Dungeons&Dragons 50th Anniversary: La trama di Baldur's Gate 3 dal punto di vista di the Dark Urge - Pagina 2 di 2 (2024)

English version

The plot of Baldur’s Gate 3 from the point of view of the Dark Urge,
that is the proper virtual sequel of the first two games

Fabio Ciaramaglia

Having being acquainted with the general plot of Baldur’s Gate 3, we shall enter a bit more into the details of the different type of gameplay in which we can choose one of the companions and experience the story from their point of view. Not all of them are available, in fact we can choose only those who are victims of ceremorphosis, and so those who were inside the Mind Flayers’ nautiloid at the beginning of the game (Lae’zel, Shadowheart, Astarion, Karlach, Gale and Wyll). The possibility of see the adventure from the point of view of one of the companions, whose stories we anyway develop as side quest in the game, makes the whole experience different, because we shall have additional dialogues and choices which enrich their development.

Actually, there is a further choice with the Dark Urge, a character we never really meet in the game play: in fact we see only his corpse in Orin’s room, without a proper name if not “Fallen Bhaalspawn”. He is never clearly mentioned in the plot, though there are some quick references, so he may seem completely disconnected from the companions’ “Origin Story”. As a default setting, he is an albino sorcerer dragonborn, but, though customization is possible (in terms of race, class and abilities), my suggestion is to keep him as it is in order to better appreciate his story.

In the very beginning of the game we understand that the Dark Urge suffers from amnesia, he does not remember anything about his actions before the nautiloid captivity. Yet, from some details such as his flow of thoughts, and from some possible actions (even rather violent), we understand that his past is not properly heroic. For instance, at the moment when we can save Gale trapped in a magic portal, for the Dark Urge there is the option of brutally severing his hand (with the consequence Gale dies and we shall not have him as a companion). The first turning point in the story of the Dark Urge is in the first act when we interact with tiefling profugees and one of them, Alfina, asks to join the adventuring party: when we wake up we find her slaughtered and our character is covered in blood too. The Dark Urge does not remember anything of what he has just done, but he is helped by Sceleritas Fel, his goblin butler, who gradually unfolds his past and pushes for an evil path. We can then opt for an alliance with Minthara, destroy the Emerald Grove and celebrate with a wild sex night with the drow.

Going on quickly, though sequentially, in the second act we are strongly tempted to kill Isobel, prompted by Sceleritas: if we opt for this, we have an important turning point in the development of the Dark Urge’s story, because this blatantly evil action is rewarded with the possibility of turning into the Slayer. From this moment on everything is clearer, because we understand the Dark Urge is a Bhaalspawn (we suggest to read the articles on the first two games). He is not even a simple Bhaalspawn born by the mating of a female creature and Bhaal, but a sort of clone of the god created with part of his essence: basically he is the real chosen of the god of ritual murder and his purest reincarnation. With further information we acquire during the game, we also understand the Dark Urge had been the leader of the Church of Bhaal for a long time and he had, along with Gortash, collected the Crown of Karsus from the Hells and planned the control of the Netherbrain and the conquer of the Sword Coast. The two worked very well as partners in crime and, with the next involvement of Ketheric Thorm, the plan seemed to proceed towards the right direction. However, within the Church of Bhaal, his role as a Chosen was causing frictions and jealousy, especially by Orin, the other Bhaalspawn and Sarevok’s niece, who, despite collaborating with the Dark Urge and earning his trust, manages to find the right moment to backstab him and, in her sad*st attitude, break his skull (the reason for amnesia) and keep him alive thanks to the inserting of a tadpole. Orin explains Gortash of the mysterious disappearance of the Dark Urge and replaces him as Bhaal’s Chosen in the making of the “Dead Three” triumvirate. This also explains that corpse we mentioned, that of the “Fallen Bhaalspawn”, we find in Orin’s room when we play using other characters: that is the option of the Dark Urge who did not manage to escape and has been finally slain by Orin.

Going back to the gameplay, the problem of the implanted tadpole and the amnesia are still there, so it is anyway necessary to keep on with our adventure by approaching the final fight with the Netherbrain. Of course it is possible to keep with the evil path, though this will cause some companions to abandon us for good (Karlach and Wyll, for instance) and, in the third act, we shall have to fight against Jaheira and her Harpers because they consider us as dangerous as the Mind Flayers. Furthermore, in this evil path experience, I also opted for the completing of the ritual of Astarion, who becomes a sort of godlike vampire, and for the control of the Church of Shar by Shadowheart: their minions were among the few allies in the final fight. The other turning points for the story of the Dark Urge are the fights against Sarevok and Orin (which will improve the Slayer form): by now in the full of ἀναγνώρισις, we can also opt for a full dedication to Bhaal and keep all the remaining quest in his name, including the destruction or the control of the Netherbrain, that is the endgame.

Nevertheless, we have always the chance to resist to these “dark urges”, despite convincing, convenient and tempting. If we think of it, it is very similar to our character in the first two games of Baldur’s Gate, where the seduction of evil is always present and it is possible to keep with an evil path until the end of the saga. The substantial difference is that in the case of the Dark Urge, this is really evil in flesh, his actions and his wit are alluring, and the gradual exposing of his past is definitely more interesting than that of the Candlekeep orphan raised by Gorion. From many perspectives this narrative option of Larian is new, because through the Dark Urge they offer a sound and significant background for Baldur’s Gate 3. We have to add that a sort of prequel had been provided, on the Dark Urge, in a browser game by Larian, Blood in Baldur’s Gate (June 2023), where the dragonborn is the mysterious criminal behind a series of ritual murders in the name of Bhaal. Yet, the matter related to this god and his spawn is the strongest narrative link with the past of the first two games which are set 120 years before these events: as a matter of fact, of the old characters only Jaheira and Viconia are here and they are a half-elf and a drow, thus with a longer life-span (but they both show some lines which mark their ageing); also Minsc appears, but he had been for long turned into stone (see the first cycle of IDW comics). All the matters related to “Bhaalspawn”, which apparently had been closed in the finale of the DLC “Throne of Bhaal”, had simply remained in standby in the macronarrative and in BG3 they are anyway consistently remembered by those who experienced them: with the Dark Urge we stop the standby but a new chapter is added to the saga and, now like then, it is up to us to revert the path and change it with the triumph of Good or letting the flow go with the seducing evil path.

