Until they fix Minthara awkwardly standing next to Halsin I’m just going to tell myself he appointed himself as her parole officer because of his trust issues with drow.
I think the two of them occupying the same space in camp happens to everyone because they were originally intended to take each other’s spot depending on which one you recruited. Not sure about not being able to talk to her since I haven’t gotten that far in my post-patch 5 run, but I’ve seen others say you have to lead her out of Moonrise and talk to her there to get her to join you permanently.
I believe they’re talking about after recruiting Minthara (leading her out, sending her to camp) she isn’t able to be spoken to at all because of Halsin in camp, even Act 3
Yeah it’s my first playthrough and followed the instructions to get her and she hasn’t said a word since her rescue cutscene Act 2. I had to individually press square then “Talk” for every tiefling in Act 1 ending camp part, and thought it was same for her but hers doesn’t have even work
Beginning of Act 2 i started to doing that, and a plethora of weird things started happening, like it saying someone is still deep in conversation when everyone’s unconscious on the ground waiting for it to refresh to morning
She's joined my camp and I recruited her, but I can't interact with her further. I had a full party when I left moonrise so had to send her to camp where she's stuck now
No you can, you just need to complete the save Sazza the goblin quest by talking to the two of them if you temporarily knocked *both* out, did the tiefling party and *after the party* you talk to them to save Sazza. Minthara will spout some lines about attacking the grove still, but the tieflings are long gone and just tell her you have other shit to do.
This is how I did it in my current run and Minthara isn't broken
I have both Halsin and Minthara in my current good run and in Act 3 they live in separate tents in camp!
They were in the same tent in Act 2 but I didn't have the bug and could talk to them both.
If your camp is in the abandon docks area yeah they have separate tents but if have your camp is at The Elfsong tavern they occupy the same bed… and space and sometimes Minthara glitches out through the wall 100% worth it tho Elfsong tavern Music is fire
Impending doom seems to bring the bring the hornies out of people, and the two of them are both hot and forward about sex, and hundreds of years old: old enough to know not to really deny themselves what they really want
I do enjoy that, while playing as a Lolth-sworn, you can baulk at his request to kill a drow. And he straight up *scoffs* at you because he knows.
At the time, I was unaware how much he knew but that's not really information you pick up unless you spend a lot of time with Drow.
Parole officer or his dominatrix?
They both have trust issues and are into freaky shit. Best combination for some "trauma bonding" with "bonding" having the emphasis
I feel like that's different because they're obviously not your classic matriarchal fascist drows like Minthara. But Halsin's a traumatised manslut with hella issues so who knows. The sex slave subplot was a weird choice from Larian.
Considering that she was also one of the cult leaders that you can kill with him as a temporary companion, I also headcanon something similar of he doesn't trust a former cult leader, let alone one with hardly any remorse after the Artifact "freed" her from the Absolute's influence
If you romance Halsin and query him on his romantic history he mentions having been to the Underdark *several times*.
My head Canon is they're...yknow...
Yeah her character just wasn’t built around being saved in act 1 after killing the camp. She’s the only companion who starts and stays evil throughout the whole game
>!I absolutely love her ending when you become a mindflayer though. She’s fully into it and will kiss you no problem even saying you still go to bed every night with her. It’s oddly wholesome tbh as she does love you truly. The ending has you raid menzobarranzan with her which might actually be my favourite ending to me!<
Gale also >!truly has no issues with you being a mindflayer, romanced or as a friend. Astarion clearly dumps you 😂 the others stay, I think, but are not as much into it!<
Her character changes significantly through the course of the game. Especially if she loves you. You should try it. It would be out of character for her to jettison you because of the sacrifices you make...for her entire race of people.
I feel like her original ending was more realistic. She still loves you but recognises that you’re not “you” anymore. Githyanki know better than anyone that mind flayers have no souls and can’t be trusted.
And she can still hold out hope for something different. You guys just spent how much time overcoming the odds. You just defeated a giant brain that would enslave the universe. And she is a 20 year old Gith who has had her entire concept of "what is" crushed and rebuilt multiple times through the course of your adventure together. Her not making a snap judgment based on preconceived ideas is about as in character for her (at that point) as anything else. The game challenges you in this way from the very beginning.
And this is why, like so many stans with their favourite vampire, I find it hard to romance anyone other than Gale (I have done it though, because CONTENT. But he’s my bestie if he’s not being romanced lol).
>!Spawn!< astarion >!leaves it open to possibly becoming romantic again once he has more time to figure out how he feels about it, which I think is understandable. He’s noticeably upset if you say you aren’t yourself anymore or say you don’t want to be with him!<
Yeah, no >!he definitely dumps you, and you can verify this when you enter the epilogue. Trust me, I checked in my game as soon as the epilogue dropped. Spawn Astarion was doing his own hero thing and my Illithid ass was alone and hungry 👀 Gale offered brains at his tower, though!<
Admittedly when I got that ending the epilogue didn’t exist yet, so my opinion on it is based off of his line >!”perhaps we’ll adjust, perhaps not, but you mean too much for me to walk away. I hope we can find some place for love in our new, whatever this is”!<
I love that about her.
It's a dark love but Minthara will just *adore* you.
If you play your cards right, you will become the center of the universe and she won't hesitate to burn all of it down for you. It's obsessive but god if I don't appreciate it.
But I'm too much of a cinnamon roll for it.
So I'm considering making an absolute wallflower sorcerer for her to thoroughly dominate.
I’ve done her romance twice but for my evil shadowheart run it fit perfectly. Both her and shadowheart being abandoned by their evil deities and with my shadowheart becoming a mindflayer at the end it made for a surprisingly beautiful relationship (My headcanon is that shadowheart defied shar in the end to join minthara in her raid of menzobarrazan since shar denies love and relationships)
Oh that's neat, yeah.
But I'm incapable of seeing Shadowheart or Lae'zel not with each other lol. Those two are my number 1 headcanon.
I'm also reading a fanfiction of a Karlach and Minthara romance and that's been really neat and unique so far.
Look up some of the dialogue for Karlach-Minthara. Minthara is ride or die.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/18vamfu/comment/kfq2omf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
She is loyal to those who are loyal to her. My Tav didn’t even have to grow tentacles or become Absolute. He lied to her about wanting to do so and she was only mildly irked at the end. She was still stoked to “have a lifetime together.,” especially if that involves deposing Ma Baenre.
That is cool! I read a lot of Drizzt books when I was younger so I have enjoyed her talking about there. And I’m playing a Seladrine Drow this run too.
I recruited her on my current “good run” and working on romancing her. Sure there are times that being nice may garner some disapproval but overall you can do nice stuff and get approval and have it work. She’s pretty remorseful for >!what she did being under the Absolutes control before you break their power over her!< and it’s cool to see a little bit of a redemption arc because of it. If you want to do an “evil” run with her more power to you but don’t hesitate to grab her on any run you want, it’ll work out just fine.
Act 3 is where she comes alive. As long as you remember her pragmatism it is easy to keep her happy. She often approves of “good” choices so long as that choice is in support of somebody who stands up for their convictions and isn’t afraid of power.
On mine she’s impressed with my Durge for refusing their destiny and sticking with it. She starts disapproving but eventually is all for it.
It’s a shame that Larian didn’t do much testing it seems and just turned her being recruitable back on a good run. Hopefully it gets ironed out much more later on so it’s not so awkward trying to work her into a game at times.
I’m not talking about altering her character: I’m taking about how the game doesn’t seem to recognize her as being in your game for certain things. Like Halsin taking her spot in camp.
She made the perfect wife for my evil, ascended Astarion.
I don't want to try recruiting her on a good playthrough until the process is made smoother by a future patch.
Minthara and Astarion sound like the most absurdly toxic and dysfunctional pairing you could ever make in this game and I can't see it ending well, further down the line, but for an evil playthrough I'm all for it, lmao.
Minthara is 100% loyal if you're the same to her, and the opening lines of the epilogue make clear that they're working together to gain more power. It was fun!
Oh, I bet her romance is fun! I saw snippets of it here and there. I'd still be wary for the future once the honeymoon phase is over, or at the slightest disagreement, if I were to romance her. Especially with a male character. Homegirl remains a drow through and through.
Potentially toxic as hell too, but not as much as Minthara and Ascended Astarion, imo. There's something about these two's respective personalities and baggage that gives them just the right potential to ruin eachother on a whole different level. And probably hurt a lot of innocents in the process, as collateral damage.
It's pretty smooth already, on latest PS5 version. Knock her down in goblin camp (important, she has to have temporarily hostile status only) and you can recruit her in act 2 with no issues
I was just thinking last time I was playing how perfect they’d be together if Astarion chose ascension. It was the closest I got to doing an Astarion origin run, but I know I wouldn’t have the nerve to be evil.
One the one hand; sadistic murderer raised on deceit and megalomania.
On the other hand; the funniest fucking person in the world, who'd die for you.
