Most Evil Baldur's Gate 3 Characters

Highlights

In Baldur's Gate 3, players can easily distinguish between good and evil choices and characters without the need for a moral alignment system.
Some characters in the game, like Astarion and Minthara, give players the option to join them in their evil plans or redeem them through their choices.
The game allows the protagonist to decide how good or bad an NPC is based on their level of involvement, but interactions with these characters often lead to conflict rather than peaceful resolutions.

The Dungeons & Dragons universe has a system of moral alignments that are intended to guide a character's choices. In Baldur's Gate 3, which uses the D&D 5e rules, this feature isn't present because it simply isn't required. It's easy to figure out which choices and characters are intended to be good and which are evil, and how the main character's choices can change them.

Baldur's Gate 3: 11 Most Important Choices In Act 3

The most important choices in Baldur's Gate 3 lie within the game's third act, which can have vital consequences for the player and their party.

Some characters start on villainous paths but don't get a chance to do a lot of damage before the protagonist stops their nefarious plans. There's the possibility of joining them in their plans for world domination. Evil can be in the eye of the beholder, but in the case of these Baldur's Gate 3 characters, the debate is only about how bad they can get.

Updated January 31, 2024 by Kristy Ambrose: Declaring which characters are evil in Baldur's Gate 3 is even more complicated now that players have spent the last few months discovering even more interesting cut scenes and dialogue choices.

The way the game is designed, the protagonist can often decide how good or bad an NPC is, depending on their level of involvement with it. Of course, the outcome of every situation is still contingent on how the dice roll and interactions with these kinds of characters don't often end peacefully.

The following contains spoilers for the overall plot and individual characters throughout Baldur's Gate 3.

10 Astarion

A Conflicted Vampire Spawn

He introduces himself to the main character assaulting them with a knife and smooths his bad behaviour over with a lot of obviously fake charm. It's amazing how quickly a protagonist will turn to the most greedy, insulting, or just plain mean choices in any conflict or conversation just to get Astarion's Approval.

The wayward vampire spawn gets a lot of love thanks to that buttery voice and alabaster skin, and he's one of the companions that characters can keep if they play an evil game. How evil Astarion gets depends on how the main character decides to play his storyline, with a redemption arc available for those following a more benevolent path.

It's possible to redeem him at the end by stopping Cazador's ritual, dooming him to vampire spawn status but sparing thousands of innocent lives. If he ends the plot by becoming a Vampire Ascedent, he essentially becomes Cazador. His evil side also ascends and he sheds any endearing qualities that might have been present earlier.

9 Kagha

A Power-Hungry Shadow Druid

Kagha is a character with an interestng side quest

When the protagonist is first introduced to this NPC, she's threatening a child with a deadly animal, which isn't a good start. She's also an abrasive person in general, and if the party speaks to other denizens of the grove, they'll find out that even her fellow Druids can't stand her.

Mannimarco Thalmor Lolth Elder Scrolls Skyrim Baldur's Gate 3

The 7 Most Evil Elves In Video Games, Ranked

Some video game elves have sinister goals and will stop at nothing to see them achieved, and others are evil purely for the sake of it.

Those who decide to dig a bit deeper will find out she's also gone behind Halsin's back as a walk-in spy for the Shadow Druids. For those who love Daddy Bear, which means everyone, this makes Kagha even worse.

8 Minthara

An Unreedemable Paladin

There is a way that good players can use to recruit Minthara, but it's not easy. Most of the time, the protagonist who has her in the party has to be evil because she's evil, too. The easiest way to recruit her is to take her side and use the Goblins to destroy the Grove, which is enough to make anyone feel better about getting Astarion's approval by comparison.

The Drow are known for their hostility towards surface dwellers, and also races like Drugar or Deep Gnomes that also live in the Underdark, so it's no surprise that Minthara is aligning with Goblins to kill Druids and Tiefling civilians. It's not just evil, it's smelly and disgusting.

7 Ketheric Thorm

A Passive-Aggressive Traitor

After fighting his unhinged siblings in various locations in Reithwin Town, meeting a Thorm that can carry on a regular conversation is a relief. This makes Ketheric seem less evil than other evil villains in BG3, and his backstory is pretty tragic, but a close listen seems to reveal that he was easily swayed and power-hungry the whole time.

