my heights have truly been wuthered

they/any. 18. aroace but still a dirty simp. on my dc hyperfixation arc

[helcat21]

redesigned my blog!!!! watch me make me hyperfix my personality in real time

i’m formally sleepykitty21, i was gonna be helcat but a 2017 blog had it first :(

meows into the void will be my new post tag, i’m gonna go back and add that at some point :)

note: i realize it's the helena bertinelli and thomas blake ship name but that was a happy little accident. i’m more of a helvic fan but that doesn’t roll of the tongue

[hellokittydirtblock]

i love my mutuals because we never talk but we still… like… follow each other……….. and i admire that we stick together even tho there is no communication in the slightest………u kno what i mean… hello…

[inkpotsprite]

Just got a wartime flashback to the "Duke stays silent/bites his tongue" post and I'm still in a state of disbelief over a year later because that kid is chronically incapable of staying silent when talking shit to someone is an option like man couldn't even stop himself from roasting Black Lightning the guy who's built like a tank and oh I don't know controls electricity Duke basically had to crane his lil neck to meet Jefferson's eyes and still talked shit to his face

[paleblueirises]

pretty pink talia with n without halftones bc i couldn’t decide which i liked better 💕

[arcade-confetti]

Catwoman #58, Legends #5, Batman #428

Jason Todd

[its-not-lookin-good]

Future State: Gotham #18

[keysmashslushy]

this is maybe me being nitpicky but I miss when comics used to open issues by telling you a brief story about a civilian who will be impacted in the issue’s events. And it made the crowd of casualties feel like they mattered to us. And you knew you were never gonna see them again, and they didn’t have to be a new game changer character that was being set up to be super super important but would never matter outside of this arc, because that wasn’t the point. There’s too many main characters in books now

[bangnialdo]

summer shenans

[gortash-week]

ONE WEEK AWAY!

it's come around so soon! gortash week is one week away from starting up! are we ready?

writers! i've made an AO3 collection which can be found HERE! make sure you add your work to the 2026 one and not the 2024 one please!

i will be checking both "GortashWeek" & "Gortash Week" tags for posts to reblog here - feel free to tag this account so i definitely see it and share it! if i miss you and it's been a day, send a message with a link to your post!

(also do not worry about needing to send a message alongside it, i know i get anxious about asking something to be shared so use this as confirmation that you can send the link to your piece & nothing else!!)

the archduke appreciates all of your offerings to him :)

a reminder of the prompts below the cut for those just seeing this. faq's can be found on this page

PROMPTS:

DAY 1 - LORD / STREET RAT

DAY 2 - FLESH / MACHINE

DAY 3 - LOVER / TYRANT

DAY 4 - SACRED / BLASPHEMOUS

DAY 5 - PUBLIC PERSONA / PRIVATE LIFE

DAY 6 - TORTURE / PLEASURE

DAY 7 - DEALER'S CHOICE / AU / WHAT-IF

[warrior-of-storms]

Stephanie Brown dies because of Bruce Wayne. From not trusting her to know about Matches Malone to creating the plan to instilling her with this need to prove herself that overrides her ability to defend herself, Stephanie's death is on Bruce's head.

[ibuprobinfen]

Tim Drake is a character seeped in so much classism from his creation to his debut that it’s functionally impossible to separate the character from the ideology. The view of Tim by general consensus is one seeped in classism, that was his written intention. It might not follow through now in Canon but it follows through in how fans see him

This is no more apparent than in his fanon depiction (what I take to be a decently popular and reliable fandom consensus of his character) where he is gentle and soft, where he would rather die than be reckless where he’s reliable but still needs to be taken care of- where he’s a infallible genius who’s anger is righteous and he is justice. Where as if we compared him to Jason, where his fanon depictions are that his anger is irrational, against the innocent- violent, reckless, stupid (requires ignoring that Jason is as Tim is canonically gifted intellectually, he did good at school and is often named a strategic genius) . A tough man that doesn’t need anyone to take care of him- gets himself and the people around him in trouble.

