Steel And Mayhem

Finally making a Durgetash blog Honestly this is like mostly just about Gort and Durge or Tav or like, dead three and their chosen Also Mayhem is the name of my Durge so

[drmace]

If anyone ever asked Gortash about it, he'd probably say something like this

[kawareo]

I personally loathe AI but unfortunately I also firmly believe Gortash would love that shit

He wouldn't use it himself but boy would he push it for everyone else to

[kawareo]

He insists everyone else should let the machines do the 'thinking' for them meanwhile he does all his work on Windows 8 and keeps a gun by his printer

[kawareo]

Wanted to do a practice comic page for something original and this uh happened

[lucky-clover-gazette]

enver gortash is so funny in terms of character design like he’s a thirty year old who looks forty with an elevated glam rock aesthetic including messy hair and guyliner and he’s like weirdly handsome in the face but also has yellow teeth and his con score is 10 so i assume a strong gust of wind would knock him over and his outfit has motifs of hell, the place where he was imprisoned as a child, and he’s got cunty shoes that i assume he made since his parents are cobblers and he’s a soft vulnerable human with a doomed star-crossed schoolgirl crush on a demigod lizard whose idea of marriage is murder-suicide. and he’s got these shiny golden gauntlets that look so fucking cool and his pointer and middle fingers have shorter nails than the rest. and he wants to take over the world and turn everyone into robots so society will find peace. who is doing it like him. nobody. literally nobody

[kawareo]

Crime boss OC that is genderfluid but gives different people different pronouns for herself because it makes it easier to narrow down who fucked him over when it happens. Finds messages saying "her days are over" and voila now they can cut out all suspects that they didn't present to as a woman. Police think there are multiple people that they're chasing which makes it much easier for the boss to cover up her tracks. He keeps her businesses separate but sometimes something slips by and their closest friend learns after twenty years that they're doing that. Do you see the vision

[kawareo]

Here's Horus, they run strip clubs, a drug cartel, and multiple unions.

[kawareo]

Crime boss OC that is genderfluid but gives different people different pronouns for herself because it makes it easier to narrow down who fucked him over when it happens. Finds messages saying "her days are over" and voila now they can cut out all suspects that they didn't present to as a woman. Police think there are multiple people that they're chasing which makes it much easier for the boss to cover up her tracks. He keeps her businesses separate but sometimes something slips by and their closest friend learns after twenty years that they're doing that. Do you see the vision

[kawareo]

Here's Horus, they run strip clubs, a drug cartel, and multiple unions.

[steelandmayhem]

My previous reblog started with “I regret to inform you that I’m once again thinking about Enver Gortash” and let’s be real I’m tempted to start every goddamn post like that bc if that doesn’t sum it up I don’t know what does.

It’s 3am and all I can think about is the fact that Gortash used to do some psychological torture experiments about how far parents would go for their kids. And that iirc in all his tests, parents would even die for their kids. And that he kept saying that he needed to experiment further.

Just. Thinking about this man who basically has the whole city - and soon even more - in his hand, who‘s the chosen of a good, who‘s controlling an elder brain…. And yet he cannot comprehend why his parents did what they did.

It makes no sense to him so he looks for sense in science, for some justification but there is none. And that can’t be right - surely there are more people like his parents, surely there was a reason for this. But there wasn’t and he can’t accept it.

Look I love my unhinged insane horrible raccoon man. But I think of things like this, or of the way his parents talk about him, and I want to shake them until they realise what they’ve done.

Poor kid didn’t need a god. He needed therapy.

I’m sure there are endless discussions about whether he was already disturbed as a kid or if hell made him so, but I’m of the firm belief that no one is born evil. And here I am lying awake thinking about how different his life could have been if he hadn’t been literally hated and condemned as a *child* by his own parents.

It’s criminal how little screen time Gort gets in the game - as we’ve all said - but I love how many secrets and hints to his backstory and mindset are still found throughout the game (if they haven’t been patched out at least..).

