Baldur's Ungated: A Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 Recap

How to be a Bhaaler

This is the transcript for this podcast, for those who hate sounds or would prefer written words.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is upon us, but its been decades since Baldur’s Gate 2 originally released. Beamdog’s Enhanced Editions are even getting old at this point. The original games, though classics of their era, are old in several ways and I can report that both feel their age. They are based on 2^nd edition D&D, itself a game that is long in the tooth and very much a product of its time.

I would venture to say that, for modern audiences, replaying these games isn’t in the cards. The early portions of the first game are particularly brutal as low-level characters square off against low level monsters in a battle of who can miss the least amount of times. THAC0s and other wonky rules systems are a tough ask for today’s sophisticated gamers.

Given all of that, I’d like to take a moment to provide a quick Baldur’s Gate recap for people interested in the new game who have either never played the original games or simply don’t remember much beyond the broad strokes of the plot.

First, let’s talk about Faerun. This is the name of the world in D&D’s iconic Forgotten Realms campaign setting. When people think D&D, they tend to think Forgotten Realms. It is the setting of the recent Dungeons & Dragons movie and very much the template to which high fantasy RPG settings are often working from. Elves, dwarves, the Underdark – all of this comes from Forgotten Realms.

The original Baldur’s Gate is set on the heels of an event known as the Time of Troubles. No, these troubles weren’t elevated inflation or “tight” labor markets. Nor should they be confused with the death of the childless Tsar of Russia during a famine in the early 1600s. These troubles were that all the various gods and goddesses in Faerun actually became mortals for a spell. This led to many shenanigans, and by shenanigans I mean the deaths of multiple gods.

One such god, the god of murder, Bhaal, was killed by a mercenary named Cyric. Yup, the god of murder got murdered. The god of allergies, sneezing nearby, was no doubt grateful for their more benign divine portfolio.

But Bhaal foresaw his own death and created numerous Bhaalspawn.

One of these Bhaalspawn is the protagonist of BG1 & 2.

The first game begins a little over a century prior to the start of Baldur’s Gate 3. It opens at Candlekeep, an idyllic place where the PC, an orphan with a mysterious past, and their childhood friend Imoen have been raised by the kindly mage Gorion.

Gorion raises the PC on the various tomes of knowledge and stories that fill the shelves of Candlekeep’s impressive library. But he never shares the story of their heritage with them. For all the main character knows, they are just an orphan.

Of course, Candlekeep can’t remain safe for long. After an attempt is made on player character’s life, they start to learn that the world outside of Candlekeep is in strife. The city of Baldur’s Gate and the country of Amn are seeing tensions rise amid an iron shortage. Iron is going brittle, causing usable iron to be more valuable than ever. Bandit activity has increased. And rats, they are in the basement.

Gorion decides to take the PC on a journey, telling them that, if separated, they should head to the Friendly Arm Inn where they can meet his contacts Khalid and Jaheira.

Then, he makes the classic mentor of an orphan with a mysterious past blunder and fails to disclose information about said orphan’s origin before getting killed. Not long after leaving Candlekeep, the PC and Gorion are ambushed by a mysterious armored figure. Gorion dies heroically while ensuring the player character escapes to see the next level up.

Imoen and the PC set out on their own. They meet some notable companions early on. Among them, the ranger Minsc and his miniature gigantic space hamster, Boo. At the Friendly Arms Inn, Jaheira and Khalid have no information about why player character is being attacked, but are open to just joining up with them and being pals for life. If the player wants. This is an early BioWare game, you don’t need to take them on as companions if you don’t want to.

It is here I should note that Baldur’s Gate 1 isn’t super story heavy, despite this plotty opening. From here it plays very much like a sprawling D&D campaign with side quests and areas to explore and fight monsters in. The PC and their companions eventually decide to investigate the iron shortage because why not? That’s what adventurers do. Making their way to the mining town of Nashkul, they learn that the Iron Throne seems to be behind the crisis.

No, this isn’t the Iron Throne of Westeros, in Faerun the Iron Throne is a merchant guild, basically. One of their leaders is set to have an important meeting at, of all places, Candlekeep. Of course, returning to Candlekeep is going to be hard for the PC without Gorion. There’s a steep entry fee and they don’t let anyone in off the street. Even someone who grew up there.

Hoping to find a connection between all of the various people trying to murder the player character and the Iron Throne, the party seeks out Duke Elton. Elton is the leader of the Flaming Fists, a mercenary guild that essentially serves as the city guard of Baldur’s Gate. He decides to help the party, giving a rare manuscript that can pay the toll and get them back into Candlekeep.

