#but i am romancing wyll on my first playthrough i adore him. but he is killing me with this slow burn

[august-anon]

i keep being like "you are on HIATUS stop checking TUMBLR" but then i keep coming back ever since getting bg3 because I'm like "i need to see what the besties are saying about our dear vampire and also see if folks have stopped sleeping on my darling wyll yet" help i am being consumed by the brainrot

[waterdeep-weavemoss]

I just read your 'Dark Gale'/Just Gale analysis and wanted to say I heartily agree. I have profoundly enjoyed a lot of fanfiction about Gale but I have felt a good portion are missing that darkness. I think somewhat ironically, people are inclined to believe what Gale says about himself as fact when he contradicts his words with his actions constantly. I personally think he refuses to acknowledge that part of himself because it contradicts how he views himself. I think he wants to be viewed as Wyll is viewed. But his own motivations counter that. Love to hear your thoughts, and do you have any recommendations of fics that incorporate more of the darkness. Also obligatory, I love love Gale such that I think all aspects of him should be considered when your character romances him.

Hey anon, thank you so much! It’s so sweet that people like you are engaging with my silly little metas. 😊

I totally agree that people go with what he says and not what he does; I adore him so much, and part of that is because he can be a little mean and sulky sometimes. It’s very human of him. His arrogance is super compelling because while it is earned (being a former archmage) it’s also a mask! He has so much bravado because he just doesn’t believe he’s enough as he is at all. I just went through his act 3 scene in the astral plane last night and my heart went out to him so much. He thinks the only way he can be of value is to be more than human, and that makes him do incredibly questionable things. It struck me how aware he is about the pitfalls of godhood- the lack of feeling, the lack of care, their innate apathy- and yet still in the same breath he desires to be one of them. God!Gale is such a different beast from the mortal man. He has none of the warmth in his eyes, his voice is more impersonal even, his skin is silver. He dehumanises himself completely, and in a completely different way to, say, Ascended Astarion.

God!Gale isn’t evil. He’s just self absorbed and treats Tav kind of like a plaything almost, exactly like Mystra did with him. It’s taken as a given that Tav will be his chosen (in my case, that playthrough he was Tav’s ex and she went with Halsin instead) and that she just couldn’t understand or comprehend what was going on. He’s aloof and cold.

Gale’s deeply insecure, but over the course of his romance you can insist that you just want him how he is, and he says he can live without godly powers, because Tav is everything to him, and he sees that ambition isn’t worth losing that… but it takes so much. Left to his own devices he would ascend and he wouldn’t have enough humanity left to regret it. It takes someone grounding him and validating him to talk him down from it.

I think ultimately his less than savoury actions are born of the abuse he endured from Mystra, never being able to measure up to a literal goddess, desperate to be more than that. He has selfish intentions for sure, but in his heart he’s crying out to be loved and just seen by someone who will understand him as the human man he is, not the god his ambitions push him to be.

In terms of Dark!Gale fics, if I may, my masterlist is here. The first two, Permeate and Possession, are probably closest to that darkness, though I am planning to write more and please do send a request if you have any for me!

I’d also like to open things up to my lovely mutuals: please reblog this with your own fic recs for anon, because in truth I’ve been here less than two weeks and have been writing more than reading!

Thank you my lovely! 💜

[leofrith]

hii so i‘m way to invested in everyone‘s baldurs gate plays. can we see your tavs? I would love to see them haha😭

YESSSSSS i will happily take any excuse to talk about my tavs. 🥰 i'm sorry this took so long. i wanted to have their Lore™ a little more set in stone before answering this, but then i proceeded to make uhhhh 2 more tavs and a durge. 🤡

i am listing my characters in the order i created them. they're all good/neutral aligned because being mean in video games makes me break out in hives. aaaaand this is going under a read more because it got really fucking long. 🥴

marqwyn stoneheart

race: human

class: eldritch knight fighter

background: soldier

romance: gale

my first tav who i adore. ❤️ i stole her name from the very first character i created for a now abandoned dnd campaign (though she's nothing like og marqwyn). she's a former flaming fist who left their service due to the corruption she witnessed there. after leaving the city she became an independent soldier for hire—but she's a terrible mercenary because she's a bleeding heart who will help people because they need it, regardless of whether they can pay her or not.

