Baldur's Gate/Characters/Other Party Members

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Party members that can be recruited in either Baldur's Gate or Baldur's Gate II, as well as their associated tropes.

Warning: Here there be spoilers!

Party Members in Baldur's Gate

Khalid

I don't want to seem c-confrontational, but could you be a little less... well... evil?
Voiced by: Jim Meskimen

Jaheira's husband and one of CHARNAME's canonical companions in BG1, Khalid was a half-elf fighter. And that's about it. Early in BG2 Jaheira tries to track him down, only to find his corpse (and give a Hand Wave on why he can't be resurrected). Associated Tropes:

  • Adventure Duo - He and Jaheira, before his demise.
  • Battle Couple - with Jaheira.
  • Dark-Skinned Redhead
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him
  • The Generic Guy - He's a fighter with nondescript stats and no special abilities.
    • That said, his Constitution is very high and his Intelligence 15 is unusual (if useless) for a fighter. (Strangely his INT is only 12 if recruited at level 1 without a bugfix, due to a typo in the game engine.)
      • There is some evidence to suggest that Khalid was meant to be a Fighter/Mage. There are also mods that restore him to this status.
  • Half-Human Hybrid - Like Jaheira, a half-elf.
  • Happily Married - Despite their differences, he and Jaheira are portrayed as having had quite a loving marriage.
  • Henpecked Husband - "If at first I don't succeed... the wife won't let me forget."
    • Subverted if you read his biography. Khalid was always very insecure due to family issues, and actually appreciates Jaheira's take-charge attitude because he knows he'll never be able to speak up for himself either way.
    • If Khalid dies in BG1, though, Jaheira does say "I swear, you'll never hear the end of this!"
  • Neutral Good: in-universe
  • Porky Pig Pronunciation - All the time.
  • Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome - It wouldn't be possible to romance Jaheira in BG2 if he were still around, would it?
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife - Not ugly, exactly, but not very charming. Several NPCs seem to think Jaheira is out of his league.
    • One of them being Faldorn, but whether she believes it or is just trying to irritate Jaheira is debateable.
Dynaheir

For Right! And I always am!
Voiced by: Jennifer Hale

Dynaheir was a witch from Rasheman and Minsc's companion, and in CHARNAME's canonical party in BG1. When Irenicus captured CHARNAME and his party he murdered Dynaheir in front of Minsc's eyes just to anger him.

Associated Tropes:

  • Adventure Duo - With Minsc.
  • Black Girl Dies First - She's the first major character from BG1 you find out has been killed in BG2, though her death occurs off-screen.
  • Black Magician Girl - Literally.
  • Damsel in Distress - She needs to be rescued from a pack of monsters before you can recruit her.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him - Unlike with Khalid, it's totally off screen, so it's almost a Bus Crash.
  • The Generic Guy - Your choices for party mage in BG1 are Edwin, the scheming red wizard who's the best mage in the series, Xan, the chronically depressed elf, Xzar, the psychotic necromancer, and Quayle, the ridiculous gnome. Dynaheir comes off as positively boring next to them.
  • Lawful Good:
  • Sassy Black Woman - Kinda. She doesn't speak stereotypical Black Urban American English, but she is opinionated and thinks that she should be in charge.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe
Xzar

I wanted infravision like the elves... But 'tis more than just taking their eyes...
Voiced by: Frank Welker

Xzar is the official crazy guy of the playable NPCs, and he fills the role well. He can act normal for long enough to work in civilized society, but only just barely. He doesn't join in BG2, but shows up to give a quest that ultimately ends up killing him.

Associated Tropes:

  • Arch Enemy - Along with Montaron, to Khalid and Jaheira. Justified in that he and Montaron are agents of the Zhentarim, an evil network opposed to the Harpers, a secret organization of do-gooders.
  • Ax Crazy
  • Bad Boss: In the second game, you overhear a couple his apprentices talk about how cruel their master is. Xzar punished one apprentice for miscasting a spell by pulling out three of his toenails!
  • Chaotic Evil: In-universe
  • Cloudcuckoolander - And not the nice kind ether.
  • Demoted to Extra - Though at least he plays a fairly major role in the Harper sidequest.
  • Hitchhiker Heroes - Almost literally; he and Montaron are encountered on the road after the PC leaves Candlekeep.
  • Informal Eulogy - If Montaron dies, he responds by saying "Montaron! I never loved you!"
  • Large Ham - Justified however in that he is absolutely, completely insane.
  • Odd Friendship - Subverted: He's forced by his superiors to stay with Montaron, whom he despises.
  • Psychopathic Manchild - At time he can come across as this.
  • Sociopathic Hero - In the first game, his goals are noble, his methods and motivations anything but.
  • Shout-Out - To Robert J. Oppenheimer, one of the creators of the atomic bomb, and indirectly to the Bhagavad Gita:

"I am become death, destroyer of worlds!"

    • Also:

"Tell me about the rabbits!"

Some fava beans, and A Nice Chianti.

Stop touching me!!!

Montaron

Ye live longer if ye don't annoy me. Mayhaps even a week or more.
Voiced by: Earl Boen

Montaron is the counterpart of Xzar, and hates him dearly. A halfling fighter/thief, Montaron is an intentional subversion of the happy-go-lucky halflings everywhere else in fantasy, being a person interested only in doing his job in the bloodiest way possible. He dies off-screen in BG2.

Associated Tropes:

Xan

We're all doomed...
Voiced by: Jeff Bennett

Xan is an elven enchanter who has had the misfortune of being kidnapped by bandits. If you rescue him he can join your party. He comes with a Moonblade, a sword who is bonded to its owner and gives him strength, and his depressing view on your party's success.

Xan only appears in the first Baldur's Gate, but has appeared in the tutorial mode for Baldur's Gate 2. He's also popular enough to get mods that add him to Baldur's Gate 2, and was probably the most popular BG1 character to not get into BG2.

Associated Tropes:

Branwen

And by Tempus, I always repay my debts!
Voiced by: Bernadette Sullivan (Baldur's Gate), Jane Singer (Baldur's Gate 2)


Branwen is a self-exiled cleric of Tempus, the god of war. She felt that her people wouldn't accept a priestess of the war god, and being right, she up and left. She bears no resentment, however, reasoning that faith must be tested or be worthless. At some point she was transformed into stone by a mage named Tranzig and sold to a halfling who uses her as a sideshow to be gawked at in a fair. Once she's rescued, she joins the party. She's in BG2's tutorial mode, but not in the game proper.

Associated Tropes:

  • Action Girl
  • Church Militant - It comes with being a cleric of the god of war.
  • Drop the Hammer
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture - She's from the setting's equivalent of medieval Scandinavia, which is quite apparent in everything from her name to her way of speaking to her choice of deity.
  • The Generic Girl - She's even average by the standards of healers: Viconia and Jaheira are flatly superior to her, Faldorn and Yeslick are equal to her, and Quayle and Tiax are worse. And just to rub it in, she was the very last playable character added to this page, having been forgotten about entirely.
  • Give Me Your Inventory Item - In order to get her in your party, you have to use a magical scroll to reverse her petrification.
  • Proud Warrior Race Girl
  • Put on a Bus - Not even mentioned in BG2.
    • Though she does at least get a cameo in the tutorial.
  • Taken for Granite - Though not permanently.
  • True Neutral:
  • Valkyries - Maybe it's just me, but her long golden hair, large frame (at least in her portrait), Northern European accent, and worship of the war god gives this impression. Doubtless that if 2nd edition D&D didn't forbid it, she'd be wielding an axe.
Kivan

My soul aches for my lost Deherianna.
Voiced by: Rob Paulsen

Kivan is an elven ranger with a dark past. The love of his life, Deherianna, was slain, in a rather horrific manner, by an ogre bandit named Tazok, and has dedicated his life to hunting him down.

Kivan only appears in the first Baldur's Gate, but has enough of a following to warrant fan-created mods so you can use him in Baldur's Gate 2 and Throne of Bhaal.

Associated Tropes:

  • The Archer
  • Best Served Cold - He wants revenge on Tazok for torturing him and killing his wife.
  • Chaotic Good:in-universe
  • Crusading Widower - Even though Tazok is his ultimate goal, he's been hunting bandits for months before you meet him.
  • Dead Wife
  • Facial Markings
  • Fantastic Racism - Against Viconia, but to be fair, she is evil.
    • Surface elves and Drow have a very antagonistic relationship, as seen in BG2.
  • Hey, It's That Voice! - Rob Paulsen, who has also done Pinky. Not that you could tell, though.
  • Perpetual Frowner - Not surprising given his backstory, but he's never happy.
  • Put on a Bus - Despite being a fairly popular character in the first game, he doesn't even make a cameo in the commercially released sequel. There are fan mods which put him back in however.
    • Unlike most of the companions who don't appear in the second game, Kivan's character files and data are in BG2, and he can even be spawned with a console command or viewed with a creature editor. His file has a character portrait associated with it, which BG1 characters who make cameos but don't join the party don't get, indicating that he would have been recruitable.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge - Kivan's sole reason for being in the game.
Coran

A figure like yours shouldn't be risked in a profession such as adventuring.
Voiced by: Brian George

Coran is a happy-go-lucky elven adventurer and serial womanizer who's encountered in Cloakwood forest. At first he's insistent on hunting wyverns, but after that subquest is complete he will join the party permanently. He will flirt shamelessly with female party members, particularly Safana, and in addition has a lovechild in Baldur's Gate that he may or may not know about...depending on player actions.

