Cultural references

Baldur's Gate 3 contains a number of Cultural References to other pieces of media, such as books, television, and other video games. These references are collected here, although this list is certainly incomplete.

Games

Divinity series

Most of Larian's previous games are part of the Divinity series, beginning with Divine Divinity (2002) and ending (for now at least) with Divinity: Original Sin (2014) and Divinity: Original Sin II (2017). The latter game has many things in common with Baldur's Gate 3, including the use of "origin characters" who can be chosen as the player character or recruited as companions; physics-based effects like surfaces and dippable weapons; and the ability to talk to most animals.

The Digital Deluxe Upgrade contains several references to Divinity: Original Sin II:

• It adds portrait paintings of the DOS2 origin characters Fane, Ifan ben-Mezd, Lohse, Marcus "Beast" Miles, Sebille Kaleran and the Red Prince to Act 1 as loot items.
• Characters who can Perform gain access to three additional songs which reference Divinity: Original Sin II: Of Divinity and Sin, The Queen's High Seas and Sing for Me.
• The Divinity Item Pack contains several items from Divinity: Original Sin II: the Mask of the Shapeshifter, Cape of the Red Prince, Lute of the Merryweather Bard, Needle of the Outlaw Rogue and Bicorne of the Sea Beast.

There are other references to Divinity: Original Sin II which don't require the Digital Deluxe version:

• Micheil Ros' pig Lulabelle is referenced in a Deception check during a conversation with Manip Nestor, the Fist guarding the barn at the beginning of Act 3. This may only be available when the party is caught sneaking into the barn.

Fallout series

There's at least on possible reference to the Fallout games:

• On the far side of the Jungle at X: 1500 Y: 1480 there is another skeleton dressed in a torn full body blue outfit, potentially a reference towards the Vault Dweller or Vault Suits from the Fallout series.

Final Fantasy XIV

The popular MMORPG by Square Enix is referenced in an inspiration pop-up in Act II for the Folk Hero background. The quote is from the character Haurchefant, who says it during the main story of the Heavensward expansion. The line in the pop-up says "A Smile Better Suits..."; though the full line is: "Don't look at me so. A smile better suits a hero." The phrase is repeated several times throughout the following expansions as a bittersweet form of encouragement.

Danganronpa

Pre-ordered copies of the Japanese PS5 version of the game from publisher Spike Chunsoft came with a special “Dice of Hope and Despair” die design “with the motif of Monokuma appearing in the Danganronpa series”, which is also published by Spike Chunsoft. In the Danganronpa series, Monokuma is a black and white robotic teddy bear who forces the students of Hope’s Peak Academy to kill each other in deadly games. The dice is mostly white, but the "20" face is black with a symbol matching Monokuma’s distinctive red left eye.

Dragon Age: Origins

Completing the quest Find the Missing Letters grants inspiration to Noble characters via a background goal called "Interrupted Communications". This title alludes to a quest from Dragon Age: Origins called "Correspondence Interruptus" which also involves tracking down missing letters.

Criminal Case

The Haunted One background goal "Kill'Em While They're Young" might refer to one of the cases of this detective hidden-object game, bearing the same title.

Films & Television

'Allo 'Allo!

• When first encountering Hope in the House of Hope, she says "You have to listen very very very closely. I will say this only once.", alluding to the famous phrase "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once", a line spoken very often in the series by several characters, but mainly by Michelle Dubois, a woman in the French Resistance during WWII.

Apocalypse Now

• The Soldier background goal "Love That Smell", granted for bombing the Steel Watch Foundry, alludes to a scene in the film Apocalypse Now in which an American military officer proclaims "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" as an attack on a civilian target commences.

Asterix and Cleopatra

• The Guild Artisan background goal "Special Iced Arsenic...Brew?" references a song about poisoning a cake (a "special iced arsenic cake", according to the lyrics) from the animated film Asterix and Cleopatra.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

• The NPC Geezer Loryss is a merchant in the Lower City, who bemoans the destruction of his cabbage stand. This references the recurring Cabbage Merchant bit character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, who is a frequent victim of collateral damage from the heroes' adventures. Loryss also has unique dialogue for the Monk class, referencing protagonist Aang's monastic character.

Beetlejuice

• Across the Devil's Fee in Lower City stands a NPC by the name of Nelburn Frust, who tries to activate some item that should make him "lucky forever". To achieve the effect, he must pronounce three times words "Scarab Sap", which actually is a periphrasis of the incantation that summoned the main antagonist in the Tim Burton's film. The very mechanism of the summoning (saying the words thrice aloud) is the same as there, too.

