In Baldur’s Gate 3, there are countless ways to solve problems and play the game. Most players probably play the role-playing game in a classically “good” way – but miss a lot of the story. This happened to a user who is wondering who everyone is constantly talking about.
Spoiler Warning: This concerns important decisions from Act 1 and what happens if you decide differently than usual.
This is what happened to the player:
- On Reddit, a user shares their experiences after playing Baldur’s Gate 3 for the first time. They keep hearing friends talk about Minthara – but didn’t really know who that was themselves.
- You meet Minthara already in the first act of the game and essentially as an antagonist. However, you can recruit Minthara as a companion.
- The player apparently didn’t know this – and simply took her out. Thus, they missed the entire story about the Drow and are now wondering if they acted correctly.
Why does this happen so easily? Baldur’s Gate 3 gives you a lot of freedom to solve situations your way. However, the game provides you with certain hints so that you don’t get stuck and always progress at least somewhat.
One of these hints is very unambiguous: You should free the druid Halsin. If you do so, Halsin tells you to kill the goblin leaders. This is the obviously “good” way to play because you are helping the druid and protecting the tiefling refugees.
- What the game doesn’t tell you is that you can recruit Minthara, for example, by:
- being outright evil, betraying Halsin and the druids, and overrunning the grove
or by knocking out Minthara with non-lethal attacks to meet her again later.
By the way: Halsin and Minthara are both potential companions in the game. However, they actually exclude each other; you usually recruit only one of the two in Act 2.
Similarly, it can happen that you “miss” Karlach. Because several seemingly good NPCs set you up against her and demand her head. When you first meet her, it’s quite easy to just fight her instead of recruiting her. However, since Karlach is a playable character unlike Minthara, it’s clear that she serves as a companion. Ironically, Minthara and Karlach have a unique interaction.
“Just start over and see what you missed”
The user asks on Reddit whether they did the right thing or if they missed a huge story with Minthara’s death. The community chimes in and explains: That’s completely normal. Probably everyone who goes into the game blindly would just kill Minthara.
The game doesn’t tell you that she is recruitable. They should just start over, knock out Minthara, and take a look at the story – or just be evil.
However, it’s impossible to see everything Baldur’s Gate 3 has to offer in just one playthrough, especially without guides. Many scenes can only be seen if you meet very specific prerequisites, and some of them are simply “failsafes” to get you back on a path that allows you to finish the game.
This is one of the reasons players are still so enthusiastic about the role-playing game after years and sink thousands of hours into Baldur’s Gate 3. They keep discovering new content even now: Players found a secret companion in Baldur’s Gate 3 two years ago and now finally know how to get them.
