Ngl, I melted the first time I went to talk to her and instead of saying “speak” she said “is something burdening you?” Because it showed how much she had grown. Act 1 Lae’zel would never even think of asking after someone else like that. Love that girl so much.
That "burdening" line coincided with Gortash telling me I had a shapeshifter in camp so it made me think *for sure* it was Lae'zel. I saved and killed her and nothing happened haha
I remember someone described her as "Incredibly abrasive and only starts to warm up to you right after the point most people have enough patience for it."
I was the exact same. Even on replaying the game now the parts where she's a bitch to you are kinda funny and endearing to me. My favorite is when you can ask her if she knows a lot about mind flayers since she's a Gith, and she's all like "YES, I KNOW MUCH AND YOU KNOW NOTHING!".
Honestly I didn’t have a lot of issues with early game Lae’zel. I knew genuinely nothing about mindflayers and the opening scene and Githyanki race description in the character creator made it very clear that Githyanki probably knew a lot about mindflayers, so I basically trusted Lae’zel 100% about it, so I was just as blindsided when we met Voss and at the crèche. It made it really easy to understand why she was being so standoffish
Yeah, I was never put off by her either, even from the very start. She was obviously a ‘shit needs to get done’ kind of person, and we were all completely out of our element. I started warming to her in one of our first camp conversations, where you can ask her about Gith culture (I *think* it’s the dialogue about soaring through the Tears). She sort of pauses and says, “your curiosity is to be commended”.
It all made sense. She’s in a completely alien world with the worst possible thing a Gith can imagine writhing around in her brain. If you make even the slightest effort to know her or her culture she immediately starts to warm up to you.
Same! After going through the crèche with her, she grew on me and I considered romancing either her or Astarion the next playthrough (my first was Karlach).
This time around, with more knowledge of how the rest of the githyanki are, I started seeing even her earlier interactions differently. And she ended up successfully charming me away from Astarion.
On my first playthrough, I missed recruiting Lae'zel and then she died, so I completed a whole run without her. Then I started my current Durge run, recruited her, and I just love her. The "teethlings" bit endeared her to me forever.
Same. I also didn't like her design (or giths in general but cmon, I am not alone) but now I can't stop making screenshots of her in any and every cutscene, especially if there are cool lights around, her eyes and hair and skin is just so aaaaa. I love her, such a cool character.
I also really like her character development the best I think, after Astarion. She starts as snappy, naive (!) and aggressive, and she ends the game as a true warrior, a mature one.
I did, too! But quickly after giving in to her, I realized that she just needs someone to hold her hand and show her how to love. And you do, and it's adorable to see, especially her act 3 scene.
Yeah she is my favorite now as well. It’s a good thing she is so useful in a fight or else I probably would not have kept her around long enough to realize how awesome she is.
She was rude to me but I was rude to her as well. We were rivals but I kept her around. It was fun to make fun of her when I could, especially the teeth-ling line.
Eventually we both came around and I grew quite fond of her, even felt sorry for her when her whole life became a lie.
Jaheira! I haven’t played the earlier games so she was totally new to me. I absolutely *love* her sense of humor, her connection to the storylines, her connection with Minsc, and her family. I’ve been using her more on my second playthrough, and I’m doing a Durge run, and having her with me when facing Saverok opened a *lot* more than my first vanilla playthrough (which I did without taking her since I didn’t use her much). (She’s also great with area spells for combat.)
The game ought to make it more clear what lines ARE teasing. Reading the text does not always make it clear if you're saying something in jest in a way that you expect other people to pick up on, or if you're just being a dick.
I’m obsessed with her. Biggest Jaheira simp. The way she is so unflappable and snippy but actually so devastatingly caring and good at the same time is just 😭 She’s perfect. Her response when the >!avatar of Myrkul shows up and gives his big bad villain monologue “I AM DEATH”!< and she just replies, “Hello, death. I like your hat.” 💀💀 PLEASE I love her
I’m so happy that *someone* >!responds to the Avatar of Myrkul because in my Dark Urge run I really wanted to make a joke about murdering the god of death!<
Another time when shit hits the fan and Jaheira reacts *very* differently from anyone else after so much life experience
Astarion: Precious little Bhaal babe! Guess we’re both spooky now!
Jaheira while threatening your sleeping form with a weapon: I will either rip out your throat or watch you while you sleep, any preference?
It works so well too, Wyll and Karlach have seen some serious shit but for the most part the III gang are rookies in the adventuring game. Jaheira and Minsc have been around the block a time or two, they know the drill, and pretty much anybody that's played a tabletop knows talking shit is step one.
I'm actually glad I read this cause I literally just started act III on my first durge and I have her in camp, just had the overnight scene with her like 5 min ago. I'll have to make sure I bring her along. 💙
That scene is so freaking good. I was wondering if the game wasn’t >!letting me tell her I’m Bhaalspawn!< because her approval was too low but then I got that scene and it made sense lol.
On my current playthrough I wanted her in my party since I either didn't go into Act 3 or she died during the Moonrise Siege on my previous runs, I finally recruited her and surprisingly she's one of my absolute favorites. She's so different from all the other characters in the party in a way I really like.
Totally agree! I already liked her in my first playthrough (regular Tav), but since she joined so late I was a bit more invested in my other companions, and didn't use her in my party too much.
In my resist!DU playthrough, she (and Minsc) really felt like my character's cool aunt and uncle. Which made me use them a lot more in Act 3.
>!The Durge cutscene at the beginning of Act 3, the dialogue options about being bhaalspawn, taking her and Minsc along through the Tribunal and the Temple of Bhaal. Really made their connections with my character matter a lot more to me.!<
I _have_ played the previous games and Jaheira still was a positive surprise. I never liked her much in BG1&2 for some reason, but in BG3 she is much more interesting. I mean, not Minsc level, but still, nothing is.
Jaheira is super stiff when you meet her at Last Light. Almost unbearable. Then when you get to South Span Wyrm’s Crossing she’s happy as a clam. Sarcastic and funny as hell.
I imagine it must be nice to be adventuring again, even in the face of the Absolute, compared to sitting and dawdling in the Shadowlands at the Last Night Inn knowing there’s nothing they can really do to put an end to Kethy, until you come along.
That’s what she said.
Pun aside, after you defeat Ketheric, Jaheira says she was just about ready to hang up her blades. Then Tav came along and she feels renewed.
Didn't really care for Lae'zel until the third act. Loved her scene where she told Vlaakith to bugger off, and after she got kidnapped and I got her back I was so shocked when she thanked me. It was a nice callback and lovely character growth.
Her character growth is crazy. The first time I went to talk to her and she said “is something burdening you?” Instead of the usual “speak.” I teared up a little bit. The fact that she not only thought about offering help like that but asked???? I love her so much.
Astarion. I thought he was just a heartless f boy but when I got to know him better, I found out he was a victim of abuse who was only just trying to survive the best way he knew how. He became my favorite character very quickly after that. Helping him make choices that brought out the good in him (especially that big one at the end of his quest line) was very rewarding. He’s also hilarious.
If you play Durge and tell him about Bhaalspawn you get a really deep monologue from him about how he didn’t realize you two were so alike. The voiceactor really did a brilliant job on him
Astarion has every element of a character I should dislike, but his story arc is great and the VA put in such a fantastic performance that it won me over completely. I love my nasty twink friend ❤️
Same. I tend not to like manipulators due to my own bad experiences but I pretty quickly realised he was just scared and alone and used to a world that would much sooner hurt him than help him and angry when he saw me so freely offering help when no one had ever helped him. I was so proud of him going into act 3 when he approved of me helping Yenna for no reason other than kindness. Then I romanced him as Durge and it was so incredibly sweet. They love each other so much.
Gale, he is who I would want to be in a relationship. He's funny, smart, charming yet awkward and thoughtful. His obsession with Mystra and godhood is a bit too much, but he's a wizard after all. I also like how he's more on the neutral side, he might not agree with you on evil playthroughs but you can get him to stick around, unlike Wyll and Karlach. I'm a straight guy, but man his romance is just the best.
Karlach, for me. I did NOT expect her to become my best friend that I would leave Halsin >!to go to Avernus for. !< I didn’t even romance her. At all.
I’m doing an evil Durge run, now, and it is SO HARD to be disappointing and upsetting her so much.
I want to see everyone’s “bad endings.” And I just couldn’t do it. And now she has to live and see me become a monster >!squishing pixies and killing moony clerics and learning how to use the Slayer form.!<
I accidentally turned the whole grove against me and had to kill everyone.
Having karlach ditch me right then and there hurt, and I have never romanced her.
Side note, idk if it makes any difference, but I only knocked out the tieflings I liked. Which was about half of them.
Gale's like one of my ride or die companions.
It's so funny because I had a hard time with him due to the myriad bugs at launch. Once those are fixed I warmed up to him very, very quickly. He's an absolute sweetheart.
This happened to me, too. I fully expected to be all over Astarion, but nope. Can't get enough of that adorkable wizard.
If you would have told me he'd be my favorite when I first started playing, I wouldn't have believed you. Definitely took me by surprise.
Same. Saw the Astarion hype, thought I’d love him as a VC/Lestat Fan, and Neil’s performance is wonderful, but I didn’t find the writing there all the time to back it up.
I mistakenly left Gale at camp for the first 3/4 of my first play thru since I rolled a wizard, but I kept him in my party on playthrough 2 and he’s easily my favorite.
Also Laezel slid into a close second with a fantastic romance and an arc I could appreciate more in or out of a romance with her. Plus she bonks real good in all senses of the word.
Agree, Neil killed it and I love Astarion but there’s something for me doesn’t click with him. The second I slapped that hand sticking out of the portal my first playthrough however I was in love. Stupid dorky wizard.
I’m going to romance Lae’zel this next playthrough after she was so sweet to my tav at the docks when she was leaving.
I romanced Astarion out is spite (I had full approval with literally everyone except him at the end of my first run, like everyone was exceptional and he was “fine”) and it just didn’t click for me either. I absolutely get it and some of his scenes and dialogue are really great, but I just never stopped feeling like he was pretending, even after we killed Cazador. It just wasn’t it for me.
Romancing him on a separate playthru and I’ve just about finished act 2. I definitely think his romance adds a lot to his character and arc but like I’ve seen a couple other people say (and you) I don’t know if he really has feelings/genuine feelings for my Tav. I’ve heard the resist Durge romance adds a lot so I might just end that run and do a Durge one instead. Have to compare the experiences!
Resist Durge has some really cool scenes, but I always felt like Durge and Astarion were like two people who met in rehab and would always be helping each other - which isn't bad, it just felt more like shared trauma bonding than romance. I'm doing my first Durge without romancing him right now and it's different but in a good way.
And I feel like Astarion's romance isn't done cooking during the game, so I only felt they were truly happy during the epilog. The groundwork was laid, but he needed time to settle into his idea of what love looks like, if that makes sense. In Act 2 especially, he's still figuring his feelings out and I'm glad he gets that time, and really like the epilog showing him more comfortable.
Preaching to the choir. I got the game entirely because of Astarion hype, then I stopped my Shadowheart romance run to go make kissy faces with the nerd. I should've seen this coming though, I'm a big Alistair and Cullen fan from Dragon Age and Gale is them with a higher intelligence score.
