#& the angst potential of durge not remembering any of it

[spidehpig]

durgetash got a little kick to it…

[sincerelystesichorus]

me becoming a gortash apologist apparently

i never thought i'd say this. i am thinking about Enver Gortash. i'm usually not one of his apologists but... i've had brain rot for my Durge lately, and i think a big moment of developing your Durge is how you react to meeting Gortash again, yeah? you may or may not be close with Karlach but the party and Durge especially have all faced similar trauma of betrayal and exploitation nonetheless (and so has Gortash), he's already been introduced vaguely at the end of Act 2 as a threat/main villain, he worships Bane, he has general edge lord vibes (remember that bit where I'm usually not a Gortash apologist djdjdjd); what i'm trying to spit out, is there's a lot to sway you against Gortash in that first meeting. and I'd argue even a little further, as someone that followed Orin's plans of betrayal against him in my first Tav run, (just because her audacity is so damn funny.)

But anyway. Meeting Gortash. Finding out you used to be close. Perhaps homoerotically, perhaps in a strange platonic manner, or some other third thing, but nonetheless, Durge is assumably the only person Gortash has ever truly liked. He just really goes out of his way with praise at meeting again, the use of the word favorite is notable, and if Gortash had anyone worth elevating, he would, right? That was how Ketheric got here, Orin wants more credibility for herself and the Bhaalists, and Gortash... just enslaves his parents in their old home/business. But he liked you. He's really so similar to Astarion (it's nothing, you're just the only person I've ever truly cared for); he's just already a touch too far gone in his power hungry search for security. He's already repeated the cycle, years and years ago with Karlach as the main example and just the inevitability of being Bane's Chosen. And yet - Durge comes marching through the door again with this band of misfits and his old lackey he wronged, and he's willing to make a true bargain.

And I know it's just in Gortash's character to scheme, but l think playing as reformed Durge makes Gortash's potential deal all the more devastating, since he will truly follow through on his word (or, at least he would.)

It's so funny to show up dating Astarion or Shadowheart, and imagine them teasing you later that night, saying they thought you'd have better taste. Or the bitterness of being with Karlach, knowing that you seemed to be in such deep kahoots. And so on. The point is not valuing that past relationship with Gortash. Focusing on the shiny and new.

And like whatever. Gortash isn't ever going to publicly present that his feelings are hurt but like... wouldn't they? Your past lover or at the very least, only close friend struts in, now thinking they're some big shot, so beyond everything you two had ever done... when you always lived in their shadow beforehand, frankly. Gortash adores how this flawless plan was majorly Durge's, critiques Orin's sloppy manner of filling your place, how Ketheric was just a means to an end. But he liked you. The person who helped him raid Mephistopheles' vault, in turn helping him spit not only in the arch devil's face, but his past captor, Raphael's too (since Raph lives chronically in the shadow of his father, imo.) The person who thought they could formulate and enact this whole plot, and the only one he was willing to follow, to be an equal with, now coming to tell him what everyone always does, inevitably.

A final fuck you, or some form of betrayal, the same thing that caused his mess all those years ago when sold off to that warlock.

It would have to hurt, and while it's funny to imagine my little gnome Durge dying inside and cackling to the party about sleeping with an enemy and technically being the enemy... a little obssessed at the angst you could perceive of Gortash somehow falling for any crazy Bhaalspawn, nonetheless Durge, who was never one for morals, coming back renewed and not to come get him or work things out... but to slay him or turn against him. I'd send the Steelwatchers after our asses too.

In conclusion, Gortash, probably:

sigh. my bias against greasy little guys could never truly make me hate you, enver gortash. look at you, the man that you are.

[chronurgy]

That's a very interesting headcanon and I like it a lot. Whether Gortash finds out durge is very much alive and gets pissy at ketheric for not clueing him in or durge remembers some of what happened to them and wants revenge ketheric really doesn't want them to be alive. Also I went back and watched the scene where you first meet ketheric and the exact line the narrator says is "your disgrace has something to do with this ketheric". Now obviously it could just be a poetic way of phrasing things while still keeping them ambiguous but this is the reading too much into video games website. Now, especially since it seems like you potentially were attacked at moonrise towers, I gotta wonder if ketheric was a little more directly involved. If he was planning to betray them all along, and knew gortash and Durge would stand together against him and decided to try and even the odds. The right words to Orin at the right time could have definitely helped convince her to do what she already wanted to do. Combine that with not mentioning durge to gortash ever (before and during the game) and ordering the nautiloid passengers killed, and now we're cooking. And you're right, if gortash was already off the handle, finding out ketheric had control of them would put ketheric on the top of his kill list, especially if he had any reason to think he was involved in what happened to them

That's a good question, actually. I kinda go back and forth on it though because he really doesn't seem to want you to be too in his power when you agree to ally with him (the thing with the stones) so I don't know. It's one of those odd contradictions in his character that I find pretty fascinating. So I think it might actually go the other way, where he'd specifically want to bring them back to life, so that way he couldn't have such complete control over them that it wouldn't be fun anymore and so he could feel like he'd "fixed things". But I also have zero real evidence for that stance so who knows. I love angst so any situation where the want to tell the other person but can't is just like catnip to me. The only way to make it better would be for Durge to find some well hidden notes after gortash died and find out the real plan and the depths of what he was willing to do to save them

So I was looking at Ketheric's dialogue when Durge first speaks to him, and he's got one line, "I would remind you that while in my halls, you obey me - just as you would any other Chosen." Now, maybe it's just my Durgetash brainrot acting up again, but to me that last bit reads like Ketheric was... maybe not jealous of Gortash's much closer working relationship with Durge, but at least aware and not happy that Durge was much more obedient (or at least much more willing to pretend to be obedient) to Gortash than they would ever be to Ketheric. After all, whether you're saying the non-Gortash "other Chosen" Ketheric is referencing is Durge themself (who was the third Chosen when they were active in the Absolutists) or Orin (who's the third Chosen now) Durge would never have obeyed either of them in the way they could obey Gortash or Ketheric (can you technically "obey" yourself?), so when Ketheric says "any other Chosen" in terms of Durge being obedient he has to be referring to Gortash.

Which is also interesting given he doesn't seem to have been aware that the two of them were working together long before the Crown and the Netherstones came into play based on how he seems to think it was them being promised a Netherstone that got Durge involved in the plan to begin with. Like, what did he think was going on there? Did he assume they just hit it off better than he did with either of them? Did he think Gortash was pulling some Bane shit on his pet murderer to keep them compliant? Did he think that Durge was playing nice in exchange for sex? What was the understanding he had of this situation? It's also possible that the line is a subtle dig at how Durge never did obey any of the Chosen, but to me it makes more sense for it to be playing off of how Gortash earned Durge's respect enough that they were prepared to be obedient to him in a way they never were with Ketheric. I wonder if a part of him is delighted at the thought that he now has full control over Gortash's favourite attack dog who'd never willingly have obeyed him without a tadpole in their head forcing it, especially if he thought Gortash was controlling or influencing them in some way.