respective secret societies, the Zhentarim and the Harpers, to each other and to Charname.
  • Odd Friendship: Subverted. He's forced by his superiors to stay with Montaron. They despise each other, but Xzar at least seems to at least find the halfling amusing. The feeling isn't mutual.
  • Pet the Dog: A lot, almost exclusively towards you. If your Charisma isn't too awful, he will offer you a free healing potion upon meeting him, regardless of whether you let him join you or not.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: At time he can come across as this. One of his split personalities whines, cries, and Screams Like a Little Girl.
  • Screams Like a Little Girl:
  • Shout-Out: To Robert Oppenheimer, one of the creators of the atomic bomb, and indirectly to the Bhagavad Gita:
    Xzar: I am become death, destroyer of worlds!
    • Also:
    Xzar: Smiles everyone! Smiles! [as Tattoo] This is like some great fantasy.
  • Sissy Villain: Something of an Affectionate Parody — one of his personalities is a child, constantly crying.
  • Sociopathic Hero: In the first game, his goals are noble, his methods and motivations anything but.
  • Squishy Wizard: His low Constitution combined with the fact that he's a pure mage ties him with Xan for the party member with the lowest health score in the first game, with a whopping 1-4 hp per level. And thanks to his Necromancer class he can't cast some of the better arcane defense spells, such as Mirror Image or Blur.
  • Stop Poking Me!: All the characters have these lines if clicked enough. Xzar's includes a direct Shout-Out to Warcraft:
    Xzar: Stop touching meeeeee!
  • Talkative Loon: Talks more than almost any other character, mostly incoherent ramblings and references that only make sense to the player.
  • Talking to Themself: His alternate personalities occasionally converse with each other.
  • With Friends Like These...: Him and Montaron, both with the party and with each other. Xzar mocks and belittles both Montaron and various other party members, particularly Mutually Exclusive Party Members Jaheira and Khalid.

    Montaron 

Montaron

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/montaron_4852.jpg
"Ye'll live longer if ye don't annoy me. Mayhaps even a week or more."
Voiced by: Earl Boen

Race: Halfling
Class: Fighter/Thief
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Place of origin: Unknown

Montaron is the... traveling companion of Xzar, but hates him dearly. A Halfling rogue, "Monty" is an intentional subversion of the happy-go-lucky halflings everywhere else in fantasy, and is a man born for murder and slaughter interested only in doing his job in the bloodiest way possible.


  • Adventure Duo: Like his partner Xzar, assigned by the Zhentarim to investigate the iron crisis. He and Xzar cannot be recruited or dismissed separately.
  • Arch-Enemy: To Khalid and Jaheira. Being purely in it for the money, he's less invested in the rivalry than Xzar however.
  • Ax-Crazy: Even moreso than his partner, Montaron thrives on violence and is always spoiling for a fight. He constantly threatens other members of the party and throws himself into battle with reckless abandon.
  • Backstab: More accurate and with more attacks than other thieves thanks to his fighter levels. He enjoys it more than most thieves as well.
  • Blood Knight: Likes fighting and killing more than anything else. In fact, they might be about all Montaron likes.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He keeps Xzar from going utterly insane, despite being fairly unhinged himself. Without him, Xzar completely loses it. A strange case, however, in that Montaron is so absurdly bloodthirsty that without Xzar to lead their Zhentarim cell, it's doubtful he could go long enough without killing someone to accomplish much of anything. Basically, if Xzar is Ax Crazy, then Montaron is Ax Crazy.
  • Crutch Character: If you play as a rogue or a wizard, Montaron will most likely be the only member of your party who can actually take a hit or properly engage in melee combat until you reach the Friendly Arm Inn. Most players will because of that recommend that you take him and Xzar along just to better your chances of surviving a wolf attack or a xvart ambush, because Xzar and Imoen... can't.
  • Depraved Dwarf: A knife-wielding psychopath only a few feet tall, putting him closer to this stereotype than any halfling ones.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Killed by the Harpers in the interim between the first game and Shadows Of Amn, as it turns out.
  • Forced Transformation: When you enter the Harper Hold in search of him in the second game, they imply he's been turned into a bird. They're playing you for a sucker.
  • Hitchhiker Heroes: Without the 'heroes' part. He and Xzar are likely the earliest two party members the party will encounter after Imoen, on the road to the Friendly Arm.
  • Hobbits: As mentioned above, a deliberately atypical one, a bloodthirsty thug rather than one of the peace-abiding small folk.
  • I Work Alone: Invoked, but much to his displeasure he's forced to work alongside Xzar and the party:
    Montaron: I have no equal, but I prefer to work alone.
  • Ineffectual Death Threats: He is rather open about his intention to murder Xzar and/or Charname (and possibly the rest of the party). Unless you command him to do just that, he never goes through with it.
    • He can turn on Xzar, though, if <Charname>'s charisma is too low. He will also start a fight with Khalid, sometimes as soon as Khalid is recruited into the party.
  • Informal Eulogy: If Xzar dies:
    Xzar: And the mad wizard falls! ...Saves me the trouble.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: Oh yes. He's happiest when the party takes the simplest option and cuts their way through obstacles and enemies.
    Montaron: (party reputation falls) Effective. I may not kill you after all.
  • Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Most notably with Khalid and Jaheira, who are working for the Zhentarim's rivals, the meddling do-gooders of the Harpers. The two duos will always end up fighting each other, with Montaron picking the fight with Khalid.
  • Not Afraid to Die: According to his biography, "It would appear that he cares little for life, including his own." He is very willing to start fights that will probably end in his death, especially with Khalid and Jaheira (which he and Xzar usually lose). He can eventually turn on Xzar as well, though he has a slightly better chance of surviving against a Squishy Wizard.
  • Neutral Evil: In-Universe. Psychotic and bloodthirsty, but capable of following orders (just barely) to serve the Zhentarim's long-term goals.
  • Odd Friendship: With Xzar. Both hate each other, and it's implied to be a business-only arrangement with both taking orders from their Zhentarim superiors.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Again, in defiance of the "happy go lucky" halfling.
  • Psycho for Hire: How he ends up working for the Zhentarim.
  • The Sociopath: A textbook example. He is neither high-functioning enough to solidly fit into an organization or society (like Kagain), nor low-functioning enough to simply slaughter his way through the world (like Tiax) without at least a few allies to watch his back, and is also smart enough to stay off the really big guys' lawn. This places him firmly at Neutral Evil.in-universe.
  • The Starscream: Seems to be held in check by Xzar, but would gladly kill him too if they weren't both working on investigating the iron crisis for the Zhentarim.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With the party and with Xzar, only holding on because of the Zhentarim's orders. Montaron resents being saddled with the "mad wizard" as a partner, and is also the one who picks the inevitable fight with Khalid and Jaheira.
  • With Friends Like These...: Him and Xzar, both with the party and with each other, constantly scheming and threatening the rest of the party. Somewhat subverted in that they never actually turn against you as long as your reputation doesn't rise too high, though they will drop all pretense and try and attack your good party members (or vice-versa) if kept together for too long.

    Xan 

Xan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/xan_78.jpg
"We're all doomed..."
Voiced by: Jeff Bennett

Race: Elf
Class: Mage (Enchanter)
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Place of origin: Evereska

Xan is an elven ambassador from the stronghold of Evereska in the north who has had the misfortune of having been kidnapped. If you rescue him, he can join your party. He comes with a Moonblade, a sword who is bonded to its owner and an incredibly depressing view on your party's success.

Xan is only a party member in the first game, but does appear in the tutorial for Shadows of Amn. He's probably the most popular BG1 character to not get into BG2. Naturally there are mods to fix that.


  • Awesome, but Impractical: His Moonblade is the first game's best Longsword, but unfortunately you won't probably get much use out of it, because as a raw wizard, Xan has pathetic THAC 0 and only gets one single attack per round out of it, not to mention that with his health, he really shouldn't duel enemies in melee.
  • Blessed with Suck: Xan has this opinion about his moonblade. And about his magic. And about everything.
  • Can't Argue with Elves: You can, but he really doesn't care.
  • Can't Hold His Liquor: Since a character's tolerance for alcohol is directly proportional to their constitution, you can literally get him drunk on just one or two beers.
  • Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Ajantis. The latter has an annoying tendency to rush off and randomly attack any evil-aligned members of your party (ca. 30% of all available ones), but if Xan is nearby, he can soothe him with a speech about morality.
  • Cool Sword: His Moonblade is one of the first game's best weapons, but not quite as effective as it could be, because only he can wield it.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Pretty much with his every line.
  • Demoted to Extra: And not even in the main storyline, at that.
  • Determined Defeatist: Much more obvious in his mods, but it's the main reason he stays with the party.
  • The Eeyore:
    Xan: Life... is so hollow.
  • Empathic Weapon: The aforementioned Moonblade.
  • The Fatalist
  • Got Me Doing It: Indirectly: his cousin Erevain, a character in Icewind Dale, realizes he's complaining so much that he's beginning to sound like Xan.
  • Hidden Elf Village: He is, as likes to inform you in both games, from "Evereska in the north."
  • Lawful Neutral: in-universe He follows a personal code of ethics, but his main goal is to survive.
  • Our Elves Are Different:
  • Shout-Out: There's an offhand mention to Xan, and through him Baldur's Gate, in Erevain's journal in Icewind Dale.
  • Sour Supporter: All the way.
  • Squishy Wizard: A single-classed mage with a miraculous 7 constitution, Xan is the squishiest NPC of them all. While this technically doesn't make that much of a difference (7 is a sub-par stat, but it doesn't incur a HP penalty yet), it still means that he has the same pathetic health pool like Xzar and for that reason alone is already a character you don't want to keep around.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome/Tall, Dark, and Snarky: Not brought up in-universe, but the female fandom sure seems to think so.

    Branwen 

Branwen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/branwen_5436.jpg
"And by Tempus, I always repay my debts!"
Voiced by: Bernadette Sullivan (BG1), Jane Singer (BG2)

Race: Human
Class: Cleric
Alignment: True Neutral
Place of origin: Seawolf (a village on the Norheim Islands)

Branwen is a self-exiled cleric of Tempus, the god of war. She felt that her people wouldn't accept a priestess of the war god, and being right, she up and left. She bears no resentment, however, reasoning that faith must be tested or be worthless. At some point she was transformed into stone by a mage named Tranzig and sold to a halfling who uses her as a sideshow to be gawked at in a fair. Once she's rescued, she can join the party out of gratitude.

