Some of the color options for copper and bronze dragonborn player characters include significant amounts of verdigris. I made mine copper just for the sweet verdigris highlights on her horns.
@@chainsawboy2388 He has distinctive head of a bronze dragon which is similar in form to the one of red dragons and scales on his nose are still of bronze color. Besides, his references to storm and tempest and breath weapon also reveal he is bronze ravener.
He still has streaks of bronze that shows through the green all over his body. When he says, "Let my bones rise, and the storms gather" you can see bronze mixed in with the green along his wrings.
Dragonborn where slaves to chromatic dragon before they arrive at Feyrun. They should hate dragon guts. Just like how Gith/Duegar hate Mindflayer. It is very odd to see your dragonborn Tav just admiring dragons.
@@farn1991 Some of dragonborns revere their heritage. It's stated that Tiamat has notable following of dragonborns, thus a dragon-respecting dragonborn isn't a total rarity.
@@sitalius7591 not quite right. Ansur was right.being illithid means you change completely. your thoughts your feelings are not same anymore. balduran and emperor are not same person actually .yeah emperor remember who he was but that is it. Their characters different balduran was trust worthy and good person but emperor is not he is very secretive,ruthless and calculative if he thinks you are danger to him or his plans he removes you or kills you for example minsc he was danger to his plans so he intend to left him to die and duke stelmane was good woman but in order to control her he used his illithid powers kinda brainwashed her and that caused health problems for her after a while that left her partially paralyzed .so ansur wanted to that because he wanted protect his friends good side but it was too late he had already changed.even we change a little if we chose to become illithid. We think different but that is it .we are different from emperor if you suicide as an illithid withers tell you that you have a soul and our feelings and thoughts are still intact
@@yusufkaradag8983Theres a bit of a discrepancy with how the "no-soul" thing is handled. If i recall correctly, this piece of lore is canon only to larian's game , and not to the source material. But i think we can safely assume that both Omelium and the Emperor managed to keep their souls, based on what we are given. (Omelium helping the duke over himself, and Ansur recognising Balduran after transforming) The whole "no-soul" thing is necessary for the plot, as without it, Withers and some gods needn't be involved, but as to why it happens, how it happens, and what makes someone an exception is never mentioned at all, cause in the end, this whole thing is just a convenient plot device... I don't think Balduran was a "good person" before transforming. Even back then, he was really selfish, only pursuing his own whims and interests above all else. And i also don't think he's a bad person after transforming. Sure, he entralled Stellmate, but he kinda had no choice about that. He lets the player make their choices despite all while sticking by them, he doesnt force us to transform in any circumstance, if you did tranform, he doesn't turn on you after your "usefulness is over" like you could turn on him, instead he's happy he has a partner, He needs to be "convinced" to do the evil ending The emperor was, and still is kind of a "brat" , and while Ansur's actions can be understood more if we believe he knew about the "no-soul" thing, deciding what one does with their life, is still not his decision to make. He fell in love with a version of Balduran, that most likely...verly likely, only existed inside his head. Im sure they would have had plenty issues , even if Balduran never transforms.
@@dani22flore yeah that might be true but that just means he is like gortash .he didnt try to to control us with illithid powers because he wanted us to be healthy and belive him so he could use us better .so a beliving soldier is better than a brainwashed one. and after all after he paralyzed duke stelmane. he could stop after seeing her condition .after all she didnt paralyzed in a second there was symptoms something was not right with her and about bad ending i think he didnt try to use netherbrain for his purposes because he didnt belive he can Win a fight with gods yes even though they cant involve with humans life because of AO i think they would try protect their belivers because except from Ao gods needs belivers to have their "godly" powers without belivers they are good as dead.the reason for ansur is kinda right is not just image of his friend in his mind but also he wouldnt want to his friend do bad things or lost himself more. lets think like they should at least tried to talk before the the fight and there is two possibility .one empror failed to convince ansur that he didnt change so ansur blindly belived balduran losing about his pastself second ansur was right balduran was really losing all his morality to become good person and ansur wanted kill him because he thought his friend wouldnt want to lose his morality because of being illithid is influential to a persons mind think like a peson losing his mind because another person giving him a chemical that changes him so ansur thought his friend wouldnt want to hurt another person so her rather choose to die than killing someone.thir possibility is balduran was deceiving ansur about he is a good person and then first possibility happened . I belive second one or thir one happened because no one wants to person they love to die and also i belive emperor knows having a dragon as an ally is very helpfull.so there must be a proof he is changing drastically. he must be doing acts he wouldnt do in life because of being illithid.so emperor must done something not good.and ansur wanted to kill him
I tried bringing only Jaheira who has no tadpole (Halsin should be the same) but Ansur still speaks as if she's a slave to the emperor and the prism flies to her despite tav not being near. As much as larian fleshed out our options in many interactions, this one was very on-rails.
