The One* problem with Baldur's Gate 3

To nobody's surprise, I've been deep into Larian's new Release of Baldur's Gate 3. I've finished my first playthrough, a Monk-Fighter multiclass and general paragon of good. I've made it to act 3 with my second playthrough, a chaos gremlin Warlock who does all the right things for all the wrong reasons. And lastly, I've just stared a Dark Urge playthrough with a charming devil of an oathbreaker Paladin hell bend on indulging his worst instincts. But throughout both of my deep playthroughs I've noticed an issue, one I might be alone in expressing, and that's the Chosen Three. Among the ranks of the Absolute, villains seem very "monster of the week" and less like the Campaign defining titans of Faeruns history. I won't be speaking on side quests here as, by the nature of it's source material, many are designed to be succinctly presented and complete their story in a self contained time frame and have little or no major impact on the overarching narrative, so more one shot or less narratively intertwined villains are perfect for that kind of interaction. I feel as though the story of Baldur's Gate 3 really lacks a compelling main antagonist to grab onto and instead shuffles a series of faces, unique and enjoyable but not exemplary in their own right, around instead of fleshing out one almighty icon of the Absolutes influence.

Early on in the story, the party must tackle the goblin camp, there's an incredible amount of variety in the way you can take out the leaders from a mechanical perspective, but the leaders themselves don't really hold that much narrative weight besides their unique encounters. I would like to exclude Minthara in this, as, while playing through the aforementioned Dark Urge playthrough, she holds a lot more narrative importance, and doesn't really feel like a "boss" character by the end of things. However Priestess Gut and Dror Ragzlin don't really have too much going for them. While it is earlier in the game, this is the perfect time to introduce a long running antagonist as opposed to providing lesser champions of a greater threat, even if they do serve as an excellent tutorial for the games many systems. Again Raphael here is an excellent answer, a teaser of what's to come but a unique, charismatic, and permanent face. the Charming Archdevil provides just enough intrigue that will keep the players invested, but not enough to derail the whole game searching for that next piece of information. I'd also point out Strahd von Zarovich in the D&D 5e module Curse of Strahd. The book goes out of it's way to insist on introducing him early and often as a constant character in the events of the partys exploration. The Absolute, the BBEG for all intents and purposes, is distant and forlorn, and while it has good narrative reason to be so, it still feels like a missed opportunity to have the absolute or the Chosen Three interact with the party in a more direct manner. 

I suppose now is as good a time to bring up my criticism of The Absolute as a BBEG. conceptually, it works incredibly, an all powerful and unknowable eldritch entity, hell bend on the destruction of Faerun, conveniently held at bay by the very forces you must bulldoze for your freedom. In practice, however unknowable and distant can fall into easily overlooked. The Absolute serves more as a force of nature than a character in it's own right, oftentimes it's narrative role can be replaced with a tsunami, meteor or other impersonal force of the cosmos. However, as with a lot of eldritch horror, these forces need a mouthpiece, some raving lunatic or cult master to give a face to the mind behind the chaos and bloodshed, in come the Dread trio. Ketheric Thorm, Orin the Red, and Enver Gortash serve as the face to the Absolute, Each one has compelling aspects to their character, and certainly unique boss mechanics, but I can't help but feel there's a touch of missing something to each of them.

To begin, Ketheric Thorm, the Champion of Myrkul, has his story told mostly secondhand. While the story could be called cliché, a cleric of a good deity who struck a bargain with a dark one in exchange for the return of a lost loved one, I can't argue that it's not an interesting, well told story. I would instead draw attention to both the method of how this tale is revealed, and how Thorm is characterized outside the context of this story. Firstly, this is mostly uncovered via notes or other characters dialogue. Conversations about Thorm revolve almost exclusively around his immortality, and the issues that poses to the party, his tragic backstory is only revealed either piecemeal over letters or posthumously from his daughter, Isobel. This, to me, feels like a more extended version of leaving a note on an enemy to their family, a blade twist that's supposed to make you think about your actions, but those repurcissions are swept up with haste in the speed and urgencey of the narrative. Secondly, what do we know about Thorm as a person? We know he's immortal and that he misses his wife and child, but what else? What kind of wine does he enjoy while glowering from his throne? What kind of a servant is he to Myrkul? What kind of father was he before everything that happened. we only hear of his suspicion of Isobel and Alyn's love after his death but almost nothing of who he is as a person. While his life has clearly been consumed by guilt and all love of life replaced with mourning this doesn't convey a tragic downfall, we only see Thorm at his lowest and as a corpse. As previously mentioned even Isobel, his daughter, neglects to reminisce on any good memories of her father, all of the legwork of the complicated situation done with a simple "well he's her dad, that kind of sucks." I think just that little extra time with Kethric in Act one would have done wonders.