Along with Xan, she's in BG2's tutorial mode, but not in the game proper, but there is a mod that allows her to be in game proper.


  • Action Girl: Despite what her people wanted from her.
  • Adaptational Badass: In later versions of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Branwen is given a class kit (Priest of Tempus) that grants her two new abilities: Holy Power and Chaos of Battle. The former especially is useful for allowing her to fight on the front lines better by giving her 18/00 Strength, the Thac0 of a fighter and bonus hit points.
  • Brawn Hilda: Practically her given name, and part of the reason she left home — she didn't think her people would want a woman as a cleric of Tempus. She almost gets along with Shar-Teel because of this, but ultimately the latter is too... well, bloodthirsty, even for the priestess of a war god.
  • Church Militant: Averted. While she's a priestess of the war god Tempus, her devotion to battle is a personal choice and not part of a church organization (which Tempus hasn't got anyway, being Chaotic Neutral).
  • Dumb Blonde: Played with. Her Intelligence is quite low, but her Wisdom score is quite high. Much like Dorn, this translates as "low on the book-learning, high on the faith/enlightenment/common sense". Plus, she's still smart enough to not count as analphabetic, unlike Minsc.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: She's from the setting's equivalent of medieval Scandinavia, which is quite apparent in everything from her name to her way of speaking to her choice of deity.
  • The Generic Guy: Well, girl. Her stats are decent across the board as opposed to the more specialised Viconia, Yeslick and Jaheira, she has no noticeable personality conflicts and is somewhat obscure to obtain. And, just to rub it in, she was the very last playable character added to this page having been forgotten about entirely. Fortunately, she gets a bit more personality thanks to the Priest of Tempus kit Beamdog gave her in later versions of the Enhanced Edition, allowing her to correct her low Strength and fight as a Fighter of the same level for a number of rounds equal to her level.
  • Give Me Your Inventory Item: In order to get her in your party, you have to use a magical scroll to reverse her petrification.
  • Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Sort of. She's not especially benevolent or benign, but she clearly has a moral compass (in fact, it was having one that got her imprisoned in the first place).
  • I Owe You My Life: Why she follows you.
  • Jack of All Stats: Occupies a middle ground between Jaheira and Yeslick (who are fighters with some priest spells) and Viconia and Quayle (who are spellcasters unsuited for melee combat).
  • Nice Girl: One of the nicer party members you can find. It's almost enough to make her qualify for Neutral Good.
  • Odd Friendship: She appreciates Shar-Teel for her strength and warrior instincts. With reservations, however, since Shar-Teel's love of carnage and hatred of men far outstrip her sense of honor.
  • Oh, My Gods!: She invokes the names of certain gods of the Realms in her quotes.
    Branwen: By the ice breath of Auril! 'Tis good to see new faces and taste freedom again!
    Branwen: By Tempus' shield!
    Branwen: By Valkur's mighty blade!/By Valkur's strapping buttocks!
    Branwen: Damn the icicles of Auril. I'm BORED.
    Branwen: May Auril bestow the frost kiss on our enemies!
  • Private Military Contractors: To support herself after her exile, she turned to lending her clerical aid for a price.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: She worships the god of battle, and the party members she likes best are warriors. Notable is that Tempus favours this attitude over The Berserker.
  • Put on a Bus: Not even mentioned in BG2 outside a cameo in the tutorial.
  • Religion is Magic: She's a cleric of Tempus, god of war.
  • Ship Tease:
    • She really likes Ajantis, and will praise him roughly every five minutes if you have both in a party. Ajantis in turn will inform Branwen in an uncharacteristically low tone that she "is a most beautiful lady". Get a room you two!
    • She'll also occasionally exchange slightly flirtatious compliments on courage and battle prowess with Kivan.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Stay in the Kitchen: Her backstory explains that her becoming a cleric was against tradition in her hometown, as it was considered a man's job, and her self-imposed exile from her hometown set in motion the events that led to her coming to the Sword Coast and becoming Taken for Granite.
  • Taken for Granite: Though not permanently.
  • True Neutral: In-universe. She's mainly interested in finding enjoyable fights, but she sometimes displays typical warrior code honour in her quotations.
  • Valkyrie: Her long golden hair, large frame, Northern European accent, and worship of the war god gives this impression. Sadly, she came along an edition too early to be allowed to wield an axe (which turns out to be Tempus' favoured weapon, just to rub it in).

    Kivan 

Kivan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kivan_1893.jpg
"My soul aches for my lost Deherianna."
Voiced by: Rob Paulsen

Race: Elf
Class: Ranger
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Place of origin: Shilmista forest

Kivan is an elven ranger with a dark past. The love of his life, Deherianna, was slain, in a rather horrific manner, by an ogre bandit named Tazok, and he has dedicated his life to hunting him down.

Kivan only appears in the first Baldur's Gate, but has enough of a fan following to inspire mods which allow him to join you for the sequel and its expansion.


  • Best Served Cold: He wants revenge on Tazok for torturing him and killing his wife.
  • Chaotic Good: in-universeHe's basically goodhearted and admires the player for performing good deeds, but goodness comes before obedience any day with him. Meanwhile, Revenge can't be said to be the most Lawful act, or even a particularly Neutral one, either.
  • Crusading Widower: Even though Tazok is his ultimate goal, he's been hunting bandits for months before you meet him.
  • Facial Markings: In his default portrait, and unexplained as with most characters in the first game.
  • Fantastic Racism:
    • Against Viconia for being a drow. It goes the other way as well — Viconia despises surface elves like him for no reason, though she'll express regret if he dies while she's in the party.
    • Even though he never says anything about Yeslick or Kagain, he doesn't seem too keen on dwarves, either. It's also interesting to note that drow live underground as well.
      Kivan: [while underground] Why must we emulate the ways of the dwarven folk by crawling about these warrens?
  • Flat Character: Aside from some odd quirks (see Odd Friendship), his entire personality is defined by his revenge mission.
  • Forest Ranger: Played quite straight. He's an elven ranger, a skilled archer, and you encounter him in the woodland of High Hedge.
  • Glass Cannon: Third-highest strength in the game and good dexterity to boot, as befitting an elf, and he uses the games' most damaging weapons, Halberds and Composite Longbows. Unsurprisingly, his health is somewhat low for a warrior. Justifiable in-universe, though, in that he was tortured before the events of the game take place.
  • Hates Small Talk: Two of his responses when clicking on his portrait repeatedly are him telling you that he doesn't want to talk right now.
    Kivan: There is a time for talk, this is not such a time.
    Kivan: We must not waste time on idle chatter!
  • Hidden Elf Village: In his biography, it's stated he comes from Shilmista Forest, which is east and a bit south of Athkatla and the other locations in the second game. For the curious, here's a map of Faerun.
  • It's Personal: His motive for revenge is very personal indeed.
  • Mutually Exclusive Party Members: Viconia, since neither one can get over their respective races' historical dislike of each other.
  • Odd Friendship:
    • With Branwen whose courage he admires while she in turn compliments him on his strength as a warrior.
    • He remarks that Ajantis' "courage shames the others", while Ajantis will compliment him on being a "man of honor" and says he respects his integrity.
    • In his biography, <Charname> remarks that his/her impression of Kivan is that he doesn't seem to make friends easily. This view isn't entirely supported by the game, making it seem like Kivan has an Odd Friendship with everyone. He will compliment Good and Neutral-aligned characters and thank people for their compliments, indicating he has social skills. He also realizes that you and those in your party are strangers to the Sword Coast, so he must know a lot of people. He is perfectly happy to join a group, even saying "I hope we will work well together". However, the fact that his wife died (which is the most stressful event ever in a person's life and which would have left him angry and maybe also depressed) would lead people to avoid him and avoid talking to him, which is a problem that happens in Real Life as well. As noted elsewhere, Charisma is the leadership stat, not the social skills stat. Kivan would obviously have trouble convincing others to follow him in his revenge mission, as most people wouldn't be willing to do what basically sounds like a suicide mission.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Doesn't have a problem with slaughtering Tazok or anyone else who associates with him, regardless of whether they had a hand in his wife's killing or not.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Not surprising given his backstory, but he's never happy.
  • Put on a Bus: Despite being a fairly popular character in the first game, he doesn't even make a cameo in the commercially released sequel. There are fan mods which put him back in.
    • Unlike most of the companions who don't appear in the second game, Kivan's character files and data are in BG2, and he can even be spawned with a console command or viewed with a creature editor. His file has a character portrait associated with it, which BG1 characters who make cameos but don't join the party don't get, indicating that he would have been recruitable.
    • He puts himself on a bus at Siege of Dragonspear, seeing no purpose to fight after Tazok has been killed and his revenge fulfilled. Little did he know that Tazok would return in Shadows of Amn.
  • The Quiet One: Goes along with Hates Small Talk. Played straight in the game; averted by the mods, which try to paint him as a sympathetic, sentimental elf who is WAY too chatty.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Kivan's sole reason for being in the game.
    Kivan: My need for revenge gives me strength to go on.
  • Shout-Out: His voice sounds almost exactly like Dirty Harry.
  • Vigilante Man: He'll get his revenge... somehow.
  • Widowed at the Wedding: Having his wife tortured and murdered before your very eyes. On his honeymoon, no less.

    Coran 

Coran

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/coran_1578.jpg
"A figure like yours shouldn't be risked in a profession such as adventuring."
Voiced by: Brian George

Race: Elf
Class: Fighter/Thief
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Place of origin: Thethir forest

Coran is a happy-go-lucky elven adventurer and serial womanizer who's encountered in Cloakwood forest. At first he's insistent on hunting wyverns, but after that subquest is completed he will join the party permanently. He will flirt shamelessly with female party members, particularly Safana, and in addition has a lovechild in Baldur's Gate that he may or may not know about... depending on player actions. He can't be recruited until fairly late in the game, but his combination of archery and thieving skills and his excellent statistics make him a fairly popular character nonetheless.

He shows up for a cameo in the second game, but can't be recruited. His only appearance in Siege of Dragonspear involves Safana chasing him out of their room at the Elfsong Tavern, where he's in too much of a hurry to join the player in the fight against the Crusade. Safana, on the other hand...