@@Rikard_Nilsson A tadpole is not required for an illithid to make a thrall. Duke Stelmane was a Thrall and she was not tadpoled. Teh Emperor repeatedly tries to keep us from meeting Ansur by sayings its just a legend, and there is nothing down below, and no dragon sleeps beneath the Gate. He knew for a fact that Ansur may still be down there and he didn't want us to speak to him. Ansur would reveal some truths The Emperor would not wish us to find out, and which would likely have turned us against him. It makes sense he'd fly to anyone who goes down there associated with the party. Dude is constantly using Detect Thoughts on everyone, even if they do not have a tadpole.
@@Resi1ience sadly even if he knew he still kill you Bronze are 2nd most stubborn metallic dragon when it comes a strong sense of justice, once they made up their mind it final, if the emperor must die, he must die, Good above all else, working with us would mean working with evil as he be aiding the emperor who the games make clear over and over with literal devils and gods telling you mindflayers are soulless manipulative creatures
When the Duke told me of a Bronze Dragon who will come to save the city in it's greatest need i was so fucking excited to meet this dragon, there had been no Dragons until this point. My disappointment was immeasurable when i seen him lying there dead.
This questline was a pure rollercoaster of emotions. Yay, a dragon, I can recruit for the final boss. Aw, the dragon is dead. Hmm, it still talks? Whoah, the Emperor is Balduran? Oh my god, my f***ing emotions, Cool bossfight, massive plot-twist, 2 legendary items, everything. I loved that quest
A bronze dragon will help us save the city! ...hours later the city is filled with red dragons fighting the illithid. Don't think a bronze dragon would've done much.
Man i wish there were more dragons to interact with, and that they don't always have to end in battle. I only know of Ansur, which is an inevitable fight, and Qudenos in dragonborn form but that doesn't count
@RazielTheUnborn you don't *have* to save Wyll's dad if you know where and how to get to him. There are some books in Act 3 that even hint at how to get there
This is like the most "Wait what? WAIT WHAT? WAIT WHAT?????????" Moment in the game like i was thinking i was gonna get a cool dragon to help me but i only got a helm and drama about the one who built the gate aka Squidward
I'm a huge fan of dragons... always have been since I was a kid. I lived for the beginning parts with the red dragons (evil or not, they're beautiful) and was excited to meet a good aligned dragon at last. For the first time in the whole game, I broke out into genuine tears at Ansur's fate and what had happened to him. I played as a Bard and ended up playing the Divinty & Sin song between turns, since it seems the only song to truly fit how sad the whole thing felt to me.
I wish there was a way to help them reconcile, just like how I wish there was a way to tell the Emperor to come to his senses and let Orpheus go so we can persuade him to help and don't have to sacrifice anyone. But alas, fanfic is all that remains.
If you like dragons so much you should play pathfinder wrath of the righteous, there your character can learn the dragon form skill depending on your class or choices in the story.
Glad I am not the only one. My sould and body were fighting against this clash the entire time, and I never felt more miserable in my entire RPG life. Watching Ansur then battle, trying to resist his energy leaving his body... too much. A genuine friend, betrayed. And then, betrayed again in his attempt to find some justice.
Of course you played as a bard lmao In all seriousness, having him as an ally would have been so cool. Act 3 feels extremely on rails compared to acts 1 and 2 for me. Though act 1 has its own issues in terms of levelling and how awkward it is to navigate all the tough encounters pre-level 4.
@@eyeballpapercut4400it means he's been rotting for a long time and thematically appropriate. If this was what you meant, take the comment as a supplementary to yours for those ignorant of this branch of science, rather than a comment trying to correct you.
