Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Help Tips & Tricks Evil playthrough - Can followers be corrupted?

Dear Forum Dwellers,

I am thinking of playing an evilish character. - something close to a powerhungry Necromancer.

I was wondering whom to take with me on my party, who is Evil(ish).
Astarion it my first choice.
Then Lae'zel (as I need a fighter to protect me)

But who of the other 3 characters would be most fitting for an evil playthrough?
Shadowheart, Gale and Wyll seem to have a good alignment.

Is it possible to corrupt them?
Has anyone experimented with it?

More like Neutral, then actualy good ...
And no, they cannot be corupted ... sadly.

Question here is what do you mean by "fitting for an evil playthrough" ?
Are you looking for another companion that will like your evil choices?
Or do you satisfy with the fact that s/he would not leave you?

IF you want first option ... all of them will do, just not all the time.
Shadowheart even likes some tricks and betrayals, she just seem to dislike unnecesary cruelity without purpose (or at least that is how it seemed to me) ...
Wyll dont seem to care about evil deeds, as long as they dont damage his "legacy" ...
Gale ... will probably be the worst choice for you. :-/

About the second option ...
I never managed to loose any companion, except Wyll ... and Gale, once in the long past.
Im pretty sure that they only leave you as reaction for some BIG decision you make ...
Wyll leaves you if you side with Goblins ...
Gale, if you refuse to feed him an artefact ...
I never managed to get rid of Shadowheart, even tho i tryed.

Shadowheart is selfish first and foremost, which is totally understandable, given her background. However, she isn't bloodthirsty at all: I remember she made an approving remark when I talked the band of tomb robbers out of fight once, by mistake.
It appears that here, Larian follows the long-established cultural myth that thieves generally avoid bloodshed, unless they specialise in it (think assassins).

Wyll is heroic, and he is clearly on the humans' side. So he has no issues murderising surrendering goblins, but if you plan to side with Minthara, he is definitely the worst choice.

Gale is... so self-absorbed that I really struggle to identify his alignment. He does approve of you when you help others, such as tieflings, so he is probably more good, although not too good.

I think it really depends on your definition of evil - is it methodical, purposeful evil, like "Lawful Evil / Neutral Evil" evil, or is it just a murder-hobo style deranged rampage, killing everyone you meet.

The current companions are our grey-to-red set. I think it's unlikely that you'll 'corrupt' them too far, given that they are already the representatives for our dark side. Looking at the calssical defintions, and bearing in mind that evil is defined by selfishness more than anything else:

Lae'zel is our representative for Lawful Evil, and doesn't need too much explanation on that score. She is the classical definition of this stance.

Astarion is our representative for Chaotic Evil: he's in it for himself, and himself alone, and he doesn't care who gets hurt in the process - even relishes it, and his only guiding code is "What Astarion thinks will be the most fun"

Shadowheart (Shar Following) is our representative for Neutral Evil: while she is busy being a worshipper of Shar, Shadow is the classical embodiment of neutral evil; she is ultimately selfish, and puts her own personal needs and wants ahead of everything else as being of supreme importance. Other people are useful only in as far as they are useful to her, and she will absolutely not put herself in danger for the sake of others, unless she feels she has no other choice... at the same time, she isn't directly vindictive or bloodthirsty, and she prefers, if there is no difference to her, to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. Shadowheart seems slated to have an alternate path where she returns to Selune, or something to that extent - and it's from here that her good-aligned affectations and facets seem to surface. That version of shadow would likely be neutral good.

Wyll is our representation of Chaotic Neutral: He follows his own code, believes in doing what he thinks needs to be done, regardless of any other systems or structures in place. He tries to be heroic, and wants to be, and to be seen as, a good person, but he isn't there yet, and he has a lot of background baggage. He's driven by a need for vengeance and for personal reasons, even though he wants to be seen to be acting for the greater good. Indeed, he prefers to act for the greater good, when he can, but... if he is forced to choose between what would be considered the "good" action, and his personal revenge, he'll probably slip... so Chaotic Neutral, for now.

Gale is our representative for true neutral: He moves and acts within the world, according to his own plans and designs. he would generally choose to help someone rather than not, so long as it doesn't inconvenience him or his plans too much, and he is considerate of others around him, but unless there is a very good reason for it, he generally won't suggest putting himself in danger. He likes to see his friends succeed, and likes to have friends, but he never stops assessing his friends and companions for their strengths and usefulness - he doesn't do it maliciously, just pragmatically. Perpetrating overt evil in front of him pushes Gale more strongly towards good in response, so True Neutral, but leaning towards good, or at least a desire to be so.

The answer is Shadowheart. If you want an evil trio with no problems, she is the final link. Yes she has secret light within her, but on the surface she is quite dark and callous. It is against her true nature, but you can probably corrupt her in this way by encouraging her clinging to Shar worship.

Both Wyll and Gale can leave if you go the tadpole/Absolute/goblin route. So it's not worth it. You won't be able to befriend SH in Act 1 though if you go that route, but she still remains. If you're playing as evil as you can be, you probably aren't even interested in romance so it doesn't even matter lol.

Really loved you summarisation of the characters.
Thank you for it.

You are most likely right.
But I would prefer not having her in that play-through
But seems she must be a part of every playthrough.

Hope we will get a few more origin characters in the full game.

Shar is Neutral Evil and Shadowheart doesn't act like your typical good character. The real trouble is Shadowheart and Lae'zel are at each others' throats all the damn time.