Highlights

  • Baldur's Gate 3 explores the themes of abuse and trauma through its companion characters who have all suffered at the hands of those with power over them.
  • The different companion characters in Baldur's Gate 3 represent different forms of abuse, including sexual assault, manipulation, betrayal, and physical and mental torture.
  • The game delves into the cycles of abuse and shows how victims can either heal and remove themselves from the cycle or perpetuate it onto others.

Baldur's Gate 3 has some incredible companion characters that players can create a party with to explore the Sword Coast. As the story of Baldur's Gate 3 unravels, the themes become clear, particularly among the Origin companion characters. All the companion characters have suffered abuse at the hands of those with power over them in some way or another, and this abuse manifests in different ways. Baldur's Gate 3 is an examination of the cycles of abuse, the different forms abuse takes, and how victims can either remove themselves from it to heal or continue to perpetuate the cycle onto others.

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The Trauma of the Origin Characters in Baldur's Gate 3

Astarion

Astarion was the vampire spawn and slave of the vampire Cazador for 200 years. Vampire spawn are compelled to obey their master's every command, no matter how cruel or harmful. Vampires are some of the most evil creatures that exist in the Forgotten Realms, and Astarion's time under Cazador's yoke was an endless nightmare that included being buried alive, locked in a tomb alone for a year, eating nothing but dead rats, and being forced to bring back victims for Cazador by using his body. His trauma manifests through deep shame, no bodily autonomy due to 200 years of sexual assault, and physical and mental torture.

Shadowheart

Kidnapped as a young child and brainwashed by a cult, Shadowheart spent years of her life having her memory repeatedly erased while being physically punished for any behavior her god or caretaker deemed deviant. While her caretakers taught her the skills to become a Cleric, Shadowheart practiced them on her parents, who she unknowingly tortured for forty years. Shadowheart's relationship with Shar manifests as that of a victim and an abuser. This is particularly telling when she expresses excitement when the party first enters the Shadow-Cursed Lands and discovers that Shar grants her some protection from the curse, despite also hurting her with the mark on her hand, removing her memories, torturing her parents, and not protecting Shadowheart completely from the curse.

Lae'zel

Githyanki live in a cruel and pragmatic society, and Lae'zel reflects many of their values in her stern and dry demeanor. As the story of Baldur's Gate 3 progresses, however, she comes to realize that she has been lied to by the people she trusted, particularly Vlaakith. Much of Lae'zel's trauma stems from religious trauma where she placed her faith and life in a god and system that ultimately tossed her aside, starting with her experience in the zaith'isk.

Baldur's Gate 3 Depicts Different Manifestations of Trauma

Karlach

Karlach trusted someone she admired, and had that trust betrayed. She then had her body modified without her consent, and was forced to fight on the front lines of a war. Thanks to the modifications made to her heart, she is no longer able to live outside the Hells, and is essentially living with chronic pain and a condition that will kill her. The trauma of what Karlach has endured includes the violation of her body, the betrayal of trust, the loss of years of her life fighting a war she had no choice but to participate in, and living with a deadly condition.

Wyll

There have been some who have dismissed Wyll's trauma because his abuser is Mizora, an attractive female demon. But what Mizora does to Wyll goes past the usual expectations of a Warlock contract, with her manipulating the wording of his assigned tasks to force him to commit nefarious deeds. Upon failing, she transforms his body painfully and irreversibly into a half-demon form so that he can't exist in normal society. Additionally, Wyll lost his relationship with his only family thanks to his contract's stipulation that he not talk about the nature of the contract with Mizora, leaving him alone to fend for himself.

Gale

Like Wyll, Gale's trauma is less obvious, but it very much follows the theme of the rest of the companions' having someone powerful exerting power over them. Mystra, the goddess of magic, took an interest in Gale when he was a child. Although he doesn't frame their relationship as abusive and holds himself to blame for their falling out until she asks that he kill himself to destroy the Absolute, reading between the lines it's clear that Mystra's relationship with Gale was abusive and that she groomed him from childhood. Minsc comments in Act 3 that, in his homeland of Rashemen, young boys talented in magic are hidden away from Mystra lest they draw her attention, a comment that draws light on the true nature of Mystra's relationship with Gale.

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The Trauma of Baldur's Gate 3's Optional Companions

Minthara

The drow society of Menzoberranzan is brutal and uncompromising, and despite Minthara's being born into a position of privilege, she had to adapt to a world where her first assassination attempt was made on her when she was still a baby. Her cunning and often cruel perspective is because of the world she grew up in, and it became no better when she encountered Orin, who killed her guard and forced an illithid tadpole into her brain. Minthara describes how she had trusted Orin and was deeply betrayed by her, and how she had felt violated by the insertion of the tadpole and being forced to carry out the will of the cult.

Halsin

Much of Halsin's baggage comes from his failure to keep Thaniel, the spirit of the land and his friend, safe, resulting in the proliferation of the Shadow-Curse throughout the lands. Halsin also mentions that he was enslaved by drow for three years before escaping.

Jaheira

Jaheira is 150 years old and has experienced many tragedies, including the death of her family as a child during a peasant revolt as well as the death of her husband. She also describes having to leave Minsc behind to be captured by the cult as one of the worst moments of her life.

Minsc

Minsc and Boo, his miniature-giant space hamster, spent 100 years petrified as a stone statue before awakening to a very different world. Some time later, after reuniting with his old friend, Jaheira, Minsc was infected with an illithid tadpole and forced to carry out acts of evil that he would never have committed otherwise.