Friend...and more. Becoming Illithid means the removal of all sentiment, all love, all humanity and every bit of emotion we cherish as people. It is the real, true death of their soul through cerromorphosis, and so Ansur, seeing the fate of his beloved Balduran meant losing his soul for all time, losing everything about the man he loved, grew to love, and cherished, did the only you can do for the person you love if their immortal soul is in danger of being lost...he tried to save him. He died, failing at it. Ansur's grief and shame are what keep him bound to his bones, not his duty. I can't imagine the pain of seeing the Emperor again. It must have hurt as much as dying to him the first time, or worse, knowing the illithid abomination still lived, and being forced to confront the pain of that certainty. This is such an amazingly powerful scene emotionally.
@nobodynothing282 Dungeon Delver isn't a bad skill - give it to a dwarven rogue, add as extra language from background some undercommon, be proficient with nature/survival, and you likely never need to leave the Underdark!
DM : "There lies before the corpse of a great dragon." Player: "Can I cast Speak with Dead?" DM: "No, but it can cast "Speak with the living" Player- "Uhm, WTF"
Honestly, I felt the same way. He always kept saying he never lied to you, yet kept hiding information every single time we asked for the truth. He still lied, despite what he says. Apparently The Emperor forgot the term "Lying by Omission."
@@coloradoblue6929 That's the illithid side of him rearing its head. The PoV of even the most anomalously empathetic mind flayer is basically akin to a high functioning sociopath -- while capable of forming genuine bonds and displays of affection toward others, they care most of all about self-preservation, even if they have to sacrifice their loved ones to achieve it when desperate enough. They find breaching others' established social boundaries, no matter how severe, to be just as easy an act to commit as breathing. Illithid society is domineered by self-preservation, such that the elder brains in the heart of each colony rely on deceiving their illithid supplicants into adding their brain matter to the elder brain upon expiration with lies of joining a perceived notion of a hive mind, when instead they just have all their knowledge stripped bare and identity annihilated afterward. Balduran is dead. The Emperor, for all of his genuine beliefs in himself to be both Balduran and a morally upstanding paragon of virtue who cares about the benefit of all, is merely the tadpole that once rested in his head, now having assimilated his memories and portions of his powerful personality.
@coloradoblue6929 Also don't forget that in one of the first dream visits he says something like " I too have a tadpole *and wish to be free of it* ". But then you find out that not only has he already undergone ceremorphosis, but he his completely content with being a mindflayer.
@@overforest1195 Yeah I never fully trusted it, I always felt like it was lying and I was willing to be optimistic at first because Omeluum is nice for an ilithid. But my opinion soured quickly once it offered me the astral touched tadpole. I used it the first time out of curiosity and was horrified at what it did to my tav. Reloaded the save and chose a different option, my trust in th emperor wavered until I was able to finally get it to admit that it had been lying and was manipulating us and despite "promising" that it would help us find a way to get rid of the tadpole. It did not want to help us find a cure it was acting only in its self interest, much like what it did to Duke Stelmane the stuff about her in his hideout and the stuff that Wyll said about her was really the tipping point though. It doesn't care about life, it can say that it is an adventurer like us all it wants. But it's not, Balduran died the second ceramorphosis is complete, his soul is gone and the mindflayer only has an echo of who it used to be, believing that it is Balduran despite that it clearly isn't. Sorry about this being long, the emperor gets me really heated.
To me this was the last straw in trusting the emperor. Constantly the emperor stands to say that they can be trusted and even when catching it in a lie states that lies would be told no longer but ansur was the prime example of continued betrayal of lies and deceit so when it was time to free Orin I had no choice bc why would I trust someone who genuinely may have kept me alive but continued to lie about the reasons and lie about lying again
I mean i didnt trust him to begin with hes a ghaik afterall. And espcially when you turn down hos advances he gets pissy and tells you if he wanted to he could just mind control and grape you and you should thank him for not doing it
He basically speaks like a mindflayer, no heart. He speaks like it’s a business transaction but doesn’t try to appeal to your emotions, only thinking logically
@@thunder2275 The sad part of it, that i doesn't think, that has any connection to him being an illithid. He just such a selfish, egoistic b@st@rd, who would do that anyway.
@@CodeeXDI feel like the only illithid I could trust was Omeluun and dude is essentially a sorta crazy scientist studying mushrooms and trying to find a way to change his ppl so they don't need brains(or be under control)
This whole thing made me so salty because my Tav wasn't a dragonborn but WAS a draconic bloodline bronze lightning sorceress also from Baldur's Gate and I spent the entire time waiting to meet him as I levelled up severely hoping I'd have an option to ask if he was my distant grandpa. 🤣 But I didn't get a single extra line and I was so sad. Still, glad the dragonborn got something :)
I had wyll with me and thought he’s going to have a lot to say about the fact that the man he admired the most of all is a mindflayer now, but no. Barely mentioned once and that’s it.
