#spoiler tag

[thbcway]

! warning: tgcf spoiler !

[ink-ghoul]

he brought the shirtless calendar to s10 😭

[sahaquiel43]

[Spoilers] The fact that Ansbach is so SANE/level-headed likely proves Mohg was less crazy before....

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spoilers.

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People fairly point out that even with Mohg being manipulated by Miquella, he still started a wacky gross blood cult, conducting all sorts of atrocities.

but I had a thought: Given the fact that Ansbach was one of Mohgs original knights, meaning he was likely there from the start, and what struck me is just how SANE & level-headed he is (I mean, he even doesn't blame us for killing Mohg). he isn't even Creepy like Varre.

the fact that he was his greatest knight is pretty thought provoking.

leads me to believe that Mohg's kingdom was less fucked before Miquella if someone as sane as Ansbach was one of his head honchos.

and if Mohg was already crazy, why would Ansbach be so compelled and Desperate to try and 1v1 Miquella, a demigod, to desperately try and save Mohg, that means that he probably saw the dynasty declining as Miquella's influence wrecked things. Not to mention that there aren't any pureblood knights running around in the base game... meaning that some kind of Decline happened that saw the knights get killed off.

its telling you need a pureblood knight medallion to see Mohg, but there aren't any pureblood knights around anymore....

maybe mohg's place is in such a bad state when we arrive because Mohg's gone off the deep end and has started to neglect things after being brainwashed, and underwent some sort of decline.

eitherway, Ansbach is a chad.

mohg mogh

[ide4m4chine]

this thought from maomao breaks my heart. to me it implies either she thinks someone like jinshi is so incapable of caring about someone like her to the point of being unable to process the moment or she can't recognize when someone is worried about her. either way it makes me sad

[medievallight]

Every moment of her on screen was just something wild

[thewhalesheart]

ch 02 : p 21

could a spirit lose their way?

Prepare yourselves for rapid fire page uploads.. I’m multiple page uploads behind on here, and I apologize for my disappearance! I hope that the quick uploads today can make up for it!!

previous / next / first

[fancyfade]

Every Talia mention in the Boy Wonder Issue #2

anyway i can't tell if i'm reading too much wishful thinking into this, but this is the exact kind of angst i imagine damian would have with talia if she was written well.

like why isn't my mom in contact with me/ why isn't she here - when I assume she's not there because she wants to get him out of the league and has to deal with stuff (obviously this is like. not anywhere near confirmed canon for this specific AU at the point, so it could be wishful thinking).

but like. damian angsting over the lack of appropriate connection with talia* rather than her being a cold figure who demands that he kill people and give her only perfection/follow her plans exactly and doesn't love him as he is... MUCH better than angst about her killing him...

*which works even better in my headcanon where she tries to give him up to avoid him being raised in the league (but he's found anyway) like she did in son of the demon

[fuckitwebhaal]

the dark urge

please do not come for me these are just my takes and opinions on the durge route, as someone who has run it through a few times and is pretty familiar with the lore in regards to the previous games. also massive spoilers below. like if you do not want any dark urge spoilers stop reading now.

The Dark Urge (henceforth referred to as DU), whether approached narratively as resisting or as succumbing, is more of a solidly fleshed out origin for a customizable player character compared to Tav. The reason for this is because the DU follows the precedent set by the previous Baldur's Gate games where the main player character is a Bhaalspawn. (If I recall correctly, that was also the intention for BG3, but it was scrapped and the origins split to allow for a fully customizable option).

I'm not going to get into the history of the Bhaalspawn, save to say this much: The protagonist of BG1 & 2, Gorion's Ward, is referenced on rare occasion throughout a DU playthrough and is implied to be dead. (Though they are never named as Abdel Adrian from the TTRPG canon, it is implied that it seems to be following a blend of canon from BG2 and the TTRPG canon). Bhaal, who had split his divine essence into his many children, relied on their deaths and a ritual so that he could return--in a physical sense--to the planes and reclaim his godhood as the Lord of Murder.

You, BG3 DU protag, are crafted purely from Bhaal's divine essence. This was confusing to me at first, because I had believed Bhaal incapable of having any more mortal children (due to not having a physical presence), but it is implied that Bhaal's spiritual and divine essence is strong enough to form you from himself, he is merely lacking the ritual that would return him to physicality. Which is where you come in. And, Orin, I guess.

Because you were crafted from Bhaal, it is implied that any cultural or genetic claim (such as half-elf, dragonborn, or whatever race you choose) is but Bhaal's mimicry of what those stereotypes should be. You're a killer, a Bhaalyn through and through, and you'll be the one to slay the world and slit your own throat on the carcasses left behind to bring about Bhaal's return. The only thing is, you got cocky. Confident. Comfortable. Careless. You got comfortable in your alliance with Gortash and Ketheric. Orin was jealous and wanted your blessing--your place as Bhaal's chosen--, so she struck you down, muddled your mind, and infected you with a mindflayer parasite. That's why you have no memory, and why you ended up on that ship.

So, here you are. You have no memories, but you have a rage and a disgrace and a vengeance you can't quite place. You've got an urge telling you to kill, kill, kill.

Pause. In previous games, the Bhaalspawn protagonist didn't have a "dark urge" that caused you to want to commit violence or murders outside of your control. (Not including Siege of Dragonspear (2016), which does include one uncontrollable murder. This DLC was released as a bridge between BG1 & 2 and came out after the pitches for BG3 had begun). It's implied that this is because of your pure divine creation--think Jesus. Think godspawn. God and mortal. That's what you are, murder incarnate.

