Shar hasn't been mentioned yet, but there is a prelude comic-book series begun. Dungeons and Dragons: Mindbreaker, featuring Minsc and his band encountering strange cult activities in Baulder's Gate. So perhaps we'll be bought up to speed there.
No.
I hated when this defense was brought up with the Star Wars sequel trilogy and I hate it now. You should not have to consume supplementary material (if this even meets the criteria, by the way) to be informed/educated about a key development in another product.
it's not the same situation.
Disney was putting details in their movie, that you could, and still can only get, if you bought and read their book. Anything you want to know about D&D lore, you can find information about on the internet. Swen himself used the forgotten realms wiki, when he talked about a golden dragon in the last panel from hell. If it's that big of a deal for a person to just look somethings up, they don't really care.