The return to Candlekeep bears fruit. Aside from discovering an ancient prophecy about Bhaal returning to life through his offspring, the hero finds a letter from Gorion confirming that they are, indeed, a Bhaalspawn. Cue the Curb Your Enthusiasm music.

While in Candlekeep the party is arrested for murdering the leaders of the Iron Throne. Because this is a Bioware RPG that was experimenting with choice, there’s a chance the PC actually did commit these murders – but there is also a chance they didn’t.

Either way, ACAB. Innocent or not, you are arrested.

While waiting to be transferred back to Baldur’s Gate for execution, a prominent Candlekeep leader shows up to your cell to do some light treason in the form of jailbreaking. He reveals the mysterious armored figure that killed Gorion is named Sarevok, the adopted son of one of the now deceased Iron Throne leaders. Of note here, if the PC did not kill the Iron Throne leaders, Sarevok is the one that did.

Teleported to the catacombs below Candlekeep, the party makes their escape and heads back to Baldur’s Gate where…

They get accused of more crimes. Despite having a fabulous alibi of literally having just been in jail, the Flaming Fists are eager to lock the party up. Duke Elton got poisoned while the PC and friends were in Candlekeep, and the Flaming Fist blames the party for it and for the ongoing iron crisis.

But the party soon uncovers that the Iron Throne is behind the iron crisis. As a merchant’s guild, they stand to profit if iron is rare. They control the supply, and if war breaks out between Baldur’s Gate and Amn that’s awesome for arms dealers.

Once again capitalism is the real Bhaalspawn.

The party also learns Sarevok is a Bhaalspawn and is doing some real “chaos is a ladder” shit. By killing the Iron Throne leaders (or having the heroes do it) he can take control of the group, prevent the peaceful deal his father was trying to arrange at Candlekeep, and cause some general mayhem.

Case in point, by taking a large stockpile of iron to Baldur’s Gate, Sarevok positions himself to become recognized as the city’s Archduke and savior.

The party gains access to the palace in advance of Sarevok’s coronation. Presenting the evidence they’ve uncovered around Sarevok’s various crimes, the party forces him to flee into the ruins below the town. There the final battle takes place, with the player character and chosen companions triumphing. A final cutscene teases the existence of more Bhaalspawn.

Baldur’s Gate 2 starts in media res. A flurry of horrific images show the main character has been captured and is being tortured and experimented on. Apparently, after saving the Sword Coast, word of the PC’s lineage gets out. With many assassination attempts failing, the main character was eventually captured by a mysterious elven mage. This mage doesn’t do a “No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die” speech so much as a “No Mr. Bhaal, I expect you to suffer a lot but survive” speech before getting distracted by invaders in his lair.

The invaders are from the Shadow Thieves, a mysterious organization. Imoen, also captured, escapes her cage and frees the PC. Jaheira and Minsc are nearby. Once freed, the party escapes the lair and learns that the mage is named Jon Iranicus. Also, Jaheira’s husband Khalid has been killed off. Which, bummer if for players that grew attached to him in BG1 but not as much of a bummer as it is for Jaheira.

Upon escaping Iranicus’s dungeon, the party encounters him fighting off the Shadow Thieves. Imoen engages him in magical battle, only to be interrupted by a group called the Cowled Wizards, a secretive cabal of wizards from Amn who are pissed about the “unsanctioned use of magic.” Once again, the Lawful Neutrals have ruined everything. ACAB and LNs are among the most ‘C’ of any alignment.

The filthy neutrals teleport Iranicus and Imoen away to their wizard asylum/jail known as “Spellhold.”

The party’s task is clear: they must find and save Imoen, with the hopes that doing so will also lead them to Iranicus and a possible explanation for what he was doing.

They head to the city of Athkatla, where they meet a man who says the only way to break into Spellhold is with the help of the Shadow Thieves. But this assistance has a price of 20,000 gold pieces.

While the PC gathers the party they want to venture forth into acquiring a shit ton of money, Iranicus escapes his captors, converts Spellhold to his own base, and then resumes experimenting on Imoen.

While building up their money for the Shadow Thieves, the party crosses paths with an elven vampire named Bodhi. She has a deep hatred for the Shadow Thieves and offers an alternative. For just 15,000 gold pieces, she’ll help you recover Imoen. FUN FACT: A wheel of cheese cost 2cp. 5 gold is 100 copper pieces according to second edition D&D. So 250 wheels of cheese would be 5 gold pieces. This means that by going with Bodhi, the player character could, theoretically, save enough money to purchase 2.5 million wheels of cheese.

