Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Shadowheart origins poll

Well, to be fair at the moment any BS is coming from those of us theorising that she might have some connection with Selune or have Selunite origins, rather than from Larian. Or at least I’ve not seen any definitive evidence of what they intend her exact back story to be.

Since when have we expected the gods to do anything proactive in our stories?

Okay, yes, you are right about this. I guess it is still possible for Larian to (pleasantly) surprise me by giving us something truly original here that still stays true to FR lore and logic.

It will interesting to see. I know when WotC announced 5e they said that were done with the apocalypse of the week but I wonder if Larian has decided to go big on this. Perhaps Shadowheart isn't just any kidnapped child but an avatar of Selune. One of Mystra's avatars was captured and corrupted so there is precedent . . .

Who knows, perhaps that weird light coming from her is spellfire.

My instinct is that that would be going way *too* big! I don't think I'd enjoy it if that were where we were heading. But whatever Larian's intention, I will try to reserve judgement, as it's hard to be sure how any particular story will feel until we experience exactly how it pans out. And after all, the previous BG games had a demi-god protagonist who could become the god of murder, so an avatar doesn't seem a huge stretch from that.

At this point I suspect she is a Selunite sleeper agent (hence the memory wipe) who infiltrated the Shar sect; possibly at the behest of the Harpers. She is the sole survivor (suspicious much?) from the mission to steal the artifact; and is taking it to Baldur's Gate whilst every dark character in the game is gravitating towards Moonrise Towers.

Then there is the cutscene when you reach the mountain pass that indicates the artifact does NOT want to be found by the Absolute and it specifically chose Shadowheart to attach to. And the fact that it is specifically Selunite proximity that triggers her magic reaction, and that she seems to have a deep disturbance about that fact, that she is not really aware of.

I think the artifact is possibly related to Zerthimon (maybe his spirit locked inside) which would explain both why the Githyanki are afraid of its loss, and its relevance to the Illithids; possibly resulting in a change in stance of the Githzerai regarding the need to actively attack the mindflayers once more. That would also explain why it is gravitating towards a Good vs Evil faction.

What I haven't tied in yet is just how many tadpoles are different like ours, or if Gut/Ragzlin's are the same or different, or why Minthara doesn't seem to have one.

This is the bit I wasn’t sure about. I’ve found two different spots around Moonhaven that can trigger her first reaction: the Selunite shrine behind the windmill, sure, but also the old school where the ogres are lurking and I don’t recall any specific Selunite connotations there. Of course, I could be misremembering or potentially the whole village could be considered as linked to Selune?

Selune is a greater diety which means she has millions of followers throughtout the universe
Gods will only act if someone important or a large % of thier followers are threatened
Shar kidnapping and converting people is canon since the 90s and im sure they have protections and concealments from good dieties

That would be the most cringe way to go about it. Please don't do this whole light/darkness duality nonsense, it's so boring, just let her be this totally evil woman who may or may not be redeemed down the line.

It dont seem to me like theese two things are mutualy exclusive ...

I mean ...
Even if Shadowheart turns out to be brainwashed Selunite, she still spend quite some time in service of Shar ... and with our conciderable help, she may do some unspeakable horrors during that time ... also Selune never helped her, there is many stories about people who lost their faith for less.

I would never call it boring, or cringe ... as long as there will be option to pick.
On the contrary!
This story of someone who lived their whole life in service of good deity, but then were kidnapped, brainwashed ... and basicaly forced to commit atrocities in the name of evil deity ... only to discover their path later on, and now be forced to decide if they will return to the light, or refuse it for good ... sounds very interesting. ^_^

I loved it with Revan and would love it again.

Oh please... Shadowheart is not evil at all, she is just a bit sulky and distant, and the things that you do are your responsibility, not hers, hell she is even trying to drink away her guilt if you side with the goblins.
I'm thoroughly disappointed with her if I'm entirely honest, but I guess it does make sense if she really thinks Shar is somehow a good deity in her mind.

She worship evil deity ...
She is secretive and selfish ...
She aprooves abusement, torture and decieving others.
And aparently have no problem sacrifice/murder several dozens of civilians, including childern.

What else would that make her?

Indeed.
And if you talk to her, she even coments on it ... to put it simple, that scene only shows that she dont adore mindless butchering ... bcs that is all the battle was in her eyes (and honestly, who can blame her? :D).
But that dont make her any less evil.
Maybe less stupid.

I mean, Darth Bane vas evil ... very evil actually ... and even he seen weakness in other Siths, who were using their so called "power" to abuse weak civilians, who had no way to fight back and therefore just suffered.

There is important difference between evil person, and homicidal maniac.

I always assumed this as well.