The Darkest Choices In Baldur's Gate 3, Ranked

Highlights

Baldur's Gate 3 allows the player to make some truly horrible decisions.
These can even affect the player's closest companions, such as Astarion and Shadowheart.
Playing as the Dark Urge unlocks a lot of these dark decisions, but some can be made no matter which origin the player chooses.

Baldur's Gate 3 grants players a great deal of freedom in their decisions and in their approach to both combat and the story. It allows the player to make choices that best fit the character they wish to play, even if that character could be considered evil. Some decisions, however, go beyond just evil role-playing and can be incredibly dark. Even if they attempt to play as the most despicable of characters, some of these choices are so dark that players may struggle to live with them.

Baldur's Gate 3: Most Evil Dark Urge Choices

A Dark Urge playthrough can lead to some truly despicable choices for the player to make. Here are the absolute worst of them.

From betraying companions after earning their trust, to hurting innocents for no reason, the game offers a variety of ways to make the player question their morality and their commitment to their character as they hurt those closest to them. Whether players are about to jump into an evil playthrough or simply wish to see what the evil options are before they start yet another good playthrough, read on to see the darkest things they can do.

7 Kicking The Squirrel

Pointless Animal Cruelty

While this may not have the most far-reaching effects of all the decisions on this list, kicking the squirrel is completely unnecessary and serves no purpose other than to hurt this animal. While working through Act 1, players will come across Timber the Squirrel near the Emerald Grove. Normally, the squirrel will bite the player for trespassing in their territory and the player will need to pass some animal handling checks or use Speak With Animals to placate her and earn a reward.

Baldur's Gate 3 Befriending Timber Collage

Baldur's Gate 3: How To Befriend Timber (The Squirrel)

There is a squirrel named Timber near the druids in Baldur's Gate 3 that has a terrible first impression of the player but this can be overcome.

However, players not interested in animal handling or who particularly dislike squirrels can instead pass a dexterity check to kick the squirrel into a nearby tree. This certainly is not the most impactful decision in the game, but it is a sudden act of unnecessary cruelty that the game offers early, letting players know that they are not forced to be a folk hero in this story.

6 Helping Lorroakan

Reunite, Then Tear Apart

Lorroakan is the owner of Sorcerous Sundries and is searching for the Nightsong, desperate to gain immortality. He can be told that she is dead, regardless of whether that is true or not, or he can be killed to keep the Nightsong safe. However, players looking to experience the darkest decisions in Baldur's Gate3 can instead betray Aylin and leave her locked in yet another cage.

This is a particularly horrible thing to do because it is only an option if the player has freed her and lets her reunite with Isobel. After saving her after years of imprisonment, and getting to know her as she stays in the player's camp, betraying her simply for some gold seems extremely cruel. To make things even worse, the player can then tell Isobel of the Nightsong's fate and return to Lorroakan to find her body in front of Aylin's cage, with Aylin swearing to get her revenge on the player. Putting the Nightsong back in a cage and forcing her to watch her love be murdered in front of her is certainly not an easy decision, especially not for only 5,000 gold.

5 Betraying Wyll

As Soulless As Your Victim

Players who simply want to cause their companions pain can really do some damage to a romanced Wyll. After romancing him, he can then be convinced that selling his soul to Zariel is worth it and that his father can be saved. The player can then simply decide not to save his father, making his sacrifice all for nothing.

To make things even worse, the player can then cheat on him with Mizora, his old patron, and tell him that it was his fault for not 'putting out'. This leaves Wyll alone, having sold his soul for nothing and having been betrayed by the person he trusted most - all for nothing.

4 Pressuring Astarion

The Ultimate Betrayal Of Trust

Astarion may seem carefree and self-confident at first, but as the player gets to know him, they learn that, in truth, Astarion is recovering from decades of traumatic abuse at the hands of the vampire lord Cazador. This has led him to hate being intimate with others, protecting himself by pretending he does not care. The player finds this out while romancing Astarion, earning his trust and learning that he has a great deal of trauma associated with being seen as an object. Then, after being told all this and after Astarion professes his love, the player can then pressure him into being intimate with them.

Baldur's Gate 3: Top Astarion Quotes

Astarion is one of Baldur's Gate 3's most beloved characters, and these quotes are perfect examples of why so many fans have fallen in love with him.

This decision is one of the most horrible things the player can do, as they take Astarion's trust and force him to do the one thing he hates more than anything else. Astarion will also not stop the player, and he later explains that he does not know how to say no. This decision gains the player nothing, causing Astarion to once again feel like an object and leading him to break up with them. It is also not a Dark Urge decision or done in service of Bhaal or anything like that, it is simply a horrific betrayal of his trust and boundaries.

3 Betray Shadowheart

Several Sinister Choices

Shadowheart is a complicated character in Baldur's Gate 3 who can be pulled away from her faith in the Dark Lady or pushed further toward becoming a Dark Justicar. There are a great many difficult decisions that the player can make with Shadowheart and, if she is pushed towards the darkness, her part in Act 3 becomes extremely sinister. However, the darkest things the player can do to Shadowheart are unlocked by romancing her and leading her towards the path of good.

After she regains her memories and starts to find faith in herself again, she relies on the player as her only constant source of support. Despite this, and despite telling her that they only want to be with her, the player can then betray her in some horrible ways. They can give her over to Viconia DeVir, the person who took her from her parents and indoctrinated her into her religion. Or they can stand by her, save her parents, and give her the reunion she never thought she would have in your camp, only to then kill her parents in front of her. This obviously turns her immediately hostile and rewards the player with nothing, but it is possible. This is a completely unnecessary betrayal of a character who completely trusted and loved the main character.

2 Accept Bhaal Over Minsc and Jaheira

A Long-Standing Friendship Broken

Baldur's Gate 3 Player Creates Tabaxi Mod

Minsc and Jaheira are old companions of Gorion's Ward in the first Baldur's Gate. The player encounters Jaheira in Act 2 of Baldur's Gate 3, and she later asks for their help in finding Minsc. The player can reunite these old friends and help them in their fight against Bhaal, the God of Murder. Alternatively, if the player wants to struggle with sleeping for the rest of their lives, they can do one of the most evil things in the game.

Baldur’s-Gate-3-12-Choices-To-Avoid-As-Dark-Urge

Baldur’s Gate 3: Choices To Avoid As Dark Urge

Playing as a Dark Urge character in Baldur's Gate 3 unlocks some unique choices with often dire consequences that players should avoid.

After earning Jaheira and Minsc's trust and heading to the shrine to Bhaal, the player can choose to accept Bhaal by sacrificing either a companion or Yenna, a child who was staying at the player's camp. This is already bad enough, but to truly embrace their evil nature, players can use Minsc's tadpole to compel him into killing Jaheira before killing him. This is more than just a betrayal, as you compel him to kill one of his only friends, someone he has known for over a century.

1 Becoming Bhaal's Chosen

Pick Your Horrific Poison

There are loads of different potential endings to Baldur's Gate 3, all dependent on the player's actions. By far the darkest of these endings, however, are the ones in which the Dark Urge has become Bhaal's chosen. Although the Dark Urge can resist Bhaal if the player makes the right decisions, choosing to accept Bhaal locks the Dark Urge into some horrible endings.

The player can either betray Bhaal at the last second, leaving them as a savage, rambling creature, tormented by Bhaal's whisperings, or they can obey Bhaal, giving him control of thousands of thralls. These endings are both horrific, as the player is either left as a mindless killer who can only speak in screams and grunts or as a slave to the God of Murder who now rules the entire world. Either way, players will not be rushing to get this ending.