Characters / Baldur's Gate III: The Cult of the Absolute

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The Cult of the Absolute

The Cult In General

The symbol of the Absolute

"Of many hearts, one soul.
Of many thoughts, one mind.
Of many parts, one whole.
In Her name, Her design."

A clandestine cult that has popped up in the wake of the nautiloid's crash on the Sword Coast, all in service of a mysterious deity known only as "The Absolute". Their true aims unravel over the course of the story, where a fringe movement among monstrous beings turns out to be much, much worse than one could ever imagine.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: The goblin forces you meet in Act 1. During Early Access, they were a treacherous bunch who always planned to kill you whether or not you sided with them, and even if you talked Minthara down, she'd warn you against returning to their camp as they'd immediately try to kill you on sight. In the full release, the goblins are considerably more loyal to Minthara, and most of them just head to Moonrise with her if you get her to side with you, effectively removing the danger of returning to the goblin camp later on.
• Big Bad Wannabe: The Chosen, despite seemingly having enslaved the Absolute in the name of their masters, ultimately amount to this. They are slain one by one by the protagonist without managing to achieve any of their outstanding goals, and as soon as two of them have been defeated, the Absolute manages to completely break free and pursue the Grand Design of her own will, even making clear that she was counting on this eventually happening in the first place. This goes doubly so for Lord Gortash, as should you bring him to the confrontation with the Absolute, she gloats to his face about how her "enslavement" only served to strengthen her before willing him to die right then and there. The Absolute also reveals that she planned her own enslavement and liberation, meaning all three were never truly in control.
• The Chosen Many: The 'True Souls' serve as high-ranking members within the cult, supposedly having been blessed by The Absolute, but in reality, all that sets them apart is that they're infected with a special illithid tadpole (something that they're completely unaware of) and can issue telepathic commands to the cultists marked by The Absolute.
• Cult: They're an evil cult dedicated to the new deity known as The Absolute, and they seem to mostly operate in secrecy.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The cult's forces consist of a wide variety of races, including goblins, gnolls, drow, humans, dwarves, and elves, among others. This is further backed up by ogre and duergar mercenaries. Justified by the fact that the Cult primarily recruits renegades of all sorts or kidnaps people to serve in its ranks.
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Averted. The cult's members are all suffering from Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, and the three Chosen can barely stand each other. Orin in particular makes it clear that the only reason she hasn't killed her co-conspirators yet is because she knows it won't stick with Ketheric, while a pact with Gortash prevents her from harming him. That is to say nothing of other "Evil" factions with which the Cult of the Absolute is at odds, including the githyanki, the Nine Hells, Raphael and the House of Hope, and the Cult of Shar.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Lots of the Cult's members, including it's leaders, have some pretty messed up backstories but, while characters do acknowledge the effect of their respective traumas, no-one suggests going easy on them as a result.
• Mystery Cult: Most people don't even know of the existence of the cult, and even their own members are kept in the dark about many of the details about the cult. Most of the Absolute cultists seem to have little idea of how the cult truly operates, what its goals are, and how the illithid tadpoles play a key part in their operations and structure. Even the 'True Souls' don't actually know that they're infected with illithid tadpoles.
• Power Tattoo: All official members of the Cult of the Absolute are identifiable either by a brand on their skin bearing the mark of the Absolute, which allows the 'True Souls' (who are infected with the illithid tadpole) to give them special commands. Upon meeting Priestess Gut at the abandoned temple, you can choose to let her brand you with the mark of the Absolute. While this option would obviously garner disapproval from most of your companions as well as marking you as a member of the cult, the brand itself can actually be useful when conversing with other members of the cult (e.g. the duergars in the Underdark) as well as those employed by the cult (e.g. the ogres in Moonhaven). It also activates a number of magic items associated with the Cult.
• Religion of Evil: The Absolute is an explicitly evil deity and so are its followers, with many of them having been previous followers of other evil gods, like the goblins and Maglubiyet or the drow and Lolth.
• Scam Religion: Played with; the entire cult is based on a lie but is telling the truth in spirit. The Absolute is no goddess; it's an Elder Brain, one that was on the wrong end of The Starscream by her 'Chosen' (who are actually the Chosen of the Dead Three), who are using it as a Puppet King of sorts in an attempt to Take Over the World for themselves, and turn the mind flayers into their own personal army. The element that is played with is that the Absolute is claimed to be the unified form of the Dead Three, i.e. the actual gods of the cult.

The Absolute (Spoilers Unmarked)

The Absolute / The Netherbrain

Voiced by: Cissy Jones

"My power grows. My forces gather. The reckoning draws near..."

Race: Elder Brain

The deity behind the Cult of the Absolute. In reality, it is an illithid elder brain that has been enslaved by the Dead Three's Chosen posing as its own Chosen via the Crown of Karsus.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: When the Dark Urge subjugated and empowered the Absolute with the Crown of Karsus, it was impressed by their debauchery and plan to enact bloody conquest across all Faerun in Bhaal's name, so much that it would have followed the plan had Orin not betrayed them. With the Dark Urge either out of the picture or severely weakened enough to become a pawn, the Absolute defaults to enacting the Grand Design instead.
• Ambiguous Gender: It's referred to as both male and female by different cultists. When you hear its voice when entering the goblin camp, it's a female one.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: When it first appeared in Act 2, it was about the size of an average elder brain (bigger than an average player character, but smaller than a giant). But it has become much, much larger by Act 3 — easily in the Gargantuan range. The size difference is likely due to the influence of the Crown of Karsus and its evolution into the even more powerful Netherbrain.
• Batman Gambit: Its entire plot to take over Faerun relies heavily on a series of these, as it actually had to not only let the Emperor gain control of an artifact that can block out its influence, it also had to allow itself to be enslaved under the (correct) assumption that the Emperor would succeed in recruiting someone powerful enough to overthrow those that enslaved it and that its captors would be too busy plotting against one another to present a united front against its unintended liberators.
• Big Bad: Double Subverted. The Absolute and its cult are the primary antagonists of the story, as the figure behind the special illithid tadpoles that infect the player and the conspiracy surrounding it. This initially seems to be turned on its head when it's made clear that it's under the control of its "chosen," but by the end of the game, it reclaims its position, reveals it had orchestrated its own enslavement from the beginning to gain the Crown of Karsus, and ends up the final threat that needs to be defeated.
• Brain Monster: Its true form. You guessed it; it's an Elder Brain.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Deliberately sabotages its followers' efforts to kill you, because you're the only one capable of liberating it from the Chosens' control.
• Captured on Purpose: It willingly let itself be enslaved by the Chosen Three so it could acquire the Crown of Karsus and use it to evolve itself into a Netherbrain. Once that was done, all it needed to do was to arrange events that would lead to the Chosen's control over it to weaken.
• The Chessmaster: It revealed it engineered most of the events of the game, and its own liberation. It was the one who leaked to the Chosen the existence of the Astral Prism and planted in them the idea that it was a threat and a weapon that could be used against them. It then purposefully released its control of The Emperor so he'd seize it, and recruit champions. All it needed was for the players to kill any of the chosen and take their Netherstone, and the binding would break in time. The players did extra well by killing all three, hastening the process. It even implies that its own enslavement was part of its greater plan, so Gortash would give it the crown of Karsus, which it used to evolve into a Netherbrain.
• Evil Is Not a Toy:
  • The dangerous possibility of it breaking free and enacting its own Grand Design becomes increasingly likely the longer Act 3 goes on. While Ketheric is already dealt with by the time it becomes an issue, the other two Chosen have considerably differing reactions to this development. Enver Gortash fully realizes the danger the Elder Brain represents, to the point that he's willing to cut a deal with even an Absolute-opposed Player Character to rule Baldur's Gate together by reasoning that it's better for them to be allies than to allow the Elder Brain to cut loose. Orin, on the other hand, is completely blinded by her devotion to Bhaal and only wants to foment more chaos in his name, causing her actions to actively weaken the control the Chosen have over the Elder Brain.
  • The Absolute reveals it engineered its own enslavement to get the Crown of Karsus, and plotted the Emperor's actions and that of the players to ensure its subsequent liberation, ensuring it would be more powerful than ever in the end.
• Foreshadowing: There are a few hints throughout the storyline that the Absolute is discreetly engineering your actions as part of its plan, most which become apparent if you spend most of your playthrough ingratiating yourself with the Cult:
  • If you side with Minthara against the Emerald Grove, she grows suspicious of you thanks to feeling the effects of the artifact in your possession, and plots to kill you as a result. However, the Absolute eventually communes with her and tells her to guide you to the Moonrise towers so you can prove yourself to it, giving you a way out of your predicament should you clear a skill check to put Minthara's suspicions to rest. Notably, this is a rewrite from Early Access, where the Absolute had explicitly ordered your death the moment you outlived your usefulness.
  • You can discover rumors of a potential "treasure" in Moonrise Towers, but if you end up finding the location for it, you'll discover that it's just an attempt by the Absolute to communicate with you behind Ketheric's back. If you take the bait, the Absolute will reveal that it's being controlled against its will (which you otherwise only discover at the end of Act 2), and if you're playing as the Dark Urge, it will reveal that you're one of the Cult's true masterminds long before Sceleritas and Gortash spell it out in Act 3.
  • If you let Balthazar capture the Nightsong in Act 2, the Absolute starts manipulating events to effectively railroad you into a confrontation with Ketheric in the mind flayer colony. If you refuse to capture Isobel or kill her outright, Ketheric doesn't have a favorable opinion of you but still asks you to face the Absolute's judgment instead of his own, as he still assumes you to be a mere thrall and underestimates the threat you pose, and believes he can simply capture Isobel or re-resurrect her on his own. If you did fulfill all of Ketheric's demands, he happily takes you under his wing, but regardless of how events play out, the Absolute promptly rats you out as the one who has the artifact Ketheric's looking for (and asks you to "free it"), causing him to imprison you in the mind flayer colony and forcing you to fight your way out.
  • Finally, there's the Villainous Rescue it pulls off in Bloomridge park while you're besieged by Orin's assassins, and at this point, it clearly states that it's rebelling against its 'Chosen' and needs you alive because it has plans for you.
• Jerkass God: The Absolute is an evil deity who seeks to Take Over the World and overthrow every religion. Later Double Subverted. It turns out to be more of a Puppet King, but in the climax it reveals that it had been secretly plotting to overthrow the 'Chosen' who'd enslaved it, and it always had aspirations to become genuinely godlike.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: What happens when you try to infect certain individuals with illithid tadpoles who actually can outsmart you? Just ask the Absolute's 'Chosen'... this however later is revealed to be inverted because the Elder Brain engineered her own enslavement to begin with, meaning that the control that the Chosen thought they had was entirely for her own benefit until it came time to break free. Of course, you can still inflict this on her, and this time for real, if you decide to utilize her power with either The Emperor's help or Bhaal's (if you are the Dark Urge) rather than destroy her.
• In Love with Your Carnage: The Emperor describes elder brains as being some of the most evil beings to ever exist, and the Netherbrain is no different. That said, the Absolute states it took a liking to the Dark Urge due to their talent for killing. When you confront it in Act 3 in a Dark Urge playthrough, it claims it would have willingly joined the Dark Urge in their plans to wage bloody conquest across Faerun had Orin not betrayed them.
• Monster Progenitor: The Absolute is indeed responsible for the unique illithid tadpoles... in the literal sense. The Absolute is an Elder Brain, one that has been hijacked by her own 'Chosen.'
• Patron God: It serves as the patron deity to its cultists, with the cult having acolytes and clerics powered by it.
• Sizeshifter: Implied. When it's first seen beneath Moonrise Tower, it's the size of a regular elder brain. By the time it breaks free it's now as big as a Nauthiloid, with enough room to serve as the arena for a fight with a dragon.
• Skippable Boss: Should Gale opt to blow himself up using the Netherese Orb inside of him, the final battle with the Netherbrain can be avoided altogether.
• Takes One to Kill One: Contrary to the Emperor's and Orpheus's doubts, it seems that powerful Netherese magic such as the orb in Gale's chest are capable of defeating a being empowered by Netherese magic like the Netherbrain.
• Take Over the World: According to its cultists, it wants to take over the world, destroy the current world order and establish a new one. They're being duped. It doesn't want to take over the world, its "Chosen" do, and they're using the Absolute as a means to do so. Once freed, however, it is all too willing to do the same entirely for its own ends.
• Villainous Rescue: In Act 3, it can brainwash nearby Flaming Fist members to rescue you from an attack by Orin's assassins despite her telling them not to interfere. It then reveals that it's starting to break free from the Chosen's influence, and it only saved you because it has plans for you.
• Villains Want Mercy: When it realizes that its defeat is certain during the final battle, it desperately begs for its life to be spared by offering its power and complete servitude to the player. Its destruction or domination is left to the player's choice.

The Chosen of the Absolute

Ketheric Thorm

General Ketheric Thorm

Voiced by: J. K. Simmons

"I'll tell you a story, True Soul. About a man who sold himself, piece by piece."

Race: Undead^note Ketheric's race in life is not totally clear, but the game's internal files list him as a High Half-Elf
Class: Paladin (Oathbreaker)

An allegedly invulnerable necromancer general in command of an undead army pointed at Baldur's Gate. Once a devoted follower of Shar put down by Jaheira and her allies over a century ago, Ketheric has somehow risen from the grave and now stands as one of three Chosen of the Absolute.

