Why was Imoen left behind in Candlekeep? (spoilers)
Ferozban
Member Posts: 31
Something that bugged me for the last 10 years or so.
If Imoen is also a bhaalspawn like the maincharacter, why would Gorion leave her behind in candlekeep when he knew that assassins would surely try to enter candlekeep and kill his wards.
Did he not know that Imoen was a bhaalspawn?
Or did Imoen steel his favorite teacup and he was a very resentful man about it?
What are your thoughts on this?
If Imoen is also a bhaalspawn like the maincharacter, why would Gorion leave her behind in candlekeep when he knew that assassins would surely try to enter candlekeep and kill his wards.
Did he not know that Imoen was a bhaalspawn?
Or did Imoen steel his favorite teacup and he was a very resentful man about it?
What are your thoughts on this?
13
Comments
He only had 2 wards.
That would be a crazy coincidence that he actually had a second bhaalspawn under his roof the entire time without knowing it.
You're right, @Ferozban, Gorion couldn't have been unaware of it ... so it's a huge plot hole that he didn't include her when he fled Candlekeep with our protagonist.
Of course, the meta-explanation is that it wasn't the intention (when BG1 was originally written) that Imoen was also a Bhaalspawn, that idea was a retcon introduced with BG2. So the plot hole is the fault of the BG2 writers who messed up the backstory.
While it's stated in the game that Gorion could only save one bhaalspawn and chose charname, Sarevok obviously escaped on his own. Others could have survived, and obviously did. Imoen could have been saved by another. How she came to Candlekeep is never explained, but there are a million perfectly acceptable explanations as to how she might have come to Gorion or was delivered to him by an ally.
It's not a plot hole at all. It's well within the realm of the possible, just never explained.
Gorion had clear information that Sarevok was after charname, but there is no such evidence that anyone knew of Imoen. It would not have been a good move on his part to 'out her' by sending her away with charname or treating her as though she was also at risk. Had he done so, Sarevok or others might have wondered why.
Treating Imoen like a bhaalspawn would most surely have revealed her as one to any who did not know, such as Sarevok.
He just left her there!
just realized Both Shank and Carbos always asks about "Gorion's Ward", not "one of Gorion's wards" too..
"Oh goodie goddie! I've gone and found ye first! You are THE WARD OF GORION no doubt?"
A: Because they've only decided Leia was a Skywalker between that movie and the next one.
Q: Doesn't that create a plot hole?
A: Yes.
It's pretty obvious even Sarevok didn't know, so why would Gorion (a Harper, a sage and a scholar) draw attention to the fact that he's actually protecting another orphan with mysterious origins in Candlekeep?
There are many studies that explore the quite common occurance of relationships between unknown siblings and a lot of research on why it occurs.
It says that Savarok with the Cyric lot were looking for "Gorion's ward".
That either means there was a "chosen" child, who was born to stop the prophecy and Gorion, with help, went after that child.
Or it means any Bhaalspawn that was adopted as the ward.
Basically without the title "Gorion's ward", a different/another Bhaalspawn wasn't important as far as the prophecy goes.
I prefer the first option, the Charname was born to stop the prophecy, Gorion and cohorts identified which child and attacked the temple to save that one child.
Didn't work because Imoen never listens to rules and followed you anyway.
To be honest, there's a lot of little anecdotes and minor inconsistencies that support that but I don't have any handy sources and of course, that would be wildly off-topic, so I'll just leave it at that.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/600302/#Comment_600302
Everything in BG2 can be seen as already biased.
Well with this being the case, I can only presume it went something like this:
Gorion could only save 1 child. (as was stated in the game)
But one of Gorions allies saved Imoen and later gave her into Gorions care. (she was his ward as well after all if we look at the bio from bg2 and the arie dialogue)
And as some users have stated here allready: Gorion might have had a masterplan.
CHARNAME was being discovered, so if he had brought Imoen with them on their journey, it would have drawn unessesary attention to her. She was not yet discovered and thus perfectly safe in candlekeep.
Of course, the plan failed when she deceided to sneak out of candlekeep on her own.
That story at least makes sense.
Sorry i know it's probabably a plothole that the writers of bg messed up when they wrote the scripts for bg2.
BUT AS FANS, WE HAVE TO FILL THE HOLES WITH A STORY THAT MAKES SENSE!
And that explaination is good enough for me at least
Then, she was right behind you and Gorion when you left.
I think Gorion planned for her to be following. He had to know there was a strong risk of being caught, and he couldn't shield two wards at once, so he wanted Imoen to be both sneaking behind, and not known by anyone else to be following, including Charname.
Yes, I know the whole thing is a retcon because Imoen wasn't planned to be a main plot character when the opening scenario was first written, but in my mind it still makes sense.
Even if it hadn't, there were other avenues of fan feed back. From surveys (often included in game boxes) to gaming magazines, to gaming and comic conventions, to unsolicited letters. I remember often MAILING my thoughts on games I enjoyed back in the '80s.
"Feedback" does predate the Internet.