Irenicus' Exile (Possible spoilers)

TethorilofLathander

I'm curious to know how long Irenicus plotted his revenge on Ellesime. It must have taken considerable years to build his lair under Athkatla, as well as capturing so many Shadow Thieves. I think I recall there being a date when Ellesime cast Irenicus & Bodhi out but I can't remember when it was.

What year (Dale Reckoning) did this happen?

Archaos

I highly doubt it that it took him a lot. He's an epic mage. He has spells and golems at his disposal to build, dig and construct non-stop, day and night, as well as duergar.
Capturing Shadow Thieves is as simple as "Teleport, Hold Person, Teleport" or Charm or Dominate or, or.

I would say that it took him a few weeks or months tops to make it all if he was serious about it.

SionIV

I don't even think it was him who captured the Shadow thieves. You see vampires fight against the shadow thieves when you walk around at night, and in two of these fights you see the vampires charm the shadow thieves.

When you enter Bodhi's lair there are no shadow thieves to be seen, so she was probably capturing them for Irenicus. He needed them even at spellhold.

Shin

It's confirmed (in Irenicus's journal among other places) that Bodhi's the one doing the capturing, but there's no real accounting for how long the two of them have been exiles. Certainly long enough for them to be affected by their condition, for Bodhi to turn to vampirism and for Irenicus to start researching into other means of lifting it.

LiamEsler

I always got the impression it was a period of many years, definitely over a decade.

ZanathKariashi

I'd say about 10 years...possibly 20 at most.


Keep in mind, having your life expectancy suddenly reduced to a 1/10th of what it was previously is a PRETTY traumatic event. Also keep mind, that they were cut off from the Revery, and suddenly feel the world through a clogged and dirty filter, so it's pretty expected they'd jump the gun and grossly over-react.

Archaos

I doubt that it took him that long. It might have though.
Do you remember that you're basically on a countdown before you die after losing your soul?
I doubt that one could survive without a soul for so long.

Plus he's an epic mage with really high intelligence. He had no reason to waste time and he could think of solutions much faster than other people.
Not even he could know how much you could survive without a soul so why waste time and not act immediately?

Shin

Well, Irenicus's accounting for gradual loss of the ability to feel emotions and his research projects regarding making multiple clones of Ellesime, capturing dryads as concubines etc all seem to hint that it was at least a somewhat lengthy process for him. His plan for stealing the divine soul of someone else likely came later on when nothing else seemed to work.

It's also implied that the creatures in his glass tubes have been there for a very long time, long enough to go completely mad - but it's also possible that some of them were in such a state even before his exile and were simply transported along.

VikingR

Hmm good question.

How much time goes by from the end of BGI and the happenings of BG2? Did Irenicus always know about Charname and the other children of Bhaal? Why choose the charname and not the others?

Also, if you decide to visit the spider's lair in BGI, you will meet that fat creature, who claims to have been cursed by Irenicus himself. I'm guessing then, that Irenicus is already hard at work as the charname is hacking himself through the Swordcoast.

TethorilofLathander

I always assumed that the events of BG1 took a few months, then there were a few weeks between the victory in the Undercity and leaving Baldur's Gate (with people suspecting you shared the same lineage as Sarevok, quoted by the narrator). So I'm thinking that on the road leaving Baldur's Gate you're ambushed by Bodhi's lackeys. I'd also say that the group were in Irenicus' lair for a couple of months. Plus, the events of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 happen during the whole year of 1368, with Throne of Bhaal happening in 1369.

As far as why the protagonist, it's probably due to the success they've had, meaning they gain recognition and are seen as the most powerful of the Bhaalspawn, with the rest in hiding building their armies.

ZanathKariashi

I've always felt he was actually gunning for Sarevok, since he was clearly in the area at the time, but then you showed up and started making trouble and he decided to wait and see what happened, and when you proved the victor they made their move.


Learns of Sarevok and comes to observe, shacking up with a noblewoman in BG that Bodhi vamped.

Centeol starts poking her jealous nose into the mess and thinks she killed Tanvoa in a jealous fit, Irenicus is pissed about the attention it might draw and turns her into whatever the hell that was to keep her out of way. Stuff comes up and he heads back down Amn, leaving Bodhi's crew to keep an eye out to see who proved the stronger bhaalspawn. A chance comes and they set up an ambush after you leave Baldur's Gate for whatever reason (possibly to go meet with the harpers to see what they know of what all this bhaalspawn stuff is about), and then Irenicus shows up to disable the party with magic fog and teleport everyone back down to his lair. Minsc and Dynaheir get wind something happened and start trying to locate the party and end up getting captured as well when Irenicus or one of Bodhi's underlings learns of their snooping.