Moving on to the other of the Dread Trio, Orin and Gortash. Both have the bones of exceptional villains in their own right but are unfortunately undermined by several issues. Orin could have been a fascinating character study in absolute evil, what drives someone to such madness and lack of morality? Chaotic evil is exactly her alignment and showcasing how someone reaches that point would have been a unique twist to draw you in to her character more. Instead she was simply born evil, literally the child of the God of Murder, cut off her mothers hand at a young age and continued to grow more and more bloodthirsty from there. Orin certainly plays a much larger role in the Dark Urges storyline, but is ultimately overshadowed by their choices. If the player chooses to lean into the urge, Orin becomes a mirror, otherwise serving as a Foil to the reluctant urge. I would have loved to see an exploration of Orin's darkness and her conscious decision to give in to the urge, even through notes, character interactions or otherwise. The Dark Urge playthrough proves that the Legacy of Bhaal can be rejected, so I'd love to see why Orin didn't.

Gortash on the other hand I personally find incredibly fascinating, but vastly underexplored. Watching the Coronation on my first playthrough I passed an insight check when he vowed that no harm would come to me or my party when allying with him, he was speaking the truth. While it works narratively, I would have loved to see Gortash attempt to help and string along the party for siding with him. Outside of Karlach getting upset at me for "agreeing" with his bargain, I've noticed no major differences between when I struck a deal with him and when I didn't explicitly side with him. I personally find Gortash infinitely more compelling than Orin, as his Lawful Evil nature means he holds principles, but we never quite explore the actual order of these principles in game. He executes hostages at will, Corrupts and infects the minds of innocents, and endlessly schemes to overthrow the other members of the Trio, even going so far as to attempt to wrest power of the elder brain from you if you do side with him in the final conflict. While uncovering his tragic past certainly lends light to why he is the way he is, we still don't see him have any realistic restraint, or run into anything where the "lawful" side of his alignment might come into play, outside of his masterful manipulation of Baldurian legalese.

To circle back to The Absolute for a moment, Despite their individual quirks and flaws none of these characters really serve as a good mouthpiece for the final boss. All of them are out to use their powers personally and harness the power of this god for their own ends. All of this combines to make the final sections of Baldur's Gate 3 seem more like a formality than a narrative crux. Personally, after killing Raphael and getting the Hammer of Hope, it felt strange, as Raphael had been the antagonist I was searching for this whole time. A semi regular presence, one of whom I had a good understanding of his personality and motivations (before his death no less), and a clear set of goals and methodology, his interactions with the main cast felt like an exceptionally clear and concise arc, ending on an mechanical, dramatic, and musical conclusion. But after his death the quest markers for Orin and Gortash still blipped on my map, and even after their deaths I had to take on the Absolute. The narrative had momentum and stakes, the confrontations with Orin to rescue my ally (Gale and Lae'zel respectively), and Gortash to give Karlach the catharsis she so deserved drove me forward with excitement, but the Absolute remained as distant and alien to me as ever. I still didn't understand it's motives for the Grand Design anymore than when I began and I certainly didn't have a face or even a personality that was associated with The Absolute that I could empathize with, or at least understand, no matter how evil. while I understand a majority of your motivation comes from eliminating the tadpoles, it's once again leveraging a threat towards the excellently crafted party members to force you into acting instead of providing a reason you personally might oppose this creature on grounds more than pure animalistic survival.

I've been rather harsh on the game up to this point, but I cannot express how incredible the experience of playing it is. It's a perfect adaptation of D&D 5e, improving on certain areas of pain with it's core design and having some top notch character writing with the companions. I just wish that the Dread Three's chosen and the Absolute itself had the same treatment, or were at least more of a constant presence to give that final act, and especially the final combat, a narratively perfect justification.