  • Aborted Arc: Pre-release materials pegged him as one of the characters who would return as a party member in BG2. Instead, his role in the sequel is limited to a very brief cameo. Charname can still ask him to join, but he will decline.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: With his stats, he should be the best thief in the game; however, because the game handles the auto-levelling of thieves very poorly, by the time many players get to him he will be locked out of his full thieving potential.
    • He is hardly useless though. Even if he is gotten too late to adequately fill the party's needs for a thief, he handles the "Fighter" part of his Fighter/Thief multiclass very well. While his relatively low Strength (for a Fighter) means his decent sword skills will pretty much go to waste, his illegally high Dexterity of 20 and his bow skills make him the best archer in the game and he's still fairly useful all-around.
  • Bestiality Is Depraved: Complicated — it involves shapeshifting. One of his lovers is a wolfwere. But she was human when he slept with her. When he finds out she's actually a wolfwere, he's fairly disgusted.
  • The Casanova: A relatively sympathetic one, in contrast to Eldoth.
  • Chaotic Good:invoked He's a For Happiness kind of guy, and actively opposes any attempts by anyone to restrict his lifestyle.
  • Chocolate Baby: His former lover is human, as is her husband. The fact that her child was a half-elf is what tipped him off that she was playing away from home.
  • Demoted to Extra: A pseudo-villainous one, during his cameo with Safana in the sequel. There is a mod that makes him avert him and outright turn him into an ally.
  • Disappeared Dad: Though it's not clear he knows about the child.
    • He does if you take him into Baldur's Gate with you. Brielbara, the mother of the child, is near the Splurging Sturgeon and will ask the party to save her child from a curse her husband put on the baby. She will specifically talk to Coran and tell him it's his child if he's in the party. Once she is done explaining her situation, Coran will ask the party members to help him. If you refuse, he leaves. If you agree and bring back Yago's spellbook so the curse can be broken, Brielbara will ask Coran to join her in raising their daughter together. He refuses.
  • Facial Markings: A bandit mask-like stripe across his eyes. Seldom mentioned and never explained.
  • Gambit Pileup: You happen upon him late in Shadows of Amn, still pining/lusting after Safana, and trying to rope Charname into helping him to rescue her from wolfweres... one of whom is an ex-lover of his, and is in cahoots with Safana, who wants to collect on the bounty on your Bhaalspawn head. The situation can very easily end with any or all of them dead.
  • For Happiness: His motivation for being a good guy and ultimate goal in life. What prevents him from being Neutral Good is that this of course also includes his own happiness.
  • Handsome Lech: It gets him in trouble eventually.
  • I'm a Man; I Can't Help It: To his eventual sorrow.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He refuses to help raise his daughter, but when she is really in danger, he is there for her.
  • Ladykiller in Love: Flirts with all the female companions, but is especially head-over-heels for Safana.
  • Long-Range Fighter: In terms of accuracy, Coran is the best archer in the game, thanks to an ungodly high Dexterity stat, an illegal number of proficiency points and one extra point just for being an elf. Although, he can also do pretty well as a backstabber, especially if you raise his strength.
  • Lovable Traitor: In BG2, there's a subplot in which he turns into one. Naturally, one of his past affairs is involved.
  • My Rules Are Not Your Rules: Even taking his unnatural Dexterity aside, Coran is given some incorrect bonuses. He has three proficiency points in bows, even though multiclass Fighters shouldn't be able to go higher than two. His base THAC0 and attacks per round are also higher than what a normal Fighter would have, let alone a multiclass. Also, when you happen to run into him when he's still Fighter 3/Thief 3, he still starts out with 27 hp - even though such a character without a high constitution skill could maximally have 24 hp at that point (5 hp for each level as a fighter and 3 hp for each as a thief). Which is especially egregious considering that other characters usually only get max hp for the first level and then become progressively worse the later you recruit them.
  • Our Elves Are Different: Like many characters in these games, he's a subversion of a fantasy stereotype, in this case the severe, humorless elf warrior. However, according to the description of the elven race in-game, he isn't a subversion at all — elves are described as being in love with beauty and somewhat flighty.
    Elves are looked upon as being frivolous and aloof. They concern themselves with natural beauty, dancing, frolicking, and other similar pursuits. Their humor is clever, as are their songs and poetry.

    Safana 

Safana

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/safana_4059.jpg
"I'll do anything."
Voiced by: Diane Pershing

Race: Human
Class: Thief
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Place of origin: Calimport (capital of Calimshan)

Safana is a sultry female thief first encountered in the Seawatcher Ruins area, where she is searching for lost treasure. She has a bit of a dark past, and is skilled at using her looks to manipulate men and get what she wants. As a result, Coran will take quite a shine to her if they're in the same party.

She can be obtained relatively early in the game and has some amusing dialogue, so she was fairly popular among players, but nevertheless she did not make it to the sequel as a playable character. She does, however, show up as a minor NPC at one point late in the game. She would eventually return as a possible party member in the interquel Siege of Dragonspear more than a decade and a half after BG2.


  • Action Girl: Lives a life of swashbuckling action and romance, and luxury when she can get it.
  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: She takes an interest in Dorn, a self-professed bad guy and mass-murderer. Dorn is too suspicious of her to let her get close, though.
  • Ascended Extra: Siege of Dragonspear results in her gaining a much deeper personality and even possibly romancing the PC.
  • Backstab: Literally, as a thief, and figuratively as well.
  • The Casanova: The female equivalent. Safana loves them, leaves them, and occasionally steals their stuff.
  • Chaotic Neutral: in-universe Cares only about herself, mostly, and Coran too to an extent. Not ruthless or destable enough to be evil, however.
  • Charm Person: Safana's Flirt special ability, restored in Unfinished Business and some unofficial patches, is essentially a non-magical version of this. It makes its return in Siege of Dragonspear.
  • The Charmer: Highest charisma score in the game, on par with Ajantis'.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Though she doesn't betray the PC until the second game.
    • Amusingly enough, in Siege of Dragonspear, she helps the player oust a crusader spy in the coalition camp, although she was probably concerned for her own safety, seeing as she was the one who pickpocketed the incriminating evidence.
  • City Mouse: A slight example. While she doesn't share Skie's naivete and has some experience with adventuring, she still prefers a pampered lifestyle. This becomes especially true in Siege of Dragonspear, where the vast majority of the game is spent in the wilderness.
    Safana: What I wouldn't give for a cozy inn and a hot bath.
  • Demoted to Extra: She only has a few lines of dialogue in the sequel, and is only around long enough to betray the party before being killed.
  • Double Entendre: Much of her dialogue consists of these, which is part of what makes her popular with players.
  • Face–Heel Turn: Sorta. On one hand, what she does is pretty tame considering what other characters get up to in the sequel. On the other, she was never exactly a good person to begin with, merely being not-interested-in-being-evil.
  • Femme Fatale: Her entire personality is a take on this trope, though she doesn't behave this way toward Charname (until Siege of Dragonspear). Definitely to Coran, though. And in a way, she's also is this for the person behind the mouse.
  • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Her selection and action quotes are flirts directed at the player.
  • Gambit Pileup: Let's review. Coran is in love with her. Safana wants the bounty offered for Bhaalspawn, and is willing to turn on Charname to get it. Coran's ex-lover Lanfear still has feelings for him, but he left her after he found out she was a wolfwere in human form. Safana joined forces with Lanfear, who pretended to kidnap Safana so as to lure Coran into a trap, with Coran asking Charname's help, so that Lanfear gets Coran and Safana gets the bounty for Charname. The situation is even more complicated in-game, and can easily result in any or all of them dead at the player or each other's hands.
  • It's All About Me: Unabashedly selfish. Not entirely unphilosophical about it, however.
  • Ladykiller in Love: With Coran. She plays hard to get, but is sad if he dies. Well, sad by her standards.
    Safana: Don't die, silly elf. I didn't mean all the things I said!
    • Averted in Siege of Dragonspear, where her opening scene involves her chasing Coran out of her room in the Elfsong tavern, which leaves her open for a romance with a male PC. She later dumps him in favor of Voghiln the skald, but that obviously doesn't last since she's seen once again with Coran in BG2.
  • Love Triangle: Eventually creates one with both the player and Voghlin in Siege of Dragonspear. If the player is male and romancing her, she dumps him after telling him the skald is better at handling women. Conversely, if a female PC has a romance with Voghiln, he'll admit to falling for Safana's feminine wiles and apologize, and the player can decide whether or not the romance continues from there.
  • Karmic Death: In BG2. She's betrayed and killed by one of Coran's other lovers, after betraying the protagonist.
  • The Münchausen: A female version, though her stories aren't quite as outlandish as Jan Jansen's.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse: How she ultimately meets her downfall — she's the hypotenuse.
  • Pirate: She became one when she ran away from her pampered upbringing.
  • Pirate Booty: What she's looking for when you meet her.
  • Really Gets Around: And proud of it.
  • Rebellious Princess: Her father was an influential noble in Calimport. She ran away from him because she found life with him too confining.
  • Too Dumb to Live: By this point, Safana has seen the Bhaalspawn PC kill Saverok and Caelar as well as no end of other threats. The fact she thinks she can take them (along with their companions) with a wolfwere associate is monstrously stupid.
  • Suicidal Overconfidence: Safana taking the Bhaalspawn out alone with her companion would be questionable. However, the Bhaalspawn is traveling with their party and Coran. Her Greed really got the better of her.
  • The Vamp: She'll do anything.

    Tiax 

Tiax

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tiax_8260.jpg
"The day comes when TIAX will point and click!"
Voiced by: John Mariano

Race: Gnome
Class: Cleric/Thief
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Place of origin: Unknown, but presumably Baldur's Gate

A gnomish cleric and rogue, Tiax is an utterly insane follower of Cyric (the utterly insane god of lying and evil). Tiax is possibly the single most insane character in the entire series, and that is honestly saying something: He believes Cyric has proclaimed him to rule Toril (the world you're on) and that though he hasn't quite taken over yet his time will soon come.

He has been locked up by the Flaming Fist in Siege of Dragonspear, and refuses to join the player on account of a "dark omen" from Cyric. He has a cameo in BG2, where he's been sent to the Cowled Wizards' mage prison/insane asylum of Spellhold.


