Minthara is irredeemable. Most Baldur’s Gate 3 players don’t even realise you can recruit her because she’s an Absolute general leading an army of goblins to slaughter refugees. Logic dictates she’s a villain to kill, unless you’re one of the few playing the part yourself and want to take her side.

You can knock her out and recruit her in morally good playthroughs now, but that update was controversial for diluting her journey and impact. Still, the developers at Larian understand that she is still pure evil. She claws for power at every opportunity, pushing you to make Astarion ascend and seize the Absolute’s control for yourself no matter the trauma it may inflict on you or those around you.

It’s rare to see such an unashamedly villainous companion in an RPG like this, and yet players are furious at a new update which makes Minthara reject you if you turn your back on a darker path.

Spoilers for the Dark Urge playthrough in Baldur’s Gate 3.

The Dark Urge is an origin character tossed aside by the Dead Three, stripped of their memories but still hungering for blood. If you choose to play as them, your morbid fantasies of murder often take hold, tearing away your agency. We see this with Gale when just fantasising about ripping his arm off kills him, and when a night at camp with Alfira ends with us waking up covered in her blood.

You can give into the urges for a true villain’s playthrough, or you can subdue them and try to redeem yourself in what is arguably the most heroic way to play Baldur’s Gate 3. But if you turn your back on Bhaal and truly redeem yourself, Minthara will - as of the latest hotfix - leave you.

Many are crying that this is “out of character” for Minthara due to her attitude toward gods, but it is extremely fitting. No matter the cost, she is always willing to take risks if it means more power and more control. While you may want to stop the Absolute to free the world of its influence, she wants to seize its power for herself and even become it.

To turn your nose up at Bhaal who is offering that power is to turn your nose up at everything Minthara values. Her response should have been there from the start—Minthara isn’t a romantic character in the sense that the others are. We see Astarion grow increasingly vulnerable, admitting his faults and flourishing as a person the more time you spend with him, shedding his past to become a better man. Minthara, on the other hand, views people as tools, always focused on her own endgame. That makes you a pawn, not her equal.

Your desperation for power matches hers, it’s what brings you together. To forsake that and throw away an opportunity like Bhaal’s is to stand against everything she values. And importantly, it makes it clear who you are as a person - you aren’t willing to grab at every sliver of control you can get, which makes you useless to her.

Minthara even killed her ex, despite still loving them.

She’s a selfish and manipulative villain, always embracing her true nature and making it clear where she stands. Shedding Minthara and her influence is just as important as rejecting Bhaal in redeeming the Dark Urge because she will always be the devil on your shoulder, forcing you to sacrifice your future and very soul if it means growing stronger. She might not like gods on principle, but if they’re offering a way to make her unstoppable, she’s not going to choose you over that.

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Baldur's Gate 3

RPG Systems 5.0/5 25 9.4/10 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 96/100 Critics Rec: 98% Released August 3, 2023 ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence Developer(s) Larian Studios Publisher(s) Larian Studios Engine Divinity 4.0
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Baldur's Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.

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