Yeah... not sure when people started expecting happy endings for BG NPCs as a rule. Setting aside the fact that a whole bunch of BG1 characters die in BG2 (Ajantis, Faldorn, Xzar, Montaron, Khalid, Dynaheir, Safana, Coran and Tiax), the epilogues for Keldorn, Cernd, Viconia (romanced) and Korgan all end with their demise. With the new NPCs, Neera and Hexxat always live, Dorn always dies, and Rasaad can potentially survive depending on what you do with him.
Korgans ending does not end with his demise. He probably is still killing drow or has left and is killing something else. It just tells what made him a legend and what he was last seen doing. He probably surfaced on the other side alone or with a handful dwarven warriors waging new wars there or is a king for dueregar (not forever as his love for conflict will always drive him forward, which is why his ending is perfect. A great killing triumph that he was last seen by the surfacers doing). He is then made a hero rather than madman. Its really funny because history often really does work like that.
I'm curious now about Viconia's romanced epilogue (I always play with a female charname, so I will never see it myself). Does anyone have an image of it?
I'm curious now about Viconia's romanced epilogue (I always play with a female charname, so I will never see it myself). Does anyone have an image of it?
If I remember right she becomes your consort and has your child but then gets a poisoned dagger in the back from a lolth assassin and dies in your arms.
@Avenel: Depends on how you look at it, I guess - like Rasaad's romance epilogue, the tragedy is balanced with the notion that a greater good emerges as a result, whether it's seven Sun Soul Monks with Bhaalspawn powers tearing apart the Dark Moon or a half-drow child waging a crusade against Lolth...
An added bit of tragedy in Viconia's romance is that, if she's still evil at the end, she encourages you to ascend because she doesn't want you to regret giving up all that power for her. As it turns out, had you ascended to godhood, you probably would have had the power to save Viconia's life.
@shawne Very true. I guess what saddens me the most about Rasaad's epilogue is that Charname dies too (it is very final!). Viconia is at least survived by her lover and their son. Are there any other epilogues where Charname dies too?
I dislike Rasaads epilogue giving you such a concrete ending for your character id rather they left it up to the player to decide what happens to char name in the end
@element I agree. I can handle a bit of tragedy, but I would have preferred Charname's fate to be less defined, and leave it up to the player to fill in the gaps.
Ok, so here's Rasaad's non-romanced happy ending. I wonder what I did differently to get it?
I also got this ending of Rassad, which makes sense since in my playthrough of SOA he left my party to rebuild the twofold sect. It would be very strange if he found the necessity to seek acceptance from Sun Soul later.
I got the nice Rasaad ending and he didnt leave me in SoA. Do the other characters also have 3 endings? Or is it just him? I havent seen Romanced Hexxat. Can someone post it?
Guess I'm in the minority here, but I don't mind seeing how my charname dies. When you choose mortality, you're gonna die someday. That's one reason giving up godhood is a big deal.
Also, living long enough to have a bunch of kids is a luxury a lot of the people who die in this game will never get.
I probably will never take him with me on any playthrough, but I cannot deny how lovely Wilson's epilogue is, haha!
I liked Dorn's romance epilogue. I think it leaves itself open to many people who would romance the character. Either you are as evil as he and ultimately see him as a burden, or you were under his powerful personality/ sexual influence and eventually break away from it. In the latter interpretation of the epilogue, I found my character's story fit quite comfortably, as I can see him feeling somewhat indebted to Dorn, but finally seeing that he cannot live his life in tandem with Dorn, who probably always resented him somewhat for convincing him to foresake both of his black patrons. Perhaps Dorn might have won the final conflict had he not given up Ur'Gothoz? Maybe 'love' really did weaken him? It's quite satisfying I think, to be given that liberty of interpretation in the epilogues.
Neera's endings are very nice too, I think.
I do respect how they seem to have emulated the work of the original writers in showing that not all of the epilogues are happy, most specifically Viconia's epilogues. In the romance one, there is a great bittersweetness about how her life unfolded, and her non-romanced ending is suitably ominous and stylish as per her character. Similarly, Jaheira's non-romanced ending is quite a touching read of how her strong personality and her life and philosophies were ultimately swept up in a much larger stream, and in the wake of that she was deposited in a very unknown world to her. There was no sense of 'all the endings need to be happy and idealistic', and I like that the new characters are treated similarly.
I liked Dorn's romance epilogue. I think it leaves itself open to many people who would romance the character. Either you are as evil as he and ultimately see him as a burden, or you were under his powerful personality/ sexual influence and eventually break away from it. In the latter interpretation of the epilogue, I found my character's story fit quite comfortably, as I can see him feeling somewhat indebted to Dorn, but finally seeing that he cannot live his life in tandem with Dorn, who probably always resented him somewhat for convincing him to foresake both of his black patrons. Perhaps Dorn might have won the final conflict had he not given up Ur'Gothoz? Maybe 'love' really did weaken him? It's quite satisfying I think, to be given that liberty of interpretation in the epilogues.
I finished ToB with Dorn awhile ago and despite general dissapointment with the way he (un)develops for about half of the trilogy, I have to admit that this ending feels somehow proper. That's what I think about Dorn in general, that's his main problem and the reason he is the way he is. Individuals like him usually get killed sooner, way, way sooner than him. If they don't, which is rare, they give some thought to what they do with their lives at some point and not exactly change, but realize that it leads in one direction and rather painful one, given that such destructive behaviour drags lots of attention. The bigger they are, the harder they fall... So they move back, sit and wait, grow bitter and usually end their lives years later in some pretty spectacular way, while definitely not sane, but in a way wiser and extremely powerful. Happened many times before and I'd actually like to see how this pattern plays out in Dorn's case.
