Baldur's Gate 3 is no stranger to a cheeky reference or two, some of which only true veterans of the series will understand. Characters from the previous games like Jaheira and Minsc are big players in Baldur's Gate 3's story and there are constant little nods and surprises for the Baldur's Gate players that have been fans of the series since day one. There's even a very clever piece of foreshadowing for one of the game's biggest twists, so consider this your one and only spoiler warning if you read on.

First discovered by Reddit user CaptainChalky, you'll be able to rifle through the belongings of The Emperor when you reach Elfsong Tavern early on in Act 3. Search through their belongings for long enough, and you'll more than likely stumble across a very old cutlery set. The Emperor remarks that this cutlery set was given to him by his mother as a gift, and that the butter knife is missing from the set for some reason. A pretty throw away line that everyone except Baldur's Gate 1 players will have completely ignored.

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We're really heading into spoiler town now, so this is your last chance to get off at the next exit. The butter knife line is actually a very clever piece of foreshadowing for the revelation that The Emperor is actually Balduran, the founder of the titular city of Baldur's Gate who has been turned into a mind flayer, but has broken free from the elder brain to take down The Absolute. It's very clever, because you'll only pick up on this if you played the original game all the way back in 1998.

In the first Baldur's Gate, you're tasked with tracking down the shipwreck of Balduran's final voyage. During this quest, you can find several relics of Balduran's in an attempt to find out what happened to him, one of which is a single butter knife that was gifted to Balduran by his mother on his 18th birthday. The Emperor having a set of cutlery that he thinks very fondly of, with a missing butter knife of all things, is very clearly a cheeky nod by Larian to one of Baldur's Gate 3's biggest twists.

In the replies, another fan of the game also noticed that a piece of music called The Song of Balduran plays whenever you're in your room in the Elfsong Tavern, the lyrics of which imply that Balduran undergoes a transformation and travels alongside "a knave, a wizard, devil, gith" to save the city once again, which is a lot less subtle, but cool nonetheless.

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