#bg3 lore

[dedelsen]

Nobody asked for it, and I did it anyway! Or

I counted all Baldur's Gate 3 resident NPCs so you don't have to

And then I made a whole anthropological study about it Spoiler, I guess, but honestly does it count? (pun intended)

If you prefer the real slides with real text in them, I've put them in my drive (I'd recommend downloading the thing to be able to read the graphs, however... Also google slides fucks up my presentation and idk how to fix it, big sad): https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16LXCf8ytvFXqInEIG7x90SDx4CXNkSrF/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106694258125622774911&rtpof=true&sd=true

If you want the raw data I put it on my drive. Take it and use it to blow up Florrick's car idk: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xNjBJolZh6a5vNC6bfJTNqfVuULyM2_e/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106694258125622774911&rtpof=true&sd=true

Thank you for reading and I hope to see much more Flaming Fist slander in the future <3

[alpaca-clouds]

I am still so certain that Gortash was a chosen of the Second Sundering, because it would just make so much sense, fit the timeline almost perfectly, and explain so much.

I talked about it a couple of times before, but let me quickly do it again. The Second Sundering happened between 1482 DR and 1487 DR (so between 10 and 5 years prior to BG3). The details do not really matter that much. What matters is, that Ao tried to rewrite the Tablets of Fate, an act that brought with it the possibility of reordering the deities of the Realms, so those deities just created a ton of chosen in an attempt to preserve their powers, due to how the Forgotten Realms divine powers work. This did very much also include the Red Wizards trying to get those chosen into their hands and extract that divine juice from them, but that is less important for Gortash and shit.

What is important is this: it does kinda seem that Gortash was not yet a Chosen of Bane, when he sold Karlach. This is never confirmed in text fully, but I feel it is highly likely for one specific reason: he seemed to still have been in conflict with the Zhentarim when he sold Karlach. And the Zhent are followers of Bane, which is why they are actually begrudgingly following him by the time the game takes place. There is a couple of in game documents from the past talking about how they were in conflict with Gortash over smuggling operation in the past. Until they suddenly were not.

What is noticable about the Second Sundering too is, that a bunch of the Chosen created during it, were not active followers of the gods who chose them. They just... vaguely aligned with their morals.

And to me it makes so much sense. Because more than anything I see Gortash as an opportunistic coward. Like, sure, he made the Banite cult in Baldur's Gate big again. But who says that he did that before he became a chosen. Because the thing is that I do not really see him follow a god without a guarantee to get something out of it for himself. And let's be real here: the gods of the Forgotten Realms do in general not do shit for the majority of their followers. And while I totally see Gortash generally liking the idea of being a tyrant, this man also knows that Bane is a god that most people do not like. So being a Banite without a guaranteed return feels like too much of a political risk. Especially considering the one group of Banites that is very clearly active in Baldur's Gate at the time (the Zhent), is actively hostile to him, and probably will not just cease hostilities based on him going: "Yo, I am a Banite now!"

So to me it would make a whole lot more sense that he was generally morally somewhat aligned with Bane, sure, but not actively worshipping him. Until he became his Chosen by a sheer cosmic coincident, like many of the Second Sundering Chosen.

Unlike many of the Second Sundering Chosen he found out that he was a Chosen. Possibly because of the Dark Urge showing up. And Gortash, being the opportunistic coward he is went: "Oh, I can use that in my advantage."

And let's be honest here: this man would have enjoyed the hell out of getting up to the Zhentarim, all smug, and going: "Oh, by the way, I am the chosen of your god now, so you cannot harm me."

That is to say: I do not think that Gortash was a Banite before he became a chosen of Bane. He became a Banite because he was a chosen of Bane and could use the cult of Bane in his advantage once he was. Not because I think he would have been morally opposed to Bane before - clearly not - but because the risk/reward calculation would have been off too him.

Especially with how much he loves to play himself up as a hero I could actually more see him pretending to be aligned with one of the warrior/heroic gods. Again, not because of morals, but because of how he wants to be perceived.

More than anything Gortash is a politician. It is probably the main thing he learned from Raphael.

[yeragei]

Clearing up the vampire bride theory

There's a lot of misinformation surrounding this vampire bride fan theory. As someone who has the book the theory allegedly comes from, I want to provide important context that's always left out in posts about it.

Note: It's fine if you like this headcanon and want to use it for your own RP. But posts about this headcanon tend to present it as a factual and canon concept. I want people to have all the information so that they're fully informed when they decide to believe in it or not. There's a lot of evidence that it isn't canon. Everyone is welcome to see their character how they like. No one is saying you can't have fun. The problem is misinformation.

First, the 2e book this theory stems from (Van Richten's Guide to Vampires) is from 1991. That's over 30 years and three editions of DnD ago. None of this lore has been mentioned in the current edition of DnD, 5e, as far as I've seen. It didn't even appear in Curse of Strahd, where it would have fit in perfectly. DnD staff have officially said that each edition of DnD is its own canon. They don't want fans to need archaic sourcebooks to understand the current lore.

