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Shout Out / Baldur's Gate
aka: Baldurs Gate II

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There's also some Shout-Out Theme Naming, which goes on its own entry on the work page.

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    Baldur's Gate 

  • Boo is a reference to the Giant Space Hamsters of Spelljammer.
  • Marl's voice-actor's opening lines ("You talkin' to me?") are taken from the film Taxi Driver. He also sounds a bit like Robert De Niro.
  • Some say that Kivan sounds like Clint Eastwood's character Dirty Harry.
  • Clicking on Khalid's portrait enough times will get him to say Porky Pig's "Th-th-th-that's all, f-f-folks!" and also "Ch-ch-ch-chia!".
  • Clicking on Jaheira's portrait will eventually get her to say "By your command" in the style of the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica (1978).
  • Clicking on Dynaheir's gets her to say "These boots were made for walking, and that's just what they'll do", after the song by Nancy Sinatra.
  • When his morale fails, Garrick panickedly sings "Brave-brave Sir Garrick, Sir Garrick led the way/Brave-brave Sir Garrick, Sir Garrick ran away!"
    • Garrick's got a couple more of these. When walking through a town, Garrick will also randomly sing, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!", which is the first line of the opening song of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Another one occurs when your party travels to a forest. Garrick says the line, "I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree," which is the first line of Trees by Joyce Kilmer, which was also set to music (though Garrick won't sing it, he'll just say it for some reason).
    • He will also say "Once more unto the breach, dear friends!" when the party attacks an enemy. This is a line from Shakespear's play Henry V. Kinda appropriate for a bard to be quoting The Bard.
  • In one area, the party comes across a kobold, a xvart, and a tasloi. None of them attack you on sight, so you may be inclined to talk to them. If you do, one of them says "Hi, I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl." You can get them to give you their autographs on a scroll if you like.
  • A character named "Lord Foreshadow" extols the general awesomeness of nights in Neverwinter. Neverwinter Nights was still in development at the time of BG1's release.
  • The Flaming Fist Mercenaries have a tendency to shout "I AM THE LAW!"
  • The game also has a character named Pallonia who mentions "a city where winter never rears its ugly head" that "will soon welcome the return of a multitude of citizens." Neverwinter Nights was also the name of an old MMORPG that shut down in 1997.
  • In the field just south of Beregost, you can run into a character named Bub Snikt who can smell ogres nearby and claims that what he does ain't pretty. 'Snikt Bub' is a nickname of Wolverine...
    • And of course, there's Wolverine's penchant for calling people 'bub', and 'snikt' being his claws' signature sound effect.
  • Repeatedly clicking on Safana results in the sultry-voiced thief quoting Mae West, telling you "When I'm good, I'm very very good. But when I'm bad...I'm better," and "Between two evils, I always choose the one I haven't tried."
  • Shar-Teel paraphrases a couple of quotes from Predator: "If it bleeds, I can kill it," and "I don't have time to bleed."
  • The paladin Ajantis will sometimes tell you "My honor is my life." This is, word for word, the creed of Sturm Brightblade from Dragonlance.
  • There's an NPC named Peter of the North (encountered during the wyvern hunt quest). Peter North is the screen name of a well-known adult film actor. In the game, Peter of the North calls himself a "master woodsman," just in case you thought it was a coincidence. In a bit of [1], given later allegations about him.
  • In the last dungeon, you are confronted by a mage named Rahvin who serves the Lion Throne.
  • In the city of Baldur's Gate there is a man named McFeelie who, if spoken to, tells you about his speedy delivery.
  • When Quayle offers to join the party outside Baldur's Gate, he says, "Surely this leads us a familial bond of sorts...." The player can then turn him down with the response, "No, and don't call me Shirley."
  • If you click on Xzar enough, he will ask you to tell him about the rabbits.
  • On the third level of the Nashkel Mines, there's a stone bridge overlooking what seems to be a bottomless chasm (or a very deep lava pit). Now, where have we seen that before?
  • In the Enhanced Edition there's a Gladiator Sub Quest in which at one point you have to fight a Druid with a swarm of giant spiders called "Parker". His specific fight is even called "Unfriendly neighbourhood Spider man"
  • The password to the Baldur's Gate Thieves' Guild? Fafhrd.
  • Some of the last fights of the Black Pits pits you against a party of ogres and a frost giant and then a collection of mages. The next fight after those two, against a mixed party, has the sorcerer who owns the pit comment that you have bested his giants so you must be exceptionally strong, but you've also bested his mages so you must have studied. When you beat that fight, his only comment is "inconceivable!".
  • Quayle sings about "wiling away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain."
  • Dorn Il-Khan in the Enhanced Edition was betrayed by his former companions Dorotea and Senjak—a shout-out to a certain Dorotea Senjak of The Black Company fame.
  • When talking with a noblewoman in Baldur's Gate city, one of her random responces is:
  • Certain commoners in bars will sing lines from The Lumberjack Song or a version of 99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall.
  • The evil bard Eldoth's quotes are mostly variations on Oscar Wilde. For example, his "There is no good or evil, only the charming and the tedious" is based on a quote from Lady Windermere's Fan: "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious."
    • With one exception: Eldoth's "There is no evil but stupidity" looks like a Wilde's quote, but actually it is from the works of Irish theosophist Charles Johnston.
  • If you right-click on the tutors in Candlekeep enough times, they'll tell you to:
  • In Siege of Dragonspear, the entire final confrontation with Corwin in the Baldur's Gate sewers at the end of the epilogue is one giant homage to the famous scene from The Fugitive where Gerard confronts Kimble at the dam. The achievement for resolving the confrontation peacefully is even called "I Don't Care!"
  • The "Wizzard Hat" (sic) in Siege of Dragonspear is a very clear reference to the cowardly wizard Rincewind from Discworld. "A wizard who runs away lives to run away another day!"