Tired: Iron Throne created Iron Shortage.

Wired: Bhaalspawn created cheese shortage. But I digress.

Bodhi also mentions she has a personal interest in Iranicus. Which HMMM. THAT SEEMS WORTH FLAGGING.

The PC can choose to work with whoever they want, either way they end up in a pirate town on the island where Spellhold is located. By convincing the authorities there that they are insane, the Bhaalspawn and the party are once again arrested and sent to Spellhold. Can’t get enough getting arrested, this bunch.

Unfortunately, when the party arrives, they discover Iranicus is both free and in charge. Iranicus explains this was his master plan the entire time. The ol’ capture and torture a Bhaalspawn, then let them escape, then get arrested along with the Bhaalspawn’s childhood friend, then take over your own jail, then use the childhood friend as bait to have the Bhaalspawn walk right back into your trap plan. A classic that one.

Well, it works. He puts the party to sleep with some magic. When the PC wakes up, they are in a pod of some sort.

BUT WAIT. There are more surprises. Iranicus reveals that Imoen is also a Bhaalspawn! That’s why he’s been conducting experiments on both her and the protagonist. ALSO Bodhi is Iranicus’s sister. ALSO they now have a method, involving killing a bunch of captured Shadow Thieves, to pry the player character’s divine soul out. Not good Bob, as someone on Mad Men might say.

Iranicus and Bodhi do just that - sending the player character into a dream like state. In this state, the PC finds Imoen, who says that tapping the essence of Bhaal within you can help you defeat Iranicus. Thanks for the tip dream Imoen!

When our hero awakens, their soul is drained. Their divine essence is gone. Imoen is in a worse, more hollowed condition. Iranicus has your soul, Bodhi has Imoen’s.

Weakened, helpless, and unable to escape, things look bleak for the main characters. Iranicus is about to vanquish the hero and lock in a rare ‘W’ for a High Fantasy Big Bad, when his sister Bodhi makes the second Bond villain mistake in the series and decides that, instead of killing our main character outright, she should hunt them in the special maze below Spellhold. For funsies! What are they going to do, survive all of her death traps, riddles, and trials and then somehow defeat her – perhaps with a dormant power that will suddenly awaken?

WELP. That’s exactly what happens. After surviving all the traps, solving riddles, and conquering the trials, Bodhi corners the party at the end of the maze, but the PC’s body transforms into the Slayer, not the heavy metal band or Sarah Michelle Geller, but a bonafide avatar of Bhaal. As the avatar of the god of murder, the Slayer is QUITE GOOD at murder.

Bodhi retreats to inform Iranicus about what has transpired. The party presses on, releasing the mages of Spellhold, and bringing the fight to Iranicus. Iranicus is forced to flee to the Underdark.

Pursuing Iranicus into the underdark results in the party getting mixed up with the silver dragon Adalan,  battling beholders and mind flayers, and even infiltrating the drow and getting caught up in some wild drow shit. There are opportunities for double and triple crossing amid the many factions here, and there’s honestly some incredible stuff in this section of the game.

Eventually overcoming the trials of the Underdark, the party surfaces near an elven legion from the city of Suldanessellar. They learn about some uh-ohs from the elves. First uh-oh is Iranicus has taken over the city. Second uh-oh is that there is magic that prevents anyone from being able to find the entrance to the city. Fortunately, there’s a macguffin! A magic lantern that can find its way back to the city no matter what spells and wards are in its path. But, bonus uh-oh – it was stolen by Bodhi.

After leaving to pursue her, the party meets up with Forgotten Realms legend Drizzt Do’Urden for some quality cameo-ing (and yes, the Bhaalspawn can kill Drizzt and the Companions of the Hall and take their stuff, if memory serves.) When the party catches up to Bodhi and puts a stake through her heart, Imoen’s soul is released. She’s back to full strength!

Using the lantern, the party gets access to the elven city of Suldanessellar only to find it overrun with evil. Iranicus is draining the essence of the tree at the heart of the city, declaring himself staunchly “Not a Fan” of Joyce Kilmer. If successful, this tree essence will grant him immortality.

The party learns he and Bodhi are both from Suldanessellar, and they betrayed their people and attempted to become gods. Like you do when you grow up in a small town.

With a divine soul and the essence of the tree, his dastardly scheme is almost complete. But the heroes arrive and defeat him in a fight that is very challenging if the main character isn’t at least part spellcaster.

