#shadowheart and her religious trauma | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

foxx-queen · 8 months

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thinking about the way shadowheart, lae'zel and minthara deal with breaking away from a god/god-like figure they've dedicated their lives to. shadowheart immediately latches onto rescuing her parents as her new 'mission'. lae'zel immediately dedicates herself to freeing orpheus with the vigor she served vlaakith. minthara fixates on obtaining the power to make sure she's never controlled again.

its like. breaking away from gods/god-like figures leaves a void to fill. they're trying to fill it, and trying to choose what they fill it with. and they know that's what they're doing, in some ways, maybe to avoid the enormity of what it means to have broken away. maybe to avoid working out what they'll do as individuals. shadowheart doesnt know her parents, and they dont know her anymore, but she has to save them. you can ask lae'zel why she won't focus on herself, and she acknowledges there's no time for that. not yet. minthara wants you to use the power of the brain, but has dialogue/approval when you speak to ravenguard and she realizes hes still in there beneath the tadpoles influence, just like she was.

'my deference to him is a habit that will die hard, i fear'. minthara still calls the elder brain the absolute, even after she knows the truth. lae'zel still calls out to vlaakith in battle. shadowheart still wears the symbol of shar in her hair after dyeing it. indoctrination/ingrained beliefs are hard to break.

they've broken away from what was controlling their lives. they're free. they've lost everything. shadowheart can save her parents and but will always have that mark. lae'zel has been declared a traitor and will be hunted until vlaakith is overthrown. minthara can never go home, and would be executed if she tried.

they've broken away. they've lost everything. they're struggling with what that means. they're free. they wouldn't have it any other way.

#baldur's gate 3 #shadowheart #lae'zel #minthara baenre #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #i just. i love them #i love characters breaking away from religion and dealing with the religious trauma #i love when its not simple and easy #i love when the time is taken to show that its not easy #that theres a void thats not always filled with something 'good'#minthara wants u to use the power of the elder brain. maybe shes ignoring that means using people in the same position she wa #maybe shes telling herself she doesnt care #but when u meet ravenguard and reach out with the tadpole and find out hes still in there #she approves when yuo tell him hes being controlled #and says that hes still in there just like she was. that we should help #i dont know if lae'zel still calling out to vlakkith in battle is a bug or a mistake or something but it /works/#she hates her shes rejected her but thats been her entire /life/. its not discarded easily #same with the shar headpiece. i dont know if thats an oversight. but it works. shadowheart is still shadowheart.#like she says when she rescues her parents. she can't just forget shadowheart. thats not what she does anymore #i have some gripes about this game but god this is all so good

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annalyticall · 4 months

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Not done with bg3 so maybe my opinion will change but right now I think that while bg3 is a great game and has so much to offer in terms of character and story, I also just... vibe with the world of Dragon Age more. Like bg3 is by far the more fun game to play and it has meaningful themes about cycles of abuse and realizations of self-worth. But dragon age. I don't know. It feels more concise about what it wants to say. Bg3 throws everything and the kitchen sink at you which means some things get lost in translation or are so obvious that it beats you over the head with it. But dragon age is, for the most part, about religious authority and oppressive systems stemming from that authority, and it's entire world and story and cast of characters are built from that one premise to explore dozens of different perspectives on the same theme, and I feel like I can connect with that approach to worldbuilding so much more

#like ok. besides karlach and wyll everyone basically has the same arc for their religious trauma #shar and vlaakith and cazador nd mystra are all varying types of abusive authority figures #shadowheart and lae'zel have the same arc of shunning their god to just follow another one? like i don't think that really fixes anything #in the end they're still defining themselves by the god they worship #gale and astarion also kind share an arc of shunning their authority in favor of seizing the power for themselves #it's a better one for sure but still it feels like only astarion gets to actually stand up to his abuser no matter the outcome #wyll doesn't really get any kind of self- actualizing arc that's not depending on the player which feels like it's defeating the purpose #karlach is. like i love her but her arc is just simple in comparison #meanwhile you have the da:o characters constantly challenging and reassessing the systems they grew up in #they have similar cycle of abuse arcs too but in wildly different perspectives from each other #where no two arcs really feel like each other even though they have parallels like alistair and morrigan #idk just kept me more engaged in the characters' development in relation to my own player character #and i didn't even mention dragon age 2. god.#dragon age #anna plays bg3