Or they don't stop, continuing this pointless struggle between killing and avoiding to get killed. I'd say it's some form of pathological self-destructive behaviour. What's left of reason finally gets eaten by this obsession and that's exactly the point in which a bit more reasonable charname comes into play and ends this... pretty epic if you ask me. This ending simply begs for more elaborate story, meh.
Just finished a 'Dorn romance' game. I chose the fallen blackguard path for Dorn (which is a huge debuff). There's dialogue where Dorn indicates that he'll become your blackguard, which I though was very cool (don't know if this happens if he still has a patron). Unfortunately, it doesn't create a different ending. Really isn't much of a payoff for turning Dorn into a nerfed fighter. I do like the fact that Dorn is the only romance that WANTS you to become a goddess. Even one extra line in the epilogue about how Dorn terrorized the Sword Coast in your name, etc. C'mon devs Don't mind Dorn meeting a 'bad' end. What's so bad about going down in a swarm of paladins heh
I registered and suffered through Hexxat's questline for the purpose of spoiling her romantic ending for y'all. Sorry - didn't grab a screenshot. You'll just have to trust me.
Though it's likely Hexxat and Belladonna had many adventures after the incidents of the Bhaalspawn saga, tales of those adventures are hard to come by, and reliable ones harder still. This is doubtless how Hexxat preferred it. Cabrina continued to tell Hexxat's story to prospective agents of Larloch, replacing her two-hundred-year-old cautionary tell with the inspirational one of her return seemingly from death to complete the mission she was assigned. In less guarded moments, Cabrina could be heard to lament losing Hexxat to "that awful Bhaalspawn." When pressed, she would claim Hexxat and Belladonna spent some years traveling together before settling in Waterdeep, where they were key players behind the scenes in that city's noble and criminal fraternities.
Shows both a lack of writings skills and a imagination, mixed in with FU players from the writers. The only decent ending is Aerie's, best ending is godhood. Was a waste of coding and program to add them. Even the novel that its based on doesn't end well Jaheria dies in the end, So your character gets the shaft in end (lol no pun intended)
While on the subject of epilogues, Anomen's romance one. SOD spoiler
Charname's and Anomen's wedding is apparently the best that baldur's gate would ever see, but the last we saw of the gate was Charname being a wanted man for the murder of Skie Silvershield. So should we just assume that somehow together charname and Anomen found some way to solve the mystery? Or shall we just leave it as an elephant in the room and leave it as a very minor oversight?
While on the subject of epilogues, Anomen's romance one. SOD spoiler
Charname's and Anomen's wedding is apparently the best that baldur's gate would ever see, but the last we saw of the gate was Charname being a wanted man for the murder of Skie Silvershield. So should we just assume that somehow together charname and Anomen found some way to solve the mystery? Or shall we just leave it as an elephant in the room and leave it as a very minor oversight?
It is a plothole that could possibly be plugged with new DLC.
Comments
North Forest Chapter 7, killed by werewolf.
It's an optional area late game.
Thanks for that. Poor Viconia. That is quite tragic.
Very true. I guess what saddens me the most about Rasaad's epilogue is that Charname dies too (it is very final!). Viconia is at least survived by her lover and their son. Are there any other epilogues where Charname dies too?
I agree. I can handle a bit of tragedy, but I would have preferred Charname's fate to be less defined, and leave it up to the player to fill in the gaps.
Also, living long enough to have a bunch of kids is a luxury a lot of the people who die in this game will never get.
I liked Dorn's romance epilogue. I think it leaves itself open to many people who would romance the character. Either you are as evil as he and ultimately see him as a burden, or you were under his powerful personality/ sexual influence and eventually break away from it. In the latter interpretation of the epilogue, I found my character's story fit quite comfortably, as I can see him feeling somewhat indebted to Dorn, but finally seeing that he cannot live his life in tandem with Dorn, who probably always resented him somewhat for convincing him to foresake both of his black patrons. Perhaps Dorn might have won the final conflict had he not given up Ur'Gothoz? Maybe 'love' really did weaken him? It's quite satisfying I think, to be given that liberty of interpretation in the epilogues.
Neera's endings are very nice too, I think.
I do respect how they seem to have emulated the work of the original writers in showing that not all of the epilogues are happy, most specifically Viconia's epilogues. In the romance one, there is a great bittersweetness about how her life unfolded, and her non-romanced ending is suitably ominous and stylish as per her character. Similarly, Jaheira's non-romanced ending is quite a touching read of how her strong personality and her life and philosophies were ultimately swept up in a much larger stream, and in the wake of that she was deposited in a very unknown world to her. There was no sense of 'all the endings need to be happy and idealistic', and I like that the new characters are treated similarly.
Or they don't stop, continuing this pointless struggle between killing and avoiding to get killed. I'd say it's some form of pathological self-destructive behaviour. What's left of reason finally gets eaten by this obsession and that's exactly the point in which a bit more reasonable charname comes into play and ends this... pretty epic if you ask me. This ending simply begs for more elaborate story, meh.
Even one extra line in the epilogue about how Dorn terrorized the Sword Coast in your name, etc. C'mon devs
Still better than Anomen
Though it's likely Hexxat and Belladonna had many adventures after the incidents of the Bhaalspawn saga, tales of those adventures are hard to come by, and reliable ones harder still. This is doubtless how Hexxat preferred it. Cabrina continued to tell Hexxat's story to prospective agents of Larloch, replacing her two-hundred-year-old cautionary tell with the inspirational one of her return seemingly from death to complete the mission she was assigned. In less guarded moments, Cabrina could be heard to lament losing Hexxat to "that awful Bhaalspawn." When pressed, she would claim Hexxat and Belladonna spent some years traveling together before settling in Waterdeep, where they were key players behind the scenes in that city's noble and criminal fraternities.