  • Ax-Crazy: Those who won't bow down before him will be struck down, to teach them the error of their ways! Unfortunately for Tiax and the world, this is almost everybody, since nobody takes a mad gnome with delusions of grandeur seriously.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Mind you, he's not trying to be silly, but most people do tend to view him as a joke. He is nonetheless powerful enough to be treated as one of Spellhold's more dangerous inmates in the second game— despite being a divine caster, rather than one of the more typical wizards and sorcerers housed there.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Played for Laughs. The possibility of him actually getting his dream of ruling the world never once rises above the level of amusing delusion.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: More like Boisterous Weakling, but he can be quite tough if you know how to do it.
  • The Caligula: He orders people around with demands like these, though no one listens to him.
  • Chaotic Evil: in-universe Like Xzar, of the batshit insane Ax-Crazy kind. Unlike Xzar, however, he's not sufficiently high-functioning to keep himself out of trouble or to rise up the ranks of an organization, much less establish the kind of empire he wants for himself.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Even more out there than Minsc or Xzar, which is saying something. He's so mad, in fact, that by the time you meet up with him in Shadows of Amn he's been locked up in Spellhold Asylum, along with a number of other spellcasters who are being treated for various magical/psychological ailments. Tiax is among the inmates who can be goaded into helping you stage a mutiny against the asylum's faculty, although Tiax and the others don't last long against Irenicus.
  • Consulting a Convicted Killer: Briefly, when (and if) you try and recruit him in the Flaming Fist's dungeons for your quest to stop Caelar Argent in Siege Of Dragonspear.
  • Demoted to Extra: Not that most players gave him too big a role in the first game, but he gets only a short amount of screen time in the sequel. There is at least a mod that lets him survive Irenicus' spell and join your party, or somehow makes his way to Temple District at Athkatla if refused.
  • Depraved Gnome: He'd probably like to be seen as this, but tends to come off as something closer to Plucky Comic Relief.
  • Epic Flail: He comes with one.
  • Incoming Ham: Like Minsc, it's his standard way of responding whenever he's spoken to. Justified by the fact that he is utterly insane.
  • Insane Equals Violent: Until he can put assemble his armies to march upon the world, he has to get his hands dirty murdering his detractors personally.
  • Joke Character: Though he's not as underpowered as the typical example, his primary role is to provide comic relief.
  • Large Ham: Tiax shall RULE THE WORLD! Just... you... wait.
  • Laughably Evil: More like Laughably Chaotic Stupid, but yeah.
  • Mad Oracle: Between this and Consulting a Convicted Killer in Siege of Dragonspear— locked up by the Flaming Fist for being a violent maniac, Tiax claims that his god Cyric has provided him with some kind of cryptic ill omen regarding your quest. He's short on details, but it's enough for Tiax to refuse to join you, even if that means continuing to rot in his cell. Given that you later come across a group of Cyricists who are being devoured by mind flayers, maybe he's not so crazy after all.
  • The Napoleon: He might be small, but he's got big dreams! ...of world conquest and godhood. Woe to you if you dare to point it out. If you put him in a party with Quayle, the latter's snarky comments will eventually end in bloodshed.
  • Napoleon Delusion: Extraordinarily deluded, this is the primary form his madness takes. Tiax lives in a completely different world from anyone else, and is unshakeable in his belief that he will one day rule the world. Played for Laughs.
  • No Fourth Wall:
    Tiax: The day will come when TIAX will point and click.
  • Our Gnomes Are Weirder: They worship gods of evil and want to take over the world! Or at least this one does, anyway.
  • Religion of Evil: In his case, the religion of Ax-Crazy, mentally unhinged evil.
  • Small Name, Big Ego: It doesn't get much bigger than believing you're destined to rule the world.
    • One of the few things would be to believe what Tiax does in the sequel: that he already rules the world.
  • Take Over the World: Of course!
  • Third-Person Person: Practically every time he speaks.
  • This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: As odd as it may sound, there is actually one thing in the game that only he can pull off: because stealing and opening locks under the cleric spell Sanctuary doesn't reveal you to your surroundings, you can go with him on a thieving spree through Baldur's Gate without ticking off the Flaming Fist.
  • Too Dumb to Live: Generally speaking. Quayle will even invoke this trope word for word if he dies.
  • Vagueness Is Coming: Cyric, the Forgotten Realms' Chaotic Evil god of madness, has provided his servant Tiax with some premonition of coming doom hanging over Charname's quest to stop Caelar Argent's crusade. Or at least that's what Tiax claims.
  • We Can Rule Together: What he proposes to you upon meeting him. Although it is more of a deal of "I help you now and you help me later."

    Shar-Teel 

Shar-Teel

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sharteel_9002.jpg
"Men never think with their minds."
Voiced by: Jennifer Darling

Race: Human
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Place of origin: Baldur's Gate

A female warrior who's encountered in the wilds between Candlekeep and Baldur's Gate. She enjoys humiliating male adventurers by challenging them to duels and soundly thrashing them. She'll challenge a male member of the PC's group to a fight when you meet her, and if she is defeated, she will grudgingly agree to join the party.


  • Action Girl: One of the most violent and bloodthirsty warriors in the first game, even.
  • Aerith and Bob: She has an unusual name given that she's a native of Baldur's Gate. Whose father's name is Angelo.
  • A Lighter Shade of Black: While still a violent and grumpy person, Shar-teel is generally one of the more morally-neutral Evil party members.
  • Ax-Crazy: Though not as much as some of the other Chaotic Evil characters.
  • Backstab: Like in Imoen's case, players quickly noticed that her dexterity stat is high enough to dual-class her into a thief right from the get-go. Dual Wielding a proper pair of weapons (Drizzt's scimitars come to mind), combined with her very high Strength can make her an extremely lethal Backstabber.
  • Blood Knight: With a gender-specific twist.
  • Braids of Barbarism: Has a pair of braided pigtails in her portrait.
  • Brawn Hilda: The helmet, the braids, and the blondeness all add to this impression. She's also a Blood Knight with 18/58 strength.
  • Chaotic Evil: in-universe She's a type 1, due to being more interested in her freedom to murder and/or humiliate men with abandon than going on an active rampage through the countryside.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Subverted. She offers to join the party if you defeat her, but she never warms up to you even if you accept.
    • Unless you play as a female character, in which case she'll respect you and tell you not to think yourself second to any man.
  • Defeat Means Playable: As noted above, you have to beat her in order to recruit her into the party.
  • Defector from Decadence: Technically. Since she's the traitor Angelo's daughter.
  • Does Not Like Men: To say the least.
  • Dual Wielding: Two different weapons, to boot.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Branwen seems to have a bit of a girl-crush on her, as does Skie to a lesser extent. For Shar-Teel's part, she simply brushes off their interesting compliments with a smirk.
    Shar-Teel: Flattery will get you nowhere.
  • Evil Redhead: In the base game. This was changed to blonde to match her default portrait in the Enhanced Edition.
  • Facial Markings: In her portrait, but the game doesn't explain any character's facial markings apart from Minsc and Faldorn, leading most people to believe they're either tattoos or war paint. Also because if during character creation you pick the portrait that is canonically assigned to them the game will assign them another one instead.
  • Freudian Excuse: In addition to her dislike of men, Shar-Teel's biography says that she also hates Flaming Fist mercenaries and that "...likely her childhood was not of storybook quality." Fast forward to Chapter Seven and you meet her father. Briefly: he's a member of the Flaming Fist, and he is a horrible, horrible person. All of a sudden her behavior makes a lot of sense.
  • Genius Bruiser: With 14 intelligence, she's surprisingly intelligent by Warrior standards.
  • Glass Cannon: Strength? 18/53, a fair score. Dexterity? 17. Constitution? 9. She also focuses on using a weapon in each hand, removing the option of a shield.
  • Horny Vikings: There's no obvious reason for the horned helmet she wears in her portrait.
  • I Gave My Word: Why she will follow you, if you beat her in a fight. It certainly sets her apart from Eldoth.
  • Just Eat Gilligan: Her modus operandi. She's usually also strong enough to pull it off.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Killing Eldoth is definitely something players can sympathize with.
  • No Guy Wants an Amazon: Not that you can blame them in Shar-Teel's case.
  • Pet the Dog: Shar-Teel occasionally tells other women in the party not to think themselves second to any man.
  • Psychotic Smirk: In her portrait, at least.
  • Put on a Bus: Disappears between games.
  • The Reveal: She's actually the daughter of Angelo Dosan, an officer in the Flaming Fist and one of Sarevok's lieutenants.
  • Shout-Out: Two quotes from macho man Arnold Schwarzenegger, the better to muddle her hatred of men and love of battle.
    • One from John Matrix of Commando: "You're such a funny man. That's why I'm going to kill you last." She lied (in a way that unless you order to, she probably won't kill him).
    • The other: "If it bleeds, I can kill it." Which was, and is, frequently used by misogynists to mock the supposed weakness and instability of women.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: She won't fight women; the champion who fights her has to be male. Once she's joined you, though, she'll kill whoever you tell her to kill, gender notwithstanding.

    Eldoth 

Eldoth Kron

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/eldothkron_2317.jpg
"Better a coward than a dead man."
Voiced by: Neil Ross

Race: Human
Class: Bard
Alignment: Neutral Evil
Place of origin: Ruathym

A sleazy bard first encountered in Cloakwood forest, Eldoth wants the party's help in "rescuing" Skie, a young noblewoman from Baldur's Gate with whom he's involved. Suffice it to say, he doesn't have her best interests at heart and intends to use her as he has all his previous lovers, which earns him the enmity of a few of the other characters.