she has dragged the party into many an unnecessary brawl because her charisma is literally in the negatives. we love a girl incapable of talking herself out of Situations. she also used to have two brown eyes before deciding to get herself volo'd during a brief moment of desperation-fuelled insanity.

her backstory has changed a lot since i first made her, mostly because i didn't really have anything in mind when i started playing. 😬 i also had no fucking clue what i was doing when i first started and it certainly shows (tons of missed content, didn't take enough long rests, completely missed lae'zel for the first ~30 hours of gameplay, have done quests in an extremely questionable order, etc.).

i romanced gale with her because the wizard had me by the jugular the second he opened his mouth, and buff wife who hits things with her big sword and her squishy wizard husband who casts counterspell is something that can be so personal. that being said, i do want to rework her character and do another playthrough with her, probably romancing wyll, because her playthrough is a mess.

i will now dip into the alternate canon that lives in my brain in which my next three tavs are allowed to coexist, so just stay with me here and trust in the vision ajgjsdgf

meadow moonwillow

race: mephistopheles tiefling

class: storm sorcerer, bard of the college of lore

background: entertainer

romance: karlach (or enya in the canon that exists in my head)

i made her specifically for my karlach romance run, because best girl deserves a little sunshine to match her own. meadow was born to play gigs in dive bars, but was cursed with a natural talent for magic. 😔 she'll use it because it's useful in a fight, i guess, but she'd much rather insult people to death. if there is shit to be disturbed, she will disturb it.

her and gale are best friends, because i think having some friendly spell caster competition with his bestie who (begrudgingly) lets him teach her wizard spells would be good for his mental health. her and wyll butt heads a bit at first, mostly because meadow's way of trying to comfort people is through humor, and her attempts to make him feel better about his new devil form come off as insensitive (inspired by the way i accidentally insulted wyll at the tiefling party in my meadow playthrough by joking that i was jealous of his horns. king i swear it was meant as a compliment!! 😭). eventually they become really close, which is certainly a necessity when you're both going on a vacation to hell with no set end date.

also my choice of name for her definitely has nothing to do with the fact that i am in the middle of watching the sopranos. definitely not.

landric sparrowsong, "the wrath-bringer"

race: human

class: oath of vengeance paladin, tempest domain cleric of ilmater

background: sage

romance: gale

his backstory is probably the one i've thought about in the most detail, mostly because he's a walking tragedy and i live for that shit. 🧍🏻‍♀️

he was once a school teacher and wasn't much of a fighter at all before his little village near baldur's gate was razed to the ground and his wife and (or so he thinks 👀) daughter were killed, at which point he took up his oath of vengeance. his favourite pastimes now include self-sacrifice and violently murdering evildoers, hence the "wrath-bringer" epithet.

he has been alone—mostly by choice, because he can't lose any more loved ones if there is no one left alive that he loves—for over a decade by the time he's infected, but the forced proximity means the companions very quickly get under his skin. he's very protective of meadow especially (when they're both in the party at the same time in the universe that exists in my head) because she reminds him of his daughter.

he is god's favourite sacrificial lamb, and is consistently the first to go down in a fight (inspired by me, constantly getting him killed by taking far too long to figure out how to play a support class). naturally i paired him with gale because i think the idea of a guy finally opening his heart to the love of another after over a decade of self-imposed solitude out of fear of being hurt again, only for gale to decide to take on a suicide mission just as they're finally realizing their feelings for one another, is soooooo good and tragic. ☺️

he has a soft spot for children, but being around them makes him sad and withdrawn (for obvious reasons), something that the companions notice pretty quickly once they get to the grove and see his cold exterior totally melt around the kids there. he carries a journal which he adds to often, either little blurbs or sketches of people he meets in his travels, ever observing from afar as an outsider.

