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The Dark Urge: Difference between revisions
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'''The Dark Urge''' is an established character as well as a [[The Dark Urge (origin)|special origin]] in ''Baldur's Gate 3''. Suffering from amnesia, the Dark Urge remembers little but glimpses of their own past. | '''The Dark Urge''' is an established character as well as a [[The Dark Urge (origin)|special origin]] in ''Baldur's Gate 3''. Suffering from amnesia, the Dark Urge remembers little but glimpses of their own past. | ||
{{Q|My rancid blood whispers to me: kill, kill, and kill again. My ruined body yearns to reap death in this world, and when this foul Urge calls, it possesses my whole being. Injured beyond repair, I know nothing besides this | {{Q|My rancid blood whispers to me: kill, kill, and kill again. My ruined body yearns to reap death in this world, and when this foul Urge calls, it possesses my whole being. Injured beyond repair, I know nothing besides this: I must resist the Dark Urge, lest it consume my mind. I must discover who I was, and what happened to me. Before my twitching knife-hand writes a tragedy in blood.|The Dark Urge, fearing their dark desires in their Introduction cinematic.}} | ||
{{TOC|limit=3}} | {{TOC|limit=3}} | ||
== Description == | == Description == | ||
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At Moonrise Towers, the Dark Urge was treated like a god,{{ref|The narrator's statements when the Dark Urge enters the throne room in Moonrise Towers. <br>''"In another lifetime, you were greeted in this throne room like a God, not the living wreck you are now."''}} and although nobody knew their name or rank, they were shown the utmost respect.{{ref|Dialogue with [[The Warden]]. <br>''"Your name, your place was kept from all of us last time, but you were to be shown the utmost of respect."''}} The three Chosen initiated a raid on the mind flayer colony, and successfully used the Crown on the colony's elder brain, enslaving it to their will.{{ref|name=memoirs}} At some point during this, the elder brain came to respect the Dark Urge and intended to go along with their plan, impressed by their unmatched cruelty.{{ref|name=elderbraindialogue|Dialogue with the Netherbrain at the Morphic Pool. <br>''"I respected Bhaal's child once, but not you, Gortash. [...] Your plan was devious, your cruelty unparalleled. I would have followed it, were your mind not destroyed by your sister."''}} | At Moonrise Towers, the Dark Urge was treated like a god,{{ref|The narrator's statements when the Dark Urge enters the throne room in Moonrise Towers. <br>''"In another lifetime, you were greeted in this throne room like a God, not the living wreck you are now."''}} and although nobody knew their name or rank, they were shown the utmost respect.{{ref|Dialogue with [[The Warden]]. <br>''"Your name, your place was kept from all of us last time, but you were to be shown the utmost of respect."''}} The three Chosen initiated a raid on the mind flayer colony, and successfully used the Crown on the colony's elder brain, enslaving it to their will.{{ref|name=memoirs}} At some point during this, the elder brain came to respect the Dark Urge and intended to go along with their plan, impressed by their unmatched cruelty.{{ref|name=elderbraindialogue|Dialogue with the Netherbrain at the Morphic Pool. <br>''"I respected Bhaal's child once, but not you, Gortash. [...] Your plan was devious, your cruelty unparalleled. I would have followed it, were your mind not destroyed by your sister."''}} | ||
After the Dark Urge put the Crown on the elder brain, they were soon betrayed by their sister Orin the Red, who was jealous of Bhaal's favouritism.{{ref|name=orinnotes|[[Blood-Envy for the Unworthy]]}}{{ref|name=orinduel|Dialogue with Orin, when she is confronted by the Dark Urge in the Temple of Bhaal. <br>''"Husk. Maggot. A Bhaalspawn, slip-sliding in filth with these pigs. You don't deserve the Murder Lord's blessing."''}} The Dark Urge had their skull pierced and opened with a dagger, and was infected with a tadpole that began to eat their liquidating brain, resulting in their amnesia, as well as them becoming the first True Soul.{{ref|Dialogue with Orin, when she is confronted by the Dark Urge in the Temple of Bhaal. <br>''"How you screamed as my knife slit your skull, your brain juices sticky and sweet. A little hole, big enough for the worm, your body a blood sack to feed it."''}}{{ref|The narrator's statements when the Dark Urge confronts Orin in the Temple of Bhaal. <br>''"The day your tyranny should have engulfed this world, it was you who were the first to be enslaved. Orin's smile was the last thing you saw, her bright blade glinting as she chiselled into your skull. Her reckless digging left your mind shattered."''}}{{ref|name=kressadialogue|Dialogue with Kressa Bonedaughter. <br>''"You were my very first, after all. I learnt everything about the parasites from you."''}}{{ref|name=kressanotes|[[Mistress of Souls' Research Log]].}} | After the Dark Urge put the Crown on the elder brain, they were soon betrayed by their sister Orin the Red, who was jealous of Bhaal's favouritism.{{ref|name=orinnotes|[[Blood-Envy for the Unworthy]]}}{{ref|name=orinduel|Dialogue with Orin, when she is confronted by the Dark Urge in the Temple of Bhaal. <br>''"Husk. Maggot. A Bhaalspawn, slip-sliding in filth with these pigs. You don't deserve the Murder Lord's blessing."''