Summary
Every story needs a good villain andBaldur’s Gate 3benefits from its large cast of interesting antagonists.From scheming devils to eldritch horrors to plain old sadistic murderers, the game has no shortage of noteworthy foes for the player to take on. Some may start off as villains only to take a redemptive turn, while others may start on the player’s side but shift in their morality.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers forBaldur’s Gate 3.]
A good villain can be interesting if they have a sympathetic and understandable goal. On the flip side, pure evil can be just as engaging if handled correctly.Baldur’s Gate 3includes enemies of both sorts, varying in their relatability and pure wickedness. Take a look atsome of the most and least sympathetic villains in the game, along with their reasons for villainy. Player characters, like the Dark Urge and Minthara, are not included since they can become members of the player’s party.
10 Most Evil Baldur’s Gate 3 Characters That Will Make Your Skin Crawl
There are many evil characters in Baldur’s Gate 3, from murderous to racist, but some can exceed players’ expectations when it comes to being vile.
10Raphael Is The Embodiment Of “Lawful” Evil
He Desires To Take Command To Be A Better Ruler
Among the evil characters that players meet in the game, Raphael is probably the most helpful. He gives the party advice, shares his goals, and even offers to help stop the Absolute from taking over Faerûn. Of course,he is a devil with a desire to inflict pain and take the souls of others, but everyone has flaws.
What makes Raphael more sympathetic than other villains is the fact thathe doesn’t commit evil deeds just for the sake of them.He believes that he could become a better and more efficient ruler of the nine hells and has ambitions to claim a magical artifact that will let him take control. He assists the player in the pursuit of his own ends, but he does help to save the world all the same.
Should You Side With Raphael In Baldur’s Gate 3?
Raphael is a little suspicious from the start of Baldur’s Gate 3, but he makes big promises. Here are the pros and cons of taking his deal.
Raphael gets less sympathetic as the story goes on, as players discover his torture of innocents in the House of Hope. He is a trickster and a manipulator who offers mortals double-edged deals that usually backfire on them. But most of what he does is in pursuit of making the hells more powerful to combat demons in the Blood War and gain a higher station, which isn’t the worst goal in the world.
9Vlaakith Has Little Regard For Her Own People
She Is Only Interested In Her Ascension To Godhood
The lich-queen of the Githyanki is a self-proclaimed god, who claims to protect her people from the return of the Illithid Empire. However, across the course ofBaldur’s Gate 3’sstory, players discover thatVlaakith is a fraud and a liar. She neither possesses the power to stop the mind flayers, nor the good will towards her people that so many of them believe in.
Vlaakith is, in actuality,a self-serving tyrant that only values other Githyanki as pawns to be sacrificedin the pursuit of her own ascension to godhood. She gladly misleads Githyanki soldiers, like the party’s own Lae’zel, into serving her and executing her will across the realms, only to later be consumed by the lich-queen and killed so that she may gain a bit more power. She has built an entire civilization structured around the brutal treatment of her own people and others to cull the weak from the strong and select her next meal.
Vlaakith has no goals other than her own self-preservation and empowerment, and would gladly kill her loyal followers to further those goals. On top of that, she has lied about having the ability to stop the mind flayers should they return again in great strength, which has led her people into fighting an endless war they can never win. She trapped the only person that could save the Gith inside a magic prism, proving she cares more about preserving her own power than her people’s safety.
8Enver Gortash Is Hard To Empathize With, But It Is Not Impossible
His Past Traumas Makes Him More Human
No one can deny that Gortash is a terrible person. He isa slaver, a warmonger, and he sold one of his most loyal guards to the devil. But he is also an incredibly human character, unlike many ofBaldur’s Gate 3’svillains, and his motivations and backstory make his actions understandable. Not excusable, but understandable.
He grew up being tortured by Raphael inside the House of Hope.
Gortash was sold by his parents to a warlock when he was a kid, and grew up being tortured by Raphael inside the House of Hope. When he managed to escape, he did so with ambitions for ruling and subjugating others, a reflection of the treatment he received and now wants to exact upon everyone else. At some point, Bane, god of tyranny, made Gortash his Chosen, giving himthe power and influence to exact revenge upon the worldfor the trauma of his childhood.
Gortash is someone who faced terrible treatment and, as a result, now wants to make everyone else go through what he did, while simultaneously protecting himself from ever being abused again. The atrocities he commits and tries to commit aren’t okay because of what he went through, but they do make more sense. As Karlach, his former bodyguard, says, “you get fucked up, you fuck up right back.”
Should You Side With Gortash Or Kill Him In Baldur’s Gate 3?
Gortash seems like an irredeemable villain in Baldur’s Gate 3, but there are benefits to siding with him. Here are the complexities of Gortash’s deal.
