[swordcoasts]

"Tonight you dream of blood. Not of blood on a blade or the blood on your hands, but an ichor that runs as a torrent through the Realms. A flood that pours across the fields and forests. An ocean that floats you to the world's edge, and threatens to cascade off into the void." […] "The tide presses on, but you press back. Let the blood rage, as it will: you are in control of what is yours, and that is all you can ask."

[shaykai]

Hexxat/Baeloth anon sez: Your comment on Durgetash complimenting each other. Being old, I am reminded of Riddler and Two Face from Batman Forever. Riddler: Go ahead, you can say it. Two-Face: You're a genius.

That’s exactly them, thank you

Btw telling your definitely-not-boyfriend that he’s super smart means you have to kiss him, trust me I asked

[heeleryuta]

obsidian make another elf companion with this kind of hairstyle and my life is yours

[pyromance9669]

Lady Aribeth for the 3 people who still play nwn

[hergreywarden]

Get you a girl who looks at you like that.

[melis-writes]

THE WOLF AMONG US | Dev. Telltale Games.

[bubblybuttgames]

Chicken Shoot: Worst Game On Wii - Just Bad Games

[xanfeursel]

if bg2 remake does give us romanceable valygar and haer'dalis they have to commit to making valygar gay. or my pitchfork will be raised

[synchodai]

Thinking about BG3 Wyll in relation to BG2 Valygar. Both are black men from famous noble houses whose family names were their primary motivations. Their stories tackle themes of corruption, legacy, and disowning your family for the greater good.

While Wyll was the "corrupted" family member who valued his father despite him acting against his values and the suffering he heaps upon his son to uphold their legacy, Valygar looks to destroy his family line knowing how damaging trying to maintain the Corthala family legacy is.

The Corthalas were a noble family in Amn known for their inclination towards magic. They got their wealth and repute from being a line of powerful spellcasters, foremost of which was Valygar's mother who left the rearing of her child to her husband because she was too busy with her arcane pursuits.

She comes to regret neglecting her family later on, but only when it's too late. Her husband dies, and in her grief, she raises him as undead. Young Valygar ends up making the choice to end both his parents' misery and kills them, fleeing the cushy Amnian life he once had. By the time we meet him in BG2, he's living alone in the wilderness as a ranger.

Because the Corthalas have a powerful magical legacy, a number of spellcasters have put a bounty on Valygar. As the last living Corthala, his blood and body is the key to unlocking many magical items designed by his ancestors. In fact, Valygar himself has a few enchanted items whose bonuses only work if they're used by a Corthala.

Because of his past and the fact that he is hunted by mages, Valygar carries a prejudice towards magic and believes it to be a corrupting force. His kit is designed around mage-slaying and he will have banter with even good-aligned mages where he expresses his distaste for their craft. By the end of the adventure, the player can challenge these beliefs, showing him that not all wizards are evil and power-hungry, and that magic can be a force for good as well.

Compared to BG3 characters, Valygar's lines and presence in the game is minimal because BG2 companions overall just have less emphasis on them in general. However, his story and its direction has a lot more clarity than Wyll's. We see how his past affects his present, tying it very well to why the player needs him as an ally and how he's involved with his personal quest. You need Valygar, either dead or alive, to access his family-specific area.

In comparison, Wyll being a Ravengard and the son of the Grand Duke rarely plays any importance in Baldur's Gate. You don't need Wyll to enter the dungeon under Wyrm's Rock Fortress if you already know the way. You don't need him to convince Ulder Ravengard to side with you.

Valygar actively took his family's legacy into his own hands, seeking to kill them as they were a few steps away from turning to liches and going so far to take a vow of celibacy to ensure his line ends with him.

Wyll, on the other hand, feels like a passive victim of the Ravengard name. He accepts the judgment of his father to exile him despite never regretting what he did and claiming that it was his most his heroic moment. He's content to watch his old man be a hypocrite and still praise him to the high heavens. Wyll is burdened by being a Ravengard and his father's son, but ultimately, doesn't seem to want to do anything about it.

[ranger-jahen]

hello! I’m not able to comment so I hope it’s okay if I reblog to offer some thoughts? ^^ first of all this is a super interesting analysis and I enjoyed reading about Valygar. the art for him is so majestic too, he seems like an amazing character.

I wanted to offer that Wyll never verbally tells the player he regrets anything about his pact - but only if you consistently are respectful to him about it. this is one of those wild character dev things but in my opinion it does make sense for him; he will tell you his pact was a mistake if you call him a hypocrite when you first converse with him about Raphael in Act 1 (I never saw this either, until a video on the subject crossed my path. c': ) Wyll admits to his pact being difficult to bear already at a few different points just in the natural course of conversing with him about his personal quest but he will only tell you it was a bad choice with his own words if you are cruel to him about it. </3

however, I do think it also matters that if you play a tactful character Wyll uses his words to tell you he doesn't regret his pact, but there is plenty of character subtext to suggest he either isn't being wholly truthful or is downplaying his regrets as part of a coping mechanism. in one of the conversations you can have with him about his pact in Act 2, he reiterates yet again that he doesn't regret his pact (even though he'd like to get out of it) and then just before he finishes saying his piece, his voice catches and breaks, and he clears his throat to try to cover the slip. he also repeats having "no regrets" often enough that I believe it easily reads as a sort of verbal denial in the face of overwhelming emotion.