    Baldur's Gate II 

  • Garrick, an unrecruitable NPC in this game, is involved in a subplot that is very much like Cyrano de Bergerac.
    • Just in case just the plot itself wasn't familiar enough, the Gnome who feeds him his lines is called 'Cyrando'.
  • When the party investigates a string of bizarre murders in a remote village called Imnesvale, one of the potential culprits is an old legend about the Umar witch, living in the hills. Apparently, a trio of apprentice mages vanished into the hills some years ago while looking for the witch, leaving behind one of their journals. Sound familiar? The journal, which you can get a copy of find multiple copies of, is called "The Umar Witch Project".
  • When the player discovers Khalid's body, Imoen says that Jon Irenicus forced her to look as he was torturing his prisoner, asking after each cut ''Do you see?''.
  • If you decide to snitch on Jan, he'll be taken to prison and will plead with you to break him out, concluding with "Help me, CHARNAME, you are my only hope."
  • One of the things that Aphril sees when you talk to her in Spellhold is a walking corpse talking to a pillar of skulls.
    • Exclusive only to the Collector's and Enhanced edition of the game is another reference to Planescape: Torment which can be found as early as Chapter One through Deidre a merchant in the Adventurer's Mart who sells rare items that include Dak'kon's Zerth Blade and Vhailor's Helm.
  • During one conversation, Korgan tells the PC "Killing is our business, and business be good."
  • If you take Minsc along to visit the mayor of Imnesvale who tells you about the trouble the village is having and its possible causes, Minsc will exclaim, "Wolves? Ogres? Witches? Oh my!"
  • In Throne of Bhaal, the Spectator Beholder shows up again in Sendai's Enclave. He mocks Captain Egeissag by saying "Oh Captain, my captain!" (quoting Dead Poets Society). When asked why he's doing that (bearing in mind the Spectator is about as un-Beholder like as his race comes) he simply says he's always wanted to say that.
  • Also in Throne of Bhaal, when Captain Samand wishes to find the truth behind a recent crime in the city of Saradush, the player can respond with the immortal line: "You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!"
  • In Athkatla's commercial district is a huge store of magical items. If you go to the top of the store, you'll find some pictures of Hank and Bobby, two of the characters in the 1980's Dungeons & Dragons (1983) cartoon. Clicking on them reveals that apparently all of the teens (or at least Hank, Bobby and Uni) never made it back to their own world, as they were eaten by Tiamat.
  • A moose and squirrel have been conspicuously caged together at the circus in Waukeen's Promenade.
  • Doubling with Actor Allusion, but if you click Firkraag (voiced by Jim Cummings), he'll say, "Oh... Bother."
  • On the western side of Brynnlaw, there are two pirates having a disagreement of sorts which culminates in a fight to the death. After slaying his opponent, the victor humorously quips, "Fairly warned be thee, says I."
  • Black Pits 2 features a battle against two demi-liches named Dogar and Kazon.