The main crux of the DU run, then, becomes this: what do you want to do with this? There are a few paths laid out before you, but the narrative is pretty clear: you are a killer, and you'll always be a killer. This is where I first ran into my concerns with the DU; I was afraid it was going to be an edgelord-y, murderhobo-y playthrough that sacrificed story and companion mechanics for the sake of a bloody kill and edgy narration. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't the case, because the story unfurls really well no matter which way you go.

A friend of mine played the DU run totally evil; every bad option, every urge indulged, so I asked them what they thought of it. They said it "It definitely involved a lot more violence and death than [their Tav] run, but it's not like [they] murdered everyone [they] came across", and "It did feel a lot like someone very confused with themselves becoming very drunk with the power that comes with the urge".

I played my two DU playthroughs in two parallel ways. The first being Kyr; a DU who wanted to resist his urges and talked a good talk, had a good heart, but at every major moment, he failed to resist and ultimately succumbed back to Bhaal's embrace and became his Chosen.

My other playthrough is Nyris; a cynical, mistrustful bastard, he started out a little rocky, but growing with his companions caused him to reject the evil in his blood despite his other moral shortcomings; in the critical moments, he rejected Bhaal's influence and overcame.

How the DU presents to me, then, is this: nature v nurture. Which will win, which will overcome? By playing Kyr, it felt as though the nature was his driving force. It didn't matter how removed he was or how hard he tried to convince others that he could do better--how hard he could try to convince himself he could do better--he was already doomed by the narrative. Bhaal's manipulations drove him back home, and he didn't even realize that he'd been sucked back into the cult until it was far too late.

But, then, what about Nyris? To him, it felt like nurture. If you remove the cult from him, the indoctrination, what was left? A man struggling to make his own identity, but among those who reaffirmed it every chance that they could. He relied on his own strength and that of those around him to overcome, even if he was unsure, afraid, doubted. It feels like the nurture, or lack thereof, of Bhaal and the Bhaalist cult meant that he was free to grow and learn away from it.

It's something I find further supported in conversations with Jaheira and Minsc, who both talk about "their Bhaalspawn companion", otherwise known as Gorion's Ward from the first two games.

[ID: Minsc: "If Minsc did not inherit the flaming red hair of his mother, or the bushy red beard of his father, why would the spawn of Bhaal inherit his wickedness?"

Kyrran: "We should talk about nature versus nurture some day."

Minsc: "It is simple. As with all battles, the winner will be the one that carries the bigger sword."]

So, in my opinion, the personal arc of the DU and one that the player must engage with is the idea of nature versus nurture, and how your DU will cope with the revelations of their paths in light of the new memories and friendships that they have forged. That's not to say you can't always swing to one extreme; never indulge or always indulge, it's still digging into that nature versus nurture idea.

There is, also, the more overarching theme of BG3 in regards to breaking cycles of abuse, power, and control. If you lean into the idea of nature v nurture, and you realize that there were originally foster families involved in the upbringing of the DU (before said families were murdered, or the DU stolen away by the Bhaalist cult), you have to consider two things:

1.) Bhaal is comparable to both Shar and Vlaakith as gods that indoctrinate their religious followers, and

2.) Bhaal is comparable to Mystra and Cazador as those who take control of a severe power imbalance to inflict their will.

The narrative informs you, if you accept Bhaal's gift as Chosen, exactly the consequences that will fall upon you. It is the same as the consequences that are so heavily explained to you in regards to Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Gale, and Astarion.

[ID: *A gift from your god, your Father. An offering of his affection for you, or confirmation that he owns you.*]

[ID: *For a moment, the brine-pool of your brain clears. To die: to rest, to save the world from yourself. To accept, to become his prophet - in any disobedience, subject to his lash.*]

A lot of people say that the DU run is the "evil" playthrough, and it truly isn't. Just like any of the other decisions you make in this game in regards to your companion quest, it is a question of power and control. Power you give up by rejecting Bhaal is also control that he loses over you. Power you gain in accepting him, to exert over others, is also the control he will take. It's up to you how you will approach the DU, but I think it is shortsighted to say it is the "evil" playthrough if you are not fully engaging with the themes. You can make all of the good options that you can make with Tav--but you are fighting the narrative. The narrative has a plan for you. If you want to resist, you will have to fight for it.

[ivi-prism]

If I had a nickel for everytime time in a metroidvania there has been someone in a position of power that tried denying entropy and tried to cling to perpetuity and eternity just to doom all of those they say they had worked to save.

Id have two nickles which isn’t a lot BUT GODDAMN STOP SENDING SMALL PROTAGONISTS TO GO FIX IT IM THE ONE CONTROLLING THEM AND IS HARD AS FUCK

[stickstone]

does it qualify as spoilers if it isn’t 100% confirmed yet? going to assume yes. but uh. win for haw! my theory is most likely correct!

[lolli-popples]

First to die-

Last to die-

Different in so many ways.

But there was something they shared.

Both were entirely...

alone.

[honeygrahambitch]

I rarely get obsessed with the things that I write but this line makes me go through all the feelings:

[ink-ghoul]

It's all fun and games when the session 1 secret tasks are:

nickname your friends 🥰

write a poem 😍

make a pun😊

Imagine if secret tasks on later sessions would be like:

kill your teammate 😁

[sahaquiel43]

Imagine if the DLC ended with Morgott barging to avenge him...

Or at least a Margit projection if he's too busy in Leyndell.

after hearing the truth, he does one last courtesy to his estranged brother, Mohg, for his dignity.

you, margit/morgott, ansbach

[magic-injected-piece-of-metal]

i am so sorry.

[i-am-trans-gwender]

Me circa 2020: So do I be a trans girl and get called a femboy by idiots or do I be a femboy and get called a trans girl by idiots?

Spoilers: I'm a trans girl who has to deal with idiots calling me a femboy.