Baldur’s Gate 3 has a huge reveal for fans of the original games and D&D lore, which is subtly foreshadowed by one of your party members.
Those who choose the non-Dark Urge custom character in Baldur’s Gate 3 won’t get much in terms of unique dialogue options. If you’re lucky, you’ll get the occasional “Baldurian” option, signifying you as a former citizen of the city of Baldur’s Gate and giving you knowledge of its customs and locations.
The Baldurians will eventually learn a huge secret about the Dream Visitor that has been aiding them throughout the game. Not only is this person secretly a Mind Flayer, but they were once Balduran, the person who founded the city of Baldur’s Gate, and to whom it’s named after.
This revelation is hinted at several times throughout the game, but one of the most notable happens when talking with Wyll. As pointed out in a thread on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Reddit, Wyll drops a huge reference to Balduran’s fate and The Emperor’s true identity in a flippant comment.
“There’s so much stuff I didn’t pick up on my first time through the game. It’s almost like a second game,” one user wrote, while another said, “Mirkon, the little boy Tiefling that you can save from the halflings, calls you a hero — “like Baldy Ron.”
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“If you listen to the lyrics of Song of Balduran, there are massive spoilers there too, especially if you haven’t done the Ansur mission,” one fan pointed out, while another wrote, “Yeah. And you listen to it constantly in the Elfsong. The Emperor’s Theme is pretty much another spoiler, too (love that version though.)”
The Balduran reveal is strange in that it doesn’t have a direct role in the story of Baldur’s Gate 3. The Emperor could be any random person who managed to reclaim their personality as a Mind Flayer and decided to get revenge.
The implications of such an important lore character being alive this whole time and manipulating events from the shadows is a big deal, especially to fans of the older entries in the series. The idea that the memories of their previous host can alter a Mind Flayer’s personality is also huge, especially in a game where the player is deathly afraid of transforming into one.
Wyll might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, what with the whole selling his soul thing, but he was at least right about Balduran, whether he realized it or not.