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scalpelsister · 8 months

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Finally got around to organizing and sorting my Shadowheart playlist so it flows nicely <3

#sharing in case. anyone is looking for songs for their own shad playlists 👉👈#i tried to keep it relatively themed to the kind of music I think she might enjoy? but obvi i have my own biases and faves sfkjhfkjsf #shadowheart #baldur's gate #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #OH also like. every song on here is here for a reason. like most of them are selected for their lyrics being very Shadowheart to me #obvi some of them more so than others and some are just like. the lyrics fit a certain Vibe like religious trauma or loneliness or w/e but #tldr i overthought this. ive been cooking this since the game came out. being extremely normal and not insane about her.#my post #Spotify #my playlists

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octopusdragon · 4 months

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The mark on Shadowheart's hand begins to spread, and she begins relying on her martial abilities over her magic.

Above all, Shar disapproves, and her displeasure is never far from Shadowheart's mind.

#shadowheart #baldur's gate 3 #Please enjoy the fic where Shadowheart takes 14000 words to change her class to fighter from the religious trauma of it all #bg3

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daisy-faunrpg · 4 months

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This mitski song was playing in my head while I was watching this scene I HAD TO

#I love her so much you have no idea #that religious trauma sure hits #baldur's gate 3 #shadowheart #bg3 shadowheart #SHADOWHEART MY WIFE #AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

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glitterdustcyclops · 9 months

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so anyway last night i went to the githyanki creche and did that whole thing and i'm so glad i did because it just made me love lae'zel even more? like in my other playthroughs i skipped that so i when i got to baldur's gate and she went hard down the fanaticism pipeline i was kind of like "oh bbgirl why" but doing it this way, and she is actually willing to listen to the fact that the queen she worships as a literal god does not have her best interests at heart?? even though you can tell that absolutely terrifies her, she does not know who she is if she's not a servant of vlaakith, but she's willing to turn her back on all of that for what she sees as following the truth, and omg i love her sm for it

#shut up chocolate #chocolate plays things #baldur's gate 3 #def gonna have to do a playthrough where i romance her because omg #also all the shadowheart parallels #there needs to be fic where they have Complicated Conversations about their shared religious trauma #and then do sloppy gay makeouts about it

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yeahyouresocool · 4 months

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okay but now that im actually getting to experience lae'zels character and story, shadowzel........ is so important to me

#the religious trauma of it all #being betrayed by the belief system that raised them #shadowheart willing to kill lae'zel for a goddess that will later throw her away

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magicwithered · 5 months

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Shadowheart is so traumatized in like a Catholic Way and it speaks to me on a fundamental level

#me 🤝🏽 Shadowheart: extreme religious trauma #*#I get too nervous to romance her because I be thinking to myself: oh my god what if I hurt her the way Shar did #SHE IS PIXELS AND LINES TRIPPY #PIXELS AND LINES

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kaylahburke · 8 months

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Hello folks! It's certainly been a while: life has been crazy but I figured I'd throw up my new work here. I've really enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3 recently and ended up writing a romance for Shadowheart and a Selûnite cleric pairing, as I saw a lot of potential there. This is going to be a shorter one and I hope to get back to my other stories soon: work is going well on the next chapter of Fear and Loathing and I hope to get that out soon.

Hope everyone is doing well, have a great evening!

#fanfic #baldurs gate 3 #shadowheart #bg3 fanfiction #cleric x cleric #how much religious trauma can i fit into this bad boy?#Selûne loves her gay kids

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thats-a-lot-of-cortisol · 2 months

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2 & 3 from section 1 for peri and 7 from whichever section has a more interesting #7 for diodore -moss

oooh these are fun ones!