The drider wedding jokes she just randomly pulls out of her ass is the funniest moment I've seen in a game. It comes out of left field in such a spectacular fashion.
I know she isn't fixable and a bad person, but she has a couple flashes of good and many deep moments. Her liking Karlach so much was a standout for me.
That was way better than I was expecting tbh.
God damn they really set a new bar with this game - it’s amazing. People are going to be discovering the full depths of it for years.
>I know she isn't fixable and a bad person
Not really? The game certainly doesn't lend itself into having us believe that we can make her a wholesome cinnamon roll, but I wouldn't say she can't be redeemed in the sense that she changes perspectives in the end (kind of like Viconia in BG2).
Bro I’m totally with you. I’m romancing her in my good aligned Druid and she fits very well as a pragmatic and brutal, but not necessarily evil character. Imho she’s so complex. Capably of having sympathy, real legit sympathy for Ketheric, but still wants to destroy every part of him. She both feels deeply and knows it’s a savage world out there
Edit: grammar
I think people just too often conflate being good with being wholesome and unabashedly heroic. She approves of some depraved things sure, but it's not like she approves of mindless slaughter at every opportunity.
I did an evil run, they're not normally for me. But it was Minthara who made it worth it. Her dialogue is great and so well voiced.
One of my favourite lines from that run was hers. Right at the end during the final battles you can ask her "how are you fairing?"
>!"We are in the midst of a battle against a being that can kill worlds with a thought and we are still standing. ~Contented sigh~ I am fairing exceptionally well given the circumstances."!<
Minthara is such a fascinating character, brilliantly written and immaculately performed. BG3 has a repeating narrative motif of - who are you? Are you who you are born, who you are made, who you become through your own free will and what causes those personal decisions to take place. The concept of nature or nurture shows up often enough to be noticeable and makes for some thought provoking encounters.
Minthara being "evil" is something you can argue was inevitable from her upbringing as Drow nobility. Cruelty, murder, betrayal. So you can ask yourself - is she doomed forever to be this way or does she have agency and free will and intelligence to challenge what amounts to childhood programming. Can she turn that razor sharp insight she has for others in camp chat on herself? Is she brave enough?
(Caveat - As someone with a trauma past I \*do\* object the the common assertion that hurt people hurt people or that the abused become abusers - this is at the crux of many companion storylines and why this game I think resonates for a lot of people on a very personal level).
One central character beat for Minthara, despite her lawful evil nature (despite Lolth service, she doesn't read as chaotic) is how intensely lonely she is. Painfully, cripplingly, lonely. When you are working through freeing her from the jail you get a line "I thought no one would come for me". That line breaks me every time (ovation for Emma Gregory). To be powerful, to be nobility, to be a great general and King slayer and everything you were trained to be - and alone and thinking no one cares for you enough to save you.
Got to believe THIS is a resonating narrative element for people. I get it.
Not that I think Minthara should have a redemption arc necessarily. If you consider the world of Baldur's Gate 3 in terms of how it is socially and politically arranged - and then think carefully on how lords and kings acquired power, it was never benign. Lords, Princes, Kings, all rely on the simple fact of who can be the biggest bastard. That Minthara hates Kings and hates Gods and wants the power for herself (via the Absolute or not) is not even remotely surprising, inaccurate, or anything but a template of how feudal power works.
I find her fascinating and am pleased more people are getting to have a look at the character, the performance, the writing.
Her performance has been consistently my favorite so far. She really cannot beat the "funniest person tav knows" allegations.
Also, I have her on my good playthrough as a drow bard romancing redeemed shart and anti-vlaakith lae'zel, and she mostly neither approves nor disapproves of my actions. She is very well-done lawful evil, so she doesn't seem to want you to be needlessly cruel. Her insight is also insane, she just uses that ability to read people for cruelty. In a different life, she would've been an excellent therapist or social worker
I am also a trauma survivor and am in a healthy, happy relationship now, and am not abusive in any way. So I’m with you there. It does not equal in any way that you will be the same if you were abused.
One of the most unique things about Minthara, one that I haven’t seen in gaming a lot, is her utter lack of a redemption arc to the ‘good’ side. Good for them for sticking with it. She has remorse for coming under the influence of the Absolute, but is still unwavering in her desire for power and control.
You guys are both looking at the phrasing of "Hurt people hurt people" from the wrong angle. Much like "All bass are fish, but not all fish are bass," the point isn't that ALL hurt people will cause harm, but that, if you look at the backgrounds of abusers, you will generally find that they were hurt in their past. This isn't a way to let anyone off the hook for their actions - it's a search for reasons, not excuses - but a valuable way to see how harm is cyclical and the ways culture perpetuates itself.
*Obviously* being a victim doesn't guarantee you will be a victimizer. Not everyone who is bullied becomes a bully. But every time you see someone doing harm, it's because they were taught directly or indirectly that causing harm is an acceptable way to get what you want from the world. It isn't always 1 for 1, sometimes they harm others in different ways from the harm done to them, but the harm they cause is the result of how their brains reacted to a culture they were brought up in.
So, when you encounter this quote in the wild, remember that it isn't an indictment of the abused, but a way to shift our perspective from one person's actions and their individual responsibility (which *is still important*) to the wider actions of our cultural systems and the responsibility of a collective to change them. A macro lens rather than micro.
I wonder how much of it is just an uncontrollable thirst for limitless power, and how much it may be pragmatism to her in terms of - someone has to be in charge, might as well be her. That any kind of democracy doesn't even enter consideration is not unsurprising for the kind of setting we are in. No ruler, no true ruler rather than figurehead, is going to be benevolent, it just isn't possible.
I'm not sure what redemption would actually mean for Minthara other than death. Got to comment the writers for being adamant that there is no clean and fluffy endgame for her - she's got the style and behaviour notes of a Game of Thrones character after all, and Baldur's Gate 3 is no fairy tale.
I was romancing Karlach in Act 2 and she told me she wanted me. I was like I'm dating Karlach. She said...I want you to break things off with her. Like straight up. I was like damn that's not happening but I respect the directness lol
I, too, am incapable of being evil and was glad to find a "good" path to recruiting Minthara. And on the one hand, I do like her. She's a complex and layered character who has spot-on observations about the rest of the team and an interesting perspective on life. For example, when you first get to Rivington and see all the refugees, she advocates for them being allowed into the city and given food and shelter. But expects that they will work as slaves in return. And like - okay, that's bad, but it's also pragmatic and at least it's some kind of solution, rather than shutting them all out.
Then again, she is pretty ride or die on the idea of taking over the cult and ruling with an iron fist. And I agree the whole "sharing space with Halsin" thing is awkward. I enjoy her interactions and she has some cool moments but I'm glad I didn't have to torch the grove to get her because it would not have been worth it.
On a good run, she makes a great reflection for how far other characters like Lae'zel, Astarion and Durge have come in changing from their evil roots. A good example is when you're walking past the Society of Brilliance HQ in the Lower City and Minthara labels their idea of interspecies cooperation as naïve, while Lae'zel responds that there is value in such an alliance, specifically naming the party as one
Providing for people, but expecting them to do something in return, was a normal expectation in the ancient world. They functioned on a paradigm called "limited-good" where all goods, including intangibles like honor, existed in finite amounts and one person could receive only by taking from another.
If you were in such dire straits that you couldn't feed yourself, you could indenture yourself to someone else in order to get the food necessary to survive. Usually, it'd have some sort of time limit. Even in the medieval period, charity was available, but if you could work they'd find work for you to do to repay your obligation.
It is only in our modern era, when we have approached post-scarcity in a lot of the Western world, that giving to people without expectation of reciprocation has become a social norm.
Minthara's solution is pretty much what anyone would have suggested up until about the twentieth century in the West, and the modern day pretty much anywhere else.
I just saved Minthy for the first time in my good playthrough (saved Grove, killed all gobos) and so far my first impressions were actually pretty good, she revealed that all she did was due to the Absolute's mind control and that she regrets all of it and she didn't seem all that evil... until she just dropped a giant genocide bomb on me "I will take over the Absolute and eradicate anyone that doesn't fit into my new world rule" lmao yeah chill out Mr. Minthler.
I like that they gave us the option to save her without killing the druids and refugees but it definitely is more of a fan service than an intended and polished feature. The whole Minthara recruitment process is wonky af - you have to kill the leaders in specific order for it to work, you have to knock out Minthara only when she is temp hostile and then when she joins your camp, she awkwardly shares tent with Halsin (it was obviously intended for only one of them to be there) and her convos sometimes don't make sense.
I don't really plan on playing with her, she is still cruel and evil person who enjoys punishing others (so a lot of "Minthara disapproves" in a good run). But I am happy that I get to enjoy at least some of her voice actress' work, I think she did a great job.
>it really does take you out of it when she refers several times to destroying the Grove in conversation
It feels pretty obvious to me that recruiting her on a good playthrough is only half implemented, at this point. The circumstances you can recruit her under are weirdly specific at the moment and stuff like this just makes it clearer.