Like this one, because - why would he waste his valuable time on these experiments? Once he controls all of them via elder brain, they won’t think for themselves and therefore, that research would be useless. And sure maybe he did it to find out how best to break people, to get them out of his way, but it read to me like his experiments weren’t finished. Like they were still ongoing.

Which also to a lesser extent brings me back to the whole hiding bombs in children’s toys. Why? Because it’s comically evil? Because it conveys to the player “this man is moral less and unsave-able!”? Or because maybe, he never had anything, he never got any help, so why should they? Maybe because he has severe unresolved childhood trauma and feels the need to destroy their illusion of happiness too and thoroughly ruin their lives. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.

But it’s always the sum of the things isn’t it?

I also find it interesting that he keeps his parents locked up. He could have them out on the streets, singing his praises - but he doesn’t. The player only learns about them if you happen to stumble into a little shop. So yes, making them praise him? That’s only for him.

To conclude this - I like to think that the reason you can’t bring any of this up to him is because it would force him to react. Because I think under all his bravado and uncaring attitude, this is the one thing he could never conquer. He hates that of course, he’d try to play it down, but I genuinely think that his parents are his weakness. Not in the sense of “he has trauma from being sent to the hells” - he has but he obviously made it part of his personality, look at him, his whole attitude screams “raised by Raphael”. Not even in the sense that he’s desperate for parental love - he might be, but I think it’s a bit more complex.

It’s because no matter how much he looks he can’t logically explain what happened to him. He can’t even recreate it. Unless *he* is the problem. And he can’t believe that can he?

Even if he could accept that - make it part of his dark little soul - that once again shines such an interesting light on the fact that his whole persona and strategy is “make people love him”.

And because I can’t end a post without bringing in Durgetash (even platonically): I bet tall these issues came up again through meeting Durge. Bc Durge was horrible BECAUSE they were “loved” by their father. And Durge - whether romantically or platonically - respected and liked Gortash. Maybe even loved him for who he was.

And all of a sudden his neat little explanation of being born utterly unlovable and therefore destined to greatness because he isn’t burdened by love shatters into a thousand little pieces.

Here he is back again, not understanding but needing to know - therefore, experiments. Therefore his utter support no matter if Durge stays with Bhaal or not. Therefore, bombs in children’s toys.

Therefore, I’m lying awake at 3am, wondering what would have been if his parents were better people and believed in nurture vs nature. And about how in the end, he died still not knowing.

[callmelyrae]

i regret to inform you i am once again thinking about lord enver gortash

Enver “my poor little meow meow scrunkly wrunkly” Gortash, Chosen of Bane, glitter-gauntlet war criminal, municipal menace, and patron saint of bad decisions that look incredible in candle-light. I want him in a jar. Not a nice jar. A morally compromised jar with gold leaf and tiny air-holes so his terrible little schemes can circulate. He is awful. He is also wearing a pretty coat and I am deeply unwell.

Do you understand the range? He looks at a city and says “what if industrialised surveillance but make it zombies,” then enslaves an entire guild of inventors to build big stompy brass police (hi Steel Watch), then has the audacity to do a coronation like he didn’t just speed-run tyranny with style and sparkles. He’s the kind of man who would label his poison “tonic” and sell you two bottles at a discount with a smile that says trust me and a contract that says perish.

He’s horrible and that’s the point. Villainy with project management. Antagonism with product design. Customer journey mapping, but the customer is “Baldur’s Gate” and the journey is “subjugation”.

Anyway. Gortash Rights (no). Gortash Wrongs (yes). Gortash In A Jar (yippee).

• He is literally Bane’s favourite intern. It's objectively hard to get Chosen by a worst god but, oh well. I drink my morals with a twist of hubris and a steel garnish.

• He built the Steel Watch: “Have you considered compulsory obedience?” energy. Factory powered by Gondian misery, banite thugs, and one (1) very toxic leader.

• He didn’t just RSVP to the Elder Brain problem; he sent out the invites. Teamed with Myrkul’s sad wet funeral of a man, and Bhaal’s stabby arts-and-crafts kid to collar an Elder Brain with Netherstones and sell it as “The Absolute.” Who does that??