  • If you have both Korgan and Imoen in your party, one of their banters sees Imoen insulting Korgan by calling him a "gully dwarf", which he laughingly notes as a terribly low blow. Gully dwarves are a mentally stunted, degenerate strain of dwarves from the Dragonlance setting, where all other dwarves revile and disdain them as stupid, filthy, primitive savages.
  • One of Lord Firkraag's Mook Lieutenants is a orog/deep orc called Chief Dig Dag.
  • Renald calls Yoshimo Yoshi at one point.
  • In Throne of Bhaal, if you have the Bard's Gloves (needed to craft the Wondrous Gloves,) Cespenar will proclaim "A glove? Only one? What is you, a rock star?"
  • While being gnomes rather than dwarves the Underdark quest involving the svirfneblin awakening a Balor in their mining is almost certainly a reference to Moria and the Balrog in The Lord of the Rings.
  • In Throne of Bhaal, Haer'Dalis asks Sarevok to discuss his torture in Hell fo him to use as the narrative for a new work. He intends to calls it... Dalis' Inferno.
  • Lanfear, the wolfwere that kidnaps Safana in the second game, is named after a character in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Fittingly, she's also a murderous Yandere who attempts to kill off her beloved's other romantic interests.note 
  • In Spellhold, there's a room where the PC can answer twelve riddles. One of these riddles: "Alive without breath, as cold as death; never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking."
  • In the Hidden Camp, one of the mages, "King" Gramm, is looking for his bird Cidrick.
  • Another Throne of Bhaal example: Melissan The Red's name is almost certainly a reference to the character Melisandre from A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones who is known in-universe as The Red Woman. It's especially appropriate since much like Melisandre, Melissan is the high priestess of a god who is rather big on the use of human sacrifices, and seems to be a shining example of God Is Evil. Notably, while the much more well known TV series wouldn't come out for more than a decade, Melisandre had already appeared in the books for three years by the time Throne of Bhaal was released.
  • One for the Enhanced Edition: during the first part of Dorn's quest, when you have to kill a priest who happens to be officiating a wedding, Dorn will want more bloodshed and insist on killing the rest of the attendees. If Jaheira's in your party, she'll step in and ask what you think Gorion would say about this senseless violence. You have the option to respond with:
  • One for a quest from the popular mod Unfinished Business (which restores a lot of cut content). A guard approaches the party to accuse Haer'Dalis of murder, and Evil!Charname can assume they're the one being arrested:
  • One of the random lines that Lilarcor the Talking Sword may spout when equipped is "My brother is a +12 Hackmaster!" — this is an homage to Knights of the Dinner Table, where main character Dave Bozwell's Player Character wields exactly that sort of magical sword.
  • Orc-like creatures called ogrons appear in a quest in Umar Hills. They are not from the base D&D monster manual, but a reference to the Doctor Who creature of the same name.
  • In Throne of Bhaal you can meet a NPC called Nanoc the Barbarian.

    Baldur's Gate III 

Alternative Title(s): Baldurs Gate II, Baldurs Gate III

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