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• …And That Little Girl Was Me: Ketheric can tell the player a tale of a man who lost his wife but remained strong for his daughter, who grew up to be his pride and joy, only for her to die as well, and when the man tried to again stay strong, he found that he couldn't anymore. From the pained tone of his voice, it's clear Ketheric is telling his own story.
• Anti-Regeneration: As the Avatar of Myrkul, getting within striking distance of him inflicts the Bone Chilled status ailment, preventing healing until you get back out of range.
• Arc Villain: His corruption of the land surrounding Moonrise Towers, motivations, and immortality make up the vast majority of the story arc of Act 2. However, once he is dealt with, he has no further direct influence on the story.
• Batman Gambit: His plan for recruiting drow warriors into his army relied entirely on the assumption that House Baenre, the ruling clan of Menzoberranzan, would be so outraged at the presence of Absolutist preachers in their city that they would attempt to retaliate in force. As Minthara confirms, the drow reacted exactly as he expected and fell for his trap.
• Blunt "Yes": When asked if he intends to betray the other two members of the Chosen to seize the possibility to fulfill his debt to Myrkul, he instantly replies as such.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Twice he turned his back on the god he worshipped; Selûne for Shar, and then Shar for Myrkul. His actions for most of Act 2 were essentially damage control for forsaking Shar, and during the climactic battle with him, he reveals that he even plans on backstabbing the other two Chosen of the Absolute.
• Climax Boss: The fight against Ketheric, and the Avatar of Myrkul he turns into, is the final battle of Act 2 proper. While there is the fight inside the Prism, it serves as a transitionary fight against some strong enemies over a uniquely designed fight. This is cemented by Ketheric being the Arc Villain of Act 2, as once he is defeated, the heroes can leave for Baldurs Gate, and the rest of the antagonists slowly begin to have their plans unraveled.
• Co-Dragons: As a Chosen of the Absolute, he is one of the three primary enforcers of The Absolute. In reality, however, his true loyalty is to Myrkul, just as his fellow Chosen are loyal to the other members of the Dead Three.
• Devour the Dragon: During the final battle against Ketheric in the mind flayer colony, he will end up sacrificing himself in a horrific ritual to summon an avatar of Myrkul to finish off the party.
  Ketheric: Myrkul... Lord of Bones. I am here. I am ready. I. Am. Yours.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The game's early stages and promotional material build him up as the premier villain that the heroes will have to defeat, setting him up as a classic Evil Overlord and the Absolute cult's chief organizer, possibly even the Absolute itself. However, the climactic fight with him at the end of Act 2 is a major game changer, revealing that he is just one of three cult leaders and that the real Absolute is actually an enslaved elder brain that is gradually breaking free of its restraints.
• Disney Villain Death: He's a medium-sized creature who starts a fight directly standing in front of pit, but while he ends the first phase of his fight by falling into it, he wears magical armor that makes him immune to forced movement to prevent him from being anticlimactically tossed into it.
• Evil Counterpart: To Shadowheart. Just as she is a Selûnite initiate brainwashed into becoming a Sharran cleric, Ketheric is a paladin who swore himself initially to Selûne then to Shar, though he's long since forsaken his oaths in favor of his own agenda. Not unlike Shadowheart, his story also ties into his love for his family, though his ambitions ultimately trump his affection for his daughter Isobel as he won't hesitate to mind control her if it suits his needs. Quite fittingly, his storyline is also heavily tied to Shadowheart's own, as the decision on what to do with the Nightsong (and by extension, how to deal with Ketheric himself) determines her loyalties and her path forward for the rest of the game.
• Faith–Heel Turn: He was once a devout Selûnite, but after losing his daughter, he loses faith in Selûne and turned to Shar instead. And then he turns to Myrkul when presented with an opportunity to bring back Isobel again.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Aylin mentions how, on some level, she understands and sympathizes with Ketheric, as losing Isobel hurt her too, and that was on top of Ketheric losing his wife already. However, she makes it clear that doesn't justify his actions in the end, even if it allowed Isobel to be with her again.
• The Heavy: He serves as this for the first two acts of the game, being the one issuing orders to the True Souls that threaten Emerald Grove in Act 1 and the leading Arc Villain of Act 2. Furthermore, he is the first and most prominent of the Absolute cult's three ringleaders, has the biggest power and minion base to leverage against the protagonists by a wide margin, gets extra exposure by way of his entanglement in the Nightsong character questline, and his premature death leaves his co-workers scrambling to see through their now-failing plan. After his defeat, his co-ringleaders, Gortash and Orin, assume this role in Act 3.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: A charismatic character can talk him into considering redemption, but he doesn't get any further than contemplating whether it's still possible for him before a confrontation is forced regardless, and ultimately his only hope for peace is in death.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He looks a lot like J.K. Simmons with hair and elf ears.
• It's All About Me: Has shades of this, everything he does from betraying Selûne and Shar, to creating the Shadow-Cursed Lands, and allying with Myrkul is to get his daughter back, consequences be damned. Even when he does reunite with his daughter, he ends up brainwashing her just so that she stays by his side, cementing that it's all for selfish reasons. The Nightsong comments that even before Ketheric became the monster he was now, he seemed to dislike her out of fear she'd take Isobel away from him.
• I've Come Too Far: If the player pushes him to try and atone for his actions, Ketheric is caught off guard by the notion of atoning, but refuses to reconsider after having done everything to get Isobel back and hold up his end of the agreement with Myrkul.
• Kneel Before Zod: When you fight him, he initially tries to force you to bow before him using the power of the Absolute, but the Astral Prism blocks his control.
  You will bow before me! And if you will not bow, you will break!
• Love Makes You Evil: He betrayed Selûne for Shar, and then Shar for Myrkul, all because he couldn't accept the deaths of his wife and daughter.
• Necromancer: He specializes in this, being capable of summoning and commanding an undead army powerful enough to conquer an entire city. It's later revealed that his formidable necromancy comes from being a Chosen of Myrkul, the god of death.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Despite having been killed before, Ketheric is able to survive and act, even though by all accounts he was dead and buried. He even takes a halberd blow twice that doesn't kill him. It takes removing the source of that near immortality (the Nightsong) to make sure he stays dead in the end.
• No-Sell: His Establishing Character Moment at Moonrise Towers shows him deciding the fate of a band of goblins that had failed him. One of them, in a panic, throws a halberd at him, impaling him against his throne. Ketheric simply pulls the halberd out of his chest, gets up and drops it at the goblin's feet. The goblin then strikes another lethal blow with the halberd at Ketheric, only for him to shrug it off and ends up killing the goblin himself.
  Ketheric: Try again.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: J.K. Simmons did not bother to put on a British accent for Ketheric, despite the fact that the rest of his family (including his daughter) have it.
• The Oathbreaker: His betrayal of Selûne and Shar is treated as such, and he uses abilities such as Aura of Hate from the Oathbreaker Paladin subclass.
• Omnicidal Maniac: During your final conversation with him, Ketheric reveals this is what he plans to do once he defeats you and the party.
  Ketheric: I have fought many great wars before, in the service of other gods, and other powers. But for Myrkul, I would condemn all of Faerûn to death.
• Papa Wolf: Zig-Zagged. As far as he has fallen, the man still cares for his daughter. When Gortash insults her, Ketheric would have punched him if he wasn't stopped by Orin. That said, if he successfully recovers her, he proceeds to mind control her to ensure her loyalty. If the player kills his daughter, Isobel, he is absolutely furious.
• Red Baron: Implied only. In keeping with Orin mentioned as the Lash of Bhaal after declaring it as a statement, he calls upon the testament of Myrkul, implying that is his title. However, he does not actually use it outside of that moment.
• Regenerating Health: In Tactician and Honor Mode, the Avatar of Myrkul regenerates HP by consuming the Necromites it summons. On lower difficulties, consuming the Necromites merely charges up its "Finger of Death" spell.
• Smug Snake: Averted in most playthroughs, but definitely present if you're playing as the Dark Urge, as he recognizes who they are immediately...and proceeds to snidely look down on them, assuming they've been reduced to a lowly minion. The Dark Urge does not take this well, and immediately starts fantasizing about brutally getting their revenge on Ketheric and torturing him until he forgets himself, just so he can have a taste of what they went through.
• Stationary Boss: The Avatar of Myrkul is unable to move beyond the ring it is in at the center of the boss arena. To make up for this, it has ranged attacks, can cleave sections of the center platform, and anyone with melee range is unable to be healed.
• Talking the Monster to Death: The first phase of his second boss fight can be skipped if the player character succeeds in the Persuasion check to offer him to stand down before both fights with him. It won't stop him from fighting you as the Avatar of Myrkul, but it does shake his conviction enough that Myrkul decides to beckon to him to make sure he doesn't buckle.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ketheric does not like the other Chosen, and the feeling is mutual. He admits that he's basically only doing all this because it's Myrkul's price for his daughter's life, and he fully plans to turn on the others once they are not needed.
• Tin Tyrant: He wears a heavy full plate, and is a necromancer commander of an army.
• Tragic Keepsake: One of the things you can loot from his body is a letter from his daughter that simply says "I love you, LOVE FROM IZ".
• What the Hell, Hero?: Practically calls out the party in his last breaths — as with the trinity broken with Myrkul calling it quits before the Prism could be secured — the Chosen's control over the Elder Brain begins to wane, and thus what should have been a simple Take Over the World scenario piggybacking off of the Absolute's power begins spiraling into an actual full-fledged mind flayer invasion instead.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Despite all the atrocities he committed, he was just a broken man trying to get his daughter back. Even Nightsong, an aasimar who has been tortured for one hundred years because of Thorm, feels some pity for him.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: Invoked. The Avatar of Myrkul passively prevents healing while within melee range of it. This means someone downed in battle can only be brought back up with the Aid action, and would need to leave melee range to be healed.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: While you can attempt to persuade him to see the folly in his actions and repent while he still can, Ketheric will immediately decline even on a successful persuasion roll and proceeds to sacrifice himself to summon an avatar of Myrkul to challenge the party. That said, you can at least skip parts of the battle against Thorm himself if you pass the relevant dialogue checks.
• You Have Failed Me: If Minthara lives past the Emerald Grove questline, the party arriving at Moonrise Towers for the first time would see Ketheric passing judgement to Minthara for her failure to retrieve the Astral Prism. He also orders the goblins that fought under Minthara to be killed for the same reason.

Enver Gortash

Enver Gortash

Voiced by: Jason Isaacs

"I want to lead this city to glory, not scorch its earth."

Race: Human

A Baldurian politician who is said to have been raised by a devil, and the up-and-coming inventor of the Steel Watch — magical clockwork soldiers designed to defend the city of Baldur's Gate. Following the disappearance of Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard, Enver Gortash has been given the responsibility of protecting Baldur's Gate from the encroaching Cult of the Absolute. But unbeknownst to Baldurian officials, Gortash is actually one of the leaders of said cult.