In a way, this backstory makes Gortash a great foil to Karlach and her arc throughout the story. Much like Gortash, she is betrayed and suffers immensely. However, rather than enacting that same suffering on others, Karlach’s desire to be kind and help people endures, demonstrating thatGortash’s turn towards tyranny is not inevitable.
7Auntie Ethel Is A True Monster
So Evil She Even Ended Up Eating A Child
Few antagonists are as vulgar as Auntie Ethel, the swamp hag who appears in acts one and three. She poses as a kind old lady through her fey magic, but ultimately,Ethel is a cruel monster who loves distorting people’s wishes into nightmares. She uses her magic to terrorize, torture, and kill people, all for her own amusement.
Her only goal outside of taking pleasure in horrible cruelty is to create another hag in act three, which she does by eating a child and cursing it with her own magic. If that wasn’t bad enough,she tries to convince the player that the mother of the missing child is insane and should be put down. She turns people to stone, traps their souls in mirrors, and has some of the grossest threats in the game, including telling the player that she will “tear your spine out your arsehole.”
The only things keeping Ethel from being worse than she is are that she doesn’t go too far out of her way to harm people, instead letting her victims come to her and that she doesn’t want the entire world to be destroyed. Small saving graces, but other villains in the game can’t even claim to have those. Ethel is the perfect representation of a fairytale witch, delighting in using her magic to torture those who come to her for help.
6Orin The Red Is A Pawn In Other Villain’s Games
A Psychopath Craving Attention From Her Parents
Orin is a psychopathic, sadistic murderer.She worships the god of murder and assassination and craves only to kill innocent peoplein horrible, theatrical ways. But her role in the story makes her not only the perpetrator of awful crimes, but also their victim.
She is actually the child of Sarevok Anchev and his own daughter, and was raised by them to be the perfect killer.
Orin believes she is a Bhaalspawn, the direct descendant of the dread god, but she is actually the child of Sarevok Anchev and his own daughter, and was raised by them to be the perfect killer. As such, her entire life has been a lie, a result of other villains bending her fate to their whims and leaving her no choice but to end up how she did.
To make matters worse, reading some of the books in the temple of Bhaal reveals that Orin likely acted not only to cause suffering but, in a twisted way, to gain love from her paternal figures, Sarevok and Bhaal.She murders in flashy ways to get their attention and earn their respect, and they instead concentrate on her sibling, the Dark Urge. Orin is objectively a monster, but realizing parts of her backstory can somehow inspire a bit of pity for the murderer.
5Cazador Szarr Is An Abuser On A Massive Scale
A Power-Hungry Vampire With Hundreds Of Years Of Killing
Few side villains are as despicable as Cazador,a vampire and the previous master of party member Astarion. Cazador has spent centuries ruling over his vampiric spawn in his manor in Baldur’s Gate, treating them like vermin and constantly enacting cruel tortures on their bodies. He is power-hungry, with the end goal of completing an infernal ritual to ascend to a more powerful vampiric form.
The death toll Cazador builds up is higher than many of the other villains players can face.He commands his spawn to bring him victims to dine onand has done so for hundreds of years. Worse than that, he has kept many of them in underground dungeons for decades, feasting on rats and waiting to be consumed in his vile ritual.
For most of the game, players will neither meet nor see Cazador, only hearing about him from Astarion. This alone is effective in getting across his villainy. Astarion is clearly traumatized from centuries of abuse and fears Cazador more than anything.
Baldur’s Gate 3: How to Find (& Beat) Cazador
Cazador is the former vampire master of Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3 who you may find and beat in Act 3 to help your companion gain ascended powers.
However, the true scope of the vampire’s awfulness can be seen in his final interaction with Astarion. The way he shouts at his former spawn is genuinely scary. When Astarion finally beats Cazador and stabs him to death, his cries of anger, followed by uncontrollable weeping, hit hard and convey how much pain the poor guy had been carrying for so many years.
4The Emperor’s Villainy is Uncertain, And Likely Comes From Good Intentions
Always Giving Excuses for His Own Behavior
The Emperor, otherwise known as the Dream Guardian or Balduran, is not technically a villain for many players.He is an ally throughout most of the game, protecting the party from the Absolute’s influenceand offering advice on how best to proceed in order to save the world. He is committed to stopping the Absolute and is not above using manipulation and deceit to achieve that goal.
Across the game, the Emperor continually lies to the player, pressures them into indulging in their illithid abilities, belittles them for going against his plans, and all the while claims to be acting in the player’s best interest. Meanwhile, it is implied and even shown that the Emperor has previously mind-controlled or even killed his previous allies, Duke Stelmane and Ansur the dragon.He claims that any deceit or manipulation he commits is merely in his nature as a mind flayer, and he is only doing what is best for the world.