He can't be recruited until fairly late in the game, but his combination of archery and thieving skills and his excellent statistics make him a fairly popular character nonetheless.

Associated Tropes:

  • Aborted Arc - Pre-release materials pegged him as one of the characters who would return as a party member in BG2. Instead, his role in the sequel is limited to a very brief cameo. CHARNAME can still ask him to join, but he will decline.
  • The Archer - His preferred weapon is a bow and arrow, but it's a partial subversion as he definitely doesn't have the stereotypical cool, analytical personality.
  • Awesome but Impractical - With his stats, he should be the best thief in the game; however, because the game handles the auto-leveling of thieves very poorly, by the time many players get to him he will be locked out of his full thieving potential.
    • He is hardly useless though. Even if he is gotten too late to adequately fill the party's needs for a thief, he handles the "Fighter" part of his Fighter/Thief multiclass very well. While his relatively low Strength (for a Fighter) means his decent sword skills will pretty much go to waste, his anomalistically high Dexterity and his bow skills make him the best archer in the game and he's still fairly useful all-around.
  • Casanova - A relatively sympathetic one, in contrast to Eldoth.
    • YMMV—whether you still hold this opinion once you take him into Baldur's Gate will vary depending on the person.
  • Chaotic Good
  • Chocolate Baby - His former lover is human, as is her husband. The fact that her child was a half-elf is what tipped him off that she was playing away from home.
  • Demoted to Extra - A pseudo-villainous one.
  • Disappeared Dad - Though it's not clear he knows about the child.
    • He does if you take him into Baldur's Gate with you. Brielbara, the mother of the child, is near the Splurging Sturgeon and will ask the party to save her child from a curse her husband put on the baby. She will specifically talk to Coran and tell him it's his child if he's in the party. Once she is done explaining her situation, Coran will ask the party members to help him. If you refuse, he leaves. If you agree and bring back Yago's spellbook so the curse can be broken, Brielbara will ask Coran to join her in raising their daughter together. He refuses.
  • Facial Markings
  • Handsome Lech - It gets him in trouble eventually.
  • I'm a Man, I Can't Help It - To his eventual sorrow.
  • Lovable Traitor - In BG2, there's a subplot in which he turns into one.
  • My Rules Are Not Your Rules - Even with his unnatural dexterity aside, Coran is given some incorrect bonuses. He has three proficiency points in bows, even though multiclasses shouldn't be able to have higher than two. His base THAC0 and attacks per round are also higher than what a normal Fighter would have, let alone a multiclass.
  • Our Elves Are Better - Like many characters in these games, he's a subversion of a fantasy stereotype, in this case the severe, humorless elf warrior.
  • Your Cheating Heart - While having an affair with a mage in Baldur's Gate, he was caught by her seducing another woman, which is what forced him to flee into the woods.
Safana

I'll do anything.
Voiced by: Diane Pershing

Safana is a sultry female thief first encountered in the Seawatcher Ruins area, where she is searching for lost treasure. She has a bit of a dark past, and is skilled at using her looks to manipulate men and get what she wants. As a result, Coran will take quite a shine to her if they're in the same party.

She can be obtained relatively early in the game and has some amusing dialogue, so she was fairly popular among players, but nevertheless she did not make it to the sequel as a playable character. She does, however, show up as a minor NPC at one point late in the game.

Associated Tropes:

Tiax

The day comes when TIAX will point and click!
Voiced by: John Mariano

Tiax is the utterly insane gnomish cleric/thief of Cyric (the utterly insane god of lying and evil). Tiax is, possibly, the single most insane character in the entire series, and that is honestly saying something. He believes Cyric has proclaimed him to rule Toril (the world you're on) and that though he hasn't quite taken over yet his time will soon come. He has what's slightly more than a cameo in BG2 when he helps you fight Irenicus but dies at the end of the battle.

Associated Tropes:

Shar-Teel

Men are pathetic.
Voiced by: Jennifer Darling

A female warrior who's encountered in the wilds between Candlekeep and Baldur's Gate. She enjoys humiliating male adventurers by challenging them to duels and soundly thrashing them. She'll challenge a male member of the PC's group to a fight when you meet her, and if she is defeated, she will grudgingly agree to join the party.

Associated Tropes:

  • Action Girl
  • Ax Crazy - Though not as much as some of the other Chaotic Evil characters.
  • Blondes Are Evil - Though she's not a Femme Fatale, Vamp, Alpha Bitch, or other evil blonde stereotype.
  • Blood Knight - With a gender-specific twist.
  • Chaotic Evil: in-universe
  • Defeat Means Friendship - Subverted. She offers to join the party if you defeat her, but she never warms up to you even if you accept.
  • Defeat Means Playable - As noted above, you have to beat her in order to recruit her into the party.
  • Does Not Like Men - To say the least.
  • Facial Markings - Though they're never explained in the game.
    • The game doesn't explain anyone's facial markings, leading most people to belive they're either tattoos or war paint.
  • Freudian Excuse: In addition to her dislike of men, Shar-Teel's biography says that she also hates Flaming Fist mercenaries and that "...likely her childhood was not of storybook quality." Fast forward to Chapter Seven and you meet her father. Briefly: he's a member of the Flaming Fist, and he is a horrible, horrible person. All of sudden her behaviour makes a bit more sense.
  • No Guy Wants an Amazon - Not that you can blame them in Shar-Teel's case.
  • Put on a Bus - Disappears between games.
  • The Reveal - She's actually the daughter of Angelo Dosan, an officer in the Flaming Fist and one of Sarevok's lieutenants.
  • Straw Feminist - Of sorts. She praises an all-female party.
    • But you need to have at least one male to recruit her. Go figure.
Eldoth Kron

Shar-Teel, your lot in life is to bake cookies and bear children, now shut up.
Voiced by: Neil Ross

A sleazy bard first encountered in Cloakwood forest, Eldoth wants the party's help in "rescuing" Skie, a young noblewoman from Baldur's Gate with whom he's involved. Suffice it to say, he doesn't have her best interests at heart and intends to use her as he has all his previous lovers, which earns him the enmity of a few of the other characters.

Like all bards in BG1 he's rather underpowered; that combined with the fact that he can't be recruited until late in the game (and is tied to a second character who can't be recruited until even later) left him unused by most players.

Associated Tropes:

Skie Silvershield

I broke a nail!
Voiced by: Grey Delisle

A naive young noblewoman who enjoys sneaking out of her family's estate, she dreams about becoming an adventurer but has rather unrealistic ideas of what that entails. She's involved with Eldoth and will call the guards when confronted by the party unless he is with them.

She's one of the last characters in the game to become available for use and is always accompanied by Spoony Bard Eldoth, and for those reasons many players don't bother with her.

Associated Tropes:

  • All Girls Want Bad Boys
  • Battle Couple - With Eldoth, sorta.
  • Can't Catch Up - Like most of the characters found in the city of Baldur's Gate itself.
  • City Mouse - She wants to be an adventurer, but turns out to be ill-prepared for the realities of life on the road.
  • The Ditz
    • Not really. She has an INT score of 16 and a WIS score of 8, making her extremely intelligent, but clueless, foolish and naive.
  • Fallen Princess - If you actually do break her out of her family's estate, all she does is complain about how dirty and uncomfortable the road is.
  • Horrible Judge of Character - She doesn't seem to realize just how big a scumbag Eldoth is.
  • I Broke a Nail - As quoted above.
  • The Ingenue
  • Love Triangle - Eldoth and Garrick both pursue her.
  • Put on a Bus - As with Eldoth, no mention is made of what becomes of her after the events of the first game.
  • Rebellious Princess - Similar to Nalia in BG2, she's a noblewoman rather than a princess. Her rebelliousness isn't motivated as much by idealism as Nalia's is.
  • Too Dumb to Live
  • True Neutral:
  • Virginity Makes You Stupid - It's not clear whether the literal definition of this trope technically applies or not, but the setup between her and Eldoth is a classic case.
Faldorn

I revel in the rituals of combat, and I welcome the chance to end your miserable existence.
Voiced by: Heidi Shannon (Baldur's Gate), B.J. Ward (Baldur's Gate 2)

Faldorn is a member of the Shadow Druids, a militant sect of druids that believe that civilization is incompatible with nature and must be opposed with violence if necessary, something about which she and Jaheira vehemently disagree. In Baldur's Gate she's surprisingly laid-back despite these beliefs, but in the sequel she shows up as a non-playable character with a much more antagonistic attitude.

Most players, if they want a Druid, elect to use Jaheira instead, as she can be recruited earlier and as a multi-class fighter is much sturdier and more effective in combat.

Associated Tropes:

Quayle

I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean, S-M-A-R-T!
Voiced by: Jeff Bennett

An annoying gnome just ouside of Baldur's Gate, Quayle can join for reasons vague even as he explains them. He's of no importance in BG1, but is revealed as Aerie's foster father in BG2. Because he is a mage/cleric multiclass with average (for mages) intelligence and average (by fighter standards) wisdom, he's an awful, awful character.