I wrote about this more in-depth in this post, but the core of the analysis there can be summed up with this: "I also think he struggles to admit how much the pact has hurt him because I think if he had to make the decision a second time, he’d still make the same one, and he believes that must translate to having no regrets about it [...] he has been tormented and yanked around for years and has so deeply believed for all of it that he is not allowed to struggle with the damage, because he made this choice and now he’s going to live with it without a whisper of complaint." Wyll very much seems conflicted with what he is or isn't allowed to feel about his pact! he lets himself be angry with Mizora, because she's the one who leveraged his desire to do good against him, but he does not allow himself to even entertain the idea that his pact was a "bad" choice if he is being supported and respected by the player character because in Wyll's mind, any suffering he undergoes for the greater good should not matter because who is he to protest his own pain or grief in the face of doing what's right or helping those in need? this is very much a struggle for him! ;u; it's just very well-hidden under a mask (and I do wish the game's writing allowed this to be explored more, but that doesn't mean it's not there at all.) but if you treat him cruelly, perhaps he simply snaps for that moment that reveals his internal conflict; he does think his pact was a "mistake" somewhere inside himself.

lastly, Wyll does not hold his father Ulder Ravengard responsible for Mizora's wrongs because in effect, she also manipulated his father by clearing away the evidence of what happened and sealing Wyll's lips so that he could not explain what happened himself. I talked about this in another post of mine back on my main blog before I made my side blog, but to reiterate from there: "I think a lot of people think it is ridiculous or even foolish for him to not be angry with his dad. but I believe in the wake of what happened, Wyll couldn’t bear to be angry with his dad, because it would mean giving up on the idea that his father is adhering to what is “good.” [...] because it was too painful to imagine his father as less than good. because wyll learned his ideals of being good from his father - and it is too much for him to let that be threatened. thus the pattern begins - even if it is painful, even if it hurts Wyll deeply, it is better to stick to your ideals above all else because it’s just not tenable to give up being good."

now I personally think it would be really interesting to explore ideas in fanfic around Wyll developing more complex feelings around the reunion with his dad (and have plans to hehe) - but I do not think he would ever decide Ulder was the one at fault all along for the troubles Wyll has endured - because he's not! Ulder, despite being flawed in his methods and disposition towards Wyll in doing so, really did think he was doing the right thing in the moment. He thought he was putting the needs of the many above the needs of the few. he thought he was sacrificing his own pain and his own suffering on the altar of the greater good by sending away his beloved son (Ulder loves Wyll with all his heart and soul) over a mistake that could make him a danger to the city of Baldur's Gate, which Ulder is responsible for! Ulder carries a lot of burden for the city's safety as its grand duke, and he thought he was making a dreadful choice that hurt him and hurt his son, but ultimately Ulder truly believed it was the "right" choice to make. Ulder is very much the person Wyll learned his self-sacrificial tendencies from. this is an inherited trauma, in a way. remember that Wyll is 24 years old ;u;

lastly, you are absolutely correct that it was a horrific missed opportunity that Wyll is not more essential for quests inside of Baldur's Gate itself. 😭 there's a post floating around somewhere about how a sidequest to rescue Ulder should have involved gathering intel in a noble ballroom-esque scene with Wyll as the focal point and every time I see it my soul HURTS because that would have been so good. we were robbed of Act 3 Wyll content. larian turn on your location I just wanna talk

[dorkagedoodles]

Dorn escaping the Luskan prison.

I’m reposting this, hoping it will actually show up in the tags this time. If it doesn’t, I will just assume tumblr isn’t ready for Dorn at his best. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[lunarrabb1t-art]

This might be one of my favourite Khalid's I've drawn... Like... That IS him....

[frankensteined]

minsc's mementos of old friends 🥺

[lady-darkelf]

Nathyrra II by DancinFox

[lethendralis-paints]

My lovely patron asked me to draw Valen Shadowbreath and Deeking Scalesinger from Neverwinter Nights and I couldn't be happier! They both hold a special place in my heart, same as the game, which intruduced me to online fandoms all those years ago!

[dancinfox]

"You must gather your party before venturing forth." 

[dancinfox]

Studies at Drogan Droganson’s School of Adventures

[naihaan]

Ah, Xanos, insufferable halforc sorcerer-barbarian. You and Dorna were dealt a bad hand, having to compete with DEEKIN for a place at MC's side in SoU. To be utterly defeated by a kobolt... I feel you, my guy.