This needs to be studied, I also love Cullen and Alistair and when I got BG3 I was dead set on Shadowheart and the least interested in Gale. Lo and behold he made it extremely difficult to finish Shadowhearts romance 😂
lae'zel and astarion. i thought they were both entirely too mean for me, especially for my character. but by the end, we were all besties, the power of great stories. shadowheart was kind of a rollercoaster, but i got used to her *teenage angst, faerun edition*, and i can appreciate not wanting to tell veritable strangers all about your business right away.
i liked that nerd gale from the start and have never stopped. all the rest i liked right away and only had differing opinions the more i played additional runs. sometimes i think act 3 took so long in my first run because it was hard deciding who to bring and who to leave in camp for a lot of it. lol.
I feel you on Lae'zel and Astarion. I rolled my eyes every time I saw people gushing over them, especially Astarion. I couldn't figure out why people loved them so much. I totally got it by the time Act 3 rolled around. Astarion >!killing Cazador and sobbing!< was such a cathartic moment and completely changed my outlook on him.
Something similar happened to me- I saw him everywhere in YouTube and everybody loved him- and I was just like Okay cute albino vamp
Until I saw a clip - the Araj Thank you scene.
It crushed my heart. When he explains his background.
At that moment I knew.
I had to play and hug this man.
Here I am.
Thank you everyone for listening my story.
i bought the game for Astarion (because he was handsome) but i didn't expect him to be so... *Astarion*. He is so fucking funny and his little quips with everyone have me dying in my chair most of the time. Normally, I end up liking the side characters and having a little crush on the handsome one, but dude is really the whole package, and I can't go anywhere without him.
Same for Lae'zel and Shadowheart. I disliked Lae'zel at first, but now she's a treasured member of my team. Shadowheart is someone I liked at first but then came to dislike a little because of how low-key annoying she can be. Still in Act 1.
I recently gave Astarion the necromancy book for the first time and his whole “no! I won’t kill them! Well, maybe Gale,” had me on the floor, he’s so funny. The little “oh, hello,” wave he gives afterwards is also so ridiculous, he’s a funny guy.
Also without spoiling anything, Lae’zel just gets better and better throughout the game, so I’m curious to see what you think as you get out of act 1.
that's exactly what i mean!!! But barely anyone gives him credit for it. 😭 And knowing his backstory also breaks my heart when I see his thirst trap edits online. He's such a complex character, and when you can dig past his enjoyment of more undesirable behavior, I don't think anyone could hate him for being what he was conditioned into being. Bro is just a cutie patootie and deserves the world.
I love the glimpses of his goofy/dorky side as much as I love his more serious moments - they're rare moments when he fully drops all his masks. I dislike people implying he's a sad little meowmeow, but I wish the non-meow people recognized more of his socially awkward weirdo moments.
Like, man doesn't know how to people anymore and is figuring it out as he goes while being a chaos loving gremlin. It's hilarious watching him figure it out.
He reminds me of a description I read of Han Solo forever ago. "He's the living embodiment of going to lean on a doorframe to look cool and falling through the door." People talk about Han Solo like he suave. He is not suave. He tries to be suave and fails in endearing ways 99% of the time.
That's Astarion when he's being himself.
I LOVE all his bait and switch lines like this one and the rest where you think he is going to have a normal, reasonable reaction to something like a normal person, but then he flips it on its head to sheer villainous chaos. Like “what the hells are you doing?!!! Have you *never* decapitated a corpse before?” And, “What were you thinking ~~(setting off an extremely powerful magical weapon and leveling an entire building)~~?! I was *right there!*”
Gale. I heard so many conflicting things about him, some of which gave me pause because they reminded me about a complaint I had with Larian's last game. I also heard he was annoying a lot, and I never once was annoyed by him. That boy stole my whole heart and fully sabotaged my plan to romance Astarion on my first run. No regrets.
Idk somehow people still manage to hate him anyway. But Tim's voice *is* lovely. I started listening to his podcast, so now I can imagine Gale is telling me spooky stories while I make dinner or clean. 🥰
The one person I know who hates Gale...*is* Gale. Or, rather, was (beginning, very arrogant) Gale before they grew up a bit. I genuinely wonder if there's almost a subconscious cringe of recognition for some people.
This is the reason i hated Astarion at first. I couldn't stand him. But i watched my friend romance him on a playthrough together and.. well, there's something to the theory that if you saw a clone of yourself you'd kill them. We're way too similar in every way.
My boyfriend also hates Gale, not realizing *that he IS Gale*.
Possible. Are you in many fan groups? Because the Gale hate is pretty strong. Though I have noticed that it seems like the majority of Gale haters are men. I also feel like neurodivergent people are more likely to love him because he's so autistic coded, and our brains just understand/accept that more. I always read him as proud, more than arrogant, in the way autistic people often share a lot about their special interests and areas of expertise in such a way that neurotypical people think is bragging and self-centering, but an autistic person is just so pleased to be sharing their special interest.
Got the game cuz I thought I would fall for shadowheart or Karlach, no…. HALSIN AND GALE the two biggest nerds/dorks in game. Bro gales favorite activity is learning and Halsin watches ducks for fun 💀
Dumped Gale for Halsin my first playthrough and the overt regret in the epilogue nearly killed me. Immediate second playthrough and that Tav ended up happily married to her dork wizard.
SAME!
I thought I was going to be a hopeless fool for Karlach, but it turns out that puppy-eyed service tops with poetry on their lips is a type I didn't realize I was helpless against, until I played this game.
I HATE having to choose between them 😭
I went into the game almost blind (did some early access, but that was it) and was convinced I was gonna be 100% for Gale or Astarion.
Then Halsin came to my camp and it was just..... jeez.... he's so *sweet!*
I saw so much hate for Halsin and posts calling him a nothing character that I wasn't ready for how much I loved his character.
Also Gale generally got drowned out by Astarion love when the game came out, but he became my favorite companion and romance.
Halsin is criminally underrated. His character has a lot of depth, but you have to actively try and get to it, so I think a lot of people miss it. Halsin is so unique and lovely, I can’t get over him.
I'm looking forward to Larian giving his romance/flirting dialogue tags the same kind of tune up they did for Gale's early on, because right now all of the best parts about his character are locked behind the fact that just talking and being friendly with him guarantees his romantic confession will trigger.
I completely get how that's not something everyone wants or will be comfortable with, so it'd be a favor to players AND to Halsin as a character if they could set up a clear platonic path for him.
Gale was a character who I was very much ‘Eh’ on, I took him because I thought it’d be a good balance for my party but….i fell in love with that goofy wizard. His awful lines and attempts to be smooth just oozed with personality, and how much he appreciates building a genuine connection with the other party members is brilliant! I really felt for him when he felt the need to sacrifice and refused to allow him to do it - and seeing his ending at the camp was awesome
Wyll (for romance) and Lae’zel (for friendship).
I didn’t know anything about BG3, didn’t play the EA so I went into it completely blind. I had seen a few videos and kinda had in my head who I thought I’d bond with. Lae’zel surprised the Hell outta me. I thought she was just an angry bloodthirsty child. But somehow I had her approval super high and when we got to the crèche and then the aftermath I had I knew appreciation for her.
And Wyll, well I’ll just be honest I’m softie for romance and courting and the like. So when I got far enough for the dance scene in Act 2, I was smitten. Originally I had it in my head to romance Gale but Wyll’s entrance was enough to sway me.
Astarion and Halsin. I expected to enjoy Astarion as the sassy wit machine but his story just pulled me in so hard. Especially the subtle changes in his expressions.
Halsin came out of nowhere. I liked him about as well as any other but something about the “I am!” And “I like ducks” got me so good.
Halsin not-so-subtle horny dialogue made me fall for him so fast. He’s a man with a lot of dedication to helping the world and not getting distracted, but he’s also so, so, so horny for Tav and I love him for it.
Minthara. I thought she’d be a lot more blood thirsty and crazy but she was so loving and kind to my Durge. The depth of her writing and the way she spoke was so well done.
They did such a good job of portraying someone who has lived to 250 years old in a culture where you could be murdered at any given moment.
The introspection that she has is refreshing
Gale. First time through, he was the only companion I actively disliked. My own Tav was a wizard, so I kept mostly benching/ignoring him up until the Crown of Karsus business in Act 3. When he hit me with that rant about wanting to be a god I was like WHAT?! (That said, the one thing I *wasn't* bothered by even at the peak of my dislike was having to feed him items.)
Then I did a second run where I consciously went after his approval/romance to try to figure out what I'd missed, and man, I was NOT ready for the full power of the Rizzard. So yeah Gale went from my least favorite companion to the guy who now never leaves my party and is pretty much my default romance option.
His reaction when Halsin propositions you is hands down the funniest moment in the game for me. You say something like "what do you think about adding another person to our relationship?" And he responds something like
"What, like a child?! I'm not ready to be a father!"
I laughed so hard.
Gale is so sweet.
Karlach. My friend was right that I would love the "big, smashy, barbarian lady" as he put it. I just didn't expect her to be both "big and scary, Oorah-brained, barbarian" and "fucking adorable" at the same time.
Idk if I’m in the minority here but I was surprised how much I loved Lae’zel from the start. The more I’ve played the more my opinion of other companions have changed but I’ve always been ride or die for Lae’zel.
As a player who had no idea wtf was happening at the start, scary alien lady jumps down and telling me exactly what to do to get off the nautiloid, telling me she will help me find a cure for the parasite?? Hell yeah. You can even ask her why she acts the way she acts and she will explain and it makes total sense given the fact that she is an alien raised in a militaristic culture.
I felt exactly the same way at the beginning. The game makes it very clear that the Githyanki know a lot about mindflayers, so why wouldn’t I trust her?! I liked her from the beginning but she weaseled her way into the #1 spot in my heart by act 3. She just grows so much and handles it all so well, I adore her.
I was absolutely the same!
Like I had five seconds to panic and then Lae'zel strolls in saying her whole culture thing is about fighting mindflayers and she absolutely knows how to do? And also she absolutely can kill anything in my way to get me there?
Immediately sold and it only got better. She's amazing.
That’s how it started with me. My husband and I chose characters for the other to romance in this co-op and he picked Lae’zel for me. He’s jealous now.
Astarion, by far.
First playthrough I didn't pay him much mind, so surprise surprise he was a veritable ass wipe the whole time. A couple playthroughs later and I decided to try and max everyone's standing as a challenge, which necessitated working with Astarion. I'm genuinely contented to see that if you give him attention and proper feedback he actually becomes an "acceptable" person.
Putting aside the whole "I simp for Astarion" crowd, he's genuinely a good character and I'm a tad sad I'll probably never dedicate an entire run to romancing him exclusively.
As soon as I met Gale I was like, oh this guy is it. He’s funny and nice and cute!
And then I got to know Astarion ☠️ haven’t been able to romance anyone else. So now I’m playing as him so I can romance mama K 😆
This is exactly my experience.
I went in thinking I'd either love or hate Astarion, but Gale is more my type IRL. But then I got to know Astarion and he became my favourite and now I struggle to romance anyone else because I know what I'm missing 😂
I persevered and dedicated a playthrough to romancing Gale and it is very sweet, no matter the ending you get with him.
I'm currently playing a Durge with Astarion but afterwards I plan to play as Astarion so I can romance Karlach
Same here. I fell in love with Gale and Karlach right away and hated Astarion. He seemed annoying and as I was trying to do a good playthrough, it pissed me off that he disapproved of almost everything that I chose naturally.