I want to roll him up like a poster and put him in the umbrella stand next to the door. I want to unscrew his cufflinks to see if a tiny manifesto falls out. I want to squish him like a stress ball.

I will be in the corner, frothing at the mouth and vibrating.

[miel-miette]

Does anybody also think that Gortash was kinda deflective when asked about why he didn’t search for Durge? His supposed “nearest and dearest”.

I personally think that while what he said is true, about not being able to intervene in the affairs of other chosen, he’s using it as a shield to hide his guilt.

Also, I’m of the camp that thinks Orin subsumed Durge’s identity for a bit after their assassination as to better integrate herself as the chosen of Bhaal. Also, because she probs likes to play mind games with others, to see if they can catch her in the act.

Regardless, because of Orin disguising herself as Durge, Gortash didn’t go searching for them because he couldn’t. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact date of their death, nor the last place the real Durge visited. And he’s ashamed by that fact, so he hides it beneath their oath.

But I’m certain, if Gortash knew earlier, he would’ve definitely looked for them.

[kawareo]

Personally I like the idea that he did search for them, couldn't find them, and then decided to convince himself that if they died by Orin's hands, they weren't worth being searched for, anyways.

And then they came back and WHAM it's over for him

[steelandmayhem]

This, but personally, I also think that he realised he couldn’t. I believe he initially searched for them, even after Orin’s impersonation, but there was only so much time he could justify allotting to that search. Especially after Orin’s take over may have made things harder but didn’t actually ruin their plans.

He might not have believed that anyone - even Orin - could have been strong enough to murder Durge but his reason would tell him that if someone from a murder cult vanished, they were most likely murdered. In that case he’d be wasting his time looking for a body instead of working on his goals.

And I mean. If Durge vanishing taught him one thing? It is that even Chosen are replaceable if they don’t serve their purpose anymore. And Gortash is nothing if not a selfish, self-preserving bastard. Mans didn’t get that far by thinking himself untouchable. And at that point almost all the plans had been made, they only needed to implement them. So if he proved to be unfit for the role, Bane might just find someone who wasnt so pre-occupied with the former Chosen of his sworn foe. (Imagine someone else getting credit for Gort’s genius plans…..)

So I think that between Orin’s deception, Gort’s fruitless search, and even his own ambitions and plans who’d be put on hold while he looked - the deciding factor that eventually made him stop looking was his own sense of self-preservation and unwillingness to give up the power he worked so hard to get.

[prim42]

A visit from a devil you know.

[kawareo]

I'm a Gortash enjoyer, which means I obviously enjoy watching him get the shit beaten out of

[kawareo]

Sometimes, sometimes, Ketheric reflects on what he's lost, and misses Aylin.

[volno]

As promised, I present to you all The Tyrant Of Flavour Town, which is also my entry for week 1 of the BG3 July 2025. I hope you all enjoy it, I quite enjoyed myself while making this.

You can download the mod on Nexus Mods or Mod.io. Support me on Ko-fi!

[synchodai]

It just doesn't compute in my mind when people say Gort is "canonically unattractive" when he seems deliberately designed with traits that are clearly attractive to men-lovers.

Exposed cleavage with visible yet not unkempt body hair

Constant emphasis on his hands and hand movements

Canonically burly arms

Canonically perfumed and smells good

Big brown eyes

Full lips

High cheekbones

Voiced by Jason Isaacs

Gortash is clearly designed to be a conventionally attractive man with an evil black grease filter thrown on him to give him that fantasy villain edge. And the only people who would think he's ugly are people whose male beauty standard is exclusively smooth, unblemished, lean, and young (which the internet likes to refer to as twinks I suppose).

[synchodai]

This is what people are calling objectively ugly. Girl, he looks like a moderately popular Turkish rock musician in his 40s. He looks like he's in a Balkan folktronica group. He looks like a youtuber who dominates the automobile repair and review space and abuses his influence to tank car companies' stocks

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gortash ascribes to the subtler form of Bane... Baneitism? (?)