Brandy & Mr.Whiskers animation series

• The Urchin background goal "What Price Dignity" is named same as one of the episodes of the show. It's plot, in turn, refers to a 1926 Ralph Walsh film What Price Glory.

Ghostbusters

• The Outlander background goal "I Ain't Afraid of No Shadows" paraphrases a lyric from the title theme to the film Ghostbusters.

Gravity Falls

• The item Shield of Shielding is a reference to the episode Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons where a main character, Grunkle Stan, casts a spell of the same name due to rather unimaginative quick thinking.

Indiana Jones

• The Guild Artisan background goal "These Belong in a Museum!" is a reference to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which Indy says this about historical artifacts being pilfered by private collectors.
• There is a corpse in Jungle in the cave underneath the Skeleton near the magic ring that can be found in the area at X: 1570 Y: 1508. Based on its outfit, it may be a reference to Indiana Jones.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

• The greataxe Sethan and its abilities are a reference to a character in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders named Alessi. Alessi wields an axe and possesses a stand spirit named Sethan that similarly wields an axe and who has the power to de-age people, usually reducing them into young children.

Kitchen Nightmares

• Chef Marjoram in Lady Jannath's Estate can be heard berating Falura for serving raw food "You served this to Lady Jannath? It's RAW!", a reference to the famous scene with Gordon Ramsay in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares.

Parks and Recreation

• The Charlatan background goal "Not to Worry, I Have a Permit" quotes a scene from Parks and Recreation in which Ron Swanson offers a park ranger a permit that simply says "I can do what I want".

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

• The Charlatan background goals "Always Trust a Dishonest Person" and "Never Trust an Honest Person" both refer to one of the final scenes of the film, where Captain Jack Sparrow explains that one can always trust a dishonest man... to be dishonest. The honest ones, however, should be watched out, because they might at any moment do something incredibly stupid.

The Fifth Element

• "Multipass", a Noble background goal, is enthusiastically repeated a number of times by Milla Jovovich's character Leeloo in the film The Fifth Element.

The Karate Kid

• Sa'varsh Kethk in the Classroom in Crèche Y'llek can be heard saying "Strike hard! Slice flesh! No hesitation!" a reference to the motto of Cobra Kai, the antagonistic dojo in the film The Karate Kid.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

• One of the jokes that might be brought forth by the player character during the 'Laff Riot', a stage contest held by Harvard Willoughby in Elfsong Tavern, runs as "Say, what's the difference between a dwarf and a bulette? You can't toss the bulette!"
  This might be a reference to the two episodic scenes involving Gimli the dwarf and Aragorn in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, both describing Gimli's concern about whether his fellow should (or should not) toss him over the distance he might not be able to jump over.

The Simpsons

• The Crawling Claws Itchy and Scratchy in Lucretious' tent share their names with the titular characters of The Itchy and Scratchy Show, a show-within-a-show on The Simpsons.

Tomb Raider

• There is a corpse in the Jungle the cave underneath the Skeleton near the magic ring that can be found in the area at X: 1566 Y: 1503. Based on its outfit, it may be a reference to Lara Croft.

Literature

Poetry and Drama

• The Raven summoned by  Find Familiar is always named "Quothe", the only standard familiar to receive a name. A raven of the same name is summoned by the Raven Gloves. This is clearly a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven", which includes the recurring line "Quoth the raven: 'Nevermore.'" (See also the Discworld section below.)

• The Haunted One background goal "To Sleep, Perchance To Dream Tentacled Dreams" is a periphrase to the lines of the famous "To be, or not to be..." soliloquy from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

• The Folk Hero background goal "Greatness Thrust Upon Them" also hails back to Shakespeare, this time to Twelfth Night, or What You Will. It is part of a phrase uttered by Malvolio, the steward of Countess Olivia. The full quote is "Some are born great; some achieve greatness; some have greatness thrust upon them".

• The Sage background goal "Heavy is the Head" might also be a reference to Henry IV by William Shakespeare, where the King tells his page that "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown".

