Each story has its own meaning, has its own idea. Every story must have a hero, an antagonist, a challenge, and a moral message. So where is all this in Baldur’s Gate 3??
You can kill everyone, commit a whole genocide. You can skip entire chunks of the game and it won’t affect you in any way. Yes, even if you kill all the plot characters, everything will be fine. Such freedom makes it seem like the game is just a set of disconnected scenes with some distant goal of getting rid of the parasite and, well, saving/enslaving the world a little.
But that’s not true. The game has its own meaning, it has its own idea. Moreover, this idea lives in every cut-scene, in every character and even in a note. This is the idea of fate and freedom of choice. And yes, SPOILERS.
Fate
Already at the very beginning of the game we are introduced to the idea of fate. We are being abducted by mysterious aliens with tentacles. We soon learn that these are illithids: weak-willed creatures that carry out the will of the Elder Brain. And they kidnapped us in order to plant the head of a parasitic worm and turn us into exactly the same weak-willed creature.
It’s not your fault that you ended up here. It’s not your fault that you received an annoying neighbor as a gift. You’re just out of luck. Perhaps it’s fate or fate.
However there was something else there. Personally, it wasn’t a simple illithid that planted the worm on you. He was very big, in beautiful armor and… he killed other illithids when he walked towards you? Perhaps these illithids are not so simple and weak-willed… perhaps.
But then you fell off the ship and went looking for a cure for the worm. Very soon you will meet tieflings: horned creatures, very similar to medieval demons. In fact, they turn out to be just that, they are the descendants of archdevils. But it’s not that simple. It turns out that they don’t want to boil you in a cauldron, but are simply refugees from the distant city of Elturel.
They were kicked out of there because of prejudices. They thought that the descendants of the archdevils would serve their ancestors and harm ordinary people. But these tieflings are simple defenseless refugees: with their families, values and desire, the squeeze. How deceiving the first glance can be, yeah? But this works with all the characters in the game, they are all much more than their race.
If we go to the Druids, then they will not be the stereotypical good defenders of the forest. They will all have a different take on the closing ritual. Some will support you, some are just part of the hierarchy, and some will send you after Khalsin.
Even goblins aren’t as flat as they seem. Among them there are traders, leaders, poets. But the latter are not particularly accepted there. It’s not a good goblin’s job to scribble.
Kluggy’s love note to Mintara: "Beloved Mintara. I haven’t been to the Underdark. Grikka says that there are such creatures there that the ogre will seem like a baby of the gnomes, but I say, if such a beauty like you grew up among the delicious mushrooms there, then there is no better place.”.
And here we come to the important point of my idea. Baldur’s Gate smashes race stereotypes, but why?? To show how not everything is obvious? Perhaps, but not only. To show how we can all live friendly and inclusive? Closer, but they don’t give us such straightforward morals. And they give us reflections on fate.
We are all children of our nature, but this is not the only thing that defines us. We can be born into an aggressive tribe and practice poetry. We can devote our whole lives to maintaining harmony in the world, but in the end turn the whole idea into a xenophobic policy of isolationism.
To fully cover the topic, we should add a little theory. And since there are so many social components in Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s unlikely that anyone can do a better job here than sociology. For example, the work “On the Division of Social Labor” by the founder of sociology Emile Durkheim.
Emil saw two principles in a person: sensual body And public consciousness. The body lives by sensations and personal needs, strives to satisfy only them, therefore by nature selfishly. Social consciousness lives in concepts, sees itself in relation to other people and is the beginning of any moral activity.
If a person lives without society, then he lives for himself. When he meets other people with similar thoughts, values, understanding of needs, they exchange ideas and gradually become a society. They begin to believe in the value of each other’s lives, they begin to care about each other.
Then their work is divided, and they acquire more and more individuality. It turns out a wild cocktail of nature, values society and individuality. The struggle of all these three components is observed throughout the game.
Proof? Fine. We’ve already named tieflings, druids and goblins. You can also name various bandits, for example the Thieves Guild in Baldur’s Gate. They can hardly be called noble robbers, but they provide safety and protection.
Undead? Okay, so they escaped from the owner and wander around the city in the same third act. A little dumbed down, but at least one of them even remembers their past.