(This can be read as desirable victim and non desirable victim as well, ie, victims need to lie down and cry and seek comfort. If a victim bites then it’s “rational” to assume that they don’t want to get better hence they don’t deserve the reader’s sympathy. But I’m not gonna get into that today)

Wealth makes similar traits palatable. That’s the crux of it, the need to constantly infantilise Tim and demonise Jason is classist. It has to be classism because if class does not divide them then what does? The entire premise of his character is that he is everything that Jason is not- and everything Jason is, is in essence because of his poverty. (Don’t come at me with “thats a classist reading of Jason’s story” Jason as a character is uniquely defined by his childhood- what happened to Jason as a child shapes who he is now (which realistically is the same as everyone ever) but there’s a massive emphasis on this for Jason) so when you say that you dislike Jason because Tim is so much better you are directly feeding into classist troupes.

Am I saying you must dislike tim? No. I admit Tim has traits independent of his comparison to Jason that makes him likeable, but when you claim that Tim is directly “better” (entirely subjective btw) than Jason it is (doesn’t matter if you mean it or not) entirely classist.

[mschelle]

Well hot damn if it wasn't enough for this loser to throw a public tantrum now he's going out of his way to follow predestrogen on other platforms and start harassing her there!!! You can't hide these Matt I got the screenshots lol!!!!!!

HE'S BLATANTLY LYING OUT OF HIS ASS!! SPREAD IT AROUND!! And also since she seems to be from Ireland even though I don't even know shit about eu laws from what little I do know this is a big violation of GDPR and should be reported as such!! https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/reform/rights-citizens/redress/what-should-i-do-if-i-think-my-personal-data-protection-rights-havent-been-respected_en

[creatureofthecornfield]

@photomatt should kill himself.

[fleshengine]

I genuinely hope this circulates forever.

[reginalusus]

New Jersey boyyyyyys + some doodles. Tried going for an ink pen/dot-eyed art style for fun this time.

Bluesky Ko-Fi Two-Dads AU Masterpost

[toddsolondz]

you think you’re steph you’re not even bernard

[bhaalpit]

To ensure that no one pisses in the Bhaalpit, we are posting the steel watch nearby.

[kikkofrog]

The Dark Urge should get a restraining order against Bhaal. I am surprised that Bhaal isn't the god of incest/grooming/necrophilia and whatnot.

Like his whole incest thing is just worrysome:

"Mad guilt swills in your swooning, sick body. Today you became the tart of a false God, and your evil pride revolts." -After becoming Boooals "chosen". Why tf is Bhaal calling Durge a tart here? There are a dozen other things that Durge could have been, like a traitor, a heretic or whatnot. But no, he uses the word tart. Someone should tell him that there are other ways too ruin your child's life. This might be a tad much.

"You failed to bring forth issue while you helmed our cult. It is a mortal sin for a Chosen. I even hoped you and my daughter might one day create a new blood-lamb for us, but it is not to be..." -Thank you, Sarevok, for wanting Durge to sleep with their sister/niece/daughter. I am sure Bhaal is giving you the thumbs up from wherever he is.

"I'm a disappointment to my father. Maybe we can work with that." -Sharess Caress dialogue after loosing the duel with Orin (yes, the fucking Brothel). Durge clearly thinks of Bhaal in a sexual manner. And knowing Bhaal, he is propably happy about that.

"...Only one face haunts your dreams each night..." -I could excuse this if it weren't happening in the middle of a love test. Orin! You need to learn to time this shit!

"Your memory of last night's act is absent. In the moment of mounting, your mind emptied itself, and you could think only of Bhaal. The gnoll's rump seemed to become his Temple's graven altar where you once led worship." -Hm. Yeah. Totally normal behaviour to force your child to think of you during the deed.