he was actually a war cleric of mystra when i first multiclassed him because the idea of this man finding solace in his goddes during the worst years of his life only for that same goddess to tell the first person he's truly loved in years that he needs to kill himself is sooooo. anyway. but i decided to change it because war domain just wasn't doing it for me and also have you seen ilmater's whole deal?

also if he bears a close resemblance to my favourite unromanceable assassin's creed npc, that's just a coincidence (lying).

enya sparrowsong

race: human

class: beast master ranger/circle of the land druid

background: urchin

romance: lae'zel (or meadow in the canon that exists in my head)

enya is landric's very alive daughter. i made her in the character creator with no intention of actually doing a playthrough as her, which is a lie i tell myself every time i open the character creator. 😔

ideally she would not even be filling the role of tav at all, but that's obviously not an option for an actual playthrough. she spent her childhood hunting and gathering in the wilds and later pickpocketing her way through the darkened alleys of baldur's gate to survive. in the version of her backstory that lives in my head, she eventually caught the attention of jaheira (by trying to rob her), who then took enya under her wing. the harpers became a family to her, and she is with them in the shadow lands when we meet them at last light in act two. also depending on my mood on any given day, enya and meadow are either bitter exes or couple of the year.

she is generally very abrasive with most people she doesn't know well (her and lae'zel are very perfect for each other), but has a soft spot for animals and orphans. she likes her solitude and it takes a lot of effort to earn her trust (there's a reason she's survived alone as long as she has) but once you do, she's ride-or-die.

she has a raven companion and her preferred wild shape is a wolf, but i've also had a lot of fun using her wolf wild shape and a wolf companion for twice the mauling in combat (and twice the torment for shadowheart—thank you sam for pointing out that she would fucking hate this 😭). i also like to think that she's been helping shadowheart get over her fear of wolves.

her relationship with her dad is deliciously complicated!!! but that's for another post.

idunn

race: high elf

class: necromancy wizard/gloom stalker ranger

background: haunted one

romance: astarion

i haven't played as her much yet, and she's my first durge so i don't really know a ton about that whole background. but her brain is currently scrambled egg and she doesn't remember her past so i figure it's fine if i don't know anything about it either.🧍🏻‍♀️

she's trying so very hard not to kill people, and making up for the lack of murder by being incredibly rude to everyone she meets [astarion approves]. i named her idunn because i like the name but also in large part because i think associating the dark urge with the norse goddess of rejuvenation and vitality is really funny.

aelius lucilius

race: drow half-elf

class: light domain cleric of selune

background: acolyte

romance: shadowheart

he's my newest tav and the one i've played the least, so i'm still working out his backstory. i honestly just really wanted to romance shadowheart as a selunite, which is working out great so far because the shar is already out of the bag and now she loudly and openly hates his fucking guts. 🤪

[cyandreamsinwords]

Hiii! Did you get to finish your run of Baldur's Gate 3? I saw you were romancing Wyll, how was that? I've tried to romance him twice, but he rejected me both times 😭

I have not finished BG3 yet, though that isn't surprising for me, it takes me forever to complete games. I'm pretty sure it took me over two years to complete my first playthrough of DA: Inquisition. I lollygag, it's just my nature🤷‍♀️

I absolutely ADORE Wyll...but I do sorta want to fight the developers for how they handle his story. I feel like this is a really common gripe among the fanbase, but as I progress through his plot line, I just feel like it petters off at the end and is sort of lacking in substance. There's this noticeable difference from early on scenes to later ones that makes it feel incomplete the further I get, which is pretty disappointing as it started really strong in my opinion. As a character, Wyll has so much potential, especially with how key his father is to the plot and his connections to other characters, and as of right now in the middle of act 3, I do not feel they have utilized him fully. Maybe my opinion on that will change once I've actually finished the game, but that's what I feel at the moment.