"The current edition of the D&D roleplaying game has its own canon, as does every other expression of D&D… Every edition of the roleplaying game has its own canon as well. In other words, something that might have been treated as canonical in one edition is not necessarily canonical in another…we don’t want DMs or players to feel like they must read a novel, play a video game, or buy a third-edition sourcebook to enjoy our game and get the most out of our current line of products."

Now, I'm not saying that every edition of DnD is completely different and doesn't draw from older versions. But it's clear that DnD staff don't want old sourcebooks to be needed to understand current products. That's why it's significant that vampire bride lore has not shown up again in a decade of 5e. There is an updated 2021 version of the Van Richten book: Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. This 5e version still has no mention of vampire bride lore.

Ravenloft is also an entirely different campaign setting from the Forgotten Realms, which is where BG3 takes place. Their lore is not necessarily interchangeable. You cannot indiscriminately copy paste lore from different worlds.

While BG3 doesn't follow DnD 5e lore 100%: One can't use a 2e sourcebook to argue the vampire bride theory is true, and also say sourcebooks aren't important because BG3 is its own property.

Even if we accept what is in the 1991 Van Richten's Guide to Vampires: The Dark Kiss ritual states that the sire vampire's age must be AT LEAST twice Astarion's vampire age.

"Creating a bride or groom, although seemingly a simple process, requires an exhausting exercise of much power by the creating vampire. For this reason, only vampires of advanced age and capability can even assay this procedure. A bride or groom can be created only by a vampire of age category Ancient or greater, and not even all of those are capable of doing so." (pg 71)

The Ancient vampire age category starts at 400 years (pg 13). Astarion has been a vampire spawn for 200 years and an ascended vampire for barely any time at all.

If one argues Astarion can do this ritual anyway because he's a special ascended vampire… Well, the book's ritual is about normal vampires. If AA is this unique, it can be easily argued that he can't do the ritual and make a vampire bride, because he's not a normal vampire. This logic can be applied both ways. The idea behind becoming an ascended vampire is that things which affect a normal vampire won't affect him anymore. Not to mention, Astarion himself says it will take more time for him to come into his full power. So how can he be as powerful as an ancient vampire already? Alternatively: if he is this powerful and special, who says he can't compel and control a Vampire Bride anyway?

The book also describes the sire losing lots of blood to the bride, to the point that the sire is weakened. Astarion gives us "just one drop" and shows no sign of being weakened after turning us. Nor do we see evidence of a feeding frenzy.

"The vampire opens a gash in its own flesh—often in its throat—and holds the subject’s mouth to the wound. As the burning draught that is the vampire’s blood gushes into the subject’s mouth, the primitive feeding instinct is triggered, and she sucks hungrily at the wound, enraptured. With the first taste of the blood, the subject is possessed of great and frenzied strength, and will use it to prevent the vampire from separating her from the fountain of wonder that is its bleeding wound. It is at this point that the creator-vampire’s strength is most sorely tested. He is weakened by his own blood loss." (pg 72)

The vampire bride ritual requires the sire to make 3 bites. I believe this entire theory started because someone thought they saw 3 bites. The dev notes for the supposed first bite calls it a kiss on the neck. With some hairstyles, you can see there is no bite mark or blood on Tav's neck when he kisses the neck. There are bite marks and blood on Tav's wrist or neck later in the same scene, after the choice for Astarion to be gentle or make it hurt. So, there is only a maximum of 2 bites.

There's also no evidence of any telepathic bond post-tadpole in the game during the epilogue.

"One of the reasons “married vampires” are so difficult to defeat is that a vampire and its bride share a telepathic communication that has a range measured in miles. Regardless of intervening terrain or obstacles, the two vampires can communicate instantly and silently as if they were speaking together." (pg 74)

Even if we accept the outdated 2e lore of vampire brides, there's numerous ways that the Dark Kiss ritual in the sourcebook doesn't match what happens when AA turns Tav or Durge. Depending on how you count the bites, one can argue that nothing from the ritual matches what's in the game!

Great addition by @/nicsnort: "Let us also not forget that the very nature of necromancy and undeath changed between 2e and 5e due to the Spellplague and the destruction of the Negative Energy Plane. So, not only is the canon of the Bride ritual outdated, but this ritual very well may not work anymore for even 400+-year-old vampires because magic itself is different!"

This is without even talking about how something so major which goes against everything we're told about master-spawn relationships in the game... would have been clearly discussed in the actual game.

On the topic of what's in the actual game: AA himself and Karlach explicitly say the turned player is a spawn. Other companions express concern about the romance post-ascension. Just because the player can walk in the sun doesn't mean they are not a vampire spawn. Cazador gives some of his spawn the ability to teleport, and the companions express surprise. Yet no one denies they are still vampire spawn.