"You and the Urge are wedded, now. One body, one mind." -Bg3, Sceleritas Fel. And there is the whole Bloodwedding theme in general. Do other gods annoint chosen through wedding ceremonies??? Why does Bhaal want to marry his children (I am pretty sure Bloodwedding is a Bhaalspawn only thing)?

"I love you father. I'm a good boy, a good, good boy." -Bg3, Feral Ending. As if their relationship could get any more fucked up.

"Special, yes, special aren't you? Ssh, don't fight it." -Why is he talking like that??? What is Bhaal's issue??? I know it is not inherital sexual but the "Ssh" disturbs me.

"You are his dear Sovereign." -Thank you Gortash, for making this weird.

"It must feel good to be the favourite." -Once again, the wording is irking me.

"Father claws into your heart and stops it for a single moment. As you begin to fear for your life, you know his love is close." -...I mean, it doesn't have to be sexual here, but looking at how Bhaal interacts with Durge in general really makes me worry.

"Never before has a Bhaalspawn left a Blood Wedding at the altar. What were you doing, coward, not facing your sister?" -I really had hoped that 'wed' referred to something different, but no. The whole 'altar' thing just confirms it: This is a fucking wedding ceremony between father and child.

"Glance piteously upon your false bride." -Apparently, Bhaal wanted to be Durge's bride. And he considers every other true lover 'false'. Dear lord of Murder, what exactly is your problem?

"You're Bhaal's stallion..." -stop. Just stop.

Aside from Bhaal grooming the hell out of Durge he also inflicts his own (supposedly) necrophiliac tendecies upon Durge. Great parenting, isn't it?

"Your body feels aroused imagining a broken twisted neck, and a thrill thinking of a trailing intestine." -I will leave this here.

"I feel the most intense pleasure. Arousal, even." -I believe them.

"The masterful painting the Drow depicts of the massacre awakens you hungrily."

Durge: "Stop! I'm growing aroused!"

-At least Durge has no qualms about admitting it openly.

Durge: "How delightful, I'm very eager to begin."

Nightwarden Minthara: "Control yourself - you are as uncouth as the goblins."

-I wanna thank Minthara for her service here. More people should tell Durge that they are being weird (Minthara, why do you wanna sleep with them??? What am I missing here?)

"I am a contemptible blood-pervert." -Yes. I've noticed that.

"As he joins your side, your mind dances with thoughts of a perfect pretty corpse." -I am sure it does. Poor Astarion has zero clue about what he is getting into.

Durge: "Hot."

Astarion: "You couldn't wait ten seconds before being an absolute freak."

-Sure. Bring the mass-murdering lunatic with a long history of violence and questionable sexual habits to a graveyard. What did you expect to happen, Astarion?

"Sprinkle and stamp goes the soil, piling on top of the coffin packed cosily back into the earth." -I might be reading too much into this, but the 'cosily' just makes me question everything.

"Within your sick heart you know: in gravedigging, you have had quite the body count." -Yes, I also refer to digging up corses as 'increasing my body count'. Totally normal behaviour here.

"But something stirs, with your hand close to this body." It's probably the killing instinct that is stirring here, but who knows?

"My, my. We will be reintroducing necrophilia to your schedule in no time." -Really Sceleritas? Did it need any pointing out? But wtf do you mean SCHEDULE???

"The hivemind allows you to feel each kill as if it were your own. The pleasure is almost too much to bear." -I am starting to wonder if Bhaal really participated in the Absolute plot for the chance of world-domination. To me it seems like he just wanted a quick way to get multiple orgasms at once. Can someone tell him to stop?

"The raw hate of life, reared from the miracle of death..." -...I swear this is about some fucked up breeding kink of Bhaal. He needs to stop putting Durge through this.