BUT! I still absolutely love his character and do not regret romancing him for a single second. He honestly is one of the only romance options outside of maybe Halsin (kinda?), who makes sense for my Tav to be interested in and has my entire heart. He's so genuine and selfless, while also being such a massive DORK. There is still so much I love about his romance, like the dancing and the little twirl he'll sometimes do when he pulls you in for a kiss (AHHHHH!!!) and just how much of a sap he is. He is my own personal dreamboat, I love him so much.

What really sealed the deal for me on him was how he handled the Karlach situation (depending on how you play it). He was so easily persuaded to hear her out and to think the situation through. It's nice to have a character who isn't so stubbornly set in their ways for once. That and how he didn't regret protecting Karlach after Mizora changing his appearance really endeared him to me. It wasn't even a hard decision for him. And while I feel like he had every right to resent and hate his father for how he treated him (fight me daddy Ravenguard) he is so understanding of his position and why he did what he did. Every once and a while I enjoy having a character who really is the hero they project themselves as being, just as a little treat. It'd be boring if every character was that way, of course, but sometimes it's sort of refreshing.

Also, his fake eye looks like it has a little heart in the center of it, of COURSE I fell in love!

Now that I'm done gushing--I am so sorry he's rejected you 🫢 You may already know this, but if it's happening at the Tiefling party, you can still romance him! I wasn't able to get a kiss from him at the party (I've got that low charisma), but after getting some higher approval, I did eventually get the dance scene in Act 2. There may still be a chance to salvage the romance!

[blackjackkent]

Since Nocturne says she'll bail after one day, I guess we might as well exhaust all her dialogue now before moving on. Quick look around the room first - this seems to have been a dormitory for some of the adepts.

Nocturne's journal is next to one of the beds.

Aw. This is pretty upsetting to read about but does confirm a lot of what we'd already heard and/or suspected about Shadowheart's experiences here. The mission to get the prism was not the first time Shadowheart's memories had been erased; it happened repeatedly, and Nocturne was with her every time to help her recover. It's nice to hear that she had some sort of friend in this terrible place at least.

I also love the character detailing here, especially when combined with what I know from Delmak's playthrough. Over on that PT (where Delmak is romancing her), I had him pick up the noblestalk and give it to her, and she has a memory flashback from eating it - of having a friend named Rennald who was a young tiefling boy with purple hair and short horns, as Nocturne has. Nocturne is a trans woman, and it sounds like Shadowheart was a stalwart supporter of her, helping her shed her deadname and making sure no one bullied her. <3

Other things in the room include a log of interrogation/torture of a githyanki prisoner, which was how Viconia learned about the prism, and a bit of journaling from Viconia herself:

Again, this pretty much just echoes and deepens on what we already knew. One slightly interesting point, at least headcanonically - this mentions Suldanessalar, the ending location of Baldur's Gate 2, and implies that Viconia was there. In this particular worldstate, where Caden had nothing to do with her, this lends interesting implications about the possibility that she might have been there anyway for her own reasons.

It also implies from the way it's phrased that both the formation and self-destruction of her previous cloister at Waterdeep took place at the same general time as Baldur's Gate 2. This doesn't entirely make sense to me and I suspect isn't what the writers were actually intending to imply, but it could also be potentially interesting. XD

An unmarked bookshelf contains books about Shadowheart herself.

"These are all about *me*..." Shadowheart whispers, aghast. "Forty years of my life, documented like I was some sort of specimen..."

Even more interestingly, a key from Viconia's body opens a locked chest on a nearby table. In it are a few minor jewelry items and a key to a Counting House safety deposit box (which of course we'll go open later).

...Huh. I am not sure if there's a reference here that I'm missing, or if this is just continued reference to the possibility of Viconia having been at the battle of Suldanessalar, either with the BG2 Bhaalspawn or otherwise. Interesting.