Associated Tropes:

  • The Cameo - In BG2. CHARNAME doesn't even seem to recognize him unless he dies.
  • Chaotic Neutral: In-universe
  • Demoted to Extra - Thankfully, most players would probably agree.
  • Fridge Logic - Aerie tells you he's traveled with her ever since she was captured and raised her single-handedly. Now, it works because she's a young elf and he's an old gnome (the equivalent of 18 for elves being 120, and gnomes living some 200 years in D&D), but if he was busy tutoring and raising her, why was he a playable character in BG1?
    • It's a bit more complicated than that. In most respects, an Elf of 25 is fully grown, although not considered emotionally mature until 100. However, since elves don't become fertile until around 100, it's still confusing.
  • Insufferable Genius - What makes him truly insufferable is the fact that he's far from being the game's smartest character and comes off more as just a jerk.
  • Jerkass
  • Joke Character - About as close as any character in these games get. You get him late in the game and with poor ability scores and low HP he's one of the weakest spellcasters in the game.
  • Nice Hat
  • Our Gnomes Are Weirder
  • Retcon - And not a particularly smooth one. In the first game there's no mention of him running a circus or having an adopted elf daughter; see Fridge Logic above.
  • The Rival - To Tiax, whom he absolutely despises in every way.
  • Shout-Out - Check the quote.
  • Small Name, Big Ego - The one thing that he and Tiax have in common.
Yeslick Orothiar

Watch what ye say. Good natured, I am. But I swing a mean axe when evil's concerned.
Voiced by: Bill Farmer

Yeslick is a good-hearted dwarven fighter/cleric, and one of few surviving members of his clan when their ancestral mines were accidentally flooded. He ended up befriending the wrong human, was doublecrossed and forced to reveal the location of his clan's mine and help reclaim it. If you rescue him he helps you in re-flooding the mine (which is a major blow to the villains' operations) and can join your party. He doesn't get along with fellow dwarf Kagain whom he finds very much to be a disgrace to dwarves due to his money-grubbing personality (and vice versa).

Like Tiax and Quayle you can only get Yeslick fairly late in the game, which makes him unpopular with many players since you normally already have a well-developed party at that point (however, they were pretty okay with his personality). A fan-made mod exists which makes him available sooner.

Associated Tropes:

  • Drop the Hammer - His weapon of choice. Given that he can't use axes, it's a little odd he mentions them in the page quote.
  • Dug Too Deep - Well, they only hit an underground river instead of an Eldritch Abomination but the effects were no less devastating.
  • Idiot Ball - He clearly was holding one, which caused him to trust the wrong person and get tortured. He's got an Intelligence score of 7 (where the world average is 10), too.
    • Intelligence is more "book learning"; Wisdom is considered the common sense stat. You would think someone with a Wisdom of 16 wouldn't be such an idiot, but he was. Maybe it was lower before you met him and freed him?
  • Kill It with Water - What he suggests doing to the bandits that took his clan's mine.
  • Lawful Good: He's basically a dwarven paladin (fighter/cleric), except that the second edition rules did not allow non-humans to be paladins.
  • Last of His Kind - Well, not quite the last of his clan, but you never encounter any of the other survivors.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same - Compared to Korgan and Kagain, he's really different, but Yeslick is probably the closest one you can get to classic Tolkien-style dwarves.
  • Put on a Bus - Yeslick is not encountered, or even mentioned at all in BG2, so his fate after the first game is unknown.
  • The Rival: Kagain. Yeslick remarks that while all dwarves are family, he refuses to see Kagain as such.
  • Shout-Out - One of his annoyed quotes is him singing 'Lali Ho!' from Snow White.
Ajantis Ilvastarr

We have much evil to fight, we have no time for idleness
Voiced by: Jason Marsden

Ajantis is a Paladin who serves Helm and is under the Order of Radiant Heart. His superior is Keldorn (which is probably why they get along even when they worship different Gods). He's joining the Bhaalspawn's group to spread the teaching of Helm and just generally do good like how a Paladin should do.

Some time later, Ajantis got sent to the Windspear Hills with several Paladins. However, he is later put under a spell that makes him think that a group of men who came to them are gnolls and ogres. Unfortunately, the spell also makes those who see Ajantis' group think they look like gnolls and ogres, and the group happens to be the Bhaalspawn's group, who proceeds to kill Ajantis by accident.

There's also a mod in progress that makes Ajantis savable and allows him to join your party.

Tropes associated with Ajantis:

  • Black and White Morality - As noted by Xan, who calls him 'The Resident Suicide Monger', he lives in this.
  • Demoted to Extra - Red Shirt, in fact.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him - At the hands of the player character, no less.
  • Fridge Logic - He's a Paladin - detecting evil is one of his stock powers. If the player character isn't evil, why does he then get fooled by Firkraag's illusion?
    • He saw gnolls and ogres and since they are Exclusively Evil he didn't bother to check.
  • Healing Hands - Like all Paladins in the setting.
  • Justice Will Prevail - He does NOT tolerate evil.
  • Knight Templar - Probably the straightest example who can join your party.
  • Large Ham - "This [forest/city/dungeon] reeks of EVIL" is his standard line whenever you enter a new place.
  • Lawful Good: Being a Paladin and all.
    • He's much closer to Lawful Stupid than the other Paladin or pseudo-Paladin characters (Keldorn, Mazzy, Yeslick, etc.)
      • His black and white morality is actually sort of explained in game, as he's much younger than the rest of the paladin characters of the series, so he's probably still a bit naive in that regard.
Garrick

Brave Sir Garrick lead the way, Brave Sir Garrick RAN AWAY!!
Voiced by: Dee Bradley Baker

Garrick is a traveling Bard who held a free-will life and just joins the Bhaalspawn for fun. He later tried to woo the noblewoman Skie, even though she's all heels to Eldoth, whom he despises not just because he's his competition, but because Eldoth is... well... an evil sleazeball.

Later, Garrick is no longer involved with the Bhaalspawn, but tried to woo a Female Paladin of the Order of the Radiant Heart. However, he's too shy and asks a gnome (named Cyrando to help him woo her. The Paladin in question ends up marrying the gnome, while Garrick ends up with someone else.

Tropes associated with Garrick:

  • Cannot Spit It Out - As Lady Irlana observes, he's awfully inarticulate for a bard.
  • Chaotic Neutral - Though not of the batshit insane / Chaotic Stupid variety.
  • Demoted to Extra - Shows up in the sequel, but only in a very minor role.
  • Did Not Get the Girl - His lot in life, it would seem.
  • Dogged Nice Guy - Always trying (and failing) to woo the ladies.
  • Love Triangle - He tries to create one with Eldoth and Skie.
  • The Ditz: When encountered and spoken to in the second game, he has no idea who the player is, nor does he remember Silke, the evil sorceress who hired him. If present, Jaheira will comment on this.
  • Playing Cyrano - The aptly-named Cyrando is this to Garrick.
  • The Rival - To Eldoth, whom he HATES.
  • Spoony Bard: He's not all that useful a character. Lampshaded in the sequel, where he can admit that he's not a very good bard.
  • Shout-Out - To Brave Sir Robin!
    • Not to mention the whole bit with the paladin and the gnome is a clear take on Cyrano De Bergerac.
    • When in a city, he may also spontaneously sing, "'Tis a beautiful day in the neighborhood!", similar to the opening song of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. He will also recite part of Trees by Joyce Kilmer ("I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree") when he's in the woods with your party. His voice is really low, though, so it's hard to hear what he's saying without turning on the subtitles.
  • Tenor Boy - A standard example. Actually, he and everybody related to him could easily be stock characters in a comic opera, including their voice types, so it was probably intentional.
  • Walking the Earth - His approach to the adventuring life.
Alora

Happy happy joy joy! Happy happy joy joy!
Voiced by: Amber Hood

Alora is a halfling thief, notable mostly for being quite literally the last available character in the game. Because thieves need to be gotten earlier than other characters (they tend to waste their thieving skills on useless garbage like Pickpocket instead of Detect Traps), Alora ends being possibly the worst character in the game.

Associated Tropes:

  • Back Stab
  • Can't Catch Up - You get her so late in the first game that she's not much use. It's not so much that she can't catch up as that she's already as leveled as she'll ever get with lousy HP and her thieving skill points put into relatively useless skills.
  • Chaotic Good:
  • Genki Girl - Even more pronounced than Imoen: this is her entire personality.
  • Hobbits - A much more stereotypical one than either Mazzy or Montaron.
  • Lovable Rogue - She seems to think of herself this way.
  • Put on a Bus - Along with lots of others.
    • Her character files appear in the sequel and she can be summoned with the console, so she was intended to be in the game at some point. That would have made her the only pure thief in the game besides Yoshimo.
  • Shout-Out - To Ren and Stimpy, of all things.
Kagain

I like it here, where the gold grows.
Voiced by: John Mariano

Yet another dwarven fighter, Kagain runs a mercenary company that provide protection for caravans, but is very obsessed with gold. In contrast to other evil characters, he tends to be rather quiet. However, he is always at odds with Yeslick, who continually chastises his gold-obsession, and Kagain hates him for being too 'goody-goody' and stupid. Sometimes this can come to blows. He has a constitution of twenty, which grants him regeneration.