This being said, when everyone *but* him was basically throwing themselves at me during the tiefling party (which admittedly alarmed me a bit), I was determined to figure out why and even then, I didn’t have the attachment to him at that point.
It was only after act 2 that I became enamored with his character. I’m not one of the ones who says he is not bad, he totally is, regardless of his past. But finally seeing his vulnerable side totally threw me for a loop, especially as someone who has experienced similar traumas. It felt real and convincing and although I would still prefer someone like Karlach or Gale IRL and plan on romancing them in my next playthrough, Astarion totally won me over in a way I wasn’t expecting at all.
As this is a fantasy game where the players are encouraged to RP, I’m very glad that I ended up choosing Astarion for my first romance in the end, as opposed to what I might have normally gone for. It really pushed me out of my own comfort zone and I really think Astarion will forever be a memorable character for me for that reason.
I came here for Astarion, I stayed here for Astarion, but Gale jusy hits me hard, he seems to be so opposite from my blondie crush, but his vibe gets me...
I kinda expected to think Wyll would be kinda boring, but once I started actually putting him in my party and rolling around with him, I like the guy. He's just a good dude! Maye that's what ppl find boring about him, but I like that I can actually accept quests while he's around and he won't get mad at me for "wasting time" or anything. Like, he's actually tryna be an rpg protagonist, which is the whole reason I'm fuckin here, and he's always on board for the heroics! And he likes being theatrical about it, what a fun guy!
Shadowheart. Not the pleasant kind either. Her writing (if romanced) drops significantly in act 3. But her personal quest is nice and I like the emphasis on familial bonds.
On the other side of the spectrum, I think the closest thing to a perfect companion is Jaheira. She's great when you're introduced in act 2 and gets more screen time (and even better) in act 3 (unlike other companions, who basically drop off the map after you finish their quests). Has funny banter if you gain her approval. Also has a unique dynamic with durge, especially if you go full evil.
Jaheira was the only one who didn't make me feel like I was on crazy pills >!when I freed Wyll from his contract rather than save his dad.!< She also came in SUPER clutch in the House of Grief fight with her ice storms. I love her.
*Thank you* for noticing that spoiler text thing. Her reaction really serves as a reminder than most of the companions are in the early, emotionally stunted phases of their development regardless of age. She has such a mature perspective on all the situations, I really appreciated it, especially if I'm playing a Tav that's a little messed up, too! She's very grounded, as is Halsin. I didn't mind his reaction as much, even though >!he basically made it sound like Wyll stabbed his dad to get ahead, which, I personally feel would've been a totally cool "evil Wyll" thing to do if it appeared anywhere else! I wish they'd let me convince him to be Grand Duke for bad reasons instead of just either or.!<
Jaheria also surprised me. I loved how witty she was in my first play through and basically sobbed when I got the camp scene with her with my Durge. She’s so well written and her kids absolutely crack me up.
Jaheira is great! And unless you >!become Bhaal's Chosen!< she agrees with pretty much everything you do, and I did some seriously messed up choices. She's all for the endgame.
In Shadowheart’s case, the problem with her writing in act 3 is the lack of it. Not nearly enough of God’s Favorite Princess in Act 3 especially if romanced.
She gets the center stage in Act 2 and then drops off hard in Act 3. Her main plot relevance drops to the level of Astarion; a great side quest with some hard hitting emotional beats, but very little to actually do with Orin/Gortash/The Netherbrain.
To be fair, a lot of the companions don't have a lot to do once you finish their main quest. Such is the nature of Act 3, which has to setup each companion's conclusion and any decisions they need to make in the final fight; all while allowing the player to complete them in just about any order.
I knew I would enjoy Karlach before I actually picked her up but GOD do I enjoy her even more as I play on. However, Shadowheart has really grown on me. Sure, she’s God’s little princess, but she’s in pain and that’s compelling
i got the game to romance karlach, because big strong Amazon. i heard one fucking quip from Astarion and i knew i was his forever. it wasn't even to me! it was to a different companion! man has held me in a chokehold since it launched on ps5 and im fine with that
also auntie ethel. i ADORE auntie ethel. i wanna visit her for a teaparty and share all the latest gossip
They gave him some of the most ridiculously wordy pieces of exposition, and he made it sound natural! He also kills it in some of the softer, more emotional scenes. It was really a performance that snuck up on me with how great it is.
I was blow away the first time I did the act 2 scene (the one with the stars and the sky) with Gale as only a friend. Tim’s delivery of the non-romance version of that scene is so incredible, if you haven’t seen it I’d recommend trying to find a clip, cause WOW.
When I first got the game my friend told me about Astarion and how great his romance and storyline is and while his storyline and redemption/spawn arc is top tier and I like him as a companion Gale is the one who I was immediately drawn to. He had me at "Hello, I'm Gale of Waterdeep" and the moment I got him out of that portal it was over for everyone (romance wise) instantly lol.
I'm doing my 5th run rn and I've romanced him every single time with no desire to romance the others. Can't help loving the Wizard! plus I'm a sucker for a happy ending and wedding bells and ofc professor Gale Dekarios dorkily proposes and whisks my Tav off to his fancy tower in Waterdeep.
Gale was my first too, I like romancing the others (I’m 2/3rds of the way through a Bae’zel run rn) and I always feel so bad about leaving Gale to deal with so much of his story alone. But honestly I love his act 2 scene (the one with the sky) when you’re only friends, the dialogue is different and it is so sweet. Even when I’m romancing someone else he still has such a grip on me.
I wish more companions had friend scenes like Gale's. It was nice to have my character be there for him in a pivotal moment.
Honestly, I prefer it to the romance version because of his "damn you for making me care." It feels less...codependent? Like, I'd much rather he not blow himself up because he realizes he has people who care about him and is connected to the world rather than because he's in love. I know it's a small distinction, but it's something that stuck with me.
Oh yeah I looked up his act 2 friendship scene since I never experienced it myself from a non romanced perspective and it's so very sweet! He just wants a friend to spend with what he thinks is his last day alive, it's sad but beautiful.
That was me with Halsin... I'm forcing myself to romance everyone but it is *hard!*
I have to decide who I'm romancing before I even start the run and then I bring them always, and I *cannot bring Halsin!*
im honestly the most surprised how many people like laezel as much as they do. ( no real or implied judgement, just surprised)
but if you want me to answer the question as intended, ill say karlach. I didn't know what to expect, but I def didn't expect her to be the most morally sound and kind companion ever. & when she's angry, She's angry for all the right reasons, its incredible.
Honestly, all of them. When I saw the crew at first, I was like ehhhh. I was especially tired of Shadowheart and Lae’zel in Act 1. But now I love them each for different reasons and I’m so proud of their character developments.
Gale. In so, so many layers.
My first playthrough as a ranger I just wanted to kill things, not learn how to deal with a caster in the party - plus he's very verbose and slowed down my need for combat. So he stayed in camp, for the most part.
Then the Act 2 under the stars scene came and this is ***the moment*** I absolutely fell in love with this game. Gale's desire to stay alive because of the found family with my Tav and the others. It was beautiful and heart wrenching.
Now I just adore Gale. He's my Swiss Army Knife in combat, his romance is fantastic, and he's just my favorite now.
UGH I love that scene. I romanced Gale on my first run and had already seen the scene online, but I was so surprised when I did it my next run when I wasn’t romancing him. Even as just a friend he pulls on my heartstrings so strongly.
For the most part, I didn't have any big surprises. My early game reads on the characters turned out to be more or less accurate - though Karlach ended up being more boring than I thought she'd be, and Wyll a lot less.
I think Halsin was probably my biggest surprise. I was resistant to putting too much investment into him because I thought he wouldn't be a full companion, just a side romance, but he really won me over. He's thoughtful, gentle, and kind; more nuanced than he tends to be given credit for; and he's in the top half of my favorites (4th place). I really appreciate the character and wish he'd been given more attention.
I think the epilogue really won me over on him.
I thought he was hot but I ignored him the first two playthroughs I had because I was afraid to put too much emotional investment in his story and was hellbent on romancing Astarion. But I decided to take a chance on him once they released the epilogue and whoa he didn't disappoint.
He's an absolute sweetheart- gentle, kind, caring, perceptive, dorky, and an absolute monster in battle. Besides Lae'zel he's probably one of the companions I have the most fun in combat with. He just works very synergistically with any party comp.
The epilogue with Halsin made me regret mg gale romance :’)
I bought the game with the intent to romance Gale (and I still love him!) but I accidentally made my first Tav perfect for Halsin without knowing (she was a ranger half-elf who’s personality actually matched Halsin’s really well) and talking to him at the epilogue (and the hug!!! I still think about it!) made me realize I should have broken up with Gale and gone with him, but I just couldn’t do it! Maybe I should replay with the same Tav and try my best to ignore Gale this time.
I thought I’d hate Gale based off my first few interactions with him, but that scene in Act 2 where he decides he won’t sacrifice himself for Mystra’s approval and chooses to live… even though I wasn’t romancing him my heart fucking meltedddddddd
Wyll. I went into this game basically blind and he was one of a couple companions I didn’t expect to really get anything out of. I swapped Gale for him early on since he could take a hit better but planned to switch back later and then just never did. I loved his storyline (even if it’s a little lacking) and personality, and I never triggered any of his attempted romance scenes in my first run so we were just homies the whole game.
I’m playing evil(ish) Durge on my second run rn and I’ve honestly really missed having him. He’s definitely at the top of my list of origin runs to do in the near future.
Lae'zel for sure. She's insufferable when you meet her, and then you find yourself falling madly in love. You, not even your character. >!You want us to free Orpheus, amd betray our greatest ally? Yes, heart of my heart, we'll free Orpheus.!<
Second place goes to Halsin, I found him incredibly boring at the beginning, and then tried to romance him and, wow. He's the best boy ever.
(Astarion is great as a favorite character, but that hardly came as a surprise. Vampire elf? Count me in!)
Special mention for Minthara, that suffered the opposite fate. I liked her *so much* on my first run >!that I was, like, who do I need to kill to have you? The whole Grove? Consider it done.!< And then I got her and... Nothing. She just sits there, occupying space and wasting oxygen. I tried to recruit her again in another run, to give her a second chance. Nothing. The only reason I don't go back and sacrifice her to BOOOAL is I can't physically bring here there.
Lae’zel, Halsin, and Minthara are the PERFECT examples of this. Lae’zel’s growth, Halsins surprising depth, and the sympathy I have for Minthara (especially if you get her in act 2 and not act 1) all aggressively took me by surprise, they’re so special to me and I will defend them till I die.
Also, the bit about you (not your character) falling in love with Lae’zel is SO REAL and the whole reason I made this post to begin with. You get it.
Astarion, played nearly the entirety of act 1 with karlach in his spot bc I couldn’t stand him. Bae’zel is still my fave but he’s surprised me plenty with his wit and derisive sense of humour
I came into the game excited about Lae’zel, Karlach, Astarion and Shadowheart, and they all delivered. I had pretty much dismissed everyone else, but basically immediately was charmed by Gale. Just love the way his dialogue is delivered/written, and he has a cool story with Mystra/the orb.
Funny enough I started full intensions to romance wyll (he looked so good in the pics I’ve seen) but instantly fell in love with Gale as soon as I slapped his hand away in that portal ♥️
Shadowheart.
