Saddest Baldur's Gate Moment (Spoilers)

ZaramMaldovar

What, in your opinion was the saddest moment in Baldur's Gate? There were certainly a few, some were straightforward and others were subtle, but the road to the end of the story is a tragic one for many.

ZaramMaldovar

Khalid's death didn't hurt so much as a child playing BG2 for the first time, I knew it was sad and I felt for Jaheria but I didn't know what Khalid really meant to a lot of the characters and the series as a whole. The weight of Khalid's death became more apparent when I first played BG1 and grew to love the character and then I was crushed by it after listening to Neera's Dialogue and interacting with the characters in Siege of Dragonspear. Khalid and Jaheria were a great love story cut short in their relative prime by monstrous forces beyond their control. Khalid was a wife to Jaheria, a mentor and father figure to CHARNAME, a friend to many of the characters, Imoen and Neera in particular and a hero to the Sword Coast.

I'm currently writing my own adaption of the series and when I finally get to Khalid's death it's going to be difficult to write. He will be missed.

semiticgoddess

Yoshimo is the only one you kill yourself, even though he's your friend. Worse yet, you know that he doesn't even want to fight you; a geas is forcing him to. He is a charming guy and a trusted friend who just wanted to avenge his dead sister--and then you had to kill him with your own two hands knowing that he was in agony, and that there was no way out.

ZaramMaldovar

Yoshimo's death is definitely a sad one. It was my first major tragedy in fiction that I had to go through. It was tough.

Raduziel

ThacoBell

Khalid's death was always a rough one for me (he was a staple in all of my BG1 parties pre EE), and takes a solid third place. Yoshimo's betrayal was an even bigger gut punch for me. Being BG2, he HAD a concrete personality, motivations, I actually got to talk with him and he grew on me massively. Then the hammer drops and it all comes crashing down (the Yoshimo Romance mod twists the knife even further).

But for me, the single saddest moment in the entire series has to be...THE DEATH OF EVERYONE YOU KNOW IN CANDLEKEEP. You're near the end of BG1 and can finally return home. You are greeted by several old npcs you remember fromt the begining, but something feels off. SOme come to you asking for help, as they can sense it too. And then you reach the catacombs. And suddenly you are attacked by your old friends. They have ALL been killed and replaced by doppelgangers. Even Winthrop and Phlydia. There are more developed characters and long term companions, but the sheer scale of what has been done to your childhood home hits hard everytime for me.

ZaramMaldovar

@ThacoBell
It never occured to me that they were all dead, Winthrop seemed fine. I really thought the Dopplegangers were just messing with you.

An example is one doppleganger takes the form of Elminster. Elminster isn't dead.

What evidence is there that Winthrop and Phyldia are dead? Also Reevor acts normal.

ThacoBell

@ZaramMaldovar They ALL act normal until you get to the catacombs. Parda, and I think at least one other named npc can mention to you how Candlekeep feels "wrong" and has for some time. If everyone was okay and their normal selves, this wouldn't be the case, as nothing else seems off. Notice how the only named NPCs who DON'T show up as doppleganers later, are the ones who act like someone is wrong and have been on their guard. Everyone else who acts like nothing has changed, are all the npcs who show up as doppleganers.

ZaramMaldovar

@ThacoBell
Fair enough, but I stand by my statement that the Greater Doppleganger appearing as Elminster is evidence that dopplegangers don't have to kill someone to take their form.

That being said, the only instance of this is the Greater Doppleganger, so you may be right.

mashedtaters

Spoilers!!!!

I definitely found the general plot of Irenicus horribly sad, but more so because of how real it was.

Here is a guy who was once a good person and probably came to his lust for power gradually.

I thought the way Ellesime banished him and Bodhi was extreme. Death would have been a better punishment.

His loss of emotion and connection to his true self, devoid of the capacity to feel anything, would have been a more torturous existence than constant pain.

Seeking the joy he once had with his lover through twisted, evil means struck me as very similar to a long-time addict who has fallen so far as to harm and kill the innocent.

Though his story is told via the magical, fantastic, and extreme, it is a reminder to all of us to recognize the capacity for evil within ourselves.

Mantis37

The Longer Road mod & a nice little bit of fanfic called Bitter Grey Ashes explore this theme a bit more.

http://www.onlinefiction.net/Ashes/BitterAshes.html

Quickblade

Glad I lead the Irenicus charge.

To be less verbose than mashedtaters, the speech with that line summed it up.

"I do not remember your love, Ellesime.
For years I clung to the memory of it.
Then the memory OF the memory.
And now, nothing. It is gone, a hollow dead thing."