  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: Skie prefers him to the generally much nicer Garrick.
  • Asshole Victim: Kill him yourself, let Shar-Teel handle it, let some random monster handle it — any way you slice it, no one's going to miss him.
  • Battle Couple: with Skie... kind of.
  • Black Mail: What he intends to do if his plan to elope with Skie is successful.
  • Bullying a Dragon: In some of the party banter, he thinks making misogynistic jibes at Shar-Teel is a good idea. It ends badly for him.
  • The Casanova
  • Consummate Liar: He's as dishonest with you as he is with Skie about his plans to extort her father using her as a hostage.
  • Dirty Coward: And he admits it. Not that that helps his case.
  • Domestic Abuser: If Shar-Teel doesn't kil him for his misogyny, the player will probably beat her to the punch when they see how he treats Skie.
  • Evil Brit: Has kind of a transcontinental thing going on.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He sets himself up as the suave, friendly and helpful kind of Affably Evil. Don't believe a word of it. Not that you would... probably not, anyway.
  • Gold Digger: His method of supporting himself.
  • Handsome Lech: He's good-looking, to be sure, but it's abundantly clear that his external attractiveness is not mirrored on the inside.
  • He-Man Woman Hater: Oh GOD, is he ever. He is essentially Shar-Teel's Spear Counterpart.
    Eldoth: Shar-Teel, your lot in life is to bake cookies and bear children. Now shut up.
  • Jerkass: Although the man is technically a low-key flavour of evil, and thus not willing to slaughter half the Sword Coast for shit and giggles like Dorn, the cleric of an evil deity like Viconia and Tiax, a greedy money-grubbing mercenary like Kagain or a member of an evil organisation like Xzar and Montaron and Edwin, Eldoth is still less likable than all of them, since Viconia is something of a Tragic Villain and an excellent healer besides, Dorn, Kagain and Edwin all excel as the masters of their own niches within the party and Tiax, Xzar and Montaron are sufficiently amusing to cover their deficient moral status. Eldoth, however, is an egocentric, petty sleazoid with no entertainment value and little, if any, practical use to compensate.
  • Karma Houdini: After the defeat of Sarevok, Eldoth eventually found a harlot who seemed to be a bigger target than Skie. He proceeded to dump Skie, and she returned the favor by never associating with him again. That's the last we saw Eldoth: He got himself with a new 'lover'/prey and free to continue his unrepentant sleazeball asshole life while Skie ended up getting killed horribly and it caused complications to Charname. Not even having him killed manually will help, since Skie became an important character in Siege of Dragonspear, thus the dumping was canon and important for her own development and a character that has mentions in the latter series timeline will always ignore 'being killed by accident, not mandatory scripted event'.
  • Love Triangle: Between him, Garrick and Skie.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Pretty much described as such in his character biography.
  • Master of None: Arguably even moreso than Garrick. While Garrick's one good stat (Dexterity) at least benefits his class greatly (it makes him dodge better, a better sniper and a decent pickpocket), Eldoth barely benefits from his comparatively good strength since he can not wear heavy armor and despite his decent constitution he is not guaranteed to have better health than Garrick, because you can recruit him only fairly late into the game while the latter is available in the first chapter. Even the poisoned arrows he can create via his special ability are not very useful because only he himself can use them, and Eldoth is, from an accuracy standpoint, hands down the worst archer in the game. His only saving grace are the fact that he has the highest Charisma of all evil-aligned party members and his good lore, but since you're all but guaranteed to be swimming in gold by the time you get him, even this falls somewhat flat.
  • Neutral Evil: in-universe He's a slick, confident slimeball who cares only about his own pleasure and is aloof and abusive towards Skie.
  • Poisoned Weapons: His special ability is creating poisoned arrows.
  • Put on a Bus: He plays no part at all in the sequel. (Although he cameos in at least one mod in a typical Eldoth fashion). He didn't even appear in Siege of Dragonspear, Skie finally dumped him, but that was because Eldoth dumped her first for a random harlot he found (that he probably thought would make a better target than Skie, considering his personality.
  • The Rival: Garrick hates his guts, and so do the players.
    • Xan also really dislikes him. He even has a unique line if Eldoth dies.
    Xan: I would grieve for Eldoth, if it were not for the sense of joy I now feel!
    • Likewise, Shar-Teel, who also has a unique line if he dies.
    Shar-Teel: The swine had it coming.
  • Slimeball: Slick and confident, Eldoth is also a selfish, petty, self-aggrandizing jackass. If that wasn't immediately obvious, look at his portrait. Look at it!
  • Spoony Bard: The one thing he and Garrick have in common is that neither is particularly useful.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: He's a raging sexist, as demonstrated by the quote above.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Skie seems to think so... The difference between this trope and the reality of what he actually is is so enormous that many players can only facepalm.
  • Too Dumb to Live: As the quote above also shows, he thinks absolutely nothing about getting to the case of Shar-Teel, a similarly sexist and very strong warrior woman. She eventually, and predictably, responds with violence.

    Skie 

Skie Silvershield

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skie_8254.jpg
"I broke a nail!"
Voiced by: Grey Delisle

Race: Human
Class: Thief
Alignment: True Neutral
Place of origin: Baldur's Gate

A naive young noblewoman who enjoys sneaking out of her family's estate, she dreams about becoming an adventurer but has rather unrealistic ideas of what that entails. She's involved with Eldoth and will call the guards when confronted by the party unless he is with them. She's one of the last characters in the game to become available for use and is always accompanied by Spoony Bard Eldoth, and for those reasons many players don't bother with her.

She makes a return in Siege of Dragonspear, where she has distanced herself from Eldoth and joined the Flaming Fist. Her father (who has been brought Back from the Dead since the events of the original campaign) even grants her permission because it thinks it will help build her character, but makes the player promise to bring her home safe. However, she is not available as a party member and will instead show up at several points throughout the game, where the player can give her some guidance in the right direction.

She is murdered by Irenicus after the player, who is framed for the crime, returns from the final battle in Hell. Skie's death is what ultimately destroys their reputation as a hero and gets them cast out of Baldur's Gate.


  • All Girls Want Bad Boys: She has a perfectly nice guy waiting for her right there, but she chooses the womanizing jerk she's already with instead.
  • Ambiguously Bi: For a young woman in a relationship with a man, she has some rather interesting lines reserved for Shar-Teel, including claiming to feel safe with her in the party and calling her a "beautiful person". Maybe Shar-Teel is good-looking enough to provoke that response?
  • Ascended Extra: Her Character Development takes off in Siege of Dragonspear, and she eventually ties into the main plot pretty significantly.
  • Ballet: She happens to be a pretty good ballet dancer, according to her biography, which is the source of her 18 Dexterity, making her exceptionally agile.
  • Battle Couple: With Eldoth... sort of.
  • Can't Catch Up: Excluding the use of cheat codes, she's one of only four party members unavailable until you can access Baldur's Gate, and suffers as a result.
  • City Mouse: She wants to be an adventurer, but turns out to be ill-prepared for the realities of life on the road.
  • Fallen Princess: If you actually do break her out of her family's estate, all she does is complain about how dirty and uncomfortable the road is.
  • The Fashionista
    Skie: I'm so bored. Let's go shoppiiiiiing!
  • Genius Ditz: She has an INT score of 15 and a WIS score of 8, making her well-educated, with a good knowledge of history and languages, but clueless, foolish and naive.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: She really doesn't realize just how big a scumbag Eldoth is. It took being dumped by him to finally make her realize what a scum he is.
  • I Broke a Nail: As quoted above.
  • Idle Rich: What she was apparently before you came along. She didn't really do much with her life until then.
  • The Ingenue: A fact which Eldoth uses to extort her.
  • Killed Off for Real: Irenicus, being as apathetically cruel as he is, murders her using the Soultaker dagger, and as the name implies, it traps her soul inside and makes it so she can't be resurrected. There is a Game Mod for the second game for the purpose of fixing this, as in, bringing Skie Back from the Dead.
  • Love Triangle: Eldoth and Garrick both pursue her. The matter is never resolved in an unmodded game even if one of them is killed.
  • Mad Love: She doesn't like the way Eldoth treats her sometimes, but she still stays with him, and she will defend him to Garrick despite this.
    Skie (to Eldoth): Why do you always have to make fun of me? I hate you! Get away from me!
    Garrick: Why do you stay with Eldoth, Skie? Can't you see that he's just using you?
    Skie: Eldoth is a kind man. He cares about me, Garrick!
  • Naïve Everygirl
  • No Accounting for Taste: They may not be married, but Skie's relationship with Eldoth has this.
  • Odd Friendship: Her unusually friendly moments with Shar-Teel, of all people, are her only significant interactions with people outside her Love Triangle.
  • Ojou: And she still behaves like one even after she isn't one anymore.
  • Rebellious Princess: Similar to Nalia in BG2, she's a noblewoman rather than a princess. Her rebelliousness isn't motivated as much by idealism as Nalia's is.
  • Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Oh boy.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story: If you take a look at what's happening to her, the poor girl's life is this. The man she's in love with treats her like garbage and actually extorts her family, she turns out to be completely unsuited for the adventuring life she longed for, her brother has been killed somewhere on the road and no one seems to care about that, and then her father is assassinated. If you try to drop her from the party, she says she has nowhere to go and nothing to do with herself. The best thing you can do is abandon Eldoth cold and never take her along. Siege of Dragonspear seemingly tried to defy this by having her finally grow some spine and ditch Eldoth (but only after he ditched her first for a random harlot), but eventually didn't make it any better, since she ended up being murdered by Jon Irenicus to eventually frame and capture the Bhaalspawn
  • Sheltered Aristocrat: What she was prior to joining your party.
  • Took a Level in Badass: After joining the Flaming Fist. She still gets into trouble on occasion, but some of the feats she pulls off on her own include taking on a couple of ogres and gathering important intelligence at Dragonspear Castle.
  • True Companions: If she's happy with how you go about things, she considers the party this.
    Skie: You're the finest group of friends I ever had!
  • True Neutral: in-universe The girl is mostly interested in having a fun time with her friends, whoever they happen to be at the time. That said, she's nowhere near as selfish and self-obsessed as Eldoth.
  • Uptown Girl: For Garrick.
  • Virginity Makes You Stupid: It's not clear whether the literal definition of this trope technically applies or not, but the setup between her and Eldoth is a classic case.

    Faldorn 

Faldorn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/faldorn_3172.jpg
"I revel in the rituals of combat, and I welcome the chance to end your miserable existence."
Voiced by: Heidi Shannon (BG1), B. J. Ward (BG2)

Race: Human
Class: Druid
Alignment: True Neutral
Place of origin: Uthgardt

Faldorn is a member of the Shadow Druids, a militant sect of druids that believe that civilization is incompatible with nature and must be opposed with violence if necessary, something about which she and Jaheira vehemently disagree. In Baldur's Gate she's surprisingly quiet and gentle, ironically coming off as less offensive and in-your-face than Jaheira, the "moderate" druid. Most players, if they want a Druid, elect to use Jaheira instead, as she can be recruited earlier and as a multi-class fighter is much sturdier and more effective in combat. She returns in Shadows of Amn taking upon a more antagonistic role, having taken over a druid grove and begun terrorizing the nearby town of Trademeet. As a result, she is killed by either Jaheira or Cernd (or the player character if they're also a druid).