"You draw her closer, with all the vim of a lover's first embrace." -Honestly, Minthara might be a little at fault here. She knew Durge is completely deranged. But, I suppose, she does feel safe with them (big mistake). Also, don't romance Durge/Bhaal and let your guard down. They may calm down after a second lay, but you NEVER know. (This is about you @awwright. Yes, I am looking at you😑)

I also had hoped that Bhaal's weird behavior is a Bhaalspawn only thing, but it is not. Is anyone surprised? That man is also a touch invading with his own clergy. And other people as well.

"Slay with pleasure, but never with anger..." -I am sure this refers to joy, but after Durge and the Ecstasy of Murder I am no longer sure.

"Once Bhaal's favour has quickened within one oh his beloved murderers, the bliss of his love is nigh-indescribable. For he blesses his loyal with a new sensation: a mindless, instinctual, primal sensation that comes within the bowels, an erotic spasmthat washes over the killer, in the moment of murder. It is said that in that instant, his Divine Essence can almost be tasted. Forsake all other hedonisms, acolytes, for nothing can compare. Until the true ecstasies of murder wash over you, initiates, this scroll contains a prayer, you may say after a kill, calling for the Lord's disgrace to find its course in your body." -This just enforces me in my belief that that man is beyond help. Why, exactly, did Ao allow him to return to godhood? Although Cyric really is a problem.

"These children you speak of... the children of a god. The thought of them brings me pleasure. I, too, shall create children—the Children of Bhaal. They will stalk the land beside you and bring death to all the corners of the world!" -Apparently, Bhaal suffers from Child fatigue. Can someone give him some medication to make that stop? That condition has become a problem

"The god of death, lover of all murderous acts, was in fine fettle." -It could be read as sexual, even though I don't think it is supposed to be. But why not just use the word 'admirer'?

"Perhaps a wife who has been true and faithful for many years suddenly seeks passion in the arms of a stranger. Maybe a man who has been good and kind his entire life suddenly lashes out and kills several of his best friends." -Ah, yes. Because sex and murder are his favorite things.

"In the Time of Troubles did Bhaal, himself, come and whisper in mine ear. I was to give birth to one of the Children. To you. I rose my arms up and hailed my Lord of Murder with great joy at my fate. Others of Bhaal's order took me away, to hide us in the darkest temple away from prying eyes." -Bane has a habit of touching people's faces. Bhaal will murmur things into your ear. Is Myrkul the only one who has ever heard about the concept of 'personal space'?

"As of late, my friends, I have felt a calling when my fingers meet each other around a windpipe. As if there is a voice whispering sweet nonsense into my ear as I tear the breath from my quarry's lungs. I think I am chosen by our Lord of Murder. Perhaps even related." -Can someone tell him to stop?

Bhaal even has a special spell unique to his clergy. Wanna know what it does? It makes you attracted to the caster.

"Attraction replaces any negative emotions the target has toward the spellcaster with opposite positive emotions... Repulsion becomes attraction, hatred becomes love, etc..."

The opposite of the 'Attraction' spell is 'Disdain', which is also unique to Bhaal and his clergy. That one is used for murder.

At least Jaheira is nice to the Bhaalspawn. Mostly. Because they need a parental figure that is not completely fucked up. Sadly, Bhaal and his clergy aren't the only ones who will abuse his children. Remember Irenicus? Hells, even Gale is being problematic.

Jaheira: "So you wish to be a god, Gale? You know the wizard Irenicus attempted the same thing, by leeching divine blood from a Bhaalspawn."

Gale: "Aha, transfusion! An interesting strategy. Hard to get hold of a god's blood, of course, but if one could..."

Jaheira: "He managed it. After murdering my husband, and torturing my friends and I for half a year."

Gale: "Did I say interesting? I meant terrible, of course. A terrible strategy..."

There is also this line Jaheira can tell Durge:

"...There will be crusaders who will wish to rid the world of your taint. Or jealous minds who believe themselves more deserving of the power in your blood..."

She knows they will never be truly safe. Irenicus was but one of many who seek to poach Bhaalspawn, for good or ill.

She even tells that Charname in Bg2:

"You are still a valuable commodity. There are those that know of the children of Bhaal, and they may desire... services from you."

