#baldur's gate lore

[justabrowncoatedwench]

So I'm not done lol I wanna rant about how all the god shit in BG3 is connected! Spoilers under the cut...

To preface: all dates are listed in DR, or Dale Reckoning, which is the most commonly used dating of years in Forgotten Realms lore, established with 1 at the signing of the Dale's Compact, creating peace between the elves of Cormanthyr and the human+ civilizations of the Dalelands (notable to current discussions, as Elminster Aumar is equally well known as the Sage of Shadowdale, one such dale in the Dalelands).

So Shadowheart's arc highlights the tug of war between Shar and Selune, but Shar and Selune are ALSO the progenitors of a lot of the other deities INCLUDING the OG Mystryl, born when Selune tore a part of her essence & threw it at Shar during their initial war post-sun creation, wounding them both & casting Shar into the void for a while. Mystryl was that piece of magic torn from Selune and having grabbed up a piece of Shar's as well when she hit, a blending of light and dark.

Mystryl then much later gave her life to save the world during Karsus's Folly in -339 DR. That's how Karsus fucked up magic so bad and so permanently. He almost DESTROYED the Weave, because Mystryl - and in future, Mystra - IS the Weave! And she died - thus also killing him, as she was inside him at the time - to preserve the Weave when he tried to steal some measure of her power!

*And Gale knew this*, knew much of it anyway. How could he not, with his own research that led him to the Orb? And his relationship with Mystra? And friendship with Elminster?

Anywho, Mystryl took time to reincarnate herself using a young peasant girl as her vessel, she then chose to go by the name Mystra instead of Mystryl. Once in this vessel she regained control of the Weave, bringing magic back to Toril (the planet Faerun, a continent, is on), which had been chaotic & largely depowered. After Karsus, she became much more strict/ Lawful in her decrees around magic, banning mortals from using any magic above 9th level spells (Karsus's Folly involved at least one 10th or 11th 12th level spell iirc).

Later, during the period known as the Time of Troubles, which began when Bane & Myrkul (two of the Dead Three) tried to steal the Tablets of Fate from Ao (the Overgod that most mortals don't even know exists). Ao then locked the deities into the Material Plane, forcing them to walk among their followers on Toril. Mystra at one point defied Ao's order, attempting to return to the heavens, and was killed by Helm, who had been tasked by Ao with protecting the gates and ensuring none of the gods disobeyed him. (Good job, Mystra.)

Also during the Time of Troubles the Dead Three got their name in truth, as Myrkul, Bane, and Bhaal were killed (as were several other gods, some of whom Ao chose to resurrect as they perished while fulfilling the obligations of their portfolios, like Torm). The Time of Troubles is also when Bhaal was seeding his Bhaalspawn - including Sarevok Anchev - in the world (the results of which gave us Baldur's Gates 1 and 2).

Anyway, as previously established, Mystra IS the Weave, so killing her fucked magic up again, unleashing the Spellplague (hello 4e D&D and your reduced pantheon & reduced magic). Ao selected several mortals to either ascend into vacated portfolios or rewarded mortals for killing gods who needed killing; Cyric was a mortal who killed Bane, while helping to retrieve the Tablets of Fate for Ao, for example of one such occurrence, who fwiw was the adventuring companion of two other mortals chosen for godhood, Kelemvor and Midnight. Kelemvor took on a portfolio of the dead, and Midnight was who Ao picked to take on Mystra's role and she chose to take on Mystra's name as well. This happened in 1358 DR, and when the Tablets were returned to Ao, he ground them to powder so they'd never be at risk again. This however fucked up the natural laws of Realmspace, which began to unravel, beginning the Era of Upheaval. The Era of Upheavel lasted from its beginning in 1358 DR (BG1 takes place in 1368 & BG2 takes place shortly after) through the Second Sundering (though most mortals only know of it as the Sundering, since the First Sundering happened even before Karsus's Folly by millenia, in -17,600 DR, in the time of elves) which took from about 1482 through 1487 DR. (The Second Sundering and its associated tie in novel series - very good! - brings us from 4e into 5e D&D, in ttrpg terms.) Baldur's Gate 3 takes place in 1492 DR, starting in the equivalent earth month to August, late August specifically.

