#dead three

[fvngus]

I'd like to believe this is how it all started.

[kirain]

My favourite bit of BG3 lore is that Withers is legitimately responsible for the Dead Three, but he's probably too embarrassed to tell you, so every time you ask him to elaborate he just gives you a very stern, "Noooo."

I also love that the reason he's responsible for their uprising is because he got bored. He literally got bored of his position as Lord of the Dead and wanted to retire, so when these three morally questionable humans came looking for godhood he was like, "Hmmm. Yes, okay. Here. Take my portfolios. Fight over them. I don't care. I quit."

So after bowling with skulls in a friendly competition to decide who would get what portfolio, they took up his powers and wreaked havoc on the world. Only at that moment did Jergal, AKA Withers, AKA our precious Bone Daddy think, "I'm just now, internally, asking myself, in quite a worried way, whether I might've made an error."

So he joins your merry band and watches your escapades, calmly twiddling his fingers while you clean up his mess. He's happy to lend his aid, even to the point that he'll bring Durge back to life if they reject Bhaal, even though he technically shouldn't. But he's Withers. The rules don't apply to him. If Ao doesn't like it, he can descend from the Heavens and say it to his rotting face.

And the reason he saves Durge isn't necessarily because he likes them or because he's a morally good entity (though one certainly could make that argument), but because he wants to add insult to injury. He steals Bhaal's child with a big smile on his face, dubs them his Chosen, and praises them for rejecting all the power they were promised. But of course, he still doesn't tell them who he is—or rather who he was.

Then, when all is said and done, he throws Tav and their companions a cute little party. No one knows it's probably half a thank you party and half a "Withers is bored again" party. And if anyone misbehaves, he'll get irritated and whisk them away. Because how dare they? He put a lot of work into that.

And at the end of it all, he walks up to a mural of the Dead Three and basically goes, "Lmao. Thou didst fuck around, and thou didst find out." Just savagely roasting them.

And then poof!

He waves them into non-existence.

[lanafofana]

*pre act 1, somewhere in the outerplanes or whatever* gods: what the hells are the dead 3 doing now?? what is that?? a netherbrain?? ugh right then, what are we gonna do about it shar: i have a plan SO EVIL AND PERFECT and a chosen locked and loaded she's already on her way to retrieve that stupid githyanki prince and then im going to fucking destroy that asshole ketheric

mystra: bitch please the only one around here with a shiny red fix it button is me. when i tell you my former chosen is obsessed with me. no way will he deny me, all i gotta do is ask and he'll detonate the problem in one go. ace in the hole.

Jergal [a big fan of the avengers]: i have a plan to bring together a group of of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we need them to, to fight the battles that we never could.

gods: ugh shut the hell up jergal this is basically your fault

Jergal: im stealing all your feral chosen and you can't stop me

silvanus: would you like a bear in this trying time?

[awwright]

Let’s duel! Wait… whaaaat? Nooo… heh

[shaykai]

BG3 text posts number 2 electric boogaloo

First

[bone0921]

ketheric piece

[shewolfofvilnius]

you do an absolutely ridiculous amount of stuff in BG3

i mentioned this in a reddit reply to a post i made but the amount of stuff you deal with in BG3 as a player is enough for like twenty individual DND campaigns - and instead you have ALL OF THIS going on at the same time:

It's wild given the duration of time but that is such an active period of time in terms of what you're actually doing.

*Stop an elder brain infused and overpowered with Netherese magic

*Kill at least two of the Chosen of the Dead Three, one of whom has a boss form that is a transformed avatar of that god

*rescue Selune's daughter (or kill her)

*potentially overturn a century-old Sharran curse that killed thousands AND later confront Shar herself after (probably) killing the Mother Superior of the Sharran cell of Baldur's Gate (AND possibly setting up your companion to become her chosen)

*stop a centuries old vampire overlord from slaughtering thousands of spawn in order to become an Ascendant Vampire (and possibly help your companion become one)

*potentially kickstart a githyanki civil war that leads one of the two factions to possibly reunite with the githzerai, which is insane,

*potentially install a new Archmage of Baldur's Gate after probably killing the old one (alternately, helping the old one achieve immortality)

*and along the way you also spite Mystra a couple of times (and possibly set up a companion to become a rival god) which leads to Elminster (or at least a simulacrum of him) showing up in your path twice.

*You can possibly have to deal with the kua-toa imbuing a redcap with a tiny sliver of the power of a god (enough that if a Durge pledges to be BOOOAL's chosen, Bhaal gets legitimately pissed and you get a big hint as to Durge' identity WAY earlier).

*Silvanus clearly has a hand in the events of the grove, and seems to be eyeing Arabella as either a powerful follower or possibly a future chosen, and you're placed in the position of potentially helping her.

*A son of Mephistopheles actively tries to get you to deal with him so that he can seize total power over the universe.

*You have two different but intersecting plot chains at least tangentially involving Zariel (Wyll & Mizora, plus her top fighter/pet Karlach), while the main non-companion B-plot of the game (Elturian Refugees) is a direct epilogue to the Descent Into Avernus campaign.

*You find out what happened to both Balduran AND his legendary dragon Ansur and have to do something about it.

*Jergal just chills out in your camp making fun of your love life, and you just have to sort of put up with it.

*And related to above, along the way you probably meet the person who becomes your spouse/beloved, all but one of which tie into the above.

*And Minthara (the only one I hadn't mentioned yet) was at one time in her life a highly favored woman of her powerful house who was personally handpicked by two of the aforementioned Dead Three's chosen, and you can either slay her or recruit her.

*AND if you're Durge you also get the fun happy b-plot of your own showdown with not just your sister but your father, and either becoming Chosen of Bhaal or at minimum personally resurrected from the dead by Jergal if not made his Chosen (it's conflicting exactly what Redeem Durge' status is w Withers/Jergal exactly).

*and that's not even including rediscovering the ancient Sharran grymforge, the Shadow Druids' plot, the fate of the Harpers, the dude who wants to blow up refugee kids, the gondians, the ironhand gnomes' misadventures, Mol's whole deal, and like 30 other side plots.

That is a lot. No wonder we make it from level 1 to level 12 in just four months.

[void-drawz]

Another Dead Three headcanon

Bhaal's hate of Gortash and Durge's relationship is one-sided. Bane does not give a care about it, aside by thinking Bhaal hating it is funny.

In fact, Bane slightly approves of it because of that fact and because if his Chosen can seduce the Bhaalspawn out of destorying his world, that's a massive plus.

"Bane, get your slut of a Chosen away from my favorite child!"

"No. They're young, let them be freaks if they wish, I say."

"Excuse me?! My child is not that type of freak!"

"What my Chosen has been telling me begs to differ."

And Myrkul's just there like, "I can stand you or your whore-ahh Chosen."