Associated Tropes:

  • Affably Evil - Compared to the other evil characters, at least.
  • An Axe to Grind
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: He runs a rather shady mercenary company.
  • Even Evil Has Standards - When he sees a caravan of slaughtered women and children, he decides it's not worth the money he'd get from salvaging it and just leaves.
  • Gold Fever - Although he never betrays the party for it, making it a minor subversion.
  • Healing Factor: His constitution of 20 (which is pretty much unheard of) allows him to slowly regenerate over time.
  • Lawful Evil
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same - He's got a very different personality from Yeslick, but he's a fighter with a beard who swings an axe/hammer. 'Nuff said.
  • Put on a Bus - Like all the other BG1 characters who didn't make the cut for the sequel.
Biff the Understudy

I really, really tried.
Voiced by: Rob Paulsen

In BG1, if you'd murdered an NPC who was required for the story to continue, Biff the Understudy would appear magically and say his lines for him before disappearing, to keep the game (vaguely) continuous. If this happened to a potential party member, Biff could actually join the group, making him the only playable character with no portrait. In BG2, the game handles plot-important NPCs dying by spawning an area-specific super-enemy that can't be defeated, or having the NPC turn invulnerable and leave the area until you come back, making Biff unnecessary. He gets a brief cameo in the second game as an unsuccessful actor.

Associated Tropes:

Party Members in Baldur's Gate II

Yoshimo

Hiiiiii yah! Heh, the tourists love that stuff.
Voiced by: Maurice Lamarche

Yoshimo is an adventurer and swashbuckler from Kara-Tur, who joins your party in the first dungeon in the second game after having escaped a fate as experimental subject by whoever runs the place. Being the game's only single-class thief, and a generally easygoing character on top of it, Yoshimo fits into pretty much every party. As it turns out, he is actually a mole planted by Irenicus in the party. He is not at all very fond of his employer, but a Geas is put on him to force him to obey.

Associated Tropes:

  • Anti-Villain - Type IV
  • Back Stab - Like any self-respecting D&D thief.
  • Becoming the Mask - Despite the fact that he's secretly working for Irenicus, he does come to care for the rest of the party and hate himself for betraying them. He's magically compelled to do so anyway, however.
  • Booby Trap - As a bounty hunter, he specializes in setting them.
  • The Charmer - In a game full of people as varied as Baldur's Gate, the only person Yoshimo doesn't get along with is Haer'Dalis. Mostly because Haer'dalis recognizes a fellow actor when he sees one.
  • Crutch Character - The only single-class thief in the game, has no personality- or alignment conflicts with anyone, and comes with very good trap disarming abilities and bounty hunter traps. The game practically pushes for you to keep him, but he leaves you at Spellhold no matter what you do and conveniently frees up a slot for Imoen to join.
  • Deadpan Snarker - A light case, but it's there.
  • Empathic Weapon - He comes with a katana that only he can use, as it's bonded to him, though it's not very powerful.
  • Fake Nationality - He's voiced by Canadian actor Maurice LaMarche, better known as The Brain. But you really wouldn't know it.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Yoshimo's class is Bounty Hunter. The party is his bounty.
  • Gratuitous Japanese - Almost all his dialogue is in (perfect) English, but he does speak a few phrases of Gratuitous Japanese. They actually make sense in context, though they don't suit his rather carefree and informal personality. Which makes sense, in a way, given his cheerful persona is partly an act to disguise his true intentions.
  • Humans Are White - There are plenty of black people in Amn, but he's from Kara-Tur, the setting's Asia analogue, and given his fondness for katanas and Japanese almost certainly the Japan-analogue. Along with Tamoko, he's one of only two Kara-Turans in the games.
  • Katanas Are Just Better
  • Kiai - He shouts this upon a successful Critical Hit.
  • Killed Off for Real - There are mods to work around this, however.
  • Last Second Chance - The player can offer him one after he betrays the party. He can't take it, though, because he's under a geas forcing him to be loyal to Irenicus.
  • Lovable Rogue - Part of what makes him good at his job.
  • The Mole
  • Noodle Incident - Two cases. Firstly, Yoshimo is in some manner of trouble with Athkatla's local Thieves' Guild and you have to bail him out: The exact nature of this trouble is never revealed (but is implied to be something along the lines of 'thieving without guild permission'). Secondly, Yoshimo can pull a favour to get you into Spellhold due to an unexplained and, in his own words, rather embarrasing event concerning the pirate king of the local island.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity - Though not exactly 'stupid', more like 'harmless' -- Yoshimo is a lot more cunning than his carefree countenance lets on.
  • Plotline Death - Only if you bring him to Spellhold however. Otherwise, he just disappears without explanation
  • Sacrificial Lion - Possibly, depending on how sympathetic you find him.
  • Sixth Ranger Traitor
  • True Neutral - Of the self-interested but not evil, "live-and-let-live" variety.
  • What a Senseless Waste of Human Life
  • Word of God - Although thought by some to be Fanon, David Gaider has confirmed that Yoshimo is Tamoko's younger brother and came west looking for her and ended up with the geas as a result of his search of revenge.
Aerie

My wings have been clipped... oh, I wish you could understand how it feels to be bound to the ground, chained and weighted like a miserable prisoner of earth...
Voiced by: Kath Soucie

Aerie is another romanceable character; a potentially powerful cleric/mage with a sweet demeanour but a very traumatic past. She's an Avariel, a winged elf, captured by slavers and had her wings clipped off to preserve her life, until the Gnome Illusionist Quayle rescued her and adopted her as his niece. She joins the Bhaalspawn when he investigated her circus which was under the illusion of another gnome named Kalah. She struggles with life on the ground, but manages to move on eventually, much more easily if she gets romanced by a nice player character; otherwise she has to go through disillusionment and frustration first. She doesn't get along with Korgan, and may also develop a romance with Haer'Dalis. If romanced with the Bhaalspawn, she gives him his first son and has one of the happiest endings amongst the entire roster.

Associated Tropes:

  • Aborted Arc - There was supposed to be a quest that will turn her into a bird, enabling her to fly again, but instead she decides to face her troubles on the ground and takes a level in badass. Time constraints aborted it, but the change can be seen in her lines in ToB.
  • Action Mom - During ToB she can bear a male CHARNAME's child.
  • Apologetic Attacker - At first. She later becomes much less apologetic about it, however.
  • Babies Ever After - In addition of giving birth to CHARNAME's first son, she also gave birth to his daughter in the epilogue.
  • Battle Couple - With either the PC or Haer'Dalis, potentially.
  • Betty and Veronica - She's Betty. So, so Betty.
  • But Your Wings Are Beautiful - Inverted. She has self-image problems because she doesn't have wings anymore.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome - Pretty much requests you help everyone you come across. Acting like this also what got her imprisoned in the first place.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation - Despite being portrayed as almost completely naive in the ways of the world, Aerie has a high WIS score and has already attained a high character level when you meet her.
  • Hair of Gold - She's the blonde among the romanceable female characters. She's also the sweet, feminine, innocent one.
  • Happily Married - The end of her romance arc with CHARNAME has her demanding him in marriage. You can accept the offer or not but it won't matter since you'll be married in the epilogue anyway.
  • He Who Fights Monsters - Her epilogue if she's not romanced, as she goes on a vengeance spree against Sword Coast slaver rings. She eventually manages to calm down and returns to her home after springing some fellow Avariel from slavery.
  • Hey, It's That Voice! - Voiced by the ever-sweet-voiced Kath Soucie.
  • The Ingenue - At first.
  • Last Girl Wins - If you choose her over Jaheira and Viconia, who are both met during the events of the first game.
  • Lawful Good: An interesting contrast to Keldorn's Lawful Goodness, too.
  • Love Triangle - If the PC romances her with Haer'Dalis in the party, this will result.
  • Naive Newcomer - When you first meet her, she hasn't seen much of the world outside of Quayle's circus.
  • Pregnant Badass - Strangely, given her initial characterization, she can spend a good portion of ToB as this, before becoming an Action Mom.
    • It gets better. There's a good chance that she'll go into labor in the middle of a dungeon. After delivering the child, she takes a few moments to patch herself up with a few healing spells, then jumps right back to fighting/traveling alongside you with baby in tow.
  • Sex as Rite-Of-Passage - A gender inversion. At the end of her initial romance arc, she will ask the PC to spend the night with her so that she can "become a woman". (It's not the reason, since she's an utter romantic, but it certainly comes up.) Needless to say, this is the wrong move, because she will decide in the morning that she's not ready for such a close relationship yet and puts it on hold. Telling her that there is more than that to love and that she should wait until she's more certain of her feelings is the right move. In the expansion pack, she and the PC apparently get intimate quite a bit, as Jan will observe. She also becomes pregnant with the PC's child.
  • Shrinking Violet - At first. She gets more assertive later on.
  • Squishy Wizard - Ties for lowest constitution in the game (9) and is a multi-class on top of it.
  • Technical Pacifist - At first doesn't really like the concept of fighting. (Battle cry: "I... I won't let my friends be hurt!") Until she changes her mind.
  • The Three Faces of Eve - Fills the "maiden" role among the canonical female love interests.
  • Took a Level In Badass - She starts spouting out 'I'll kick your ass' style voices in ToB. As she grows more confident, she gets in some quite good lines, including the following, to Irenicus: I came to Hell to help my friend! Who helps you, Irenicus? Demons? You're going to die alone in Hell and you know it!
  • White Magician Girl
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist
  • Winged Humanoid - Or former Winged Humanoid, in this case.
(Sir) Anomen Delryn

There is an evil in my heart, I have always known this and I spoke of it to you. Hate and anger, twisted and black... and I... I cannot control it.
Voiced by: Rob Paulsen

Ah, Anomen. Squire of The Order of the Radiant Heart. Jerkass extraordinaire. Pompous, arrogant, insufferable and vain. He's on a quest to become a full knight. He's the only option for a female Bhaalspawn romance. Hurrah. Still a decent character gameplay-wise, though.