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• Abusive Parent: His parents outright sold him to the devil Raphael to cover their debts. Years later, after he got his revenge on them for this, his mother speaks disparagingly for being “still bitter after all these years”.
• Affably Evil: He zig-zags between this and Faux Affably Evil depending on his mood. On the surface, he seems like a genuinely pleasant and upfront man even after you know about what he's done. Even the Emperor detects no treachery when Gortash proposes an alliance between him and the player, implying that he's genuinely honest about their partnership. He's even more affable to the Dark Urge, given the history between the two of them. However, his affability as he commits numerous atrocities in pursuit of power only serves to highlight his monstrous nature. For instance, he greets Karlach as if she's an old colleague and seems taken aback when she lashes out at him for selling her out to Zariel, as if he can't comprehend why she would take it so personally, and mocks Ketheric for his incompetence, and even his love for his daughter, without once dropping his politeness. You can actually see him switch between genuine and fake affability if you return to him with Orin's Netherstone. If you pass his Secret Test of Character, he's genuinely impressed with you and makes an honest commitment to conquering the Sword Coast together with you. If you fail, he just as politely deems you unworthy of an alliance and says he's going to kill you now.
• Always Someone Better: Despite being a dangerous schemer and the brains behind the Cult of the Absolute, he can find out the hard way that the Absolute itself had played him for a fiddle.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Compared to Orin. While he’s a terrible and selfish person who’ll hurt anyone if it means getting what he wants, he has enough Pragmatic Villainy to understand that he can’t afford for the Netherbrain to get loose, unlike Orin, who just wants chaos and murder for the sake of it. As he says, he wants to rule Baldur’s Gate and has no interest in the city being a pile of ruins. Which makes sense given that he’s the Chosen of Bane, who’s also a terrible god, but has some more positive aspects compared to Myrkul and especially Bhaal.
• Arch-Enemy:
  • The normally peppy sweetheart Karlach can't help but fly into a rage at the mere mention of Gortash thanks to him selling her to Zariel ten years back, which is especially notable since she normally makes sure she's relatively composed so her infernal engine doesn't burn her to cinders. Gortash, for his part, spares her nary a thought. You can even make sure Karlach is there to finally do him in and end his tyranny once and for all. In the aftermath, Karlach vents and breaks down about how much Gortash's betrayal actually hurt her in a moment of true unguardedness, showing how broken she is despite her cheery facade.
  • He's also a heavily downplayed case with the Emperor, given that he was the one who captured the Emperor and enslaved him to the Absolute in the first place. While the Emperor has every reason to despise Gortash for this, and indeed initially states his desire to get back at him, his pragmatism eventually trumps his vengefulness once Gortash proposes an alliance to the Player Character, as the Emperor will encourage you to accept Gortash's offer, noting that you can always turn on him later.
• Bad Boss: Zig-Zagged. While Karlach ended up paying dearly for associating with Gortash when he abruptly sold her out to Zariel, she notes that he was a fairly generous man to work for and she genuinely admired him prior to his betrayal. Gortash is also far and away the most amicable among the Chosen when dealing with the Player Character, and makes a sincere offer of an alliance to them. However, it eventually becomes clear that the only reason he respects the Player Character is because he considers them an equal and will promptly turn on them if they fail to match up to that standard. And should an Avatar Karlach press him on why he betrayed her, he clearly states that he's always considered his subordinates expendable to his own ambitions, and is only being respectful to Karlach now because he believes she's "grown into" the kind of person who can stand should-to-shoulder with him instead of simply being his pawn.
• Big Bad: To a small degree, Gortash is the closest the cult has to a leader. He's the one who designed true souls and the tadpoles. It's implied he's the one who designed the plan. Gortash is also the one who seems most dedicated towards the whole plan, being the only one who seems to be eagerly a part of it, and the architect of most of its details. Ketheric only goes along because it was Myrkul's price for his daughter's life. Orin meanwhile turns on Gortash as soon as they lose Ketheric and the ability to control the Netherbrain and mostly was also just playing along because Bhaal demanded it. And while the pre-amnesia Dark Urge was the architect of the entire plan alongside Gortash, they were promptly usurped by Orin, and the influence of your Urge in a DU playthrough makes it clear that even they would have betrayed Gortash eventually. This crosses over into Big Bad Wannabe as his actions ultimately resulted in the Elder Brain becoming what it is now, and if he lives to see it break free, he is disposed of incredibly swiftly by the Absolute.
• Bling of War: His Cloth of Authority is decorated with gold trimmings and its descriptions state that it's filled with various intricate details. It looks like it requires magic just to let his arms bend.
  Karlach: Fucker always did have expensive tastes.
• Call-Back: Like Sarevok in the first game, Gortash has orchestrated a political takeover of Baldur's Gate and has the Flaming Fist in his pocket; and they, along with his Steel Watch, will accost you once you enter the city. Unlike Sarevok, however, Gortash can be reasoned with — cutting a deal with him will allow you to operate freely within Baldur's Gate without the Flaming Fist attacking you, something that wasn't possible in the first game.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Heavily downplayed compared to the other two Chosen, as Gortash genuinely does believe that trust and cooperation is crucial for the Cult of the Absolute's success. His offer to the Player Character is completely sincere, and he's only plotting against Orin because he knows she's untrustworthy and wants him dead. The Dark Urge can even press him on whether he had anything to do with their betrayal, and in response he'll promptly distance himself from Orin's actions and promise that he's not the kind of man to betray his partners the way she did. That said, he isn't entirely above screwing over others for his own gain, as evidenced by his treatment of Karlach and the patriars he massacres. Broadly speaking he seems to dislike partners backstabbing one another, but feels perfectly fine with betraying even loyal subordinates.
• Co-Dragons: As a Chosen of the Absolute, he is one of the three primary enforcers of the Absolute. It is later revealed that he is actually a Chosen of Bane, the god of tyranny, and is only using the Absolute as a means to dominate Faerûn in his god's name.
• Dirty Business: If you return to him after killing Orin, he'll sound incredibly relieved that he no longer has to go along with the needless death and destruction she was perpetuating. You can respond by pointing out that he too is a killer, and he retorts by saying that he considers the murders he's responsible for as this trope, and has a distaste for people who revel in slaughter just because they enjoy it.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A Dark Urge who claims to not be the same person as they were before gets nothing but disbelief from him. In his words, one’s true nature will always rise to the surface. He will, however, approve if the Dark Urge tells him they rejected Bhaal after killing Orin because he admires their desire to follow their own destiny, and promises them that freedom if they work with him.
• Evil Counterpart: A subtle one to Karlach, of all people. Both of them adopt a friendly exterior to mask their true selves (Karlach is a Stepford Smiler whose easygoing attitude is a coping mechanism for her fears of loneliness; Gortash is a Faux Affably Evil tyrant who uses his personal charm to manipulate others), and they both start off as a couple of nobodies seeking out a living in the slums of Baldur's Gate before being sold into a devil's servitude, which then molded them into the people they are now. During Gortash's boss fight, he can be empowered by Bane into becoming a berserker who will try to decimate you with sheer brute force, not unlike Karlach's own bouts of Unstoppable Rage thanks to the infernal engine in her chest and her own pent-up issues.
• Evil Genius:
  • Brains found in the mind flayer colony reveal that much of the planning for the cult of the absolute, including the true souls, the modified tadpoles, and such, were devised by Gortash.
  • He's also the one who masterminded the theft of Karsus' Crown alongside the pre-amnesia Dark Urge, which had been otherwise in Mephistopheles' vault since the fall of Netheril.
  • The steel watchers are based on his designs, which were implied to be inspired by the automatons guarding the Underdark's Arcane Tower.
• The Evils of Free Will: His long-term plans have strong shades of this, as he intends to leverage the Absolute's abilities to override dissenting viewpoints and "unite" the people into following his vision instead of their own conflicting agendas. The only thing separating him from the likes of the Elder Brain is that he still wants humans like himself to be in charge, not illithids, and he's willing to share power with those he deems worthy.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Unlike Orin, he's fully cognizant of the danger the Elder Brain represents should he lose control of it, to the point of being perfectly willing to ally with the Player Character even if they've been a thorn on his side. But he still ends up on the receiving end of this lesson if he survives as The Elder Brain breaks free even if the Player Character sided with him, and the Absolute turns her immediate attention to Gortash, killing him on the spot with a simple command for enslaving her in the first place.
• Evil Power Vacuum: If Gortash is killed without Ulder or Wyll Ravengard stepping up to become Grand Duke, the leadership of Baldur's Gate is left in disarray. One potential ending with a romanced Minthara can have your Player Character plot to fill the vacuum themselves.
• Executive Suite Fight: The Boss Battle against Gortash, if you didn't attack him during his coronation, will take place in his office located above the audience hall in Wyrm's Rock Fortress.
• False Flag Operation: What his plan for the Cult of the Absolute amounts to. Ketheric Thorm is supposed to use the Cult and the Elder Brain to attack Baldur's Gate, only for them to be defeated by Gortash and his Steel Watchers, which would then lead to Gortash being declared Archduke. While Ketheric himself is dispatched at the end of Act 2, you will be too late to pre-empt the invasion altogether, and by the time you encounter Gortash, he's already putting the finishing touches on his coronation.
• Fights Like a Normal: At the start of his boss fight, Gortash fights with a crossbow and bombs. He doesn't use any magical abilities beyond what his equipment grants him until he is empowered by his god.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Who knew that the Chosen of the God of Tyranny and dictator of Baldur's Gate was once the son of a couple of cobblers who sold him into Raphael's servitude when he was but a boy?
• Hypocrite:
  • Despite his disdain for Orin for her bloodthirstiness, he himself has a lot of blood on his hands. Take his mass slaughter of most of the nobles of Baldur's Gate after his coronation as Archduke as an example. If you point this out to him, he justifies his actions as Dirty Business and claims the moral high ground over those who kill people For the Evulz.
  • If you kill Orin at his behest and refuse his initial request to hand over her and Ketheric's Netherstones, he'll immediately bristle and sternly tell you he's not in the mood for games. This is despite the fact that he's only asking for the Netherstones as a Secret Test of Character, effectively tricking you into signing your own death warrant if you take his words at face value. He'll even admit to his hypocrisy if you pass his test.
• Informed Attractiveness: He’s described twice as a handsome young man. While not bad looking by any means, many players have mocked him for his unkempt hairstyle and looking like he’s pushing 40, at the very least, on top of having a constant Smug Snake smirk that gives him a generally creepy vibe that undermines any attractiveness. It's especially noteworthy as its generally used to contrast him from Ketheric, who isn't exactly bad looking, and depending on one's tastes could be considered more attractive.
• Irony: A man who was sold off to a cambion spawn of a devil by his parents would himself repeat the process by selling out his most loyal servant to Zariel.
• Last Chance to Quit: If you ally with Gortash and manage to unearth the submarine to the Iron Throne prison without making an enemy of the entire Steel Watch in the process, he will contact you as you travel to the prison and warn you to back off from entering it if you want to keep your alliance with him. You can defy him, thus locking you into an inevitable confrontation where you'll have to kill him, or you can comply with his warning, in which case your alliance with him stays intact. You can attack the Iron Throne prison without tipping him off if you secure your alliance with him beforehand by returning with Orin's Netherstone, but you'll still make an enemy of his underlings in the process.
• Manipulative Bastard: He readily exploits The Dark Urge's memory loss to give himself an edge during their confrontation at the coronation and cites the potential carnage of antagonizing him as good reasons to cooperate instead, essentially blackmailing moral PCs into playing nice. He also does this in non-Dark Urge playthroughs through the more straightforward way of flaunting his power over the city and making it clear that the Steel Watch will recognize the Player Character wherever they go (something you may have already witnessed for yourself at the Southern checkpoint). And he's the most blatantly threatening towards Karlach, as he knows that he's already squandered any and all goodwill with her, and so explicitly asks the Player Character to keep her in line, and threatens her life directly if she's present to antagonize him, either as a companion or as the Avatar.
• Out-Gambitted: Gortash is the only one among the Chosen pragmatic and cunning enough to try and sway the Player Character to his side, as in Act 3 he gets wise to the possibility of the Elder Brain rebelling against its "Chosen". However, even if he succeeds in his overtures, the Elder Brain has been three steps of him the entire time, and immediately disposes of him once he's outlived his usefulness.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: His parents sold him into mystical slavery, and later, he used illithid tadpoles to enslave them.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • He's an unapologetic monster who has ruined countless lives for his and his god Bane's gain, but by Act 3 he's developed the good sense to realize that he's in real danger of losing control of the Elder Brain should events stay their course. As a result, he's quick to offer the Player Character — regardless of how much they've opposed the Cult of the Absolute — an alliance and a chance to rule the city together, reasoning that cooperating with his iron-fisted rule is better than risking the Elder Brain getting loose. While Karlach is immediately suspicious of his offer since he already betrayed her to Zariel in the past without batting an eye, the Emperor claims he's being sincere, and if you do take him up on his offer, he will allow you to operate freely within Baldur's Gate so long as you don't antagonize the Steel Watch. This is in part because he absolutely cannot hold the Elder Brain by himself and needs the additional aid from someone who isn't enslaved by their enchanted tadpole to the Absolute to be able to wrangle its will away from it, so he's not in any position to screw over his potential partner with how precarious the situation has become.
  • His pragmatism is further accentuated if you play Wyll or Karlach as your Origin, given how damaging his actions are to both of them throughout the story. If you play as Wyll, Gortash will outright use his father as a bargaining chip, promising to keep him safe in exchange for Wyll's cooperation. If you play as Karlach, while Gortash is unapologetic for his past betrayal, he's genuinely respectful of how far she's come, and promises that her Infernal Engine issues will be a thing of the past if she accepts all the power he's offering her.
  • He considers Orin's unhinged bloodlust to be repulsive and counterproductive to his ambitions. As he states, he wants to lead Baldur’s Gate, not scorch its earth. He’s fine with murder, as evidenced by his relationship with pre-amnesia Dark Urge and the many deaths caused by the Cult of the Absolute and his own underlings, but he sees senseless slaughter as stupid. He outright admits that one of the reasons he liked the Dark Urge is because they could actually control themself. He will always offer to work with the player character, even though they are a huge thorn in his side and he doesn’t even know them if they’re not the Dark Urge or Karlach, simply because he knows how much of a liability Orin is, and that she ‘only cares for blood’.
• Red Baron: Implied only. In keeping with Orin mentioned as the Lash of Bhaal after declaring it as a statement, he calls upon the edict of Bane, implying that is his title. However, he does not actually use it outside of that moment.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Gortash tries to sweeten his offer to an avatar Karlach by promising her that with the power she'll gain at his side, her Infernal Engine will no longer be a problem. However, this is a promise he can't fulfill as the Absolute will kill him even if Karlach doesn't. However, the solution Gortash promised is possible, as an avatar Karlach can romance Gale and have him ascend to godhood, and in the Patch 5 epilogue he can then ascend Karlach herself, effectively fulfilling Gortash's promise in his stead.
• The Chain of Harm: A slaver once sold into slavery as a child himself. Karlach herself will make note of this if she hears about what he went through at the House of Hope.
• Secret Test of Character: If you return to him with Orin's Netherstone, he'll have his men surround you and demand you hand over the Netherstones in your possession, even bristling should you push back against him. The right choice is to stand your ground and refuse to surrender the Netherstones, as he wants someone with a backbone who insists on being treated like an equal. If you cave in to his intimidation, he'll write you off as a failure and attack you.
• Secret-Keeper: Even though the Dark Urge has been killed by Orin in the playthroughs where you don't pick them, Gortash will refrain from revealing their involvement in the Cult of the Absolute should you question him about it, instead referring to them as a "special connection" he leveraged.
• Skippable Boss: Unlike the other two Chosen, you can skip fighting Gortash and his forces entirely if you commit to an alliance with him, stay true to your word by refraining from attacking the Steel Watch Foundry or the Iron Throne prison, kill Orin, and then pass his Secret Test of Character after returning with Orin's Netherstone. If you do everything right, Gortash will reveal the Elder Brain's location without a fight and agree to meet you there, allowing you to head straight to the endgame whenever you're ready.
• Spoiled Brat: According to his mother, Gortash had been an Entitled Bastard even at a young age, though given that she's saying this to justify her decision of selling him to Raphael, Unreliable Expositor is very much in play here.
• Throne Room Throwdown: Once you discover that Enver Gortash is scheduled to be crowned as Archduke within the audience hall (which happens to include a throne) at Wyrm's Rock Fortress, you have the option of attacking him right away upon your first meeting. Although given that he's heavily protected by a cadre of Flaming Fist soldiers (including a tadpoled Duke Ulder Ravengard) and Steel Watchers at that point, such an approach would be tantamount to suicide unless your party is well prepared for the assault.
• The Unfought: If you accept his truce offer and uphold it right to the end, the Absolute unceremoniously flattens him at the start of the final battle.
• Villainous Friendship: While he tolerated Ketheric and Orin, Gortash has a sliver of goodwill towards a pre-amnesia Dark Urge whom he schemed with to conquer Faerún. He respected the Dark Urge's abilities and when they returned to Baldur's Gate, he was quick to call upon their old partnership and reunite as allies. It is likely done out of pragmatic reasons rather than actual affection for the Dark Urge, but the Emperor detected no hint of deceit in his words and passing the Insight checks on a Durge run during his Secret Test of Character reveal that he missed teasing you with your mutual mind games. You can also find a note written by the pre-amnesia Dark Urge that indicates that the respect and admiration were mutual and breaking into the Iron Throne prison on a Durge run lets you tell him so.
  Gortash: I tolerated Orin, but I liked you.
• Villain Has a Point: Regardless of his actions and overall plans, he is right when he says that he and the party have a common interest in bringing the Elder Brain under control, and that going against him despite that is a risky endeavor. It's probably for this reason that there is no Heroic Team Revolt if you do work with him, even among the companions who he's wronged and who hate his guts. The Emperor will outright acknowledge that for all of the things Gortash did, he isn't lying when he offers to work with the player character, and he and Minthara outright suggest working with Gortash because he has a point.
  • Even if the player does plan to eventually work against him, he is fully right that Orin needs to be gotten rid of first. Not just because of the personal history that her and the Dark Urge have, but also because she takes one of your campmates hostage.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's a respected and popular politician in Baldur's Gate, with many having no idea he's an evil cultist preying on its citizens.
• Virtue Is Weakness: Both averted and played straight. He's the only one among the Chosen of the Absolute who abhors the treacherous infighting that plagues the followers of the Dead Three, and makes a genuine, good faith offer of an alliance to the Player Character because he thinks it's the only viable option he has of keeping the Elder Brain under control. This is even more pronounced if you play as the Dark Urge, as Gortash will explicitly distance himself from Orin's treachery, and promise that he would never have stabbed his own allies in the back the way she did. However, when it comes to Karlach, who he did betray, he shows no remorse, and says that it was her own fault for being so soft-hearted and naive that she couldn't see his betrayal coming, showing that while he holds himself to certain standards when dealing with those he considers his equals, he abandons those standards entirely when dealing with those he considers disposable pawns.
• We Can Rule Together: He offers the Player Character a chance to rule Baldur's Gate with him once they reach the city. He's even willing to overlook their past animosity with the Cult of the Absolute, because of his Pragmatic Villainy.
• Would Hurt a Child: His associates at Felogyr Fireworks are involved in a conspiracy to distribute booby-trapped children's toys to refugee families. Since you can't confront Gortash about this specifically, his motives for doing so are left ambiguous, but implied to be part of a scheme to sow further terror around Baldur's Gate in order to consolidate his rule.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: If you cement your alliance with him, but later decide to attack him at the Morphic Pool right as the Elder Brain is breaking free, he's utterly gobsmacked by your idiocy and incredulously points out how you're picking a fight at the worst possible time. If you retort with a flimsy excuse such as saying your hand slipped, he snarks that so did his foot, and kicks you in the shins and tells you to get your act together.
• You Have Failed Me: Trying to use speak with dead on his corpse after his death will have you talking with his patron god Bane instead, who will inform you that Gortash's soul is now being punished within his divine realm for his failure.