I hope this post gives you extra context on the vampire bride theory. Overall, it's clear that this is old lore which is not canon to the current edition of DnD. Whether you think Larian decided to apply it to BG3 or not, at least now that belief will be fully informed.

If this post was useful or interesting to you, please reblog so more people can see it! I've made updates to it a few times, so always check my original post for the latest version.

[scoldingdarjeeling]

"Seize it."

Okay, so you need to grill Halsin about Moonrise Towers before completing the Grove quest. Trust me. Reserved, Veteran Halsin shines here, and not just in lore, but in tone, voice, and delivery.

Persistent players are rewarded. Why? Because this choice mirrors his worldview: nature favors the bold. Druids may serve balance, but they do intervene: to heal, guide, correct. They act as the gods’ extensions, grounded in the world, doing what the divine cannot.

If you press Halsin in the dungeons, his delivery subtly shifts. A line spoken slower. A pause heavier than the rest. It’s nuanced but intentional. I haven’t seen many people break it down, so I started looking closer. And let me tell you—the payoff? So, so worth it.

Halsin isn’t just a big guy with kind eyes and nice... you know what. He’s a man who’s lived through unimaginable loss and chose hope over hatred. Where others would’ve turned cruel or cynical (which, let’s be real, is exactly what happens to other characters in this story), he rebuilt himself; unlearned the unhealthy habits that once numbed his sorrow—with little to no support—and still moved forward. Alone. Quietly. With trauma clinging like shadowy tendrils, puncturing his heavy heart. You can feel the weight of someone who has lived through the unimaginable… and still chooses not bitterness, not vengeance, but hope. And you only see that if you poke the bear a little. If you challenge him. Which, again, ties directly into his worldview, nature respects boldness. He respects boldness.

And yet, he stands tall. He heals. He cares.

There’s a glance, a distant stare, that pause in his voice when he speaks of the past. Not dramatic but devastatingly quiet. It’s grief that’s settled into the bones. It’s earned wisdom. And it hits harder than anything shouted.

He carries a cruel burden, but he won't break.

That far-off stare as he speaks about the past. That tight breath before he continues, like he’s had to learn how to speak around the ache. That's what makes it brutal. It’s the kind of grief that isn’t fresh anymore, but still lives in the bones. A grief he’s chosen not to let define him.

It kills you as the player.

This Act 1 exchange reveals his gravitas, his inner strength, and that beautifully understated: 13 Intelligence. He feels more in tune with the early access experience here than almost anywhere else in the game: mature, serious, vulnerable—knowing only loss and still, choosing to do good.

And that? That’s a kind of heroism that hits different.

[justporo]

I wanna talk about this Epilogue letter for a hot moment.

I bet someone must've talked about this before but alas I haven’t seen it and BOI do I have feelings about this.

This letter is from the Gur to Astarion.

Not only did I find it astounding that they wrote him a letter but like...

Not only are they forgiving him but they tell him he is a ROLE MODEL to their vampiric children. They admire him for the redemption he lived through, the development he made to become the bigger man.

So not only do they tell him that they're even with him now: no! They also claim that he's helped them to accept their vampire children. Because Astarion showed them that they can be more than just undead creatures.

They voice admiration for him and tell him they're gonna keep watch of him.

(This is not to say that Astarion's actions against the Gur should be overlooked, but it shows to me that both sides have learned and moved on.)

Now: imagine Astarion reads this letter at the reunion party. Or maybe Tav hands it to him later because he couldn't be bothered to waste his time sorting through letters (is what he says but he probably thought no one would have sent him one). He reads the letter barely believing the words he's reading. Tav notices he's gone super silent and turns to find Astarion teary eyed, hand covering his mouth. When he sees you noticing he looks almost like he's going to snarl at you but then he just let's you wrap your arms around him.

"I'm so proud of you," you say.

And he might need more time to accept that, but the seed is planted.

[loremmaradeur]

Other Vampire Spawns of Cazador Szarr

I've been thinking about writing such post with full available information about six other spawns Cazador had besides Astarion. For what goal? To show you guys and perhaps remind that even though they all are "victims" it doesn't mean that they are innocent. In fact, when you learn their stories, you can see that nothing is univocal about them, especially about certain of them.

Aurelia, once a tiefling.

We start with this one because with recent released book "Astarion's Book of Hungers" we got to know that she was actually Cazador's very first vampire spawn. She is described as having a calm demeanor at the surface, however underneath it she was keeping many secrets. You can imagine that perhaps those were Cazador's secrets. She doesn't seem like the one who would disobey Cazador, but on the opposite being his devotee. In the same book we also have an illustration of her standing together with Violet, after them two brought another victim for Cazador to feed. Both of them are smiling, standing behind.

Pale Petras, once a human.

The third of the spawns (Astarion was the second among them all), described as being arrogant and stubborn, and also described as "always been an idiot" by Astarion himself. What's worth to mention is that his only wish after the end of the ritual (in which him and some others were sure Cazador wll grant them powers too) was "to feast" (on some mortals, isn't it, Petras?).