Every single child of Bhaal should be alllwed to stab him once a month. All of that just screams "I have issues and I am making everyone pay for it."

And I won't even start about what Bhaal did through Kazgoroth with Tristan. I am done with that man.

I don't even know why Bhaal want's more children.

"You failed to bring forth issue while you helmed our cult. It is a mortal sin for a Chosen."

He doesn't like them:

"Our Father does not feel pride. He bore the disgrace of creating life in his Spawn. We can but atone for the shame of birth."

Is Amelyssan the only one who has a grasp on what a murder cult is supposed to be about?

"For devotees of death, you of his line are so basely fascinated with propagating new life. It ever seemed to me an impurity in the doctrine."

I can't even blame her for betraying Bhaal. Cause wtf is his issue??? He should set his mind on what he wants, for once in a while. But given that he constantly shifts his alignments, I suppose he is incapable of making up his mind to begin with. Which is a surprise, cause I expected that to be Bane's issue.

Is Bhaal in constant denial of his own habits? Because I am beginning to believe that.

[kikkofrog]

The Dark Urge becoming known as Mahkloompah, god of the fish-people, is funny and also an incredible callback to Bhaal's mortal life.

Kuo-toa are known to manifest their gods through belief alone, and the redcap they revere as Boooal already harbored enough of a divine spark to genuinly piss Bhaal off if Durge becomes Boooal's chosen:

"Mad guilt swills in your swooning, sick body. Today you became the tart of a false God, and your evil pride revolts."

The Dark Urge is already a fledgling-god and in possession of divinity. Technically speaking they could use this fervent worship and climb the divine ladder... did you guys know that Bhaal (together with Myrkul and Bane) tried something similar?

So, the Dead Three did not, intentionally, start murdering primordials for the purpose of becoming gods and steal their power (they still stole the power of the primordials they slew as mortals, but the goal was not to become a god).

First and foremost they were tortured by Jergal in their sleep, because Jergal saw the primordials as threats to his revised Ascenion ritual (with which he sought to be reborn as six divine entities and in so doing make sure that the Disjunction never happened). So he plagued the dreams of Myrkul, Bane and Bhaal with traumatic nightmare visions that revealed to them the locations of the God-slaying weapons they would use (mostly Bhaal because he was their killer).

Anyway, skip ahead a few years and Jergal abandons them after they banished the primordial Maram because he thought the threat was dealt with. Which leaves the Dead Three to their own devices. Of course they get the bright idea to release even more primordials into the world and one of them was called Torath of the Obsidian Vault.

All primordials hail from the Elemental Chaos and have an element associated with them: For Borem it was fire, for Camnod wind and I will take a daring guess and say that Torath was connected to the element of water.

Anyway, Torath, along with two others, got subdued by the Dark Three and commanded to raise an army in their names, which the three primordials did.

Torath assembled a giant Kuo-Toa army from beneath Mount Throndor in the Eastern Dragonspine Mountains (modern: West Galena Mountains).

So... given that the Dead Three had a habit of splitting the tasks between them I would take a guess and say that each of them personally oversaw the actions of one of the three primordials.

Given that Tyranthraxus the Flamed One preferred the shape of a dragon and is connected to fire (and, apparently, partly to lightning), I would say that Bane was the one to command this primordial directly.

Myrkul, most likely, took control over Edranka of the Smoldering Haze because he was the one to sniff out Hargut and Haask. It would make sense if he took it upon himself to command Edranka to wage war with them.

Which leaves Bhaal with Torath and his army of fish-people.

I am no longer surprised that Bhaal doesn't get pissy about Durge getting worshiped as a god by the Kuo-toa, but only about becoming the chosen of a redcap.

Apparently, he approved of Torath's fish-army. And if Durge tells the Kuo-toa to assemble an army in their name? And to worship them as the god 'Mahkloompah'? That just echoes what Bhaal himself did.

