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trappedinafantasy37 · 3 months ago

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Let's talk about Shadowheart's newest evil ending.

Honestly, I think it looks pretty cool! I do like the way where it portrays Shadowheart as simultaneously pulling on the power of Selune and Shar at the same exact time. At first you might think this would be exclusive depending on the Nightsong choice. But, according to Dame Aylin, what belongs to Shar also belongs to Selune. Neither god can exist without the other and their powers are inverses to each other. Where there is darkness, there can be light, and Shadowheart has every intention of taking full advantage of it. I also like the little explanation as to how encapsulating the powers of both goddesses and forging her own path outside of them makes her feel whole as she otherwise would not be.

I also like that it demonstrates the absurdity of the centuries long fight between the two sisters by making it a mortal problem. The people we see are just killing each other solely because of their perceived allegiance to the "wrong god". And it's reminiscent of the petty conversation between Shadowheart and Isobel (the entire interaction is actually much more petty in the Shadowheart origin). These two characters had no justifiable reason to dislike each other except for the fact that their gods don't like each other.

To sum it up, Shadow is essentially pulling in the powers of both gods to become her own god and form a new church in her name. Instead of wasting her time being faithful to other gods, she is going to flip them off and make others be faithful to her instead. Thanks to her prior relationship with the Sharran cloister, she knows exactly what she needs to do to make people faithful to her and she will definitely lean into that Sharran training.

I have pulled my previous saves and can confirm that the ending is the same regardless of whether or not Shadowheart is a Dark Justiciar, and I don't think it should be. Before I really dive into it, her evil ending is out of character regardless of which path she goes down, although I think it makes more sense for Moon Shadow than DJ Shadow.

Dark Justiciar Shadowheart

I did see a complaint the other day on TikTok that DJ Shadow should say "in Shar's name" when she claims the brain similar to how Durge claims it in Bhaals name. I'm kind of on the fence about this one because Shar and Bhaal do not want the same things about the Absolute. We know that Shar does want the Absolute destroyed. So for DJ Shadow to claim the Absolute, she is renegading against Shar which is wildly out of character. And if she is renegading against Shar, she would not be claiming it in Shar's name but her own.

We all know and joke about how much of a terrible Sharran Shadowheart is, even as a DJ. But this is someone who has chosen their path and is fully dedicated to Shar. She has decided she will enact Shar's will to the letter and won't stray. Sure, maybe Shadow would stretch the rules over little and trivial things (like still having a situationship with her romance partner after Shar told her not to). But claiming the Absolute is way too big of a deal and I don't think DJ Shadow would do it. Essentially the most evil ending does not suite an evil Shadowheart cause it's not the right flavor of evil.

However, if DJ Shadow were to claim it in Shar's name, it would not at all be the ending we got. She would not use the Absolute to cause a civil war between people, nor would she become a new god in her own right, nor would she use an ounce of Selune's power (especially since DJ Shadow would not know how intertwined the sister goddesses are). DJ Shadow is a very dedicated and faithful servant of Shar and would never think to elevate herself to Shar's level. Shadowheart became a Dark Justiciar, not because she wanted the power of one, but because she wanted to be a better servant to her god. She would do the same with the Absolute. She would specifically use the Absolute to drive the world into Shar's "endless darkness". She would fill the people with hopelessness, despair, grief, loss. She would inflict all of Shar's doctrines on the world. She would bring people into Shar's embrace, not turn against Shar at the eleventh hour after everything she sacrificed just to get there. I can even see DJ Shadow using the Absolute to expand the bounds of the Shadow Curse if it isn't resolved. That is, if Shar would allow Shadowheart to claim the Absolute at all.

Moon Shadowheart

One of the things that is really easy to miss is that Moon Shadow never fully embraces Selune, which is why I have a hard time calling her a Selunite. Selune is most certainly stretching her arms out to Shadow, ready to embrace her, but Shadow has not taken that step yet. When she first rejects Shar, Shadow knows deep down that she is being empowered by Selune instead (because what belongs to Shar belongs to Selune) but Shadow is in active denial about it until Dame Aylin kind of forces her to accept the truth. One of her default endings is of her still calling Selune the "Moon Witch" and doesn't feel particularly drawn to her just yet. But she spends all six months attempting to learn about Selune, learn about herself and her past and see if maybe she can be drawn to Selune. All that is important to her is that Selune is not like Shar and will allow Shadow to forge her own path, even if Selune is not happy with it.

