Minthara is a drow paladin in Baldur's Gate 3. While many players are likely to encounter her as a boss fight in the early part of the game, she is also a potential romance option for players who are willing to take a slightly darker path.

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Baldur's Gate 3 has many player character love interests, and Minthara is one of the less obvious and harder-to-achieve options. This can make her romance path easier to miss in favor of others. This would be a shame, as players who pursue her will discover that Minthara is a wonderful romance option for the following reasons.

Updated March 27, 2024 by Nyah Payne: Baldur's Gate 3 has already proven its status as a beloved and revolutionary game, exemplified most prominently by its being awarded Game of the Year for 2023.

Part of the game's fame came from their steamy romance options, including the drow, Minthara. Whether it is a player's first Baldur's Gate 3 romance or their thousandth, here's why the Minthara romance makes a good option.

1 Darker Paths Mask Profound Wisdom

Minthara Has A Unique Past That She Draws Insightful Commentary From

As a paladin, Minthara naturally needs a large helping of charisma, but her wisdom isn't to be frowned on either. Statistically, Minthara gets a slight bonus to her wisdom score, which should make sense to players who get to know the drow, either as a close companion or particularly as a lover. Romancing Minthara requires freeing her from the influence of the cult of the Absolute and, in doing so, players are likely to see her natural and inspiring leadership come to a head.

It seems to be a combination of Minthara's unique upbringing in the Underdark, her treatment at the hands of sinister powers like Bhaal or the Absolute, and her uniquely cynical and domineering personality that allows her to share some surprisingly powerful insights. For example, she shares insecurities with her lover about what would have become of her if the player had killed her in their crusade to stop the Absolute (as many players naturally do). Similarly, free from the Absolute's influence, she shows a lot more pity for the average citizen, sharing a unique perspective on everyday plights thanks to her wildly different and cutthroat lifestyle in the Underdark.

2 Wicked Sense Of Humor

Minthara's Dark Witticisms Draw A Lot Of Love

Minthara's surprisingly goofy sense of humor is a quality that draws a lot of players towards romancing the stern drow. While she may seem like quite a serious love interest on the surface, players who grow close to Minthara are likely to see her silly side. She has some particularly amusing moments in Act Three, especially at the circus!

While a lot of Minthara's humor can be quite dark, like when she pretends to be the shapeshifting enemy, Orin, she also knows some dorky drow puns to lighten the mood! As with the mysterious cleric character, Shadowheart, Minthara seems to enjoy poking fun at her lover, oftentimes not so gently. If that's the kind of humor that players are looking for in their romance options, then Minthara is definitely one to consider, despite her outwardly dour appearance.

3 Unique Option

Minthara Initially Seems To Be A Boss Enemy

While all the romance options in Baldur's Gate 3 bring something fresh to the table, Minthara is a particularly unique option. This is in part due to her initial presence being a potential boss fight, making it slightly unclear that she can not only be recruited but also romanced. On top of this, the path to gaining Minthara as a companion and potential love interest is a slightly more convoluted one. Romancing her requires being a little evil at first, but a truly evil run may see players cutting the relationship short.

To romance Minthara, players must massacre a group of tiefling refugees in a sacred Druid Grove, who have potentially been nothing but hospitable to the characters (unlike the druids themselves, that is), all in the name of the Absolute. However, Minthara herself is the one who finds herself at the mercy of the Absolute in Act Two, and players will have to turn on the cult if they want to rescue and romance Minthara. As expected for a drow, romancing Minthara requires walking the shades of gray regarding morality.

4 Hard Work Pays Off

Players Need To Earn Minthara's Affection

Some Baldur's Gate 3 love interests will throw themselves at players just for talking to them and being a decent human being (looking at Gale, in particular). This is not the case for Minthara. Romancing her requires a bit more time and hard work. Players may think they're in for an easy relationship, as Minthara can have a steamy night with the player character during the celebratory party towards the end of Act One, but she makes it clear that she needs to go her own way the day after. She is, after all, independent to a fault.

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Despite this initial show of interest towards the end of Act One, it is not until late into Act Two that Minthara can be recruited and romanced long-term. Doing so also requires a relatively tricky segment in which the player has to rescue Minthara, involving some dicey rolls. They will need to pass some high charisma rolls to convince a pair of torturers to let them leave with Minthara and then continue to convince some other cultists as they leave the prison or deal with the pretty tough combat encounter in Moonrise Prison. But Minthara makes sure she is worth the player's efforts.

5 Keep Enemies Close

Players Get Unique Encounters With Usually Hostile Factions

If players want to be Minthara's lover, they're going to make some interesting friends. While most of the Baldur's Gate 3 relationship options tend to hang around with a similar crowd, Minthara is a follower of the Absolute, at least in Act One. This gives players some unusual connections. Befriending, if not romancing, Minthara will allow players the unique opportunity to party with a horde of goblins, who are infamously raucous. She can also put them in contact with a helpful but disturbing character to lead them through the Shadow-Cursed Lands in Act Two.

While players can interact with both the goblins and Kar'niss the drider as any character, they will have completely different interactions with these unique characters if Minthara is by their side. While these examples are most notable in Act One and Two, Minthara also has a unique connection with Orin, one of the notable enemies in Act Three, that can add to the weight of those encounters. And if these friends prove to be not quite so loyal, at least the player and Minthara can face them together.

6 Inspiring Leadership

Displays A Commanding Presence And Steady Determination

For players who want a lover that they can follow to the ends of the earth, Minthara is worth considering. As a paladin and one of the three pillars of the Goblin Camp, it's no surprise that Minthara is a natural leader. While she doesn't step on the player's toes as leader of the camp, she maintains the commanding presence and steady determination that made her such an asset to the Absolute.