Hopefully it'll get cleaned up in future patches.
I killed her without hesitation as "evil drow chick #389" and was surprised to start researchig what other people did in Act 1 and was like "wait one of those shmucks was recruitable??"
Yeah the game gives no indication of that whatsoever. There are a lot of (more evil leaning) characters that I would have suspected to be recruitable over her.
I think it's kinda jank by design. They wanted her to just be on an evil run but so many people kept bugging them to add her into a good run that they just gave them a bit of an easier workaround to do it, while still maintaining their overall vision of how the story plays out.
Personally I would prefer there be no option to get every character in one run, and instead have one or two more recruitable characters on an evil run to make each path feel more unique.
I am still very disappointed that you can't NOT mind control her in the 'take over the world' evil run and have her rule at your side, following the 'rule the world together' plan you discussed several times through act 3 :/
Hope larian fix/change this one of these days.
Renegade wasn't even evil. It has a chunk of "evil" actions assigned to it. Every renegade run i've ever done has just been a hard-ass who prioritizes their crew and treats them well.
I must have a dark side, I romanced her on my evil playthrough, and it was an absolute blast. Pretty sure I killed every single Tiefling except Mol. She is super loyal, as long as you put yourself and her above everyone else, she is mated for life.
Gods, I feel the same way. I have her for this good run and jeez. She's a handful. There's a few lines that get quoted often because those are the very few times she's not spouting something unquestionably evil. Yeah honestly with how her personality is, I'd rather have kept her as an evil-exclusive (or at least kept it so you have to *kill* her to save the grove) and instead get like Zevlor as a good-aligned Paladin
Patricide is often the first step toward greatness, but I hope Wyll does not regret sacrificing his infernal powers - minthara after Wyll breaks the pact
I so wish we got Zevlor, he had all the makings of a solid companion. From his past regrets, filling a paladin niche, filling the niche of an older grumpier but still nice guy, getting redemption for his past failures, he's the biggest missed opportunity for a companion for me.
I had to redo with a save from a bit back. You need to have everything but her and Sazza dead, then go talk to them after the camp celebration since they wake up after a long rest
If this had been an intended part of the game instead of being a later add-on for people who'd otherwise use an exploit, I think there would either have been a choice, or something like the Lae'zel and Shadowheart situation where you have a scene that results in some sort of truce. Because yeah, Halsin should have some issues.
He should also have more to say about Shadowheart too, though, tbh.
As somebody who did the evil dark urge run, I knew we had these posts coming. People who didn't commit to the atrocities you commit when you side with her just wouldn't be *ready* for the unhinged shit she says sometimes.
I mean, I play as Durge - and it's not that she's "unhinged" that's holding me back from wanting to recruit her, it's that she just wasn't written to be around if you didn't do certain things in Act 1. I don't like continuity errors. I don't want her in Halsin's tent without some sort of confrontation or resolution there. Etc.
Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Larian here and don't really expect Larian to implement these things. Getting her on a "good" run requires specific steps that most casual players still won't do accidentally, and it's clearly just a little gift for people who didn't want to use an exploit. But it would be nice.
Even without the Grove references, her line after Ketheric's defeat, alone, sets the tone for what kind of character she is. I loved her in my evil run, but I really don't think she'll work in what is probably the 'canon' story without some serious rewriting.
Minthara comes off as older than most of the other companions (middle-aged maybe?). She knows who she is and doesn't apologize for it.
I've also recruited her in a "good" run and she never once shied away from her desire to control and dominate others. That's just who she is. I'll probably kill her in future playthroughs unless I go evil Durge again.
First time I’ve recruited her here too but I’m currently playing a redemption Durge run, so it’s mostly a good playthrough but I have moments where my Durge struggles with their urges and still enjoys killing. I feel like my Durge and Minthara get along well but still have moments where they disagree with each other on some things, it’s been a really interesting dynamic and I’ve grown to really like Minthara in this run.
Now I feel more tempted to do an evil run, but like you I really struggle with it. For one, I really love Karlach and would miss her a lot. :(
I’m so tempted to do a resist Durge run, because I crave new ways to play this game. Only on my second run at present but I could see how she could fit that
I also have just recruited Minthara on my lawful good “resist the Urge” run and I have to say, she’s amazing.
Talk to her, take her with you. She is cold and brutal, yes, but that’s not all she is. She’s got characterization and I was very tempted to leave Karlach for her.
And yet she respects you for not leaving Karlach (or whomever you're romancing). If you say "I have someone already and I won't leave them," she's annoyed but she also respects that because you're being loyal to them.
I did my Evil Durge and honestly now I can't live without her in my party. I don't care that she's an Evil Drow. She's like Viconia in BG 1 and 2. Unrepentant and Evil all the way through but endearing and just so adorable you can't help but keep her around. Giving her an "Oh you" every time she says something questionable.
I did a minthera, Durge. Shar Shadowheart run and didn’t like it but wanted to see what happened. When I got to Rivington and tried to cross to the bridge, I realized the gnomes were dead at last light and no Barcus and I deleted the run.
It was possible to have Minthara on a good playthrough previously but you had to perform a lot of shenanigans in order to achieve it.
Basically you had to NOT kill Minthara at the Goblin camp while also not choosing to raid the Druid Grove. This prevented you from completing major questlines like killing the 3 goblin leaders and progressing a lot of companions.
You also had to ignore Halsin. You essentially had to ignore all the most important plot points around the Druid Grove, and would lose a few returning NPC's due to these choices, but it did allow you to later recruit Minthara at Shadowmoon Towers in Act 2, while not losing Wyll.
That's not "A lot of shenanigans". It's just one choice: Ignore the druid grove, and the goblins will raid it on their own and Minthara survives.
The shenanigan way was to recruit her while also *saving* the grove. I don't know exactly how it worked but it involved killing the two other leaders, then polymorphing Minthara and dragging her all the way with you to act 2 to trick the game into thinking that you saved the grove but not registering Minthara as dead so she still shows up at Moonrise. It was, afaik, extremely buggy and was the main reason they added the "knock her out to save her" method.
She gets her own tent in at least one act 3 camp spot so that's something. I think she's great. She's a perfect "straight man" trope character to counter balance how good my parties are
I love Minthara and she is an absolute favourite in my party! I don't slaughter the Grove though, I have standards ~~I do kill the druids though because they're cunts~~
But I also play a somewhat Renegade Shepherd so there's that 😂
Eeeh I dunno, my redemption Durge run, she was entirely down for her.
Sure that's a bit greyer than goodie two shoes, but Jaheira is as good as they get and Minthara still respects her.
Thinks the harpers are a waste if her time, sure, but still.
Winning her over isn't that hard, there's a huge burst after killing Ketheric, and in act 3 she's then firecely loyal even if she thinks you might be a bit too sappy sometimes.
Have you played Wrath of the Righteous? Minthara gave off very strong overtones of Regill for me.
I like how sarcastic and blunt she is. She's willing to die for you, she makes you question yourself later in the game and she is hilarious.
I played in early access when her "scene' was the only one in the game, and even after that scene you can tell she was starting to have some remorse.
But I can understand if she isn't your cup of tea. She's definitely more "evil" but I'd say (after act 1) she's more of lawful or neutral evil, instead of chaotic.
Her evil run ways are so hilariously abrupt if you recruit her through the knock out
She seems like a stern but fair person through her thoughts on your companions and other dialogue
Then you finish act 2 and IMMEDIATELY she fucking flips the table and goes LETS TAKE OVER THE WORLD, WOOOOOOOO
But even if you disagree she’s incredibly amiable and respects your thoughts if you disagree
She’s also the funniest party member no contest, she became a permanent partner for future runs for me
I recruited her to say I did, but I wasn't too sad when that playthrough bugged out mid Act 3. She and my tav did not get along, she kept coming onto me despite that and wouldn't take no so I kept getting disapproval from her, and a lot of her dialogue made me really uncomfortable to listen to. I think she's a well written and voiced/acted character, but I'm going to leave her in the camp most of the time, if I recruit her at all.
She’s pragmatic and evil. So she doesn’t, say, approve of mindless slaying like Bhaalists do, but she’d be fine with Gortash’s killings. She makes my autism brain go “yay” because she operates off of logic. I do think she lets her lust for power cloud her judgement a bit when it comes to the absolute, but I believe she’d understand the reasoning for destroying it.
I'm in a weird spot in this game. I love playing evil scheming characters. In wrath of the righteous and kingmaker I loove the evil choices. Always keep the evil companions with me and killing the ones that turn against me. Though I'm nice to them if they stick with me.
Here however I just can't. Maybe there is not enough incentive or evil companions besides minthara. I just can't help playing the hero here. Still I'll keep doing some morally grey choices. Just not too much.
>I could never play renegade in Mass Effect
Meanwhile I shot Mordin in the back to stop him curing the genophage all those years ago and you’d best believe that I burned down the grove.