2. Describe their tent set-up (outside and inside) (Peri)

I think Peri's tent is constructed similarly to Gale and Astarion's (boxy, fabric walls, little covered area outside). Deep blue fabric w/ golden astronomical embroidery, mostly the sort of thing you see on star maps. Little golden tassles around the edges of the tarp (?) and the doorframe. He'd have a small, circular, dark wood side table short enough that you can use it sitting on the ground, and a dark blue pillow next to it; there would be some parchment and a bronze miniature astrolabe on the table. The inside would be just. full to the brim with the gaudiest night-sky-themed pillows you've ever seen. No bedroll, no palette, just a nest that would put those cube pits in trampoline parks to shame. There would be two bird perches for his familiar Medani: one taller one next to his tent and one shorter one under the overhang. The shorter one would have a crow-sized bow-tie hanging from it. Rugs on rugs on the outside area ofc. 3. What would their character quest be titled? Why? (Peri)

This is a hard one! His tav ending involves taking over the Waterdeep arm of the Harpers, so I think his arc would have something to do with that. He'd be pretty bitter about being dropped into another near-apocalyptic mess when dealing with the last one a few years prior was supposed to be a one-time thing. Something-something ptsd in a world that doesn't have the words for that yet, something-something 'once a hero always a hero', something-something the weight of responsibility...he's a planeswalker so I think part of it would be whether he decides to stay on Toril long-term and directly help rebuild the Waterdeep Harpers or if he continues to run travel around afterwards, so maybe The Far Traveller/The Far Walker?

Harpson/Fae-son are also potential options. "Fae-son" nods to him being a changeling without it being super obvious (like Astarion's "The Pale Elf"). It would also mimic his backstory reveals from RoT ("oh he's not 'from here' so, like, the Feywild" -> "OH he's not from here"). 7. Describe their arc. How would a player help resolve it? What choices can be made? Can your Tav be turned down a dark path, or pulled to a lighter one? (Diodore)

Buckle up because we're in for a long one here. I've thought about Dora's story arc a lot because she's the first of my tavs that I truly made for the game while having full control over her backstory, etc. (versus Corentin, who had their arc baked into the story as a durge). Dora's a paladin of Corellon (oath of ancients) and her story arc as a companion would have to do with whether or not she should accept capital-r-Redemption, the process by which a drow can be truly "freed" from Lolth and rejoin the ranks of the rest of elven society. It involves all of the Redeemed drow's memories being erased and them being reincarnated as a surface elf. The implication seems to be that without that, regardless of a drow's actions, they'd be thrown back to Lolth when they die? Or at least that their eternal fate is unknown (which is the way I prefer to think of it for. personal reasons). Under normal circumstances, Dora would be a long way from Redemption being presented to her at all (she's not even 200 yet and has only been on the surface for a couple decades), but like with the other gods' Chosen among the companions, near-apocalyptic circumstances tend to speed up those sorts of things.

Of course, you'd have the themes of faith & relationship with deity when they're all unequivocally real and are also mostly all assholes; maintaining or breaking generational cycles; facing the unknown; morality when none of your choices are "good" (and how that interacts with morality vs self preservation); power vs freedom; identity outside of the people who made you; etc. The choice would first be presented to her sometime in late Act I/early Act II, likely the first long rest after the group resurfaces from the Underdark and you've probably gotten some of her backstory already. I have no idea how Larian would have characterized Corellon, but he's considered one of the more benevolent/open-minded deities iirc, which could be interesting to see contrasted with Mystra, Vlaa'kith, and Shar. How much that open-mindedness would extend to a drow, even one who has been a faithful follower even before she escaped to the Surface (and who inherited that faith from her father), is unclear. At the beginning of the game she would be leaning towards accepting Redemption, despite her own misgivings about whether or not she would still be her in that case.

Her final decision (at the ending pier scene) would depend on the relationship she has with the PC and the other companions. Her best ending, imo, would be her not accepting Redemption but continuing to be a force for good. If she has a good relationship with the PC, she would have something to lose. I think seeing the House of Mourning would affect her too. After all, the thing Corellon is offering to her as a way to find peace is the same thing the Sharrans are using as a way to manipulate and control others.

She's viscerally aware of how she was socialized and very actively chooses "good", so pushing her towards a darker path would be incredibly difficult but not impossible. If you side with the goblins she'll leave immediately, and turn on you if she's in your party when you attack the grove. But if you decide to try and control the cult in Act II, depending on your over-all actions before then and how you've interacted with her, you could disillusion her to the point of convincing her to break her oath. That path would entail convincing her that controlling the cult is actually the best idea. I'm sure there would be other times that her oath could break that wouldn't necessarily lock her into an "evil" path, especially with how Oathbreakers are handled in the game. Knocking out Minthara instead of killing her outright and letting Auntie Ethel go in Act I instead of killing her are two things that come to mind.