It is likely that the Emperor is just looking for excuses for his own manipulative behavior.
Another mind flayer, Omeluum, is honest and open in every interaction he has, making him a direct contrast to this idea. It is likely that the Emperor is just looking for excuses for his own manipulative behavior and is acting more for his own good than he lets on. Still, he is a morally complex character who seems genuinely lonely due to his transformation.
He welcomes excitedly any companionship the player offers, and at times seems to genuinely express concerns to them. Ultimately,his nature as a liar makes it unclear how much of this is an act.His heel turn at the end of the game, which happensif the player wants to help Orpheus, demonstrates that the safety of the world is not his top priority, and that he would rather survive in the Absolute’s army than die trying to stop the threat.
3The Absolute/Netherbrain Is Literally Beyond Understanding
A Complicated Being Made Of Pure Thought
On a similar Illithid note, the Absolute is pretty much impossible to understand on any level.It is a mutated Elder Brain, an agent of the Illithid Grand Design, whose goals are ambiguous and generally evil. It wants to take over the Sword Coast, and eventually Faerun, turning every living being into a part of its hive mind.
The Absolute is a being of pure thought, whose ideas and emotions in their raw forms are too complex for any mortal to understand. As such, it is basically impossible to empathize with this creature, whose goals and emotions can never be comprehended. It doesn’t help that it is actively trying to kill the player and their friends throughout the entire game.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Strangest And Most Intimidating Enemy Actually Has A Deeper Lore
Elder Brains are part of D&D’s illithid lore, but what’s the lore behind Baldur’s Gate 3’s Netherbrain and how is it different from an Elder Brain?
The Absolute is hard to like, but also hard to hate.It feels less like a villain and more like a force of nature, an entity representing an ever-advancing and inscrutable horror that comes for everything eventually. It is so far from humanity that trying to humanize it doesn’t really work. Its role in the story is essential, and it fulfills that role well, but the Absolute is less of a villain and more of a cosmic being which cannot coexist with free will.
2Ketheric Thorm Is A Deeply Flawed Family Man
A Villain With A Pretty Fair Reason
Each of the Chosen of the Dead Three is empathetic in some way, as each wants something that anybody can relate to wanting. Gortash wants safety and control over his life, Orin wants love and respect from her idols, andKetheric wants to save his family. It’s the most selfless motivation any of these villains have, and it also does the most in explaining why he does what he does.
Ketheric has worshiped many gods throughout his life. He originally served Selune, before his wife and daughter died before their time. The tragedy of this loss caused him to renounce his goddess and turn to her sister, Shar, who promised Ketheric that she would return to his family if he raised an army for her. But in the end, Ketheric was slain, and Shar did not hold up her end of the bargain. In death,Ketheric turned to Myrkul, god of necromancy and the underworld, possibly the one who could actually give him what he wanted: his daughter’s life.
To Myrkul’s credit, he resurrects Isobel Thorm and Ketheric Thorm with ease in exchange for Ketheric becoming his Chosen and working to help take over the world. Ketheric is completely loyal to Myrkul after this, stating that “he has never had a more devoted follower… for Myrkul, I would condemn all of Faerun to death.” Ketheric, of course, is ultimately loyal to his daughter, for whose life he would kill anyone and everyone. He’s a bad man, but he acts to save the one he loves, which is definitely understandable.
1Bhaal, God of Murder Is Chaotic Evil Incarnate
No Morals And A Single Wish Of Everyone Being Murdered
The least sympathetic villain inBaldur’s Gate 3is definitely Bhaal, especially in aDark Urge playthroughwhere his role in the story is increased.Bhaal is one of the Dead Three, mortals elevated to godhood in order to replace the previous god of death, Jergal. Of the three, his domain, murder, is probably the most evil and violent. Bhaal’s chosen, often his spawn, are mortals cursed with frequent nightmares and violent urges to kill the innocent in the name of their father.
The Dark Urge is one such Bhaalspawn, and playing as this character gives the player some insight into Bhaal’s objectives. Essentially,he wants every living being to be murdered brutally so that his power may increase, and he may destroy the world. It doesn’t get much more evil than that, and even the worst of the game’s humanoid villains don’t have objectives this destructive.
Bhaal has no morals, nothing he loves or wants to protect, and not even a real sense of self-preservation since he is already dead and a god. His motives are so far from anything relatable that only players going for the game’s worst and most brutal endings would ever side with him. Plus, many of the game’s other villains are agents of Bhaal in one way or another, making him responsible for a good portion of the suffering inBaldur’s Gate 3.