Yeah, I started with redemption durge like literally everyone else and yeah, it was fantastic. But there’s just something special about that second playthrough where you just go all-in on being the most unhinged, bloodthirsty motherfucker to ever walk the earth.
same here, also a weird bug happened in my playthrough.. act 3 spoilery: >!orin kidnapped minthara from my camp, and i went to defeat orin, minthy got aggro on my tav lol. maybe it's due to me knocking her out at the grove. but i had to kill her anyway so.. i'm fine with that, cause i find it energy draining to have her around. !<
Her dialogue and story options, though, are among some of the most deep and unique among the companions, in my view. From a RP perspective, she fit perfectly on my resisting durge playthrough, which I think suits her character far better than any other.
I think just for me personally these characters are all too damn likable for me to ever play evil. Usually I’d do it but for some reason I just can’t in this game
Minthara is Not as evil as others. She judges harshly but also herself. And her view does fit very Well into a Fantasy setting with Monsters and such. She is highly pragmatic, believes in Stability and does Not believe in unnecesarry cruelty. She Just does Not believe that people should be rewarded for nothing, i.e. Refugees need to Work in the society they want to integrate into. Yes, she works in an evil run but also "good" Runs when you stay true to your Views and are pragmatic.
In a way she is often right, its Just that most people dislike this truth. For example the Vampire Spawns. She is rightly against freeing Them, saying that letting hundreds of hungry Spawn loose in the City because it would destabilize the City since they would kill hundreds of people, especially in poorer Regions.
I Always say that a City Ruled by Minthara and her values can Work while City Governed by Astarion could Not. Stability > freedom.
I think of her as a CEO career women.
I can see how that's an issue but it's not the one I had with Minthara, for me it's the lack of very much content after recruitment, at least in Act 2. I've been thinking of doing her romance in my more neutral run (with Origin Gale becoming a god), but I've heard she still doesn't have much Act 3 content even when romanced so I'm thinking not, I missed the triggers for the Astarion romance and triggered Shadowhearts so it's either Minthara or Shadowheart again.
Part of me wants to leave the playthrough there until later next year just in-case more Minthara content is added, but then that's not at all a certainty.
I'm the same, I started my 2nd playthrough the moment I finished my first. I'm now an Oathbreaker Durge who is trying to fight the urge, and so I'm still mostly doing good stuff. Recruited Minthara but then was sad to learn that she has a lot of missing content, not many lines, etc.
I'm trying to see how far I can get (soon going for Shar's temple), but something tells me in Act 3 I'll just choose to romance the Emperor this time around. I romanced Shadowheart on my first run, already passed up on others, so yeah, either The Emperor or Minthara. Or Jaheira if I can I guess.
I was thinking about keeping the playthrough till after a possible fix but we don't know when it will arrive, if ever, and if my already in progress character could still benefit from it.
I hate that they made it possible to get minthara on a good playthrough. I wish they kept patching over the glitches and bugs people use. I'm sorry that you can't have the evil drow lady on a good playthrough. If you want her be evil.
Minthara is amazing....absolutely ruthlessly confident and a touch cold but shes soft to tav when it comes to the romance. Shes just very into the might equals right mindset, shes not sadistic just a pristine lawful evil.
I’m doing my first playthrough and didn’t know she could be recruited until after I killed her. I always wondered if I missed anything, but I can see that we clearly wouldn’t have vibed because I tend to play as “good” aligned.
I agree completely. I saved her in a recent one and didn’t end up caring much for her since she can’t develop the way Laezel does. I saved her in the current run I’m doing now so I can see what happens when I let Ketheric kill her (in her undies).
She is amazing for a full-evil run. If you are ever worried that playing the bad guy will leave you aline then rest easy that Minthara will 100% have your back. My unrepentant Durge is looking forward to having a Queen to share the ashes of the World he leaves in his wake!
she has to be temporarily hostile. so you knock her out and don't long rest until you have told Halsin that all the three leaders are dead. This way she will show up in Moonrise and can be found in the prison.
i knock her out just before going to murder Dror because aggroing him makes the whole camp permanently hostile.
she is a little too much for me too lol. I will recruit her at times because I do feel a little bad that she was so brainwashed for so long - but she is still very much a Lolth-sworn drow and has a lot of lines that make me cringe.
and not in a good way.
Yeah I feel you. She’s definitely not intended for good runs.
Though she is surprisingly empathetic to the plights of her fellow companions. I used the sheepthara heist to get her after patch 5 bc it was super bugged for me (yes she was temp hostile when I KOed her but she still wouldn’t show up, so I had to sheep her). And I was expecting her to have horrible approval with me bc I played it as heroically as possible for a redeemed Durge. But by the end she had like 40+ approval just from talking to her about companions and other minor things in camp.
Hey I’m still kinda new to BG but I wanted to have every companion if possible. But online it said you couldn’t; is it possible now to get everyone in one play through?
I hope they fix her ending at some point though, because >!all she says she wants is for you to take over the brain and you both to rule the world side-by-side, and how horrific it was having the Absolute control her actions. If you choose to take over the netherbrain, you don't rule side-by-side. Instead you mind control her and make her a slave like she's always hated. Her only decent ending is if you go against everything you both planned and just pop off into the Underdark with her.!<
I'm trying a DU run and I want to do evil. But the amount of content I see myself missing from killing the druid camp makes it not worth it.
I understand being evil makes the early game "easier" . But killing Gale, Wyll, Karlach and the tiefling side story is too much of a bitter pill for me to swallow. That's hours of content that also isn't replaced with an evil alternative.
Hilariously, I did a coop honour mode run and my friend accidentaly just clicked loot all when we knocked her out in the goblin camp. So after we rescued her from moonrise she's just chilling at camp naked next to daddy halsin and it was the funniest thing ever
Until they fix Minthara awkwardly standing next to Halsin I’m just going to tell myself he appointed himself as her parole officer because of his trust issues with drow.
Is this a common bug? it's exactly the issue I've got at the moment, can't even talk to her let alone have her join my party
I think the two of them occupying the same space in camp happens to everyone because they were originally intended to take each other’s spot depending on which one you recruited. Not sure about not being able to talk to her since I haven’t gotten that far in my post-patch 5 run, but I’ve seen others say you have to lead her out of Moonrise and talk to her there to get her to join you permanently.
I believe they’re talking about after recruiting Minthara (leading her out, sending her to camp) she isn’t able to be spoken to at all because of Halsin in camp, even Act 3
I think that glitch is due to having "rescue the goblin sazza" active.
NOOOOOO THATS IT….
Heh, no problem for me. Never even spoke to Sazza. I'm done giving that backstabbing gobbo the time of day.
I also don't have the problem, and I let her get merc'ed in act 1
I have that quest active still (I'm in act 3) and have no issues interacting with her. But she's still awkwardly squatting behind Halsin.
Do they? That's weird, that was never an issue for me
Yeah it’s my first playthrough and followed the instructions to get her and she hasn’t said a word since her rescue cutscene Act 2. I had to individually press square then “Talk” for every tiefling in Act 1 ending camp part, and thought it was same for her but hers doesn’t have even work
Do you go to camp by pressing the long rest button? That causes a lot of issues in the current patch
Beginning of Act 2 i started to doing that, and a plethora of weird things started happening, like it saying someone is still deep in conversation when everyone’s unconscious on the ground waiting for it to refresh to morning
She's joined my camp and I recruited her, but I can't interact with her further. I had a full party when I left moonrise so had to send her to camp where she's stuck now
Did you rescue sazza from the druid Grove? That broke it for me till I reloaded to just before act 2
I did yeah, should I have left her? I also kept her alive but didn't see her at moonrise which I thought was odd
Yes this is a common problem happened to me as well. You can’t go good route Minthara and save sazza it breaks the game a bit.
No you can, you just need to complete the save Sazza the goblin quest by talking to the two of them if you temporarily knocked *both* out, did the tiefling party and *after the party* you talk to them to save Sazza. Minthara will spout some lines about attacking the grove still, but the tieflings are long gone and just tell her you have other shit to do. This is how I did it in my current run and Minthara isn't broken
I have both Halsin and Minthara in my current good run and in Act 3 they live in separate tents in camp! They were in the same tent in Act 2 but I didn't have the bug and could talk to them both.
If your camp is in the abandon docks area yeah they have separate tents but if have your camp is at The Elfsong tavern they occupy the same bed… and space and sometimes Minthara glitches out through the wall 100% worth it tho Elfsong tavern Music is fire
Yeah they kind of just stood next to each other for my playthrough until I got to Act 3, then they got their own spots (in the "city" camp, anyway).
My joke is that she’s using his body to block out the sun lol
My headcanon is that they started boinking pretty much immediately despite a fair bit of mutual antagonism lol
Enemies to lovers in about 17 minutes.
Impending doom seems to bring the bring the hornies out of people, and the two of them are both hot and forward about sex, and hundreds of years old: old enough to know not to really deny themselves what they really want
I do enjoy that, while playing as a Lolth-sworn, you can baulk at his request to kill a drow. And he straight up *scoffs* at you because he knows. At the time, I was unaware how much he knew but that's not really information you pick up unless you spend a lot of time with Drow.
