Gortash and Durge writing you say? 👀
Oh yes, I find their dynamic absolutely fascinating. I hate it, but I love Gortash. I find him captivating. He's completely fascinating. I love his dynamic with Durge, and I've thought about it more than I care to admit. I've known about the stinky Dead Three for a long while since I grew up on DnD, and their followers interest me, but Banites first and foremost, because Bane has a code. He is not like Bhaal who just wants wanton death and murder and blood. He is not like Myrkul who his whims are slightly unknowable but revolve around death and the capture of souls. He has very real aspirations and structure for his followers. He has clawed his way into Godhood and he expects greatness from those who claim to follow him.
Here's the fun thing people forget about Banites: their entire schtick is domination. The strong eat the weak; The strong take as they please, and if you cannot fend them off, or defend yourself, or stop them, you deserve whatever happens to you. It's a strength hierarchy where the smartest, most powerful, and therefore, the most deserving rest at the top, and failure is not an option. Hate, tyranny, all of their portfolio sounds very hacky, but it's actually quite intricate and laid out.
Gortash is, in essence, the Banite prince. He is Bane's chosen. Of all the Banites, of all the power in Toril, it was Gortash that was chosen. His power was not inherited power. It was not swindled. It was clawed and torn and ripped and shredded by nails and strength and bloody teeth. He earned Lord Bane's respect. He worked his way to the top from literal hell through sheer fucking willpower and desperation, and that is a constant you will find in Banite culture.
The weak do not survive. They are fodder for the strong.
That is why Durge and Gortash would have worked in the beginning. Gortash respects strength. He respects intelligence. He respects control. When Banites look at Bhaalists, they see a cult of undisciplined, violent little edgelords who worship the edgelord supreme who stole full Godhood from their Lord. Gortash looks at Orin and sees an unhinged, obnoxious, desperate little thrall of Bhaal with daddy issues and a distinct lack of control or principles or any redeeming qualities. She isn't clever, or patient, or calculated. She wants death death death now now now red red blood sweet blood red and sticky and sweet impulse impulse, death death--
And he finds it lacking, to say the least. He will work with her because Lord Bane commands it. But in truth? He doesn't respect her at all. He openly shows dislike for her, and distaste at her proclivities. She actively defies his beliefs in a strong mind, a strong will, and a strong sense of control.
He expresses admiration for Durge. He expresses genuine kindness as far as he is able and a very real desire to be around them, work with them, and that is the highest compliment a Banite can give. They see everyone else as simple-minded, foolish, and weak. But Durge? He liked them. He respected them. He welcomes them back after they were bested (a huge sign of weakness by Banite standards) by their shitty little sister and have foiled his plans and thrown a wrench in his whole work.
He found an equal. He puts heavy emphasis on equal. Again, for Banites, no one is their equal. It goes against their entire theological belief structure. Strength, strength, earn, earn, power, strength, blood. The scale is a triangle and there is only room for one at the top. Only one can be the best. Only one takes that power and deserves it.
Gortash will not betray you if you work with him. He will hold fast to his word. He will share power. He will be wary of you, as all Banites are (because they are in a religion where you must be smarter and stronger and constantly ready for backstabbing especially when it comes to the parallel Gods of the Dead Three) but he will trust you and work with you. He will test you and test your mettle and ensure that you are as sharp and respectable as ever, but that is the nature of Banites. Earning their respect is a constant.
(It bugs me how easily they killed him off, but to be honest, I understand that from a story perspective, there is no other way. They couldn't have him sticking around. He was an antagonist. They couldn't flesh out an entirely different story and ending if you decided to be with him. He had to die, one way or another. But choosing to keep him around until the sticky end if you keep your word? That was a deliberate choice. It was showing his respect for Durge-- and respect is earned with fire and blood, and it was earned between them.)
Banites actually do have tenants. They have a code they live by. They have a very strict code, actually. You can see glimpses of it with Gortash and his holy books. You earn power by right of might. Not by swindling and cheating and lying and stealing. Gortash has nothing to gain from pretending to like Durge. It would be seen as a weakness and a form of submission to them to play so so nice. Dominance is required.
Gortash breaks this code. He breaks it with the lonely nobles he 'seduces.' Using sexual prowess is, in a way, weak, because it means you are not strong or capable enough to take what is yours. You are 'playing nice.' You are using wiles rather than asserting your raw fucking power. False kindness and compassion is actually looked down upon, if I recall correctly. Your strength lies in yourself. Not your cock. Not your body. It's you.
