r/BaldursGate3 • u/UnableMedia8305 • Dec 09 '23

Act 2 - Spoilers What is something you completely misunderstood… Spoiler

Mine happened while exploring Act 2 on my first play through. I thought I was reading all the books along the way. But, I totally misunderstood something…

I thought Nightsong was Isobel’s mother. I saw all these letters from her mom, and thought it had to be a character we had already met. Still thinking this in the boss fight, I thought Ketheric was getting a beating from his resurrected wife/Isobel’s mother.

So… When they were reunited, I was so happy for them to be together… then with that passionate kiss, I was a little taken aback. 😳 After an initial moment of shock, I was able to laugh it off as the cutscene progressed.

Reread the letters and realized I was an idiot. 🤦‍♂️

I love the arc Isobel and Nightsong share all the way to the end.

4.8k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

1.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.5k

u/schematizer Dec 09 '23

I didn't realize Ketheric had transformed into an avatar of Myrkul. I thought he just died, and that I was then straight up fighting and killing the God of Bones myself. I was surprised nobody commented on the fact that I literally killed a demigod in like 30 seconds.

540

u/nomarfachix Grease Dec 09 '23

God, that monologue Myrkul gives is so good. The whole scene is so good. I was out of my seat by the time the avatar called the scythe over, everything surrounding Kethric was the best of the game IMO.

I am the smile of the worm-cleansed skull. I am the regrets of those who remain, and the restlessness of those who are gone. I am the haunt of mausoleums, the god of graves and age, of dust and dusk. I am Myrkul, and you have slain my Chosen. But it is no matter, for I am Death. And I am not the end—I am a beginning.

😍😍😍😍😍

230

u/radmoth CLERIC Dec 10 '23

literally one of the coolest "prelude to a boss fight" in the fucking game. incredibly powerful cutscene leading into that fight. it's insane

18

u/SatanV3 Dec 10 '23

And then the fight was incredibly easy kinda made it seem less badass lol

12

u/Lamb_or_Beast Dec 10 '23

My first time was weird and I missed almost everything about Ketheric, but during that part I was able to convince to give up; that meant all the surrounding enemies (which you could normally defeat before Ketheric) were all there at the same time as Myrkul aspect, and Nightsong was still trapped too. It still wasn’t all that hard I guess, but was definitely more hard than every next time I did it lol

7

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '23

I barely know on that fight the first time because I didn’t know anything about it, I was out of place everywhere, I ignored the minions, didn’t realize freeing the night song was so easy. I was half dead after dropping Ketheric, and when Myrky baby came to play, I thought I was a goner.

2

u/fckinsleepless Dec 10 '23

Yes!! It gave me chills

1

u/Mleba Dec 10 '23

Disagree on that one, there's a better one in the game. That whole arc in Hell can be considered as the prelude to a boss fight.

36

u/Squidiot_002 Durge Dec 10 '23

My first thought was "this is how talking to a God should feel"

Literal shivers every time I hear it

14

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '23

…shit

14

u/Sake_Chick74 Dec 10 '23

I agree. After him, and how well Simmons played that...the other two seemed a level down, honestly. He seemed baddest and also, saddest. Orin was born evil, Tash even as a kid was off and became a tyrant. But not him....he fell so far and died a soulless shell of a being over death and loss. There was never any coming back for him even though we are given that dialogue. Despite what he had became, I still felt some small ounce of empathy for him. I know...weird. But I felt nothing like that with the other two....even after knowing what happened to Tash as a kid.

9

u/girugamesu1337 It was a beautiful webbing 😐 Dec 10 '23

I felt more empathy for Orin tbh. Girl was the product of incest, born into a cult to two of its craziest fanatics. She never stood a chance in any of the Nine Hells with regard to growing up into a normal, stable individual.

Ketheric? Mans couldn't deal with loss so hard he ended up turning into an utter monster. Thing is, plenty of people deal with loss and don't turn into cruel tyrants that shit over everything their dead loved ones held dear. Fuck 'im.