I thought she was a troublemaking bitch at first, especially with how hostile she was to Lae’zel *(I, too, love that angry frog)* but I actually really like her now.
I intentionally was aware of why people loved Karlach and made an effort to not romance her. What I didn’t realize was how good of a friend she is to you too! Playing an Oath of Vengeance Paladin/War Priest cleric, she and my Tav were a dynamic duo of damage dealing tanks and righteous warriors that shared a common goal of dishing out justice to evil doers. It was like being Batman and robin but we were both somehow Batman
My first playthrough with my BF I picked Wyll. I didn't really have a choice in mind at first, I like rogues, so admittedly I was thinking Astarion might be my first pick just for that. Wyll impressed me though and I've come to find there's not a lot of talk about him online. I have no regrets picking him as my first choice, though he seems to be a little buggier with cutscenes and his final romance scene felt like it ended too abruptly (BF picked Shadowheart, so my comparison is to that). Seems like he could use more love in development time. Anywho, that end scene where Me, Wyll, and Karlach went to hell to fight devils was friggin amazing. What a great way to end my first run.
Just off the back of my first playthrough, this time I decided to have Lae'zel in my partyl. I figured I'd go for something different, we really didn't do a whole lot of interaction with her after me and bf locked in our choices. I feel really bad for our girl. Just finished the creche and went to Act 2, and... just... wow. The feels.
I find it incredibly difficult to resist Gale. He’s so dorky when talking about magic I love it. I’ve had 3 playthroughs where I told myself “okay this time we romance Halsin” and then Gale gives me the puppy eyes. I wish he was open to poly with Halsin like some of the others but it’s fine. One day…
I had to same issue with my Halsin romance, it just takes so long to officially romance him that it just gives Gale too long to work his Rizzard magic on me. He’s too charming
Lae'zel. First playthrough I thought I'd replace her with Karlach, but never ended up doing it and she never left my party. I ended up loving her so much that I romanced her in my 2nd run and did a run where she and Astarion were my only companions.
She ties with Astarion as my favorite and is the only companion I'll now romance over Astarion.
So when I bought the game I heard about how obsessed everyone was with Astarion and I figured, being a goth girlie, I would be too. But he ended up disapproving of everything I did and I didn't really gel with him in general, which suprised me (although I've liked him more on different playthroughs).
Astarion is such a mixed bag. My first play through I had full approval from literally everyone at the end of the game, except for Astarion, who was still just at “fine”. I helped him kill Cazador and everything, still fine (he was rarely in my part early on, I didn’t know how to play rogues well). I romanced him out of spite for that in my next play through and while the ending made it worth it, it was a dredge to get there with him. I never could have done it without the mod that shows approval on dialogue choices.
Lol we had the same experience! Had insanely low approval at the end of my first run and romanced him on the second out of spite. I wanted to see if I could figure out what everyone else saw in him.
I didn't really enjoy the romance. Probably didn't help that I ended up ascending him because I was playing a power hungry character so maybe I'll give him another go in the future.
I deliberately romanced Astarion with a chaotic good character - you lose on generous actions, but you gain on smartarse actions and those are way more fun.
Lae’zel. I hated her in the beginning, and she’s grown into my second favorite, behind daddy Gale. Karlach would be there too if she didn’t tell me to fuck off 😢
Jaheira and Astarion
Astarion was such a slowburn for me and it took me into the city of Baldur's Gate to finally like him and that through being surprised by his positive growth in kindness
I thought Jaheira was gonna be some kind of bland extra companion with few dialogue because she joined so late but she crawled straight to my number 1 spot of favourite characters when I ventured with her into the city and met her family. I love her right from the liver attitude and her personality is something I find comfort and safety with from experience from real life with ppl with same type of personality 😊
Friend of mine knew me well enough to simply say "Go to the north and follow the river bank. You'll meet somebody you'll like there."
By default, he knows I like the element fire, and that I like the Barbarian class, but she was so much more than just that.
I hated Lae’zel and barely used her in act 1, only pulling her out for the creche. And then I sort of fell in love with her a little bit. Or at least I felt like I understood her better. She ended up having one of my favorite character arcs.
Astarion. I didn't really get the hype, and figured I'd love Gale more anyway. I never had Astarion in my party on my first playthrough and I missed a lot of content in Act 1 so I didn't trigger a lot of his cut scenes until later.
By the time I finished his personal quest line, I was sobbing and in love with him. I'm on my third playthrough, second time romancing Astarion, and haven't looked at Gale since.
I’m on my first playthrough since day one takin it real easy. Anyway I want to be loyal to karlach but halsin is pretty surprisingly hot. His passionate proposal to romance me was like huh I should not do this but I will come back for you. I think as a real partner he has the trauma experience I can relate to with his past and then grew in a way I hope to someday. Like he’s not very confident but still pretty inspirational somehow doesn’t know how cool he is
Honestly, Karlach. I normally LOVE asshole characters, so Lae'zel and Astarion would theoretically be my perfect cup of tea. I also love smart characters, so Gale should have also been appealing to me since I was mostly doing a good playthrough. However, for the first hours of the game, I was frustrated cause despite by biases, I didn't want to romance any of these people. I was gonna settle for Gale, but the second Karlach showed up, I was in love.
She is nothing like my go-to type of villain and/or knows-more-than-you type. Yet I was so excited whenever we progressed the relationship. I giggled when she was so eager to say "I love you too." Somehow she had the morals of Wyll without being a bland good-guy, so much so that she has been my favorite romance by far after multiple playthroughs.
Lae'zel most likely. They gave a lor of depth to her. She's a well written evil character.
Minthara would also be up there, but the moments I like that surprised me seem to either be bugged or being patched out of the game.
Wyll backing down from karlach and so easily admitting his wrong really got me to like him. I like characters that are ultimately good people who just need some time to reconsider and can admit when they're wrong.
Hated Lae'Zel at first and was heavily invested in romancing Shart or Karlach....and then came the scene where Bae loved my scent and told me she'd come and take me one night and I was putty in her froggy dommy mommy hands from that point on.
I bought the game simply because my sibling wanted to game-share so he could romance Astarion, who was also my favourite character at first... BUT THEN I MET HALSIN. I love him.
I was actually surprised by Karlach in the opposite way. Bought the game thinking I was gonna be really thirsty for her, but then I just wasn't. Still love her to death but I shy away from people with Big Feeling in real life so I guess that transferred over when it came to a romance with her.
this is cliche, but i bought the game for astarion thinking he would just be fun to romance and not much else and i became so enraptured by his story arc. it was so amazing to watch and so incredibly healing for me personally. he’s so well written and neil newbon deserves all the awards
Romance-wise I got surprised by Gale (was planning to romance Astarion, then met Gale and went "Nope, sorry Astarion" lol)....conversation-wise Astarion/Shadowheart bc good Lord I save scummed so many times when trying to not screw up dialogue with them (my goal is to always get the best endings for everyone, so I had to get those two to trust me and that is \*hard\* lol)
Astarian. I figured
“Oh look the BI vampire… Havnt seen THAT before”
But man doing his quest, learning his backstory,and at the end his emotion after killing Cazador, 10/10 writing!
I really didn’t like Astarion at first at all. I could tell he was being manipulative on purpose and his smarmy attitude reminded me a lot of a very bad ex. I seriously did not get why so many people were so gaga over his character, even though I recognized that Neil Newbon was giving a solid performance.
Then I got his backstory revealed in Act 2 and it clicked that his put on persona was a trauma response. Every interaction suddenly made sense in context. He then became my in game bestie.
I’m playing his origin now, and don’t get me wrong, it’s still good, but the down side is you only hear him speak about 10% of the amount of time he does in another run and in a weird way, I miss him.
Wasn't a big fan of Shadowheart day one. But we all know how that story ended up!! 😍😍😍
Also, Astarian surprised me with his story. I thought at first he was going to be one demential evil guy. But he had some moments late into his story that really had me tearing up. And once you know his story, some of the stuff he says early on that you threw away before is just heartbreaking.
I got the game for Astarion and I did successfully romance him my first run. I never really thought too much about the other companions, but I did like their stories. Saying that, I decided to go down the Gale route and my god I was infatuated! I adored his little stories in Act 1 about the origin of Tara after you save the tiefling kid from the harpies and his story of stopping a bar fight in Waterdeep after you intervene with Sazza against the tiefling. He can be egotistical at times, but his romance was the sweetest thing ever. It hurt hearing how much he didn't think he was enough for my Tav and how he wanted to be better. Even in friendship, he's a wonderful companion to have
Karlach.
I liked Lae'zel from first meeting her, same with Gale. And Wyll, actually. Loved seeing him realize he was wrong and coming to terms with it. And its really not fair comparing anyone to Jaheira or Minsc. But with Karlach, the "brawly" side of her personality I expected, but not the affectionate, good-hearted cinnamon roll side.
Minthara on my first playthrough where I sided with goblins. That scene with her was 🔥. I also didn't expect a minor villian actually joining my party.
I did not expect Karlach to make me ugly cry *twice*. First after >!we killed Gortash!< and then >!after defeating the Absolute and she’s on the dock dying.!< I was full on sobbing when nothing else in the game made me cry.
Minthara! I was taken aback by how competently they played her; her matter-of-fact analyses of the team, her supportive nature to Durge etc. She's evil and cruel, but damn if she doesn't also have depth to her
I *hated* Lae’Zel at first and then she quickly became my favorite
Ngl, I melted the first time I went to talk to her and instead of saying “speak” she said “is something burdening you?” Because it showed how much she had grown. Act 1 Lae’zel would never even think of asking after someone else like that. Love that girl so much.
That "burdening" line coincided with Gortash telling me I had a shapeshifter in camp so it made me think *for sure* it was Lae'zel. I saved and killed her and nothing happened haha
Lmao that’s hilarious. Lae’zel? Asking about how *I* feel??? Has to be a shapeshifter
She really is “Bae’zel”
I was very EH and then with "teethling" she became my child.
That animation with the eye roll makes me laugh every time when you confront her on her pronunciation. 🤣
I remember someone described her as "Incredibly abrasive and only starts to warm up to you right after the point most people have enough patience for it."
I was the exact same. Even on replaying the game now the parts where she's a bitch to you are kinda funny and endearing to me. My favorite is when you can ask her if she knows a lot about mind flayers since she's a Gith, and she's all like "YES, I KNOW MUCH AND YOU KNOW NOTHING!".
Honestly I didn’t have a lot of issues with early game Lae’zel. I knew genuinely nothing about mindflayers and the opening scene and Githyanki race description in the character creator made it very clear that Githyanki probably knew a lot about mindflayers, so I basically trusted Lae’zel 100% about it, so I was just as blindsided when we met Voss and at the crèche. It made it really easy to understand why she was being so standoffish
Yeah, I was never put off by her either, even from the very start. She was obviously a ‘shit needs to get done’ kind of person, and we were all completely out of our element. I started warming to her in one of our first camp conversations, where you can ask her about Gith culture (I *think* it’s the dialogue about soaring through the Tears). She sort of pauses and says, “your curiosity is to be commended”. It all made sense. She’s in a completely alien world with the worst possible thing a Gith can imagine writhing around in her brain. If you make even the slightest effort to know her or her culture she immediately starts to warm up to you.