Let's go have another chat with Nocturne. She'll only offer to trade with Hector, but if we talk to her as Shadowheart we get a controlled dialogue - one of the few times this has happened with the non-avatar character (the only other one I can recall is Wyll's argument with Mizora after the coronation).

"I can still scarcely believe it. You've returned, and the Mother Superior is gone... So much can change, so quickly..."

"There's much I still can't remember..." Shadowheart says. "Can you share anything with me? From when we were young?"

Nocturne smiles. "Well, you had a pet mouse for a while. It was against the rules, of course. You used to hide him under your robes and feed him from your rations."

Well, that's adorable af.

"Did he have a name?" Shadowheart asks.

"Nibbles," Nocturne says with a soft laugh. "I suggested Brie, but you were having none of it." A pause; the smile fades. "She caught you with him. Forced you to get rid of him... in front of everyone to make an example. You always loved animals, but you never let yourself get too close after that." Her gaze flicks away. "I'm sorry. Not the sort of thing you want to hear, I'm sure."

It isn't, really. Hector can see Shadowheart's head snap back a little as if she has taken a punch to the gut.

"I don't suppose there are any pleasant memories you could share?" she asks hollowly.

Nocturne considers. "Well... you know that little scar on your elbow?"

Shadowheart blinks, so startled that for a moment she forgets to be wary. "You know about that? It's barely the size of a pea."

Nocturne grins. "I was there when you picked that up. It was years ago, when we were initiates. Some of the others were intent on tormenting us... until you showed them the error of their ways. I think it was six against two, and most of them were bigger than us, to boot. But you saw them off, all of them. There were some bruised lips and black eyes in the mess hall that night. From then on, they left us alone. Or at least they bothered us less."

Behind Shadowheart, Jaheira makes a soft snorting noise; Hector glances sideways at her and sees that she's smiling. Karlach's grinning too; all of them are feeling a surge of pride at hearing this. Even in this dark, terrible place, that seed of good was in Shadowheart - the urge to defend a friend, to care for a helpless animal.

Selune's light was with you, always, Hector thinks. Even if you didn't know it. Even if you do not choose to follow her now. She is with you still...

"What about the scar?" Shadowheart asks curiously.

"A collision between your elbow and the teeth of a girl called Buddug," Nocturne says dryly. "She came away from it worse than you." She cocks her head. "She was on the same mission as you. I suppose she won't be coming back." A pause. "In any case, the Mother Superior soon broke up the fighting, though she didn't punish us. In fact, I saw her smiling. I think she was proud of you."

Hector's smile flickers. Not for the same reasons as we are, certainly, he thinks coolly. I suppose even a broken clock is right twice a day.

"Anything else?" Shadowheart asks.

Nocturne shrugs, rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. "Just small things, silly things. The sort you'd scarcely recall even if your memories were left intact. You had a little hiding place that you went to when you needed to get away. You brought me there sometimes. We'd talk, play, read, do each other's hair..."

It's a touching image, especially laid against the absolute misery that clearly seemed to imbue most of the days here. "A hiding place?" Shadowheart asks. "Where is it?"

"Hidden at the back of the storage area. Luckily enough, as quartermaster, I was able to keep it hidden back there," Nocturne answers. "It should be-- well, if not how you remember it, exactly as you left it."

Definitely something to check out... but there's another question lingering. Shadowheart's lips twitch in a flash of muted amusement. "From what you said before, you're the one responsible for my hair?"

"The plait and fringe?" The tiefling grins crookedly. "Yes. On your instructions, of course. You were very intent on a bold look, I think you said. My hands were cramped by the time I finished, but you were very pleased." She draws her head back to look Shadowheart up and down. "I like the new look as well, though. You always did like a dramatic touch."

Shadowheart hesitates. It's clear she wants to say more but isn't sure how it will be received - she once knew this woman so well and yet there is a blankness in the spaces where she should be. But the kindness shown even in this tiny scrap of conversation shows that Nocturne, like Shadowheart, belongs somewhere beyond these shadowy halls. [ENEMY OF SHAR] "Are you just going to remain here?" she finally asks quietly. "There's no need. Viconia is gone."