Maybe some evil priests? Easily. Servants of Shar see the ideal in complete oblivion of service, but their notes will tell about difficult destinies. Some came out of desperation, others are being held by force.
Well, my favorite example is the illithid Omeluum from the Underdark. He escaped the control of the Elder Brain and became self-aware. But instead of devouring gnomes and drow, he became a researcher and actively helped our hero with the worm. The most alien of aliens, born to serve, became a peaceful resident of a mushroom colony. Isn’t that cool?!?
But only our companions have the most elaborate stories about individuality and free will. But before moving on to them, it’s worth introducing a few more terms from Durkheim.
The basis of any society is the solidarity of its inhabitants. At the initial stage of society’s life, this solidarity is ensured by common values, rules, traditions. But when it happens individualization, then residents need to find another source of solidarity. They are too different to be united only through values.
It is then that a new solidarity emerges, which is built through interdependence. We are different, but everyone plays their role in society, so we feel unity and solidarity.
This solidarity has two parts: integration And regulation. Integration is responsible for the exchange of ideas between residents. Through integration, a person understands other people: their values, motives, traditions, feelings. But regulation sets the rules for how people should behave with each other. Only with sufficient integration is regulation possible.
A situation where there is integration, but no regulation is when a creature feels close to others, but does not understand/does not want to understand the rules in order to preserve and strengthen this integration. This situation is called anomie. And all the main companions have a problem with either integration or regulation, that is, anomie. In order.
Astarion
Astarion was under the boot https://casino60casino.co.uk/mobile-app/ of Kazador for centuries. He personally seduced victims for the ascension ritual, and in return received only violence and contempt. It’s hard to imagine such a character being anything more than a villain’s servant.
And yet he is more. Even after so much time of violence, deception, and hypocrisy, Astarion still has a bit of sympathy for his “brothers”. He understands that they are the same hostages of Cazador as he is, he integrated with them.
But years of service take their toll and when Astarion falls from the illithid ship and gains freedom, he only wants power, he wants dominance, he wants independence. And the only method that he knows: to maim, deceive and kill others. A slave has no greater dream than to have his own slave.
And this internal conflict between the remnants integration and the thirst for power culminates in the rite of ascension. Should Astarion sacrifice everyone he deceived, loved, sympathized with and become a powerful being? Or should he stop the ritual and abandon the path of lonely greatness?
Regulation implies responsibilities, may be personified in the ancient “thou shalt not kill,” or perhaps in modern humanism. Lacking or violating this regulation, the character will fall into anomie. This sinful feeling of wrongness, as if he is doing something wrong.
There are only two ways to get rid of this feeling: to accept responsibilities towards others or to renounce all and become a supreme being who is so above mere mortals that their feelings and fates will be indifferent to him.
Shadowheart
A somewhat similar conflict haunts Shadowheart. Only here we are not talking about the acceptance of regulation, but about its incorrectness and redundancy.
Shadowheart is bound by the rules of Shar, the goddess of darkness and oblivion. The very essence of this god dictates renunciation of love, sympathy, and retreat into oblivion.
But the remnants of Shadowheart’s memory echo about her past life with her parents, about picnics on the shore, about her favorite flowers.
And this memory of loved ones, this sensual need for care comes into conflict with the existing regulation. Durkheim would call this fatalism, because such a life is like a cage that constricts your organs and does not allow you to breathe.
In the end, she will have to accept her past as the daughter of her parents and as a servant of Shar. But what choice Shadowheart makes from this pain may vary. She can reject the Shar, save her parents in life or death, and begin a new life in harmony with herself and others. Or she can go into complete oblivion, cleanse herself of old wounds and live a new life, complete only by serving Shar.
Service often leads to blind adherence to rules, dogmas, ideals. Will’s whole life is devoted to this vice. Will admired his father and wanted to become just like him. Not surprising, since he was raised on stories of ancient heroes who defeated absolute evil. Such education will inevitably lead to a clear division of the world into right and wrong, into “black” and “white”.
It was all the more tragic for Will to accept the Treaty of Mizora in order to save Baldur’s Gate. He himself condescended to serve the devil. A real shame for the Grand Duke.
Of course, his father did not understand anything; he could hardly have thought that his son served Mizore only to save his loved ones. He raised Will in his own image. When the world is “black and white” there are no compromises and exceptions.