Same! After going through the crèche with her, she grew on me and I considered romancing either her or Astarion the next playthrough (my first was Karlach). This time around, with more knowledge of how the rest of the githyanki are, I started seeing even her earlier interactions differently. And she ended up successfully charming me away from Astarion.
When she says "teethling" when she was trying to say Trifling, my heart swelled. What a cutie!
On my first playthrough, I missed recruiting Lae'zel and then she died, so I completed a whole run without her. Then I started my current Durge run, recruited her, and I just love her. The "teethlings" bit endeared her to me forever.
Same. I also didn't like her design (or giths in general but cmon, I am not alone) but now I can't stop making screenshots of her in any and every cutscene, especially if there are cool lights around, her eyes and hair and skin is just so aaaaa. I love her, such a cool character. I also really like her character development the best I think, after Astarion. She starts as snappy, naive (!) and aggressive, and she ends the game as a true warrior, a mature one.
I did, too! But quickly after giving in to her, I realized that she just needs someone to hold her hand and show her how to love. And you do, and it's adorable to see, especially her act 3 scene.
Yeah she is my favorite now as well. It’s a good thing she is so useful in a fight or else I probably would not have kept her around long enough to realize how awesome she is.
She was rude to me but I was rude to her as well. We were rivals but I kept her around. It was fun to make fun of her when I could, especially the teeth-ling line. Eventually we both came around and I grew quite fond of her, even felt sorry for her when her whole life became a lie.
Jaheira! I haven’t played the earlier games so she was totally new to me. I absolutely *love* her sense of humor, her connection to the storylines, her connection with Minsc, and her family. I’ve been using her more on my second playthrough, and I’m doing a Durge run, and having her with me when facing Saverok opened a *lot* more than my first vanilla playthrough (which I did without taking her since I didn’t use her much). (She’s also great with area spells for combat.)
“Of course you’re tired, you’re ancient!” “Ha. HAHA, Bastard” Favorite line
Tbh more characters in this game need to understand sarcasm and teasing
The game ought to make it more clear what lines ARE teasing. Reading the text does not always make it clear if you're saying something in jest in a way that you expect other people to pick up on, or if you're just being a dick.
The way she points at your face when she says it. 😂
I’m obsessed with her. Biggest Jaheira simp. The way she is so unflappable and snippy but actually so devastatingly caring and good at the same time is just 😭 She’s perfect. Her response when the >!avatar of Myrkul shows up and gives his big bad villain monologue “I AM DEATH”!< and she just replies, “Hello, death. I like your hat.” 💀💀 PLEASE I love her
I’m so happy that *someone* >!responds to the Avatar of Myrkul because in my Dark Urge run I really wanted to make a joke about murdering the god of death!<
Almost all companions: shit... Jaheira: Hello there
She's been down this road before 😂
Another time when shit hits the fan and Jaheira reacts *very* differently from anyone else after so much life experience Astarion: Precious little Bhaal babe! Guess we’re both spooky now! Jaheira while threatening your sleeping form with a weapon: I will either rip out your throat or watch you while you sleep, any preference?
Astarion responds too if Jaheira isn’t there. He’s just a let less calm, cool, and collected than Jaheira 😂
It works so well too, Wyll and Karlach have seen some serious shit but for the most part the III gang are rookies in the adventuring game. Jaheira and Minsc have been around the block a time or two, they know the drill, and pretty much anybody that's played a tabletop knows talking shit is step one.
I'm actually glad I read this cause I literally just started act III on my first durge and I have her in camp, just had the overnight scene with her like 5 min ago. I'll have to make sure I bring her along. 💙
My favorite scene. Her saying she’d pull me by my hand or the scruff of my neck if she has to made me even angrier we can’t romance her
I'd be too nervous to attempt a romance with her. Even Lae'zel is somehow less intimidating than Scary Grandma.
That’s what makes it better. Scary grandma has been around the block
I love my women kinda scary, it just makes me want her even more
You _can_ romance her. Step 1: Install BG2 😉
That scene is so freaking good. I was wondering if the game wasn’t >!letting me tell her I’m Bhaalspawn!< because her approval was too low but then I got that scene and it made sense lol.
On my current playthrough I wanted her in my party since I either didn't go into Act 3 or she died during the Moonrise Siege on my previous runs, I finally recruited her and surprisingly she's one of my absolute favorites. She's so different from all the other characters in the party in a way I really like.
Totally agree! I already liked her in my first playthrough (regular Tav), but since she joined so late I was a bit more invested in my other companions, and didn't use her in my party too much. In my resist!DU playthrough, she (and Minsc) really felt like my character's cool aunt and uncle. Which made me use them a lot more in Act 3. >!The Durge cutscene at the beginning of Act 3, the dialogue options about being bhaalspawn, taking her and Minsc along through the Tribunal and the Temple of Bhaal. Really made their connections with my character matter a lot more to me.!<
I _have_ played the previous games and Jaheira still was a positive surprise. I never liked her much in BG1&2 for some reason, but in BG3 she is much more interesting. I mean, not Minsc level, but still, nothing is.
Jaheira is super stiff when you meet her at Last Light. Almost unbearable. Then when you get to South Span Wyrm’s Crossing she’s happy as a clam. Sarcastic and funny as hell.
I imagine it must be nice to be adventuring again, even in the face of the Absolute, compared to sitting and dawdling in the Shadowlands at the Last Night Inn knowing there’s nothing they can really do to put an end to Kethy, until you come along.
That’s what she said. Pun aside, after you defeat Ketheric, Jaheira says she was just about ready to hang up her blades. Then Tav came along and she feels renewed.
Didn't really care for Lae'zel until the third act. Loved her scene where she told Vlaakith to bugger off, and after she got kidnapped and I got her back I was so shocked when she thanked me. It was a nice callback and lovely character growth.
Her character growth is crazy. The first time I went to talk to her and she said “is something burdening you?” Instead of the usual “speak.” I teared up a little bit. The fact that she not only thought about offering help like that but asked???? I love her so much.
You ask her to thank you in act 1, she says something like "youre asking a tiger to bow to a worm"
Astarion. I thought he was just a heartless f boy but when I got to know him better, I found out he was a victim of abuse who was only just trying to survive the best way he knew how. He became my favorite character very quickly after that. Helping him make choices that brought out the good in him (especially that big one at the end of his quest line) was very rewarding. He’s also hilarious.
My favourite Astarion moment (well, one of them) is his face if you interrupt the couple in the barn in act 1
Same lol. I always let him open it now.
If you play Durge and tell him about Bhaalspawn you get a really deep monologue from him about how he didn’t realize you two were so alike. The voiceactor really did a brilliant job on him
Astarion has every element of a character I should dislike, but his story arc is great and the VA put in such a fantastic performance that it won me over completely. I love my nasty twink friend ❤️
Same. I tend not to like manipulators due to my own bad experiences but I pretty quickly realised he was just scared and alone and used to a world that would much sooner hurt him than help him and angry when he saw me so freely offering help when no one had ever helped him. I was so proud of him going into act 3 when he approved of me helping Yenna for no reason other than kindness. Then I romanced him as Durge and it was so incredibly sweet. They love each other so much.
Gale, he is who I would want to be in a relationship. He's funny, smart, charming yet awkward and thoughtful. His obsession with Mystra and godhood is a bit too much, but he's a wizard after all. I also like how he's more on the neutral side, he might not agree with you on evil playthroughs but you can get him to stick around, unlike Wyll and Karlach. I'm a straight guy, but man his romance is just the best.
Karlach, for me. I did NOT expect her to become my best friend that I would leave Halsin >!to go to Avernus for. !< I didn’t even romance her. At all. I’m doing an evil Durge run, now, and it is SO HARD to be disappointing and upsetting her so much.
You didn't kill her and take her head to Wyll so must not be that evil.
I want to see everyone’s “bad endings.” And I just couldn’t do it. And now she has to live and see me become a monster >!squishing pixies and killing moony clerics and learning how to use the Slayer form.!<
She was my best friend too. 🥺 When she got the first upgrade in Act 2, I was so glad I could hug her and it wasn’t even a romantic thing.
I accidentally turned the whole grove against me and had to kill everyone. Having karlach ditch me right then and there hurt, and I have never romanced her. Side note, idk if it makes any difference, but I only knocked out the tieflings I liked. Which was about half of them.
I expected to LOVE Astarion, I love Anne Rice, Lost Boys, always loved vampire movies etc. Don’t get me wrong, he’s fine but…. Gale.
Gale's like one of my ride or die companions. It's so funny because I had a hard time with him due to the myriad bugs at launch. Once those are fixed I warmed up to him very, very quickly. He's an absolute sweetheart.
This happened to me, too. I fully expected to be all over Astarion, but nope. Can't get enough of that adorkable wizard. If you would have told me he'd be my favorite when I first started playing, I wouldn't have believed you. Definitely took me by surprise.
I came for the evocation wizard and stayed for the tressym
Same. Saw the Astarion hype, thought I’d love him as a VC/Lestat Fan, and Neil’s performance is wonderful, but I didn’t find the writing there all the time to back it up. I mistakenly left Gale at camp for the first 3/4 of my first play thru since I rolled a wizard, but I kept him in my party on playthrough 2 and he’s easily my favorite. Also Laezel slid into a close second with a fantastic romance and an arc I could appreciate more in or out of a romance with her. Plus she bonks real good in all senses of the word.
Agree, Neil killed it and I love Astarion but there’s something for me doesn’t click with him. The second I slapped that hand sticking out of the portal my first playthrough however I was in love. Stupid dorky wizard. I’m going to romance Lae’zel this next playthrough after she was so sweet to my tav at the docks when she was leaving.
I romanced Astarion out is spite (I had full approval with literally everyone except him at the end of my first run, like everyone was exceptional and he was “fine”) and it just didn’t click for me either. I absolutely get it and some of his scenes and dialogue are really great, but I just never stopped feeling like he was pretending, even after we killed Cazador. It just wasn’t it for me.
Romancing him on a separate playthru and I’ve just about finished act 2. I definitely think his romance adds a lot to his character and arc but like I’ve seen a couple other people say (and you) I don’t know if he really has feelings/genuine feelings for my Tav. I’ve heard the resist Durge romance adds a lot so I might just end that run and do a Durge one instead. Have to compare the experiences!
Resist Durge has some really cool scenes, but I always felt like Durge and Astarion were like two people who met in rehab and would always be helping each other - which isn't bad, it just felt more like shared trauma bonding than romance. I'm doing my first Durge without romancing him right now and it's different but in a good way. And I feel like Astarion's romance isn't done cooking during the game, so I only felt they were truly happy during the epilog. The groundwork was laid, but he needed time to settle into his idea of what love looks like, if that makes sense. In Act 2 especially, he's still figuring his feelings out and I'm glad he gets that time, and really like the epilog showing him more comfortable.
Preaching to the choir. I got the game entirely because of Astarion hype, then I stopped my Shadowheart romance run to go make kissy faces with the nerd. I should've seen this coming though, I'm a big Alistair and Cullen fan from Dragon Age and Gale is them with a higher intelligence score.