Discworld

Terry Pratchett's Discworld is a series of comic fantasy novels set on a flat world which travels on the back of an enormous turtle. While it developed into its own fantasy universe, it was born from and always contained elements of parody of other fantasy - including Dungeons & Dragons. Larian's Swen Vincke has said on Twitter that the first book he gave to his wife was the Discworld novel Small Gods, and that he has converted "countless people" to the series via that book.

• In addition to the Poe reference (see above), Quothe the Raven is likely also a reference to the talking raven named Quoth (no "e") appearing in the Discworld novels Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time. Quoth was originally a wizard's familiar, but in the novels he is the companion, translator and flying mount of the Death of Rats, the rat equivalent of the grim reaper.
• Lupperdiddle Swires is a gnomish adventurer famed for their ability to leap extraordinarily high. While they don't appear in the game, they're mentioned several times in the name or description of various items, including the Potion of Glorious Vaulting, Arsonist's Oil, Swiresy Shoes and Swires' Sledboard, as well as in notes and letters. "Swires" is the name of two different gnome characters in Discworld: Swires, the first gnome in the series, who appears in The Light Fantastic; and Buggy Swires, a member of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, who isn't known for leaping but does give aerial support by riding on various birds. (On the Discworld, gnomes are only about six inches tall.)
• The in-game book The Butler's Cane Has A Knob On The End is a reference to "A Wizard's Staff Has a Knob on the End", a bawdy Discworld tavern song frequently sung by the witch character Nanny Ogg.
• The in-game book You've Got Friends in the Guild contains the sentence "Their view is this: if you got to have crime, better it be organised crime!" This is a paraphrase of a line from the novel Men at Arms, attributed to Lord Vetinari, ruler of Ankh-Morpork, explaining the logic behind having a legalised Thieves' Guild.
• A group of dwarves in Rivington can be found enjoying several Fried Rat Skewers. In Discworld, fried rat-onna-stick is a favorite dwarven delicacy.
• The in-game book Lessons of Helm is written by someone named Thou Shalt Not Suffer The Doom Herring To Live O'Reilly. That's similar to a kind of name used in the Discworld novels like Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, No'-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Jock-But-Bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock or Constable Visit-the-Infidel-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets.

Other Novels

• The Guild Artisan background goal "Trust and a Little Pixie Dust" references J. M. Barrie's novel Peter Pan, in which it is said that all one needs to make one's dreams come true is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust.
• The Sage background goal "All Knowledge is Worth Having" is a saying from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart.
• The Urchin background goal "Artful Dodger" is taken from the nickname of the leader of a street urchin gang in Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist.
• The Acolyte background goal "Those for Whom the Bell Tolled" is actually a periphrase of the Ernest Hemingway's novel title.
• The Haunted One background goal "Good Ol' Long Pig" may refer to Alfred St.Johnston Camping among Cannibals study about the culture of Polynesian tribes, where the author claims the "long pig" term to mean a roasted human body. The goal is fulfilled upon eating a piece of a dwarf cooked by goblins.

Other known aphorisms and idioms

• The Charlatan background goal "The News of My Deeds Was Greatly Exaggerated" refers to misquotation of a well-known aphorismic phrase by Mark Twain, "The report of my death was an exaggeration", which he uttered in respond for a death hoax in New York Journal in 1897.
• A pair of mutually exclusive goals for the Noble background, "An Iron Fist" and "A Velvet Glove", are actually two halves of a well-known aphorism describing a proper style of state-governing, attributed to be uttered by various outstanding historical persons, from King Solomon to Niccolo Machiavelli to Charles XIV Johan of Sweden.

Music

• The Entertainer background goal "Eclipse of the Heart" references the 1983 Bonnie Tyler song "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
• The Haunted One background goal "Who Let the Gnolls Out" references the 2000 Baha Men song "Who Let the Dogs Out".
• The Folk Hero background goal "In Need of a Hero" might refer to the 1984 Bonnie Tyler composition "Holding Out for a Hero", first presented in the soundtrack to a Herbert Ross film Footloose.
• The Entertainer background goal "Alien in the Big City" may refer to 1987 Sting song "Englishman in New York".
• The Folk Hero background goal "Chained, Unfortunate Souls" is a reference to a composition "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from the soundtrack to 1989 animation film The Little Mermaid.

External Links

• Avatar: The Last Airbender – Wikipedia ● TV Tropes
• Discworld – Wikipedia ● TV Tropes
• Final Fantasy XIV – Wikipedia ● FFXIV Wiki
• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure – Wikipedia ● Jojo's Bizarre Encyclopedia