Violet, once an elf.

The fourth spawn, and if isn't she a star among them all /s. She relishes tormenting her siblings and strives to please her master. In the Book of Hungers she is shown to be flirting with devils. She has a conflict with Astarion, being jealous of him and what seems like paranoid, thinking he would do her wrong at every step. Planning to kill her sibling, such as Astarion again, seems like nothing to her. She is also shown together with Aurelia - and while it really can mean almost nothing, it can't go unnoticed. Her diary consists of her shenaningans: "Hee hee, the garlic in Yousen's bed gave him a nasty rash - serves him right for being such a whining runt. Now, if only I could get at that snob Leon and his brat of a daughter, but she's protected. Cazador must have a fine plan for little Victoria, I wonder what it is?" What's also worth to mention, once she was also honored to sleep not in spawn's common room, but in a separate one: this "honor" was granted only for the best hunters Cazador was choosing (alas for her, it seems to happen only once).

Dalyria, once an elf.

She was a physician general to the Parlament of the Baldur's Gate, now seeking to reverse her vampirism through desperate medical measures. How much desperate? Well, so much that she was absolutely ready to experiment on Leon's still mortal daughter named Victoria. From Dalyria's private diary: "...I believe a massive infusion of fresh, youthful blood may overwhelm the vampirism infection and enable my body to heal. There is one potential source of such blood here: Victoria, the as-yet pureblooded daughter of Leon Onufrio. Leon was a sorcerer before he was a vampiric slave, and has warned us not to prey upon Victoria as he has imbued her with a counter-curse in the event of attack - made her a necrotic booby-trap, as it were. I think Leon is bluffing."

And in fact, Leon wasn't bluffing. He indeed was as desperate, and he did put a curse on his own daughter. In the Palace we can only see the poor's girl dead body, surrounded by that exact curse aura. Dalyria did attempt to prey on Victoria and was the reason of her death, which you can get to know if you use "Speak with Dead" spell on Victoria - she says the name of Dalyria herself, as Victoria was lured in room by her.

Yousen, once a gnome.

Unfortunately, even with the new book we don't get too much information about smallest spawn. Nothing special is described about him, just being regular Cazador's hunter without much accomplishements.

Leon, once a human.

My personal favourite in the group. He was the most recent spawn. He had still mortal daugther Victoria who he tried desperately to save from the horrors of Palace and vampire life - Cazador seemed to have plans on Victoria and forced Leon to bring her in Palace. In fact, in order to be able to save her Leon has became Cazador's most successful hunter. He was granted the honor to have a separate bedroom way more frequently than anyone else - in list Favourite Spawn Ledger it is his name repeating again and again, with only Violet once outperforming him.

Other 7000 vampire spawns

I'm including them all to show you that those like Sebastian and gur's children were shown to trick you into thinking that literally every other vampire spawn under Cazador's control is an innocent victim of him and his spawns-hunters, which is simply not true. How can we tell? Astarion himself says that right in the game, telling you that he mostly hunted the outlaws, the criminals, scums. Those like Sebastian are the exception, not common rule. With his Book of Hungers we even know the place where Astarion hunted the most - tavern&inn named Rat's Run, where law does not exist. Other hunters were also told to hunt in the Lower City on those who "won't be missed", as hunting the usual commoners and nobles was only creating more trouble for them all and Cazador as well.

In the end, it does raise a lot of questions of how exactly all of that group could have suddenly became all friendly to each other. Even with finding out that Cazador has lied to them all and made them all a sacrificial spawns they wouldn't have turned 180° on each other. Giving the fact that the thousands spawns horde is also consists mostly of previous outlaws and now crazy hungry vampire spawns, do try to question yourself: was it ever a good idea to let them all now flee free to the rest of the world?

[magnificentcoffeekitten]

So I know people wonder about Gale's innate ability with magic from childhood. Namely, why he doesn't qualify as a sorcerer. I did some digging, and came across the concept of 'the Gift'.

Established by Ed Greenwood, the Gift is what any magic user needs to be able do magic in the realms--even wizards! It's an innate ability to engage with magic in any capacity.

Then I remembered this line from Mystra when she speaks to Gale:

“When the Karsite Weave entered your body, your gifts were the first things it consumed."

So, it sounds like the orb ate away at his fundamental ability to engage with magic at all.

As a prodigy, Gale was gifted. He had an innate ability to engage with the weave. Sorcerers manipulate magic instinctively through their bloodline, while wizards do it by studying spellwork. This all makes sense to me. I see the distinction between the Gift and Sorcerer magic.

What I still can't make sense of is how he was conjuring rabbits as a toddler, without someone having shown him a spell for it first. Any ideas?

Maybe @dekariosclan?

