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Minthara
| Overview | Approval | Banter | Romance | Combat |
Ruthless in service of the Absolute, she commands a camp of goblins planning an attack on the Emerald Grove in the name of their god. Initially hostile unless the player character both sides with and sleeps with her in Act One, she can be re-encountered during Act Two and saved from execution, at which point she can be recruited into the party as well as romanced by characters of any gender.
Overview
Background
A member of the ancient House Baenre, Minthara is a True Soul in service of the Absolute. She is one of the three leaders of the Goblin Camp in the Wilderness. She and her fellow True Souls, Priestess Gut and Dror Ragzlin, set up a base of operations in an old Selûnite temple in search of a Mysterious Artefact by order of the Absolute.
Starting class
Before she is recruited, Minthara is a level 6 paladin with the following Ability Scores: STR = 16, DEX = 15, CON = 14, INT = 10, WIS = 12, CH = 17. If she is recruited, Minthara changes to a level 1 paladin with the standard ability scores for that Class, with a focus on dual-wielding one-handed weapons. Her Subclass is Oath of Vengeance, offering an offence-oriented toolkit with many ways to control and debuff foes.
Special features
Minthara's passive 
allows her to grant herself or an ally an additional 5 m / 17 ft of movement and 2d4 + 1
Fire damage on their next attack. She also bears the Brand of the Absolute and can fully benefit from items with this effect. Furthermore, she has access to the following illithid powers:
Personal quest
Minthara does not have a personal quest like other companions. However, she is directly involved in some important quests.
As part of the main-quest 
, the party can decide which side to support in the conflict between the goblins and druids of the grove. If siding with the druids and refugees, Minthara becomes hostile and is an objective of . If siding with the Absolute, she appears as an ally during . If the grove is sealed on the day of the raid, she instructs her raiders to kill the party.
In , the party can decide what happens to Minthara after her trial at the hands of Ketheric Thorm and Disciple Z'rell at Moonrise Towers.[3]
After recruiting Minthara, she has a personal interest in destroying the Cult of the Absolute and killing Orin the Red for revenge, therefore completing . Orin killed Minthara's drow companions and tortured and enslaved her to the Cult of the Absolute through implanting a tadpole in Minthara's brain. The Cult of the Absolute forced Minthara to commit massacres on the enemies of the cult.
Recruitment
Although Minthara can be encountered in Act One, she cannot join the player's party as a permanent companion before reaching Moonrise Towers in Act Two.[4][5]
Act Two
- If left alive after the events of Act One, Minthara can be found at Moonrise Towers facing trial by Ketheric Thorm for failing to find the
Mysterious Artefact. Sentenced to death, she is taken to Moonrise Towers Prison to be tortured until her execution. The party can help her escape and, if invited to camp, she offers to join them.
- Should the party side with Minthara during and raid the grove with her, no additional steps are needed to ensure she appears at Moonrise Towers.
- If the party side with the druids but still wish to meet Minthara at Moonrise Towers, she must be knocked out when fought. This can occur in the Shattered Sanctum or when defending the grove from the goblin attack.[6][7][11]
- Should the party side with Minthara during
Approval
Minthara approves of displays of power and control, often in the form of violent, if not efficient, solutions to problems. She respects those with the strength to follow their own will, and enjoys cruel irony on occasion. She also hates dwarves for some reason.[Needs Verification]
Minthara dislikes shows of compassion, especially towards those she considers weak. She disapproves of any form of benevolence without something to gain for it, as well as senseless violence that does not aid the party in some way. Above all, she despises acts of weakness and any worship of Lolth.
Romance
If the party side with the Absolutists and successfully raid the Emerald Grove, the player character can have a one-night stand with Minthara to celebrate their victory.
Should Minthara be saved and recruited, she can be romanced by characters of either gender. Though initially cold, Minthara reveals some of her deepest fears to her partner, as well as displays a more romantic, if not jealous, side of her.