Larian most likely didn't intend it, but the parallels are still there. So for anyone who likes Durge as the Kuo-toa god: Bhaal approves as well.

[druidcorvid]

Why Bhaal's plan for Durge kind of sucks

To get into dangerously speculative territory, I think making Durge and their urges as murderous as they are was hubristic on Bhaal's part, and that Bhaal's quest might be ultimately doomed even if Durge does end the world and "succeed." Even in the "In Bhaal's name" ending, I don't think Bhaal wins for long, and this is my attempt to lay out enough BG3 and Forgotten Realms lore to explain this interpretation.

CW past this point for discussion of murder/mass murder, animal abuse, and suicidality.

Bhaal's Inconsistencies

That one famous Bhaal quote really hits on his hubris for me: "I can destroy your kingdom, Bane, by murdering your subjects, and I can starve your kingdom, Myrkul, by staying my hand." This line has always struck me as bullshitting on Bhaal's part. He's the god of murder, literally saying "I choose (to oversee) death" as he chooses his portfolio, and on some level, if he doesn't kill, he would also starve himself. He's canonically bloodthirsty enough that "staying [his] hand" seems like it'd often be difficult, at best. Importantly, Bhaal lost the game of knucklebones between the Dead Three, and he chose his domain last. It seems like it'd be really appealing to say a grandiose line to save face in that situation, and it rings totally hollow to me because of that.

There are also some inherent contradictions in Bhaal's goals and tenets as expressed in the Church/Cult of Bhaal, and this dichotomy is fairly prominent in-game through Durge and Orin's ideological feud. Orin's philosophy of quality over quantity matches Bhaal's domain over ritualistic killing (and also the Church of Bhaal's general dogma), while Durge's philosophy of quantity above all is seemingly also professed to them by Bhaal himself. Their "mindless butchery" matches descriptions of Bhaal as compulsively murderous, while Orin embodies his sadism and cruelty. Like Durge and Orin, it's hard for these two drives to peaceably coexist—if you kill everyone, you can no longer cause anyone pain. There isn't really a non-contradictory middle ground here, and Bhaal does not strike me as a dialectically savvy guy.

The Consequences of Durge's Success

Global genocide, when taken to its ultimate extreme, could end up being just as destructive to Bhaal as it'd be for everyone else. To stretch the eating/starving metaphor to its absolute breaking point, if Durge fulfills their father's wishes, literally everybody dies, and Bhaal is gorged on the blood of all of Toril, but he'll starve to death after that anyway because there would be no more people left to feed him.

It's fairly well established that a god's power, if not their existence, is connected to the amount of followers they have, and if Bhaal's goal for Durge is fulfilled, they also kill every single Bhaalist. This pattern seems to show up in like half of the gods' wiki pages, but I think the Earthmother's limitations outside the Moonshae Isles is good example of this effect, as well as Celestian's growing influence giving him the potential to become a greater deity.

It's possible Bhaal could do what a lot of gods do and attempt to butt into a new realm/pantheon before he withered away on Toril*, but I think fulfilling his goals in the way Durge is compelled to would significantly weaken him, at minimum. I don't personally view it this way, but I think you could even interpret Bhaal's creation of Durge as the beginning of a murder-suicide pact with the world that his child then carries out on his behalf (in which case the title of this post is wrong, but oh well).

Now, for an obligatory reminder before I move on because I know I've been phrasing ideas too emphatically: if this contradicts your interpretations of BG3 or Forgotten Realms cannon, that's awesome, and I'd genuinely love to hear about why. If there is source material that contradicts my ideas, I'd also genuinely love to know where I can learn more. In posting this, I am only adding an option to the buffet—you can enjoy it, ignore it, or spit it in the trash, but please be civil about whatever choice you make. Moving on.

