Summary
One of the best things aboutBaldur’s Gate 3is its excellent story, but despite all of its strengths, that narrative isn’t always rock-solid throughout. It stands to reason that a game accounting for countless different branching possibilities might run into some plot holes here and there, and in most cases, any that do occur are too minor to be distracting. One huge reveal can require some serious suspension of disbelief, however, potentially threatening player investment in a narrative cornerstone that the game’s final act is built on.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3.]The first two acts ofBaldur’s Gate 3spend some time building up themysterious character of the Dream Guardian, a customizable NPC who only appears to the player character in their sleep. Although the Dream Guardian insists that they’re trying to help the party, their motives can be unclear, and deciding whether to trust them can be a difficult decision. At the start of Act 3,the Dream Guardian is revealed to be an illithid known as the Emperor, an exciting moment that stumbles slightly with one cutscene that really doesn’t make sense.
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The Emperor’s Disguise In BG3 Makes No Sense
People Would See Right Through His Lies
After confronting the fact that their Dream Guardian has been an illithid all along,Baldur’s Gate 3characters get an opportunity tolearn the Emperor’s backstory, which is shown through a dramatic cutscene speeding through the illithid’s history. Starting out as an adventurer who might well have been able to fit in with theBaldur’s Gate 3party, the Emperor ended up in thrall to the Absolute for a number of years. After breaking free and returning to Baldur’s Gate,the Emperor wormed his way into an influential position where he earned his offhandedly imperial title.
Gaining power as an illithid in a city that certainly wouldn’t welcome one seems tricky, however, a hurdle that the cutscene addresses by simply cloaking the Emperor and covering his tentacles with an extra cloth. Considering the absurdity of the getup and the fact that his purple skin, glowing eyes, and clawed nails are still very visible,it’s a completely unbelievable disguise, and anyone with a Perception modifier that’s not deeply in the negative would see through it in an instant. When taken as it’s presented, the Emperor’s backstory just doesn’t make sense in this regard.
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It’s also just a fundamentally goofy moment, especially when dealing with a character as serious as the Emperor. Telling the story of a supposed master of manipulation and sticking him in a costume that could never possibly fool anyone is as tonally dissonant as it is logically unsound. It’s much more in line with a party rogue fumbling a roll than an intimidating illithid working his devious schemes, but the cutscene doesn’t acknowledge that comical element of the story at all, instead attempting to maintain a gravity that goes out the door the second the disguise is revealed.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Emperor Cutscene Likely Isn’t Literal
Not Every Flashback Is An Accurate Depiction
For anyone who’s willing to engage the idea that the cutscene isn’t entirely literal, however, there are some ways to explain the narrative in a more logical manner. Reddit userEmma_Tranquilshared a Tweet fromloveroforinthat makes fun of the Emperor’s disguise, and the comment section offers some interesting takes on the situation.Murloc_Wholmessuggests thatthe Emperor appeared differently to citizens of Baldur’s Gate than he does in the cutscene, pointing to cut content from early access that showed the power of illithids to change how others perceive them.
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The idea that the Emperor’s guise isn’t as rudimentary as it seems is the simplest explanation for the apparent leap of logic, and it doesn’t necessarily contradict his appearance in the cutscene. Decidingwhether the Emperor can be trustedis a big part ofBaldur’s Gate 3, andframing his backstory as a projection of his narration rather than a literal version of events enhances that uncertainty. The Emperor may have manipulated the perception of others to present himself differently back in Baldur’s Gate, but having just revealed himself to the party, he’s showing his real self in the flashback.
As confirmed by other secrets that can be found inBaldur’s Gate 3, this reveal of the Emperor’s backstory still doesn’t paint the full picture of his story, so the idea that he’s simplifying events to present things in a particular way is well-supported.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Plot Hole Has Practical Reasons
Other Approaches Bring Their Own Challenges
Beyond the narrative explanation for the Emperor’s unconvincing experience, it’s likely that the reasons for the cutscene’s strangeness were originally practical in nature. Showing the Emperor as the Dream Guardian might be more logical, butdealing with the varying height and appearance possibilities for the Dream Guardian would make engineering the cutscene more difficult. It also still wouldn’t make complete sense, as the appearance of the Dream Guardian fits what the player character trusts, not what Duke Stelmane and others in the scene would.
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Presenting the Dream Guardian in another disguise would do the trick, as Reddit userRaaslenpoints out, but it still comes with its own set of complications.Showing a different appearance at random could distract from the reveal of his true form in the surrounding scene, and showing him take on a disguise or manipulate the perception of other characters would detract from the momentum. There’s certainly an argument to make that the current solution is the worst one in spite of these challenges, but it’s easy to see why Larian Studios might not have found other options viable.
At the end of the day, the awkward presentation of the Emperor’s backstory isn’t that big of a deal, but it mostly feels out of place thanks to how compellingBaldur’s Gate 3’s story is. Although the high-stakes plot isn’t afraid to occasionally be goofy in the typicalDungeons & Dragonsway, the Emperor’s comical disguise isn’t played as a joke. Considering the complications that might have arisen in any portrayal of the scene, however, it’s best to simply suspend disbelief and accept one huge logical leap in order to enjoy the rest of what follows inBaldur’s Gate 3.
Sources: Reddit (Emma_Tranquil,Murloc_Wholmes,Raaslen)loveroforin/Twitter
Baldur’s Gate 3
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
