Summary
Baldur’s Gate 3has been lauded for many things, and its high praise is why the game continues to maintain such popularity. While there is plenty to like, Larian’s characterization of many of the cast is a core component of what makes the game truly special.
From the get-go, though, one character stood out more than the rest:Shadowheart, and it seems that almost two years later, some players still feel a massive bias towards the character from the team at Larian.
Larian’s “Bias” Towards Shadowheart Called Ludicrous
Over the past 24 hours, a newthreadpopped up on the Baldur’s Gate 3subreddit, with one player lamenting the amount of love that Shadowheart gets, calling it ludicrous.
The thread’s creator, Ok_While1131, created a list of everything Shadowheart gets, noting that she “seems to always have something to say whenever anything significant happens, even when every other companion is completely silent.” The player shared that they found it “frustrating seeing how much detail and favoritism was put into her,” adding that “Karlach’s personal quest is blatantly unfinished, and Wyll isn’t even the main character of his.” This caused quite a stir among the BG3 community.
She was called “the herpes of companions” by ferretatthecontrols,who says, “You can’t miss her because she just so happens to have the most important item in the game. That’s not a writing issue; that’s baked into the main story of the game.“Some, like ResearcherDear3143, agree,saying, “I think at this point it’s pretty well known that some companions got a lot more dev attention than others. " Others, however,cited more logical conclusions about Shadowheart’s omnipresence.
I think at this point it’s pretty well known that some companions got a lot more dev attention than others.
According_Catch_8786statedthat “There were different people in charge of writing and developing each companion. So all of that ‘bias’ towards her is just that the writer for Shadowheart did a really good job and added a lot of these things to the game,” adding, “The person who worked on Astarion, for example, also worked on Durge, so Astarion has more unique dialogue lines relating to Durge and their situation.”
Additionally, Yawanocnotedthat “Wyll was also entirely rewritten between the early access and launch. Always seemed to me like he was a victim of being underbaked because of that,” and MrAamogadded, “Karlach was added as a companion late herself.”
Given that, early on,Shadowheart was romanced by over half of Baldur’s Gate 3 players, it doesn’t seem like her “overinclusion” was too much of an issue for most. Let it be known, though, thateven Shadowheart’s voice actor didn’t like her at first.