Considering that Midnight took on the mantle of Mystra in 1358, I'm pretty sure Gale has only dealt with *her*, while Elminster has served Mystra - including being her lover and raising 3 of her 7 daughters - for 1300 years by BG3, which would include both previous incarnations of Mystryl/Mystra.

So in summary, the gods are all Like That, even the ones who used to be mortals (and I'm pretty sure Gale doesn't know his Mystra used to be a mortal, or that any other gods were either, based on dialogue after you get the Tome of Karsus in Act 3).

All the delicious BG3 god machinations are connected and have been for centuries if not eons. The Dead Three like to cause problems on purpose, Shar and Selune are sisters & also kind of contentiously divorced parents who can't play nice & use the kids to fight. Even the Lathander stuff at the gith creche is kind of connected, since the kick off of the big war between Shar & Selune was the creation of the sun to give their first child, Chauntea, the og earth/nature deity, warmth. Lathander (& Amaunator, rip) is the deity of the dawn/sun, among other things, and Silvanus (hello deity of the Druids in Act 1 & Halsin) is the wild nature counterpart to Chauntea's now largely agricultural portfolio. Chauntea has been known to have romantic connections with Lathander, as well. Zariel too - hello Wyll & Karlach's storylines - is connected, because before her fall into Avernus where she became an Archdevil in service to Asmodeus, she USED to be a solar (most powerful type of angel/celestial) in the service of Lathander.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for listening to my lore dump lol. I hope it enriches your experience of BG3 & the Forgotten Realms!

Post-Script: if you're left wondering how the unraveling of the laws of Realmspace got fixed, the Second Sundering began when Ao decided to recreate the Tablets of Fate to fix what he'd broken vis a vis the chaos of the Realmspace.

Additional fun fact: of the 3 of Mystra's 7 total daughters that Elminster raised, Storm Silverhand - renowned High Harper of the Dalelands - was one, and often also traveled with him as an adventuring companion as an adult through the centuries. Another is Laeral Silverhand, current Open Lord of Waterdeep, that big ol' city Gale is from that's right up the coast from Baldur's Gate.

#baldur's gate 3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate lore #faerun lore #forgotten Realms lore #faerun #forgotten Realms #Elminster Aumar #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #shadowheart

[theycallmeratt]

Working on a BG3 fic right now and found this Dammon lore on https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Dammon

Love the idea of him being really chill, really cool headed, until someone doesn't pay him, then he just works all that frustration into the piece

#dammon #dammon Baldur's gate #baldur's gate 3 #Baldur's gate lore #bg3 fanfic

[aldryrththerainbowheart]

"Not to be rude, but what are you?"

Ok, sure. I didn't even know this was an option for a paladin.

DC 20?!?!?!! Ok, there's no way I'm gonna pass this check but it not like its impor-

HUH?!?!???

What does this mean????

#never mind #keep your secrets Withers #Im not sure I wanna know anymore #baldur's gate #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate #baldur's gate iii #withers #bg3 withers #baldur's gate lore

[ssalballoon]

be a moon unto yourself 🌕

i took a long break btwn working on this one n this was the original idea... i do miss it but i thought the clothes were too unrelated to him :( goodbye leyendecker inspired gale 💔

- comp based on gale's datamined icon/waterdeep's coat of arms

- pose is from persona 3 protag's boss fight in p5r + listen to kimi no kioku if u haven't already ⚰️

- the flowers are roses!! i associate them with gale + his ambition even more after learning he burnt the rose bushes as a child

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #my art #bg3 fanart #idk the full waterdeep lore but i'd like to imagine that gale loves waterdeep in the same way disco elysium's citizens love revachol #“i love revachol i hope she loves me too” #smth about gale's adoration for a singular “perfect” goddess morphing into love for his home and its people in all its imperfections

[nottragic-stilltoothsome]

Everything I found in Szarr's palace, for all your fanfiction-writting needs. I haven't found any other post like this one, so i hope i m not copying anyone. Posting it here, because editing the official wiki feels intimidating. Feel welcome to add anything I missed.

