Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion The insane timeline of the main plot (do I even need to tell you that it's spoilers?)

- Orin betrays Durge, someplace unknown, likely the Temple of Bhaal as that is where a dead Durge is put on display if you play as any other origin.
- He is promptly forgotten about, Orin thinking that she killed Durge - either that or some unknown force, likely Bhaal, saved him.
- Magically, Durge stumbles their way along just enough to be kidnapped and tadpoled in the cinematic.

But now, the timeline is actually the following:
- Orin betrays Durge in Moonrise and she infects him with a tadpole.
- A couple hours later, he is found by Kressa who saved him to be used for her experiments with the tadpole.
- According to Kressa, Durge's mind is so special that despite the tadpole, they can have independent thoughts and retain their memory.
- Balthazar is annoyed that his assistant keeps getting distracted. He doesn't know who her "pet" is - he unknowningly orders Durge to be disposed of.
- Luckily, Durge is placed on the same Nautiloid as Emperor, and the same Nautiloid that is soon to steal the Astral Prism.

Soooo... Durge got tadpoled twice? Because, remember, the trailer is the same for every single origin - the person watching Lae'zel get tadpoled is also tadpoled. But surely, the tadpoling mind flayer must have known that Durge was already infected. So why place another tadpole in Durge? There was no reason to place a completely newly born Tadpole in Durge even if they were looking to make him a super soldier, as the only reason to absorb an existing tadpole is if it has gathered knowledge and experience from a previously infected person (aka. true souls).

It also means Orin has levels of stupid measured in the size of the biggest galaxies known to Man (and, she WAS before this as well, but this just confirms it even more). Here's the thing - don't play Durge, Durge is dead in Orin's bedchambers. Play Durge, she suddenly forgets to look into the dying body of her previous master having been kidnapped. I thought she treated murder as art? Surely, Durge would have been her greatest masterpiece. Let's assume that the roles are reversed - that Durge was to betray Orin. In that case, this would actually make sense, as Durge sees murder as the ultimate goal, and in his jealousy, he would have let Orin suffer in her final hours, leaving her to bleed out and completely forgetting about her afterwards. But that is just simply not what happens. Orin would have absolutely burned Moonrise to the ground in search of Durge. And what was the point in tadpoling Durge anyways? She was going to kill him regardless - the explanation of "well she's crazy and wanted to torture Durge" doesn't work because that is no longer Durge that she's torturing, that's the tadpole. She's just a plain and simple idiot and Bhaal should have fucking killed her.

On top of this, Durge was not under the influence of the initial tadpole put into her by Orin (at least not completely). Remember that the Brain thought of Durge as it's master, completely willingly mind you. Therefore, the moment Durge got betrayed and had a tadpole put into him, the Brain MUST have been made aware of what just happened. The turnaround from "My Master" to "Disgraced Master" and "Pawn in the Grand Design" was fucking SECONDS. What is the point in betraying Durge so quickly? The Brain felt genuine gratitude and actually revered Durge, so why toss him under the bus so quickly? Wouldn't the Brain be outraged? Why exactly is an assassination ATTEMPT enough to make the Brain think so poorly of Durge? This is just insanely premature for a bloody Elder Brain of all things, entities that are literal biological quantum supercomputers. And remember, there was a brief period of time where a Netherstone wasn't active, even if only minutes given the murder attempt happened just a couple minutes away from where the Brain was located. So why not break free in rage? And to return to the beginning of this paragraph, what exactly were the Brain's intentions with letting Durge retain a sense of free will, but at the same time later in the game bombard the Durge with orders to "follow her Chosen" and orders to transform into a Mind Flayer??????????????? "Grand Design"... Grand Idiocy more like.

I am actually willing to let the luck portion of that timeline go regarding the Nautiloid - I have said before that the greatest strings of lucks are often what generates mankind's greatest stories, and that incredibly lucky events happen all the time, so whatever, with this timeline it's actually way, WAY more plausible, if not believeable.

Ketheric has Durge Amnesia for no single reason, but I didn't consider Balthazar until later into this discussion. I've even complained about this in my very first post on these forums criticising the Evil Durge playthrough.

Emperor/Balduran as a character that I am not willing to slip any speculation past, as there is barely anything we can claim as a concrete fact about him without annihilating his character. And yes, you haven't said he has gaps in his memories, that is something I brought up to reinforce the fact that he should, even if at the back of his mind, keep to his Balduran persona for when it becomes useful. And as far as I'm aware, most playable and creatable characters are Baldurians who live(d) in Baldur's Gate, so you'd think they'd be familiar, if not enthralled by the stories of Balduran, legendary adventurer and founder of Baldur's Gate. Apologies if I seemed to lash out against you - that wasn't my intention.

When you first get to see him in his mind flayer form, you can actually cast detect thoughts, and verify that EVERYTHING he is saying is sincere and true. He has always advocated for illithid powers, as you quoted him, and as I mentioned in the OP, becoming an illithid was actually a giant win in his book. From the very get-go however, he should have appeared as Balduran and said something along the lines of "Another adventurer in the same boots as I was (actually giving the "I am just like you" line a meaning) - infected and powerless against the inevitable. My name is Balduran, and I am here to help you on your quest. The artefact you hold neutralizes the effects of Ceremorphosis, and I believe we can take advantage of that. These parasitic creatures are vessels for knowledge, experience and power. No doubt that on this path, you will stumble into many infected warriors. Extract their powers, and use them to your benefit. You may think that I am nothing more than illithid illusions, or you might think whatever else, but I will tell you this: keep that artefact close. It will be you and yours's salvation, and maybe, it yet be mine."

Of course, give it to an actual writer who crafts dialogue better than I do, but that should be the takeaway. That already establishes a strong foundation for Emperor/Balduran's character, instead of trying to be everything at once - a person you can trust, a person you shouldn't trust, a person promising you power, a person who you can be friends with, your saviour, your slaver... your lover? Right now, Emperor is a bloody ping-pong.

Edit2: You could even make it so that the Durge is special in that they don't need the Astral Prism to stay sane as the Brain goes out of its way to help Durge on his journey, trying to reunite with its master for an especially evil ending. There could be a real big conflict between Emperor and the Brain, putting an amnesiac Durge into an incredibly difficult circumstance. Given that'd require a significant rewrite and tons of dev work, but after playing games like DAO, different outcomes based on what origin you play is a standard I adopted.