I'm sure Gortash had to pay penance for this, but he probably deemed it necessary for a plan of such an ambitious scale. Sacrifices had to be made.
What I'm saying is that I highly, highly doubt he would play nicely with Durge simply to smooth the path. It goes against everything he believes. Swindling money from some lonely rich housewife? Well, he can pay for that. But do you think Bane would have sat by and watched him play submissive to his enemy's literal blood-child?
No. Durge earned that. And so too did Gortash.
Gortash showed ferocity and prowess. He showed a willingness to work together, which is exclusive to Banites almost specifically. He never ever kneeled before Bhaal in any regard, but he did earn Durge's respect with their raw capacity for murder and blood. He showed initiative. There was genuine conflict in Durge's mind over their admiration for Gortash and knowing that they would, inevitably, be forced to betray him to end the world in blood.
They admired each other. They liked each other, which it seems like Gortash is more willing to openly admit because it doesn't go against his beliefs. They have proved themselves strong and smart. They have, in a way, earned Lord Bane's respect as well, and working with them is no weakness. It is no ploy because Durge is a 'threat' and must be placated. He likes them. He admires them.
Durge has a lot of guilt for liking Gortash. They try to rationalize and justify it at every turn, seeking penance from their father, writing scrambled notes on why why why. But Gortash? Gortash accepts it. Durge has earned their respect. It is no weakness to accept this.
I have no doubt that Bane had his own whims in mind. In the end, I'm sure he wanted all that power for himself. That's his entire gimmick. He's pissed off at Bhaal and Myrkul because he feels like they took power that was rightfully his. Gortash even outright says that their alliance can never be truly repaired; it is not in their nature. I'm sure it would have deeply conflicted Gortash when Bane finally put forth his Black Hand and Command and told him what must be done.
The child of Bhaal must die. The power must go unto the righteous and the deserving.
And I'm sure Gortash was already thinking of ways to circumvent this. He knows his Lord and his designs and peculiarities.
He praises Durge's ability to resist Bhaal's influence. He commends your control. He commends when you show restraint and condemns when your sibling does not. Perhaps he had fully intended to make them his Banite other. Perhaps he thought they could be swayed and brought unto Bane. Durge showed resentment at being controlled and forced and maneuvered about-- and Gortash never had that issue. Bane allowed him the space to conquer, and trusted his will and intellect. Perhaps Gortash thought that eventually, Bane might appeal to Durge-- and could free them.
I have found that the arrogance of Banites is their downfall. They earn their power and their right, but they forget: never underestimate your opponent. The folly of a clever man is to think the world around him a fool. And Banites commit this cardinal sin, and it plummets them every time.
After all, the Netherbrain was using the arrogance of Bane to puppet him and his followers into freedom and the Grand Design. Hell, they did most of the work for it. It was using the destructive and murderous need of Bhaal. The deathly urges of Myrkul. In a way, they're sort of one of a kind. That arrogance. That conceit. That raw need for ultimate control. It was a Banite and a Bhaalist that hand in unlovable hand almost ended all of existence.
But Gortash was not solely Banite. He was mortal, as was Durge. He had other wants and needs and desires, however much his religion took up of himself. He could see real value in Durge. He saw something in them: An equal. By nature, again, Banites do not have equals.
But Gortash spent his life alone. He spend it miserable and clawing, with no one anywhere caring for him. He was never given anything. He was forced to take; the very thing that drove him into the arms of Bane in the first place. A God that justified his will and recognized his ambition and power and the repulsive things it takes and justifies them inherently. The kind and compassionate and loved do not turn to Bane. The desperate and traumatized and hateful turn to Bane. He went from a captive in hell sold to a warlock by his parents, and then to a devil, and then used his sheer fucking intellect and will to escape. He went from a lowly no one loved by not even his parents to the most acclaimed, beloved man in the entire fucking city that once raised him in the gutters. He did not only take that throne where it did not exist-- he created one to sit upon.
And he was going to sit upon it alone forever.
But he looked at Durge and saw someone of similar struggle. Someone who has never been loved. Never coddled. Never cared for. Someone who was born to be a tool (feed his family's debts/serve thy Father's will) and had no will of their own (obey the devil to whom you belong and accept your place at his feet/you are an extension of your Father's clawed and bloody hand with no mind of your own) and had been seemingly created only to suffer (You are not loved, you are used and you will obey/ You are not loved, you are used, and you will obey) and he took them into himself.
Hand in unlovable fucking hand, they could have had everything.
They could have been good for each other.
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