If she doesn't choose Redemption she would be at the epilogue party, of course. I'm a bit undecided on what would happen if she does choose Redemption. She may not be there at all, w/ Jaheira, Halsin, Minthara, and/or Astarion mentioning running into her in her new, reincarnated state. Or she would be there, confused, and mention how the PC seems familiar in a way she can't quite place. In that case, she would ask them how they know each other and mention something about feeling a twinge of grief looking at everyone, but that she doesn't know why she feels that way. It would be up to the PC how much they tell her (if they tell her anything at all).

#ty for the ask mossy!!#and sorry for the wait lol a couple of these stumped me for a minute #thinking about peri & jaheira as narrative parallels...#b/c i want to be clear here. peri was and is *not* looking for more responsibility re: harpers #he was perfectly happy doing security systems. him not seeking power was an active character choice i made for him b/c he's a wizard #but in the Faerun In My Head (tm) the Waterdeep Harpers also get decimated by the Absolute b/c why would they not? theyd be a major threat #especially b/c their high harper was the catalyst for forming the lord's alliance and. like. you think they're *not* reconvening?#for Weird Cult Two: 2 Cult 2 Furious??#gortash would take remallia OUT if at all possible #and also I like torturing my characters #and i think the whole 'weight of duty'/hero's curse (once you get drawn into one situation you can't ignore the others/they come to you)#thing is interesting for peri in particular. the man just wants to live a quiet life and he will! for the most part.#just now with thousands of lives in his hands b/c he's helped stop 2 apocalypses and is irrevocably tied to the fate of the Coast now #his conscious wouldn't let him just leave the Harpers or Waterdeep to rot. and that seems to be similar to the situation jaheira's in #generational cycles the cruel march of time history repeats itself etc etc #that's also why i think he would get Weave'd and have an unusually long lifespan. he wanted to rest and the universe said “no <3”#i think about dora's story a lot also because the whole 'you can be redeemed (from something you were born with)#but only by removing integral parts of yourself' thing hits *right* in the religious trauma #you cant tell me there wouldn't be *some* part of a Redeemed Drow's soul that remembers the people from before they were changed #unless they just. get a new soul in which case it literally isn't them anymore.#doras first real & healthy relationships happen in-game #thats part of why she's drawn to astarion. his bullshit is predictable to her and therefore feels safer.#definitely safer than whatever is going on with the others #(also why she trusts karlach so quickly: she's straightforward and blunt & doesn't really hide things?#and was also the only one to warn her against astarion. dora'd literally never had someone like that in her life before so it stuck)#and she'd feel a bit uncomfortable w/ the concept of Redemption at first but who is she to argue with a god?#esp one who seems kinder than many of the others #but as the story progresses she realizes that she *can* trust these people and that they trust her #and she sees how Gale and Shadowheart and Lae'zel are struggling w/ their deities #and not only does she have something to lose now but she's seeing more of how the gods work generally

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j-mysticalien · 5 months

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I don’t have bg3 but my partner lets me play on their computer and they said they’re curious about who I’ll choose to romance and I’m nervy that I’m gonna fall for the pathetic vampire man and disappoint my angel of a partner

#I will provide updates #it’s so hard to find time to play have only met shadow heart and what’s her name #this has been over the course of several sessions we just be busy #not loving anyone immediately #but I want my little brain friend back I miss them rip #bg3 #I’m pretty sure they’ve gone for Shadowheart #religious trauma out the wahzoo with those two

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eff-plays · 9 months

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I'm in the middle of Act 2 and here's my opinion of all the companions so far.

Lae'zel: I didn't like her at all first, but then she told me she loved how I stink and I realized she's just an angry little guy. She's so pissed at all times and I like how she hisses at me. Girl you are fucked up. 10/10, will romance her at some point.

Shadowheart: Ngl she was a little bland but very easy to get approval with so she was my bestie early on. Now that she's revealed her religious trauma I think she's a poor little meow meow. She should be a tumblr sexyman. 10/10, will romance her at some point.

Astarion: Went in hating his ass thinking he was overhyped. Got brainwashed quickly by the horny voice and the laugh lines. Hated him again when he kept being a little bitch. Hugged him oh so tenderly. He likes it when I tell people to kill themselves. 10/10, will romance him again.