So... What if I forgot to take him on the quest with me? Btw, did you talk to him after the fact and at camp and long rest? Sometimes the responses aren't always immediate, I've noticed. But yeah.. I completely derped out and forgot to bring him because I thought I had found a secret area. :(
Proud to say I understood when he called "Vrak" your character. I have two Dragonborn characters in 5e : - Delmirev Mehen, a Warlock of Dendar, ended making a deal with Shar, who claimed a treasure of Selune he stole and his firstborn. - Vorel VRAKmehen, the child of Mehen, Cleric of Shar.
@@lmSheep That doesn’t suit the lore of bronze dragons they believe in justice and are commonly good aligned. The emperor if you choose certain options tells you you’re his puppet and nothing more. It’s pretty obvious he’s the ‘bad option’ to side with
@@lmSheep yes, and that would save Baldurans soul. Balduran responded by killing his friend, in order to save the creature that consumed his soul, and killed not just his body, but his very soul. That’s why I said you HAVE TO account for the fact, that that thing is NOT Balduran.
@@Walsinats4 His soul was consume/claim by Illisine the moment he turned into mindflayer, at least that is how Wither understand it. He is a different being than Balduran, that inherit his memories and personality. Mindflayer things. Which is why when the emperor try to court you, he is flirting with the tadpole inside your head.
My first ever dnd character was a bronze dragon ancestry sorcerer, so I decided to recreate her my first playthrough. I was so excited for this scene. Even though my character has a different backstory, it could have been similar. Her dragon ancestor was a spurned female bronze dragon who fell in love with nobility, a famous prince, and their children betrayed her and my character is the result of a line of once proud nobles fallen to ruin and criminality . With a little tweaking it almost fit! Ahhhh the fanfiction I could write.
He isn't. That's a parasite wearing Balduran's mutated body and stolen memories it consumed during Ceremorphosis. The soul is kicked out of the body as the process begins. It only thinks its Balduran because of the strong impressions, memories and well lived life Balduran had. Most Mind Flyer colonies consider that a sign of failure and sickness, an incomplete takeover.
Unfortunately many people believe dragonborns are children of dragons or in some way worship dragons. I mean the name can be misleading but if someone did the slightest bit of googling they'd find how rare it is for a dragonborn to even consider the possibility of a dragon being "good", less so risk the possibility of being exiled from their clan for worshiping one.
@@KyloB Well, it depends on the world. In Faerun, they despise them, but the fact, that they created them, still remains. The point missed by a lot - or just doesn't care about it, even if they know -, that the dragons created them to be their servants... And the Dragonborn were unwilling to accept that status (which led to the creation of the kobolds, if i remember correctly). But there are other worlds, where the Dragonborns were created as noble warriors of the Dragons, and the Kobolds as servants - and in these worlds, the Dragonborns look up to the Dragons. ( The world, where me and my group play, our DM made the Dragonborns respecting the Dragons, but not on the level of worshipping them. The Kobolds respects the Dragonborns, and worship the Dragons - but that doesn't mean, they wouldn't attack them, if their circumstances put them on opposite sides, they just consider them then a more noble enemy. )
If you wake Ansur with someone that doesn't have the tadpole (Jaheira) and keep your other partymembers away Ansur still treats her as if she's infected and the Prism will show up despite being in tav's inventory. A bit disappointing.
the Ansur stuff was the only time in the game I went "Bro what the hell?" To the Emperor. Although I do admit I see what both sides were going for here -Balduran was fine with how things are and didnt want to burden Ansur with him and wanted him to move on and be unbound -Ansur didnt want him to suffer as a mindflayer due to know they are normally was just going "CAN I ATLEAST TRY TO DIPLOMACY THIS SHIT FOR A SEC?"
There's a lot of inconsistency with everything that the emperor said, he said that he was under the control of the elder brain, but in a book of interrogation with Gortash show that he has his free will all the time and Ansur only found him. And Ansur may consider killing him but it was the emperor that knew that and killed him first while he was in his dragon form, that may be the plan of the elder brain, to slay the defender of Baldurs gate. What happened with duque Stelmand was really sus...