Astarion's siblings (the other spawn):

Petras - one of the two you meet in the Flophouse.

Dalyria - the other one from the two you meet in the flophouse. Her diary can be found in the "guest room". Before Cazador turned her, she was a doctor, a "Physician General to the Parliament of Baldur's Gate". She thinks vampirism is a disease and plans on curing herself of it by drinking blood of someone young and healthy - other spawn's daughter, Victoria.

Leon Onufrio - before Cazador turned him, Leon was a sorcerer. He is the one whose daughter's (Victoria's) body is found, cursed, in the room where with the Kozakuran dictionary.

Leon put a protective counter-curse on her, to discourage other spawns from attacking her. Despite his efforts, Dalyria bit her, hoping it'd cure her vampirism. Needless to say, it didn't and Victoria died @easterlingwanderer found out that if you use "speak with the dead" on the body, it turns out that it was a random urchin and Leon did get Victoria out of the city on time. After removing the curse inflicting you with necrotic demage, you can loot a letter of her body from her father instructing Victoria to read said dictionary, so she can freely move around the castle.

In the favoured spawn room, you can learn that Leon was the one usualy occupying it (along with his daughter). His diary reveals that he put extra effort to be Cazador's best hunter, so he can keep Victoria away from others and that he came up with a plan with Figaro to disguise and sneak Victoria out of the palace.

He also notes that he doesnt like the way Violet looks at Victoria and Cazador's wicked smile, when Leon asked him what his master was planning to do with his daughter.

Violet - you can find her Diary in the Dormitory of Spawn. She notes that she put garlic in Yousen bed as a prank.

Aurelia - a tiefling

Yousen - @neophytepagan noticed he is a gnome

Other:

The chamberlain of Cazador was Antwun Dufay. In his diary, which can be found under his bed in his room after a successful passive perception check, it says that he had a lover Lurianna (a werewolf, who can be found dead by walking through fake north wall of chamberlain's office, or through another fake wall in Chamberlain's private room). He knew about Cazador's Black Mass enough to fake his death in order to avoid the threat of taking Astarion's place. Unfortunately for him, it seems he confused the actual death potion and fake death potion, and really died. His lover drank the other potion, which melted her guts. The actual fake-death elixir can be found in his desk, which puts the player in 10-turn coma. He ordered the elixir from Bonecloaks', where he also ordered most of the things the palace needed to function (like bloodstain remover, candles and food for "guests").

Godey - Cazador's right hand. Astarion says that while Cazador was the master of the palace, the kennels (the room where the spawn d be tortured, when they did something Cazador didnt approve of) was the domain of Godey. Godey tortured the spawn when Cazador didnt feel like it. Cazador trusted Godey with the key to the sealed ballroom for the duration of the ritual.

Through the palace, fanatic-servants cleaning the palace: Syrin - human, Greenfern - wood half-elf, Vilhelm - human, Varderola - also human. All of them are servants, who Astarion said are devoted to Cazador and came to the palace of their own will, beggining Cazador to turn them into vampires. Vilhelm is most noteable, as you can talk to him and he asks Astarion why isn't he downstairs, that he is late and the ballroom is already locked. If pressed, he informs that Godey has a key and that the Cazador is going to punish Astarion for missing the ritual (and from his expression, he seems to quite like the thought).

Chamberlain Dufay wrote a blooddonnors ledger, instructing the Spawn to favourite the lower class as prey, as too many missing patriars may drow too much attention.

The language Cazador uses is Kozakuran, from a distant land of Kara-Tur. Astarion notes that they were strictly forbidden from learning it. From Cazador's Journal you can learn that Astarion was not an unreliable narrator when he said Cazador liked torturing him the most: Cazador paid the most attention to him in the journal.

In the favoured spawn room, there is a ledger with the list of spawns who have been favoured (its only Leon and one time Violet).