Description
Appearance
With a stern countenance and piercing eyes, Minthara has an imposing presence. Like most drow, she has purplish-blue skin, with crimson eyes and pointed ears. Her silver hair is kept in a messy top bun, with stray strands of hair adorning her face. On the left side of her neck, she bears the seal of House Baenre in black, marking her a member of the ancestral house. Her combat equipment is well-made, and her at-ease clothes reflect some of her noble upbringing.
Personality
As a drow and follower of the Absolute, Minthara has a highly hostile and cruel attitude towards other beings, considering almost everyone as inferior. She has a special disdain for those who do not share her beliefs, and holds other drow in high regard. Her upbringing as a noble in 
Menzoberranzan further compounds her superiority complex. Aligned with the Absolute, she is willing to do whatever it takes to serve it.
Power hungry, she is always looking for ways to increase her standing among her peers, which is a product of her drow upbringing. Having been a follower of Lolth once, she also knows that violence, deception, and cruelty are great tools to obtain what she wants.
Despite her overt dislike for others, she is an observant person, always studying those that surround her. Minthara often understands the plights of her companions, even if she doesn't care for them, and she is always willing to offer a solution in her own way. Though her methods are sometimes extreme, they always have sound reasoning. Still, she doesn't support mindless cruelty if it serves no purpose, and even shows a weak spot for Scratch. If romanced, she shows that she harbours doubts about her life and circumstances.
Whether due to her looks or attitude, Minthara reveals she has had quite a few past lovers[12] and even has a few suitors amongst the goblins, unbeknownst to her.[13][14]
If recruited and freed from the Absolute's influence, Minthara's cruelty becomes more tempered, and her fury is aimed solely at other leaders of the Cult - particularly Orin the Red. She becomes contemplative of her actions under the Absolute's influence, and rues their exploitation of her fears and yearning for belonging to use her as a tool.
History
Menzoberranzan
Born into the ancient House Baenre of Menzoberranzan, Minthara was raised as a noble of the city in Qu'ellarz'orl, a plateau above the city expanse.[15] Taught in the ways of Lolth, she rose to be an important house matron, enjoying all the luxuries of her birthright. She survived her first assassination attempt as a child, and another at the hands of her mother when she came of age.[16]
Sometime during her life there, she encountered a True Soul and two novices preaching the message of the Absolute. Minthara hanged and displayed as a warning against heresy,[17] but curiosity got the best of her, and after using necromancy on the corpses to find their base of operations, she prepared a retinue of warriors to strike at Moonrise Towers.
Indoctrination and time in the Cult
Minthara gathered her allies to battle the absolutists, yet, when they arrived at the Moonrise Towers, they were met with a lavish feast and a welcome fit for a house matron. Ketheric Thorm had been expecting her, and invited her to partake of his feast alongside Orin the Red. He explained he wished to form an alliance between Moonrise and Menzoberranzan, flattering Minthara and playing to her pride.[18] Lowering her guard, Minthara was unable to react in time as Orin jumped on the table and sliced her men's throats as she approached her. Standing before her, Orin expressed her interest in Minthara, and Ketheric approved of it, ordering her to be taken to the Mind Flayer Colony.[19] There, Minthara was held for some time, helplessly watching as her men were processed for food or to be turned into thralls. Eventually, Orin returned and placed the tadpole in Minthara's eye, sealing the drow's fate as part of the Cult of the Absolute.[20]
Under orders of her new god, Minthara participated in many massacres carried out by the cult, mostly against religious communities who refused to be converted. She became a zealot, and in time, even began to admire Orin. Orin would manipulate her further, telling her lies of how she was a True Soul, chosen by the Absolute as her greatest weapon.[21] For Minthara, the Absolute was more than just a god, it was everything she ever truly wanted.[21] With a new purpose, Minthara heads to the Wilderness in search of a powerful weapon her new goddess desires, hungry to prove herself.
