SD) Minthara Baenre (Baldur's Gate III)

Art by crazlei

"Give the word and I shall kill the clown.

We would be praised as heroes!"

After a lengthy early access period, lasting from 2020 to mid 2023, Baldur's Gate III took full advantage of the playtesting and community feedback to tweak and fine tune the experience of the final product. Among the numerous changes, certain characters were given more focus, with few among them benefiting more than Minthara. Initially intended as a companion character if you chose "evil" options, players soon found ways to circumvent the narrative, allowing her to be recruited on "good" playthroughs. The developers, deciding it would make sense, streamlined the process, making recruiting her for "good" characters simpler. The result is a character that fans have latched onto, with her history and background truly setting her apart from the rest of the party.

Choosing a character from Baldur's Gate III was both simple and hard for me. I love almost all of the characters, and representing the game was something I wanted to do. However, my own rules for Shattered Destinies, specifically the one that prevents me from choosing the main character, presented a unique problem. Technically speaking, most of the party members can be considered the main character, as in addition to creating your own character, you can choose one of the pre-made "origin" characters. Thus, there are only four (five if you want to get really technical) party members to choose from. Minthara being the most complex and interesting made her an easy choice.

Minthara is a Drow, a race of subterranean dark elves that lean toward evil and have a matriarchal society. Men are considered lesser, and backstabbing, torture, and displays of power are commonplace. Sympathy is considered a weakness, and weakness cannot be tolerated. This alone paints a lot of Minthara's personality, as does her choice of the Paladin class. As an Oath of Vengeance Paladin, Minthara has a somewhat rigid sense of justice, which she takes great pleasure in dolling out. In addition to all of this, like the rest of the party, she has a Mindflayer tadpole implanted in her head, which allows her to be indoctrinated into the Cult of the Absolute. It's only when encountering the player, and possibly being condemned to death for her failures, that she begins to realize the error of her ways.

Minthara is a character who spends the majority of her life being indoctrinated by one group or another, rarely being left to her own thoughts and devices. When she does break free from these shackles, she finds herself conflicted, which she can take out on those around her. If the player sided with her and the cult in the opening act of the game, she will later question the player about it. She was following orders, she was brainwashed by the cult, but the player had agency and still chose to perform a heinous act. While other companions can protest to the player's actions, the fact that she, of all people, calls us out is fascinating, as she isn't wrong.

On the other hand, if the player goes through the process of simply knocking her out when battling the goblins, then chooses to rescue her from her fate for her failure, she will be thankful, though confused as to why the player does this. She's not accustomed to mercy, and blames herself and her weakness for all that has happened. Despite this, she has no qualm opening up about herself, freely explaining her background and never shying away from expressing her opinion.

Minthara is blunt, often to a fault, and sees no issue with taking what she wants by force. That said, she does not attack or kill needlessly, though her threshold for stupidity is pretty low. Once recruited, she becomes a steadfast ally who may urge the player to violence, but will generally respect a peaceful resolution. In combat, she makes for a very effective tank, able to wear heavy armor and with a few spells that allow her to heal herself or others. She hits hard, and as a Paladin can channel her magic to smite her foes, plowing through heartier opponents with ease.

Her role in Shattered Destinies would be as the reluctant ally, seeing the party as her best chance at survival and allowing her to fix her past mistakes. While open about herself and her opinions, she will remain guarded, finding it hard to trust others, especially those with altruistic intent. She'll gravitate toward the other female members of the group, giving passive bonuses for being paired with women, reflecting her matriarchal history.

While initially distrustful, once an ally has earned her respect, she will fight for them with the ferocity of a mother bear. Her rigid sense of justice and outspoken nature will, more often than not, be the inciting incident that pushes the story forward, even if it leads to a fight or two along the way. Contrary to that, Minthara is very intelligent and can serve as a a lead tactician, though she may be prone to seeing sacrifices in battle as a necessity. Still, I see her blunt and brash personality clashing with other party members in fun an interesting ways, and though she'll rarely be the one to apologize, she's certainly not above admitting when she's wrong.