And so Will fulfills Mizora’s contracts, for him it’s even quite tolerable. After all, you only have to kill monsters and devils. He didn’t feel any sympathy for them. After all, no one in any way connected with dark forces can be justified.
As you understand, Will will learn an important lesson. A meeting with Karlakh and Ansur will tell him how contradictory this world is, how many great things are accomplished by contradictory personalities. How a variety of creatures, even the descendants of archdevils, may need protection. It is then that he will see how his experience contradicts those rules, regulation, what he adhered to.
Karlach
And here is one of the descendants of the archdevils. The history of Karlach is particularly interesting. She is no stranger to the fates of other creatures. She will gladly help the defenseless and disadvantaged. But she will never let them get close.
All because she was betrayed in the most vile way, Gortash sold her after many years of “friendship”. Now Karlach shuns others and fills the emptiness in his heart with straightforward soldier tasks. It’s hard to find a more heartbreaking scene than Karlach’s feeling of emptiness in her heart after taking revenge on Gortash.
This is the way of accepting intimacy. Integration with others in the most friendly and loving way. Whether Karlach burns in the end, becomes an illithid, or goes to Hell, deep down she would like us to be with her.
Witchcraft and religion have always been at odds. Religion is social, religion talks about right and wrong, religion always puts us in relation to divine law. Witchcraft is selfish, it belongs to the sorcerer and his whims. It seduces and beckons to turn the world created by the gods to your liking.
After all, is there really anything forbidden if you create your own world, if with one movement of your hand you can command the very fabric of the world?? No wonder Gale fell victim to his own pride and ambition.
His principles were flawed from the very beginning. He wanted to earn Mystra’s attention, but indirectly followed the path of acquiring Karsus’s magic. He was experiencing acute anomie.
It is not surprising that when Mystra ordered him to sacrifice himself, he began to seriously doubt his faith. God demanded absolute religious submission and thus exposed Gale’s inner problem.
Gale can either obey the divine law and do as Mystra said or follow in the footsteps of Karsus, becoming a new god.
Laesel
Many players consider Laezelle’s storyline to be weak. This is understandable: we have the plot in the first act, and you will get everything else only in the third, and then it’s quite crumpled.
However, one should not look at her story as an independent one. In fact, she is metaphorically connected to us. In the very first cutscene we look at the world from Laesel’s point of view. We watch how they plant a worm on her, we watch how she escapes through the guts of an illithid ship. And at this moment her thoughts and feelings are the same as ours.
We found ourselves on a ship of disgusting aliens who want to enslave us. We see dragon riders who indirectly save us. And in our head there is a strict system of who is good and who is bad. At the very least, we both really want to finish off the illithids.
But then things get complicated. It turns out that illithids can be social creatures and it turns out that Vlaakith is not as holy as Laezel thought.
Here we have an internal contradiction. And it’s up to us how to resolve it. Follow Prince Orpheus or bend your will to Vlaakith.
In this case, the choice is somewhat different. In all companion stories, they must choose their own path. But here Laezel needs to make a decision about the choice itself. Can a soldier have his own will?? Can he make a conscious choice or must he just obey??
We, as the main character, start with Laezel in an equal situation, but with different points of view. She is in absolute submission, we are in absolute freedom of choice. She follows the rigid Githyanki lifestyle, we as players can handle things differently in each situation.
But as history goes on, we’ll both learn the opposite things. We, like a hero, will encounter other intelligent social beings from time to time and decide whether to bind ourselves into bonds of interdependence with them or not. Will we include our individuality in a society that limits us?.
Laezel will decide whether she should doubt generally accepted ideals, whether she should take steps towards her own individualization. Both roads lead to reflection on freedom of choice in society. Both we and Laezel will decide how important our freedom and the freedom of others around us are.
Antagonists
And there’s no better way to show this idea than by pitting the main characters against the antagonists. Only in confrontation with them will we see the full value and inconsistency of this gift – to choose.
All three gods of the Chosen personify the antisocial nature of any intelligent being. Baal is the embodiment of violence. His servants must kill both strangers and their own, must renounce all sympathy and enjoy the moment of murder. For according to Baal, death is the only worthy moment in the life of any creature. It is not surprising that Orin will perform this task even against his will.