Orin the Red

Orin the Red

Voiced by: Maggie Robertson

"Come to me, Father. Set my flesh to your unholy purpose!"

Race: Changeling
Class: Rogue (Thief) (in humanoid form)

A shapeshifting murderess with the goal of making the streets of Baldur’s Gate run red with blood. A relentless killer and a law upon herself, whose entire being has been shaped by her devotion to her chosen deity of worship, Orin stands proud as one of the three Chosen of the Absolute.

---

• Abusive Parents: Her mother tried to smother Orin to death at seven on command of her father, who is also Orin’s father. Then there was what her grandfather continued to raise her to be in his god’s name. Then there is the dark implication behind, if confronted about what he did to his daughter, that grandfather’s saying he loves Orin like he did her mother.
• Actor Allusion: Maggie Robertson once again plays a bloodthirsty murderess that assumes a draconic form when you fight her.
• Ax-Crazy: While Thorm has shades of being a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds and Gortash is pragmatic enough to prefer peaceful solutions, Orin is transparently unhinged and insane. Makes sense, considering she's a Bhaalspawn.
• Barefoot Loon: She always goes around barefoot, completing her unsettling Ax-Crazy appearance.
• Braids of Action: She has extremely long hair that goes past her waist, but she keeps it contained in a long braid, so it doesn't get in her way.
• Cain and Abel: Potentially the Cain to the Dark Urge's Abel, whom she will even refer to as 'sibling' and 'her kin.' Averted if the Dark Urge is played as being just as psychotic as she is.
• Call-Back:
  • She's a Bhaalspawn, one that really, really embraces her role. She's also the daughter-granddaughter of Sarevok.
  • Her being a changeling and Sarevok's daughter-granddaughter is also a callback to the first game. There, Sarevok had a cabal of doppelgangers loyal to him, which he used to take over Candlekeep and later Baldur's Gate itself. Changelings are the descendants of pairings between doppelgangers and humans.
• Canon Immigrant: Kind of; Changelings originate from the Eberron setting, and while there's nothing to say that a DM can't implant Changelings into their own settings or games, generally speaking they aren't found in many other official settings due to the nature of Eberron. ^note To put it simply, Eberron exists within its own sealed off multiverse on the Prime Material Plane that, barring certain extremely rare portals or means, does not connect to or interact with the Great Wheel cosmology that most other D&D settings exist within. While it isn't necessarily impossible for a Changeling to have made their way to the Forgotten Realms from Eberron (or that similar crossbreeding between Doppelgangers and humans has happened in the Realms as happened in Eberron to the same result), the fact that her race and abilities aren't treated with more surprise is somewhat odd, especially given Larian has no current plans to include the Artificer class from the same setting.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Far and away the most enthusiastically capital-E Evil member of the Chosen — Ketheric is a gloomy, bitter mess, and Gortash is trying to be a Villain with Good Publicity, but she spends her time either (a) murdering people or (b) spouting off at allies and enemies alike about how fantastic it is to be a mass murderer.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: As befitting of a Bhaalspawn who wasn't even Bhaal's original Chosen to begin with. Orin only obtained her position through treacherously backstabbing the Dark Urge, an act that has catastrophic long-term ramifications for the Cult of the Absolute. She's so transparently untrustworthy that Gortash doesn't even want to work with her until she agrees to a divine pact that keeps her from harming him. Even then, it's clear that their partnership is built on sand, to the point that Gortash is perfectly willing to ally with the Player Character—no matter how much of a threat they've become to the Cult—simply because even they would be more reliable than Orin.
• Co-Dragons: As one of the three Chosen of the Absolute, she is one of its primary enforcers. Although when it's revealed that the Absolute is an enslaved Elder Brain, it turns out that the Chosen are its masters, rather than the other way around. Each chosen serves as emissary to one of the evil demigods of the Dead Three. As a Bhaalspawn, Orin's true loyalty is to the god of murder, Bhaal.
• Combat Sadomasochist: She enjoys receiving pain as she does dishing it out. If the avatar threatens her with violence via skill check, Orin reacts with glee and urges them on, nevermind how she reacts in the boss fight itself. In fact, if you attack her while she's disguised at any point, she'll drop the act and immediately revel in being wounded rather than annoyed she was discovered at all.
• Dark Action Girl: She prefers the subtle approach with her shapeshifting powers, but as the Githyanki learn the hard way, she's perfectly capable of holding her own without the element of surprise.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Good God. Abusive Parents? Check. Child of incest? Check. Bhaalspawn? Check. Survived an attempt at Offing the Offspring? Check. Self-Made Orphan as a result of said attempt? Check. In a game where comically dark backstories are the norm, hers manages to stand out as one of the worst. And that's not even getting into the implications behind Sarevok's line about loving her the way he did her mother...
• Dark Secret: To her. Sarevok — not just her grandfather either after all — is who actually ordered his daughter to kill Orin, not the story told of Orin’s mother getting jealous and trying to kill the seven year old to please Bhaal. Orin desperately refuses to believe this if told.
• Death of Personality: If she becomes manic and breaks down when her grandfather’s treachery is revealed, Bhaal steps in. “No more Orin” is explicitly said, before she is transformed forcibly into a mindless slayer.
• Dual Wielding: She fights with a shortsword and a knife.
• Duel Boss: If playing as the Dark Urge, her boss fight becomes this; neither your teammates or her cultists are allowed to interfere. If you attempt to attack or heal with a party member, her cultists will buff her nonstop.
• Didn't See That Coming:
  • Downplayed. Orin is somewhat surprised to learn of the Dark Urge's survival and continued interference, more so when she learns they have lost all their memories, but is more amused than anything, especially if the Dark Urge has been trying to suppress their violent impulses.
  • Similarly, She has no idea about all of the scheming Sarevok had done in creating her and shaping her into the kind of evil that would mercilessly kill for the hell of it only to be rendered disposable if and when she becomes unfavorable in their eyes as all Bhaalspawn tend to suffer, and when she's finally told the truth, her sheer shock and subsequent Villainous RRoD reveals that she legitimately had no idea her entire existence is a lie of convenience for both of her fathers and didn't expect such a betrayal to befall her despite being a Bhaalspawn herself.
• Enfant Terrible: A Bhaalspawn by blood and on top of that raised in a family of fanatic worshippers, she unfortunately had very little chance of being otherwise. At the age of seven, when her mother tried to murder her, Orin killed the woman first and then played with her severed hand. When her grandfather saw the scene of carnage, Bhaal himself then spoke through the little girl — expressing his terrible wishes for her.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: She loves Sarevok, her grandfather. Of course being Ax-Crazy her love means she plans to kill him someday so if you kill him first she's more mad that you beat her to it. If you reveal to her that he's the one who convinced his daughter, her mother, to try to kill her a child, the betrayal all but breaks her.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To a morally-inclined Dark Urge. Both are Bhaalspawn, but while the Dark Urge can try and fight off their murderous impulses and reject their heritage, Orin happily embraces her relation to the God of Murder and is just as insane as most of their kind.
  • Minthara will note that Orin is one to her, being similar to her at the start of the game. Like pre-party Minthara, Orin is a bloodthirsty maniac who kills gleefully in the name of a god that doesn't give a damn about her and sees her as a disposable tool, much like how Minthara started with the Absolute, and with Lolth before that.
• Eviler than Thou: Orin seems determined to be this to other villains in the setting, insulting her fellow Chosen (particularly Gortash) and committing several ritualistic murders around the city themed to mock the Five, a previous generation's mightiest Bhaalspawn.
• Evil Is Visceral: Her red Leotard of Power is made of a material that looks suspiciously like meat plastered onto her body, giving this vibe.
• Evil Redhead: Bright red hair, and the most psychotic and violent character in the game (other than a Dark Urge who's being played as an unrepentant Villain Protagonist).
• Famous Ancestor: The revived Sarevok sitting on the sidelines for now explicitly names that Orin is his granddaughter when he's approached in his court.
• Fan Disservice: She is regularly in a very revealing outfit, which is less enticing and more disturbing as it emphasizes her body as if it is perpetually covered in blood, her demeanor also being rather sensual but completely, maniacally homicidal and ready to snap to murder at any given moment. Her dryad disguise is an aversion.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: While the Chosen Three were never friends by any means, Orin is particularly loathed by her co-conspirators due to her Ax-Crazy tendencies. She even says to the player that Gortash did not want to work with her in the first place and only did so after the two of them signed a pact that prevents her from harming him.
• Hated by All: Her unhinged nature makes her despised by everyone, whether be it enemy or ally. Her co-conspirators Gortash and Ketheric are constantly unnerved by her bloodthirstiness; her father Bhaal openly prefers the Dark Urge over her as his chosen; and even her followers do not attempt to avenge her death. And while Minthara respects Ketheric and Gortash for their Evil Virtues, she despises and fears Orin for what she put her through.
• Hypocrite:
  • In non-Dark Urge playthroughs, she'll chastise you if you allied with Gortash, painting him as a corrupting influence who's only using you to establish his own stranglehold on the city. While not entirely wrong, she's a markedly nastier person in every respect, from the lows she stoops to in order to make you cooperate with her, to her overall plans for the Sword Coast, to even the terms of her counter-offer (while Gortash offers a genuine alliance, Orin merely offers the "mercy" of sparing your companion that she kidnapped, and she fully intends to kill you no matter what). It makes her criticisms ring incredibly hollow.
  • She has zero remorse for usurping the Dark Urge and effectively ruining their life, as she firmly believes that this is what she's supposed to do as a Bhaalspawn, and that if the Dark Urge couldn't survive the betrayal, they were simply weak. She does not take it well, however, if she realizes that Sarevok himself has been using her the entire time, to the point of ordering her death just so Orin could prove herself to be "worthy", and the realization that she too is nothing more than a disposable pawn all but breaks her.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She was jealous of her 'sibling' because not only were they incredibly effective, but Bhaal favored them immensely. This is what spurned her to oust the Dark Urge by taking control of the Netherbrain, infecting them with a tadpole, and wiping their memories so she could take their place as Bhaal's favorite 'child'.
• Humanshifting: Justified. Her shapeshifting abilities, pupilless eyes, and pallid, grey skin heavily imply that she's a Changeling.
• I Have Your Wife: Orin will kidnap one of your companions for the express purpose of making you do her bidding, which is to take the pragmatic Lord Gortash out of the equation so she's the last of the Chosen of the Absolute standing. If you do nothing or fail a skill check, she'll just kill said companion flat out. Following that, she plans to fight you in one last showdown where the winner gains control of the Crown of Karsus, and the loser is fed to Bhaal.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: A notable reoccurring trend with two specific familial targets. She wants to be the favourite of Bhaal’s Bhaalspawn and she wants her grandfather to be proud of her. It’s telling that when her grandfather’s betrayal is revealed to her, how she is no exception to her cult’s betrayals, the utterly distraught murderess cries out how she did everything for her grandfather.