Which means that rather than marching armies and emulating his god by walking into a room and yelling MINE, he's 'only' wandering around in the flashy, spiky black outfite, changing the very visible Flaming Fist symbol shown all over the city - including on members of the official and secret police who unofficially govern it alongside the Peers and the Dukes - into Bane's holy symbol, and also wearing said holy symbol in the open to the point where he's getting portraits of himself wearing it and then publishing it in the newspaper:

This is as subtle as the Bane's Chosen are going to get. Probably as subtle as they're allowed to get, knowing Bane.

[vialae]

Writers block cured. AU where dead three gods + their chosen (their ‘families’) all summer in a big estate together. I can write them being all bitchy again

[vialae]

hehe 500ish of the words ive written today. i love making the dead three's chosen act so catty toward eachother

They both watched as the final car in the procession slowed to a halt, the thick tyres crunching against loose gravel. The back door opened, and out stepped an older man with slicked grey hair, dog-tired eyes, and a crisp navy suit.

“God, he looks terrible.” Enver barely managed to contain his snicker.

“Chasing after a daughter that doesn’t want you will do that. I’m surprised he’s still standing.” Kaidos stood upright and turned toward the balcony doors. “Come on, I suppose we’ll have to greet him sooner or later.”

Enver followed after. He adjusted the sleeves on his linen shirt as he followed Kaidos through the cool bedroom and out into the well-lit hallways. He had to walk quite briskly to keep pace with his partner whose face, upon hearing all of the chatter coming from the entrance foyer, started to twist into a frown more and more.

“Are you going to be pulling that face for the next fortnight?”

“Only when necessary.” Kaidos groaned as they reached the end of the hallway, revealing just how many lackeys Mr.Myrkul had brought within his cabal. “God, I don’t want to see any of them.” 

Enver simply clapped a hand on his shoulder. “It will only take a minute. It’s not like he ever wants to talk anyway.” He stepped past Kaidos and took the lead down the marble staircase. 

“Ketheric! A pleasure to see you, General.” Enver was all fake smiles and warm welcomes within an instant. He crossed the lobby floor and offered his right hand to the man.

“Hello, Mr. Gortash.” Ketheric’s face soured as he watched the pair approach him but he still took Enver’s hand to shake it formally. “Escaris.” His eyes glanced over to acknowledge the taller man too.

“Thorm.” Kaidos responded with a tone as equally flat and unwilling.

“This suit looks wonderful on you, by the way. I don’t believe I’ve seen it before.” Enver pulled his hand back as he looked Ketheric up and down. “A new summer collection?”

Ketheric ignored the question entirely. “When did you both arrive?”

“Oh, I arrived earlier this morning, and his lot already spent the night here.”

“And you’re all still alive?” Ketheric rose a taunting brow despite his flat tone.

Kaidos scowled. “Very funny.” His arms folded across his chest defensively. “You should concern yourself with just making it to dinner rather than joking about my family.” 

The smallest of smiles tugged at the old man’s lips, clearly unphased by the threat.

Enver clasped his hands together, looking between the two men. “Well, we should leave you to getting everything unpacked for now. But you will join us for a drink before dinner, won’t you? We have much to discuss before the entire party is together in one room.”

Ketheric’s expression returned to one of displeasure. “Fine,” he grumbled.

“Wonderful. We’ll send someone once we’re ready.” Enver gave one more polite smile despite the fact Ketheric was already turning away. He rested a hand on Kaidos’ arm, gently pushing to turn him so they could walk out toward the sunroom.

Once they were far enough away, Kaidos muttered as he looked over his shoulder, “I’m going to need a few drinks just to sit down with him again.”

[xxthevampirequeenxx]

How would Gortash have reconciled being in a relationship with the Dark Urge, knowing that they probably would have to kill him?

Hoped to turn Durge away from Bhaal (maybe convert them to Bane)

He accepted that Durge would probably kill him (hoped they would kill him last)

He thought that if they seized power, Durge wouldn’t have to kill him

Other (Comment)

Voting ended onMay 20, 2025

Durgetash shippers, I’m so curious to hear what your headcanons are! I find this to be such a fascinating aspect of the ship.