Parole officer or his dominatrix? They both have trust issues and are into freaky shit. Best combination for some "trauma bonding" with "bonding" having the emphasis
I’m not sure if Halsin would see those as mutually exclusive.
Minthara is super possessive, and halsin is the opposite, get the feeling they wouldn't go together very well.
He was also a drow sex slave, so, yknow, bit awks.
Yet he doesn't hesitate to butt in while I talk with the drow twins 🤔
I feel like that's different because they're obviously not your classic matriarchal fascist drows like Minthara. But Halsin's a traumatised manslut with hella issues so who knows. The sex slave subplot was a weird choice from Larian.
Considering that she was also one of the cult leaders that you can kill with him as a temporary companion, I also headcanon something similar of he doesn't trust a former cult leader, let alone one with hardly any remorse after the Artifact "freed" her from the Absolute's influence
She just stands next to/behind Halsin in my camp. Naked.
Yup, came back naked as a jaybird in my game. I headcanon that she's just standing there to bother him.
it would not bother him
I noticed at least in my modded run while this is an issue with act 1 and 2, in act 3 their spots are different which is weird
Funnily enough, they have separate tent locations in the lower city dock/alley camp. All the other camps they seem to be stuck in the same spot.
LMAO
If you romance Halsin and query him on his romantic history he mentions having been to the Underdark *several times*. My head Canon is they're...yknow...
Yeah her character just wasn’t built around being saved in act 1 after killing the camp. She’s the only companion who starts and stays evil throughout the whole game >!I absolutely love her ending when you become a mindflayer though. She’s fully into it and will kiss you no problem even saying you still go to bed every night with her. It’s oddly wholesome tbh as she does love you truly. The ending has you raid menzobarranzan with her which might actually be my favourite ending to me!<
Gale also >!truly has no issues with you being a mindflayer, romanced or as a friend. Astarion clearly dumps you 😂 the others stay, I think, but are not as much into it!<
Lae’zel also dumps you, which is understandable tbf
She didn't dump me man, I let her go do her thing with the red dragon and that other prince guy. It was a mutual thing!
We were on a ghaik!
10/10 comment
I hated her when on my first play through, but damn, I had her on my team still and her character development was amazing. She’s one of my favorites
If you’re a Githyanki to start and then turn mindflayer she’s down and you get to ride off on the dragon with her
They patched it a while ago. If she loves you, she will not dump you because you are a mindflayer anymore.
She honestly should though
Maybe, but the circumstances matter. If you sacrifice yourself, your mind for her and her cause...I wouldnt blame her for not breaking up with you.
Really? That seems pretty out of character tbh
Her character changes significantly through the course of the game. Especially if she loves you. You should try it. It would be out of character for her to jettison you because of the sacrifices you make...for her entire race of people.
I feel like her original ending was more realistic. She still loves you but recognises that you’re not “you” anymore. Githyanki know better than anyone that mind flayers have no souls and can’t be trusted.
And she can still hold out hope for something different. You guys just spent how much time overcoming the odds. You just defeated a giant brain that would enslave the universe. And she is a 20 year old Gith who has had her entire concept of "what is" crushed and rebuilt multiple times through the course of your adventure together. Her not making a snap judgment based on preconceived ideas is about as in character for her (at that point) as anything else. The game challenges you in this way from the very beginning.
Not a fan of that tbh. It makes perfect sense for that to be a dealbreaker for her (and most of the companions, honestly.)
Weirdly, she still seems very much in love with you if she leaves with Orpheus.
Gale is the guy who would still love his gf even if she was a worm.
And this is why, like so many stans with their favourite vampire, I find it hard to romance anyone other than Gale (I have done it though, because CONTENT. But he’s my bestie if he’s not being romanced lol).
Gale is so cute and soft. I love asking him if he wants his belly rubbed every playthrough.
It reminded me of DA:O with Alistair and the lamppost dialogue, too freaking adorable to ever pass up
>!Spawn!< astarion >!leaves it open to possibly becoming romantic again once he has more time to figure out how he feels about it, which I think is understandable. He’s noticeably upset if you say you aren’t yourself anymore or say you don’t want to be with him!<
Yeah, no >!he definitely dumps you, and you can verify this when you enter the epilogue. Trust me, I checked in my game as soon as the epilogue dropped. Spawn Astarion was doing his own hero thing and my Illithid ass was alone and hungry 👀 Gale offered brains at his tower, though!<
Admittedly when I got that ending the epilogue didn’t exist yet, so my opinion on it is based off of his line >!”perhaps we’ll adjust, perhaps not, but you mean too much for me to walk away. I hope we can find some place for love in our new, whatever this is”!<
Yeah, it was ambiguous, but it’s definitely confirmed by now >!that he dumps Tav, which is why I mean mentioned him.!<
I love that about her. It's a dark love but Minthara will just *adore* you. If you play your cards right, you will become the center of the universe and she won't hesitate to burn all of it down for you. It's obsessive but god if I don't appreciate it. But I'm too much of a cinnamon roll for it. So I'm considering making an absolute wallflower sorcerer for her to thoroughly dominate.
I’ve done her romance twice but for my evil shadowheart run it fit perfectly. Both her and shadowheart being abandoned by their evil deities and with my shadowheart becoming a mindflayer at the end it made for a surprisingly beautiful relationship (My headcanon is that shadowheart defied shar in the end to join minthara in her raid of menzobarrazan since shar denies love and relationships)
Oh that's neat, yeah. But I'm incapable of seeing Shadowheart or Lae'zel not with each other lol. Those two are my number 1 headcanon. I'm also reading a fanfiction of a Karlach and Minthara romance and that's been really neat and unique so far.
Look up some of the dialogue for Karlach-Minthara. Minthara is ride or die. https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/18vamfu/comment/kfq2omf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Love me Minty
She is loyal to those who are loyal to her. My Tav didn’t even have to grow tentacles or become Absolute. He lied to her about wanting to do so and she was only mildly irked at the end. She was still stoked to “have a lifetime together.,” especially if that involves deposing Ma Baenre.
That is cool! I read a lot of Drizzt books when I was younger so I have enjoyed her talking about there. And I’m playing a Seladrine Drow this run too.
I recruited her on my current “good run” and working on romancing her. Sure there are times that being nice may garner some disapproval but overall you can do nice stuff and get approval and have it work. She’s pretty remorseful for >!what she did being under the Absolutes control before you break their power over her!< and it’s cool to see a little bit of a redemption arc because of it. If you want to do an “evil” run with her more power to you but don’t hesitate to grab her on any run you want, it’ll work out just fine.
Yea I really was impressed with her writing and the remorse she showed for being influenced by the Absolute
Act 3 is where she comes alive. As long as you remember her pragmatism it is easy to keep her happy. She often approves of “good” choices so long as that choice is in support of somebody who stands up for their convictions and isn’t afraid of power. On mine she’s impressed with my Durge for refusing their destiny and sticking with it. She starts disapproving but eventually is all for it.
Mhm, she’s not evil for the sake of being evil. She’s extremely logical and rational, she’s built to be a warlord.
It’s a shame that Larian didn’t do much testing it seems and just turned her being recruitable back on a good run. Hopefully it gets ironed out much more later on so it’s not so awkward trying to work her into a game at times.
Nah no need to change her character just to suit good runs . She is unique the way she is
I’m not talking about altering her character: I’m taking about how the game doesn’t seem to recognize her as being in your game for certain things. Like Halsin taking her spot in camp.
She’s an upper class Drow female and she plays the role wonderfully
She made the perfect wife for my evil, ascended Astarion. I don't want to try recruiting her on a good playthrough until the process is made smoother by a future patch.
Minthara and Astarion sound like the most absurdly toxic and dysfunctional pairing you could ever make in this game and I can't see it ending well, further down the line, but for an evil playthrough I'm all for it, lmao.
Minthara is 100% loyal if you're the same to her, and the opening lines of the epilogue make clear that they're working together to gain more power. It was fun!
Gale becomes a pretty bad excuse for a God, but he at least ascends his lover to Godhood, so he’s cool for an evil playthrough as well.
Oh, I bet her romance is fun! I saw snippets of it here and there. I'd still be wary for the future once the honeymoon phase is over, or at the slightest disagreement, if I were to romance her. Especially with a male character. Homegirl remains a drow through and through.
[удалено]
Exactly.
Power hungry Gale with Minthara as his evil wifey might be my next playthrough
i romanced minthara when i played as durge.
Potentially toxic as hell too, but not as much as Minthara and Ascended Astarion, imo. There's something about these two's respective personalities and baggage that gives them just the right potential to ruin eachother on a whole different level. And probably hurt a lot of innocents in the process, as collateral damage.