}} The Dark Urge had their skull pierced and opened with a dagger, and was infected with a tadpole that began to eat their liquidating brain, resulting in their amnesia, as well as them becoming the first True Soul.{{ref|name=orinpast|Dialogue with Orin, when she is confronted by the Dark Urge in the Temple of Bhaal. <br>''"How you screamed as my knife slit your skull, your brain juices sticky and sweet. A little hole, big enough for the worm, your body a blood sack to feed it."''}}{{ref|The narrator's statements when the Dark Urge confronts Orin in the Temple of Bhaal. <br>''"The day your tyranny should have engulfed this world, it was you who were the first to be enslaved. Orin's smile was the last thing you saw, her bright blade glinting as she chiselled into your skull. Her reckless digging left your mind shattered."''}}{{ref|name=kressadialogue|Dialogue with Kressa Bonedaughter. <br>''"You were my very first, after all. I learnt everything about the parasites from you."''}}{{ref|name=kressanotes|[[Mistress of Souls' Research Log]].}} | ||
The Dark Urge was found by {{CharLink|Kressa Bonedaughter}} who, impressed with their willpower and resistance to the elder brain's influence, began to study them. She would cut them open and put them back together repeatedly over the course of several days in the mind flayer colony, during which the Dark Urge was unable to speak or do anything but attempt to inflict violence on themself or others.{{ref|Dialogue with Kressa Bonedaughter. <br>''"I remember finding you close to death, beaten black and blue on the floor of this sanctum. It must have been a few hours after the tadpole was placed in your skull. How you got here was a total mystery, but I stitched you up just enough to keep you alive, then placed you within your crib. [...] We had such a close bond. I opened you up endlessly with my scalpels, and got lost in your insides. [...] It has never been the same with another... All the other victims who come here just meekly obey. You thrashed, you fought, you were indomitable."''}}{{ref|name=kressanotes}} | The Dark Urge was found by {{CharLink|Kressa Bonedaughter}} who, impressed with their willpower and resistance to the elder brain's influence, began to study them. She would cut them open and put them back together repeatedly over the course of several days in the mind flayer colony, during which the Dark Urge was unable to speak or do anything but attempt to inflict violence on themself or others.{{ref|name=kressapast|Dialogue with Kressa Bonedaughter. <br>''"I remember finding you close to death, beaten black and blue on the floor of this sanctum. It must have been a few hours after the tadpole was placed in your skull. How you got here was a total mystery, but I stitched you up just enough to keep you alive, then placed you within your crib. [...] We had such a close bond. I opened you up endlessly with my scalpels, and got lost in your insides. [...] It has never been the same with another... All the other victims who come here just meekly obey. You thrashed, you fought, you were indomitable."''}}{{ref|name=kressanotes}} | ||
Noticing his wife's obsession and hoping to snap her out of it, Kressa's husband, {{CharLink|Maghtew Budj}}, arranged for the broken and amnesiac Dark Urge to be sent off on the [[Nautiloid|Nautiloid Ship]], where they would soon wake up with no memories of themself, or of their past.{{ref|[[Journal of Magthew Budj]].}}{{ref|[[Clasped Book (Moonrise Towers)]].}} | Noticing his wife's obsession and hoping to snap her out of it, Kressa's husband, {{CharLink|Maghtew Budj}}, arranged for the broken and amnesiac Dark Urge to be sent off on the [[Nautiloid|Nautiloid Ship]], where they would soon wake up with no memories of themself, or of their past.{{ref|[[Journal of Magthew Budj]].}}{{ref|[[Clasped Book (Moonrise Towers)]].}} | ||
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=== Orin === | === Orin === | ||
{{CharLink|Orin}} was the Dark Urge's second-in-command and their sister, but the two of them always had a turbulent relationship.{{ref|name=memoirs}} Orin believed that the Dark Urge's murders were too mindless to be worthy of Bhaal and that the Bhaal Temple decayed because of them. She was jealous that the Dark Urge was the favourite of Bhaal even though their killing lacked beauty and talent.{{ref|name=orinnotes}} The Dark Urge thought that Orin did not understand that Bhaal only wanted death in numbers, and that she was wasting Bhaal's time by killing in an extravagant way.{{ref|name=orinletter}} | |||
When the Dark Urge started the Absolute plot with the other Chosen, Orin grew even more resentful.{{ref|name=orinnotes}} She particularly despised Gortash's alliance with the Dark Urge, thinking that he was manipulating them.{{ref|Dialogue with Orin, when she reveals she has kidnapped a party member. <br>''"The little lordling has been whispering in your ears? He always knew how to tumble and twist your mind matter, leave you knotted in his cords."''}} In response, Orin decided to infect the Dark Urge with a tadpole so she could replace them and rebuild the Temple in her own image.{{ref|name=orinnotes}} The Dark Urge was not aware of Orin's plan, as they believed that she worshipped them as much as all the other cultists.{{ref|name=sarevokintro|Dialogue with Sarevok when meeting him for the first time. <br>''"You were once Bhaal's favourite. You worshipped Him the way that he would wish - your blood-lust innate, your thirst for butchery unslakable. But you were foolish enough to think yourself untouchable. You didn't see Orin rising through the ranks. You were blinded by her artistry, her devotion - you believed she worshipped you as much as all the others."''}} | |||