Gale: Was considering romancing him until the ex reveal. Big turnoff for insecure bitches (me). Act 2 started and I got interested again because of the angst. He's funny and his dialogue is the best written/wittiest out of all the companions. Accidentally led him on. 10/10, will romance him at some point.

Wyll: Thought he was a bit bland at first ngl. Very standard backstory. Probably the best-looking companion out of all of them. Got extremely easy approval with him despite not bringing him around often. Then I realized he's charmingly silly but deeply genuine with his heroic aspirations. 10/10, wyll romance him at some point.

Karlach: Best girl, no contest. Loved her from the start. Big, fun, funny, good heart, and boy she can do a LOT of damage on the battlefield. Absolutely waifu material. Touchstarved and gorgeous? I'm straight but she could get it type shit. I want her to split me in half with a single pelvic thrust. 10/10, will romance her at some point.

Halsin: Liked him from the start. He's fucking massive. My Tav looked at him with lovesick puppy eyes in every early custcene so I was considering romancing him in the beginning, but he's way too nice for them lmao. No notes, he's literally just a giant teddy bear of a man and I love him. 10/10, will romance him at some point.

All in all it's pretty impressive how Larian got jackpot on all of these little freaks. I can't say I dislike any of them.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #lae'zel #astarion #shadowheart #gale of waterdeep #wyll #karlach #halsin

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numberonetrashwitch · 9 months

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Some observations about Baldurs Gate 3 that hit too close to home.

After another few runs i will probably just make an in-Depth Character Analysis for every character simply because they are good reflections of actual trauma-manifestations and how abuse can manifest in people. They are also so well written that it serves a narrative purpose to explore all the material that is out there about them. I am also personally cursed with actual medically-relevant levels of Empathy and Hyperfixation; so writing this helps me put a pin in it and move on.

But so far here are my highlights

(SPOILERS and obviously content warning bc these are deep)

before you ask; i have almost 300h in this game.

You have to convince Shadowheart to eat the Noblestalk. She actually stells you she rather get her memories back from Shar but when you hit the persuasion or intimidation (what the fuck) check to get her to eat it she'll tell you about her childhood friend. Not her name, not her parents but her best firend. Possibly because she has had a closer bond to that person after being abducted and indoctrinated. With her believing herself to be an orphan, she would've looked elsewhere for comfort and sought out her own family, this is why she falls hard and heavy for Shar and builds the backbone of her indoctrination. She is literally ripped out of her home & given a new identity to server her from all she has known. Religious indoctrination, Gaslighting, Abduction, being forced to let go of your personality are her main themes.

There is a scene out there floating around in which you see Astarions pespective of the night when he bites Tav for the first time, in his meditations he is confronted with the rules Cazador put on him, including that he can't eat intelligent creatures, can't be away from Cazador unless allowed to, has to obey every command and that they are should know that they are property. Which in turn means that Astarion literally didn't just have any autonomy, he was objectified (and not just through seductive/sexual measures) and that is really the crux to understanding why he doesn't believe in kindness, but rather shows self-serving behavior in most cases. Since we know that Astarion was extremely young for an elf before he died and became immortal (literally stopping the aging /maturing process) it is also very telling that Cazador constantly calls him brat, boy or other very juvanile names, refering to them as a family... well it is also the story of a very controlling parent. Themes of (Bodily) autonomy, infantilization ( & puer aeternus, forever-child), slavery, depersonalisation, corruption of life and torture to break someone.

Gale isn't just a guy hung up on his Ex, but also a victim of abuse. In this case a power imbalance none of us can fathom; She is described as being a jealous goddess and rules over the domain of mysteries and magic. So with Gale being a Wizard, she is literally his boss. He admits that he was foolish enough to aspire to be an equal to her, but she is so jealous that she tells him he can't really be worthy as long as he takes breath. She could just take his powers away and be done with it, that would be more than enough punishment for a guy who literally made Mystra and her domain his life's purpose, but she rather makes him do it himself. Add to that, that she literally only tells him this after years of self-isolation (after he put down so many wards that he could've blown up a whole army as he says if you click the right dialogue) to really fuck him up well. He also talks about death pretty much constantly, not surprising giving your situation, but he will tell you that he will kill himself at several points in the game, for instance after he comes clear about his nethrese orb. Themes of romantic abuse, power-imbalance, toxic work enviorment, self-isolating behavior, suicidal ideation