As ironic as it is, this is the version of Shadow that I can see taking the Absolute for herself, albeit still a little OOC. Moon Shadow will actually have the freedom to claim the Absolute for herself cause what is Selune gonna do? Stop her? Pfft, she didn't even lift a finger to save her own child from being tortured for a century (although not because she didn't want to but because she's following Ao's rules). Considering how Shadowheart's personal story line ends, I feel you could easily squeeze some evilness out of it. Now, this is a little headcanony to try to make some sense as to why Moon Shadow would claim the Absolute (even though it is all OOC).

In the event she kills her parents, Shadow gets thrown into grief, loss, and guilt. Despite the fact that she rejected Shar and is supposed to have been "embraced" by Selune, she is still experiencing all the same things as when she was just as devoted to Shar. So, she rejected Shar for what? She lost her god and she still feels like shit, she is still in pain. Sure, she could learn to get past this, but she may not. While holding the stones and on the verge of godhood, she realizes she has been nothing but a toy between two gods who don't know how to settle their issues maturely. One god has actively tormented her her entire life, while the other god knew it was happening and did absolutely nothing to help. Shadow betrays the Emperor and claims the Absolute to become a god. Using all her lessons from her time in the Sharran cloister, she could show Shar how it's really done and demonstrate to Selune what happens when you become too passive. And this Shadow knows about the entanglement between the two goddesses and could still call on Shar's endless darkness if she needed to and would use Selune's light as a method of torment rather than guidance. I honestly feel like she would purposefully imprison Dame Aylin again out of pure spite. As powerful as she may be, the aasimar is nothing against a god.

A Shadowheart that spares her parents is probably the least likely version to claim the Absolute, but I still think you could make it work. This version of Shadow is content with the curse tying her and her parents together because they have all agreed that whatever happens they will do it together. But perhaps she realizes that it doesn't have to be that way and she and her parents don't need to suffer. To endure the pain is to please Shar, and she is tired of pleasing Shar. The most daunting part about chronic pain is that it does have a habit of driving people to madness and Shadow is aware this. Shar would gladly enjoy watching all the Hallowleaf's eventually go mad in the end. And it's not as if Selune is really doing anything to help either. She cannot rely on the gods to help her, and to become a god is to free herself from a gods curse, or at least give her a fighting chance to get rid of it. Forming a new church and becoming a new god will only strengthen her, give her enough power to loosen whatever grip Shar still has on her. But this Shadowheart is directly attached to Shar and would have no problem using it. If Shadowheart cannot get rid of the curse herself, then perhaps she can give Shar incentive to let her go.

Conclusion

Shadowheart actually should have gotten two different evil endings similar to Durge and a Moon Shadow should have had slight variations depending on the state of her parents. Shadowheart's personality, motivations, desires, and goals are all dictated depending on how dedicated she is to these gods and the endings should reflect that. The ending that we did get I feel is the most fitting for Moon Shadow who did sacrifice her parents because she did everything she was supposed to do, and yet she still suffers and she is still alone. This version of Shadow I can see becoming enraged and vengeful against Shar and Selune and wanting to bite back.

Don't get me wrong, I like this ending. But it also demonstrates one of my biggest gripes with how BG3 depicts evil and it seems like evil cannot exist in this game without it being comical. It cannot exist without it being in your face that it is evil, otherwise people might "miss it". Sadly, this means that characters are forced out of character to shoehorn them into evilness as there is often very little narrative explanation or build up as to why that character would choose the evil option. Sure, I think if you stretch it enough you could argue that the ending you get for Shadowheart is fitting regardless of whichever path. I mean, this is an RPG and we all come up with our own reasons as to why certain choices and outcomes make more sense over others (hells, I just did that in this post!).

Either way, I am glad that we did get these new endings. Even if I feel that some of them are OOC, I still appreciate them and I am grateful for the free treat Larian did give us.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #evil endings #patch 7 #shadowheart #dj shadowheart #dark justiciar shadowheart #selunite shadowheart #i'm not saying that i dont like these endings because i really do #i love seeing all the characters become morally dubious gods who are about to do some morally dubious things #and living as their worst selves #and i do like that they do give you some wiggle room to make your own headcanons with them #i just find it absurdly hilarious that shadowheart would canonically destroy the brain regardless of if she's a dj or not

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