I'm obsessed with BG3 Character Narratives (Some Companion Quest/Story Spoilers)
So it's almost common knowledge at this point that the origin companions have a common theme, power imbalance that victimizes the companion. However, my favorite part of this is how relatively unconventional. I say this because a lot of media that shows power imbalance showcase an abusive boyfriend or husband, which is 100% not the case in BG3. (I'll try and fail to be brief.)
The only abusive romantic relationship that is showcased is Gale's relationship with Mystra. She grooms him, mistreats him, and even tells him that she'll 'forgive' him for his past 'sins' (literally trying to help her and gain back some power over his own life) if he ends his own life for the 'greater good'. She has power over his craft and every essence of his life.
Shadowheart and Lae'zel both have to deal with goddesses that they give everything to betraying and lying to them. Lae'zel focuses more on the goddess thing, while Shadowheart's story is more focused on the betrayal of the people who raised her under the goddess's instruction. Both have to come with the terms that everything that they had been raised to believe being a lie. The 'families' that they trusted and who held power over their emotions and homes were in it for their own gain and not caring what happens to Shadowheart or Lae'zel.
Karlach was stuck with a demonic overlord, similar to Wyll (who I'll talk about in a second), but her story focuses on her relationship with Gortash in the end. It focuses on how she felt safe taking care of him and he tossed her aside without much care. I don't even remember what he gained or if he gained anything by giving Karlach away. She gave everything to him and he took it and gave it away without a second thought. She was a child who grew up too fast. Gortash was the only person she could be less adult around. And he just tossed her away.
Wyll is under the power of a demon who can curse him and ruin his life even more if he disobeys. He is the probably the most aware of how bad this relationship is, since he knew it was a bad idea even before striking the deal with Mizora. He was a victim of circumstance who is still paying for his sacrifice at the beginning of the game.
Astarion is also aware of how abusive Casador is, but he was fooled into thinking Casador was good before he was turned. But after that Casador is a classic abusive relationship. There is little emotional manipulation, Casador mostly relying on his physical and mystical power over his spawn to control their actions. As well as relying on general mistreatment and abuse to keep them in line and further his own motives.
All of these relationships are semi-realistic. While magic and vampires aren't commonly in the real world, the dynamics still exist. Male victims of grooming and abuse at the hand of girlfriends and wives, families and communities that put their gods or themselves over the children stuck in those situations, people who pour their hearts into trusted adults only to be tossed away, people who sacrifice their happiness and get themselves in bad situations to better the lives of those they love, and men used by other men who abuse and harm them. These are examples of abusive power imbalances that get commonly overlooked and ignored in media in favor of the (slightly more common) dynamic of a man abusing a woman.
As a storyteller, I really appreciate the writing of BG3. These companion stories highlight experiences that get overshadowed in other media. I know these writers really cared about those people and wanted to give them a character they could relate to in some way to help prove they they aren't alone.
And for that, I say thank you.
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Unpopular opinion:
Karlach is a side character that complements Wyll's story, so she shouldn't have her own origin run, Minthara should , and it should give the perspective from inside the absolute's cult.
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Would each companion buy an NFT?
Karlach: would buy one initially because she doesn't understand it, but would get rid of it immediately
Gale: too knowledgeable to fall for it. Hacks your NFTs and steals them and deleted them
Wyll: would buy an NFT if you asked nicely, but doesn't really want them.
Lae'Zel: doesn't understand what "non-fungible" means and threatens you if you keep pressing her
Shadowheart: she already has the third season of Lady Shar's NFTs, which also contain computer viruses
Astarion: is the one selling you NFTs, but absolutely judges anyone who buys them
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I used to think the origin trio was made up by fans cause shigaraki has one (though I think AFO is getting one) but after the endeavor arc I thought hori was going to tied shouto to shigaraki too since they keep getting drawn as 3 but nope I understand wanting each character to have there own fight but if bkg was always going to fight AFO then none of the other people should have gotten a chance like endeavor should have been in the background as support fighting a toddler like aizawa all might fighting AFO made sense and he could have assist bkg
I always thought it was the people who would have the biggest role in ending the main threat / AFO (the person and the quirk).
It made sense for Shigaraki to be there, because with Decay being shown to affect the vestige plane, and him being the biggest victim of AFO, I think ultimately he'd be the one to destroy the quirk inside himself.
Deku's role would be to save Tomura (where AM failed) and convince him that instead of the greatest villain, he can be one of the greatest heroes;
Bakugou's role would be to fight AFO with a team (to parallel 2nd - the Leader)
Shouto's role would be to bring the peak of the Todoroki family power (genetically manufactured to bring down All Might) to the fight to help All Might's heir instead.
When All Might got his (belated) Rising/Origin, I thought it was to acknowledge his role in the destruction of AFO
These seemed like the thematically logical roles for them in my mind.
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So, I have two character ideas for BG3. I'm not entirely sure I want to play as the origin characters, except for dark urge. Replaying the early access, I just love reacting to the other characters and I'm not sure I'd have a much fun playing as one of them.
My two character ideas are:
Tiefling Druid: I feel in love with Doric from the dnd movie, and I also enjoy the interaction and mediation between the druids grove and the tieflings from Elturel. It's a lot of fun. That probably one have much going on after act 1 but it's still my favorite so far and what I've been playing in my most recent playthrough.
My second character is playing the Dark urge as a life cleric. Not sure what species yet maybe elf or halfling. I have this dnd concept of a cleric serial killer that no dm will allow at their table so playing it in Baldur's Gate 3 will be my best option xD
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