#I put Gortash as solidly mid 40s.

[flymmsy]

While making the Rugan Hireling mod, I noticed that the devcomments for Rugan describe him as a "rugged man in his fifties" and I

[flymmsy]

buddy don't hide it in the tags, tell us more abt your gortash/rugan crackship

*cracks knuckles* okay here we go

Gortash/Rugan Crack Ship Theory

I'm not saying these two were ever lovers, but I do think their timelines line up in a very interesting way that puts them in the vicinity of each other.

Let's start with Rugan.

Quick shoutout first of all to @my-favourite-zhent for posting so many of the datamined lines that I'll mention here. You can also find all of Rugan's lines in this video.

Rugan is in his fifties, as mentioned in the devnotes. Putting him at 52, we can approximate he was born around 1440 DR. ㅤ

We know from the game that he recruited Zarys, so I get the impression that he's been with the Zhentarim for quite a while. In datamined content, he specifically says he's been "Black Network for as long as [he] can remember." ㅤ

Rugan either is a Banite or at least has allegiance to Bane via Bane's affiliation with the Zhentarim. The Zhentarim was founded as a Bane-affiliated organization and has intermittently switched back and forth between Cyric and Bane depending on which time period we're looking at. It is currently, however, lead by The Pereghost who is a follower of Cyric. The switching back and forth between Cyric and Bane has left a lot of followers of both gods within the Zhentarim, and has also led the Zhentarim to really tamp down their religious affiliation over time. BUT, it is really interesting that during a time when it would technically make sense for him to be either unaffiliated or more of a Cyricist, Rugan specifically swears by The Black Hand.

Pivoting to Gortash

There are still a lot of questions about Gortash's timeline. However, The True Life of 'Lord' Gortash gives us some idea. We have no clue how correct or reliable Vance Farnol was, but considering that he died in prison, he was probably on the right track. Interestingly, Vance's outline makes no mention of Gortash's time in the Hells, so we do know it is not 100% reliable - but can be a general reference. ㅤ

After he escaped the Hells, we know Gortash became an Arms Dealer. We also know that over time, Gortash edged out the Zhentarim from their territory, so there was definitely some interaction between Gortash and the Zhentarim. ㅤ

People also disagree on Gortash's age, and that will change some interpretations of this theory. That's fine, but for my purposes, I place him solidly mid-40s. I think this is the age that makes the most sense when you consider his time in the hells, and how long it would have taken him to not only build an arms dealing network that could rival long-established groups, but then to ALSO add in the years to mix in with the patriars. Let's say roughly that he's 45, birth year of 1447 DR, approximately a 7 year age difference between him and Rugan. ㅤ

I personally navigate Gortash's timeline by using approximate markers. ~9-10 years old when sold to the Hells, ~19-20 years old when he escaped the Hells. Then a long period of time that is unmarked and unclear on the order of events, but we know by 1482 DR (when he sold Karlach) he was at the height of his Arms Dealer operation and about to pivot into politics. So from ages 20 - 35, his history is murky, which allows us room to play. ㅤ

We also get nothing on how Gortash became involved with Bane. All we know is that he 'reestablished worship of Bane in Baldur's Gate' and from there we know more about him becoming Bane's Chosen. But how did it all start?

THE INTERSECT

Looking at Gortash's timeline, I think that an extremely likely introduction to Bane for him was through the Zhentarim. This is where I start to work off theory alone, but there's certainly enough in game for this to not be a WILD jump. ‎ㅤ

Post-Hells, Gortash pretty immediately got involved in gang activity (or was involved and returned to it, depending on your interpretation of his timeline) and rose from there. ㅤ

Meaning that Gortash and Rugan were in similar circles for a good chunk of time (Gortash approx. 20-35 y/o and Rugan approx. 27-42 y/o).

MY DELULU

I dont think its out of the realm of possibility for a young, charming, ambitious Enver Gortash to be involved with the Zhentarim in some way and have a thing for rugged, handsome, older Rugan - who could show him a thing or two. This is where everyone's own freedom comes into play with this ship, but I'm just laying the foundation to show that it is actually possible for this to have been a thing.

In my head, it was kind of an ongoing fling - maybe for a few of Enver's younger years. Rugan as the liaison for the Zhentarim, Enver meeting up with him - late nights in the tavern where Enver could pry some interesting Zhentarim backstory from Rugan before having some quick fun together. Enver learns of Bane through exchanging with the Zhentarim, and the rest is history.

SUPER TURBO DELULU

One last really interesting thing I want to mention - a lot was cut out of the game with the Zhentarim. You were supposed to originally find Rugan in Act 3 again, where you would learn that his associates were framed as part of the internal politics the Zhentarim (there are still bits of it we see through Roah Moonglow - she specifically has a note about taking out Rugan as part of her coup.) His caravan was interestingly turned over to the Steel Watch, where Rugan talked his way out by becoming an informant (this is all from the same datamined voicelines) and the rest were hanged.

Sure, maybe it was the information that saved Rugan. Or maybe the man behind the Steel Watch went easy on an old flame.