This needs to be studied, I also love Cullen and Alistair and when I got BG3 I was dead set on Shadowheart and the least interested in Gale. Lo and behold he made it extremely difficult to finish Shadowhearts romance 😂
lae'zel and astarion. i thought they were both entirely too mean for me, especially for my character. but by the end, we were all besties, the power of great stories. shadowheart was kind of a rollercoaster, but i got used to her *teenage angst, faerun edition*, and i can appreciate not wanting to tell veritable strangers all about your business right away. i liked that nerd gale from the start and have never stopped. all the rest i liked right away and only had differing opinions the more i played additional runs. sometimes i think act 3 took so long in my first run because it was hard deciding who to bring and who to leave in camp for a lot of it. lol.
I feel you on Lae'zel and Astarion. I rolled my eyes every time I saw people gushing over them, especially Astarion. I couldn't figure out why people loved them so much. I totally got it by the time Act 3 rolled around. Astarion >!killing Cazador and sobbing!< was such a cathartic moment and completely changed my outlook on him.
Something similar happened to me- I saw him everywhere in YouTube and everybody loved him- and I was just like Okay cute albino vamp Until I saw a clip - the Araj Thank you scene. It crushed my heart. When he explains his background. At that moment I knew. I had to play and hug this man. Here I am. Thank you everyone for listening my story.
I had to get the unlimited party mod by act 3 of my first run, I just couldn’t keep leaving so many of them at camp all the time.
i bought the game for Astarion (because he was handsome) but i didn't expect him to be so... *Astarion*. He is so fucking funny and his little quips with everyone have me dying in my chair most of the time. Normally, I end up liking the side characters and having a little crush on the handsome one, but dude is really the whole package, and I can't go anywhere without him. Same for Lae'zel and Shadowheart. I disliked Lae'zel at first, but now she's a treasured member of my team. Shadowheart is someone I liked at first but then came to dislike a little because of how low-key annoying she can be. Still in Act 1.
I recently gave Astarion the necromancy book for the first time and his whole “no! I won’t kill them! Well, maybe Gale,” had me on the floor, he’s so funny. The little “oh, hello,” wave he gives afterwards is also so ridiculous, he’s a funny guy. Also without spoiling anything, Lae’zel just gets better and better throughout the game, so I’m curious to see what you think as you get out of act 1.
that's exactly what i mean!!! But barely anyone gives him credit for it. 😭 And knowing his backstory also breaks my heart when I see his thirst trap edits online. He's such a complex character, and when you can dig past his enjoyment of more undesirable behavior, I don't think anyone could hate him for being what he was conditioned into being. Bro is just a cutie patootie and deserves the world.
I love the glimpses of his goofy/dorky side as much as I love his more serious moments - they're rare moments when he fully drops all his masks. I dislike people implying he's a sad little meowmeow, but I wish the non-meow people recognized more of his socially awkward weirdo moments. Like, man doesn't know how to people anymore and is figuring it out as he goes while being a chaos loving gremlin. It's hilarious watching him figure it out. He reminds me of a description I read of Han Solo forever ago. "He's the living embodiment of going to lean on a doorframe to look cool and falling through the door." People talk about Han Solo like he suave. He is not suave. He tries to be suave and fails in endearing ways 99% of the time. That's Astarion when he's being himself.
I LOVE all his bait and switch lines like this one and the rest where you think he is going to have a normal, reasonable reaction to something like a normal person, but then he flips it on its head to sheer villainous chaos. Like “what the hells are you doing?!!! Have you *never* decapitated a corpse before?” And, “What were you thinking ~~(setting off an extremely powerful magical weapon and leveling an entire building)~~?! I was *right there!*”
Gale. I heard so many conflicting things about him, some of which gave me pause because they reminded me about a complaint I had with Larian's last game. I also heard he was annoying a lot, and I never once was annoyed by him. That boy stole my whole heart and fully sabotaged my plan to romance Astarion on my first run. No regrets.
I think Gale could be annoying if he wasn’t voiced by Tom Downie. His deliveries just make Gale so charming and I can’t ever feel annoyed by him.
Idk somehow people still manage to hate him anyway. But Tim's voice *is* lovely. I started listening to his podcast, so now I can imagine Gale is telling me spooky stories while I make dinner or clean. 🥰
The one person I know who hates Gale...*is* Gale. Or, rather, was (beginning, very arrogant) Gale before they grew up a bit. I genuinely wonder if there's almost a subconscious cringe of recognition for some people.
This is the reason i hated Astarion at first. I couldn't stand him. But i watched my friend romance him on a playthrough together and.. well, there's something to the theory that if you saw a clone of yourself you'd kill them. We're way too similar in every way. My boyfriend also hates Gale, not realizing *that he IS Gale*.
Possible. Are you in many fan groups? Because the Gale hate is pretty strong. Though I have noticed that it seems like the majority of Gale haters are men. I also feel like neurodivergent people are more likely to love him because he's so autistic coded, and our brains just understand/accept that more. I always read him as proud, more than arrogant, in the way autistic people often share a lot about their special interests and areas of expertise in such a way that neurotypical people think is bragging and self-centering, but an autistic person is just so pleased to be sharing their special interest.
Got the game cuz I thought I would fall for shadowheart or Karlach, no…. HALSIN AND GALE the two biggest nerds/dorks in game. Bro gales favorite activity is learning and Halsin watches ducks for fun 💀
Those long haired brunettes are trying to KILL ME
Dumped Gale for Halsin my first playthrough and the overt regret in the epilogue nearly killed me. Immediate second playthrough and that Tav ended up happily married to her dork wizard.
SAME! I thought I was going to be a hopeless fool for Karlach, but it turns out that puppy-eyed service tops with poetry on their lips is a type I didn't realize I was helpless against, until I played this game. I HATE having to choose between them 😭
I went into the game almost blind (did some early access, but that was it) and was convinced I was gonna be 100% for Gale or Astarion. Then Halsin came to my camp and it was just..... jeez.... he's so *sweet!*
I saw so much hate for Halsin and posts calling him a nothing character that I wasn't ready for how much I loved his character. Also Gale generally got drowned out by Astarion love when the game came out, but he became my favorite companion and romance.
Halsin is criminally underrated. His character has a lot of depth, but you have to actively try and get to it, so I think a lot of people miss it. Halsin is so unique and lovely, I can’t get over him.
I'm looking forward to Larian giving his romance/flirting dialogue tags the same kind of tune up they did for Gale's early on, because right now all of the best parts about his character are locked behind the fact that just talking and being friendly with him guarantees his romantic confession will trigger. I completely get how that's not something everyone wants or will be comfortable with, so it'd be a favor to players AND to Halsin as a character if they could set up a clear platonic path for him.
Gale was a character who I was very much ‘Eh’ on, I took him because I thought it’d be a good balance for my party but….i fell in love with that goofy wizard. His awful lines and attempts to be smooth just oozed with personality, and how much he appreciates building a genuine connection with the other party members is brilliant! I really felt for him when he felt the need to sacrifice and refused to allow him to do it - and seeing his ending at the camp was awesome
Wyll (for romance) and Lae’zel (for friendship). I didn’t know anything about BG3, didn’t play the EA so I went into it completely blind. I had seen a few videos and kinda had in my head who I thought I’d bond with. Lae’zel surprised the Hell outta me. I thought she was just an angry bloodthirsty child. But somehow I had her approval super high and when we got to the crèche and then the aftermath I had I knew appreciation for her. And Wyll, well I’ll just be honest I’m softie for romance and courting and the like. So when I got far enough for the dance scene in Act 2, I was smitten. Originally I had it in my head to romance Gale but Wyll’s entrance was enough to sway me.
I describe Wyll's romance as everything 13 year old me would have daydreamed of - all the sweet, romantic, chivalrous stuff.
LMAO Astarion literally says this exact same thing at one point
Astarion and Halsin. I expected to enjoy Astarion as the sassy wit machine but his story just pulled me in so hard. Especially the subtle changes in his expressions. Halsin came out of nowhere. I liked him about as well as any other but something about the “I am!” And “I like ducks” got me so good.
Halsin not-so-subtle horny dialogue made me fall for him so fast. He’s a man with a lot of dedication to helping the world and not getting distracted, but he’s also so, so, so horny for Tav and I love him for it.
Minthara. I thought she’d be a lot more blood thirsty and crazy but she was so loving and kind to my Durge. The depth of her writing and the way she spoke was so well done.
Her voice actress is top tier and romancing her as Durge makes me wish it was a better evil ending with her
They did such a good job of portraying someone who has lived to 250 years old in a culture where you could be murdered at any given moment. The introspection that she has is refreshing
Definitely. She could have been very one dimensional but I found her warm and caring but with a deep sadness.
Gale. First time through, he was the only companion I actively disliked. My own Tav was a wizard, so I kept mostly benching/ignoring him up until the Crown of Karsus business in Act 3. When he hit me with that rant about wanting to be a god I was like WHAT?! (That said, the one thing I *wasn't* bothered by even at the peak of my dislike was having to feed him items.) Then I did a second run where I consciously went after his approval/romance to try to figure out what I'd missed, and man, I was NOT ready for the full power of the Rizzard. So yeah Gale went from my least favorite companion to the guy who now never leaves my party and is pretty much my default romance option.
Gale is so charming it’s insane. He was my first romance and trying to do other ones is so hard, the raw power of the Rizzard is just too strong.
His reaction when Halsin propositions you is hands down the funniest moment in the game for me. You say something like "what do you think about adding another person to our relationship?" And he responds something like "What, like a child?! I'm not ready to be a father!" I laughed so hard. Gale is so sweet.
Karlach. My friend was right that I would love the "big, smashy, barbarian lady" as he put it. I just didn't expect her to be both "big and scary, Oorah-brained, barbarian" and "fucking adorable" at the same time.
✨The duality of woman✨
Idk if I’m in the minority here but I was surprised how much I loved Lae’zel from the start. The more I’ve played the more my opinion of other companions have changed but I’ve always been ride or die for Lae’zel. As a player who had no idea wtf was happening at the start, scary alien lady jumps down and telling me exactly what to do to get off the nautiloid, telling me she will help me find a cure for the parasite?? Hell yeah. You can even ask her why she acts the way she acts and she will explain and it makes total sense given the fact that she is an alien raised in a militaristic culture.
I felt exactly the same way at the beginning. The game makes it very clear that the Githyanki know a lot about mindflayers, so why wouldn’t I trust her?! I liked her from the beginning but she weaseled her way into the #1 spot in my heart by act 3. She just grows so much and handles it all so well, I adore her.
I like laezel too. I've heard other people say they disliked her but I always thought she acted kinda reasonably considering the situation.
I was absolutely the same! Like I had five seconds to panic and then Lae'zel strolls in saying her whole culture thing is about fighting mindflayers and she absolutely knows how to do? And also she absolutely can kill anything in my way to get me there? Immediately sold and it only got better. She's amazing.
I was banging Bae'zel as a joke in co-op. "LOL stupid angry frog woman." Best wife in the game.
That’s how it started with me. My husband and I chose characters for the other to romance in this co-op and he picked Lae’zel for me. He’s jealous now.
Astarion, by far. First playthrough I didn't pay him much mind, so surprise surprise he was a veritable ass wipe the whole time. A couple playthroughs later and I decided to try and max everyone's standing as a challenge, which necessitated working with Astarion. I'm genuinely contented to see that if you give him attention and proper feedback he actually becomes an "acceptable" person. Putting aside the whole "I simp for Astarion" crowd, he's genuinely a good character and I'm a tad sad I'll probably never dedicate an entire run to romancing him exclusively.