Nocturne hesitates, forty years of history with Shadowheart warring with an equal forty years of seclusion and fear. "Remains to be seen," she says carefully. "This place is all I've ever known. In time, perhaps I'll venture out there, see what I've been missing. But for now... old habits die hard."

[fraxusgoldenheart]

my first tav was a dragonborn and I romanced Wyll and let me just say, when I first finished the playthrough I could find no one else that also did db x wyll much less any art. which is to say: thank you so much op for the food. i am feasting and frothing at the mouth and beaming your art directly into my eyeballs thank you thank you

Oh, thank you so much for your appreciation! I almost always go playing Baldur Gate 3 for Dragonborn, because I just adore them, and God, Wyll has become my favorite character, he's just a miracle! I go through the novel in the game only with him every time and still am not tired!!! That's why I like drawing them together so much, I really liked the idea of playing for Dark Urge, whom Wyll corrects with his kindness. I think they are incredibly suitable for each other!

[annakie]

Baldur's Gate 3 Stuff Below (mild romance spoilers for stuff you see before the end of Act 1)

I am absolutely sure I want to romance Gale and have been turning everyone else down left and right but oh boy I just did the dance scene with Wyll and THAT was the first time I doubted my choice.

My character is a Noble Lore Bard and so the Lore Bard jives very much with Gale, and so does his general politeness and eloquence, but dancing with Wyll in a courtly dance like that really, REALLY tugged on the heartstrings. Turning my face away at the end was a hard decision and I may need to load the save just to see what happens if you DON'T. >.> (and then keep going with a save where I did. Sigh.)

This is the first actual hard choice I've had for who to romance in a game in a very long time. Come on you guys, let's just Throuple this, yes? You get along great with each other!

Also Haslin seems great, I really like him and he hasn't officially joined the party yet, but I have been very careful to try and not pick any flirty dialog with him and he's still... shall we say, very complimentary to me. Is that just what he's like? I haven't even had a chance to do any "Hey, thanks but no thanks" dialog back at him. But he's made it clear his sleeping bag could use company and I'm still saying no.

Seen a lot of other people saying they've seen similar issues with Gale and Wyll when not romancing them, a lot of people think the romance flags are still very bugged. So, idk.

I am trying to be kind to Astarion, my boi you are all manner of fucked up and I get it. How can I help you without encouraging your darker side? I think he's the only member of the party who may end up leaving me. I also don't bring him out much since I can handle all the rogue stuff myself. Very interested in him and his story, but no romance this time around.

The ladies are also all so amazing. Shadowheart also has that "I'm evil and I don't want you to fix me!" thing going on, but I hope I can still fix (un-evil) her. This playthrough at least. Let's be best friends, Shadowheart, but I'm not turning to the darkside for you.

Absolutely loving Lae'zel having to come to grips with the flaws of her own people and goddess. Also her adoration of Karlach is :3. I bring her out with me so much.

and KARLACH. Oh my goodness I didn't expect to love her so much but I do. I ADORE her. How can you not? I want her and my bard to be cuddlemates forever.

Anyway, the party with the tieflings was terribly awkward when I had to tell basically everyone in my party no thank you, except Astarion who told me no thank you, and Gale who said I really want to but I am legit worried my heart might explode. Fair.

Since then, we've had a serious flirt discussing reading about stimulation in books, and that's precisely the kind of flirting my bard is into.

I hope we do have a serious conversation at some point where it can be made clear that I don't play second fiddle to anyone, even the goddess of magic, so I hope that's all behind him.

I turned down a handsome nobleman who knows how to dance, Gale. Don't disappoint!

-----

I could go on about a thousand other things I am loving about this game (basically everything) but now I need to get back to playing it so maybe I can finish act 2 in less than 100 hours.