Wyll ... well from the looks of it he is the most well adjusted of all the companions (my opinion) but he has something that i'd describe as the "eldest daughter"-syndrome, more commonly known as parentification. This pattern usually occurs within single-household parents and is commonly described as a parent looking to their child for emotional or practical support, rather than providing it to their kid. We meet Ulder and see that he talks over Wyll a lot, not listening but expecting him to follow the standard he sets for him. That is also why Wyll repeats his fathers words like gospel (because this is what, in his mind, fullfills the expectations bestowed upon him) and why he loves fairytales / bard tales so much (because they are an ecapist view of the job he set out to do) Ulder literally exiled his teenage son because Wyll did the only thing he could to save an entire city, by sacrificing himself. Thats a lot to expect from a 17 year old - even more so, he doesn't stop with the heroics. He expects himself, as a human who hasn't even reached the age of 30 to hold up to mystical creatures such as Astarion or Karlach, or even Gale who is a accomplished Wizard. Themes of parentification, escapism, self-harming through putting himself in danger, chronic-self-sacrifice

In plain words; Gortash, Karlach's Idol sold her to a Devil. But add to that that she must have been pretty young when she was sold (late teens to early twenties possibly) and being that if you play as a Tiefling, you face a lot of predjudice she was likely forced into that position as well. Starstruck she was, with a juvenile naitivy that Gortash used. Appropriately, as he is the chosen of Bane the god of "tyrannical oppression, terror, and hate, known across Faerûn as the face of pure evil through malevolent despotism" (Source: Forgotten-Realms Wiki / Bane) So she pretty much was raised in a toxic enviorment, which forced her to become a killing-machine, first figuretively, then with the extraction of her heart, literally. Themes of slavery, oppression, misuse of trust, being taken advantage by a more powerful/older(?) person, being drafted.

Jaheira - to be honest, you need to know the lore of the previous baldurs gate games or just listen to her dialouge, ask her all the questions. She is a war-veteran against Bhaal, the good of ritual murder, and has a long history of fighting to achieve some sort of balance of power. She lost her husband and several close people all to this, or any other war, but due to her wisdom and strength people look to her for guidance. Themes of: Survivors Guilt.

Halsin - he is really closed off at first but then just casually hits you with "i was captured in the underdark and spent 3 years chained to a bedroom wall by a pair of drows who used me as they pleased". He is reprimanded by some of his druids for leaving the grove as soon as opportunity struck, just to get back and leave the next day, and if you talk to him about his position in the grove he is actually very forthcomming. He actively holds himself back; indulging in simple hobbies because he knows what lies within his heart. He is afraid of himself and his potential (canonnically he can't control his wildshape, which is very weird for an ARCH-druid) Themes of: impostor syndrome, avoidant-based self-harm, sexual opression, loss of control, emotional regulation.

Lae'zel is a very tragic case, and one that closely resembles the stories of Shadowheart and Karlach. Her entire existence is based upon a matriachial war society allowing her to live if she proves she can be of use and that in a culture which only values brutality, dominance & service. All of that culimating in her finding out that her oh-so-beloved Queen is actually just an imposter, and that everything she has lived for up to that point is merely political propaganda created to make her, and the rest of her entire species, willing pawns in a war that has no longer bearing on their survival alone, but is fought to justify Vlaakith's (the reigning monarchs) personal ambitions. Not only is she forced to reconcile that she is turned into the thing that controlled her kind for hundreds of years, that the only cure she knows of would kill her and then on top of that, that her hopes and dreams were lies and that she is now the Nr 1 enemy of the person she has served with all her being. themes of: oppression, propaganda, casual violence, objectification, child-warfare, eternal warfare

Minthara in short, her story is about being shamed for growing up in the same scenario that Lae'zel grew up in. Lolth, the god of the Lolth-sworn drows is a crazy queen who values scheming & backstabbing so much and is so volatile that you can't know what to expect of your deeds (and i mean it; there were people who were appraised by her for scheming against her, but also those who were killed. It's almost random.) She considers Lolth to be cruel and abandoned her for the Absolute, only to then be used and abused the same way Lae'zel has. Not with promises, but erasing her memory and exposing her perceived weakness. Themes of: casual violence, violent culture, her own ambition colliding with her desire to be safe, being a pawn in a larger game.

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