Because Iranicus has the soul of the PC, once the party defeats him, they are all dragged into the nine hells for a bonus final FINAL confrontation. Don’t think about how this didn’t happen when Bodhi got got but is happening here for some reason. JUST ROLL WITH IT.

There, in hell, Iranicus is defeated. The Bhaalspawn reclaims their soul, the elves get back their city. The end.

OR IS IT?

It isn’t. Because there is DLC!

I’ll be brief and super condensed here. Baldur’s Gate two has two meaty DLCs, most critical to Baldur’s Gate 3 is Throne of Bhaal, which involves the PC squaring off against five other Bhaalspawn and defeating them and their armies before heading to a special Bhaal pocket dimension, the titular Throne of Bhaal, where they have the option to take the throne themselves as the new Bhaal or destroy it, leaving Bhaal’s murder portfolio in the hands of Cyric.

That covers all the content from the first two games. To note some additional content, there is an intermediate episode that Beamdog created to bridge the gap between BG1&2. It’s not essential, but it does touch on crusades into hell, which is important for one major companion in BG3.

Also, the recent 5e tabletop Avernus campaign can end in several ways. BG3 has a canon ending for that campaign, with the holy city Elturel being returned from the nine hells… but hardly unscathed.

Looking at the first games, they offer a wide range of possibilities for outcomes. Canonically, the PC is a human male fighter named “Abdel.” Abdel gives up divinity entirely, choosing the “good” ending in the game and becoming just a normal mortal. He marries Jaheira.

However, Larian’s own content in the build up to the release reveals a secret bonus Bhaalspawn was out there. Someone named Viekang who was very good at teleporting away at the slightest hint of danger. Viekang and Abdel fight and it is canonically “unclear” who wins, but with just one of them left alive, the sparks of divinity reunite – the prophecy is fulfilled. Bhaal is resurrected, reclaiming his mantle as the god of murder.

Bhaal is indeed an available deity option in Baldur’s Gate III.

One more note on characters that might still be around from the first two games but haven’t been mentioned yet. Viconia, a Drow Cleric of Lloth, is arguably BioWare’s first sketch of Morrigan from Dragon Age. With Drow as a playable race, and given that Jaheira is making a comeback, it’s entirely possible that Viconia returns as well. She also has the longer Elven lifespan, and though nothing is announced I wouldn’t be surprised to see that cameo in BG3. Evil wizard Edwin was obsessed with liche-dom, so that’s a possible returning companion from the original series, assuming they succeeded.

I hope this recap has everyone ready and primed for Baldur’s Gate 3. I’ll add some commentary now. The first two games are fascinating seeds of what was to come for BioWare. They included romance options, though they were limited compared to what BioWare games do these days. They had one foot in recreating a tabletop D&D experience and another in trying to be a functional CRPG, often failing at both for a variety of reasons. There are tropes galore, everything from killing rats in the basement as your first level 1 task to having to rescue a captured female character as a plot motivator.

Though I think they would be largely unplayable to a modern audience and have some plot beats that have aged poorly or were always thin to begin with, there’s a lot to love in them. The characters are well fleshed out and despite the limitations of 2E’s alignment system, there’s some interesting philosophical and moral questions the games touch on. For example, the good ending involves giving up the throne of Bhaal, which leaves it in the hands of someone far worse than a good-aligned PC. The fact that the PC is the spawn of Bhaal casts an interesting light on the amount of killing and slaughtering you do throughout the adventure. For most games, and indeed most D&D campaigns, this is often hand-waved away. But a big part of the emotional heft of BG2 is the main character being a nexus of murder and violence even if they are a quote unquote good person.

I certainly don’t think BioWare evolves into Dragon Age without Baldur’s Gate. Baldur’s Gate doesn’t have a whole heck of a lot of romance options for queer people, or women (frankly) but it is easy to see how this started them down that track. Because these are early BioWare romances, many are hard to execute and quite fiddly. They are all underdeveloped compared to what the studio would later accomplish.

That said, the Baldur’s Gate 2 romance of Jaheira is widely considered to be quite good, as the loss of Khalid puts a shadow over the whole budding romance, creating some interesting depth. Its an early indicator for what the studio would do with Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and beyond.

Thanks so much listening. I’d love to hear your thoughts and Baldur’s Gates memories, what you’re looking forward to in Baldur’s Gate 3 more, and your questions, should you have them. Feel free to reach out at Call@gamerswithjobs.com. That’ll do it for this lore preview episode. I’ll see you on the Sword Coast tomorrow!