Involvement
Act One
Minthara is first encountered at the Shattered Sanctum within the Goblin Camp, planning an attack on Emerald Grove at the behest of the Absolute. When spoken to, she quickly identifies the party as fellow True Souls and reveals that she believes the druids are hiding a powerful weapon that the Absolute desires. She has been surveying the land in search of the weapon, sending scouts to track the leader of the grove, Halsin.[22] Minthara probes the party's minds with her tadpole, possibly exposing the grove's location.
Save the Refugees
Though Minthara does not have a personal quest, she is deeply involved in . The party can fight Minthara as part of the quest , turning her and the rest of the goblins hostile. With one of the three goblin leaders dead, Dror Ragzlin and Priestess Gut would be next.
Raiding the Grove
Alternatively, the party can raid the grove with the Absolutists, which initiates . If the party ally with the Absolute and disclose the grove's location, the raid begins after the next Long Rest. Completing the raid causes Karlach and Wyll to permanently leave the party. After the grove is destroyed, Minthara and the goblins join the party at their camp to celebrate slaughtering the druids, even if they failed to find the weapon the Absolute desired. Minthara also offers a casual encounter with the player character. Rejecting her angers her, but carries no negative consequences.
After the celebrations, Minthara urges the party to join the Absolute at Moonrise Towers in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. She gives the party her 
Spider's Lyre to summon a guide that helps them through the deadly shadows, and she departs shortly after.
Double-Crossing Minthara
After initialising the raid on the grove, it is possible to double-cross her. Halsin must be freed in the Worg Pens but left there. After agreeing to seize the grove with Minthara, the party must talk to Halsin and immediately travel to the Emerald Grove. All this must be done without a long rest.
At the Emerald Grove, the party must side with the tieflings. If the goblin forces are defeated and Minthara is killed or knocked out, then the quests and are completed without killing Dror Ragzlin and Gut.
Act Two
Decide Minthara's Fate
Should Minthara survive Act One, whether friendly or hostile, she is next encountered in Moonrise Towers on trial by Ketheric Thorm for failing to retrieve the Mysterious Artefact. The party can intervene on her behalf, but Ketheric sentences her to death regardless of what is said. This begins the quest .
The party can choose to follow, in which case they find her at the Moonrise Towers Prison undergoing torture by two gnome questioners. The party can join the questioners in erasing Minthara's mind, turning her into a witless thrall of the Absolute, or help her escape by slaying the gnomes or through dialogue. If freed, the party needs to escort Minthara out of the prison, through any combination of stealth, dialogue or violence. Once freed, Minthara can leave or be convinced to join the party, at which point she joins the camp.
If the party allow Balthazar to take the Nightsong during , and find Isobel for the Absolutists, they are granted an audience with Ketheric Thorm, who allows them to pray at the altar of the Absolute. Doing so ultimately imprisons the party in pods in the Mind Flayer Colony, where Balthazar attempts to turn them into zombies at his service. In the ensuing fight, the party may battle a Zombie Dror Ragzlin and Zombie Minthara, if either died during prior events.
Act Three
Minthara is one of the possible victims of Orin's kidnapping during Act Three as part of . If so, once Orin is defeated and Minthara rescued, she comments on the entire ordeal. Additionally, she expresses feeling disheartened after killing her former abuser. Although Orin could only copy the surface characteristics of her victims, Minthara saw herself in Orin's bloodlust and madness, a shattered but possible version of herself had she not broken free from the Absolute's control.
Get Orin's Netherstone
Having been indoctrinated into the Cult of the Absolute by Orin herself, Minthara has a personal stake in the quest .
Endings
When spoken to in either ending, Minthara bemoans the party's lack of extravagance and asks if the player character regrets their decision not to control the Absolute. Ambient chatter from Minthara has her wryly suspect there have been other reunions to which she hasn't been invited, that all the heroes gathering together paints a target on the party for hostile attack, and that she is becoming accustomed to the taste of surface-grown plants.
Return to Menzoberranzan
Minthara can be encouraged to return to Menzoberranzan, to which she will agree, suggesting they put the gnomes back to work to rebuild the Steel Watch, returning as conquerors to found a new noble House. Six months after the fall of the absolutists, Minthara will mention that the war against House Baenre is going well, but that she welcomes the distraction of Withers' party.