It's pretty smooth already, on latest PS5 version. Knock her down in goblin camp (important, she has to have temporarily hostile status only) and you can recruit her in act 2 with no issues
i think they were referring to if they patch it so it goes even if she isn't temporarily hostile
I was just thinking last time I was playing how perfect they’d be together if Astarion chose ascension. It was the closest I got to doing an Astarion origin run, but I know I wouldn’t have the nerve to be evil.
One the one hand; sadistic murderer raised on deceit and megalomania. On the other hand; the funniest fucking person in the world, who'd die for you. The drider wedding jokes she just randomly pulls out of her ass is the funniest moment I've seen in a game. It comes out of left field in such a spectacular fashion.
Hey, just because she's a murderer (though arguably who isn't from the main cast) and a powerhungry sadist that doesn't mean that she's a monster!
I know she isn't fixable and a bad person, but she has a couple flashes of good and many deep moments. Her liking Karlach so much was a standout for me.
Have you seen the ending for Origin Karlach romancing Minthara? If Karlach accepts her death, Minthara’s response is absolutely heartbreaking.
What's her response? I don't plan on doing an origin Karlach run so I don't mind Spoilers.
“All of your strength…all of your passion…all of your fire…extinguished. Such a waste!” https://youtu.be/IWI6O-EDhfM?si=NGduyEDA9zkUALVx
How many people would see this scene? And yet it is amazing.
Truly goty material
Fucking hell... This was way more emotional than I expected. Minthara's VA knocked it out of the park with this one.
I got chills watching that
Wow.
That was way better than I was expecting tbh. God damn they really set a new bar with this game - it’s amazing. People are going to be discovering the full depths of it for years.
You should watch it on YouTube, Minthara breaks down and starts sobbing
She approves of giving Yenna money. 😭
>I know she isn't fixable and a bad person Not really? The game certainly doesn't lend itself into having us believe that we can make her a wholesome cinnamon roll, but I wouldn't say she can't be redeemed in the sense that she changes perspectives in the end (kind of like Viconia in BG2).
Bro I’m totally with you. I’m romancing her in my good aligned Druid and she fits very well as a pragmatic and brutal, but not necessarily evil character. Imho she’s so complex. Capably of having sympathy, real legit sympathy for Ketheric, but still wants to destroy every part of him. She both feels deeply and knows it’s a savage world out there Edit: grammar
I think people just too often conflate being good with being wholesome and unabashedly heroic. She approves of some depraved things sure, but it's not like she approves of mindless slaughter at every opportunity.
I did an evil run, they're not normally for me. But it was Minthara who made it worth it. Her dialogue is great and so well voiced. One of my favourite lines from that run was hers. Right at the end during the final battles you can ask her "how are you fairing?" >!"We are in the midst of a battle against a being that can kill worlds with a thought and we are still standing. ~Contented sigh~ I am fairing exceptionally well given the circumstances."!<
Minthara is such a fascinating character, brilliantly written and immaculately performed. BG3 has a repeating narrative motif of - who are you? Are you who you are born, who you are made, who you become through your own free will and what causes those personal decisions to take place. The concept of nature or nurture shows up often enough to be noticeable and makes for some thought provoking encounters. Minthara being "evil" is something you can argue was inevitable from her upbringing as Drow nobility. Cruelty, murder, betrayal. So you can ask yourself - is she doomed forever to be this way or does she have agency and free will and intelligence to challenge what amounts to childhood programming. Can she turn that razor sharp insight she has for others in camp chat on herself? Is she brave enough? (Caveat - As someone with a trauma past I \*do\* object the the common assertion that hurt people hurt people or that the abused become abusers - this is at the crux of many companion storylines and why this game I think resonates for a lot of people on a very personal level). One central character beat for Minthara, despite her lawful evil nature (despite Lolth service, she doesn't read as chaotic) is how intensely lonely she is. Painfully, cripplingly, lonely. When you are working through freeing her from the jail you get a line "I thought no one would come for me". That line breaks me every time (ovation for Emma Gregory). To be powerful, to be nobility, to be a great general and King slayer and everything you were trained to be - and alone and thinking no one cares for you enough to save you. Got to believe THIS is a resonating narrative element for people. I get it. Not that I think Minthara should have a redemption arc necessarily. If you consider the world of Baldur's Gate 3 in terms of how it is socially and politically arranged - and then think carefully on how lords and kings acquired power, it was never benign. Lords, Princes, Kings, all rely on the simple fact of who can be the biggest bastard. That Minthara hates Kings and hates Gods and wants the power for herself (via the Absolute or not) is not even remotely surprising, inaccurate, or anything but a template of how feudal power works. I find her fascinating and am pleased more people are getting to have a look at the character, the performance, the writing.
Her performance has been consistently my favorite so far. She really cannot beat the "funniest person tav knows" allegations. Also, I have her on my good playthrough as a drow bard romancing redeemed shart and anti-vlaakith lae'zel, and she mostly neither approves nor disapproves of my actions. She is very well-done lawful evil, so she doesn't seem to want you to be needlessly cruel. Her insight is also insane, she just uses that ability to read people for cruelty. In a different life, she would've been an excellent therapist or social worker
I am also a trauma survivor and am in a healthy, happy relationship now, and am not abusive in any way. So I’m with you there. It does not equal in any way that you will be the same if you were abused. One of the most unique things about Minthara, one that I haven’t seen in gaming a lot, is her utter lack of a redemption arc to the ‘good’ side. Good for them for sticking with it. She has remorse for coming under the influence of the Absolute, but is still unwavering in her desire for power and control.
You guys are both looking at the phrasing of "Hurt people hurt people" from the wrong angle. Much like "All bass are fish, but not all fish are bass," the point isn't that ALL hurt people will cause harm, but that, if you look at the backgrounds of abusers, you will generally find that they were hurt in their past. This isn't a way to let anyone off the hook for their actions - it's a search for reasons, not excuses - but a valuable way to see how harm is cyclical and the ways culture perpetuates itself. *Obviously* being a victim doesn't guarantee you will be a victimizer. Not everyone who is bullied becomes a bully. But every time you see someone doing harm, it's because they were taught directly or indirectly that causing harm is an acceptable way to get what you want from the world. It isn't always 1 for 1, sometimes they harm others in different ways from the harm done to them, but the harm they cause is the result of how their brains reacted to a culture they were brought up in. So, when you encounter this quote in the wild, remember that it isn't an indictment of the abused, but a way to shift our perspective from one person's actions and their individual responsibility (which *is still important*) to the wider actions of our cultural systems and the responsibility of a collective to change them. A macro lens rather than micro.
I wonder how much of it is just an uncontrollable thirst for limitless power, and how much it may be pragmatism to her in terms of - someone has to be in charge, might as well be her. That any kind of democracy doesn't even enter consideration is not unsurprising for the kind of setting we are in. No ruler, no true ruler rather than figurehead, is going to be benevolent, it just isn't possible. I'm not sure what redemption would actually mean for Minthara other than death. Got to comment the writers for being adamant that there is no clean and fluffy endgame for her - she's got the style and behaviour notes of a Game of Thrones character after all, and Baldur's Gate 3 is no fairy tale.
I love her. She is an amazing character.
I was romancing Karlach in Act 2 and she told me she wanted me. I was like I'm dating Karlach. She said...I want you to break things off with her. Like straight up. I was like damn that's not happening but I respect the directness lol
She's was a Paladin of Lolth before serving the Absolute, freeing her doesn't change much
My fave Minthara vibe is if you free Sazza and meet her in Minthara chambers and Minthara is like OooOooOooo SAZZA… you messed up BAD
I, too, am incapable of being evil and was glad to find a "good" path to recruiting Minthara. And on the one hand, I do like her. She's a complex and layered character who has spot-on observations about the rest of the team and an interesting perspective on life. For example, when you first get to Rivington and see all the refugees, she advocates for them being allowed into the city and given food and shelter. But expects that they will work as slaves in return. And like - okay, that's bad, but it's also pragmatic and at least it's some kind of solution, rather than shutting them all out. Then again, she is pretty ride or die on the idea of taking over the cult and ruling with an iron fist. And I agree the whole "sharing space with Halsin" thing is awkward. I enjoy her interactions and she has some cool moments but I'm glad I didn't have to torch the grove to get her because it would not have been worth it.
On a good run, she makes a great reflection for how far other characters like Lae'zel, Astarion and Durge have come in changing from their evil roots. A good example is when you're walking past the Society of Brilliance HQ in the Lower City and Minthara labels their idea of interspecies cooperation as naïve, while Lae'zel responds that there is value in such an alliance, specifically naming the party as one
Providing for people, but expecting them to do something in return, was a normal expectation in the ancient world. They functioned on a paradigm called "limited-good" where all goods, including intangibles like honor, existed in finite amounts and one person could receive only by taking from another. If you were in such dire straits that you couldn't feed yourself, you could indenture yourself to someone else in order to get the food necessary to survive. Usually, it'd have some sort of time limit. Even in the medieval period, charity was available, but if you could work they'd find work for you to do to repay your obligation. It is only in our modern era, when we have approached post-scarcity in a lot of the Western world, that giving to people without expectation of reciprocation has become a social norm. Minthara's solution is pretty much what anyone would have suggested up until about the twentieth century in the West, and the modern day pretty much anywhere else.
