#what do you mean with this larian

[daemon-in-my-head]

Now, after staring at the concept art for an unholy amount of time so that I may try and give the tyrant his tattoo back, I can't help but notice that tiny little detail.

On the right side of Gortash's shoulder/neck is a dragon's head. On his left side, however, is a tail, presumably the one of said dragon. I'd bet money that the tyrant's tattoo is like a collar of sorts—a dragon is wrapping around his shoulders.

It's... interesting. Especially because this means the main part of his tattoo is on his back. A dragon, dear Internet friends, has his back. I repeat, a dragon, has his back. Do you understand me?

[sun-marie]

BG3 has two of the most thoughtful, unapologetic, no holds barred depictions of men with abusive female partners I've every seen (Wyll + Mizora and Gale + Mystra), which is so rare to see in any media but especially video games, and some of the Larian writers seem determined to convince me it was 100% by accident

[messiahzzz]

When I came across that "joke" from Tav to Quill and Z'rell's comment (plus Halsin), I had to take a minute to process what happened. Gale might be a bit silly and eccentric but he's the kindest, sweetest and most passionate character in that party. No wonder the poor man has deep insecurities to solve, so many people reduce him to an easy target! Ofc one of the side effects would be overconfidence and ambition as a defense mechanism. He's obv lonely; only Tara and Morena ever loved him for him.

his eccentric nature might be a part of it. he is loquacious, outgoing, and doesn’t see the point in hiding his enthusiasm. he is considered to be the weird one. naturally, wizards in general being seen as somewhat squishy and physically weak might also add to it.

personally, i really don’t like the implications of the (widely considered) autistic-coded character being the one who faces the most ridicule by far by other characters and fans (and larian) alike.

some might disagree with me on that, but i don’t find it funny by any means either. mostly it just makes me feel bad. “he deserves it. cocky, arrogant, hubris-ridden wizard needs to be taken down a peg” like he isn’t… y’know… already at his lowest. it also disregards the fact that much of his bravado is part of his carefully curated Great Wizard of Waterdeep™ persona that he has skillfully adopted to mask his general feeling of being defective. being fiercely proud of your skill and knowledge and being doubtful of having something truly worthwhile to offer are mindsets that can coexist. according to fandom, gale is either secret hubris incarnate that is only waiting to be unleashed upon the world or pure baby that can do no wrong. instead of a character that is just as flawed and traumatized as all the others, but no less deserving of genuine love.

to me, the constant ridicule just reads as further feeding into his deep-rooted insecurities and his belief that he (as gale, the person) isn’t someone who holds inherent worth. it really, really doesn’t sit well with me.

[foxgl-ove]

i could write an essay on why wyll’s character is mistreated by the writers and developers of bg3, but i’d be afraid of putting more effort into his story than them.

[eerna]

being born a Wyll Karlach fan is like some kind of a cruel trick of fate. like ok maybe my fav companion character's storyline sucks ass and gets sidelined more and more with each update but at least I have a second companion character who I love and can focus on. what do you mean she doesn't even have a storyline

[mermaids-ate-my-dinner]

[missszena]

Maybe this is my can't sleep tired brain going on tangents again but I'm gonna say it anyway

It always bugs me how people who ruthlessly bash the Emperor are always on about how its such a big manipulative liar at all times so none of what it shows you is genuine and it shouldnt be believed ever but the SECOND it shows anything negative suddenly its a 100% honest character who is telling the absolute truth and you should believe what it shows you at face value

Like which is it? Is it a liar or is it being honest? Or maybe some of yall are trying to make a big deal about morals (even though yall give Astarion a pass despite him doing shit like not approving of helping the Tieflings survive even though there are literal children in the refugee group) instead of just saying you personally didn't vibe with a character?

[fishofthewoods]

Single most jarring thing about baldur's gate is not any of the extremely well-written plot twists it is not the Emperor reveal it is not the time you jump down a hole in moonrise towers and find yourself in the Mind Flayer Flesh Pit NO. The most jarring thing in baldur's gate is when you hear Ketheric Thorm talk for the first time and, in this game of 100% English accents, he is the sole fucking american.

[anonymouscreampuff]

I just want to see them interact more, yknow?

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

HELLO??? 😳

Oh no, the wolf turns into a pup. 🥺 Excuse me while I

Thanks, this whole thing will live in my head rent-free now. Also, I will unleash a hailstorm upon the whole tavern, I think.