  Orin: No. not him. Not him…I did all this for him. Everything…everything…
• In Name Only:
  • She is called a doppelgänger, but all evidence points toward her being a changeling (children of humans and doppelgängers), from her human base form to her pale skin and white eyes. Despite actually being a changeling, the characters insist she is a doppelgänger, with the stat block calling her a Monstrosity instead of a Humanoid. Tellingly, the official artbook does call her a changeling, though the game itself does not. Notably changelings are not an established part of the Forgotten Realms setting, coming from a different D&D property, so she may be the world's first, explaining why the characters just treat her as a strange doppelgänger.
  • Her abilities include ones that have her implied to be a rogue (Uncanny Dodge, Fast Hands, and Reliable Talent), but unless the Dark Urge unlocked it before fighting her, she spends her fight as a Slayer form, and does not end up using these abilities.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Before Orin, the Dark Urge was Bhaal's "Chosen" and one of the Cult of the Absolute's leaders, even helping Gortash in creating the plan to enslave the Netherbrain. The Dark Urge was displaced and betrayed by Orin when she usurped their position in a bid to become Bhaal's new favorite child, though Gortash makes it clear that her actions actually hurt the Cult more than benefit them as shown in her Nice Job Fixing It, Villain below.
• Inbred and Evil: Perhaps why she is so deranged, matching the Dark Urge — while not directly born from Bhaal's blood, her grandfather is Saverok, a fellow Bhaalspawn, and her father is also Sarevok, meaning next to the Dark Urge, she's the only other Bhaalspawn with "pure" blood.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: For the Dark Urge origin only; Orin is their relative who, out of great envy for their more accomplished and favored kin in Bhaal's eyes, poisoned the Dark Urge and erased their memory — leading to their state at the beginning of the game — while hijacking their role in Bhaal's service for themselves. Regardless of how The Dark Urge is played and what happens after the fact, the Dark Urge's confrontation with Orin is a deeply personal one that can only end one way for her.
• Kick the Dog: Almost literally. When disguising as Yenna, Orin kills her pet cat and tries to feed it to the player, for no other reason than to rub salt in the wound and Troll them in the cruelest way imaginable.
• Like Father, Like Son: Orin's own mother allegedly tried to murder her as a child out of jealousy, seeking the favor of Bhaal, her grandfather. Orin herself attempts to dispose of a blood relative for very similar reasons.
• Loophole Abuse: A pact with Gortash prevents her from bringing any harm to him, so she decides to have the player character do it for her by holding one of their companions hostage.
• Master Actor: When she isn't letting her Bhaalspawn tendencies get the better of her, she can put on a convincing performance of the person she's impersonating and can seem fairly benign... until she starts dropping bloodthirsty hints that get louder and louder before she sheds the disguise altogether.
• Master of Disguise: As a Changeling, she's an expert in disguises due to her Voluntary Shapeshifting ability, which is not based on illusion magic like Disguise Self, but in her actually twisting her flesh to take the specific form of another person.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Potentially. She's the one responsible for wiping the Dark Urge's memories, as she wanted to get rid of them and become Bhaal's favored child and champion. This can wind up biting her in the ass, as said amnesia not only causes the Dark Urge to forget their horrid deeds, it can also mean they pull an unknowing Heel–Face Turn and reject their Bhaalspawn heritage. In any case, regardless of how the Dark Urge is played, Orin's actions turn what could have been a valuable ally into a dangerous enemy.
  • The Absolute was impressed by the Dark Urge and would have followed their plan if Orin hadn't destroyed the latter's mind. With the Dark Urge gone the Absolute began to pursue the Grand Design instead and manipulated the Chosen against one another, arranging for the amnesiac Dark Urge or Tav or one of the preset Origin characters to tear down their plans instead of remaining subservient.
  • On a non-Dark Urge Tav playthrough, their absence in Tav's story is implied to be because Orin opted to just kill Dark Urge instead. Meanwhile, Tav's absence in a Dark Urge playthrough is implied to be because the Dark Urge themself killed Tav prior to the events of the game. In short, if Orin opted to kill Dark Urge, they indirectly saved Tav's life, and in doing so, allowed Tav to live long enough to become a thorn in the Absolute's side. This leaves the remaining preset Origin characters as the only Avatars whom Orin didn't unwittingly aid in some way.
• One-Winged Angel: She will adopt her Slayer form during the boss fight against her unless the Dark Urge has unlocked it before meeting her. Even then, you can arrange a Slayer vs Slayer battle by revealing Sarevok's manipulation and forcing Bhaal to intervene.
• One-Woman Army: Any girl who can dish out a Curb-Stomp Battle to a dragon instantly qualifies as this.
• Painful Transformation: Her typical utilization of her Voluntary Shapeshifting is clearly an agonizing process as her body cracks and begins violently snapping back and forth before shedding her guise altogether. It’s implied that Orin does this deliberately, most likely because she enjoys it, as she can be seen transforming without this in certain scenes.
• Psycho Knife Nut: She's a deranged murderess whose weapon of choice is a knife. She even enjoys licking the blood from the blade. Said knife, Bloodthirst, was formed from the blood of one of Bhaal's first victims back when he was a mortal.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Her personal shortsword, Crimson Mischief, describes her as someone who never grew out of the cruelties of being a child.
  When she was a girl, she toyed with nastiness and sadism. Children often grow out of this; they get hobbies. For Orin, that taste for cruelty fermented, and in a way she did find hobbies. Ones that screamed.
• Red Baron: Aside from her "the Red" name, she is also known as the Lash of Bhaal.
• Spanner in the Works: To both the Absolute and the Dark Urge. The Dark Urge was all poised to fulfill Bhaal's desires and start a bloody war with the Absolute, who came to admire the Dark Urge's ability for carnage to the point it willingly went along with the plan. Orin's betrayal not only inflicted a severe case of amnesia on the Dark Urge, providing the opportunity for them to turn away from their father's influence and redeem themselves, but it also caused the Absolute to default back to the original plan of carrying out the Grand Design.
• Spot the Impostor: You can actually find out who is Orin's impersonating fairly easily by examining their character because while she can disguise her appearance and stats at a glance, she cannot hide her level from you, which means that you have an absurdly high random one-off NPC or oddly-leveled party member you know is supposed to be a specific level sticking out like a sore thumb.
• The Starscream: Twofold.
  • First, Orin is entirely loyal to the Murder Lord first and foremost, and is planning to betray her fellow Chosen in the Cult to allow Bhaal's murderous tendencies to spread throughout the world in a sea of bloodshed and carnage rather than simply Take Over the World like her peers.
  • And secondly, dependent on if you are playing The Dark Urge, Orin betrayed them in the past when it was clear The Dark Urge was their favored child and was the one who orchestrated the original plan to seize control of the Netherbrain to facilitate his murderous return, with Orin poisoning them and inflicting amnesia on their sibling to seize her place in Bhaal's favor instead. The latter betrayal ends up biting her hard, especially if the Dark Urge ends up reforming from the vile person they once were, completely derailing her father's plans in the process.
• Stripperiffic: She wears a highly revealing red Leotard of Power of sorts, all with strategically-placed windows to show off her body.
• Stupid Evil: It’s no wonder Gortash wanted her gone so badly. She’s so obsessed with murder and proving herself to Bhaal that she completely ruins all of Gortash and the Dark Urge’s plans. By torturing the Dark Urge and wiping all of their memories, she removes possibly the most competent member of the Chosen who could actually control the Elder Brain, starting its plan to restore the Illithid Grand Design. Also, no matter what happens when you play Dark Urge or how they are played, their confrontation together was only ever going to end one way. And if the Dark Urge rejects Bhaal, which they have plenty of reasons to, she leaves Bhaal without one Chosen to speak of. Not picking the Dark Urge has her simply kill them instead, which only serves to reduce the probability of Bhaal regaining control of the plan from slim to none.
• Talking the Monster to Death: If you reveal the Dark Secret behind her existence, and are able to convince her the reality of what she ignored, Orin actually completely breaks down and goes into a mania that leaves her a completely ineffectual mess. The only thing that stops this from being the end of Orin right away however is that Bhaal himself directly intervenes and forces her to transform into her Slayer form to encourage the duel to the death anyway, but it's clear Orin is a completely unfocused, raging mess from that point onward compared to her usual sadistic glee.
• Troll: Weaponizes her Voluntary Shapeshifting and Villain Teleportation to repeatedly trail and harass the player as various NPCs and allies along their path despite having the opportunity to dispose of their nuisance many, many times before revealing herself to them anyway, but chooses not to because it is more amusing to taunt them with the Paranoia Fuel she inflicts by doing so.
• Tyke Bomb: Even without having one of the most messed-up backstories in the game and possibly the entire setting, the fact that she was a Bhaalspawn on top of all of that all but guaranteed the girl never had a chance to be anything other than an Ax-Crazy psychopath.
• The Un-Favorite: Her 'father' loves her sibling more than her, and she knows it. Her playing second-fiddle to the Dark Urge when it comes to being Bhaal's chosen is what ultimately made her turn on them.
• Unknown Relative: As a Bhaalspawn, she's related to the Dark Urge through Bhaal: since the Durge is Bhaal's direct child while Orin is the daughter/granddaughter of Sarevok, that makes the Durge essentially Orin's uncle/aunt and great-uncle/aunt. Due to the Durge's amnesia, this is unknown to them until close to the end of the game.
• Villainous RRoD: If you reveal to her that it was her beloved grandfather Sarevok who had her mother try to kill her as a child, she totally loses it. Following it up by pointing out that Bhaal relishes such betrayals among his followers and she can't really have believed herself immune from it just further makes her freak out, forcing Bhaal to convince her to turn into the Slayer.
• Villain Teleportation: Regularly, gleefully abuses this to sneak up to people with her shapeshifting, reveal herself, mess with their heads, and then vanish before they can retaliate. It's left ambiguous whether it's an 'ordinary' spell like Misty Step or something fancier she got as a favoured Bhaalspawn.
• Virtue Is Weakness: Aside from her jealousy, another reason she turned on the Dark Urge was that she couldn't stand how well they got along with Gortash thanks to sharing his capacity for pragmatism and restraint. Orin considered the Dark Urge's long-term planning as an insult to Bhaal's ways, as Bhaal's "true chosen" would never cooperate with any God other than Bhaal himself, and she vows to restore that purity to the Bhaal cult after usurping the Dark Urge. Ironically, it's established that the Dark Urge would've been compelled to betray Gortash eventually, given Bhaal's overwhelming influence on them, proving Orin's beliefs to be both self-serving and short-sighted.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: As a Changeling, she can change her physical form at will.
• "Well Done, Daughter!" Girl: Orin loves and adores her father, and wants nothing more than to prove herself to him. This is also what fueled her jealousy and hate toward the Dark Urge, who Bhaal favored more.

Cultists

Balthazar

Balthazar

You do know what's at stake here, yes?

Voiced by: Roger Ringrose

Race: Undead

Class: Necromancer

Chief Advisor of Ketheric Thorm. He was sent to Thorm's Mausoleum to find Nightsong.