  • Animal Motifs: Note the raven's head eye tattoo, and the sharp, talon-like nails; also the wolvish teeth.
  • Animal Wrongs Group: In BG2, together with her Shadow Druids.
  • Barbarian Tribe: She's descended from a tribe of Uthgardt barbarians called the Black Ravens (hence the tattoo).
  • Black-and-Gray Morality: Faldorn vs the Iron Throne? In the end, she comes out as the better party.
  • Blood Knight: She quite enjoys killing rival Druids in single combat.
  • Carry a Big Stick: She starts out with a club.
  • Category Traitor: Both Cernd and Jaheira regard her this way, due in part to her actions (which hurt nature as much they help it, if at all) and partly due to being part of the Shadow Druids, who are a splinter group from the main Druid Order. For her, it's how she feels about them and all "regular" druids, as the Shadow Druids think the main order doesn't do enough in nature's defense.
  • Creepy Crows: She has a raven's head tattoo over her left eye, a remnant of her Uthgardt barbarian heritage.
  • Dark Action Girl: A non-villainous example.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Jaheira in BG1; the two can have a lengthy exchange in which they attack each others' philosophical approach to Druidism. Eventually this will end in violence. Somewhat so to Cernd as well, although he cuts to the chase and challenges her with no debates.
  • Face–Heel Turn: One of only a few characters to go from a playable character in the first game to a villain in the second.
  • Facial Markings: She and Minsc are the only two characters to have their facial markings explained.
  • Fallen Hero: She was always a Shadow Druid, but it was only in Shadows of Amn that she began to actually act like one.
  • Foil: Like Jaheira, she was given away to a druid grove as a baby, raised by their standards and became a druid herself in adulthood, but Jaheira was raised by regular druids, while Faldorn was raised by the Shadow Druids. Jaheira is also a fighter with some druid powers, whereas Faldorn is primarily a spellcaster. They worship separate druidic deities (Jaheira worships Chauntea the Earth Mother, Faldorn worships Sylvanus the Oak Father) and while Jaheira is snarky and a little gruff, Faldorn is non-confrontational and peacable. Finally, they are both motivated to protect nature and save it from the Iron Throne, but whereas Jaheira is a successful champion of nature, in the end Faldorn only ends up hurting nature more than she helps it.
  • Gaia's Vengeance: What she believes she's out to inflict.
  • Green Thumb: Inverted in BG2; her drawing energy from the forest in order to "protect" it is actually killing it.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: Her justification for her actions. Suffice it to say, Cernd and Jaheira both disagree with her.
  • In Harmony with Nature: Subverted. Faldorn's obsession with protecting nature leads her to destroy it instead.
  • Knight Templar: Or Nature Hero Templar. She's a Shadow Druid who wants to protect nature from civilization by any mean they see fit. They're even hostile towards more moderate druids like Jaheira, who herself comes off as over-the-top at times.
    Jaheira: Cities are a blight to the lands. Let nature grow wild!
  • Misanthrope Supreme: Goes along with Humans Are the Real Monsters, above.
  • Nature Hero: Crosses the line into Nature Anti-Hero or worse in BG2 however.
  • Nice Girl: Ironically, despite being the "fanatical" druid the player can recruit, she is quiet, reserved, inoffensive and polite when speaking to others, so long as their objectives align with hers. This is why she appears to be so calm and gentle to the party during the first game (when the player is trying to rid Cloakwood of the Iron Throne, just like she is), but openly hostile and violent in the second (when the player is trying save Trademeet) and you cannot talk her down.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She may have had good intentions when she bonded herself to a Druid Grove, but it hasn't caused anything but trouble.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her barbarian mother gave her away as a baby to an enclave of Shadow Druids. Nothing is known of her father.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: In BG1 her personal mission is to clear out a branch of the Iron Throne in the Cloakwood, specifically those camped in Yeslick's ancestral mine. As potential victims go, the Iron Throne are pretty asshole-ish.
  • Right-Hand Attack Dog: Her special ability allows her to summon a wolf to help the party.
  • Squishy Wizard: She's far less survivable than Jaheira.
  • Took a Level in Badass: In BG1 she's a nondescript druid in gameplay terms and fairly good-natured despite her philosophy; in the sequel she's much more powerful...
  • True Neutral: in-universe She was a better example of the balance-serving trope than Jaheira, even if she was a member of the Shadow Druids. In the sequel she acts more like Neutral Evil.
  • Upbringing Makes the Hero: As noted under Foil above, she and Jaheira were both raised by druids; the fact that they were on opposite sides of the Druid-Shadow Druid conflict was random chance.
  • Voluntary Shape Shifting: All part of being a druid.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Of the eco-terrorist variety.

    Quayle 

Quayle

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/quayle_7066.jpg
"At last, you realize the potential of my amazing brain!"
Voiced by: Jeff Bennett

Race: Gnome
Class: Cleric/Mage (Illusionist)
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Place of origin: Unknown

A gnomish adventurer encountered just ouside of Baldur's Gate, Quayle can join for reasons vague even as he explains them. Blessed with little talent, but a disproportionately huge sense of self-importance.

He is of no importance in BG1, but is revealed as Aerie's foster father in BG2.


  • The Cameo: In BG2. Charname doesn't even seem to recognize him unless he dies.
  • Chaotic Neutral: in-universe He obviously cares first and foremost about rubbing his brain in everyone else's faces, but he's too self-obsessed to be evil.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He can actually be quite a good spellcaster, since his low Wisdom doesn't give any penalties, and he is the only party member in the first game capable of casting both arcane and divine spells, which can be quite impressive if combined carefully. However, since Cleric/Mages tend to work based on Magikarp Power, only his disciple in the second game, Aerie, will develop the full potential of his class.
  • Demoted to Extra: Thankfully, most players would probably agree.
  • Gonk: He is clearly not meant to be particularly attractive. And that Charisma score (about on par with that of an Ogre or a Mountain troll) was certainly not built for leadership.
  • Insufferable Genius: What makes him truly insufferable is the fact that he's far from being the game's smartest character and comes off more as just a jerk.
  • Joke Character: About as close as any character in these games get. You get him late in the game and with poor ability scores and low HP he's one of the weakest spellcasters in the game.
    • The Enhanced Edition makes him less of a joke by changing some of his stats and having magical clubs, something he's proficient in.
  • Morality Pet: Taking Aerie under his wing (no pun intended) seems to have made him more pleasant in the sequel; he mentions to Aerie he used to be much more of a jerk before, and players can attest to that.
  • Our Gnomes Are Weirder: They're definitely more annoying.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: Pretty much all gnomes in the Baldur's Gate games are this, though the sequel deconstructs this with both Kalah and Quayle.
  • Put on a Bus: He did not appear in Siege of Dragonspear, presumably to set up his circus and adopt Aerie.
  • Retcon: And not a particularly smooth one. In the first game there's no mention of him running a circus or having an adopted elf daughter.
  • The Rival: To Tiax, whom he absolutely despises in every way. He even gets a good insult in should the mad cleric die.
    Quayle: Ah, Tiax! If any had asked I would have said that you were Too Dumb to Live!
  • Shorter Means Smarter: He certainly thinks so. His environment... doesn't.
  • Shout-Out: To The Simpsons:
    Quayle: I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean, S-M-A-R-T!
  • Small Name, Big Ego: The one thing that he and Tiax have in common.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: He's much less of a Jerkass in the second game.

    Yeslick 

Yeslick Orothiar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yeslick_3633.jpg
"Watch what ye say. Good natured, I am. But I swing a mean axe when evil's concerned."
Voiced by: Bill Farmer

Race: Dwarf
Class: Fighter/Cleric
Alignment: Lawful Good
Place of origin: Cloakwood forest

Yeslick is a good-hearted dwarven warrior-priest of Clangeddin Silverbeard, the dwarven god of war and justice, and one of few surviving members of his clan when their ancestral mines were accidentally flooded. He ended up befriending the wrong human, was doublecrossed and forced to reveal the location of his clan's mine and help reclaim it. If you rescue him he helps you in re-flooding the mine (which is a major blow to the villains' operations) and can join your party. He doesn't get along with fellow dwarf Kagain whom he finds very much to be a disgrace to dwarves due to his money-grubbing personality, while Kagain considers him an embarrassment to other dwarves due to his alleged "stupidity" and charitable nature. Like Tiax and Quayle you can only get Yeslick fairly late in the game, which makes him unpopular with many players since you normally already have a well-developed party at that point (however, they were pretty okay with his personality). A fan-made mod exists which makes him available sooner and there's also a mod to allow him to appear in the sequel.