After the Dark Urge placed the Crown of Karsus on the elder brain in Moonrise Towers, Orin attacked them, piercing their skull with a dagger and putting a tadpole inside it.{{ref|name=orinpast}} She left them gravely injured on the floor of the mind flayer colony, where the Dark Urge was found by Kressa Bonedaughter. She healed some of the Dark Urge's injuries to keep them from dying and began experimenting on them, unaware of who they were.{{ref|name=kressapast}} | |||
Orin eventually learns that the Dark Urge is still alive after they obtain the Astral Prism.{{ref|Orin talking to Gortash in the cutscene between Act 2 and 3. <br>''"My prodigal blood-kin is among them. [...] I made mince of their ugly mind matter, and if they dare return, I will strip out their offal."''}} She abducts one of their party members and challenges the Dark Urge to a duel to the death in the Temple of Bhaal – the winner will be Bhaal's true Chosen and can claim her Netherstone.{{ref|Dialogue with Orin, when she reveals she has kidnapped a party member. <br>''"Then we duel, sweet slaughter-kin. The winner claims the stones - Bhaal's true Chosen. The loser rots on his altar."''}} | |||
=== Bhaal and his Temple === | === Bhaal and his Temple === | ||
The Dark Urge commanded great respect, admiration, and devotion from the devotees at the Temple of Bhaal in Baldur's Gate. They inspired them with their sheer ruthlessness, staggering amount of victims, and the intelligence of their schemes and planning.{{ref| | The Dark Urge commanded great respect, admiration, and devotion from the devotees at the Temple of Bhaal in Baldur's Gate. They inspired them with their sheer ruthlessness, staggering amount of victims, and the intelligence of their schemes and planning.{{ref|name=sarevokintro}}{{ref|The narrator's statements when the Dark Urge remembers they are a Bhaalspawn. <br>''"Memories flood back - snatches of your story, written in the blood of a thousand victims. Years spent in worship of Bhaal, leading his savage congregation in prayer, sacrifice, and slaughter. You were their Master, and he was yours. A cruel Master, a Dread Lord... a devoted Father."''}} | ||
{{CharLink|Bhaal}} himself loved the Dark Urge the most of all his children as he had personally handcrafted the Dark Urge's body from his own flesh, and filled them with blood directly from his body, thus making them the perfect child in his eyes.{{ref|Dialogue with Bhaal's Avatar after killing Orin. <br>''"You are my spawn. Your veins course with my unholy blood."''}} This also stands in contrast to the other Bhaalspawn who were born from myriad dalliances with mortal women of various races during the [https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Time_of_Troubles Time of Troubles], as such the Dark Urge is considered a pureblood Bhaalspawn.{{ref|name=orinletter}} Bhaal's uncharacteristic level of love and concern for the Dark Urge is shown in the amount of attention that the Dark Urge receives from Bhaal, even after losing their memories. Most chaotic evil gods (including Bhaal) would discard a Chosen if it was no longer useful such as Myrkul did with Ketheric after his defeat, but Bhaal went to great lengths to restore the Dark Urge to their former place, and made sure to guide and reward them until they returned to the Temple.{{ref|Dialogue that plays when the Dark Urge remembers they are a Bhaalspawn. <br>''"Your Father loves you best. You have already made us so proud."''}}{{ref|Dialogue with Sceleritas Fel, after killing Isobel and becoming the Slayer. <br>''"Try on your new jimjams! They're a present from Father, it would be rude not to."''}} | {{CharLink|Bhaal}} himself loved the Dark Urge the most of all his children as he had personally handcrafted the Dark Urge's body from his own flesh, and filled them with blood directly from his body, thus making them the perfect child in his eyes.{{ref|Dialogue with Bhaal's Avatar after killing Orin. <br>''"You are my spawn. Your veins course with my unholy blood."''}} This also stands in contrast to the other Bhaalspawn who were born from myriad dalliances with mortal women of various races during the [https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Time_of_Troubles Time of Troubles], as such the Dark Urge is considered a pureblood Bhaalspawn.{{ref|name=orinletter}} Bhaal's uncharacteristic level of love and concern for the Dark Urge is shown in the amount of attention that the Dark Urge receives from Bhaal, even after losing their memories. Most chaotic evil gods (including Bhaal) would discard a Chosen if it was no longer useful such as Myrkul did with Ketheric after his defeat, but Bhaal went to great lengths to restore the Dark Urge to their former place, and made sure to guide and reward them until they returned to the Temple.{{ref|Dialogue that plays when the Dark Urge remembers they are a Bhaalspawn. <br>''"Your Father loves you best. You have already made us so proud."''}}{{ref|Dialogue with Sceleritas Fel, after killing Isobel and becoming the Slayer. <br>''"Try on your new jimjams! They're a present from Father, it would be rude not to."''}} | ||