Summary
The Drow are a fascinating race that live in the Underdark inDungeons and Dragon’s Forgotten Realms. InBaldur’s Gate 3, there is only one Drow companion available, and barely any encounters with the Drow.Baldur’s Gate 3has a plethora of companions and characters from other groups, as there are lots of Humans, Elves, Gnomes, Githyanki, and Teiflings, as well as many other races.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Mintharais overlooked by many players due to her tricky recruitment, and therefore, she is not regularly recruited. As such, Minthara being the only Drow companion leaves a big gap when it comes to Drow representation. Drows don’t seem to get as much love as the other races inBaldur’s Gate 3, and the game certainly could have benefited from having more than one Drow companion.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Not Having Another Drow Companion is a Missed Opportunity
Minthara Could Be Considered an Underrated Companion
Baldur’s Gate 3’sresident Drow Companion, Minthara, could be seen as an underrated companion, maybe even more so thanBaldur’s Gate 3’s Wyll Ravengard. She is only available if players pursue the evil route, or knock her out and recruit her later in Act 2. Due to many players killing Minthara to protect the Tieflings who reside in the Emerald Grove during Act 1, these players miss out on her story and her romance. This also means that these players miss out on having a Drow companion in their party, unless they summon a Drow Hireling, but that defeats the purpose of having a Drow companion because the Hireling wouldn’t interact with the narrative or have a romance.
Following the release of patch 5, good-aligned players are giventhe option to recruit Minthara in Act 2if she was knocked out in Act 1. As of now, both Halsin and Minthara will both stay in camp, but there is leaked data that shows dialogue from Halsin insisting on the player choosing between him and Minthara. Perhaps this will be released in a future patch, preventing players from having both Minthara and Halsin.
How Another Drow Companion Could Have Been Included in Baldur’s Gate 3
There are plenty of moments where the player encounters Drows, from the Petrified Drows in the Underdark to Araj Oblodra in Moonrise Towers. Any of these Drows would have been perfect to add to the roster of companions and boost the representation of the Drows.
Notable Drows inBaldur’s Gate 3that could have been companions include:
Out of these companion worthy characters,Baldur’s Gate 3’sArajseems like a character that would have worked with both evil-aligned and good-aligned playthroughs. She doesn’t seem too fussed about right and wrong, only what benefits her research. Araj could’ve chosen to travel with the player for her own research of the player’s Tadpole. It certainly would’ve given her perfect research data to see the effects of this unique Tadpole firsthand.
Seldarine Drow Representation
While the Drow are generally seen as an evil aligned race, it could be argued that the Seldarine Drow are more neutral-aligned than their Lolth-Sworn counterparts. The Seldarine Drow are trying to settle their conflict with the eviler aligned Lolth-Sworn Drow, though, they are trying to settle this conflict by any means necessary.
Baldur’s Gate 3mainly showcases Lolth-Sworn Drow, with the majority of Drow that can be encountered being Lolth-Sworn. The Drow Twins, Sorn and Nym Orlith in Sharres’ Caress are some of the only Seldarine Drow that the player can interact with. The other two that can be encountered are a victim of Auntie Ethel called Moy and a Hireling called Ver’yll Wenkiir.
The Hireling, Ver’yll Wenkiirprovides players with another Drow companion and does give the opportunity for more Drow content in the party. However, Ver’yll is still a Hireling and, even though he has his own backstory and is a Seldarine Drow, doesn’t contribute to the narrative ofBaldur’s Gate 3in any form.