Associated tropes:

  • Abusive Parents - He has a drunkard father that abuses the hell out of him—though only verbally, now that he's extremely fit and strong.
  • The Alcoholic - Or son of The Alcoholic, as the case may be.
  • Badass Boast - Anomen tends to brag about awesome, near-impossible battles he saw action in, though it's very debatable that he ever participated. There's a good chance he's rather intimidated by CHARNAME's resume and is just trying to measure up.
    • If he's being romanced he even admits at one point that he hasn't been on many campaigns, and that the things CHARNAME's accomplished on her adventures are much more impressive than anything he's done.
  • Big Screwed-Up Family - Anomen's family is a noble one quite possibly of this type, based on the things his father says.
  • Black and White Morality - At first. Part of his character development is learning to look at the world with more nuance.
  • Black Sheep - Anomen becomes this if he refuses to avenge his sister's death; ironically, becoming a better person is what causes his alienation.
  • Calling the Old Man Out - He does so practically every time he talks to his father.
  • Character Alignment: Anomen starts out as Lawful Neutral. Succeed the test and he becomes Lawful Good. Fail the test, and he becomes Chaotic Neutral.
  • Character Development - Even his detractors tend to acknowledge that the various subplots which involve him give him a lot of depth.
  • Church Militant - He's a warrior-priest of Helm.
  • The Comically Serious - Jan, Imoen, Korgan and Haer'Dalis love to mess with him.
  • Dead Little Sister - At a certain point.
  • Fake Brit - A rare case of the character himself being a fake Brit: he adopted the accent because he thinks it's more knightly. Notably, his father has no such accent. You can call him on it if you want, but all it'll do is annoy him.
  • Fantastic Racism: Particularly aggravating when directed at Mazzy, who is far nearer to the Paladin ideal than he could ever be, race restrictions or not.
  • Feuding Families - His family has an ongoing feud with another noble family in Amn, which leads to his character-specific subquest.
  • Freudian Excuse - Much of his jerkassery is suggested to be a result of his family background.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation - Anomen is deeply concerned with honor and the law, and wants to be a noble paladin. But because his alignment starts out as a variation of Neutral, the game engine will make him start complaining if you do too many good deeds.
  • Hey, It's That Voice! - "NARF!" Sadly, his dialogue with Yoshimo contains no Actor Allusion.
  • I Have No Son - If he refuses to take revenge for his sister's death, his father disowns him.
  • Impoverished Patrician - Not quite, as his family still has a rather posh estate in Athkatla, but his father is in financial trouble and they seem to be on their way to this.
  • I Want to Be a Real Man
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold - He's proud, egotistical, vain, and quite loud in his expression of those traits. He's also a basically good-hearted, idealistic guy with the best of intentions.
    • He becomes less of a jerk if he's knighted, and/or being romanced by the PC.
  • Karma Houdini - In order to pass his test of knighthood, he has to let the murderer of his sister go unpunished.
    • Or, at least, the man he thinks is her murderer. Part of the test is learning to control his look-before-you-leap tendencies and rage.
  • Knight in Shining Armor - He likes to present himself as such; if you guide him in the right way through his personal crises he can actually become one for real.
  • Knight Templar - At first, it's what he thinks the ideal knight should be. He only actually becomes a knight if you convince him otherwise.
  • Lawful Stupid - At first. The quest involving his family forces him to consider the limitations of inflexible moral codes.
  • Lord Error-Prone - At first. He either grows out of it, or abandons it, depending on the player's actions.
  • Miles Gloriosus - He's prone to bragging about things he couldn't possibly have done, but in his defense, he IS pretty powerful and only rarely are his "exploits" truly unbelievable.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge - He wants to go on one after Saerk murders his sister. You can convince him not to, however. Saerk isn't guilty, either, which will only torment the poor guy more if Saerk's been murdered when he finds out.
    • It's kinda worse than that. Initially there's not enough evidence to determine whether Saerk killed Anomen's sister or not. If Anomen murders Saerk, later it turns out Saerk isn't guilty. But if Anomen doesn't go after Saerk... guess what, it turns out Saerk hired the men who killed her.
  • Small Name, Big Ego - He boasts incessantly about both his status as a member of the Order of the Radiant Heart and the many battles in which he's fought, but he's still a squire and hasn't even been knighted at the time he's encountered.
  • "Well Done, Son" Guy - Anomen has daddy issues up the ass.
Korgan Bloodaxe

Those grog-blossomed prickmedainties 'ave crossed me one time too many! We've some walking undead to dispatch, now, and then some live dead to find and bury!
Voiced by: Bill Martin

A bloodthirsty dwarven berserker, essentially the evil Foil to Minsc. He can be first recruited as a mercernary in BG2, and later follows the main character. He is generally considered a pain to deal with by other teammates, particularly the women. Ironically, he is sexually interested in Mazzy, the closest thing there is to a Halfling Paladin. Bizarrely, of every character in BG2, Korgan is the only one who has no special ability or unique item, being only a dwarven berserker.

Associated Tropes:

Korgan: Yer a fine, fine lass, ye are, Imoen. That Gorion of yers would be proud!

Imoen: Aw, gee. Thanks, Korgan!

Just so's ye know, I have somethin' long, hard, and low to the ground yer free to touch and fondle if ye wish. No need to glare, girlie: I was talkin' about me axe!

  • Even Evil Has Standards - One of the very few decent things you ever hear him say only occurs if you pursue Jan Jansen's personal quest to help his friend's child. When it comes to light that the little girl's catatonia stems from being physically abused by her father, Korgan—who we must remind you is an Ax Crazy murdering bastard—condemns the actions leading to her condition:

Korgan: Ehhh, there be many things I would do gladly. Harming children be not one of them. Her man be a cur and not worthy of the spittle on me boot.

on a Critical Hit
A SKULLBREAKER!

  • Licensed Sexist - As the quote above illustrates, he's quite boorish to women.
  • Luke Nounverber
  • Meaningful Name - Korgan Bloodaxe.
  • Names to Run Away From Really Fast
  • The Napoleon - Played straight.
  • Not So Different - Korgan observes that he and Edwin aren't that different in a banter.
  • Our Dwarves Are All the Same - All except his insanity.
  • Parental Abandonment - It's revealed in his dialogs with Mazzy that he witnessed the murder of both his parents.
  • Pet the Dog - Does, believe it or not, genuinely feel something for Mazzy, in his own screwed-up way.
  • Psycho for Hire - He makes his living this way before you encounter him. If you kick him out of the party after completing his personal quest, you have to pay him off to convince him to rejoin.
  • Secret Test of Character - If he's in the same party as Aerie, he will relentlessly insult and belittle her. In the original release of BG2, this would cause her to leave the party after awhile, but if the expansion is installed, she will eventually snap and insult him right back. At this point, he announces that his abuse was a Secret Test of Character and now that she's proven she will stick up for herself, he's got no problem with her.
    • Usually insults characters after meeting them, and befriends those that insult him right back. Including Imoen
  • The Starscream - One of his in-game lines is a threat to disembowel you. In his epilogue he pulls off a Starscream gambit for real.
  • Token Evil Teammate - Sometimes.
  • Villain with Good Publicity - After the events of the game, Korgan goes down in history for leading a doomed crusade against the drow. This wasn't because he disliked the drow, he just wanted to kill as many sentient beings as possible. Oh, and did I mention that he got a hold of the forces he used to support his bloodlust by killing their leader and sticking the blame to "a target of his choosing"? Rare that someone so nuts can get such a wonderful reputation.
  • Violent Glaswegian - Since Our Dwarves Are All the Same, Korgan has an accent somewhere between Scottish and Welsh. Oddly, he is voiced by Bill Martin, who used to be a producer for The Monkees.
Jan Jansen

You know, this reminds me of that time, wa-a-a-ay back...
Voiced by: Jack Roth

Jan Jansen is a gnomish peddler of turnips and illegal weaponry (but he's really more interested in the turnips). Much beloved by the fandom for his many quotes as well as his interactions with the other fan favorite character, Minsc, Jan is one of Baldur's Gate II's most recognizable characters.

