The Nightsong is an integral part of the plot ofBaldur’s Gate 3— Halsin gets captured by the goblins while seeking out the Nightsong, setting into motion the events of the game’s first act. The game’s second act then centres around the party finding the Nightsong beneath the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
However, the Nightsong wasn’t always Dame Aylin (technically), the righteous Aasimar we all know and love. Instead, the original plan for the Nightsong appears to be something more Sharran, and less Selunite.
This is evidenced by the name of Lady Shar’s model in the final release of Baldur’s Gate, which, as discovered byOpening-Secret8217, is labelled nightsong_old.
You can encounter Lady Shar herself during the conclusion of Shadowheart’s personal quest.
The Nightsinger
Ketheric Thorm previously worshipped Lady Shar before pivoting to Myrkul to revive his daughter Isobel. The Nightsong was originally a chosen of Shar, and was perhaps incarcerated by Thorm after he betrayed his patron. Dame Aylin ends up powering his immortality, but perhaps a Sharran originally filled this role.
If we look atcut contentfor the Nightsong and Dame Aylin, we can glean that the Nightsong was originally intended to be a boss fight with some sort of light gimmick. There are unused voice lines associated with Dame Aylin, such as “Shar is the Nightsinger, and I am her Nightsong”; “I am her instrument, transforming the faithful into Shadows”; “I drink their sorrow, their loss, their grief… then I vomit it back into the world”; “Thousands of Sharrans came here seeking my kiss, all of them are shadows now. That is Shar’s only reward.”
We have an old model for Dame Aylin that isn’t the same model as Lady Shar, so it’s clear Larian was playing with a lot of ideas for the character.
Although she seems a willing follower of Shar, the original iteration of the Nightsong also has lines that reference wanting to break free from the influence of Shar and Thorm. This version of Aylin may not have powered Thorm’s immortality, but rather was just a normal prisoner of Thorm’s and an instrument used by Shar.
The deep connection between Thorm and Lady Shar makes Myrkul’s involvement feel like an afterthought. Obviously, Thorm needed Myrkul to revive Isobel, but I wonder if the plot would have been better served by keeping him associated with Shar, whose influence is far deeper and more intertwined with his realm.