  • Berserk Button: Rieltar. If they met again in Candlekeep, Yeslick is positively pissed off and shows a rage that he didn't even show to Kagain, since Rieltar was responsible for his imprisonment and his clan's destruction after tricking him to think that they were friends. Fortunately, Charname has his 'calm down' button by telling him that direct revenge is not the way and they should find a way and Yeslick agrees, though Charname can go along with Yeslick's anger and try to murder Rieltar and the Iron Throne leaders with him as a result.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Says it himself in the quote above.
  • Dug Too Deep: His clan's mines were flooded when they broke through to an underground river. Well, they only hit an underground river instead of an Eldritch Abomination but the effects were no less devastating.
  • Elves vs. Dwarves: He won't say anything negative to a Good-aligned elf NPC, but he doesn't seem too keen on them.
    Yeslick: Your ego is positively elven. Drop it a notch, lest I do it for you!
  • Foil: To Kagain. Both are Lawful-aligned dwarves better at defensive fighting than offense, but whereas Yeslick is a friendly, charitable guy who likes to bond with people of similar moral fibre, Kagain is a grumpy miser who seems to hold everyone in contempt, and alignment has nothing to do with it.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite the entry quote, as a 2nd Edition cleric he can't wield an axe (or any bladed weapon). There was probably a point at which he was intended to be a dwarven paladin, but 2nd Edition dwarves couldn't do that.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: It's hard to explain how he befriended Rieltar Anchev otherwise.
  • Idiot Ball: He clearly was holding one, which caused him to trust the wrong person and get tortured. He's got an Intelligence score of 7 (where the world average is 10), too.
    • Intelligence is the "memory, reasoning, and learning" stat; Wisdom is the "enlightenment, judgement, and common sense" stat. You would think someone with a Wisdom of 16 wouldn't be such an idiot, but he was. Maybe it was lower before you met him and freed him? He's had a long time to think while imprisoned in the mines.
  • Kill It with Water: What he suggests doing to the bandits that took his clan's mine.
  • Last of His Kind: Well, not quite the last of his clan, but you never encounter any of the other survivors.
  • Lawful Good: in-universe A duty-driven, traditional dwarf with a generous streak and a good-natured personality.
  • Never Learned to Read: Characters with an Intelligence stat lower than 8 are described as illiterate. Yeslick has a 7. Notably, he cannot read priest scrolls as a result.
  • Nice Guy: Easygoing and friendly, a natural opposite to Kagain.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: He's not violent and aggressive or gruff and unpleasant like Korgan and Kagain, but Yeslick is probably the closest one you can get to classic Tolkien-style dwarves.
  • The Paladin: In all but name. He's basically a dwarven paladin (fighter/cleric), except that the second edition rules did not allow non-humans to be paladins.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Rather subdued, but he seems to enjoy bashing in the heads of evil people.
  • Put on a Bus: Yeslick is not encountered, or even mentioned at all in BG2, so his fate after the first game is unknown. He also apparently missed out Siege of Dragonspear; if you read his bio, you'd notice that he fought to right the wrongs committed by using his ancestral home, in this case Rieltar's betrayal. With Rieltar dead, Yeslick most likely sees that his duty is done and he could go home to Sembia (his new home after his clan was wiped out).
    • If the player installs the mod that allows him to be playable, however, he could be seen in Trademeet and mentioned that his bus trip was apparently taking up apprenticeship in smithing in Beregost with Taerom Fuiruim.
  • Religion is Magic: Yeslick is a cleric of the Lawful Good dwarven god Clangeddin.
  • The Rival: Kagain. Yeslick remarks that while all dwarves are family, he refuses to see Kagain as such.
  • Shout-Out: One of his annoyed quotes is him singing 'Lali Ho!' from Snow White.
    • Another one of his quotes comes from the Tennessee Ernie Ford song Sixteen Tons.
    Yeslick: Ye load 16 tons, what do ye get? Another day older... and deeper in debt.
    • Here's a third one, obviously based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale:
    Yeslick: Keep your straw and sticks, only stone protects the pigs!
  • Stone Wall: Like Jaheira; Lots of hit points and enough strength to use Full plate and Large shields in addition to divine buffing spells, but little offensive power.

    Ajantis 

Ajantis Ilvastarr

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ajantis_604.jpg
"We have much evil to fight, we have no time for idleness."
Voiced by: Jason Marsden

Race: Human
Class: Paladin
Alignment: Lawful Good
Place of origin: Waterdeep

Ajantis is a Paladin who serves Helm and is under the Order of Radiant Heart. His superior is Keldorn (which is probably why they get along even when they worship different Gods). He's joining the Bhaalspawn's group to spread the teaching of Helm and just generally do good like how a Paladin should do. Unfortunately, he's a little unstable — he claims to sense evil everywhere, even in perfectly peaceful towns/villages — and not very pragmatic; he has been seen turning on evil-aligned party members for the barest provocation and sometimes none at all, so people with Evil in their alignment are encouraged to steer clear of him. Or don't.

During the second game Ajantis gets sent to the Windspear Hills with several Paladins. However, he is later put under a spell that makes him think that a group of men who came to them are gnolls and ogres. Unfortunately, the spell also makes those who see Ajantis' group think they look like gnolls and ogres, and the group happens to be the Bhaalspawn's group, who proceeds to kill Ajantis by accident.


  • Black-and-White Morality: As noted by Xan, who calls him 'The Resident Suicide Monger', he lives in this.
    • Black-and-White Insanity: In fact, he will randomly attack evil members of your party if you're not careful. Especially annoying as about one third of all available party members are evil.
  • BFS: Starts with a Bastard Sword, and he will pick up proficiency points in Two-handed swords as well if you wait too long.
  • Demoted to Extra: Red Shirt, in fact.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: At the hands of the player character, no less. It was quite a sudden bridge drop that there are mods that allow the player to defy the trope, save Ajantis and bring him to the party.
  • Flat Character: Moreso than any other recruitable NPC.
  • For Great Justice: About his entire personality, shoosh.
  • Healing Hands: Like all Paladins in the setting.
  • Jack of All Stats: Ajantis has well-rounded stats with no real weak points. In fact, he has the highest combined ability score of all companion characters in the original release.
  • Justice Will Prevail: He does NOT tolerate evil.
  • Knight Templar: Probably the straightest example who can join your party.
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: As seen in his portrait.
  • Large Ham: "This [forest/city/dungeon] has a sense of EVIL about it" is his standard line whenever you enter a new place.
  • Lawful Good: in-universe Being a Paladin and all.
  • The Paladin: The only one in the first game. But yeah, he fits - a little too well, perhaps.
  • Put on a Bus: He did not appear in Siege of Dragonspear as he probably returned to Amn and the temple of Helm. Regardless, he's still doomed.

    Garrick 

Garrick

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/garrick_7794.jpg
"If man is known by the company he keeps, I shall be thought of gloriously."
Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

Race: Human
Class: Bard
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Place of origin: Unknown

Garrick is a traveling Bard who held a free-will life and just joins the Bhaalspawn for fun. He may later try to woo the noblewoman Skie, even though she's all heels to Eldoth, whom he despises not just because he's his competition, but because Eldoth is... well... an evil sleazeball.

He shows up very briefly in Siege of Dragonspear, now having set his heart upon wooing the proprietress of the Elfsong Tavern. As expected, he refuses to join your quest for this reason. In Shadows of Amn, meanwhile, he's fallen for a paladin of the Order of the Radiant Heart, but is too tongue-tied to speak with her, instead asks a gnome (named Cyrando to help him woo her. Once again, he's too busy to follow the Bhaalspawn in their adventures. Shame, that.


  • Cannot Spit It Out: As Lady Irlana observes, he's awfully inarticulate for a bard.
  • Chaotic Neutral: in-universeThough not of the batshit insane/Chaotic Stupid variety; merely that of the free spirit. His alignment has more to do with his class than his actual personality.
  • Demoted to Extra: Shows up in the sequel, but only in a very minor role.
  • Did Not Get the Girl: His lot in life, it would seem.
  • The Ditz: When encountered and spoken to in the second game, he has no idea who the player is, nor does he remember Silke, the evil sorceress who hired him. If present, Jaheira will comment on this.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Always trying (and failing) to woo the ladies.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: His first employer says it all.
    • His biography also states that he was previously involved with an acting troupe called the Dale Wind Troubadours that used their performances as a cover for their thieving activities.
  • Lovable Coward: His dialog and party interaction options make him very likeable, but he's tied for worst morale break among all recruitable adventurers.
  • Love Triangle: He tries to create one with Eldoth and Skie.
  • Nice Guy: He may not be very useful, but he's a far better man than Eldoth ever will be.
  • Playing Cyrano: The aptly-named Cyrando is this to Garrick.
  • The Rival: To Eldoth, whom he HATES.
  • Shout-Out:
    • To Brave Sir Robin!
      Garrick: Brave Sir Garrick lead the way, Brave Sir Garrick RAN AWAY!!
    • Not to mention the whole bit with the paladin and the gnome is a clear take on Cyrano de Bergerac.
    • When in a city, he may also spontaneously sing, "'Tis a beautiful day in the neighborhood!", similar to the opening song of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. He will also recite part of Trees by Joyce Kilmer ("I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree") when he's in the woods with your party. His voice is really low, though, so it's hard to hear what he's saying without turning on the subtitles.
  • Spoony Bard: He's not all that useful a character. Lampshaded in the sequel, where he can admit that he's not a very good bard.
  • Tenor Boy: A standard example. Actually, he and everybody related to him could easily be stock characters in a comic opera, including their voice types, so it was probably intentional.
  • Walking the Earth: His approach to the adventuring life.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Unfortunately, he is very much ignorant.

    Alora 

Alora

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alora_827.jpg
"Isn't this great? All of us, doing nice things, being happy. It's great!"
Voiced by: Amber Hood

Race: Halfling
Class: Thief
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Place of origin: Ireabor

Alora is a halfling thief who can be encountered during a nightly heist at the Hall of Wonders in Baldur's Gate. However, she is not really malevolent or even dangerous, but rather, as she says, merely "interested in what people have," and will be happy to join the party to share her fun a bit with somebody.