As soon as I met Gale I was like, oh this guy is it. He’s funny and nice and cute! And then I got to know Astarion ☠️ haven’t been able to romance anyone else. So now I’m playing as him so I can romance mama K 😆
This is exactly my experience. I went in thinking I'd either love or hate Astarion, but Gale is more my type IRL. But then I got to know Astarion and he became my favourite and now I struggle to romance anyone else because I know what I'm missing 😂 I persevered and dedicated a playthrough to romancing Gale and it is very sweet, no matter the ending you get with him. I'm currently playing a Durge with Astarion but afterwards I plan to play as Astarion so I can romance Karlach
Same here. I fell in love with Gale and Karlach right away and hated Astarion. He seemed annoying and as I was trying to do a good playthrough, it pissed me off that he disapproved of almost everything that I chose naturally. This being said, when everyone *but* him was basically throwing themselves at me during the tiefling party (which admittedly alarmed me a bit), I was determined to figure out why and even then, I didn’t have the attachment to him at that point. It was only after act 2 that I became enamored with his character. I’m not one of the ones who says he is not bad, he totally is, regardless of his past. But finally seeing his vulnerable side totally threw me for a loop, especially as someone who has experienced similar traumas. It felt real and convincing and although I would still prefer someone like Karlach or Gale IRL and plan on romancing them in my next playthrough, Astarion totally won me over in a way I wasn’t expecting at all. As this is a fantasy game where the players are encouraged to RP, I’m very glad that I ended up choosing Astarion for my first romance in the end, as opposed to what I might have normally gone for. It really pushed me out of my own comfort zone and I really think Astarion will forever be a memorable character for me for that reason.
Hey astarion simps can have a brain. I have one xd
I offer no judgment on the Astarion simps, merely an unbiased affirmation that despite the unadulterated simping he is a good character.
I came here for Astarion, I stayed here for Astarion, but Gale jusy hits me hard, he seems to be so opposite from my blondie crush, but his vibe gets me...
I kinda expected to think Wyll would be kinda boring, but once I started actually putting him in my party and rolling around with him, I like the guy. He's just a good dude! Maye that's what ppl find boring about him, but I like that I can actually accept quests while he's around and he won't get mad at me for "wasting time" or anything. Like, he's actually tryna be an rpg protagonist, which is the whole reason I'm fuckin here, and he's always on board for the heroics! And he likes being theatrical about it, what a fun guy!
Shadowheart. Not the pleasant kind either. Her writing (if romanced) drops significantly in act 3. But her personal quest is nice and I like the emphasis on familial bonds. On the other side of the spectrum, I think the closest thing to a perfect companion is Jaheira. She's great when you're introduced in act 2 and gets more screen time (and even better) in act 3 (unlike other companions, who basically drop off the map after you finish their quests). Has funny banter if you gain her approval. Also has a unique dynamic with durge, especially if you go full evil.
Jaheira was the only one who didn't make me feel like I was on crazy pills >!when I freed Wyll from his contract rather than save his dad.!< She also came in SUPER clutch in the House of Grief fight with her ice storms. I love her.
*Thank you* for noticing that spoiler text thing. Her reaction really serves as a reminder than most of the companions are in the early, emotionally stunted phases of their development regardless of age. She has such a mature perspective on all the situations, I really appreciated it, especially if I'm playing a Tav that's a little messed up, too! She's very grounded, as is Halsin. I didn't mind his reaction as much, even though >!he basically made it sound like Wyll stabbed his dad to get ahead, which, I personally feel would've been a totally cool "evil Wyll" thing to do if it appeared anywhere else! I wish they'd let me convince him to be Grand Duke for bad reasons instead of just either or.!<
Jaheria also surprised me. I loved how witty she was in my first play through and basically sobbed when I got the camp scene with her with my Durge. She’s so well written and her kids absolutely crack me up.
> her kids absolutely crack me up. They definitely deserve each other.
Jaheira is great! And unless you >!become Bhaal's Chosen!< she agrees with pretty much everything you do, and I did some seriously messed up choices. She's all for the endgame.
What’s wrong with her writing in act 3?
In Shadowheart’s case, the problem with her writing in act 3 is the lack of it. Not nearly enough of God’s Favorite Princess in Act 3 especially if romanced.
She gets the center stage in Act 2 and then drops off hard in Act 3. Her main plot relevance drops to the level of Astarion; a great side quest with some hard hitting emotional beats, but very little to actually do with Orin/Gortash/The Netherbrain. To be fair, a lot of the companions don't have a lot to do once you finish their main quest. Such is the nature of Act 3, which has to setup each companion's conclusion and any decisions they need to make in the final fight; all while allowing the player to complete them in just about any order.
I never romanced anyone other than SH so I don't know what I'm missing out in comparison. Can you explain?
I knew I would enjoy Karlach before I actually picked her up but GOD do I enjoy her even more as I play on. However, Shadowheart has really grown on me. Sure, she’s God’s little princess, but she’s in pain and that’s compelling
i got the game to romance karlach, because big strong Amazon. i heard one fucking quip from Astarion and i knew i was his forever. it wasn't even to me! it was to a different companion! man has held me in a chokehold since it launched on ps5 and im fine with that also auntie ethel. i ADORE auntie ethel. i wanna visit her for a teaparty and share all the latest gossip
Gale, tbh. 🥺
I’ve heard a lot of people say that, his awkward wizard rizz is just impossible to deny.
He’s such a fucking romantic, I LOVE him 🥺 Tim Downie is also an excellent orator which helps
Tim Downie is a god of a VA, he absolutely blew it out of the park with Gale.
They gave him some of the most ridiculously wordy pieces of exposition, and he made it sound natural! He also kills it in some of the softer, more emotional scenes. It was really a performance that snuck up on me with how great it is.
I was blow away the first time I did the act 2 scene (the one with the stars and the sky) with Gale as only a friend. Tim’s delivery of the non-romance version of that scene is so incredible, if you haven’t seen it I’d recommend trying to find a clip, cause WOW.
*phrasing*
He also reads poetry and stuff and it’s SO GOOD. There’s a playlist
When I first got the game my friend told me about Astarion and how great his romance and storyline is and while his storyline and redemption/spawn arc is top tier and I like him as a companion Gale is the one who I was immediately drawn to. He had me at "Hello, I'm Gale of Waterdeep" and the moment I got him out of that portal it was over for everyone (romance wise) instantly lol. I'm doing my 5th run rn and I've romanced him every single time with no desire to romance the others. Can't help loving the Wizard! plus I'm a sucker for a happy ending and wedding bells and ofc professor Gale Dekarios dorkily proposes and whisks my Tav off to his fancy tower in Waterdeep.
Gale was my first too, I like romancing the others (I’m 2/3rds of the way through a Bae’zel run rn) and I always feel so bad about leaving Gale to deal with so much of his story alone. But honestly I love his act 2 scene (the one with the sky) when you’re only friends, the dialogue is different and it is so sweet. Even when I’m romancing someone else he still has such a grip on me.
I wish more companions had friend scenes like Gale's. It was nice to have my character be there for him in a pivotal moment. Honestly, I prefer it to the romance version because of his "damn you for making me care." It feels less...codependent? Like, I'd much rather he not blow himself up because he realizes he has people who care about him and is connected to the world rather than because he's in love. I know it's a small distinction, but it's something that stuck with me.
Oh yeah I looked up his act 2 friendship scene since I never experienced it myself from a non romanced perspective and it's so very sweet! He just wants a friend to spend with what he thinks is his last day alive, it's sad but beautiful.
That was me with Halsin... I'm forcing myself to romance everyone but it is *hard!* I have to decide who I'm romancing before I even start the run and then I bring them always, and I *cannot bring Halsin!*
im honestly the most surprised how many people like laezel as much as they do. ( no real or implied judgement, just surprised) but if you want me to answer the question as intended, ill say karlach. I didn't know what to expect, but I def didn't expect her to be the most morally sound and kind companion ever. & when she's angry, She's angry for all the right reasons, its incredible.
Karlach. Expected some meanie but she was surprisingly wholesome and probably the nicest character you’ll ever meet in this game.
Honestly, all of them. When I saw the crew at first, I was like ehhhh. I was especially tired of Shadowheart and Lae’zel in Act 1. But now I love them each for different reasons and I’m so proud of their character developments.
Gale. In so, so many layers. My first playthrough as a ranger I just wanted to kill things, not learn how to deal with a caster in the party - plus he's very verbose and slowed down my need for combat. So he stayed in camp, for the most part. Then the Act 2 under the stars scene came and this is ***the moment*** I absolutely fell in love with this game. Gale's desire to stay alive because of the found family with my Tav and the others. It was beautiful and heart wrenching. Now I just adore Gale. He's my Swiss Army Knife in combat, his romance is fantastic, and he's just my favorite now.
UGH I love that scene. I romanced Gale on my first run and had already seen the scene online, but I was so surprised when I did it my next run when I wasn’t romancing him. Even as just a friend he pulls on my heartstrings so strongly.
For the most part, I didn't have any big surprises. My early game reads on the characters turned out to be more or less accurate - though Karlach ended up being more boring than I thought she'd be, and Wyll a lot less. I think Halsin was probably my biggest surprise. I was resistant to putting too much investment into him because I thought he wouldn't be a full companion, just a side romance, but he really won me over. He's thoughtful, gentle, and kind; more nuanced than he tends to be given credit for; and he's in the top half of my favorites (4th place). I really appreciate the character and wish he'd been given more attention.
I think the epilogue really won me over on him. I thought he was hot but I ignored him the first two playthroughs I had because I was afraid to put too much emotional investment in his story and was hellbent on romancing Astarion. But I decided to take a chance on him once they released the epilogue and whoa he didn't disappoint. He's an absolute sweetheart- gentle, kind, caring, perceptive, dorky, and an absolute monster in battle. Besides Lae'zel he's probably one of the companions I have the most fun in combat with. He just works very synergistically with any party comp.
The epilogue with Halsin made me regret mg gale romance :’) I bought the game with the intent to romance Gale (and I still love him!) but I accidentally made my first Tav perfect for Halsin without knowing (she was a ranger half-elf who’s personality actually matched Halsin’s really well) and talking to him at the epilogue (and the hug!!! I still think about it!) made me realize I should have broken up with Gale and gone with him, but I just couldn’t do it! Maybe I should replay with the same Tav and try my best to ignore Gale this time.
Karlach. 1000%
I thought I’d hate Gale based off my first few interactions with him, but that scene in Act 2 where he decides he won’t sacrifice himself for Mystra’s approval and chooses to live… even though I wasn’t romancing him my heart fucking meltedddddddd
Wyll. I went into this game basically blind and he was one of a couple companions I didn’t expect to really get anything out of. I swapped Gale for him early on since he could take a hit better but planned to switch back later and then just never did. I loved his storyline (even if it’s a little lacking) and personality, and I never triggered any of his attempted romance scenes in my first run so we were just homies the whole game. I’m playing evil(ish) Durge on my second run rn and I’ve honestly really missed having him. He’s definitely at the top of my list of origin runs to do in the near future.