[mumms-the-word]

Gale's Netherese Orb

The Condition and Symptoms

You asked for it! You're getting it! Yet another deep dive, this time about Gale's orb functioning as a chronic impairment/disability and the ways that a cure is dangled in front of him and even withheld from him.

Disclaimer: a lot of this has already been discussed by lore-wizards like galedekarios or mezzziah and some information is going to come from actual-lea's wild playthrough of the Gale Origin where they didn't give him any magic items just to see what would happen (which I recreated quickly in my own game to gather screenshots and gifs of my own). I'm not going to tag any of them because I don't want to bother them, but if you want even more lore, you can and should check them out!

We're going to look at Gale's orb "condition" in three phases: the effects of the orb on Gale's body itself, the ways that he has to treat it, and the potential cure for the orb. Because my deep dives always get a little out of hand, I’m splitting this into 3 posts. So you can take and leave whatever you like, but I'll link the masterlist to all 3 parts here once I have them posted!

But without further ado, let's deep dive!

I've said before that Baldur's Gate 3 is ultimately a game about cure—finding a cure for ceremorphosis, specifically. Every companion is facing a (potentially lethal) forced transformation into a squid creature in seven days or less unless they find a cure. At least, that's what they think before they realize that their tadpoles are special. On top of that, several characters, including Gale, especially Gale, are also dealing with additional chronic conditions that they wish to cure.

Let's set aside the search for the tadpole cure for a minute and focus on Gale—his character arc, his goals, even the text for his questline. The moment that Gale steps out of his pod on the nautiloid, he has a twofold goal: find a way to cure or treat the hungering orb in his chest and find a way to cure or stop ceremorphosis, in part because turning into a mind flayer may destabilize the orb, thus making the orb the bigger or more significant problem for Gale personally.

In other words, on two fronts, Gale's entire plot is concerned about curing a chronic, potentially lethal condition (or two), but the orb is the bigger issue between the two. Turning into a mind flayer is one thing, turning into a cataclysmic explosion that could "level a city the size of Waterdeep" is another.

The Wizard of Waterdeep Objectives - Escape the nautiloid I was an archmage - powerful, proud, full of potential - until my failed attempt to impress my lover, the goddess Mystra, left me with a volatile 'orb' of Netherese-corrupted Weave in my chest. Keeping it stable is difficult at the best of times...and these are far from the best of times. I've been abducted by mind flayers, infected with one of their tadpoles. So far the orb appears unaffected, but I can't count on that for long. I need to get back to Faerûnian soil before it begins to hunger.

Despite being infected by illithid tadpoles, Gale's larger concern is that staying in the hells will make feeding the orb difficult. When he gets off the nautiloid, he's worried that turning into a mind flayer will completely destabilize the orb. It's his primary concern and will continue to be so throughout the game.

Narrator: Despite your recent fall from the nautiloid, you are miraculously unharmed. Apart from the volatile orb of Netherese magic buried within your chest, of course. It stirs softly. Soon it will hunger, and when that time comes it must be fed. Starve it, and you risk triggering a cataclysmic explosion of raw, unfettered Weave. Such an explosion will be unavoidable, if the tadpole in your skull triggers ceremorphosis. An outcome definitely best avoided.

So, yeah, the squid thing is a problem, but Gale is definitely more concerned about exploding. But exploding and "hungering" aren’t the only things the orb does to his body.

I’m going to break down the actual condition into three smaller segments: the words Gale uses to talk about his condition, the physical effects that Gale describes happening to him, and the mechanical gameplay effects. I’ll talk more about the actual “hunger” of the orb in part 2 when I talk about its treatment, in part because the hunger and the treatment are both magical effects and are intrinsically linked. But for now, let's start with a look at how Gale talks about the orb.

Call it a Condition

To start off, Gale describes having the orb in his chest along the same lines that people might discuss chronic impairments or chronic illness. It's not a minor "issue" or a "problem" that is disconnected from Gale's body and physical/mental health; instead, he calls it a "condition," a "malady," and even a "chronic impairment." He couches the condition in terms that evoke illness and unwellness.

Gale: You see, I have this...condition. Very different from the parasites we share, but just as deadly. Player: What kind of condition? Gale: The specifics are rather personal, but suffice it to say that it is a malady I have learned to live with - though not without some effort. Player: (Durge) You also feel disgust by how life, miserable as it is, insists of persisting in this most wretched world? / (Tav) Is it contagious? Gale: No, no - nothing like that. Though if I fail to treat it then the consequences would not be contained to me alone. Player: Can it be cured? Gale: No, it cannot be cured. And I assure you I've left no page unturned in reaching that conclusion. I can keep this condition under control, as indeed I've done for a significant amount of time, but that was under different circumstances altogether. Home, in Waterdeep. What it comes down to is this: every so often I need to get my hands on a powerful magical item and absorb the Weave inside.

Player (Ranger): I think I might have a dock leaf in my bag, or some medicinal berries... Gale: Thank you for the offer, but the treatment for my condition is very specific.