Associated Tropes:

  • Abnormal Ammo - His "Flasher Master Bruiser Mate" shoots toy skulls packed with explosive powder. Or normal crossbow bolts, depending on which you have equipped. How it's capable of firing both equally well is not explained.
    • And with a certain mod installed, he eventually gains the ability to fire bolts loaded with insect swarms.
    • Given how ridiculously overengineered that thing's portrait appears, it's not hard to imagine it might have multiple barrels. For that matter, it probably has a hat shop, lemming farm, and kitchen sink.
  • Aerith and Bob - Almost everyone else in this world has a fantastic name (or two) - both of his are fairly common real world names.
  • Blatant Lies - Jan's not above lying to you at first if it'll get you to listen to rest of his story.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer
  • Chaotic Neutral - The stories he tells indicate a personality bordering on Chaotic Stupid, though he doesn't act that way when in the party.
  • Cloudcuckoolander - Vies with Minsc for nuttiest member of the party, though it's uncertain just how much is actual lunacy and how much is an act. They have a lot of banter, including Jan's bizarre attempts at stealing Boo.
  • Crowning Moment of Funny - He has quite a few, though his attempt to steal Boo from Minsc might be the topper.
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys - In his ending he manages to control a pack of knife-wielding gibbons to kill Vaelag. Anything is possible with that many knife-wielding gibbons.
  • Gadgeteer Genius - He's managed to invent a high tech explosive crossbow, vision-enhancing goggles, and an energy absorbent suit. Not bad for a pseudo-Renaissance setting.
    • With the Banter pack mod installed, Jan will invent a number of other things, like a monstrously overengineered crossbow for Valygar which he dubs 'the permanent solution to his wizard problem'. Valygar, in a rare moment of Genre Savvy, asks if this will be one of those weapons that shoots the bolt around the world and hits the firer in the back. Jan replies that it's 100% guaranteed. Try to use it in-game and you'll find this is entirely accurate.
  • Genre Savvy - Jan is surprisingly insightful and aware he's in a story if you're willing to actually listen to him.
  • Hurricane of Puns - He unleashes them upon occasion.
  • It Runs in The Family - The rest of the Jansen clan is nearly as weird as he is.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy - Jan's personal quest will eventually end like this if you get the best result: the love of his life runs off with an evil, wife-beating businessman who can support her child.
    • Subverted in his Throne of Bhaal ending: it's heavily implied that he trained a horde of monkeys to attack Vaelag's estate. In the end, he ends up with his lover.
  • I've Never Seen Anything Like This Before - Only once: when Jan and the party literally go to Hell.

Whoa! This place looks just like...it reminds me of...this is just like that time I...hmm. I don't think anything like this has ever happened to me before...

  • Lethal Joke Character - At first, Jan comes across as a fairly useless character included primarily for amusement value (with even the Official Perfect Guide having him as the lowest rated character, claiming there's nothing good to say about him), but used correctly he's actually quite capable of holding his own against other, more obviously powerful characters.
    • He also gets quite lethal in Throne of Bhaal since he's the only one of two NPCs who can get thief High-Level Abilities, and has illusionist magic and mage HLAs on top of it.
  • Let's Get Dangerous - He's generally incapable of taking things seriously, but in the sidequest during which his former love and her child are endangered he credibly threatens to open up a can of whoopass on his antagonist.
  • Meaningful Name - Shares the name of a Playground Song that plays out the same way as 'The Song That Never Ends' -- that is to say, it never does. Neither, of course, does his rambling.
  • Motor Mouth - Talks more than just about any other character, usually just to tell another pointless story involving turnips. Luckily, most of them are pretty amusing.
  • The Munchausen - And how.
  • Name's the Same - Jan Jansen does not come from Wisconsin.
    • Nor does he work in a lumber mill there, despite any claims to the contrary.
  • Noodle Incident - Quite a few of the crazier events he makes reference to in his stories go unexplained.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity - Don't take Jan's turnip fixation, bizzare inventions and tendency to tell random stories for idiocy.
    • During his somewhat more lucid moments, mostly during Jan's sidequest with his old girlfriend, Jan puts the (hilarious) storytelling aside and reveals that he is actually very, very much aware of what is happening around, knows how to fix it, and is totally pissed that Vaelag is trying to interfere with his girl, even if she isn't really his girl anymore. Furthermore, I think we all know that Jan would have been perfectly capable of turning Vaelag and his goons in to charred, bite-sized Chunks'O'Gnome, and that the only thing that stopped him was the lady's protest. Jan Jansen knows where you live.
  • Odd Friendship - With Korgan, bizarrely. Most characters find Jan's stories to be annoying, but Korgan enjoys the bloodier ones.
  • Or Are You Just Happy to See Me? - This exchange:

Minsc: You! The tiny, tricky gnome! Minsc knows it was you who stole Boo! You cannot fool Minsc! What is that bulge moving about within your trousers?
Jan: This bulge here? Why that's (ha-ha) that's nothing. I'm just happy to see you, Minscy. (giggle)

Jan: [after sunset] I've had this little problem ever since I was a wee gnome. When it gets dark, everybody glows red. Frightens a child something fierce...

  • Plucky Comic Relief - Along with Minsc, he's the primary source of it in BG2.
  • Spoof Aesop - Occasionally he suggests one at the end of his long-winded stories.
    • This is subverted in one of his banters with Mazzy, which starts out on the subject of potatoes and ends on a note of how Mazzy reminds him of a halfling potato farmer living near his family's homestead who had been captured, enslaved and abused by bandits at a young age before escaping, whose work ethic, optimism and appreciation of good honest toil had always inspired him.
  • Trademark Favorite Food - As noted in the description above, Jan is quite obsessed with turnips, though it's not clear he craves them as food. He does like turnip beer however, which has wondrous medicinal properties in addition to its fine taste.
    • Note that he claims it has medicinal properties; the context in which he mentions it implies it's overindulgence in turnip beer that may be at least heavily responsible for why he is such a Cloudcuckoolander. Turnips are also an obsession of all gnomes in the game.
Haer'Dalis

My dear raven, valiant as always. You are poetry, you are song!
Voiced by: Michael Bell

Haer'Dalis is a Doomguard: essentially he knows the universe is going to end no matter what he does, so he's just enjoying himself until that happens. He's a bard in a traveling play who joins you after you rescue him, perhaps sensing there are tales to be had following in your footsteps.

Associated Tropes:

  • Aborted Arc - Haer'Dalis and Anomen were going to be the romanceable choices for female characters, but due to time constraints Haer'Dalis' romance was cut.
    • Its absence is noticeable too. When picking up Haer'Dalis he will seem very interested in the PC, which will suddenly stop in later dialogs. That initial friendliness was supposed to have been a segue into a romance.
    • There is a fan mod that adds a Haer'Dalis romance, but it just blocks the Haer'Dalis/Aerie romance from starting, rather than adding the planned romance conflicts.
  • Battle Couple - With Aerie, potentially.
  • Bi the Way: He's the only male character able to have (off-screen) sex with a male drow slave. Word of God says it's intentional.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer - Haer'Dalis speaks halfway in riddles and strange metaphors and has a mind fixated almost entirely on entropy and theater. He's also the only party member to see through Yoshimo, and displays a surprising amount of insight on multiple occasions.
  • Chaotic Neutral - Puts the "Chaotic" into this alignment.
  • Disproportionate Retribution - His troupe performed a play that satirized Duke Rowan Darkwood, Factol of the Fated. Darkwood sicced a demonic bounty hunting crew on them. For those in the know of the Planescape setting, this is perfectly in-character for him.
  • Dual-Wielding
  • Expy: Exotic, tattooed, bisexual, dual-wielding, rogue-esque elf with fatalist views and associated with birds? Are we talking about Haer'Dalis or Zevran here?
    • That should be the other way around- Our lovable Blade can't be the expy if he came 10-odd years before Zevran. Aside from aesthetics, they're actually quite different characters.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief - Bards were basically this in 2nd edition.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation - Averted as Haer'Dalis is a Blade, a specific type of Bard that specializes in theatrical, balletic fighting. By profession he's an actor who apparently specializes in action-oriented leading man roles.
  • Gentleman Thief - He presents himself as such when first encountered. He becomes available after being rescued from a powerful wizard, who had caught Haer'Dalis in the act of burglarizing his home to steal a gem, and magically enslaved him. When you free him from this condition, Haer'Dalis admits that he'd come to acquire the gem but takes offense if you call him a thief.
  • Glass Cannon - Strength? 17 (on a scale of 2-19). Dexterity? 17. Constitution? ...9.
  • Half Elf Hybrid - Haer'Dalis' race is stated as 'tiefling' (a human with demonic ancestry); according to himself his father was an elf and his mother "no human". Probably some type of cambion.
  • Large Ham - Though, he is a stage actor.
  • Love Triangle - With the PC and Aerie, possibly.
  • Murder the Hypotenuse - If both you and Haer'Dalis love Aerie and she hasn't yet pledged her love to you, Haer'Dalis will challenge you to a duel for her love.
  • The Nicknamer - Haer'Dalis will call most people by their real names. Some, though, he'll create a nickname for: CHARNAME is "Raven", Aerie is "Dove", Sarevok is "Hawk", and Haer'dalis himself is "Sparrow". Breaking the bird themed names, Minsc and Boo are "hound and hamster".
    • He does, in fact, have nicknames for all the main party members (modders carried on this trait too). Spellhold Studios has a complete list.
  • Nietzsche Wannabe - Haer'Dalis is one of the Doomguard, a faction in the Planescape setting that practically revels in the idea of entropy.
  • Perky Goth - Rare male example.
  • The Philosopher - Haer'Dalis tries to be this, but most of his deep speeches are nonsense and the cleverer characters tell him to just shut up.
    • Jaheira's not really cleverer, she's just as witty as he is, which makes for hysterical character banter, like him offering to sell her at the market.
  • Shipper on Deck - Added by the Banter Pack, Haer'Dalis ships Jaheira and Edwin into a Belligerent Sexual Tension relationship... Though it might have been just for the sake of screwing with them. Naturally, neither of them are amused.
  • Show Within a Show - Or "Show Within A Video Game." He was set to play the lead in Raelis Shai's play, before his abduction.
  • Spell My Name with an "S" - His name is variously given as Haer'Dalis, Haer Dalis', HaerDalis', Haer-Dalis'...
  • Spoony Bard - He is a Blade, which gives him some special abilities, but is often considered to downplay the only aspects that could even make a bard worthwhile such as high lore.
    • It does however allow use of the ring of free action bug, which regardless of the fact that he is a numerically poor character makes him very powerful in defensive stance.
  • Stone Wall - As weak as he normally is, his "Defensive Stance" ability can turn him into this. They made it so you couldn't move while in that stance for a reason.
  • Warrior Poet - All bards are to some extent, but he even moreso.
  • What Could Have Been - He was originally intended to be a second romance option for female PCs, but it was cut due to time constraints.
  • Word of Gay: He's bisexual (or, as David Gaider puts it, "up for anything").
  • Word of God: He's got a forked tongue.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair - Justified in that he's not human.
Valygar Corthala