Baldur's Gate
Otherwise, if encouraged to stay in Baldur's Gate, then Minthara claims that Baldur's Gate needs new leadership that she is happy to provide. She shares that she has been scheming in the shadows and that the political intrigue has been enjoyable. She asserts that the people will learn from her or bow to her.
Quest rewards
Gift from the Absolute — given by Minthara for siding with the absolutists and raiding the grove.
Spider's Lyre — given by Minthara after the camp celebration upon successfully raiding the grove, or can be looted on her body if killed during act one.
Interactions
Companion interactions
Minthara has unique dialogue interactions as a companion available after certain events. Whenever one is available, she has a floating [ ! ] icon above her.
Act Two
- Upon arrival at the camp as a companion, she has dialogue about her time under the Absolute and her vow of vengeance. If she joints the party while she still has unfinished dialogue, she asks the player character for privacy, and cut them out of this dialogue.
- After defeating Ketheric, Minthara sits on his throne, gloating. When spoken to, she reveals more about her indoctrination into the Cult, and her plans after the Cult is destroyed.
Act Three
- Upon reaching Rivington, Minthara comments on the state of the refugees and city's refusal to let them in.
- If pursuing a romance with her, she asks about the player character's thoughts on her.
Unique interactions
As a companion, Minthara has unique interactions and special dialogue with the following characters, listed by the act they are first encountered in.
Act Two
Act Three
Combat
Loot
Minthara possesses the same items as her starting equipment, except for her underwear. If knocked unconscious, she does not drop a Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen nor asupply pack.[23]
If all equipment and clothing are looted from her and she is left unconscious, she reappears in Act Two at Moonrise Towers in a new set of camp clothes including camp shoes and underwear.
Starting equipment
If looted:
If not looted:
Related literature
Gallery
Base model.
Camp clothing model.
Underwear model.
Early Access post-Patch 6 model.
Early Access Patch 5 model.
Early Access pre-Patch 5 model.
Appearance on the level-up screen.
Portrait by Edward Vanderghote.
PS5 reveal press kit appearance.
Patch 6 of Early Access.
Patch 5 of Early Access.
At the start of Early Access.
Digital Artbook concept.
Notes and references
- ↑ In traditional Drow names, the prefix "Min-" means "lesser", "minor", or "second", while the suffix "-thara" means "glyph", "marker", or "rune". Owen K.C. Stephens, "By Any Other Name: The Drow", Dragon 267 (January 2000): 28-31
- ↑ If the player character is a Lolth-sworn drow, many unique dialogue options are available, one of which includes condemning Minthara and attacking her for abandoning Lolth.
- ↑ There is a bug, that can occur, if after saving her from the deep gnome questioners, Minthara is asked to stay and wait in the prison until the party members come back to her. She then cannot be interacted with anymore, because the dialog for this has not been assigned to her correctly. Aand, if going inside her mind and telling her to fight with the party, the dialog is also not automatically fired after the combat, so there is then no way to talk to her at all. To circumvent this, it is recommended, to free Minthara peacefully without any fight through passing the persuasion, deception or intimidation checks, when talking to deep gnome questioners and then immediately lead her out of the prison without any delay.
- ↑ Recruiting Minthara during Act 2 and returning to Act 1 areas causes Minthara to leave the party. Whether intended or a bug, this can be circumvented by casting
on her before traveling to an Act 1 area.
- ↑ Minthara has exploration lines for Rosymorn Monastery and the destruction sequence of the weapon on the rooftop. It is possible that during development, she was intended to be a companion earlier than she ended up being for release. She also has an exploration line at the Nautiloid.
- ↑ Patch 7 notes "Knocked Out Minthara now always flees to Moonrise Towers."
- ↑ It has been observed that, as long as she is knocked out in the Shattered Sanctum, it is possible to complete after several long rests without compromising her recruitment in Act Two.