[allons-ydarling]

I have a lot of feelings about Baldur's Gate 3, so I'm going to spew them into the ether of Tumblr. Spoilers below.

So, I've hit Act 3 of my.... god, I don't know how to even number it. I think it's the fourth character I created, but it's going to be my second full playthrough. I've finished the game once with a custom Dark Urge, but I got to the Lower City with two characters before that. (However, the first character (a Druid) got restarted, switched from Tav to Durge, purely because I didn't get Gale early enough to get his Act 1 romance scenes and damn it, am I playing a dating simulator or not?) (The second (a Paladin) got abandoned because I fucked up Astarion's romance by kissing Wyll, and didn't realize I couldn't fix it until I hit Baldur's Gate.) (And then I may have kept playing to romance Halsin and the Emperor....) (Don't judge. I was curious.)

Anyway! Fourth character! Second playthrough to be finished! Bard called Juniper, romancing Karlach, it's all very adorable. She doesn't matter.

No, what matters is - I'm like, 90% sure that Aylin breaks her oath by killing Lorroakan. Like, there's no proof, but her saying she felt empty, like she'd lost something - it reminded me so much of my paladin character. My paladin started as Oath of Ancients, then accidentally broke her oath because she resurrected Mayrina's husband and I didn't realize that would break the oath.

Like, I can't remember what exactly made me think that, but the first time I went with her to fight Lorroakan, and I talked to her afterwards, I just instantly thought - Oh. She broke her oath.

I mean, I can't say for sure. She's a Vengeance Paladin, and Lorroakan definitely deserved to get his ass handed to him for abusing Rolan and trying to imprison Aylin, but.... was he evil enough for her to kill him? I don't know.

It could also be another example in the theme of "revenge isn't fulfilling and often leaves you feeling emptier than you did before" (see Astarion and Karlach).

Like, I feel like the "right" thing is to tell Aylin about Lorroakan and help her stop him, so she doesn't have to live in fear of being captured again, but if she in fact break her oath... Is it? I don't know. I just love that this game makes me interally debate and ponder these things.

[coolseabird]

Gale is my favorite guy for her, and Karlach is my favorite girl so I'm happy each is winning out of their respective gender. :] Minthara’s dialogue with both is just so much fun, and I think she has the strongest chemistry with them by far. But ultimately, Galethara is my top choice, especially for an evil run. He’s more easily corruptible and can believably fall into villainy for her, which is perfect for a darker playthrough. Mintharlach, on the other hand, is my favorite for a more good-aligned, knockout recruitment/romance run. It's super sweet. 🥺 @alicelufenia ‘s writeup explains the appeal of them perfectly imo (check the reblogs for that) so I’ll focus on Galethara here.

In the game, Gale as a companion feels conflicted about the grove, but with the right words, you can talk him down, make him see things your way. Meanwhile, Karlach and Wyll hold fast to their principles, and they’ll leave rather than stay with someone who commited such an atrocity, which makes sense for their characters. If you’re playing doing an evil origin and want to stay in character while having a believable moral decline, Galethara just hits different. As an enjoyer of destroying the grove that's why I have to put Galethara as my #1.

It’s like, Yes, this is wrong, but this pretty drow lady might be the only chance we have to survive. I also don't want to die. What’s one grove compared to destroying many more with the orb? Just that initial moral compromise leading to more and more. And later on after learning about the crown, Oh! I’d use the crown differently, for the greater good… we could shape the world in our image, take down the gods themselves. It’s that heady corruption arc that makes them so compelling together. (And it's not like he needed that much of a push to begin with based on how companion Gale acts in Act 3 haha) He is the definition of the road to hell is paved with good intentions and Minthara is more than happy to drive down that road. It’s great stuff!

Gale and Minthara together are like the Macbeths; they're both ambitious nightmares who can make each other worse. But Minthara also grounds Gale emotionally, she's always encouraging him to pursue greatness and to defy the gods and not to kill himself.