Bhaal's Influence over the Urge

I interpret the urge as an extension of Bhaal's will in a general sense, but I don't think Bhaal is actively putting thoughts into Durge's head as they occur. The urge seems to function largely autonomously without Bhaal's active oversight, but it was created to be a manifestation of Bhaal's very general desires and his most violent, capricious, and impulsive aspects. It's like a brain tumor that guides Durge towards Bhaal's ultimate goal of global genocide, rather than a direct remote-control.

Bhaal doesn't seem to have any capacity to read or even influence Durge's thoughts other than through the urges, and even this influence seems to be limited. Sceleritas seemingly can't find Durge prior to killing Alfira, and his concern about their "separation" could indicate that he wasn't even sure if Durge survived. Given that, I feel pretty confident Bhaal wasn't directly causing their urges before then.

Bhaal/Sceleritas can seemingly increase the frequency and severity of the urges like they do as punishment for not killing Isobel, but they don't make Durge actually want to kill her directly. I don't know why they wouldn't do that unless they don't have that ability at all (except because it's an RPG and players would probably hate that, but I'm speaking in a purely in-universe sense). Because of Durge's potential failure to kill Isobel, I also don't think Bhaal can reliably direct the urges to kill any specific target, even though the Act 2 scene's favorite companion mechanic and Sceleritas' dialogue can make it seem like that's the case. To me, it seems just as likely that Durge's fixation on that companion also causes the urges to fixate on them as they worsen during the Act 2 scene.

Sceleritas acting as Durge's evil Jiminy Cricket does a lot to indicate Bhaal's lack of control. There's no (in-universe) reason for Sceleritas to devote so much time to steering Durge wrong if it wasn't at least somewhat necessary to ensure Durge's compliance. Jaheira actually hints at this in some of her dialogue with Durge, and says outright that Sceleritas is unusually persistent. If you ask her if the Bhaalspawn she knew were ever visited by a "grotesque butler," she says "Bhaal had his minions, certainly. But none that watched over their wards so diligently" (I don't have a link for this, but I did record it during my last run, so I am confident the quotes are accurate).

Also, If Durge kills Orin in their duel, the initial dialogue with Bhaal plays out the same even if you've been spitting in Bhaal's face as much as possible for the entire game up to that point. That's realistically a Larian limitation as much as anything else, but in-universe it could also demonstrate Bhaal's general lack of insight into even his favorite spawn.

TLDR: Bhaal already doesn't have a great handle on Durge, despite giving them the urges to guide them to end the world. Even if they do, there's good odds that, in killing all his possible victims and all of his followers, Bhaal would either kill or grievously weaken himself. Unless his goal is going out in one last blaze of glory, his plan for Durge seems like kind of a bad one.

From here on, I go into how all of this incorporates into my specific Durge's story, but there is also a footnote from the Consequences section if you'd like to skip to the end for that (see point one).

Bran's Bhaalist Philosophy

The "In Bhaal's name" ending scene does say that Durge will be "the last creature living," but it still only shows humanoid corpses as far as I can tell, so I don't know how literally that line is meant to be read. Sceleritas and Bhaal tend to use dehumanizing language when referring to both Durge and others, which makes me think it's figurative. Nonetheless, in my interpretation, Bhaal's definition of murder is limited to the killing of people, performed by people, and he does not extend the label of "murder" to the death of non-humanoid life.

The general shadow druid philosophy that civilization (ie, people) are a blight and nature is the ultimate good can actually mesh well with aspects of Bhaalist faith, and it generally does for Bran during his time as a Bhaalist. The urge seems to have a minimal concern for death outside of the deaths of people specifically, and Bhaal lacks any mentioned or implied domain over deaths in nature, which is firmly Silvanus and the other nature gods' domain. This allows Bran to be fairly cooperative during his Bhaalist years while still largely maintaining his druidic devotion to nature. As a fun detail, in my version, learning about shadow druids' philosophy through Bran is what leads Ketheric to come up with his plan to broker a (temporary) truce to keep them out of the way.