Amanita Szarr - on her 13th birthsday, invited by her Uncle Cazador. She was invited to the ballroom. She became a vampire, but was not happy about it. She rejected her family name Szarr and named herself Lady Incognita. She claims she stays in the attic and writes stories. One of the books written by her can be found on Cazador's desk.

Mrel Alkam - vampire mastress from Athkatla that Cazador wrote a letter to.

#astarion #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #spawn #astarion's siblings #cazador szarr #cazador #fanfiction #godey #astarion x tav #resources #astarion ancunin #lore #chamberlain dufay

[indimiart]

thank you for reminding me what the sun feels like

They’ve both got a lot of years of missing sunlight. Lucky they get to relearn warmth again together🫶🏼

#for lore purposes nievan spent 70+ years stuck in a dark tower #and five more in self-imposed exile so deep in the woods he didn’t see the sun #bg3 #astarion #baldurs gate 3 #baldur’s gate 3 #baldurs gate fanart #bg3 tav #tav #bg3 astarion #nievan ilthurin #tav x astarion #my art #baldurs gate art

[valc0]

Different Circles The first time they met, and when they met again

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #tav #tav bg3 #astarion x tav #art #fanart #my art #art:bg3 #art:oc #some lore for zorba thta nobody asked for

[halichor]

Scourge of the Seas

Just started another save with durge Jehan since I missed that last time, and I'm /still/ not done with Karythos and Vesna's saves aaaaaa 🫠

#dnd #dnd oc #bg3 #bg3 tav #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate tav #oc art #illustration #halichor draws #dnd: jehan geinnelehis #aight idk if i should tag this as tav or durge but I guess both jehans exist #considering they're an npc in a campaign we had with friends back then and their lore mentioned that their mom is a bhaalspawn #weeeeeell... maybe durge jehan makes more sense hahahaa

[saltycryptid]

"You know, I've been catching myself smiling more lately."

🥺🥺 shadowheart is everything to me tbh,,, 💖💖

#Baldur's Gate 3 #Shadowheart #Fanart #more late night doodles lmfao sorry yall the worms are going crazy #i need a kiss from her so bad tho im so serious #i think marrying shadowheart is exactly what i need to fix everything that gone wrong with me #beautiful gorgeous unstoppable incomprehensible #She's cooking up something so mysterious and intriguing i just KNOW it #honestly playing atp just to unlock more lore from her #Roach's Choice

[volucrine]

Karlach: Sorry if this is rude, but... can vampires fall in love

Astarion: What a preposterous question. Vampires can do anything you can do, and a damn sight better.

Karlach: Sunbathe? Swim?

Astarion: All right, there are a few limited exceptions.

Karlach: Good to know love is on the table though.

Astarion: It is. Though if the table is laden with good wine and meat, love is often left to rot with the salad leaves.

#astarion #bg3 astarion #bg3 karlach #karlach #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #cute... #even if not dnd lore-friendly

[lunastrophe]

BG3 Elven Lore 🌙 Astarion's Name

I stumbled across this popular theory that Astarion's name means Little Star - but personally, I prefer to derive his name from DnD version of elven language. I think that the result is much more interesting 🙂

Astarion - it looks somewhat similar to aasterinian (quicksilver, mercury as a metal), with the last syllable changed into a suffix -ion (noble).

So, Astarion's name could be connected to a definition of mercurial character - changeable, cool and willful at one moment, utterly fragile the next. Mercurial can also mean: animated, quick-witted, having the characteristics of eloquence, shrewdness, swiftness, and thievishness. Suits him!

Suffix -ion is commonly used as a term of respect to address the scions of noble elven families who are not entitled to "lord" or "lady" (based on A Treatise on Espruar). It could nicely point to Astarion's social status: noble, but not of the highest rank.

Child name - if you prefer the theory that Astarion's name is his child name (customarily given by elven parents to their children and used until the elf can be considered an adult) - "mercurial" could still fit. I can totally imagine Astarion as a hyperactive, hard-to-control, shrewd kid... prone to mood swings, maybe?

