Warning: Some vague spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3.
So, is it just me, or is Mizora a big ol' useless turd now?
How is she able to do something as incredibly powerful as permanently alter the physiology of a humanoid while she’s being contained in a nautiloid pod? And, what's more... why? For what narrative purpose?
This is clearly one of the drastically altered elements from early access to final release, and I have no idea why Larian changed it to this.
In the early access version, the game was very clear about how little power and impact Mizora had while captured: next to none. All she could do was make use of Wyll’s sending stone eye to continually yell at him to come free her right the fuck now. Wyll was integral to her escaping, which meant, by extension, that Wyll was also integral to her regaining her own abilities and powers.
This was a significant part of Wyll’s arc in early access because it meant that Wyll wasn’t being coerced by Mizora when he did things like abandon Barcus – strapped to a moving windmill – to interrogate a goblin, or torture a captured human to get information from Spike. These actions were all Wyll, and that was the point. Wyll was trapped in a pact he didn’t want to be a part of, but the details of that pact were extremely mysterious to the player, and for the time being, his patron was severely hobbled and unable to exercise a good deal of her control over him. His actions were his own.
Everything that Wyll did came down to what he believed was worth freeing Mizora, and why. This arc was meant to demonstrate the clash between, on the one hand, Wyll’s morals and values – his desire to do and be good – and, on the other hand, his powerful and volatile emotions. Mizora’s role in that was never to fully control Wyll, it was to influence him.
Based on what we saw of Wyll’s arc in early access, I believe that the point of Wyll’s character was to explore this cross between Mizora’s influence and control as a result of the pact, and Wyll’s autonomy in moment-to-moment decisions. Thematically, the abovementioned element would be strengthening and propping up an exploration of Wyll’s genuine compassion for others being potentially twisted into hatred and rage as a result of the things he’s seen in his life.
In early access, Wyll is a man who is plagued by the question, “why do bad things happen to good people”. He sees innocent people slaughtered by goblins, he sees innocent people beset by bandits, he sees innocent people turned away from a safe haven and left to die in the forest. These little things chip away at him bit by bit, and as that happens, he allows himself just a little more leeway in the things he does to right these wrongs. Or to avenge the fallen. Or to dispense justice. Just a little bit more is okay, just a little bit more is justified. After all, these other monsters started it.
This is where Mizora’s influence, I believe, was meant to be at its most sinister. This is where the official BG3 image of Wyll – dramatically underlit, dangerous expression on his face, with Mizora occupying a space behind him, out of the limelight, but still inextricably linked to him – would have demonstrated what the dynamic between these two was supposed to be.
Early Access Mizora was meant to whisper to Wyll, to urge him to make the decisions that would keep him firmly in her control, continuing to come to her for more power to right the wrongs committed by the monsters all around the Sword Coast. In early access, she doesn’t need to threaten him with “um, AKSHULLY” references to their contract ad nauseum, she doesn’t need to drag him through all the layers of the hells (for some fucking reason?) to assert her control. That would be too obvious, that would push Wyll away.
All she needs to do is make sure that he still feels that poignant rage. That anger that has him look at a gnome strapped to a windmill – a person clearly in dire need of help – and turn away from them in favor of his own vengeance. The anger that pushes him to take a burning hot poker to a pleading prisoner’s skin and press. That’s all that Early Access Mizora needs to do to keep Wyll under her thumb.
This was meant to be a tightrope walk for the player and Wyll; the player had to decide what kind of path they wanted to see Wyll walk, and throw their influence into the pot, either to counter Mizora’s or to reinforce it. It was a complicated back and forth – or, it would have been.
Now, Mizora being captured on a nautiloid ship means absolutely nothing. Now, Mizora being sent to Moonrise means absolutely nothing. Wyll’s sending stone means nothing – Mizora can just astral project herself right to where he’s at, after all, and she can freely communicate in that sense, use her powers against him, and stay as long as she likes.
Now, Mizora is just an obnoxious and inescapable presence prolonging this game of “read the contract” until the narrative decides to actually let us make a choice about the dang thing. Wyll has no role in this whatsoever. His actions are all controlled by Mizora, and you better be careful what you tell him to do because Mizora is apparently omniscient as well as omnipotent.
In terms of both narrative and character, Mizora now offers nothing. She is sarcastic, smug, mouthy, and little else.
F’s in chat. Thank you, Larian.
tangentwithtanner
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romaincrisis
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