Minthara could never blindly follow, but she would gladly share her right to rule with her lover. This is most prominent in one of her potential endings as a love interest, in which she agrees to return to the Underdark as a ruler, alongside her lover, if the player character agrees to join her.

7 Oathbound & Determined

Powerful And Resolute Paladin Companion

As mentioned, Minthara is a paladin. While players first meet her as a follower of the Absolute, she can reveal that she was originally a paladin to Lolth, the drow goddess, and that this oath still stands. Sharing the staunch mindset of any paladin, one of Minthara's defining and quite attractive traits is her steady determination and commitment. If players appreciate a love interest who is sure of herself and her purpose, they are bound to fall for Minthara.

On top of this attractive personality trait, being bound to a paladin's oath also makes Minthara a strong combatant to have in the party, especially since she follows the particularly powerful Oath of Vengeance. Paladins also get unique interactions if they break their oath, which can be interesting to experience alongside Minthara as a lover. Some of the best ways to get her to break her oath seem to be in the "Punish the Wicked" side quest in Act Two, by refusing to go along with the trial set up by He Who Was, which players could feasibly do as soon as they've rescued Minthara from Moonrise.

8 Bad Girls Do It Well

A Darker Love Interest Than The Other Girls

Minthara is not a romance path for the soft-hearted. To gain her affections, players need to perform some heinous acts, most notably betraying the Druid Grove in Act One. As she is under the influence of the Absolute, this destruction is more than Minthara would intend in her normal state of mind, but she still doesn't bat much of an eyelid if players explain that they committed the mass slaughter just to impress her, considering that to be quite a sweet gesture. Minthara does not shy away from the stereotypical alignment and views of a drow, being quite interested in domination and killing.

Many players are bound to be into the bad girl act that Minthara does so well. She also doesn't shy away from giving the players a taste of just how bad she can be, particularly when it comes to her intimate scenes. While the vampire spawn, Astarion, fits the bill for male love interests, Lae'zel is fiercely self-centered and abrasive, and Shadowheart can be molded into a particularly cruel character, Minthara is the most naturally evil of the female romance options, and the perfect choice for players who are looking for an evil love interest.

9 Seductive & Dominant

Minthara's Romance Scenes Let Her Take The Lead

Speaking of the bad girl act that Minthara can share with her lover, she doesn't shy away from intimacy and seduction. This is no anomaly for Baldur's Gate 3, as they have grown quite infamous for their intimacy scenes, but Minthara's scenes of intimacy are particularly dominating. Not only are they incredibly passionate, but players can experience these scenes quite early into the game and their relationship with Minthara.

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At the Goblin Camp party after the destruction of the Druid's Grove, Minthara is more than ready to share a night of passion with the player character. On this first night together, she can demand that the player character states their submission to her. In a romantic and intimate setting, she continues to take the lead and call the shots. For players who are interested in this kind of dominating love interest, Minthara is certainly a tempting option.

10 Hidden Depths

Minthara Has Plenty Of Subtle Complexities To Her Character

Don't be fooled by Minthara's icy exterior. Players who choose to romance Minthara will soon find that there is more to her than the commanding personality she exudes. Beneath all that raw determination is a drow who is scared and struggles to trust. A lot of these insecurities came from her life in the Underdark, where family members would turn on and kill each other to gain the upper hand.

Part of the joy of romancing Minthara is that players can provide her with someone to trust and open up to. Should players lean into this side of Minthara, they can delve into a love interest that has a surprising amount of depth. While her romance was initially a little lackluster, Larian did update it to add even more content to Minthara's romance arc, giving even more complexity to this option. There isn't a better time for players to consider romancing Minthara.

11 Subtle Sympathy

A Bad Girl With A Soft Heart

To pair with her hidden depths, Minthara also harbors a more subtly sympathetic mindset than players are initially led to believe. When players first meet Minthara, she follows the will of the Absolute. This means that she is inclined to take some rather drastic actions. This primarily amounts to the destruction of the Druid Grove, which she later states she wouldn't necessarily have done of her own volition (although she can still be quite proud of the player for pulling it off alongside her). With the player's help, however, she doesn't always have to be the Absolute's thrall.

In her mind, Minthara is still the same ruthless bad girl that makes her such a unique love interest. But she can be a little more sensitive than she seems, expressing sympathy for victims, respect for strong characters, and even opening up about some of her fears and trust issues. The great thing about Baldur's Gate 3 is that most characters operate with slightly gray morals, and Minthara is the perfect example. While romancing her may come less naturally to players who want to be good, she has as much emotional depth as any romance option, and may just surprise people.

12 Unbreakable Bond

Hard Earned Trust Becomes An Unfaltering Connection

While it may take a lot of time and effort to reveal Minthara's more sensitive and vulnerable side, she can be one of the most rewarding love interests to pursue. Given that Minthara openly takes a lot of time to trust, earning not only her companionship but also her love is a remarkable feat. Minthara's strength is bound to inspire, and her unshakable determination makes her an attractive option.

For anyone who wants a seductive bad girl who harbors a secret soft side, look no further than Minthara. While her love is hard to gain, once players have earned it they are sure to have an unbreakable bond. Prepare to rule the Underdark side by side with the formidable drow.

Baldur's Gate 3

Released

August 3, 2023

Developer(s)

Larian Studios

Genre(s)

RPG

Platform(s)

PC , macOS , PS5 , Xbox Series X