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• Boss-Arena Idiocy: Downplayed, but his encounter would normally be rather tough... if it didn't take place in the Shadowfell, where the gravity is massively lower than in the overworld. It only takes a single push to instantly cast him into the shadows below and end the fight extremely early. In his defense, his larger skeleton minions are also perfectly happy to do the same to you.
• The Corrupter: Downplayed, as Ketheric was already a Fallen Hero in the service of Shar, but Ketheric's diaries heavily hint that Balthazar played a role in his conversion to Myrkul worship.
• Death Is Cheap: Claims that this applies to him, but it might be bluster — he never makes good on his threatened do-over.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Has a strange attachment to his unborn brother, the flesh golem Flesh. The same goes for his mother.
  Balthazar: We're still close. She's in a jar on the shelf over there.
• Evil Genius: He's the brains of Ketheric Thorm's operation. Apart from his research on the Nightsong that allows Thorm to be immortal, he is the one who advocated the use of goblin soldiers, believing that the Cult can weaponize their viciousness and sheer numbers in spite of their unimpressive intellect.
• Fat Bastard: A fat and very cruel necromancer.
• Flowery Insults: Vulgar in very creative ways.
  Balthazar: Rotting afterbirth of an ogre!
• Insistent Terminology: It's General Thorm. Not just Thorm. General Thorm.
• Jerkass: An extraordinarily unpleasant character in every way that matters.
• The Minion Master: Balthazar has a huge amount of undead under his command, ranging from simple skeletons to ghouls and even a flesh golem. Like his fellow necromancer Presio from Baldur's Gate's sister series, Balthazar can both speak through his minions remotely and imbue them with verbal scripts.
• Mad Doctor: The art book states that his design is based on mad doctors from classic horror movies and Rasputin.
• Necromancer: The game's most traditional example, and the one whose antics are played for the most horror.
• No Ontological Inertia: Averted, strangely enough. The one necromancer battle in the game where you really want the minions to drop dead the moment you kill the summoner doesn't follow this rule, and it's never explained why.
• One-Steve Limit: Shares his name with a Bhaalspawn monk from Throne of Bhaal. Unlike that monk, the necromancer is much more evil.
  Balthazar: Oh, him? Yes, I decided to take his name for myself after taking his ribs. Suits me better, I think.
• Smug Snake: He's extremely arrogant and convinced of his own genius, to the point that he never even entertains the notion of someone getting the better of him.
• Talk to the Fist: If you chose to bypass his final conversation in the Nightsong's chamber and immediately attack him directly, it's possible to counterspell his raise dead spell or throw him off the cliff before he casts it, causing his numerous undead minions to not join the fight.

Disciple Z'rell

Z'rell

Voiced by: Jessica Carroll

"She gave me the power to delight with a thought — or a kill. So stay on my good side."

Race: Half-Orc

A high-ranking True Soul cultist stationed at Moonrise Towers.

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• The Dragon: She acts as General Thorm's right-hand woman within Moonrise Towers, usually being the one giving out orders and handling the day-to-day operations of the Absolute cultists.
• Dude Magnet: She apparently has quite a few admirers in the cult — even one of the goblins back at the goblin camp is smitten by her, and she herself can brag about it.
• Eye Scream: Has a scar over her missing right eye, now replaced by a glass one, implying she lost it in a battle.
• The Fundamentalist: One of the more fanatical devotees to the Absolute. She'll even question whoever speaks to her about their loyalty if she catches a hint of "heresy" in their words.
• Hate Sink: She might flirt with your character a lot, but it’s hard to like her. She’s a psychotic, cruel and rude woman with very few redeeming qualities, who constantly talks down to you and clearly enjoys the power over others her position in the Cult of the Absolute grants her. In her final dialogue option, you can even tell her how much you looked forward to killing her.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Downplayed. She gets pretty gleeful should she probe your memories of you killing the goblin minions with your bare hands, and her compliments are laced with flirtatious undertones. One of the things she seems most happy about is the Absolute letting her kill without worry. At the same time, further probing shows that she disavows a Dark Urge player's uncontrolled bloodlust, believing that it compromises their loyalty to the Absolute.
• Power of the Void: She has a special ability called Black Hole, a third-tier illithid skill that only players who take the Emperor's special tadpole can access. It can draw in enemies within its range and slows down their movements.
• Pragmatic Villainy: If you play as a Dark Urge and respond to her mind probe with a successful Intimidation check that draws upon your vicious urges and past atrocities, she's actually rather unsettled. Not because of any moral reasons, mind you, but because she has doubts about your reliability as she believes that True Souls should be motivated by a loving devotion to the Absolute, not by cruelty or being power-hungry. You then have to clear an additional Deception check to convince her that your anger is only directed at the Absolute's enemies.
• Really Gets Around: Claims to have bedded several of her cultist underlings.
• Rugged Scar: Has a large scar running down that side of her face, complementing her image as a tough and ruthless high-ranking cultist.
• What Does She See in Him?: The player can resist Z'Rell's mind probe by distracting her with thoughts of their romanced companion. Sexually forward companions (such as Lae'zel or Astarion) will earn her approval, while others who need more of an emotional connection first (such as Shadowheart or Gale) will be dismissed as pathetic.

True Soul Edowin

Edowin

Voiced by:

Race: Dwarf

A 'True Soul' who was assigned to search the Nautiloid wreckage, but was mauled by an owlbear on the way there.

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• Almost Dead Guy: When the player finds him, he's already on his deathbed thanks to the wounds inflicted on him by the owlbear.
• Dramatic Irony: He gives his Last Request to the player character assuming they're another True Soul like him, unaware that the player is actually the very people he was ordered to hunt in the first place.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He's high enough in the hierarchy of the evil cult of Absolute to have become a true soul, yet he seems to genuinely care for his disciples Brynna and Andrick, with his dying words to the player being a plea to keep them safe. Using speak to the dead on him shows he truly means it.
• Last Request: Uses the last of his strength to plea for the player (who he assumes is a True Soul like him) to take care of his disciples Brynna and Andrick.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Although he dies soon after the moment you meet him, encountering Edowin is the one of the first clue that the Absolute and the Tadpole are connected, hinting of the main antagonist and the greater conspiracy.
• Worf Effect: He's a True Soul, but ended up getting randomly killed by an owlbear. But he did wound the owlbear enough to make it easier for the player to kill.

Brynna & Andrick

Brynna and Andrick

Voiced by: Ellie Heydon (Brynna), Ash Rizi (Andrick)

Race: Human

The disciples of True Soul Edowin, entrusted by him to the player.

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• Dramatic Irony: Their job is to search for survivors of the Nautiloid crash, something they will unwittingly inform the party, who are the survivors they're looking for. If the player makes them aware of this, they will promptly attack.
• Mr. Exposition: They're the first members of the cult of the Absolute that the player is designed to encounter, and will give you the basic information needed to understand the cult.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: The player can easily convince them to attack the owlbear in order to avenge their beloved master, something that will likely lead to their deaths.
• Those Two Guys: They're always encountered together.

Minthara

Nightwarden Minthara Baenre

Voiced by: Emma Gregory

Race: Lolth-Sworn Drow
Class: Paladin (Oath of Vengeance)

A drow True Soul who is one of the three leaders of a goblin tribe based in an abandoned temple of Selûne.

See Other Companions & Camp Followers for her character page.

True Soul Nere

Nere

Voiced by: Joseph Capp

"Nere. Does. Not. Fail."

Race: Lolth-Sworn Drow

Class: Cleric

A 'True Soul' in charge of the Grymforge. He gets caught in a cave-in while digging up a temple adjacent to the forge, and his fellows in the Duergar there are desperate to get him out of there.

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• 0% Approval Rating: To the non-True Soul Duergar, he's a pompous headcase who's turned otherwise perfectly good Duergar against the cause and eaten into their profit margins. A couple of good persuasion rolls with the head of the non-True Soul Duergar will set them with you, and against Nere, in the inevitable conflict. This extends to other higher-ranking True Souls as well. Kar'niss thinks Nere is an incompetent idiot. And if you side with him in Grymforge, Balthazar will kill Nere after Nere attempts to kill Balthazar to steal his position for himself. It's clear Balthazar didn't think much of Nere either.
• Arc Villain: He's the primary antagonist of the Underdark section of Act 1, with almost everything wrong going on there being traced back to him and the duergar under his command.
• Asshole Victim: Nobody seems all that motivated in rescuing him from the cave-in. Most of the Duergar only want to rescue him because he's the one paying them, while your companions only want to rescue him because they need his head as proof to Sovereign Spaw that they killed him.
• Bad Boss: When he speaks with his Sergeant Trinn after being freed from a cave in, he immediately threatens her life for needing outside help to free him instead of accomplishing it herself. The first cutscene where the player interacts with Nere has him blasting a gnome slave he was trapped with to her death into lava. He can also kill all his slaves and Duergar allies out of paranoia.
• Decapitation Presentation: Sovereign Spaw wants his head for the attack Nere waged on the myconids. It is not hyperbole either, as the player literally cuts off and gives it to Spaw, who then plants fungus in Nere’s head to help his myconids circle thrive, adding even more indignity to Nere’s death.
• Distaff Counterpart: To Minthara, another Bad Boss drow True Soul who abandoned Lolth for the Absolute. Ironically, despite his presentation as the more despicable antagonist, it takes much less for Nere to foreswear the cult.
• Even Evil Has Standards: If the player shares their knowledge of the Absolute's origins with Nere, he'll renounce his false god and chastise himself for having been gulled by a mind flayer plot. This is notably the only positive outcome for him: if his faith remains unshaken, he'll find his way back to Moonrise and the fate Balthazar has in store for him; if reasoned with, he'll cut ties with the cult and return home.
• Foreshadowing: Most of the Duergar at the Grymforge are notably hostile towards you even if you try to curry favor with them by claiming to be a True Soul. This hints at the fraught relationship they have with Nere and how the whole alliance is effectively a powder-keg waiting to explode.
• Hate Sink: Vain, ruthless and smug. Unlike with goblins, his cruelty is played out without any humor.
• Kick the Dog: Or a gnome. Freed from the rubble, he immediately kicks the gnome slave into the lava. Subsequently, he is able to kill the rest of the slaves and his own duergar allies due to his own paranoia.
  Nere: Worthless slaves. Your incompetence has been my ruin.
• Killed Offscreen: Even if you help him survive the Underdark, he'll move on to the Temple of Shar where he'll find Balthazar and pick a fight with him, where he'll be easily killed and made an undead servant.
• My God, What Have I Done?: If you take his side against the duregar, it's actually possible to turn him against the Absolute; he's aghast to learn that he betrayed Lolth for a pretender god propped up by mind flayers.
• Never My Fault: Nere refuses to take responsibility for his own failures at the Grymforge and instead blames it all on his gnome slaves and his duergar allies.
• The Paranoiac: A truly loathsome example; if you help him and intervene with him abusing prisoners for any reason at all, he's quick to brand you either as a traitor to the cause or as a test from the Absolute... which inevitably ends with a fight. Averted if you make him realize the truth about the Absolute, as he'll immediately regret being played for a fool and abandon the cult.
• Smug Snake: Once under the rubble, he pitifully begs the PC for help. However, after being released, he can also quickly order his lackeys to kill them.
• Third-Person Person: Has a habit of referring to himself in the third person, which annoys duergar mercenaries.

Marcus

Marcus

Voiced by: Scott Joseph

Race: Aberration (Formerly Human)

Formerly a member of the Flaming Fist, he is currently serving as a True Soul for the Cult of the Absolute and acting as a spy for them.

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• Affably Evil: He's The Mole for the Absolute and an evil man, but he's fairly polite and cordial to people after he is revealed to be a traitor, even asking Isobel to come with him and avoid fighting if possible. He even disapproves of the tendency for the other cultists to backstab or infight among each other.
• Good Wings, Evil Wings: The Absolute has given him crow wings, which gives him the aesthetic of a fallen angel. Notes in Moonrise Towers reveal that those wings actually belonged to Aylin.
• Knight of Cerebus: He can potentially be this if he manages to defeat and capture Isobel. His action swiftly destroys the protective barrier surrounding the Last Light, which kills everyone except the party and Jaheira.
• Lightning Bruiser: As a foe, Marcus has Str that exceeds the normal stat cap, and has fairly high Dex and Con to go with it. On top of that, he has a lot of HP, can heal himself using Vampiric Shout, and has a high Initiative bonus to ensure he acts quickly in battle. All of this makes him a dangerous foe who can quickly overpower Isobel and kidnap her if he isn't stopped.
• Locked Out of the Loop: He's apparently unaware of the Absolute's search for the Githyanki prism, as you can show it to Jaheira to prove you're not a cultist, and he simply assumes it to be some sort of elaborate ruse. Had he known the true significance of the artifact, this would've immediately tipped him off.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Marcus is a melee powerhouse for the level you fight him, but his mental stats are all +0, making him very susceptible to magic that targets those stats, a necessity given his sheer physical stats would make him borderline unwinnable without that.
• The Mole: Everyone in the Flaming Fist believes that he is loyal member, but he is actually spying for the Absolute. Depending on the player's actions, they can sell him out to Jaheira should he reveal his status as a mole to them via telepathy.
• Pragmatic Villainy: He's utterly dejected if the player went along with his cover story to get past Jaheira, only to turn on him later on without revealing they aren't a True Soul. This isn't because he suddenly realizes who you really are, but because he presumes that you're only turning on him to kidnap Isobel personally and take all the credit, and he has a strong disdain for the infighting that plagues the Cult. This is in contrast to how the encounter plays out if you entered Last Light Inn without his help, where he immediately realizes you're a traitor should you refuse to cooperate with him and promises to make you pay.
• Propping Up Their Patsy: He can come to the player's defense when Jaheira accuses them of being a True Soul, only to secretly reveal to the player via telepathy that he's a True Soul himself. This can end up biting him in the ass should the player rat him out to Jaheira.
• Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Should he be outed as a traitor by the player, he will summon an army of disembodied hands to distract the Harpers and Flaming Fists before escaping the Last Light Inn, though he'll return shortly afterwards to kidnap Isobel.
• Was Once a Man: His transformation has made it so he is not even a Humanoid anymore, but rather an Aberration.
• Winged Humanoid: He's a normal human who has been magically granted a pair of wings that allow him to fly. The wings actually used to belong to Aylin.
• You Have Failed Me: He can later be found dead in Moonrise Towers if Isobel was killed, with a note beside him implying that Ketheric deemed him no longer worth living.