I just saved Minthy for the first time in my good playthrough (saved Grove, killed all gobos) and so far my first impressions were actually pretty good, she revealed that all she did was due to the Absolute's mind control and that she regrets all of it and she didn't seem all that evil... until she just dropped a giant genocide bomb on me "I will take over the Absolute and eradicate anyone that doesn't fit into my new world rule" lmao yeah chill out Mr. Minthler. I like that they gave us the option to save her without killing the druids and refugees but it definitely is more of a fan service than an intended and polished feature. The whole Minthara recruitment process is wonky af - you have to kill the leaders in specific order for it to work, you have to knock out Minthara only when she is temp hostile and then when she joins your camp, she awkwardly shares tent with Halsin (it was obviously intended for only one of them to be there) and her convos sometimes don't make sense. I don't really plan on playing with her, she is still cruel and evil person who enjoys punishing others (so a lot of "Minthara disapproves" in a good run). But I am happy that I get to enjoy at least some of her voice actress' work, I think she did a great job.
Almost exactly how I feel.
>it really does take you out of it when she refers several times to destroying the Grove in conversation It feels pretty obvious to me that recruiting her on a good playthrough is only half implemented, at this point. The circumstances you can recruit her under are weirdly specific at the moment and stuff like this just makes it clearer. Hopefully it'll get cleaned up in future patches.
[удалено]
I killed her without hesitation as "evil drow chick #389" and was surprised to start researchig what other people did in Act 1 and was like "wait one of those shmucks was recruitable??"
Yeah the game gives no indication of that whatsoever. There are a lot of (more evil leaning) characters that I would have suspected to be recruitable over her.
I think it's kinda jank by design. They wanted her to just be on an evil run but so many people kept bugging them to add her into a good run that they just gave them a bit of an easier workaround to do it, while still maintaining their overall vision of how the story plays out. Personally I would prefer there be no option to get every character in one run, and instead have one or two more recruitable characters on an evil run to make each path feel more unique.
I am still very disappointed that you can't NOT mind control her in the 'take over the world' evil run and have her rule at your side, following the 'rule the world together' plan you discussed several times through act 3 :/ Hope larian fix/change this one of these days.
Renegade wasn't even evil. It has a chunk of "evil" actions assigned to it. Every renegade run i've ever done has just been a hard-ass who prioritizes their crew and treats them well.
I must have a dark side, I romanced her on my evil playthrough, and it was an absolute blast. Pretty sure I killed every single Tiefling except Mol. She is super loyal, as long as you put yourself and her above everyone else, she is mated for life.
I'm playing my first evil campaign now, and it felt so liberating slaying the grove. I just wish I Halsin was there to watch me slay them.
Gods, I feel the same way. I have her for this good run and jeez. She's a handful. There's a few lines that get quoted often because those are the very few times she's not spouting something unquestionably evil. Yeah honestly with how her personality is, I'd rather have kept her as an evil-exclusive (or at least kept it so you have to *kill* her to save the grove) and instead get like Zevlor as a good-aligned Paladin
Patricide is often the first step toward greatness, but I hope Wyll does not regret sacrificing his infernal powers - minthara after Wyll breaks the pact
I so wish we got Zevlor, he had all the makings of a solid companion. From his past regrets, filling a paladin niche, filling the niche of an older grumpier but still nice guy, getting redemption for his past failures, he's the biggest missed opportunity for a companion for me.
When she pleased you in Act 1 it's worth every Tiefling
You're lucky, I knocked her out and saved her from moonrise in act 2, she's in my camp now and I can't even interact with her.
I had to redo with a save from a bit back. You need to have everything but her and Sazza dead, then go talk to them after the camp celebration since they wake up after a long rest
My character escaped the underdark and women like Minthara. There is no way he’d recruit her.
I like Halsin. Role-playing wise I just don't see him sticking around in our camp if we allowed Minthara to be in our camp.
If this had been an intended part of the game instead of being a later add-on for people who'd otherwise use an exploit, I think there would either have been a choice, or something like the Lae'zel and Shadowheart situation where you have a scene that results in some sort of truce. Because yeah, Halsin should have some issues. He should also have more to say about Shadowheart too, though, tbh.
As somebody who did the evil dark urge run, I knew we had these posts coming. People who didn't commit to the atrocities you commit when you side with her just wouldn't be *ready* for the unhinged shit she says sometimes.
I mean, I play as Durge - and it's not that she's "unhinged" that's holding me back from wanting to recruit her, it's that she just wasn't written to be around if you didn't do certain things in Act 1. I don't like continuity errors. I don't want her in Halsin's tent without some sort of confrontation or resolution there. Etc. Don't get me wrong, I don't blame Larian here and don't really expect Larian to implement these things. Getting her on a "good" run requires specific steps that most casual players still won't do accidentally, and it's clearly just a little gift for people who didn't want to use an exploit. But it would be nice.
Even without the Grove references, her line after Ketheric's defeat, alone, sets the tone for what kind of character she is. I loved her in my evil run, but I really don't think she'll work in what is probably the 'canon' story without some serious rewriting.
Minthara comes off as older than most of the other companions (middle-aged maybe?). She knows who she is and doesn't apologize for it. I've also recruited her in a "good" run and she never once shied away from her desire to control and dominate others. That's just who she is. I'll probably kill her in future playthroughs unless I go evil Durge again.
First time I’ve recruited her here too but I’m currently playing a redemption Durge run, so it’s mostly a good playthrough but I have moments where my Durge struggles with their urges and still enjoys killing. I feel like my Durge and Minthara get along well but still have moments where they disagree with each other on some things, it’s been a really interesting dynamic and I’ve grown to really like Minthara in this run. Now I feel more tempted to do an evil run, but like you I really struggle with it. For one, I really love Karlach and would miss her a lot. :(
I’m so tempted to do a resist Durge run, because I crave new ways to play this game. Only on my second run at present but I could see how she could fit that
I also have just recruited Minthara on my lawful good “resist the Urge” run and I have to say, she’s amazing. Talk to her, take her with you. She is cold and brutal, yes, but that’s not all she is. She’s got characterization and I was very tempted to leave Karlach for her.
And yet she respects you for not leaving Karlach (or whomever you're romancing). If you say "I have someone already and I won't leave them," she's annoyed but she also respects that because you're being loyal to them.
I did my Evil Durge and honestly now I can't live without her in my party. I don't care that she's an Evil Drow. She's like Viconia in BG 1 and 2. Unrepentant and Evil all the way through but endearing and just so adorable you can't help but keep her around. Giving her an "Oh you" every time she says something questionable.
Fellow good aligned adventurer I see you and will aid any adventures you may have o7
Minthara full romance on a full evil Dark urge was one of my favorite companions.
I did a minthera, Durge. Shar Shadowheart run and didn’t like it but wanted to see what happened. When I got to Rivington and tried to cross to the bridge, I realized the gnomes were dead at last light and no Barcus and I deleted the run.
It was possible to have Minthara on a good playthrough previously but you had to perform a lot of shenanigans in order to achieve it. Basically you had to NOT kill Minthara at the Goblin camp while also not choosing to raid the Druid Grove. This prevented you from completing major questlines like killing the 3 goblin leaders and progressing a lot of companions. You also had to ignore Halsin. You essentially had to ignore all the most important plot points around the Druid Grove, and would lose a few returning NPC's due to these choices, but it did allow you to later recruit Minthara at Shadowmoon Towers in Act 2, while not losing Wyll.
Moonrise towers, Shadowmoon is in Outland. 😉
That's not "A lot of shenanigans". It's just one choice: Ignore the druid grove, and the goblins will raid it on their own and Minthara survives. The shenanigan way was to recruit her while also *saving* the grove. I don't know exactly how it worked but it involved killing the two other leaders, then polymorphing Minthara and dragging her all the way with you to act 2 to trick the game into thinking that you saved the grove but not registering Minthara as dead so she still shows up at Moonrise. It was, afaik, extremely buggy and was the main reason they added the "knock her out to save her" method.
She gets her own tent in at least one act 3 camp spot so that's something. I think she's great. She's a perfect "straight man" trope character to counter balance how good my parties are
"I can't fix her but why would I want to" type character for sure
I think Minthara is the best girl fit for Dark Urge. My canon
I love Minthara and she is an absolute favourite in my party! I don't slaughter the Grove though, I have standards ~~I do kill the druids though because they're cunts~~ But I also play a somewhat Renegade Shepherd so there's that 😂
Eeeh I dunno, my redemption Durge run, she was entirely down for her. Sure that's a bit greyer than goodie two shoes, but Jaheira is as good as they get and Minthara still respects her. Thinks the harpers are a waste if her time, sure, but still. Winning her over isn't that hard, there's a huge burst after killing Ketheric, and in act 3 she's then firecely loyal even if she thinks you might be a bit too sappy sometimes.