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Montresor_SP

Cernd's epilogue:

DrakeICN

The sacking of Saradush. All your brothers and sisters

Also, I absolutely do not see the point in killing Gromnir Il-Khan. If the game had the option, I would have negotiated with him instead. When he tells you Melissan is the bad guy... uhhh... gal, I believed him. I wanted to ally with him instead. And killing all these guards just to get to him, thereby weakening Saradush's defenses urgh. The canon Bhaalspawn must have a wisdom of 5.

I wonder how many Bhaalspawn need to die to make ascension to Godhood possible? Because, I would have killed that many Bhaalspawn and no one more, and I would kill the most asshole ones first, going after the nice ones only once I ran out of assholes. I mean, yeah, of course I want to ascend and if you have to break a few eggs while making an omelette, so be it. It's just I would be as smart as I could about it.

ZaramMaldovar

@DrakeICN

DrakeICN said:

I wonder how many Bhaalspawn need to die to make ascension to Godhood possible?

All of them, that was Bhaal's plan from the beginning. By the end of the game the only Bhaalspawn that remain are you and possibly Imoen and once Mellisan kills the party she has all of Bhaal's essence in order to ascend to Godhood.

If Mellisan didn't betray Bhaal, then it would still be neccesary for you and all the other Bhaalspawn to die in order for Bhaal to return.

At the end of the game the only reason you are able to ascend to Godhood is because you are given all of the Bhaalspawn Essence.

Sarevok lost his after you killed him.
Imoen gave hers up.
Everyone else is dead.

deltago

Anomen and his father if you take the lawful path.

Here are two men who’ve lost everything dear to them and they still can’t hold onto each other.

fluke13

I think emotionally, I need to look at my very first play through as a kid. Gorion died before I knew much about him... Khalid... Well I kinda fancied Jaheira and obviously hadn't played SOD, Dynaheir.. without bgnpc project, I didn't feel much emotion. So, truly the sadest moment for me was probably reaching Spellhold to find Imoen mentally broken. Seconded by killing Yoshimo. Third... Viconia epilogue.

Grond0

It's hard to look past Bambi's mother .

Raduziel

Grond0 said:

It's hard to look past Bambi's mother .

Or Simba's father.

ThacoBell

ZaramMaldovar said:

@ThacoBell
Fair enough, but I stand by my statement that the Greater Doppleganger appearing as Elminster is evidence that dopplegangers don't have to kill someone to take their form.

That being said, the only instance of this is the Greater Doppleganger, so you may be right.

True, but Elminster also isn't a resident of Candlekeep and is never seen within its walls. Nobody would have interacted with him enough know sometihng was wrong, except for maybe poor Gorion. Though I would like to see a Doppleganer TRY to kill him.

SethDavis

How do we know Elminster hasnt been a doppleganger the whole time?

Balrog99

I voted Yoshimo but I have to admit that the 4th time I kill Elminster using traps with my solo Bounty Hunter really brings a tear to my eye...

Zaghoul

I have not played an unmodded game in so long I don't know if it is a vanilla response or BGNPC1 Project, but it is to a comment Skie makes in BG when talking of how she wants to travel and see so many different things. She then goes on to say that she has a feeling that none of that will ever happen. Combined with SoD, I just thinks that's pretty darn deep and moving, even if I don't take her along for long stretches at a time.

Contemplative_Hamster

SethDavis said:

How do we know Elminster hasnt been a doppleganger the whole time?

@elminster , you have been accused of thought-crimes and of impersonating an archmage. Prove your innocence.

Raduziel

Contemplative_Hamster said:

Prove your innocence.

That's not how a legal system works.

lroumen

I'm sure it works that way sometimes in the US

Nimran

The saddest moment of Baldur’s Gate is when it ended.

lroumen

The turmoil of Tamoko

elminster

Contemplative_Hamster said:

SethDavis said:

How do we know Elminster hasnt been a doppleganger the whole time?

@elminster , you have been accused of thought-crimes and of impersonating an archmage. Prove your innocence.

May I perchance suggest that if a hamster seeks to require such proof, that they themselves seem a bit suspect. Unless of course thou are one of the most famed Miniature Giant Space Hamsters - said to be able to contemplate on many manners.

(Though this seems unlikely).

elminster

As for the title of this thread, clearly it is Elminster's death that is the saddest. Many an adventurer has after all sought to kill this monumental figure, sometimes multiple times, to acquire from his death a much vaunted 26,000 xp. I of course will never condone the killing of such a legend.