10 Most Tragic Character Endings In Baldur's Gate 3 (2024)

Baldur's Gate 3 features a variety of characters that join in the fight against the Absolute. Unfortunately, not everyone is guaranteed a happy ending in Faerûn. Instead, too many characters have their heroism rewarded with misery once the cult is handled, and turning into a mind flayer is no longer a threat.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3.]

Baldur's Gate 3 centers around either preventing the Absolute from turning the population of Faerûn into mind flayers or controlling the Absolute and being in charge of the mind flayers. The companion characters have mixed feelings about the mind flayer tadpoles in their brains, and while it should be an overall relief for the tadpoles to be removed, some characters were better off with their presence. Other characters simply have a tragic ending due to circumstances that are not directly related to the actions of the Absolute and its cultists.

10 Dribbles The Clown

Dribbles suffers from a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He ends up killed by Bhaalists, and his body is dismembered and then scattered around different murder sites. His boss, Lucretious, isn't exactly sympathetic to his plight, either. She's the driving force behind the most tragic element of his ending — being brought back to work as an undead clown forever.

9 Alfira

If the Dark Urge is the main character in BG3, then Alfira has a tragic fate awaiting her. After she's inspired by the party's heroics at the Emerald Grove, she shows up at camp asking to join in their journey to Baldur's Gate and to eventually face the Absolute. Instead, she's brutally murdered that night as a plot device for the quest "The Urge," and the only character outside the party who seems to realize she's gone is Lakrissa.

8 Yenna

Yenna first appears at the beginning of Act 3, asking the party for help because she hasn't seen her mom, who's sick, in over a week. There are options to give her food or some money, and doing so results in her showing up at camp later and asking to stay. However, there's a high chance that she'll be kidnapped by Orin when she takes the place of somebody in camp, and that's basically a death sentence for this girl who just wanted a bit of safety while waiting for her mom to return.

7 Zevlor

Zevlor can die at Emerald Grove, but if he doesn't, his fate could be even worse than a quick death from a Goblin raid. Surviving means that Zevlor runs away from combat when the Tieflings are going through the Shadow-cursed Land. This results in Zevlor being captured and taken to the Mind Flayer Colony, where his fate is in the hands of the party. He could be ignored or killed while in a pod if he isn't freed, and both of those options mean Zevlor has a tragic end after a run of bad luck that started when Elturel fell.

6 Lae'zel

At best, Lae'zel becomes the new leader of her people. However, her other endings are much more tragic. Depending on the party's actions throughout their journey to Baldur's Gate, Lae'zel can end up as a Githyanki banished from her people, destined to run from headhunters sent by Vlaakith for the rest of her life. That can't be easy for a character who had as much pride in her heritage as Lae'zel.

5 Shadowheart

If Shadowheart is convinced to spare Nightsong, her world ends up shaken. She lives, but she has to deal with the knowledge that most of her life was a lie and she was never meant to serve Shar, the goddess to whom she was so devoted. Beyond that, she learns that her existence led to her parents suffering for years, and the best thing she can do for them is give them the mercy they request from her. Combined with the realization that her childhood was stolen from her and those memories won't return, Shadowheart has a lot to work through even after the Absolute is handled.

4 Wyll

While Wyll chose this fate for himself, he didn't really have a choice, given how much he cares about the Sword Coast. Because of his pact with Mizora, Wyll's endings are tragic. Breaking the pact with her means sacrificing his father to be the Absolute's pawn, and saving his father means Wyll has to go to keep his pact and do Mizora's bidding. Wyll's noble actions earn him the tragic ending of being sent to Avernus.

3 Ketheric Thorm

Ketheric's tragic ending was a slow process, starting long before he became Myrkul's chosen. His beloved daughter, Isobel, died young, and he became Shar's chosen once he turned to her during his loss. Later, he'd be approached by Myrkul and offered the return of his daughter in exchange for his devotion to the Absolute. By this point, Ketheric was too far gone for Isobel to condone his actions. In the end, Ketheric got what he wanted, but it cost him everything he had.

2 Astarion

If he doesn't become a thrall to the Absolute, Astarion is either left as a Vampire Spawn, or he ascends and becomes a shell of his former self. He's one character who was better off with the mind flayer tadpole in his brain because it let him be in the sunlight, stand in running water, and do all the other things he couldn't due to being a Vampire Spawn. Both his endings are tragic in their own way, and his good ending in particular because he's stuck living in the shadows for the foreseeable future. At least he doesn't have to worry about Cazador anymore.

1 Karlach

Karlach seems destined for tragedy. If she doesn't die or turn into a mind flayer, then her only option is to return to Avernus, the place she so desperately worked to escape. At best, she can have company in Avernus in the form of Wyll, but right now, there's no ending that results in fixing her Infernal Engine enough to let her stay on the mortal plane. If anybody deserves a good ending, it's this righteous soldier of a Tiefling.

Faerûn isn't a forgiving world, and there's no shortage of bad endings for characters in BG3, even if their actions should earn them a better fate. For some characters, it's a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But for other characters, it seems that fate is against them even if they do everything right in Baldur's Gate 3.

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