Lae'zel for sure. She's insufferable when you meet her, and then you find yourself falling madly in love. You, not even your character. >!You want us to free Orpheus, amd betray our greatest ally? Yes, heart of my heart, we'll free Orpheus.!< Second place goes to Halsin, I found him incredibly boring at the beginning, and then tried to romance him and, wow. He's the best boy ever. (Astarion is great as a favorite character, but that hardly came as a surprise. Vampire elf? Count me in!) Special mention for Minthara, that suffered the opposite fate. I liked her *so much* on my first run >!that I was, like, who do I need to kill to have you? The whole Grove? Consider it done.!< And then I got her and... Nothing. She just sits there, occupying space and wasting oxygen. I tried to recruit her again in another run, to give her a second chance. Nothing. The only reason I don't go back and sacrifice her to BOOOAL is I can't physically bring here there.
Lae’zel, Halsin, and Minthara are the PERFECT examples of this. Lae’zel’s growth, Halsins surprising depth, and the sympathy I have for Minthara (especially if you get her in act 2 and not act 1) all aggressively took me by surprise, they’re so special to me and I will defend them till I die. Also, the bit about you (not your character) falling in love with Lae’zel is SO REAL and the whole reason I made this post to begin with. You get it.
Astarion, played nearly the entirety of act 1 with karlach in his spot bc I couldn’t stand him. Bae’zel is still my fave but he’s surprised me plenty with his wit and derisive sense of humour
I came into the game excited about Lae’zel, Karlach, Astarion and Shadowheart, and they all delivered. I had pretty much dismissed everyone else, but basically immediately was charmed by Gale. Just love the way his dialogue is delivered/written, and he has a cool story with Mystra/the orb.
My first couple runs Gale was on the bench, now a featured player.
Funny enough I started full intensions to romance wyll (he looked so good in the pics I’ve seen) but instantly fell in love with Gale as soon as I slapped his hand away in that portal ♥️
Shadowheart. I thought she was a troublemaking bitch at first, especially with how hostile she was to Lae’zel *(I, too, love that angry frog)* but I actually really like her now.
I intentionally was aware of why people loved Karlach and made an effort to not romance her. What I didn’t realize was how good of a friend she is to you too! Playing an Oath of Vengeance Paladin/War Priest cleric, she and my Tav were a dynamic duo of damage dealing tanks and righteous warriors that shared a common goal of dishing out justice to evil doers. It was like being Batman and robin but we were both somehow Batman
I was ready to love Astarion and Gale became my biggest obsession in ages, I haven't been this excited about a character in soooo long
My first playthrough with my BF I picked Wyll. I didn't really have a choice in mind at first, I like rogues, so admittedly I was thinking Astarion might be my first pick just for that. Wyll impressed me though and I've come to find there's not a lot of talk about him online. I have no regrets picking him as my first choice, though he seems to be a little buggier with cutscenes and his final romance scene felt like it ended too abruptly (BF picked Shadowheart, so my comparison is to that). Seems like he could use more love in development time. Anywho, that end scene where Me, Wyll, and Karlach went to hell to fight devils was friggin amazing. What a great way to end my first run. Just off the back of my first playthrough, this time I decided to have Lae'zel in my partyl. I figured I'd go for something different, we really didn't do a whole lot of interaction with her after me and bf locked in our choices. I feel really bad for our girl. Just finished the creche and went to Act 2, and... just... wow. The feels.
I find it incredibly difficult to resist Gale. He’s so dorky when talking about magic I love it. I’ve had 3 playthroughs where I told myself “okay this time we romance Halsin” and then Gale gives me the puppy eyes. I wish he was open to poly with Halsin like some of the others but it’s fine. One day…
I had to same issue with my Halsin romance, it just takes so long to officially romance him that it just gives Gale too long to work his Rizzard magic on me. He’s too charming
Lae'zel. First playthrough I thought I'd replace her with Karlach, but never ended up doing it and she never left my party. I ended up loving her so much that I romanced her in my 2nd run and did a run where she and Astarion were my only companions. She ties with Astarion as my favorite and is the only companion I'll now romance over Astarion.
So when I bought the game I heard about how obsessed everyone was with Astarion and I figured, being a goth girlie, I would be too. But he ended up disapproving of everything I did and I didn't really gel with him in general, which suprised me (although I've liked him more on different playthroughs).
Astarion is such a mixed bag. My first play through I had full approval from literally everyone at the end of the game, except for Astarion, who was still just at “fine”. I helped him kill Cazador and everything, still fine (he was rarely in my part early on, I didn’t know how to play rogues well). I romanced him out of spite for that in my next play through and while the ending made it worth it, it was a dredge to get there with him. I never could have done it without the mod that shows approval on dialogue choices.
Lol we had the same experience! Had insanely low approval at the end of my first run and romanced him on the second out of spite. I wanted to see if I could figure out what everyone else saw in him. I didn't really enjoy the romance. Probably didn't help that I ended up ascending him because I was playing a power hungry character so maybe I'll give him another go in the future.
I deliberately romanced Astarion with a chaotic good character - you lose on generous actions, but you gain on smartarse actions and those are way more fun.
She grabbed you by the throat?? 😈🤪
Lae’zel. I hated her in the beginning, and she’s grown into my second favorite, behind daddy Gale. Karlach would be there too if she didn’t tell me to fuck off 😢
I hated Bae’zel until she used her “rizz” on me 😭
Jaheira and Astarion Astarion was such a slowburn for me and it took me into the city of Baldur's Gate to finally like him and that through being surprised by his positive growth in kindness I thought Jaheira was gonna be some kind of bland extra companion with few dialogue because she joined so late but she crawled straight to my number 1 spot of favourite characters when I ventured with her into the city and met her family. I love her right from the liver attitude and her personality is something I find comfort and safety with from experience from real life with ppl with same type of personality 😊
Minthara. Never thought I would ever love someone who threatens me, but I'd be more than happy to be her doormat.
Wyll getting punished by Mizora surprised me
Friend of mine knew me well enough to simply say "Go to the north and follow the river bank. You'll meet somebody you'll like there." By default, he knows I like the element fire, and that I like the Barbarian class, but she was so much more than just that.
Shadowheart, by how tame she is if that makes sense. I still like her, because I'm her target audience. And I can't play without cleric...
I hated Lae’zel and barely used her in act 1, only pulling her out for the creche. And then I sort of fell in love with her a little bit. Or at least I felt like I understood her better. She ended up having one of my favorite character arcs.
Astarion. I didn't really get the hype, and figured I'd love Gale more anyway. I never had Astarion in my party on my first playthrough and I missed a lot of content in Act 1 so I didn't trigger a lot of his cut scenes until later. By the time I finished his personal quest line, I was sobbing and in love with him. I'm on my third playthrough, second time romancing Astarion, and haven't looked at Gale since.
I’m on my first playthrough since day one takin it real easy. Anyway I want to be loyal to karlach but halsin is pretty surprisingly hot. His passionate proposal to romance me was like huh I should not do this but I will come back for you. I think as a real partner he has the trauma experience I can relate to with his past and then grew in a way I hope to someday. Like he’s not very confident but still pretty inspirational somehow doesn’t know how cool he is
Honestly, Karlach. I normally LOVE asshole characters, so Lae'zel and Astarion would theoretically be my perfect cup of tea. I also love smart characters, so Gale should have also been appealing to me since I was mostly doing a good playthrough. However, for the first hours of the game, I was frustrated cause despite by biases, I didn't want to romance any of these people. I was gonna settle for Gale, but the second Karlach showed up, I was in love. She is nothing like my go-to type of villain and/or knows-more-than-you type. Yet I was so excited whenever we progressed the relationship. I giggled when she was so eager to say "I love you too." Somehow she had the morals of Wyll without being a bland good-guy, so much so that she has been my favorite romance by far after multiple playthroughs.
Lae'zel most likely. They gave a lor of depth to her. She's a well written evil character. Minthara would also be up there, but the moments I like that surprised me seem to either be bugged or being patched out of the game. Wyll backing down from karlach and so easily admitting his wrong really got me to like him. I like characters that are ultimately good people who just need some time to reconsider and can admit when they're wrong.
Hated Lae'Zel at first and was heavily invested in romancing Shart or Karlach....and then came the scene where Bae loved my scent and told me she'd come and take me one night and I was putty in her froggy dommy mommy hands from that point on.
I bought the game simply because my sibling wanted to game-share so he could romance Astarion, who was also my favourite character at first... BUT THEN I MET HALSIN. I love him.
I was actually surprised by Karlach in the opposite way. Bought the game thinking I was gonna be really thirsty for her, but then I just wasn't. Still love her to death but I shy away from people with Big Feeling in real life so I guess that transferred over when it came to a romance with her.
this is cliche, but i bought the game for astarion thinking he would just be fun to romance and not much else and i became so enraptured by his story arc. it was so amazing to watch and so incredibly healing for me personally. he’s so well written and neil newbon deserves all the awards
Romance-wise I got surprised by Gale (was planning to romance Astarion, then met Gale and went "Nope, sorry Astarion" lol)....conversation-wise Astarion/Shadowheart bc good Lord I save scummed so many times when trying to not screw up dialogue with them (my goal is to always get the best endings for everyone, so I had to get those two to trust me and that is \*hard\* lol)
Astarian. I figured “Oh look the BI vampire… Havnt seen THAT before” But man doing his quest, learning his backstory,and at the end his emotion after killing Cazador, 10/10 writing!
I really didn’t like Astarion at first at all. I could tell he was being manipulative on purpose and his smarmy attitude reminded me a lot of a very bad ex. I seriously did not get why so many people were so gaga over his character, even though I recognized that Neil Newbon was giving a solid performance. Then I got his backstory revealed in Act 2 and it clicked that his put on persona was a trauma response. Every interaction suddenly made sense in context. He then became my in game bestie. I’m playing his origin now, and don’t get me wrong, it’s still good, but the down side is you only hear him speak about 10% of the amount of time he does in another run and in a weird way, I miss him.
Wasn't a big fan of Shadowheart day one. But we all know how that story ended up!! 😍😍😍 Also, Astarian surprised me with his story. I thought at first he was going to be one demential evil guy. But he had some moments late into his story that really had me tearing up. And once you know his story, some of the stuff he says early on that you threw away before is just heartbreaking.
I got the game for Astarion and I did successfully romance him my first run. I never really thought too much about the other companions, but I did like their stories. Saying that, I decided to go down the Gale route and my god I was infatuated! I adored his little stories in Act 1 about the origin of Tara after you save the tiefling kid from the harpies and his story of stopping a bar fight in Waterdeep after you intervene with Sazza against the tiefling. He can be egotistical at times, but his romance was the sweetest thing ever. It hurt hearing how much he didn't think he was enough for my Tav and how he wanted to be better. Even in friendship, he's a wonderful companion to have
Karlach. I liked Lae'zel from first meeting her, same with Gale. And Wyll, actually. Loved seeing him realize he was wrong and coming to terms with it. And its really not fair comparing anyone to Jaheira or Minsc. But with Karlach, the "brawly" side of her personality I expected, but not the affectionate, good-hearted cinnamon roll side.
Minthara on my first playthrough where I sided with goblins. That scene with her was 🔥. I also didn't expect a minor villian actually joining my party.
I did not expect Karlach to make me ugly cry *twice*. First after >!we killed Gortash!< and then >!after defeating the Absolute and she’s on the dock dying.!< I was full on sobbing when nothing else in the game made me cry.
Minthara! I was taken aback by how competently they played her; her matter-of-fact analyses of the team, her supportive nature to Durge etc. She's evil and cruel, but damn if she doesn't also have depth to her