  • Action Girl: A less combat-oriented build than some of the other female characters, but she can still hold her own. She makes for an adept archer, with Dexterity 19, the highest (legal) score possible.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: In terms of stats, she is the best thief in the game: Halflings get the best racial bonuses, she has extremely high Dexterity and she has an Alora-only item that boosts each Thief skill by 10%. Unfortunately you get her so late in the game that most of her points have been spent into Pickpockets, instead of the necessary Find Traps, not to mention that you can't use her for the first couple of Dungeons.
  • Bratty Half-Pint: Has shades of this, but in comparison to some of the other characters mentioned on this list, she's positively harmless.
  • Can't Catch Up: You get her so late in the first game that she's not much use. It's not so much that she can't catch up as that she's already as leveled as she'll ever get with lousy HP and her thieving skill points put into relatively useless skills.
  • Chaotic Good: In-Universe. Doubters be damned, she's going to make the entire party play nice and do good things.
  • The Cutie: Cloyingly sweet, even more so than Imoen, but of course that's the joke.
  • False Innocence Trick: According to her backstory, she is not above exploiting her Cuteness Proximity to win over law enforcement trying to arrest her, and has in fact stayed out of jail this long because of it. Of course, like the other facets of her personality, it's difficulty to hold this against her for too long.
  • For Happiness: Yes, and even more than Coran at that. Like in his case, this of course also encompasses her own happiness, but since she is much less mature, her deeds are also usually more harmless.
  • Genki Girl: Even more pronounced than Imoen — this is, back to front, her entire personality, cheerful, hyperactive, fun-loving, and naive.
  • Good Feels Good: The quote at the top of the entry is her reaction when the party has a high Reputation.
  • Good Luck Charm: Her lucky rabbit's foot, which she won't part with.
  • Hobbits: And a clear contrast to both Mazzy and Montaron, who were both seemingly created as an aversion of the standard trope of halflings as quiet homebodies and mischievous burglars — Alora is very much a mischief-maker who is introduced casing the Hall of Wonders with intent to rob the place. Although notably her backstory indicates she didn't think too much of other aspects of halfling culture, such as a love of home and hearth.
  • Kleptomaniac Hero: She's not motivated by greed or trying to feed her family; she just wants to see all the interesting things behind people's locked doors and chests.
  • Lovable Rogue: She seems to think of herself this way, and she is pretty lovable. She steals for the fun of it, not out of greed.
  • Nice Girl: Alora is all sugar, no vinegar.
  • Odd Friendship: With Edwin. All the stranger since she's pretty much his diametric opposite in both personality and alignment. She might be the only person in both games who actually likes him, and even more unexpectedly, he likes her, too. Perhaps it's because, unlike all the other good and neutral party members, she doesn't try to tell him he needs to change or harp on about how selfish he is. Alora's For Happiness motive can make her a little selfish herself, in a sense.
  • Put on a Bus: Along with lots of others. The most she gets is a few lines during the prologue of Siege of Dragonspear if she was with the party when you faced Sarevok. Her character files do appear in the sequel and she can be summoned with the console, so she was intended to be in the game at some point. That would have made her the only pure thief in the game besides Yoshimo.
    • There is a mod in BG2 that allows Alora to join the team as early as getting out of Irenicus' dungeon (she's located at Adventurer's Mart).
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: Has fuchsia hair and manages to get on everybody's good side, even Edwin's.
  • Rousseau Was Right:
    Alora: Everyone is basically decent, once you get them to unwrinkle their faces.
  • Shout-Out: To The Ren & Stimpy Show, of all things. She even sings the "Happy Happy Joy Joy Song".
    Alora: I don't think you're happy enough! I'll teach you to be happy!
  • Stuck Items: Her lucky rabbit's foot, which takes up a ring slot. It was useless in the first game, since it gave a +2 bonus to Luck, which, thanks to a bug, didn't actually do anything in the original release. The Enhanced Edition not only fixes this, but also upgrades her lucky charm to give her +10% to all thieving skills and +2 to AC and saving throws as well as Luck. This is the equivalent of 70 extra thieving points, and this is in the first game, where a ring slot item gave you just the +2 to AC and saves and nothing else would be worth its weight in gold.
  • Token Mini-Moe: Imoen's Mini-Me, basically. Technically Alora came first, but Imoen's presence means that Alora's Genki Girl tendencies are exaggerated.

    Kagain 

Kagain

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kagain_5668.jpg
"I like it here, where the gold grows."
Voiced by: John Mariano

Race: Dwarf
Class: Fighter
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Place of origin: Beregost

Yet another dwarven fighter, Kagain runs a mercenary company in the town of Beregost which provides protection for caravans, and he can join the party looking for a wealthy customer who went missing on the road. In contrast to other evil characters, he tends to be rather quiet, although he is very obsessed with money and gold. He is at odds with Yeslick, who continually chastises his greed, while Kagain hates him for being too 'goody-goody' and stupid. Sometimes this can come to blows.


  • Affably Evil: Downplayed both ways. He's mostly grumpy, but can be friendly at times. He's an over-all honest person, so there's every reason to believe that his moments of kindness is genuine. He also isn't actively evil, unlike most evil companions, just greedy and apathetic enough to become one.
  • Brutal Honesty: Fittingly for a Lawful Evil in-universe character, Kagain is very straightforward with his intentions.
  • Cool Helmet: He wears a cool winged helmet, though it doesn’t have magical properties aside from the immunity to critical hits common to all helmets. It’s also seen in the portrait.
  • Cowardly Lion: For such a great Fighter, he doesn't sound very enthusiastic about it.
    Kagain: [wearily] Alright.
    Kagain: [borderline whiny] Why me?
  • The Cynic: It seems like he really thinks the only thing worth anything in the world is money.
  • Disc-One Nuke: He is one of the most popular party members, because most companions in the first game have rather lousy health and a proper Mighty Glacier thus is invaluable. You can get him as early as Beregost, provided you enter the right building.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: When he sees a caravan of slaughtered women and children, he decides it's not worth the money he'd get from salvaging it and just leaves.
  • Foil: He and Yeslick are Lawful dwarven fighters on opposite ends of the Good vs Evil scale, Yeslick being a kind, charitable warrior-priest concerned with proper conduct and Kagain a greedy, anti-social mercenary who's morally apathetic.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: As an evil companion, he will disapprove quests and actions that boosts your reputation, even when you're well paid for them.
  • Genius Bruiser: He has a 15 in Intelligence. Very high for a fighter, especially an AD&D dwarf fighter — Intelligence is traditionally a Dump Stat for fighters, especially under the AD&D ruleset. Presumably it is this Intelligence that allows him to be a successful businessman.
  • Gold Fever: Although he never betrays the party for it, making it a minor subversion.
  • Greed: His defining characteristic.
    Kagain: Gold rules the word, kid. The sooner you learn that, the better life will treat ya.
  • Grumpy Old Man: He certainly acts and sounds old, and he's definitely grumpy — the aforementioned flower bed example being something of acase in point.
  • Hates Small Talk: Always prefers to get straight to the topic.
  • Healing Factor: His constitution of 20 (which is pretty much unheard of, since it's not even a legal character under the AD&D ruleset that Baldur's Gate is based on) allows him to slowly regenerate over time.
  • Hidden Character: A mild case. The door to his store in Beregost is turned backwards to the player screen, meaning that unless you just enter every single house in town or take a look at the minimap, which notes his house, there is a real chance that you won't even discover his existence. There are also no quests that point to him, so if you're not consulting a walkthrough and not in the habit of checking every random house in every town you walk past, you might easily walk right by his shop.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: One of his character quotes. Specifically, an ale.
  • Lack of Empathy: He pretty much states when hiring you that he actually doesn't care one bit that his customers were probably slaughtered by bandits, and that the only reason he bothers to look after them is that one of them is the son of the richest man in all of Baldur's Gate.
  • Lawful Evil: in-universe Kagain is basically on a lifetime search for more money and is a born miser, but he's happy to earn his money by making an honest living as a mercenary defending caravans from bandits. He also hires you to help him with salvaging a ruined caravan, offering to pay you a small but tidy sum of money in return.
  • A Lighter Shade of Black: As his listed tropes indicate, he's small-e evil — greedy and unpleasant, but not actively malevolent. His mercenary company is apparently rather tame by the standards of the setting as well, as it seems to focus on bodyguarding needs rather than assassination.
    • He also has the dubious honor of being one of only two Evil party members in the pre-Enhanced Edition who isn't some flavor of crazy, with the other being Viconia. Xzar and Tiax are raving lunatics, Montaron and Korgan are bloodthirsty sociopaths, Shar-Teel and Eldoth are raging sexists, and Edwin is mildly delusional and prone to talking to himself. The Enhanced Edition then goes on to add Dorn, a marauding blackguard who slaughtered whole villages before joining your party, Baeloth, a psychotic sorcerer who ran a fighting pit in the Underdark and enslaved all kinds of creatures in doing so, and Hexxat, a vampire who extends her life by draining innocent women of their blood. Arguably, Sarevok counts as a third "sane evil" character, but he was out to make himself the new God of Murder before you killed him.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: He starts with a shield. In the Extended Edition, he will have ranks in Shield and Sword Style if recruited at higher levels.
  • Mighty Glacier/Stone Wall: Kagain is the tankiest recruitable character in the series, with massive Constitution, a Healing Factor and the strength to wear even the heaviest armour. He's not very competent on the damage front, but many players have pointed out that he doesn't have to be.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same: He's got a very different personality from Yeslick, but he's a fighter with a beard who swings an axe/hammer. 'Nuff said.
  • Private Military Contractors: He runs a rather shady mercenary company that seems to function primarily as an caravan escorting service.
  • Protagonist Without a Past: Even other evil characters have biographies explaining their backstory, but literally nothing is known (or given) about Kagain other than what's on this page, and he's happy to keep it that way.
  • Put on a Bus: Like all the other BG1 characters who didn't make the cut for the sequel or the interquel. Considering his miser attitude and having to run his store at Beregost, Kagain probably got a good reason not to get involved.
  • The Quiet One: Kagain's not very hammy or aggressive. If anything, his Battle Cry sounds like weary resignation more than anything else.
    Kagain: Ehh, I don't wanna talk.
  • The Rival: Yeslick. Kagain snorts that he's an embarrassment to dwarves everywhere, and the feeling is mutual.
  • The Scrooge: Although he isn't as miserable or pitiful as the usual example.
  • Surrounded by Idiots:
    Kagain: If I had a copper for every moron I've come across, I could buy Baldur's Gate!
  • Villainous Friendship: More like Evil Teammate friendship since he's not all that villainous, but Kagain gets as close as any party member, evil or otherwise, gets to having a friendship with Dorn in the first game.
  • What the Hell Is That Accent?: Kagain's accent is hard to pin down — it's there, but not particularly thick or Scottish, especially compared to consummate Violent Glaswegian Korgan from the second game. If anything it seems to be a stock old man voice, of the sort popular through most of the 20th Centurynote , but increasingly falling out of use.

    Biff 

Biff the Understudy

*sob* "I really, really tried..." *sob*
Voiced by: Rob Paulsen

In BG1, if you'd murdered an NPC who was required for the story to continue, Biff the Understudy would appear magically and say his lines for him before disappearing, to keep the game (vaguely) continuous. If this happened to a potential party member, Biff could actually join the group, making him the only playable character with no portrait. In BG2, the game handles plot-important NPCs dying by spawning an area-specific super-enemy that can't be defeated, or having the NPC turn invulnerable and leave the area until you come back, making Biff unnecessary. He gets a brief cameo in the second game as an unsuccessful actor.



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