Kar'niss

Kar'niss

They must stand in the light.

Voiced by: Joshua B Sklar

Race: Lolth-Sworn Drow (Drider)

A drider utterly devoted to the Absolute. It guides the allies and cultists of the Absolute through the Shadow-Cursed Lands, using a Moon Lantern to protect them from the curse.

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• Ax-Crazy: Completely unhinged and very violent.
• Boss Subtitles: "The Light of the Absolute".
• Extra Eyes: The left side of his face is covered with multiple spider eyes.
• The Fundamentalist: He's one of the most fanatical and devoted followers of the Absolute, even referring to her as "his queen". This can be used against him, as a player posing as a True Soul can make him give up his Moon Lantern and even convince him to walk into the Shadow-Cursed Lands — unprotected! — by passing speech checks that convince him it is the will of the Absolute.
• No-Sell: If fought he makes liberal use of the "Sanctuary" spell, making himself temporarily immune to most forms of attack. He can't attack either without dropping the spell but he can attack then cast it.
• Spider People: He's a drider, blessed/cursed by the dark goddess Lolth, the Spider Queen. As such, he is a drow whose lower body was transformed into a spider, centaur-style. His upper chitinous is also unevenly transformed, with too many eyes and skin half-changed into chitinous plates.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: He narrates things in present tense as if reading from a book. "They do not leave the light!"
• Wall Crawl: Can use his spider legs to easily climb any surface, including the Moonrise Towers.

Goblin Forces

Dror Ragzlin

Dror Ragzlin

Voiced by: Adam Diggle

"Listen. The Absolute honors you and slays her enemies!"

Race: Hobgoblin

Class: Barbarian

A 'True Soul', and one of the three leaders of a goblin camp in an abandoned temple of Selûne.

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• Arc Villain: One of the three goblin leaders who serve as the antagonists for the Silvanus' Grove questline.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: He's a brutal goblinoid warlord who fights with a unique warhammer called Faithbreaker.
• Hired to Hunt Yourself: If you encounter him as a friendly, he's seen performing a "Speak to the Dead" spell on a dead mindflayer in order to find a Gith artifact for the Absolute. Said artifact is in the possession of Shadowheart (or you, if you're playing as her Origin or have already killed her), potentially putting her and/or you directly in the line of fire. Ragzlin will threaten to kill you unless you assist in the interrogation, and you can't just hand over the artifact and be done with it, so your only options are to either throw suspicion off yourself and the party or fight your way out.
• Inept Mage: He's a barbarian that fancies himself a magical ritualist, and you can find him failing to cast a "Speak with Dead" scroll against a mind flayer. He will successfully cast it if the player doesn't do anything, but its clear it took a lot of effort do so.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He thinks he has a chance of becoming the right-hand man to the Absolute, but in the cult hierarchy he's just a minor lieutenant used to control the goblin cultists.
• Tribal Facepaint: His body and face are decorated with goblinoid tribal marking, fitting for a war leader.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Appropriately for a barbarian, he wears no armor other than a sash that is secured with rope around his body.

High Priestess Gut

High Priestess Gut

Voiced by:

Race: Goblin

Class: Cleric

A 'True Soul', and one of the three leaders of a goblin camp in an abandoned temple of Selûne. She serves as their high priestess and healer.

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• Arc Villain: One of the three goblin leaders who serve as the antagonists for the Silvanus' Grove questline.
• Bad Samaritan: She offers to remove the protagonist’s tadpole, only to drug them unconscious and chain them up in her lab until they change in order to get her own pet mind-flayer.
• Developer's Foresight: Should you pickpocket her sleep potion from her before she could offer it to you, she will realize that someone has nabbed her potion and resort to using a sleep spell to knock you out instead.
  • On that note, in some cases, this may lead to your character being captured, when the sleep potion would've failed. Paladins, for example, can pass a Constitution check to resist the potion's sleep effects but will be utterly helpless against the sleep spell.
• Didn't Think This Through: She will still attempt to kidnap you using a sleep potion or a sleep spell even if you're one of the elven races. Their Fey Ancestry trait makes them immune to all forms of magically-induced sleep effects, rendering her plan doomed from the start.
• Dramatic Irony: If you try to get her help in removing your tadpole, only to find out she has the very same type of tadpole in her head. And when she discovers your tadpole, she'll betray you, thinking you're a lost cause since she thinks you'll turn into a mindflayer soon.
• Easy Level Trick: She's the easiest of the three leaders to kill. Asking her to talk one-on-one makes her lead you to an unoccupied side room where you can attack her without her goons noticing, provided you either focus her down in one round or prevent her from screaming for help one way or another (like casting Silence on her).
• Implausible Deniability: She will insist on removing your tadpole when she examines you, and when you point out she also has a tadpole, she claims you must be "hearing things." This is despite being able to push into her mind and sense her tadpole using the exact same connection she used with you earlier.
• Mad Doctor: While Gut has a reputation as skilled healer among her tribe, one goblin claims that she's killed more people than she healed. She also seems to enjoy branding others with the Mark of the Absolute a bit much.
• Power Tattoo: Provides these to followers of the Absolute, though its technically more of a brand than a tattoo. When asked about it, she says that it's charged with magic and allows cultists to easily identify each other.
• Slashed Throat: If she captures the protagonist and they aren't able to free themselves, an agent of Raphael's sneaks up behind her and does her in this way.
• Violence is the Only Option: If you seek out her help in treating your parasite infection, you will have to fight her and/or her forces, since her offer was made in bad faith and she planned to imprison you the entire time.

Sazza

Sazza

Voiced by: Holly Marie Michael

Race: Goblin

A member of a Goblin scouting party that was captured by the druids and is currently imprisoned in a cage at the Emerald Grove.

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• Guest-Star Party Member: If freed from her cage, she temporarily joins the party until they make it out of the Emerald Grove. Since she has no equipment and only 9 HP, it’s best to keep her far away from any combat.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Suggests to Minthara that she should kill the party, only for her to recognize them as fellow True Souls and instead sentence Sazza herself to death. Whether or not it results in a Karmic Death is up to the player character.
• Not Afraid to Die: "Chosen by the Absolute, I am. I'm blessed." Later averted if returned to the goblin camp, as when Minthara orders her to be fed to her pet spiders, Sazza begs her, the player character, and even the goblin guard for her life.
• Running Gag: She keeps getting into trouble again and again over the course of Acts I and II, giving you up to three opportunities to save her sorry hide from certain death. Doing so will earn you an achievement as well as a letter from her during the epilogue.
• Ungrateful Bitch: If the party helps her escape, she promises to put in a good word for them at the goblin camp. As soon as she leads them to Minthara:
  Sazza: (to Minthara) This mug helped me escape, though. I say we stick a few holes in him/her… Show how grateful we are.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: She's not fazed by the tiefling Arka threatening her life with a crossbow.
  Sazza: Shoot before you lose your nerve, tiefling. If you ever had it to begin with.

Fezzerk

Fezzerk

Voiced by: Declan Perking

Race: Goblin

A goblin raider boss who works for the Absolute, being in charge of the raiding party stationed at Moonhaven.

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• Aborted Arc: In Early Access, he had a special rivalry with Wyll, being one of the goblins present in the raid that cost Wyll his eye and he would taunt Wyll about it. Wyll's rewritten backstory in the full release makes them unrelated, and they have no special interaction with each other.
• Boisterous Weakling: He talks with a lot of bluster and bravado, but he'll pathetically fold at any significant resistance.
• The Bully: He's a raider who enjoys preying on the weak and helpless for sport, such as torturing Barcus Wroot by tying him to the arm of a windmill and laughing as he watches the poor gnome spin around.
• Dirty Coward: His defining trait. He only picks fights with those much weaker than him, and will be pathetically submissive to anyone higher in the food chain. It's very easy to send him running via speech checks, and a drow can do it even without one. Even if the player picks a fight with him, he'll act terrified and attempt to surrender and beg for mercy if brought to low health. If he's encountered in Moonrise Towers, he won't even be one of the goblins that attempts to stand up to Ketheric, instead spending the whole scene cowering and begging for mercy.
• This Is Gonna Suck: One of the options you have to punish him in Moonrise Towers is to give him one last shot at redemption by proving himself in honorable combat against you and your party. He immediately realizes that this is just another flavor of death sentence because there's no chance in hell he'll get out of such a fight alive.
• Villains Want Mercy: If fought at Moonhaven, he'll pathetically beg for mercy when brought to low health, offering his weapons and even information about how to infiltrate the goblin camp. The player can take all of those and still kill him. If he's spared, he can end up in the same position again in Moonrise Towers, being at the end of a You Have Failed Me at the hands of Ketheric Thorm.
• You Have Failed Me: If he survives Moonhaven, he'll return to Moonrise Tower empty-handed, with Ketheric Thorm deciding to punish his and his fellow raider's failure with death.

Torturer Spike

Torturer Spike

Voiced by: Adam Rhys Dee

Race: Goblin

The goblin tribe's torturer.

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• Aborted Arc: In Early Access, he had a special rivalry with Wyll, being the goblin boss who took out Wyll's eye and left him for dead, forcing him to pact with Mizora. He even captured Mizora's pod in the Nautiloid and tortured her, before she was sent to Moonrise Towers. Wyll's rewritten backstory in the full release makes them unrelated and they have no special interaction with each other. His plot involving capturing Mizora was also removed.
• Bad Boss: He'll send his own underling to be tortured by Abdirak just for his own amusement.
• Fetishes Are Weird: He's a sadistic torturer, but doesn't get any sexual thrill from it and is weirded out by Abdirak's BDSM flavor of dishing out pain.
• Sadist: Spike is a torturer who enjoys the pain of others. It's worth reiterating and emphasizing that said enjoyment is not paraphilic in nature, and indeed he thinks anyone that is an unironic Combat Sadomasochist is a freak.
• Torture Technician: He's in charge of torturing the prisoners his tribe captures, but he's not very good at his job, since his crude and savage torture methods don't effectively make his prisoners suffer without endangering them to death, which makes both Minthara and Abdirak consider him incompetent.

Cult Associates

Lump the Enlightened

Lump the Enlightened

Voiced by: Byron Larkin

Race: Ogre

The unusually smart leader of a trio of ogre mercenaries, currently working for the goblins serving the Absolute. Can be hired by the protagonist, if they make it worth his while.

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• Affably Evil: He's surprisingly polite and well-spoken for a gluttonous ogre. Especially compared to his brothers.
• Evil Counterpart: To Little One from Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, another ogre whose intelligence was magically increased by a Headband of Intellect. While Little One felt remorse for his past actions, Lump has no problem killing and eating others, and uses his heightened intelligence to cast magic and outsmart his victims.
• Genius Serum: Accidentally swallowed a (Warped) Headband of Intellect while eating one of his victims, which increased his Intelligence attribute to a whopping 17 (itself two lower than a standard Headband of Intellect at 19). The average for an ogre is 5.
• Magic Knight: On top of having the raw strength of your average ogre, Lump is also able to cast spells.
• The Magnificent: The Enlightened.
• Mr. Vice Guy: Even if he allies himself with you, he's primarily motivated by two things: gluttony and greed.
• Only in It for the Money: And bodies. An ogre's gotta eat, y'know. If you're charismatic enough, bodies can become the money you pay him with.
• Punch-Clock Hero: What he becomes you manage to hire him and his brothers; they aren't helping you out of altruism, they're helping you because it suits their needs.
• Sophisticated as Hell: Lump's articulate way of talking is juxtaposed with the stilted utterances of his fellows. Even so, he (perhaps wryly) emulates their way of talking here and there — especially when making a blunt point to them that they need to remember, like how the player character isn't to be eaten ("not food, FRIEND!").
  Chock: Taste like chicken!
  Fank: No chicken... taste like fish!
  Lump: Gentlemen — contain yourselves. This quarrel sours our feast. Besides, taste like pork.
• To Serve Man: Like most ogres, Lump has no issues eating other sentient creatures. The first step in hiring him is to convince him that the player character and their companions are not food.

Abdirak

Abdirak

Voiced by: Declan Perking

"The pain you suffer will cleanse you — do not fight it."

Race: Human

Class: Cleric

A cleric of Loviatar who's mentoring the goblins of the Absolute in their camp.