Gale: The reality of the matter is that a lone wizard with a chronic impairment such as my own is not in the most ideal of situations with regards to self-defence.

In Gale's first conversation with the player about the orb, which is where all of the above comes from, he uses language related to illness and chronic pain/impairment to discuss the orb. It's a "condition," it is a "malady" that requires "treatment," it is a "chronic impairment," and so on.

Generally, at first, he speaks lightly about it and even continues to joke about his condition ("my tower in Waterdeep has never been so free of clutter" and so on), but the reality is he's underplaying the actual physical toll it takes on his body. When you ask him what happens if he doesn't consume any artifacts, he'll briefly describe some symptoms to you that aren't obvious to the player character. Which brings us to...

The Physical Symptoms

This is how he describes the initial physical symptoms of the orb's hunger:

Gale: I'll spare you the finer details, but it begins with a simple biological deterioration. Muscle spasms, disorientation, a slight ringing in the ears. And if left for too long...catastrophe.

In other places, we see the orb's hunger/pain also affecting his ability to think clearly, suggesting he's experiencing a kind of brain fog or concentration issue, plus general discomfort, and a feeling like something is gnawing at his insides, as seen in various lines below.

Gale: You'll have to speak slowly. I'm finding it quite difficult to concentrate with my condition gnawing at my insides like a teething displacer kitten. Gale: Somehow the second artefact hasn't had the effect of the first. It's somewhat relieved the discomfort, but I fear my hunger hasn't quite... Ahh...* Gale: But... this doesn't feel quite right... It never feels right, but it relieves. This doesn't relieve... Ahh...* *devnote: Near the end of the line he's in discomfort, in pain

This is all from the second artifact conversation, when you give him the second item to try and feed the orb's hunger (the last line is a lower approval/you've-been-begrudging-about-items kind of line, so he's still being closed off with you). When you hear these lines in the game, he's obviously speaking with discomfort and with difficulty, as if trying to string words together despite the pain. His little comments as you travel with him/as him while he is dealing with arcane hunger also reference weakness, pain, and concentration issues.

- I'm feeling rather unsteady... - Deep breaths, Gale. Hold it together. - I'd be rather enjoying this journey, were I not wracked with pain. - One step in front of the other, Gale. - Ugh, I feel rotten. devnote: Slightly pained/struggling with a constant ache (the orb is negatively affecting him, causing him pain. Prompt is to remind the player that Gale is unwell.) [mumm's note: there are other lines as well, beyond these, and Gale will say them at random, so there's no progression into better or worse. This is just a sample of the lines.]

Given everything so far, I suspect the pain he feels is a combination of heart/chest pain, like one might feel during an anxiety attack, a POTS flare-up, or even a heart attack, while the gnawing sensation could be like hunger cramps (or any other internal cramping, though I think for Gale it feels higher up in his body than in his stomach, given the orb's location).

I highly suspect the orb is feeding off of not only his magic, but his body as well. We know it feeds off his magic specifically (more on this in the other two parts, especially because this detail doesn't come to light until Gale meets with Mystra). But given the pains and the way he frames his condition as a state of deterioration, it's likely that it's also feeding off energy stores and other biological/physical elements of his body, not unlike how extreme hunger can cause your body to essentially eat itself—your fat stores first, but eventually even your muscle tissues and other vital tissues.

(I've seen someone suggest this is why Gale has "dehydration state" chiseled abs like movie stars have because the orb is literally eating away at his fat/energy stores and so on. It's a compelling theory!)

The orb also weakens him, likely causes massive fatigue, and even seems to be draining his "spirit" or his mental capabilities. We see this in descriptions of Arcane Hunger (which are below). It's a wonder this man can put one foot in front of the other if the pain is particularly bad.

In addition to all the other physical symptoms, the orb itself has physically scarred his body with the marking on his chest, which is also bruising pretty significantly (though this "bruising" could just as likely be dark-colored magic just beneath his skin, your headcanon/mileage may vary).

Photo credits: @elspethdekarios, though I cropped them down for this deep dive

If you click on the images and zoom in, you can see how the markings have a bit of depth and texture to them, as opposed to the flat lines of a tattoo. The lines are carved into his skin. Certain lighting will also make the mark look darker or lighter, and make the bruising at the center faint or noticeably dark. There are some theories that the bruising gets worse as the game goes on, but I think it's just a lightning issue (though it would be interesting if the bruising gets darker with each new level of arcane hunger, or something to that effect).

Lastly, and I'll discuss this more in part 2, even when the orb does not actively pain Gale, it "stirs." Other references from the narrator reveal that the orb "shudders" or "prickles" within him. Gale can feel the movement of the orb inside his body, possibly like a weird fluttering or vibration in his chest. It's likely why, even when he isn't actively hungering, he'll put his hand over his chest and adjust his shoulders, as if reacting to a strange and slightly uncomfortable sensation within his chest.