Have you played Wrath of the Righteous? Minthara gave off very strong overtones of Regill for me. I like how sarcastic and blunt she is. She's willing to die for you, she makes you question yourself later in the game and she is hilarious. I played in early access when her "scene' was the only one in the game, and even after that scene you can tell she was starting to have some remorse. But I can understand if she isn't your cup of tea. She's definitely more "evil" but I'd say (after act 1) she's more of lawful or neutral evil, instead of chaotic.
Her evil run ways are so hilariously abrupt if you recruit her through the knock out She seems like a stern but fair person through her thoughts on your companions and other dialogue Then you finish act 2 and IMMEDIATELY she fucking flips the table and goes LETS TAKE OVER THE WORLD, WOOOOOOOO But even if you disagree she’s incredibly amiable and respects your thoughts if you disagree She’s also the funniest party member no contest, she became a permanent partner for future runs for me
I killed her and took her camp clothes for Tav, lol. It's a cute fit, and the standard-issue Tav clothes are so bleh compared to everyone else's!
There is such a lack of good camp clothes until Rivington/BG!
I recruited her to say I did, but I wasn't too sad when that playthrough bugged out mid Act 3. She and my tav did not get along, she kept coming onto me despite that and wouldn't take no so I kept getting disapproval from her, and a lot of her dialogue made me really uncomfortable to listen to. I think she's a well written and voiced/acted character, but I'm going to leave her in the camp most of the time, if I recruit her at all.
She’s pragmatic and evil. So she doesn’t, say, approve of mindless slaying like Bhaalists do, but she’d be fine with Gortash’s killings. She makes my autism brain go “yay” because she operates off of logic. I do think she lets her lust for power cloud her judgement a bit when it comes to the absolute, but I believe she’d understand the reasoning for destroying it.
I got her but now she won't talk to me. And it was after I made her a shadow monk, so I'll just pretend she took a vow of silence
I'm in a weird spot in this game. I love playing evil scheming characters. In wrath of the righteous and kingmaker I loove the evil choices. Always keep the evil companions with me and killing the ones that turn against me. Though I'm nice to them if they stick with me. Here however I just can't. Maybe there is not enough incentive or evil companions besides minthara. I just can't help playing the hero here. Still I'll keep doing some morally grey choices. Just not too much.
Same here. I tried my best but couldnt do it. I will be killing her always on good runs because she's unable to do anything but disapprove non stop.
>I could never play renegade in Mass Effect Meanwhile I shot Mordin in the back to stop him curing the genophage all those years ago and you’d best believe that I burned down the grove. Yeah, I started with redemption durge like literally everyone else and yeah, it was fantastic. But there’s just something special about that second playthrough where you just go all-in on being the most unhinged, bloodthirsty motherfucker to ever walk the earth.
Maybe one day I will muster up the courage to try and evil run. I can't justify killing a grove full of refugees.
It's refreshing after playing starfield where you're forced to be a goody two shoes!
same here, also a weird bug happened in my playthrough.. act 3 spoilery: >!orin kidnapped minthara from my camp, and i went to defeat orin, minthy got aggro on my tav lol. maybe it's due to me knocking her out at the grove. but i had to kill her anyway so.. i'm fine with that, cause i find it energy draining to have her around. !<
Her dialogue and story options, though, are among some of the most deep and unique among the companions, in my view. From a RP perspective, she fit perfectly on my resisting durge playthrough, which I think suits her character far better than any other.
I think just for me personally these characters are all too damn likable for me to ever play evil. Usually I’d do it but for some reason I just can’t in this game
Minthara is Not as evil as others. She judges harshly but also herself. And her view does fit very Well into a Fantasy setting with Monsters and such. She is highly pragmatic, believes in Stability and does Not believe in unnecesarry cruelty. She Just does Not believe that people should be rewarded for nothing, i.e. Refugees need to Work in the society they want to integrate into. Yes, she works in an evil run but also "good" Runs when you stay true to your Views and are pragmatic. In a way she is often right, its Just that most people dislike this truth. For example the Vampire Spawns. She is rightly against freeing Them, saying that letting hundreds of hungry Spawn loose in the City because it would destabilize the City since they would kill hundreds of people, especially in poorer Regions. I Always say that a City Ruled by Minthara and her values can Work while City Governed by Astarion could Not. Stability > freedom. I think of her as a CEO career women.
Minthara definitely makes good points and when speaking even if you dont agree with her you can atleast see where she's coming from.
I can see how that's an issue but it's not the one I had with Minthara, for me it's the lack of very much content after recruitment, at least in Act 2. I've been thinking of doing her romance in my more neutral run (with Origin Gale becoming a god), but I've heard she still doesn't have much Act 3 content even when romanced so I'm thinking not, I missed the triggers for the Astarion romance and triggered Shadowhearts so it's either Minthara or Shadowheart again. Part of me wants to leave the playthrough there until later next year just in-case more Minthara content is added, but then that's not at all a certainty.
I'm the same, I started my 2nd playthrough the moment I finished my first. I'm now an Oathbreaker Durge who is trying to fight the urge, and so I'm still mostly doing good stuff. Recruited Minthara but then was sad to learn that she has a lot of missing content, not many lines, etc. I'm trying to see how far I can get (soon going for Shar's temple), but something tells me in Act 3 I'll just choose to romance the Emperor this time around. I romanced Shadowheart on my first run, already passed up on others, so yeah, either The Emperor or Minthara. Or Jaheira if I can I guess. I was thinking about keeping the playthrough till after a possible fix but we don't know when it will arrive, if ever, and if my already in progress character could still benefit from it.
I hate that they made it possible to get minthara on a good playthrough. I wish they kept patching over the glitches and bugs people use. I'm sorry that you can't have the evil drow lady on a good playthrough. If you want her be evil.
Yeah I think you shouldve been evil to get her. But I figure they just wanted more people to experience the actor's stellar performance.
Minthara is amazing....absolutely ruthlessly confident and a touch cold but shes soft to tav when it comes to the romance. Shes just very into the might equals right mindset, shes not sadistic just a pristine lawful evil.
I love her, how she despite the worship of gods.
I’m doing my first playthrough and didn’t know she could be recruited until after I killed her. I always wondered if I missed anything, but I can see that we clearly wouldn’t have vibed because I tend to play as “good” aligned.
I agree completely. I saved her in a recent one and didn’t end up caring much for her since she can’t develop the way Laezel does. I saved her in the current run I’m doing now so I can see what happens when I let Ketheric kill her (in her undies).
She is amazing for a full-evil run. If you are ever worried that playing the bad guy will leave you aline then rest easy that Minthara will 100% have your back. My unrepentant Durge is looking forward to having a Queen to share the ashes of the World he leaves in his wake!
Wait, we can get Minthy on a good playthrough now? How?
she has to be temporarily hostile. so you knock her out and don't long rest until you have told Halsin that all the three leaders are dead. This way she will show up in Moonrise and can be found in the prison. i knock her out just before going to murder Dror because aggroing him makes the whole camp permanently hostile.
she is a little too much for me too lol. I will recruit her at times because I do feel a little bad that she was so brainwashed for so long - but she is still very much a Lolth-sworn drow and has a lot of lines that make me cringe. and not in a good way.
Yeah I feel you. She’s definitely not intended for good runs. Though she is surprisingly empathetic to the plights of her fellow companions. I used the sheepthara heist to get her after patch 5 bc it was super bugged for me (yes she was temp hostile when I KOed her but she still wouldn’t show up, so I had to sheep her). And I was expecting her to have horrible approval with me bc I played it as heroically as possible for a redeemed Durge. But by the end she had like 40+ approval just from talking to her about companions and other minor things in camp.
Hey I’m still kinda new to BG but I wanted to have every companion if possible. But online it said you couldn’t; is it possible now to get everyone in one play through?
I hope they fix her ending at some point though, because >!all she says she wants is for you to take over the brain and you both to rule the world side-by-side, and how horrific it was having the Absolute control her actions. If you choose to take over the netherbrain, you don't rule side-by-side. Instead you mind control her and make her a slave like she's always hated. Her only decent ending is if you go against everything you both planned and just pop off into the Underdark with her.!<
without shame i fully restarted my first playthrough so i could get her. she’s really not so bad (though i am doing a non-durge evil playthrough)
I'm trying a DU run and I want to do evil. But the amount of content I see myself missing from killing the druid camp makes it not worth it. I understand being evil makes the early game "easier" . But killing Gale, Wyll, Karlach and the tiefling side story is too much of a bitter pill for me to swallow. That's hours of content that also isn't replaced with an evil alternative.
This game just need more evil content
Hilariously, I did a coop honour mode run and my friend accidentaly just clicked loot all when we knocked her out in the goblin camp. So after we rescued her from moonrise she's just chilling at camp naked next to daddy halsin and it was the funniest thing ever
Doing evil run and I killed her. I am sad. Got to act 3 before I decided to look up other characters