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• Affably Evil: He's a dedicated worshipper of Loviatar, and is teaching the goblins about how to best torture people, but he's the most polite person found in the goblin camp and won't attack the player unless specifically made hostile. If you go a step above embracing the beatings and actually start threatening him to hit you harder, he's positively beaming and is grateful to you for the experience.
• Bondage Is Bad: His "teachings" are akin to full on Impact Play with barbed lashes and he works for a Cult hell-bent on conquering Faerun, to his credit he ONLY inflict his "lesson" on you if you consent to them.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Played with in an ironic way; Abdirak is a full-on devotee of a goddess of sadomasochism, and regards the ritualistic dealing and receiving of lashings and scars as a source of religious as well as sexual ecstasy... but "ritualistic" is a key word in his desires. Abdirak abhors fighting and uncontrolled violence, and will hotfoot it out of any place he's in if a pitch battle is about to break out.
• Covered with Scars: His body is covered in scars from the self-inflected wounds he deals himself in order to commune with Loviatar.
• Cursed with Awesome: His weapon's "Willing Whip" feature hurts him as he hurts others… and being who he is, he likely loves it as a show of his devotion.
• Dirty Coward: Despite his love of hurting others, he won't even attempt to fight back if the party aggros the goblin camp and will instead cower until combat is over after which he will run away.
• Loves the Sound of Screaming: He openly enjoys the pained screams of those who beat his "cleansings". If the player participates in his "cleansing ritual", he'll be very upset if they muffle their screams.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: The Cult of the Absolute have somehow retained his services but he is not a follower of their faith, being loyal to Loviatar, Goddess of Pain. Whether the Absolute conquers the world or not is of little importance to him, he's in this for the pain.
• Sadist: He's a sadistic cleric of Loviatar who clearly gets a sexual thrill out of using his pain-inflicting method on others.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If the player makes the entire goblin camp hostile, he'll be one of the few characters that won't become hostile, deciding to flee from the camp instead, since he has no taste for violence.
• Torture Technician: As a worshiper of Loviatar, he's an expert at dealing pain, though he sees his work as an art and thinks little of Spike and the goblins, who use more methods he considers to be crude and unrefined.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: His "armor" leaves his chest completely bare at all times.

Brithvar

Elder Brithvar

Voiced by:

"In that case, want to earn some gold?"

Race: Duergar

The leader of a band of duergar serving under True Soul Nere in the Grymforge.

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• Know When to Fold Them: If you help him beat Nere, he can be convinced with an Intimidation check to leave without the Deep Gnome slaves, choosing to back down rather than tangle with the group that just killed his old boss.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: He is an amoral slave trader but he's not part of the Cult or their plans for world domination and, unlike the actual cult members, can be talked into leaving the gnome slaves behind. He also deals fairly with those who deal fairly with him; he says he'll split the take with you for taking down Nere and he does exactly that with good grace.
• Make My Monster Grow: He's fond of using the "Enlarge" spell in combat, which doubles his size and increases his strength.
• The Mutiny: He and most of his kin are increasingly frustrated by Nere not paying them, and by the time you meet him he's decided to acquire his pay by force. Unfortunately for him, some of his kin have become Absolutists themselves, and will launch an Anti-Mutiny to protect their True Soul.
• The Nose Knows: He is initially suspicious of you because he can smell your tadpole, thanks to his duergar senses.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Like Lump and Abdirak, Brithvar does not care about the Absolute and is implied to still worship Laduguer. He and his clan work with the Cult for gold, and Nere has been stiffing them on their pay.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He and his followers are notably fouled mouthed. In particular they've taken to calling the Cult's True Souls "Twat Souls."

Thisobald Thorm

Thisobald Thorm

Wretched Distiller

Voiced by:

"Go on. Drink, make it drank, be drunk. You and I both, to our good health."

Race: Undead

Distiller and bartender at The Waning Moon tavern.

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• Ambiguously Related: The game does not reveal exactly how Thisobald is connected to Ketheric. In his family dialogues, Ketheric never mentions Thisobald. However, Thisobald refers to Ketheric as a father. A conversation with Art Cullagh implies that Thisobald and the other Thorms are Ketheric's creations as a result of the curse he placed on the Shadowlands.
• Big Fun: An obese undead who loves to joke and drink.
• Boss Subtitles: Wretched Distiller.
• Dead Weight: Since becoming undead, Thisobald has grown to grotesque proportions. His skin barely holds his insides. And his stomach will burst after the third cup.
• Death by Irony: He can be killed simply by outdrinking him, as his copious consumption of liquour in his attempt to keep pace with you results in his stomach bursting open like a balloon.
• Fan Disservice: He's grotesquely overweight and nearly naked aside from his hood and some chains. The cutscene that triggers when you talk with him shows frequent close-up views of his body.
• Fat Bastard: During his lifetime, Thisobald was fat enough to be called a porcine publican. After his death, he became even fatter and more disgusting.
• Faux Affably Evil: In fact, all the friendliness and hospitality of Tisobald is a façade. Behind that lies a dealer in information, who uses alcohol – a kind of truth serum – to ply secrets from his patrons.
• Gargle Blaster: Whatever kind of alcohol he's offering to visitors definitely qualifies. The first failed Constitution save immediately makes you drunk, the second poisons you on top of that, and the third knocks you unconscious.
• Master Poisoner: In addition to distilling alcohol, Thisobald was skilled in making poisons. On his body, the player can find the key to his laboratory and find the recipe for a special poison.
• Talking the Monster to Death: If you drink with him and tell him stories long enough, he'll eventually drink so much he explodes.

Malus Thorm

Malus Thorm

Scalpel of Shar

Voiced by: Sean Baker

"The scalpel does not discriminate."

Race: Undead

A surgeon and head of the House of Healing.

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• Affably Evil: Surprisingly affable and cheerful for a crazy religious fanatic and murderer.With sufficient persuasion skills, he's willing to kill himself or his nurses in order to share Shar's gifts.
• Artificial Limbs: Malus's limbs are replaced with brass prosthetics with razor-sharp fingers.
• Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad: This seems to be his philosophical takeaway from the teachings of Shar. If darkness is good, then sight is bad and causes mental pain, therefore he thinks people should be blinded, and since this world is bad, he thinks physical pain must be good.
• Boss Subtitles: "Scalpel of Shar".
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Malus is very calm and polite, even when he is tormenting another patient.
• Stealth Pun: "Malus" is Latin both for "evil", which he is, and "apple tree". "An apple a day keeps the doctor away".
• Talking the Monster to Death: If you point out that Shar's doctrine requires the victim to be willing, he'll take his victim's place and let his nurse cut him to death. Another chance in the same confrontation has him vow to kill you to acquaint you with his Lady's embrace, to which you can reply that you would rather do the deed yourself and just need him to provide a good demonstration. He complies, with only the request that you join him soon after. If you mention that his nurses lack the required skills to operate properly, Malus will admit that it is true and then you can convince him that he needs to offer his own body in order to teach them a final lesson.

Gerringothe Thorm

Gerringothe Thorm

Voiced by:

"I REQUIRE GOLD."

Race: Undead

Toll collector.

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• Boss Subtitles: "Accursed Keeper of Coins".
• Corrupt Bureaucrat: In life, she was the toll collector for Reithwin. She routinely overcharged and extorted travelers for their valuables and pocketed tolls for personal gain.
• Dramatic Irony: Once a toll collector with a passion for gold, her body became mutated by greed and transformed into a heaving mass formed by thousands of golden coins.
• Fat Bitch: Averted. Her plump appearance is just her carapace, under which lurks something monstrous: a disgusting, worm-like creature who can only be defeated when her golden shell is destroyed.
• Gold Fever: Everything she talks about has to do with gold.
• Logic Bomb:
  • You can kill her simply by convincing her that a law was passed that all gold belongs to her, and yet the gold needs to go to the toll, causing her to panic and promise to pay everything, and explode.
  • You can also point out that she has no one to give the tolls too, causing her to also panic and explode.
  • Alternately, you can simply claim to be her relief as toll collector. She seems to panic over having her skimming discovered, promises to pay it back, and explodes.
• Persona Non Grata: You can find a list in the Waning Moon of people barred from entry with her on it, with the only reason given being SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE DID.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Via Logic Bomb as seen above.

Squire

Squire

Voiced by:

Race: Undead

Ketheric Thorm's undead dog.

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• Anti-Villain: The only reason she is opposed to the player character at all is due to her loyalty to Ketheric. If they have the Selunite blessing or Scratch's ball, they can win her trust and get her to allow them to pet her. If the player character has neither they'll need to pass a dialogue check, where the checks that either convince her of their good intentions or trick her into believing they're one of Ketheric's soldiers are both much easier than the one where they try to intimidate her by acting like one of the cult's True Souls.
• Apologetic Attacker: Should you fail in a dialogue check with her or imply that you intend to harm Ketheric, she'll apologize before attacking you.
• Canine Companion: To Ketheric. She is seen by his side during his introductory scene, and is later sent to guard his chambers from any intruder.
• Ghost Amnesia: Ever since she was resurrected, she's lost most of her memory of her former life, aside from a handful of details and a deep loyalty to Ketheric. She still retains some parts of her former personality, though, such as a fondness for the Selunite magic her master's wife and daughter were filled with, though she cannot quite remember why she was fond of them.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Long before the events of the game, she sacrificed herself in a futile attempt to save Ketheric's daughter. It is implied that he resurrected her out of gratitude for her sacrifice.
• My Master, Right or Wrong: She is painfully aware how much Ketheric and Moonrise Towers have changed for the worse since he began to worship Shar and later the Absolute, but remains unflinchingly loyal towards him. Should she get the impression that the player character intends to harm Ketheric, she will reluctantly attack.
• The Nose Knows: If the player received the Selunite blessing at the Last Light Inn, she will recognize its scent and mention its familiarity, allowing the player to win her trust without having to pass a check. This is no coincidence either. The one who cast the blessing, Isobel, is none other than Ketheric's daughter, the girl that Squire died trying to save.. She will also comment on Scratch's ball, should the player character have it in their inventory, and mention that the dog it belongs to seems to be happy.
• Outliving One's Offspring: For a given value of ''outliving'', but she mentions that her litter is long dead by now.
• Raising the Steaks: She is an undead dog.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Though she is on the Absolute's side, it is only due to her loyalty to Ketheric and she has no fondness whatsoever to the cult as a whole. In fact, her dialogue makes it clear that she much preferred the old days, back when her master's Selunite family still lived at the towers. She will notably still allow the player character to pass through Ketheric's chambers even if they openly state their intention to stop the Absolute, saying that she only cares for her master, not his master.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the assault on Moonrise Tower in the final part of Act 2, she opts to stay in the room implicitly belonging to the general's daughter instead of joining the battle by her master's side, stating that it is peaceful in there and that she is tired of fighting.
• Ugly Cute: Her outward appearance is that of a large, skeletal dog with huge, elongated fangs and a furless body made of bone and exposed muscle, clad in heavy armor. She remains a dog at heart, however, with a soft side beneath her outwardly strict personality and she will even enjoy it if the player character pets her.
• Undying Loyalty: Quite literally; she is entirely devoted to Ketheric, her master from when she was still alive, despite being aware of his changed personality. This does not extend to the Cult of the Absolute, however, whom she dismisses as bootlickers and beasts.

Roah Moonglow

Roah Moonglow

Voiced by:

Race: Lightfoot Halfling

A member of the Zhentarim who is working with the Cult.

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• Ambition Is Evil: She aspires to take over Nine Fingers' operations.
• Big Bad Wannabe: She seriously thinks she could take over the Guild with her small band of followers. Nine-Fingers and her loyalists quickly put her in her place if you side with the Guild.
• Chekhov's Gunman: When introduced in Act 1, she seems to be nothing more than a merchant for an evil organization that you can trade with. Her role gets expanded in Act 3 when she is revealed to have a leadership position in the Zhentarim and aspires to take Nine Fingers' place.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Invoked. Should the player meet Roah in Act 1 and take out the goblin camp leaders, Roah, who leaves during it, will act as if you've just met her for the first time if you speak to her in Moonrise Towers in Act 2. Bringing up the fact you've met her before has her pretend like she forgot who you are, clearly not wanting to draw attention to the party being responsible for the goblins being stopped, even if for profit reasons.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Roah is not part of the cult and really doesn't care about the Absolute's agenda, she's working with them for her own advancement.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Just like the rest of her colleagues in the Zhentarim, she dabbles in slavery. She works with the Cult of the Absolute to buy slaves from them, until they changed their plans and starts sending them to Moonrise Towers.

  Tav: What business does a Zhent have with goblins?
  Roah: You joking? Goblins sell the best prisoners — cheap, quiet, and eager to be elsewhere.

Araj Oblodra

Voiced by:Hanako Footman

Race: Drow

A drow trader and alchemist who is currently working with the Cult.

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• Chekhov's Gunman: She can be encountered again in Act 3 if you have agreed to give her some of your own blood for her experiments back in Moonrise Towers.
• Last of His Kind: She is one of the last survivors of House Oblodra, a drow house in Menzoberranzan that was destroyed during the Time of Troubles due to their associations with illithids (as well as for its matron mother’s attempt to take the city from House Baenre). Araj intends to restore her house to its former glory.
• Mad Scientist: Her potions involves using blood, and it is implied that she is experimenting with her own blood.
• My Blood Runs Hot: If you gave her some of your blood back in Moonrise Towers and meet her again in Baldur’s Gate, she would offer you a powerful potion that causes your blood to permanently become a flammable substance upon drinking it. She would then be able to sell alchemical bombs fueled by your volatile blood if you agree to part some of your own blood again for her to make them.
• Nightmare Fetishist: She's always wanted to be bitten by a vampire. Astarion is extremely creeped out by this.