As we have written elsewhere, Baldur’s Gate 3 has won many rewards, especially those related to the story which, even with some flaws (as the excessive epic background of some companions such as Gale, Shadowheart and Wyll), is well written and it goes as a swollen river with hundred of spawning rivulets. It is fully included in the narrative canon of Dungeons&Dragons and those which seem simple winks to the old players of the first two Baldur’s Gate or a due tribute to their original creators, are in fact a sensible and accurate attempt to add a new chapter to a very successful saga -and it seems they managed.

In the next article we shall provide the conclusions to this series of articles on Baldur’s Gate to then move on to another absolute protagonist of D&D world, that is Drizzt Do’Urden.

Further readings

Several authors, Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios, August 2023. “Early Access” stage began in October 2020

Several authors, Blood in Baldur’s Gate, Larian Studios, June 2023

If you want to know more about the Dark Urge, check this: https://bg3.wiki/wiki/The_Dark_Urge

For other matters we just strongly suggest to check the older articles on Baldur’s Gate series.

end of article 22

Biography

FABIO CIARAMAGLIA

With an M.A. degree in English Literature, with a dissertation on Shakespeare and comics (2000) and a Ph.D. with a dissertation on Shakespeare and Italian TV (2004), I have always tried to deal with the complex relationship between literature and other media.

I have written for comics magazines, such as Fumo di China and Fumettomania (in its previous printed version), but also translated into Italian a couple of American comics for the publisher Magic Press and some poems. Meanwhile I have begun teaching English language at High School, at first in Rome and then, after 2015, in Trieste.

I have never lost the nerdy attitude even as a teacher, but since 2006 videogames have attracted me more and in some of them, maybe for a personal inclination, I have found several elements which are worth of being analysed, though before this year I had never dared approaching more seriously.

NOTE EXTRA

Elenco articoli dello speciale Dungeons&Dragons 50th Anniversary:

11/05/2024 (21)

27/04/24 (20)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-la-trama-principale-del-secondo-atto-di-baldurs-gate-3/

21 aprile 2024 (19)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-la-trama-principale-del-primo-atto-di-baldurs-gate-3/

14 aprile 24 (18)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-introduzione-a-baldurs-gate-3/

30 marzo 2024 (17)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-la-conclusione-della-saga-degli-eroi-di-baldurs-gate/

24 marzo 2024 (16)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-la-discesa-agli-inferi/

16 marzo 2024 (15)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-nuovamente-in-citta-con-evil-at-baldurs-gate/

9 marzo 2024 (14)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-una-digressione-una-prima-eredita-dei-due-baldurs-gate/

24 febbraio 2024 (13)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-fumetti-benvenuti-nel-profondo-nord-di-faerun/

11 febbraio 2024 (12)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-fumetti-shadows-of-the-vampire-le-ombre-del-vampiro/

3 febbraio 2024 (11)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/baldurs-gate-vuol-dire-leggenda-il-ciclo-legends-of-baldurs-gate/

27 gennaio 2024 (10)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-la-trama-principale-di-baldurs-gate-ii-e-alcuni-cenni-sui-companion

6 gennaio 2024 (09)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-la-trama-principale-di-baldurs-gate-e-del-dlc-siege-of-dragonspear/

22 dicembre 2023 (08)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-introduzione-ai-principali-elementi-narrativi-alla-base-dei-primi-due-baldurs-gate

5 dicembre 2023 (07)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-il-viaggio-venticiquennale-di-baldurs-gate/

18 novembre 2023 (06)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeonsdragons-50th-anniversary-tutte-le-strade-passano-da-baldurs-gate/

9 ottobre 2023 (05)

4 agosto 2023 (04)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/la-genesi-del-gruppo-dei-ladri-donore-anteprima-dungeons-dragons-4a-puntata/

7 luglio 2023 (03)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeons-dragons-50th-anniversary-il-passato-di-doric-in-the-druids-call/

23 maggio 2023 (02)

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/dungeons-dragon-introduzione-ai-personaggi-principali-del-film-honor-among-thieves-the-feast-of-the-moon/

ed il 26 marzo 2023 (01)

Dal 30 dicembre 2022 stiamo pubblicando un interessantissimo approfondimento di fabio dedicato a

“Lara Croft, the Tomb Raider, dai videogiochi ad altri media (fumetti, cartoni, film)

ecco l’articolo più recente, del 10 maggio

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/tomb-rider-approccio-al-ciclo-conclusivo-di-dan-jurgens/

ed il link della Prima puntata del 30 dicembre 2022

Infine, nel 2022, Fabio ha pubblicato il lungo ed interessantissimo approfondimento dedicato a “DRAGON AGE dal videogame ai fumetti!“.

Sotto riportiamo l’ultimo articolo (il 27°) pubblicato da Fabio del 28 dicembre 2022

ed ecco la PAGINA DEL SITO DEDICATA A FUMETTI E VIDEOGIOCHI

https://www.fumettomaniafactory.net/video-giochi-e-fumetti/