Something about Shadowheart
I’m not sure how many people that play Bg3 understand the love that was put into the characters in the game, but Shadowheart is one of my absolute favorite game characters of all time for this reason.
She was born into a Selûnite family that was ardent in their faith and raised her as Jenevelle, teaching her to walk in the path of the Moonmaiden. However, when Jenevelle attempted the ritual where she was supposed to find her way back home from the depths of the woods, Shar’s acolytes found her and took her back to their cloister in Baldur’s Gate (the House of Grief).
Jenevelle was not easily indoctrinated with Shar’s teachings, as she proved very difficult to persuade. Viconia forced her to use the Mirror of Loss to surrender her memories to Shar more than any of the other acolytes, and it took more than 35 years for Shar to completely erase her existence as Jenevelle. Once almost all of her memories were taken from her, she was given the name Shadowheart and underwent rigorous training to eventually replace Viconia as Shar’s Mother Superior.
Once she learned new abilities or powers in her initiate training, she was instructed to practice them on her parents, who were imprisoned by Shar as punishment for worship of her sister. Shadowheart had no idea who they were because she had her memories erased and believed her parents to be dead. Later, if the player persuades Shadowheart to save her parents from Shar instead of killing them, Shadowheart expresses grief because she is not sure she can look her parents in the eyes because of what she’d been forced to do to them in her initiate training.
When Shadowheart was fully inducted into Shar’s forces as a cleric, Viconia sent her and a few other Sharran initiates on what was perceived as a suicide mission to retrieve the artifact, and she was the only one who survived.
She only ever begun to doubt Shar’s validity as her goddess after the Nightsong spoke of a lost child among wolves, and if that had not happened she would have gone on performing deeds of unspeakable darkness in Shar’s name (as seen if you allow her to kill Dame Aylin).
If she pursues the path of redemption and seeks to rid herself of Shar’s influence forever, Shar forces her to kill her own parents to set them free from imprisonment. Shadowheart loses her only family shortly after reuniting with them, and she suffers true loss after it. Her redemption causes her to lose everything she thought she knew about herself, and it’s one of the most well-written character arches ever.
I didn’t think much of Shadowheart during my first playthrough, but after I played her origin I started to see why so many people connected with her character. Her story is part of what makes Bg3 so immersive and enjoyable, and I never get tired of her content as a character.