Baldurs Gate 3 Ketheric Thorm Boss Fight Closeup Absolute Apostle of Myrkul

Baldur's Gate 3: Ketheric Thorm Boss Guide

Ketheric Thorm, the invulnerable General of the Absolute's armies, is the final boss of Act Two, and he's no pushover – especially in Phase Two.

Shadowheart says it best when walking down the stairs to the Sharran Sanctuary underneath the statue in Reithwin Town. She comments that there isn't any god that Ketheric wouldn't bow to if it meant he would get something in return.

6 Mizora

She's Literally A Devil

Baldur's Gate 3 cowboy shot of Mizora screenshot

Here's another example of a character that's deeply and obviously evil, but gets away with it thanks to their good looks. Players who are fans of Wyll and Karlach will hate her even more but can't deny that the gold and horns are a nice touch.

When it comes to the culture of the Nine Hells and the demons who rule them, Mizora is the game's exposition character. She takes the party through a couple of rage-inducing contracts that are impossible to escape, even if she does get what she wants. Mizora is also connected to Zariel, a fallen angel that rules her corner of the Nine Hells, a character that would be on this list if she appeared in the game.

5 Gortash

A Slimy Creep Who Hurt Karlach's Feelings

Gortash is another villain who uses manipulation and personal connections as opposed to violence to get what he wants. Like his partners Orin and Ketheric, he's planning on betraying him just like he betrayed Karlach when he gave her to Zariel.

Baldur's Gate 3: Lord Enver Gortash Boss Guide

To beat Gortash in BG3, follow this advice to quickly, and efficiently, deal with the newly-crowned Archduke – after the ceremony, of course.

If there were a prize of some kind for the smarmiest character in Baldur's Gate 3, it would be Gortash, a shameless con artist who never looks quite right in those clothes because he stole them from somewhere.

4 Wulbren Bongle

Racism, Anger, Bitterness, And He's Mean To Barcus

Baldur's Gate 3, Ironhand Gnome, Wulbren

It's unfortunate that having Barcus Wroot as a friend eventually leads to the raging social dumpster fire that is his leader, Wulbren Bongle. Saving Barcus means that fans also have to save this outspoken jerk, who never shuts up about how much he hates the Gondian Gnomes and blames them for everything bad that's happened in Baldur's Gate in the past century.

Wulbren and his people have been through a lot, but he seems to be the only one with this terrible attitude. Even if players can take that, his open and shameless abuse of Barcus, a decent person, is enough to put anyone comfortably in the Bongle Hate Boat. He's not just a bully, he's evil.

3 Cazador

The Vampire Who Tortured Thousands For Centuries

The vampire lord that spawned Astarion would have to be a piece of work, and when the character discovers the details of what's written on the Rogue's back, it gets exponentially worse. Raphael explains that this is a literal deal with a devil in which Cazador becomes an Ascended Vampire, and he only has to sacrifice thousands of innocent people to do it.

Players who already know Astarion's backstory understand the horrific violence and creative abuse that he suffered at the hands of Cazador. That's bad enough to make him one of the evilest characters in the game without the addition of the deal with Mephistopheles.

2 Mar’hyah Of Sword Coast Couriers

She's Mean To Dogs

This is a character that most players never meet, but the ones that have tend to agree that she's one of the most evil characters in any game anywhere. It's a universal opinion that has no regard for class, race, or moral alignment.

Her job is overseeing the kennels at Sword Coast Couriers, which means that Scratch is her dog, and she informs players that he must be returned. Fans not only see her abusing the dogs in her care, but Scratch is clearly unhappy to be returned, and if players use Speak With Animals to ask the other four-legged residents, they don't like her either.

Luckily, the protagonist has the option of Intimidating Mar'hyah or fighting her instead of returning Scratch, sparing him and his innocent peers any more of her evil ways.

1 Orin The Red

A Murdering Shapeshifter Who Whines Too Much

Orin isn't just as cold, calculating, and two-faced as Gortash and her more sympathetic accomplice, Kethric Thorm, but she's also a backstabber, literally. Orin is a shameless serial killer who also has a talent for shapeshifting, and her shrill voice makes her hellish visage even worse.

As a descendent of Bhaal, the Lord of Murder, Orin does her great-grandfather proud. She kills whole families and wears their entrails as jewelry, proud of being a murdering nutcase along with just being putrid.