The urge has no apparent concern for killing plants and fungi, and the only two instances in-game I can think of where the urge causes violence against an animal are killing Timber the squirrel (but only if Durge doesn't have Speak with Animals, for some reason, which… I am not gonna complain about here), and possibly Steelclaw the cat, who Durge canonically kicks and harasses pre-tadpole. If Durge tries to remember their past while talking to her, they go into a fugue state and kill her, but if they don't, they can express both remorse and respect with a line that goes something like "I'm only here to admire your hunt" and leave her to her business completely peacefully. It's also unclear whether the urges specifically compelled Durge to kick Steelclaw pre-tadpole, or whether they were simply being a dick of their own free will**.

A few unique interactions with other animals seem to indicate that while they can sense something is off about Durge, they aren't concerned on their own behalf. During your first meeting, once you succeed the check to calm him down, Scratch says "There's death in your scent, but not in your words," which I believe is unique to Durge (I don't have a link, but I recorded this scene and know for a fact it exists). Despite knowing that there's something wrong with Durge, Scratch is amicable and does not treat them like they're a threat once they pass the check.

This comparative leeway towards non-humanoid life corresponds with the apparent cultural norm in Faerun that killing animals does not qualify as murder, which I think Bhaal would've abided by. Bran may consider killing animals and other natural life to be on par with killing people because of his druidic background, but Bhaal almost certainly doesn't, so his urges do not extend to wildlife in my interpretation.

This leads me to Bran's reasons for complying with Bhaal's goal of genocide pre-tadpole. As a druid, Bran does gradually become conscious of the contradiction inherent to Bhaal's desire to murder the world. Their job is maintaining ecological balance, and obviously, if a predator completely eradicates all the species they prey upon, they too are doomed to starve and die. Thus, when Bran agrees to end the world and begins seriously planning it alongside Gortash and Ketheric, they choose to do so with hurting Bhaal in mind. Their plan is motivated by malicious compliance and a desire for revenge against Bhaal for their existence in general: "Alright, sure Dad. I'll kill everyone, then I'll finally die, and you'll starve to death as nature reinherits Toril. Be careful what you wish for!"

To be totally fair, I don't know if this would play out as Bran imagined, and it's kind of motivated reasoning on their part. Bhaal and half of the other gods die and then come back like it's a sport. "Death" for gods is often not a permanent state, and they will always threaten to return either in their original form or in a new incarnation. The line between people and non-people in Faerun is also fairly blurry (the Kua-Toa come to mind), with even a lot of beasts/animals seemingly being close to sentient, like Displacer Beasts off the top of my head (they kill purely for sport, and there are references to their "malevolent intelligence"). It's possible that Bhaal could pivot to being the god of murder and violence for some other sufficiently intelligent species on Toril after all the humanoids are dead, but he could also possibly migrate to another realm with people in it if that didn't work out. Bran's philosophy and goals are subjective to them, and I've tried to come up with compelling enough reasons that they think they'd work, but I don't honestly know if they're right.

Footnotes

Ironically, Silvanus seems to have done something close to what I'm referring to here in order to maintain his influence by establishing himself in the Faerunian pantheon. However, I may be wrong about the extent a god's existence/"life" would be threatened by their power waning, so take this comparison with a grain of salt. I also don't know exactly how freely deities can traverse the realms in general, since Silvanus only does so through his followers here, so Bhaal might still be trapping himself on Toril to die if he lets Durge kill all the Bhaalists.

I also don't know why the urges would force Durge to commit explicitly non-lethal and fairly minor violence here, as opposed to killing her outright, but Steelclaw's scene is really weird in general. The first time I met her, I think I talked to her while in the cat wildshape and had the scene play out the same way, which isn't all that relevant here, but its implications are kind of hilarious. Did Bran harass her while wildshaped into a cat, or could she recognize them in a different form? Why doesn't this scene change if you're a druid, and why would a druid kick a cat? That whole conversation is so surreal and strange as a druid Durge, I might give that its own post.