We're all filthy. We're all unwashed and tired and hungry. Shut up and tell someone who cares.
Voiced by: Jeff Osterhage

Valygar is from a long line of mages, started by his insane evil dimension-traveling necromancer ancestor Lavok. Magic destroyed every single member of his family except himself, and as a result he became a ranger to put an end to his immortal evil ancestor.

Associated Tropes:

  • Aborted Arc - Another romance option for female PCs that was cut short. You can even see some of the leftover romance dialogues in the game file.
  • Angry Black Man - Valygar Corthala will take precisely none of your shit.
    • Wonderfully done when Jan Jansen begin yet another tale by starting to talk about his mother. Valygar cuts him off by very pointedly telling Jan about his mother and the things she did before he managed to take her down. Jan wisely shuts up.
  • Black Magic - Valygar believes this stains his soul, but it really doesn't.
  • Came Back Wrong - His father, when his mother tried to revive him.
  • Can't Argue with Elves - Averted in that, well, he can. Although Valygar will argue with anyone with whom he disagrees.
  • Captain Ersatz - Let's see... black, taciturn, uses a katana, killed his mother, sworn to hunt down others who share his lineage/curse... Hmmm...
  • The Comically Serious - Especially against Jan, Imoen, and Haer'Dalis.
  • Deadpan Snarker - With emphasis on the 'deadpan' and not so much on the snarker, but surprisingly witty when he wants to be.
  • Does Not Like Magic
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation - Averted in how Valygar comes from a family of mages and had training as a child even before he became a ranger. His class, Stalker, gains some mage spells in addition to the druid spells all other ranger kits get.
  • Heartbroken Badass - In Unfinished Business, after Irenicus kills his lover.
  • Hidden Depths - Surprisingly adept at punning.
  • Humans Are White - Not so uncommon in these games, as he's one of three black NPCs (that's counting Viconia, who is a wholly different kind of black) you can recruit throughout the story, but as one of the only playable characters in the second game who's a native of Amn, which is a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of medieval Spain, it's a bit odd. He could be a moor-equivalent.
  • The Hunter - Due to his background, he's dedicated his life to hunting down and destroying practioners of evil magic.
  • In the Blood - The way he feels about his family's legacy of magical power/insanity.
  • It's Personal - After his lover's death in Unfinished Business, he becomes one of the many people who want Irenicus' head.
  • Katanas Are Just Better
  • Lamarck Was Right - Valygar believes his family is cursed to become mages: after Lavok became a necromancer, his entire family line was made up of wizards until he decided to become a ranger.
  • Luke, You Are My Father - Well, ancestor, but yeah, this is what Valygar tells Lavok.
  • Mistaken for Gay - Bizarrely, it happens to him a few times.
  • Nay Theist - He lives in a world where the gods are an inarguable fact of life—heck, he's travelling around with the son of a dead god! But he also notes that many gods are psychotic Jerkasses, so he needs a better reason than their existence to worship them. Which is a pretty gutsy stance, considering the atheist afterlife in the Realms is to be shoved into a teeming wall of slowly-decaying souls for all eternity.
  • Neutral Good:
  • Odd Friendship - Valygar will, against his will, become Mazzy Fentan's squire, though he doesn't really resist and comes to enjoy it.
  • The Quiet One - He'll talk, but usually only when other characters talk to him first.
  • Self-Made Orphan - Not that his parents gave him much of a choice.
  • The Stoic - Valygar would prefer to be this, but he always has to voice his opinion.
Mazzy Fentan

I won't seem so cute if I break your legs.
Voiced by: Jennifer Hale

Mazzy is a halfling fighter who would be a paladin if 2nd edition allowed it. As it is, she's the closest thing to a halfling paladin possible. She's beyond good, among the goodest of NPCs, and traveled with an adventuring party until its destruction. She follows you mostly because you saved her life.

Associated Tropes:

  • The Archer - Among the recruitable characters in BG2, the best archer by far. She even comes with a fairly powerful bow that only she can use.
  • Badass Adorable - Not that you want to point it out to her.
  • Berserk Button - She's generally quite even-tempered, despite being a Badass. Just don't make the mistake of calling her "cute".
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome - Both during the game, and in her character epilogue.
  • The Comically Serious - She's not amused by Korgan's crude come-ons.
  • Cute Bruiser - If you're going to call her that, make sure to do it where she won't hear you.
  • David Versus Goliath - A very minor quest has her solo an ogre, but given how powerful she is and how quickly the fight is likely to end, this likely counts as a subversion.
  • Expecting Someone Taller - NPCs are constantly commenting that they didn't expect such a renowned hero to turn out to be a halfling, which gets on her nerves.
  • Fake Brit - A rather posh one at that. As noted below, she's voiced by Canadian actress Jennifer Hale.
  • For Great Justice - Though she tends to be a bit more subtle about it than Minsc or Keldorn.
  • Healing Hands - One of her paladin-like powers.
  • Hey, It's That Voice! - Jennifer Hale also voices Dynaheir, Fall-from-Grace, Bastila Shan, (Female) Commander Shepard, Samus Aran, Avatar Kyoshi, and (most ironically of all) Giganta.
  • Hobbits - And a nice variation from the typical good-hearted-but-mischievous-rogue type.
  • Hope Bringer - One of her unique special powers is the ability to inspire courage in allies.
  • Knight in Shining Armor - Moreso than any other character in the series, with the possible exception of Keldorn.
  • Lady of War - She's got the personality and the ass-kicking ability in spades, but because of her stature other characters don't seem to take her so seriously.
  • Lawful Good: The most upright kind imaginable, without being Lawful Stupid.
  • Love Potion - Her main sidequest involves one of these.
  • The Napoleon - She doesn't like it when people picks on her due to her size, but she doesn't overcompensate for it. When Minsc compliments her on being so powerful in spite of being so short, she accepts it as a compliment after realizing that Minsc is too earnest to use Double-Speak to insult people.
  • No Fourth Wall - At one point, Aerie asks why Mazzy isn't officially a Paladin, to which Mazzy will reply that halflings can't become Paladins. Aerie comments that, not long ago, all halflings seemed to be thieves (like in first edition D&D) and that another paradigm shift might come along, and Mazzy's response is that the gods aren't just going to come out and make a 'third edition' of the world.
  • Odd Friendship - She will, completely of her own accord, appoint Valygar as her squire.
  • Pint-Sized Powerhouse - One of the best fighters in the game, despite being the size of an eight-year-old girl.
  • The Pollyanna
  • Redheaded Hero
  • Tragic Monster - What becomes of her former companion Patrick. Especially tragic as it's implied that they may have been romantically involved.
Lord Keldorn Firecam

Do not take honor in fighting with my presence. Take honor in that you fight for good, for that is my source of strength.
Voiced by: Roger Jackson


Keldorn Firecam is the paladin of the Baldur's Gate series. The classical Knight in Shining Armor, Keldorn strives for good but when the law directly affects him and his family he gets slightly hesistant to act.