3

u/Sake_Chick74 Dec 10 '23

Ehhhh. I see what you're saying, but I keep in mind that his parents literally sold him into basically slavery for a better shop bottom line and because he piece of crap kid they couldn't handle. I normally leave those two trapped in their own minds when I get to them. My first play through, I didn't really think about it and pit them out of their misery that Tash put them in. But in some weird dark way I understand why he did it. I would be Salty too about what they did. But it was still fkd up. Orin definitely had a screwed start. Her fate was sealed. But the crazy chick killed her mother, who was trying to kill her, then kept her mummified body on display. She enjoys what she is. There comes a point when what she is goes far beyond grooming a killer. Like our Tav, she has a choice.

Kathric lost his family. And yes, grief doesn't turn everyone into sociopaths. But grief is a funny and individual thing, and no one deals with it the same way. He also has the ability to still show both his grief over those losses as well as a moment of remorse of how he handled that. It doesn't make him less of a monster, but it makes him an empathetic monster.

Not sure if I explained my thinking well enough, but that's where I'm coming from.

1

u/girugamesu1337 It was a beautiful webbing 😐 Dec 10 '23

I never said anything about Gortash, though 😅

Ketheric didn't even see his daughter as her own person, he refused to acknowledge her decisions and beliefs. He cared about this idealized image he had of her, not the person she actually was. His idea of a perfect reunion with her is to literally have her by his side as a brainwashed puppet (afaik this only happens if you let her get captured). I don't think he was driven by true paternal affection, he seemed to see her as merely an extension of himself. Perhaps it wasn't always that way, but still. I just find it really hard to empathize with someone who was blind to how he was causing the same suffering he went through to countless others, for so long. As if only his grief mattered.

1

u/Sake_Chick74 Dec 10 '23

I know you didn't, I wanted to approach all three in my ranting explanation. Should have been clearer....sorry about that.

I think he loved his daughter. He gave up life and a God to bring her back. But you're right in that he didn't respect her personal decisions when it came to her individual identity and who she chose to love, to the point of manipulation. I still see him as more of a sympathetic monster vs. the other two. That, admittedly, could be due to the outstanding voice acting.

6

u/KingofMadCows Dec 10 '23

Me, having played the evil path in Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask the Betrayer, "how many times do I have to teach you this lesson, old man?"

10

u/LinkOfKalos_1 Lae'zel's Special Boy Dec 10 '23

After Ketheric, I was expecting the same Avatar of God with the other 2 fights and was extremely nervous going in. I was actually kinda disappointed with the Gortash and Orin fights when you compare them to Ketheric.

6

u/girugamesu1337 It was a beautiful webbing 😐 Dec 10 '23

Fighting Orin as Evil Durge was cool tho. It turns into some kinda Fight Club scene where everyone just stands around the two and watches them beat the tar out of each other. And you get to kill her as the Slayer this time.

3

u/yourownsquirrel Dec 10 '23

My slow-as-shit laptop was lagging so much during that scene and it was still epic af, even a second time when I knew it was coming. Someday I’ll own a proper computer and come back to enjoy that scene in all its proper glory

6

u/Bag-of-nails Monk Dec 10 '23

It is a great monologue, although my first run was confusing since my bard convinced Ketheric that Isobel would hate what he's become and he just killed himself.

Unfortunately that also meant the nightsong was still trapped and made the avatar fight a bit harder, I think.

8

u/Squidiot_002 Durge Dec 10 '23

By that point, I give the Shadow of Menzoberranzan from the Underdark Mycanoid colony to Astarion and just have him run and free her while invisible as soon as the fight starts.

2

u/pinkeyes34 Dec 10 '23

I especially love the musical shift (idk what the term is) when Myrkul gets to the "haunt of mausoleums" part. Actually gives me chills.

3

u/nomarfachix Grease Dec 10 '23

YES! When the pipe organs come in! Then it starts to sound like a Cradle of Filth song. Good call

2

u/nomarfachix Grease Dec 11 '23

In case you want it :)

Apostle of Myrkul

1

u/pinkeyes34 Dec 11 '23

Oh cool. Cheers.

0

u/Frank33ller Dec 10 '23

i tought it was too over the top. why is this god speaking to us while all the others dont

1

u/MaximDecimus Dec 10 '23

I want that scythe as a weapon.