Anyway, long story short, the physical symptoms of dealing with the hungering orb are:

Biological deterioration (like hunger, the body consuming itself, muscles weakening, etc)

Muscle spasms

Disorientation

Ringing in the ears

Difficulty concentrating/brain fog/mental fatigue

Cramping and/or chest pain

General discomfort and pain

Physical fatigue/feelings of weakness

Scarring and bruising from the orb itself

A sensation of the orb "stirring" even when not painful

And this man will joke about it.

Honestly, his ability to joke and discuss his condition with humor is a sign to me that he really is experiencing and thinking of the orb the same way people with chronic conditions think about their pain or illnesses. At the start of the game, Gale's condition is incurable—Gale says as much himself that it "cannot be cured." It can only be managed, treating the symptoms and diminishing the pain, rather than completely eradicating the impairment. Gale likely has a new scale for pain, the same way people with chronic pain do. A "bad day" for him would likely end most healthy, normative people in a clinic hoping for some prescription pain medication, whereas he will just grit his teeth and keep going. In short, saying that the orb is a "chronic impairment" is a bit of an understatement, and I don't think people realize just how much Gale is/acts like a person dealing with real-world chronic pain or chronic illnesses.

Gale is used to this pain, though he certainly isn't enjoying it. Have you ever persuaded him to wait before giving him a magic item? If your persuasion is high enough (and he likes you), he'll give a cheery "of course!" even though treating the pain is obviously the preferable path here. When he reminds you of his need for an item, as with the "teething displacer kitten" line or the "My condition likes being ignored as much as I do," he still conveys these lines with a mix of urgency and dark humor. He's dealt with this condition for a year or more. You might be testing his tolerance by withholding items, but he's not going to let on just how badly he's actually feeling.

This is the man who will uncomfortably laugh and say "Gods, this is bloody uncomfortable," while the orb in his chest is running a high-grade POTS flare-up and consuming his innards. That's what we call an understatement, Gale. He could complain a lot more, and far more loudly, but he's actually keeping it quite restrained, as people with chronic pain often tend to do.

So anyway, if you ever hear anyone complaining that Gale complains about his magic orb condition too much, ask them how much they'd like walking around with heart-attack symptoms for a few hours at a time. But let's move on!

The Gameplay Effects

Now that we know what the orb does to Gale narratively, what does his condition do to him mechanically in the game? Because, unlike with Karlach's unstable engine or Shadowheart's incurable wound (other examples of chronic pain/disability in the game), the game adds actual debuffs to Gale's character that can affect gameplay and battles. Therefore, leaving Gale disabled with pain also, in effect, disables the player's ability to play the game (or at least hampers it).

In the game, there are three stages of Arcane Hunger. Most people generally don't go beyond the first stage, because why would you let Gale walk around with a debuff of any kind if you have a locket of dancing lights you'll never use? But if you continue to ignore him (or, if you're playing as Gale, and willfully choose not to consume any items) then the Arcane Hunger will progress to Greater and Severe Arcane Hunger, bringing even more serious debuffs to his character.

Arcane Hunger - Condition Gale's spirit is being drained. He has disadvantage on Constitution Saving Throws. Greater Arcane Hunger - Condition The Netherese Orb in Gale's body is weakening him. He has Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and all Saving Throws. Severe Arcane Hunger - Condition The Netherese Orb in Gale's body is severely weakening him. He has Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and all Saving Throws. His movement speed is halved.

Casual reminder that Constitution Saving Throws generally affect concentration, which is needed to maintain spells that last for more than one turn. This goes back to Gale's concentration/mental fatigue when he's initially hungering. When the hunger progresses, however, Gale is physically weakened and the game makes it so that he's more likely to fail savings throws or attacks.

Trying to normally play as Gale with these debuffs is basically an exercise in resigning yourself to missing attacks frequently and failing literally every saving throw (this includes disadvantage on saving throws in dialogues as well). He's still playable, since Magic Missile never misses and you can work with spells that deal damage even when an enemy passes their saving throw, but he becomes even more of a glass cannon than ever. If he's not at the back of a fight, he goes down pretty quick.

Once you hit Severe Arcane Hunger (which I hit after only 6.5 hours of rushed gameplay, though you could probably hit it sooner if you were zooming through a bit faster than me) you're also forced to walk everywhere. Gale's movement speed is halved. The distance he can move in a single turn is drastically shorter than usual, and his speed is no faster than a casual walk. Anyone who has tried to move while encumbered knows this same walking speed debuff.

So the game literally takes Gale's chronic impairment and makes it disabling to both him AND you controlling him. No one really wants to play the entirety of BG3 at a walking pace, after all, so it forces you to make a decision—will you finally treat Gale's condition, or will you grit your teeth and bare it, like Gale does with his pain (though it's nowhere near close to the same levels of discomfort).

