Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Shadowheart must decide who is she

tbh, her character reminds me of viconia from bg1/2 - but instead of a drow cleric of lloth, shadowheart is instead part of shar's clergy. but i agree that there should be more reactions when its brought up that shes a cleric of an evil greater diety, but idk if its that big an issue given larian has stressed no alignment (despite frontloading ea with 'evil' characters and encouraging 'evil' playthroughs)

She clearly tends more towards Neutral or Chaotic Neutral currently. Even in 3rd edition, you could be one step removed from your god's alignment, so neutral works. 5E has no requirement. She's catty, but that seems clearly related to her defensiveness and insecurity. She's been mind wiped, so its even unclear if she chose to be a shar worshipper or was brainwashed. If you follow the evil path and kill the grove, she's clearly NOT OK with it.

Why would the druids of Silvanus, a neutral organization, care about her following a neutral evil god? Would you expect them to tar and feather a cleric of Lathander?

Clerics of Shar absolutely can be neutral. They cannot only be of good alignment.
Also, for obvious reason, followers of Shar are very secretive. Which Shadowheart explain very clearly.

But yes, Spellplague ended not so long time ago. And everyone know it's Shar and Cyric to blame for that.

There are reasons in game and easily found out about some of her seeming wishy washy ness, especially concerning her and Le'azel. I'd ask that you simply start a new character and play until you meet Shar. That should clear up some of the confusion if you pick the right things.

As for her other back and forth. If she is neutral evil, then she probably doesn't much care treating animals kindly, or it could be she likes animals, dislikes people. She doesn't mind doing things if there is a benefit to her. She maybe having a crisis of faith do to something she's seen, or had to do, which has left her bitter. She may very well have a depth of character that most characters in video games don't have. Until you try everything at least once, you can't really have the full story. Even changing a race leads to further enlightenment on the first time you meet her. Changing who is in your party triggers a back and forth that gives more details, or leads to revealations about her, and even the others.



Shar is an evil goddess which is why it's bad for her to worship, they don't do nice things at all, which leads to their frightening of others. Believe there are lore drops in game you can find that tell some of the story, even conversations with Shadow reveal some of the things she's either done or has seen done, or been trained to do.

Some of the unclarity begins to take shape through different playthroughs, and conversations, party comp, etc. Little by little details are revealed not massively, and not all in a single playthrough, or by simply playing a single race in each play through.

Come on, the evil wasn't well enough encouraged in early access, there was zero motivation and reasoning to help the goblins. I'm surprised someone found this option by accident.

We are waiting in the release for various interesting and reasonable options for evil, serve the cult of the absolute, become a mind flayer, or serve oneself in search of power. The drow commander Mintara is definitely needed as companion, there is no doubt about the worldview and the fact that it will be interesting to be on the side of evil (of any variation) with her.

I would romance SH in the passage as a good hero. There were practically no other options for a good passage, at least in early access

So far Shadowheart and Wyll are my favorite characters I think both are on the edge of an alignment change. I think SH is well written. Anytime I ask a question she asks me to stop prying and I had to pass a pretty tough DC to get her to tell me she is cleric of Shar.

Her character is a clearly a nod to Viconia, the cleric of Shar who changes alignment to neutral if she is in a relationship with a good or neutral PC. I just like Tsundere.

Her description says she's having a crisis of faith and I think we are seeing that. And her area of focus -- deception -- seems to be related to her reactions. She approves anytime I pass a deception check and anytime I say something anti-Gith.

Under different circumstances they might tolerate her. They are already more than busy keeping an eye on all the Tieflings in the camp and expecting attacks. Not the right time to tolerate the most untrustworthy and secretive of people. Its not just about alignment (which is mostly absent from this game anyway)

She doesn't disapprove of helping the tieflings. She disapprove of your offering your help to others or getting involved in random drama when you should be focusing on finding a healer. Just stick to what looks like neutral responses when accepting quests.

Unless it's about trolling, using deception or demanding that people gives you all their valuables. She approves of those things.

Dont worry, Good girl will (probably) come later.

Also, Shar is a very evil goddess. I remember, basically in Baldurs gate Shar was referred to as the Goddess of night and assassin, and every Shar item you discover talk about how assassin used it to kill their target.

thats actually a good point that i misremembered with the bg1/2 cleric companion also being a shar follower - i guess this is just larians take on an 'evil' cleric having a change of heart? idk, SH hasnt been my fav so far in ea but i dont mind having her stick around, i just wish she had better stats, lol

it must have been changed in a recent update bc she did use to have a tag in game that said 'evil cleric' but i dont think thats listed now. im not saying she cant still be more neutral, but tbh i think its more a shortcoming of automatically tagging clerics of x diety as x alignment without giving the player the ability to override, but it looks like they are phasing out or hiding that feature now

I like the possibility that SH can be optionally good or evil depending on the player's decisions

Shar is an evil goddess, but is SH? I have doubts. More precisely, she has doubts.

Otherwise, there would be no crisis of faith, thoughts of regret after the attack on the druids grove, love for flowers and animals (even though it's cute as hell, and I like it even if she stays evil). She is trying to understand herself. The player must help.

Shar is very good at luring people in and using them up. She had a dalliance with Sharess for a long while and almost consumed her (in fact, this is part of the reason her name is Sharess) and she's been known to impersonate Selune and lure the moon goddess's worshippers away. She is very much a toxic personality that abuses everybody that comes close.

I somehow have the impression that SH is actually not a true follower of Shar. She said she has memory loss, and also had some strange magic occurance. I think she might be something else originally, and her chains that made her a Shar follower are breaking - just like Astarion can walk in daylight now thanks to tadpole buddy. Maybe the magic display was her true powers showing. Hells, she could be an abducted, brainwashed Selune cleric. Now, that, would be an interesting plot.

I don't think Shadowheart is evil, probably neutral. If you kill all tieflings in the grove and read her mind at goblin's party after, you discover that she feels guilty and sad but she tries to hide those feeling even from herself. I have a theory that she was a cleric of Selune but was deceived by Shar.

Tell me about Bane. Why does he wear the Mask?

They'll just pull a Viconia later and change her stance depending on the M.C.s relationship.

Just on my opinion, she wasn't fully connected to Shar maybe.

It's great that many people have this theory.

I really hope that Larians will see this discussion, and make a quest where she will deal with her head and decides to be a cleric of Selune or a cleric of Shar, or both (lol)
Although most likely it was already planned, we just guessed ahead of time


I propose to think about what loss Shadowheart suffered as a cleric of Selune, the circumstances that led her to Shar. Perhaps she had someone dear to her who was killed because of Selune?