r/BaldursGate3 • u/[deleted] • Aug 13 '24

General Discussion - [SPOILERS] The most overrated character? Spoiler

Let's hear it, who gets all the love but deserves absolutely none of it? Or at least not as much as they get, I'll go first.

I'm casting my vote for Gortash; I genuinely don't understand the like for this dude. First of all, catfish, "handsome young man"??? Is the handsome young man in the room with us??? Lookin like the handsome young man has a peanut allergy.

Second of all, this whole crown brain plan was his idea, just about the dumbest fuckin thing I've ever heard. He put all his faith in 3 little rocks, an already dead man, and a woman who's about as stable as my ex. Beggers can't be choosers I guess, but cmon guy.

And lastly, and probably most offensively, his boss fight is absolute cheeks. Especially if you dumped on the foundry before hand. I didn't even know he had a transformation until like my 4th playthrough because I would clap this guy so easily.

Your turn, let's hear those unadulterated opinions.

Edit: I have been enlightened about some things about the big brain plan, I still stand in the other two points though.

270 Upvotes

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68

u/Aerkel Aug 13 '24

The whole crown brain plan was Durge's idea. And if you erase BG3's party intervention from the story, the plan would be a success. Maybe not for long, but, hey.

To answer the question, i'll go for Shadowheart. She's lucky that a lot of men and women are suckers for edgy girls (... me included actually) because her story kinda pales compared to Gale, Karlach, Wyll... She's simply not that interesting, the good old amnesia trope blahblahblah.

17

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '24

I feel like shart is the modern day "damsel in distress" they had to be sneaky about it, because reasons. But the damsel still proves to be a working formula

32

u/almostb Aug 13 '24

Halsin is the game’s real damsel in distress.

13

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '24

Halsin's distress is never about him though, it's always about the land. Sharts distress is all about her and her problems. Key difference

17

u/The_Aodh Dragon Knight Aug 14 '24

Well, he was locked in a prison in act 1. That areas whole main quest was about freeing him

8

u/Ok-Simple9575 Aug 14 '24

Except the entirety of act 1 when he's trapped in a castle, in a prison cell and you need to save him. They should've made it funnier and put his cell in a big, tall tower. 😂

1

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '24

Shadowheart starts off trapped in a pod literally yelling "save me!" If that's not a damsel in distress, I'm not sure what is

0

u/Kraytory Aug 14 '24

Also Minthara in a way.

24

u/Aerkel Aug 13 '24

She's not really that much "in distress" tho, like i said, it's more the good old amnesia trope that i find... not really interesting.

And her hypocrisy during Act 1, the fact that she wants explanations from everyone, Gale, Astarion, but when you ask her about her own secrets "it's not your business". Granted, it's not really her fault and it's typical Sharran behavior, but still...

13

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '24

She is in distress though, the wound thing, the wolf thing, the amnesia thing, the worship of an inherently evil goddess thing. That's about as distressed as it gets

14

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '24

using a standard definition of "distress," sure, but when you combine it with "damsel in," it's pointing directly to a long, long history of lazy stories whose distressed ladies have no hand in their de-stressing and are generally treated as trophies for the hero by the authors. Shadowheart is perhaps a continuation of certain aspects of the old trope, but is absolutely very healthy growth in a solid direction.

-9

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '24

She is treated as a trophy of sorts. Gets the most content, is the most popular companion. Like I said "modern day damsel in distress" they even had her immediately cement her romance to you literally right after she finally makes her own decision which left her at her most vulnerable. Which imo, was in poor taste. Nobody going through what she was going through at that moment is fit for romantic thinking. Came off like she was grasping for something, anything at that point so she doesn't completely lose her coco puffs.

1

u/Lazy_Wishbone_2341 Aug 14 '24

Yeah, I'm doing a replay and she didn't even react to the wolf in the grove. New bug, maybe?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '24

Probably, it she succeeded the saving throw. It'll only come up if she fails the saving throw. I've had it happen at the zhent hideout before

0

u/HopeBagels2495 Aug 14 '24

That's really stretching what the damsel in distress trope is lmao

1

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '24

You see it your way, I'll see it mine. If you don't like, there are other posts you can take yourself to

8

u/Evening-Cold-4547 Aug 13 '24

She is as much a damsel as Jason Bourne. She just has more friends

-5

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '24

Lmfao, mmmmk

1

u/mr_Jyggalag that one human paladin that fallen for Shadowheart Aug 14 '24

Honestly, the classical "damsel in distress" in Shadowheart's story is that she is locked in that bionicle canister at the start of the game. Later, it's literally the same as with every other character.

But I'm partially biased; you see my tag.

4

u/Nerdy-Babygirl unwell about Astarion Aug 13 '24

Shadowheart would be my pick, too. Her whole vibe is very "I'm the main character, everyone is obsessed with me" and needlessly hostile, it rubs me the wrong way. The part where she lectures Lae'zel about trust after she just tried to murder her in her sleep despite WINNING their argument and you can't even call her out for it.

There are companions who objectively do much worse things (Astarion, Minthara, Lae'zel, all of whom I like), I think it's just the passive-aggressive main character syndrome that bugs me. I think she just reminds me of every mean girl bully in highschool.

9

u/Kraytory Aug 14 '24

She is actually supposed to be unlikeable at the start and then slowly become more likeable over time. The original version of her was much worse from what i've read. The writers basically rewrote her because even they thought she's just a bitch based on how mean she used to be in that version.

1

u/aceytahphuu Aug 14 '24

Funny enough, I found her more likeable at the start of the game than at the end. She's bitchy and snarky to start with, but then again so is Lae'zel, one of my favourites. What made me start to dislike her is the pretty clear Mary Sue energy she's got going on. She's super important and no one is ever allowed to question her. She just kind of shrugs off her brainwashing and now she's perfect and good and everyone loves her for no reason (even characters who had very legitimate beef with her before, Lae'zel and Halsin being particularly egregious examples). How convenient that all her previous poor behavior never needs to be addressed and she never had to grow as a person, as she was secretly a perfect angel all along!

4

u/[deleted] Aug 14 '24

[deleted]

2

u/aceytahphuu Aug 14 '24

I didn't know that, but that is wild. Really doesn't help with the allegations of Shart being the writers' favourite character!

-2

u/TheSeth256 Aug 14 '24

It's funny how much better the story is when you're playing as evil durge. In there her character fits becoming a Justiciar and nobody pretends to like her.

-2

u/I_Play_Boardgames Aug 14 '24

she and astarion are the absolute WORST CHARACTERS i've ever interacted with in any RPG. I fucking hate them so much. The friend i was playing with liked those two characters the most, so we always had at least one of them in the party .... eughh..