Associated Tropes:

  • Ascended Extra - Sort of. He's the only non-playable character from BG who becomes playable in BG2; He doesn't actually appear in the first game but he's mentioned in Ajantis' background.
  • Badass Grandpa - He isn't technically a grandpa yet, but as a gray-haired fiftysomething with a late teenage daughter he's not far off. He's also one of the highest-ranking paladins in Amn, swings a mean greatsword, smites evil left and right with extreme prejudice, and, in his character epilogue, dies heroically after single-handedly fighting off an army of giants. So he's definitely Badass.
    • So Badass, in fact, that his patron deity (that of protection and strength, among others) personally claimed him upon his death. That can't happen too often.
  • BFS
  • But Now I Must Go - In the good ending to his personal quest, he leaves the party in order to stay with and reconcile with his formerly estranged family. That said, you have the option of subverting this by returning to his mansion the next day. He and his family will happily tell you that their problems are now cleared up, leaving him free to join your party again.
  • Cool Old Guy
  • The Comically Serious - He's a pretty serious guy and fairly humorless compared to Jan, Imoen, Yoshimo, and the like.
    • His humour is a lot more subtle and less frequent than the others, but it's most definitely still there. Heck, at one point Yoshimo starts singing a... Rather ribald verse he claims to have found scribbled in the margins of a holy text, then halfway through stops and apologises to Keldorn for his language. Keldorn promptly finishes the verse, much to Yoshimo's astonishment, and implies he was the one who scribbled it in the book while an initiate several decades earlier.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome - His One-Man Army ending earns him a place at the right hand of the freaking god of justice.
  • Fantastic Racism - The one chink in his otherwise impeccable morality: he is utterly unable to abide the Drow Viconia and will actually try to kill her if you keep them together in the party for too long. Granted, she is evil, but it's not like she does anything particularly death-worthy in front of him. Unless you tell her to.
    • And even then, the way he fanboys over Drizzt Do'Urden suggests he might have eventually been able to look past her race if it weren't for her attitude and choice of deity.
    • He has a similarly dim view of sahuagin, suggesting that you simply Kill'Em All rather then take a side in their civil war.
  • For Great Justice - Does a paladin need any other motivation?
  • Infinity+1 Sword - He's the only recruitable character capable of wielding the Carsomyr, the Holy Avenger.
  • Good Adultery, Bad Adultery - His wife's cheating on him, and the "good" way to handle it is to suggest that there's a distinction between the two. He eventually forgives her and they move past it as a couple.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars - He's literally and figuratively scarred from a lifetime of battling evil.
  • Justice Will Prevail - It's the ideal to which he's devoted his life, but he seems unsure of it at times.
  • Knight in Shining Armor - Somehow an even straighter example than Mazzy.
  • Knight Templar - Subverted: his class (Inquisitor) lends itself to this image, his abilities are all anti-magic and he lives in a heavily anti-magical city, and he follows extremely strict rules he doesn't hesitate to enforce, but he's no Knight Templar.

Where men gather, a bustle of chaos ensues. I would save them all, if I could.

    • Except if Viconia is around, Keldorn might come to blows on her due to being Drow.
  • Lawful Good: And a spectacular example of a paladin who isn't Lawful Stupid.
  • Lawful Stupid - He subverts the trope awesomely, managing to be righteous in almost every sense of the word. But even he has his flaws; just ask Viconia.
    • In fact, his conversations with Anomen seem like a direct Take That to the Lawful Stupid trend.
  • Married to the Job - Quite reluctantly so, as his main sidequest makes clear.
  • Odd Friendship - Keldorn and Minsc. Despite being opposed on the Law/Chaos scale, Keldorn can respect anyone who pursues justice.
  • One-Man Army - In his ending, Keldorn faces down a horde of giants by himself, albeit being fatally injured and dying in the end. Even the gods are impressed by that one. Heck, after he dies the hand of the god of Justice personally reaches down and carries him to the afterlife.
  • Retirony - In his character epilogue.
    • Not entirely though, since he was already retired at the time and had been for a good five years, but was press-ganged into fighting anyway due to the urgent need for skilled fighters.
  • Shell-Shocked Veteran - Still fighting hard, though.
  • Team Dad - He acts this way toward Anomen, Mazzy, the PC, and several other characters.
  • Token Good Teammate - Evil-aligned players sometimes try to keep him around for his anti-mage tanking capabilities and his ability to wield the game's Infinity+1 Sword, but it's hard to pull off since he is liable to protest when the protagonist does something wrong and doesn't like Viconia.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential - In the subplot with his wife, who has taken a lover because she's lonely, it's possible for the PC to get his wife put in jail and her lover executed. This causes Keldorn's children to hate him forever.
  • What the Hell, Hero? - As is suitable for a Paladin, he will complain vociferously and/or leave the party forever if you don't behave uprightly.
Cernd

As the trees are buffeted and snapped in the face of the gale, I shall be as the bamboo and flex.
Voiced by: Jason Marsden

Cernd is a druid who intentionally inflicted himself with lycanthropy for... some reason. Despite being an okay guy, his lack of personality quirks and defining traits beyond lots of nature similes makes him quite... hmm... wait, whom were we talking about again?

Associated Tropes:

Cernd: As the trees are buffeted and snapped in the face of the gale, I shall be as the bamboo and flex.
Protagonist: Oh shut up.

Cernd: As the simple wasp must coerce the flower to release its nectar, so will I rip your throat from its moorings and drain your lifeblood if I do not see Deril and my child! UNDERSTAND?!

Edwina: Why do you stare so, Cernd? No doubt you are to laugh at my predicament, so get it over with!
Cernd: Why does the King protest? His forests are pilfered, leaving just hills and scrub, but what loss is it? How can it be of value when it was never put to use?
Edwina: (There is an insult in there somewhere, I am certain. Would that I could stop time and kill them ALL first.)

Nalia De'Arnise

I'm going to be someone that gives to the poor and takes from the rich, I am. We've got lots to spare... and it's fun, too.
Voiced by: Grey Delisle

A runaway noblewoman who hates her arranged marriage and wants to support the peasantry, she nevertheless tends to unintentionally think of herself as above them. Nalia doesn't get a lot of attention because as a female human thief/mage dual-class with red hair who specialized in short swords and bows, she's solidly inferior to Imoen, the other female human thief/mage dual-class with red hair (well, pink actually) who specializes in short swords and bows.

Associated Tropes:

  • Aborted Arc - After rescuing her from her evil fiance and discrediting him to the city guard, he swears revenge. Which is never mentioned again, ever.
    • However, if CHARNAME is a fighter, if CHARNAME chooses to keep the D'Arnise estate, the Roenall family later lays siege to the estate.
  • All Your Base Are Belong to Us - Her family's estate has been taken over by a pack of trolls. It's later intimated that this was the doing of Isaea.
  • Aristocrats Are Evil - Nalia herself is an aversion, but her fiance and Arch Enemy Isaea plays the trope straight.
  • Arranged Marriage - Part of what she's rebelling against. Of course, given the kind of person her fiance is, her reluctance to marry him is perfectly justified.
  • Black Magician Girl - And in ToB, she won't let you forget it.
  • Blue Blood - Despite her altruism and favorable disposition toward the common people, she still displays some aristocratic attitudes at times.
  • Break the Cutie - In ToB, she realizes that rushing into the world to do generic goodness won't really accomplish much, and though she remains a good person, she gets more vindictive and sarcastic.
  • Chaotic Good - A classic case, at least at first.
  • Daddy's Girl - She greatly admires her father, but rarely even mentions her mother.
  • Damsel in Distress - Her subplot ends up with the PC having to rescue her after she's abducted by her fiance Isaea.
  • Expy - She started out as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Imoen, whom the developers originally planned to have Irenicus kill off/drive permanently insane. When Imoen's popularity among players convinced them to reconsider, they didn't change the "red-haired do-gooder thief/mage" thing much.
  • Fiery Redhead - Not always, but she is one of the more passionate characters in terms of personality.
  • The Hero - Nalia thinks of herself as this, but she's really more The Chick.
  • Heroes Want Redheads - Averted. Of the female NPCs who aren't either halflings or related to the main character by blood, she's the only one who can't be romanced.
  • Hey, It's That Voice! - Averted. She is voiced by the same actress as Viconia, despite the fact that the two are near polar opposites in personality, but unless you know that you'd have a hard time telling.
  • Insufferable Genius - Shows shades of it in ToB.
  • Insult to Rocks - In reference to Isaea:

"He is a complete and total bastard, and calling him that insults bastards everywhere!"

Lilarcor

I dunno what you were expecting, but as a sword I'm pretty one dimensional in what I want!
Voiced by: Jason Marsden

A sword imbued with the soul of a dimwitted warrior named Lawrence "Larry" Lilarcor. His favorite hobbies are killing things, mouthing off to his owner, killing things, complaing about not killing things, and, oh yeah, killing things.

"FORGE?! Did someone say forge?! Get it away from me, man! It BUUUUURRRRRRRNNNNSSSS!!"

  • Word of Dante - With Minsc's tendency to go berserk with two handed swords and Lilarcor's cool abilities it's become standard procedure to let Minsc wield Lilarcor. Of course, there are mods which allow Minsc and Lilarcor to banter with other party members.

Minsc: I have often asked him: "Larry, why are you Minsc's sword?" And he always says...
Lilarcor: Because you've got the grip and I've got the rip! Mwahahahahahahahaha!

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