- ↑ Patch 5 notes "Minthara will still appear at Moonrise Towers if she was knocked out in Act I."
- ↑ PSA - Recruiting Minthara In A Good Playthrough by Crimsomrider at Larian Studios forums on 2023-11-30. https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=925862 [Retrieved 2024-01-04.]
- ↑ Patch 6 notes "Increased the number of valid methods of knocking Minthara out to recruit her."
- ↑ Minthara went through some recruitment changes during development and after release.
Intended to be recruited only if the grove was destroyed, prior to Patch 5, an exploit could be used to recruit Minthara when siding with the grove. Minthara had to be knocked out temporarily in Act 1, recovering after a long rest. Once the party reached Act 2 and acquired the spells
and 
, they had to return to Shattered Sanctum, turn her into a sheep and dominate her. The party then had to fast-travel back to the Moonrise Towers and then had to move Minthara as a sheep into the throne room, where the judgement continued as if Minthara was alive. After the cutscene she would be transported to the dungeon. The party had to attack her quickly once imprisoned as she would begin to run away otherwise, and then turn invisible and exit combat. Minthara was then part of the interrogation scene and her recruitment could proceed as normal.
When Patch 5 was introduced, Minthara could be recruited if she was knocked out temporarily at her camp in the Shattered Sanctum, dealing with the rest of the goblin camp without long rests in-between as the game files checked for both conditions in order to trigger her scene at Moonrise Towers.[8][9]
Patch 6 removed the requirement for Minthara being temporarily hostile / knocked out. The game no longer checks for that condition. It became possible to recruit Minthara through knocking her out when defending the grove from the goblin attack.[10] However, if Minthara was knocked out in the goblin camp, the quest had to be finished prior to taking a Long Rest.
Since Patch 7, all methods of knocking her out result in a recruitment opportunity. - ↑ Various locations, party banter between Minthara and Karlach.
- ↑
Parchment (Goblin Camp)
- ↑
Unfinished Love Letter by Klagga
- ↑ Campsite, line spoken by Minthara to a drow noble player character.
"Like you, I lived in Qu'ellarz'orl, high above the city's sprawl." - ↑ Campsite, lines spoken by Minthara when inquired about her upbringing in Menzoberranzan.
"(...) I survived my first assassination attempt while I still suckled at my mother's breast. (...) When I came of age, she tried to take my life herself, and I gave her fresh scars to match those she earned protecting me." - ↑ Campsite, lines spoken by Minthara when asked how she was indoctrinated.
"A True Soul came to my city preaching a message of togetherness, accompanied by two novices. Menzoberranzan is not fertile grounds for such messages. I killed them, and hanged their bodies in my garden." - ↑ Campsite, lines spoken by Minthara when asked how she came to be indoctrinated.
"I expected a battle, but found a fully-laden feast table, and a welcome befitting a house matron. (...) Ketheric proposed an alliance between Moonrise and Menzoberranzzan. I admit, I was captivated by him." - ↑ Campsite, lines spoken by Minthara when asked how she came to be indoctrinated.
"Then, quick as lightning, she climbed onto the table, a dagger in each hand, and skipped toward me, slicing the throats out of my men as she passed them. (...) I want this one, she said. Ketheric nodded his permission, and I was taken below." - ↑ Moonrise Towers, lines spoken by Minthara in the throne room after slaying Ketheric Thorm.
"There was no god. Orin held me down in a cocoon of flesh, while a mind flayer forced a parasite into my brain. And she laughed at my fear." - ↑ 21.0 21.1 Moonrise Towers, lines spoken by Minthara in the throne room after slaying Ketheric Thorm.
"When I first visited Moonrise, I stood before the Absolute in awe. It was more of an idea than an entity. Pure love, total power. Orin was by my side. She told me that god had chosen me to be a True Soul. Blessed and adored." - ↑
Drow's Letter by Minthara
- ↑ Prior to Patch #7,
Minthara's Underwear could be looted, too. Since Patch #7 this is not possible anymore. However, her Underwear is still shown on her looted body.
