In Baldur’s Gate 3, you will be accompanied by someone who can resurrect you at any time throughout almost the entire game: Lazarus, or the Withered. According to the rules, he can actually heal you from the larva, but he does not. Why?
Spoiler Warning: This concerns some details of the story that you can only discover yourself under certain circumstances and with knowledge.
Who is Withers?
- The Withered, also known as Lazarus or “Withers” in English, is an undead who appears in your camp during Act 1 and then permanently accompanies you. He is known for his quirky nature and sometimes surprisingly biting comments.
- Actually, Withers is the god of the dead Jergal, which can be deduced from certain details in the game as well as from the game files themselves.
- According to the rules, it should actually be possible for Jergal to heal you from the mindflayer larva that is implanted in you at the beginning – he just decides not to do it.
Can Jergal really heal us? A user on Reddit found a passage in the official Dungeons & Dragons rulebook about vampires. It states: “Vampirism is a condition that is cured when the affected person dies and is resurrected.”
This has raised several points of discussion in the community:
- Why isn’t Astarion freed from vampirism when he dies and returns?
- And why aren’t we as players freed from the larva when we die and Withers resurrects us?
After all, that should happen: When the host dies, the larva should also die according to the rules. In most cases, Larian adheres strictly to the rules in Baldur’s Gate 3, with only a few exceptions to improve the flow of the game.
It goes so far that rules can more or less undermine gameplay; for example, you can simply disguise yourself to speak with the dead that you have killed yourself. However, it seems that the rule is waived here – or not. Players have a theory.
Lazarus is an important NPC. He can not only resurrect you and your party, but also allows you to choose and respec a new class:
“Tav is the Chosen One of Jergal”
According to the discussion, Lazarus is not at all interested in freeing Tav – the player character – from the larva. Allegedly, he intentionally resurrects you along with the larva so that you remain infected, ensuring that you fight for him.
After all, his plan is to destroy the “Dead Three”, namely Bhaal, Myrkul, and Bane – or at least their chosen ones. That is, in any case, his task given to him by the god Helm, because the Dead Three only became a problem because of him.
Furthermore, the Dark Urge, essentially the literal child of Bhaal, receives the powers of Jergal when it rejects its father. If not Tav, then at least the “Dark Urge” is the chosen one of Jergal.
In another thread on Reddit, fans discuss that Withers doesn’t even accompany you voluntarily. He was sent to complete a task, especially because the gods are disturbed by the new threat from the Absolute.
So if Lazarus doesn’t fully heal you, it could also be that some higher power demands it – in case the supreme god Ao. However, fans agree that Withers has at least a certain degree of fondness for the characters. After all, he throws a party for you, unless you misbehave: If you annoy Lazarus in the new patch of Baldur’s Gate 3, you’re done for