Typically a companion Gale will just leave if you refuse to give him any items and he progresses to the stage where he's at Severe Arcane Hunger. But if you play as Origin Gale, you can keep playing with Severe Arcane Hunger until, well, his condition literally paralyzes him and then he withers away, apparently dying of necrotic damage from the orb (I’m assuming here, because the log doesn’t specify what damage causes Gale to wither away, and he exudes a necrotic damage aura once he’s dead, which happens whenever he dies anyway).

Gale withered away. Gale lost Condition: Gale is Paralysed. Gale received Condition: Gale is Paralysed. [mumm's note: obviously this is listed in reverse order, because Gale becomes paralyzed and then withers away]

It appears that if left untreated, Gale’s biological deterioration reaches a point that it literally shuts his body down completely, and then he just...dies. I imagine that physically the orb has eaten away at so many of his vital tissues, including his internal organs, that everything just sort of ceases to function. He's corrupted from the inside out, and nothing but death and a quick resurrection can reverse those effects.

It's worth noting that if you choose to do this experiment with Origin Gale and don't feed him a single magic item, then Elminster won't be waiting for you to arrive in the Mountain Pass or just outside the Shadow Cursed Lands if you travel through the Underdark. Since Gale hasn't been managing his symptoms, he hasn't realized that the various items he's consuming aren't having any effect. Therefore, he isn't actively looking for a new solution to treat the symptoms. Since he isn't looking, I guess Elminster never thought to make himself available with the new solution?

Honestly, why Elminster doesn't show up is kind of a mystery. Gameplay-wise, I assume it's that Gale's quest didn't progress enough to trigger the game flag that would spawn Elminster. But lore-wise or narratively, it doesn't make sense. Mystra sends Elminster with both a command and a temporary "cure," so is she just waiting until Gale realizes his symptoms can no longer be managed? No idea. Maybe I'll explore it more in Part 3.

Anyway the point is that when an untreated Gale reaches Moonrise without talking to Elminster, the game (and his condition) shuts him down. When you revive him at camp, Elminster conveniently appears to give him Mystra's command to sacrifice himself at the Heart of the Absolute and stabilizes the orb at last.

But there's a catch.

Elminster Aumar: A shame that we did not cross paths sooner. The orb's thirst for magic is now quenched, yet it already inflicted some damage while you tried to forge ahead. The ill effects may linger, I'm afraid. Not enough to hamper your mission, I hope.

I believe this can also happen with a companion Gale, but I'm not sure about the specific parameters of triggering this. Regardless, as actual-lea has observed in their No Gale Dinner experiment, if Gale has regular Arcane Hunger then Elminster stabilizes the orb and all is well, but if he has Greater or Severe Arcane Hunger, then the damage the orb does to his body becomes irreversible. After Elminster stabilizes the orb, in this scenario, Gale is left with a permanent "Arcane Hunger" debuff, the same as the above, where he suffers disadvantage on constitution saving throws. This time, you can't consume items to make it go away, and nothing will cure the debuff. Gale just permanently has it for the rest of the game.

(It's worth noting that you can also kill Elminster while he's talking with Gale, thus preventing him from stabilizing the orb with his magic and from telling Gale he needs to sacrifice himself. This sort of breaks the narrative for Gale and results in some wonky dialogue chains that do and don't flag correctly, but the interesting outcome is that it means you can continue playing the game with Severe Arcane Hunger, which is now also a permanent debuff. You can consume magical items before the Elminster visit, but never after. Even if you kill him, you lose the ability to consume items, which means it is officially impossible to manage Gale's symptoms. You just have to deal with the halved walking speed and disadvantage on everything. And you can complete the game that way, if you have the patience! But it would be a very long game. I would know. I've done it and I was rushing like a maniac lol)

Anyway this is getting super long, so I'll end with a few wrap-up thoughts.

Final Thoughts

Having played as Gale with Severe Arcane Hunger for several hours in the game, I think Gale honestly downplays just how bad the pain and debilitating effects of his condition really are. As I was going through the evidence, I kept thinking about how there are so many different elements of pain, discomfort, fatigue, and general unpleasantness that are all part of Gale's everyday life. Even when the orb is stabilized or not actively hurting him, he likely still feels it moving in his chest and I imagine there are chronic effects that stabilizing the orb couldn't exactly cure, like lingering fatigue (and we wonder why Gale complains about his knees and wanting to take a rest and so forth).

Ookay the knees thing might be unrelated to the orb but I digress

Dealing with that much pain and internal corruption is a state of living that most people wouldn't want to stay in, and Gale is no exception here. He wants to stop the pain in his chest, just as much as he wants his former abilities and magical prowess to return. These things are connected, which I'll talk about in part 2. But without hope of a cure, Gale is forced to deal with his condition as a process of managing symptoms, creating a treatment plan that involves him consuming magic from magical items just to get a bit of relief.

But that, my friends, is where we'll pick up with Part 2 - The Hunger and the Treatment.