Ancunin - using D&D Elvish as a point of reference, Astarion's last name can be neatly split into an (hand) - cu (in) - nin (ritual).

So, "hand in ritual". In a foreboding sense, it could point to Astarion's role in Cazador's ritual - but it could also suggest, for example, that his elven ancestors were connected to some arcane rituals or religious practices in their community.

#astarion #astarion ancunin #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 astarion #bg3 elven lore #bg3 lore #dnd lore #dnd elves #dnd elven language #bg3 headcanons #astarion headcanons

[jeeaark]

You have no idea how much I really wanted a 'call Orin out on her bullshit' dialogue option

Wishful thinking this comic. I did not know about the initiate-combat-while-talking option until after this campaign, so I have no idea if there are actual consequences to kicking orin's ass mid-trickery or not

Bonus in Regards to Sleepy Gale:

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers #astarion #....do I tag this as halsin or orin?????? #greygold #gale of waterdeep #jaheira #tw:violence #DID I MENTION IT WAS A LONG DAY THAT DAY???? #Its okay I let Gale take a break at camp after this ahaha #Look Stelmane's book collection was funny to me because I was having similar questions at that very conveniently same time #needed a quick illithid lore review and Stelmane didn't let me down

[basketobread]

there’s a whole AU thing where lunara never leaves the Underdark and gets sent into the absolute and I love her (a lot of this is really old art LOL)

#there’s so much lore to explain #so I’m just sharing the art LOL #i LOOOOOVE this AU so much though #there is also lunar eclipse absolutist au which i will eventually share art of soon #for those who dont know lunar eclipse is the ship name between Lunara and Haima (simons @percexe OC xddd) #but yah that’s all for now folks #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #tav #bg3 tav #bg3 oc #baldur's gate oc #dnd #d&d #d&d art #dnd art #dnd oc #drow #dnd drow #lunara posting #bob the artist

[astarions-wife]

Okay y’all. Buckle in, I might have information about Violet’s (Vampire Spawn Violet) identity. So shoutout to @sadanduncertain for linking me to this tweet, but one of the writers confirms that the “banned patron” book in act 2 is in fact referencing Astarion, which infers that Astarion (probably over a century ago, before the Shadow Curse took over) was definitely near Moonrise, which means it isn’t at all unlikely that any of the spawn could’ve been there, or even have been from there.

Near the House of Healing, there’s a graveyard. There are a LOT of graves here you can interact with, but this one in particular caught my attention.

Violet Goldhammer.

Now spawn Violet, there’s very little known about her, except she’s a little bratty. Who’s to say she wasn’t a little bit of a bratty, young singer, who got whisked away to Baldur’s Gate? I just think it’s interesting because we don’t usually see name repeats in the game, and we know that spawn being around this area isn’t unheard of.

#feel free to add on #I’m just insane #I need more spawn lore #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate #astarion #bg3 astarion #astarion bg3 #baldurs gate iii #baldurs gate astarion #astarion baldurs gate #violet bg3 #vampire spawn bg3 #vampire spawn #Cazador #Violet goldhammer

[meanbossart]

Since people expressed wanting to write DU drow, here's some notes I took for funsies about what his camp greetings would be like at different levels of approval/relationship status, as well as post-quest completion. Might be... Informative? Or funny at least. ENJOY.

#DU drow lore #camp greetings #text #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 spoilers

[passacalia-bg3]

"they spoke correctly. the last stage of love is grief"

the art refers to the distant future where Afaleon became a dragon again, and despite all their common achievements with Minthara, they were unable to live together for a long time. Minthara sleeps in his skull in an attempt to feel close to him again.

not quite a canon of their story, more of an option for how it could have ended. It was drawn more for my tragic mood in that day

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #minthara #minthara x tav #ship lore #oc lore #oc: Afaleon #but dead Afaleon hohoooo #I don't really like angst #but sometimes the characters in ship are just so... #nah #don't take it close to your heart if you don't like angst too