Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Halsin's motivation

So heres what Im thinking. Keeping in mind this is all my headcannon based on discussions we have had here in the threads and how I understand the in game lore and cut content, so I could also be wildly off base. In which case everyone has the right to rip me a new one. Hopefully I dont completely humiliate myself with this. However, Im not saying this is what was planned, but how I am trying to fit together what we have in a cohesive manner. But I have already stated, I dont know the details of the datamined content. I dont know what the original story really was that Larian had planned.

My pitch is this.

Ketheric Thorm, his wife, and daughter Isobel are all devout Selunites. They are a powerful family in the town of Reithwin. As the town of Reithwin grows and expands, tensions rise between the town/Thorms and the local druidic circle, of which Halsin is a member, assumingly because the town is growing and is encroaching on local habitat, threatening the balance of nature. I believe there is banter about this though I cant confirm.

Selune has a child, Aylin aka The Nightsong, who falls in love with Ketherics half elf mortal daughter, Isobel. Ketheric having issue with Aylin and Isobels relationship due to the fact Aylin is an immortal never made total sense to me, since he is a Selune worshipper and you could make a very similar argument for him because of him and his wifes races. I would assume that he would be thrilled with the idea of his daughter being the beloved of the child of the goddess he and his wife worship. But perhaps he did have a problem with it, it doesnt really matter as far as what I think could happen.

So what Im thinking in my headcannon, is that Selune herself had an issue with the relationship for some reason. I can easily see a goddess being upset that their child is romanticaly involved with a person who is beneath them. I understand that the gods sleeping with mortals isnt uncommon, but Aylin isnt a goddess. She is the offspring of one. And if a romantic relationship isnt what Selune had planned for her child, or if it is somehow intervening with Selunes will or plans for her offspring, I can see it being an issue.

So what does Selune do? She intervenes. Gets rid of Isobel. But Selune would most likely need to do it somewhat indirectly, or at least discreetly, or she risks her relationship with her child, as well as whatever plans she had for her. So she waits for an oppourtunity to get Isobel to inadvertently kill herself. She takes advantage of the growing tensions between Reithwin and the druids. There is a meeting set up between the druids and Reithwin, supposedly to discuss some sort of peace treaty or agreement between the two factions. If there is already tension, it would be a good oppourtunity for someone to pull shenanigans.

So in my mind we have 3 possibilities, and they may even overlap eachother.

Selune dissaproves of Aylins relationship and instigates the whole thing herself, and Shar gets involved when Ketheric starts worshipping her instead of Selune after Isobel is killed

Shar instigates the whole thing herself to mess with Selune

Or maybe Selune makes some sort of deal with Shar to get rid of Isobel, this is not likely, but I could believe Shar using this as a way to mess with Selune

The datamined content as far as I understand seems to imply something going on with Aylin, as either an imposter or shes under the influence of something and somehow instigated the altercation where Isobel is killled, I think possibly persuading Isobel to attack, or perhaps Isobel defends Aylin from a percieved attack. Aylin may possibly be the under the influence of Shar, which would only make sense if Selune was desperate enough to seek out her sisters help. Or if Shar, acting on her own, somehow convinced Aylin/Isobel to instigate something at the meeting, specifically to mess around with Selune and her daughter. Or, what I would prefer, Selune herself somehow influences Isobel, since she is a cleric of Selune and worships her, to attack. Any option is just a way to get Isobel killed, knowing whoever she attacks will defend themselves. Isobel just so happens to attack Halsin, or perhaps she attacks the druid leader and Halsin defends the druid leader who is being attacked. Isobel is killed in the process. This is why Halsin feels guilty and responsible for the curse, he was the catalyst for it. We also have to remember that this place is his childhood home. He played in the woods with Thaniel as a boy, so we can assume he was at least raised in or in the vicinity of Reithwin. How many people were killed due to this? And how horrible must he feel about it? To see his homeland destroyed by a grieving Ketheric, which Halsin is responsible for. Thats why he comes with us when he sees a connection between our tadpoles and moonrise.

I dont know how aware of eachothers activities the gods are, but we know Shar and Selune are at odds. And we know Ketheric starts to worship Shar at some point. So Shar, wanting to take advantage of the situation or otherwise screw with Selune, uses a grieving Ketheric to kidnap her sisters offspring holding her hostage, and expands her power and influence. Ketheric goes along with it, hoping Shar will bring Isobel back.

But he doesnt get Isobel back. I dont have much to go on after this. But we know a battle happens at moonrise, the Sharran curse is thrust upon the land, the druid leader is killed, Halsin becomes the new leader and most likely flees with as many of the druids as he can due to the curse and they start the Emerald Grove druidic circle. From what I understand Ketheric falls in the first battle at moonrise, and somewhere in the timeline starts and stops worshipping Shar. I dont know if anything in game says when exactly, I am going to presume he starts after Isobels death, and stops when he realizes Shar wont give him what he wants. Later he starts worshiping Myrkul, and does the Absolute stuff, in exchange for Isobels ressurection.

Now, out of all the possibilites I mentioned above, the one I like the most is this.

Selune for some reason doesnt like Aylin being with Isobel. Selune takes advantage of the Druid/Thorm conflict. Selune, or maybe Shar, either influences Aylin to make Isobel to attack, or directly influences Isobel to attack Halsin at random. Halsin kills Isobel in self defense. Selune got what she wanted. Ketheric in his grief starts worshipping Shar, builds the temple, starts pulling all the shenanigans that leads to the first battle of moonrise. In the battle, the curse is thrust upon the land, the druid leader is killed, Halsin is now leader, and flees with the druids. Ketheric is defeated and gets involved with Myrkul and The Absolute. The curse splits the spirit of Thaniel in two. And things stay like this for 100 or so years until Absolute cult business starts up.