Bane is the god of tyranny. It may seem that he is quite social, because in any society there is a hierarchy. But no, a society cannot exist where there is no personal will of its inhabitants, and Bane wants just such a “society”. Even in Gortash’s notes, free will is just a stupid misunderstanding. And if it is possible to build a good “society”, then everyone in it must completely obey one will. But Bane is also the god of fear. It is out of fear that Gortash will come to Bane. And it is the desire to get rid of fear through complete control that will drive the entire plot.
Myrkul is the god of death and exhaustion. Unlike the god of our friend the Withered, Myrkul embodies the fear of death rather than its acceptance. Every follower of Myrkul fears death in some way. He is so afraid that he is ready to sacrifice everything to avoid it. This is exactly what Ketheric Torm did. He tried to forget himself in Shar’s arms after the death of his daughter, but could not. Myrkul resurrected him and offered to resurrect his daughter. Of course, Ketherick agreed. He doesn’t want to lose her, just as he himself is afraid of death. And for both things he will do anything, destroy the lives of as many as necessary, just so as not to lose himself. Fear that outweighs the lives of others.
Elder Brain
But it’s hard to imagine a greater antithesis of society and free will than the Elder Brain. Its very nature is aimed at submission and control. This is absolute power, absolute deprivation of will.
From the very beginning he planned both his own “captivity” and his release. Like the discovery of stones and the crown, and one’s own metamorphosis, the change in nature as a cold, calculated move. No sympathy, no values, not even any desire to preserve one’s own nature. Only the eternal thirst for power.
Emperor
However, it seems there is a character even worse than the Elder Brain. The Emperor was once a simple adventurer like us, but then became acquainted with the nature of illithids through his own example. And he liked it.
He manipulated us from the very beginning. He pretended to be a friend, showed only the most human parts of his story. He was even ready to have sex with us just to gain trust. Only when we show our complete distrust of him will he decide to drop the mask.
It turns out that he controlled everyone, even his closest friends. Moreover, he will tell us this only to scare us and force us to obey out of fear. He is a living social being who has thrown away all compassion and values.
If the Elder Brain is the original rather dominant principle of nature, purely intuitive and all-consuming, then the Emperor is something else. The Emperor is what an intelligent individual creature can go to in its pursuit of power. It is not surprising that if he refuses to devour Orpheus, he will instantly go over to the side of the Elder Brain. This is a simple rational calculation. Nothing more.
Freedom of choice
However, we can choose the Emperor, we can join him even knowing his true plans. We can even become an illithid ourselves and take control of the Elder Brain.
This is the feature that is given to a rational being along with freedom – choice. And with the absence of a black and white picture of the world, this choice always exists. Each character’s story can go in different directions. And although some of them have a bitter aftertaste, they are not blamed.
You can ascend Gale, you can force Laezel to blindly serve Vlaakith. You can even bind yourself to Baal.
The irony is that the game wasn’t half as deep without the ability to choose. It’s easy to make a game where you HAVE to be good. A game where you defeat evil people and get a moral lesson. But Baldur’s Gate 3 is about something else. It’s about freedom of choice. About the ability to see the world from multiple perspectives. About understanding the relativity of your thinking. About the magical warmth and prickliness of society. About personal freedom to be anyone, even the worst asshole with a thirst for power.
This is the eternal contradictory nature of rational individuals. It is an eternal choice to bind oneself to others and become completely alienated. From the most primitive tribe to modern society, you will make choices. If your nature allows you to choose at least a little, if your personal experience gives at least something other than black and white, you can choose.
We started with a completely simple picture of clear good and evil. We started with a consistent world where good and evil are destined to take their roles. And then this world broke. Mixed up. And now we have a choice.
So what will you choose?? Raphael once said: “This is the fatal weakness of all mortals.”. Take away their free will – they will call you a tyrant. Let them use this freedom – they will become tyrants themselves.". Prove him wrong? Or just take away the strength of the weaker? One way or another, the choice is yours.
P. S. I originally played the English version, so I translated some names and quotes in my own way.
I also regret that I couldn’t include everything I wanted in the blog. He turned out big anyway. But if you like it, I’ll add about the secondary antagonists, Raphael, maybe a connection between Baldur’s Gate 3 and Baldur’s Gate 1 and 2. And of course Dark Seduction.