[animentality]

Did they get a postive response from adding those Gortash lines? I thought a bunch of people hateing on it instead? Also what if they removed the lines to change them a go a diffrent direction. I'm sorry. I have a lot of worry they wont do something I agee with.

The overwhelming reaction was positive. Durgetash artists went on Twitter to celebrate, and the small but passionate fans of the ship went nuclear here and on Twitter, and helped BG3 trend, yada yada, tale as old as time.

Most people don't care about Durgetash or Gortash. The majority of people you hear from would be the people who like both of those things. It's also a small ship.

The haters of that ship are even smaller in comparison, because the hand that reaches out will always touch more than the hand clenched into a fist.

And the only "legitimate" complainers, who don't just dislike the ship on principle, are the whiners who keep insisting their durges are lesbians, and how dare Larian "force" them into a relationship with a man - which is literally not what Larian did.

No one bitches about how Gale's ORIGIN completely precludes him from being gay.

I see no reason why you can't similarly have Durge's ORIGIN make them attracted to men. Or, you know. Enver is special.

Oh. And also. It's so fucking platonic, if you want it to be. Stop being stupid and just say you don't like Durgetash. It's as easy as that.

Stop using "lesbophobic" as a handy label for your self righteous soapbox. You just don't like the ship, and that's fine. It's FINE. But acting like Durgetash is lesbophobic - oh, go play a Tav.

And also, Astarion and Gale and Wyll better not flirt with you in game, even though you can tell them to fuck off, or else they're lesbophobic too.

That's the only discourse that gained traction on Twitter. As far as I know.

If Larian had made Gale wear blackface or something, and people got pissed, then yeah. They'd back up on that, and get rid of it pronto.

But Durgetash???

Aside from the general evil antics, they're not that fucking controversial of a ship.

Most people don't even PLAY the Dark Urge.

I don't know how to stress this any other way...

People act like Durgetashers are loud - we're honestly not that loud.

Astarion fans are far louder, and yet, the most romanced companion is SHADOWHEART and then Laezel and KARLACH.

He's not even in the top 3. And yet, he dominates the content on Twitter and Tumblr... he's definitely more popular than Gortash or the Dark Urge or Durgetash together...but his fans are still technically the damn minority.

So Durgetash in comparison to Starries???

Infinitesimal.

And Durgetash haters?

Would be even smaller.

So what I'm saying is...

I'm kind of tired of answering asks about this.

I don't KNOW for certain whether or not this is Larian backing up or walking forward, and while I don't believe they'd walk back on this, and especially not for a handful of people, it kind of annoys me to even think about things outside of my control.

now if Larian makes a big grand statement and says actually we totally rescind something WE WROTE AND ADDED TO THE GAME because some people got mad...then I'll call them cucks, and complain.

But as of right now?

As far as I know personally, and assume in my heart... it's neutral.

The lines are probably just bugged. Also, not ALL of them are bugged either, so.

Please stop freaking out, guys.

I am the world's biggest resident durgetash freak, and I'm shrugging at this, and just saying it's a bug.

Don't let it bother you. It's out of your control, regardless.

(And I stress again - if we find out they're legitimately backing away from something they did...they have the spine of a ham sandwich. But until we know that for sure, I won't condemn them for this, because as far as we know, it is legitimately an accident.)

[eggbagelz]

gale voice here feel the pulse of the magic in my heart that will eventually be the end of me. im on my knees before you like an animal showing its belly. im in excrutiating pain bc of the contact with the magic in my heart but please dont take your hand away please dont stop touching me

[bananasfosterparent]

[just1gnome]

"that sounds tediously boring"

gnome beat the game

here they are on the boat

[misspickman]

My unpopular bg3 opinion is they tried way too hard to make some of these characters mean and flippant which is meant to make the player more interested in them and clearly this has worked on many (good for you !) but personally i could not care less. If 80% of what a character has to say to me is bitchy i will simply leave them at camp for most of the game

[the0verboss]

"Hshar'lak"

Its been years since I loved an OC as much as I love Iss'tav'in but I am obsessed with this wizard loving githyanki cinnamon roll.

He just wants to go kill Vlaakith however he would never leave Gale so instead they live quietly in Waterdeep.

Although honestly I think his actual ending will be Elysium with a cocky God of Ambition.