You know those memes about creating a character just to give Shadowheart an aneurysm? Like a githyanki cleric of Selune? Gale is that character to Minthy, lol. He’s a non-drow, a wizard, and a man, and yet, to her horror, she develops feelings for him. Then, when he saves her and proves he’s just as ambitious as she is, she falls hard. I think romances between foils are so fun. They’re so different in so many ways, but both were cast aside by the gods and have similar desires: to prove themselves and rise to the top. They’re also the most codependent companions in the game, and putting them together is fascinating. They’d make absolutely terrible villains together, and I love it. Gale's evil Absolute ending with a romanced Minthara is especially fun. You get to crusade with her to destroy the gods. It meshes very well. He's definitely going after Lolth first. And even if you don't do that, becoming God of Ambition Gale and supporting her war in the Underdark is very fun too. She says this out of pocket line in the epilogue:

God Gale: I may no longer be your lover, but I am the god of ambition. If you desire my aid, you've only to ask. Minthara: An intriguing proposition. To harness the powers of the heavens as I once harnessed you...

I adore her. 😭 Having a god wrapped around her finger for once is what she deserves.

Minthara without fail encourages every dark impulse a Gale Origin player might have. When he consumes the Shadow Weave within the Thorm kids (is it cannibalism to eat the Weave in a body?), she’s totally gung ho about it in this is the dialogue you get with her:

"Ah, the wizard. I could not help but notice that you have been exploring new avenues of knowledge recently—I approve. … The pursuit of knowledge and power should always be our goal. … Do not let the laws or scruples of inferior minds stand in your way."

She’s all in for seizing the crown too, and it’s amazing. Also, Gale Origins are the only ones who can hug Minthara in the epilogue romanced or not

Also even if they aren't romanced she admits she has affection for him.

She also thinks his beard is dashing. I rest my case:

[skeleton-on-a-quest]

op's tags: #simon says #bg3 #bg3 screenshots #art #my art #doodle #still on the hunt for pink dye #also when we reach the city I am going to go CRAZY in those clothes shops #none of the screenshots show the nightmare dye jobs of everyone else's armor though #okay well the only nightmare one is Astarion because I have yet to find a good color for him so he's constantly wearing ugly colors#another reason he dislikes Poetry added to the list: dyed his armor yellow multiple times #also she plays the lyre because the item description says worshipers of the goddess of love associate it with her #and her name was SO close to being a love related name #also she totally smooched Wyll :3 #she is head over heels for the blade of frontiers and gets lots of fun dialog because she's also a warlock #im VERY excited to get to the circus bc apparently fae patrons REALLY wanna go in the circus and will let you use their voice to get in #also yes I did the volo eye thing and shockingly enough it was the first time I ever did it #most of my characters are not dumb enough to let him do that but I needed the benefit for honor mode #honestly I've been wanting to make a pink tiefling for a bit because like... look at her #she's just a regular Asmodeus tiefling too. they come in pink! i didn't even have to use the 'use all skin tones' box it's just available! #honestly making a fun colored tiefling is grand #I think her and Fizzlewood Fleetfoot (my halfling wild sorcerer) are my favorites at the moment

#Poetry is just so adorable and I'm absolutely using her to get that achievement for getting lots of gold by playing music in a single game #and Fizzlewood is so silly he's just a nice lil guy wanting to find fun ways out of combat #it's even funnier because Fizzlewood is my Karlak romance and that was by accident but I totally went with it because like... #6 foot something hot hot barbarian and her 3 foot something combat avoidant boyfriend is so fun #anyways highly suggest making a fun colored tiefling or a halfling they're so fun to play #and use the dyes!!! i love using dyes so much!! everyone gets dyed clothes in all my playthroughs!! dye it up!!! #edit: I mispelled Karlach im so sorry baby girl

pics? pics of poetry for the soul?

Here she is, in all her glory: Bhaal's pinkest disappointment

and a bonus: The original doodle I did on a sticky tab before I decided to make the character