Was it truly cooperation though? From what I got when reading the book - it was after Gortash captured Emperor and re-introduced him to Elder Brain. Ergo it was not anything like willing cooperation on Emperor's part
WAIT so the Emperor is THE BALDURAN??? As in the guy sho founded Baldurs Gate??? That's a massive lore drop??? Now I have to add a Dragonborn playthrough to my list! That's crazy!
Ansur was bugged for me. I played a battlemaster fighter and used evasive technique first turn of the the fight, then moved away. He missed his opportunity attack and then just despawned and I won the fight. I reloaded and it kept happening.
An Undead dragon, who died with feelings of guilt, sadness, and betrayal... I don't think there would be enough clerics, or therapists to sanctify both his mind and remains... :(
@@ceu160193 now, you get it wrong. Technically, he didn't turn evil. It's a Bronze dragon, they are lawfull good in the lore if DnD if I remember correctly... At the very least, helpful toward other species. So, hé wasn't evil in the end... But d*mn was he bloody PISSED ! xD
This entire quest is amazingly well written and has great visual storytelling. Throughout your whole journey all the way up to Act 3 you can read fragments of books or inscriptions immortalizing Balduran and letting the player see just how much of a legendary figure Balduran really is in Faerûn. Once you reach Baldur's Gate and learn of Ansur, Balduran's companion, you realize you finally have the chance to meet one of the last remains of Balduran's time and get the chance to fight alongside a legendary figure, a memory of Balduran's time. Then, upon reaching the Wyrmway's trials, you begin to really understand Balduran's personality: a brave, just, and righteous person who stood up against evil during his lifetime and continues to inspire countless people even in death. Through the trials he prepared you learn just how much of a morally upright and good-hearted man he was. The Emperor's revelation as Balduran completely shatters this previous perception the player has about Balduran all the way up to this point. Any connection between the kind Balduran and the manipulative Emperor becomes immediately invalidated. The Emperor is not Balduran: Balduran would never turn Stelmane into a mindless thrall or manipulate others to fulfill his own agenda even if it's at the cost of innocent lives and deceit. Balduran died the moment he turned into a mindflayer, and any traits of his personality are long gone, with its only remains being a creature mocking what Balduran stood for by inhabiting what once used to be his body.
The Emperor is not Balduran. He does not think of himself as Balduran, just that he used to be Balduran. Ansur tried to save his friend, but what he saved wasn't Balduran it was the parasite. A parasite that had no desire to be destroyed, and returned to the form of its host. Mindflayers created from individuals of strong will maintain a lot of their hosts memories, feelings, and motivation but those things are an echo the tadpole picked up when consuming the host body.
@@duo1666 Balduran was already a Mindflayer, he wasn't just infected, its revealed he had already transformed. What they are referring to is trying to reverse it. When Ansur figured out that Balduran wasn't coming back, because the brain eating parasite that consumed him wasn't suffeciently influenced by what remained of his psyche, Ansur decided to kill him.
Balduran liked what he became. He maintained his identity, even Ansur acknowledges that. Ansur came to him in his sleep, and tried to give him a “merciful death” - at work we would call this premeditated murder. Ansur could have listened to his friend/lover and accepted him for who he is now, not who he was. I read this as accepting people for their changes. Balduran killed him in self-defense, any jury would agree, which Ansur also acknowledged. The Emperor is sadden about reliving this moment and said he hated doing it. He was also truly sadden by Belynn’s death - no, he didn’t kill her if you do the entire quest and read all the messages from her, she was murdered by the Bhaal cultist and poisoned. Also D&D canon - yes, mindflayers can have feelings and care about their allies. I will side with a mindflayer who wants to save the city he founded over the githyanki, who are a Tiamat worshiping cult. Just because we like Lae’zel does not mean the rest are like her.
The Emperor is full of shit, though. He doesn't actually feel a damn thing and he isn't Balduran, really, but an illithid. If you deny him at a later point he'll lash out and reveal all that. He forced Belynn to be his thrall and he's the reason she was crippled.
@@FeralSheWolf Why would I deny him? What benefit do I have there? I try not being a jerk to the person helping me. I won’t say he’s not a sassy drama queen who thinks is a martyr, but he didn’t thrall me. Also wasnt Stelmane killed by cultists? They poisoned her wine? I got that quest. But everyone else seemed to get some quest that made Stelmane their grandmother because they are so quick to tell me some about some NPC I never interacted with, let alone care about. And who am I to judge someone’s past - you know how much goblin blood is on my hands in the first Act.
@@illythriah793 SO I won't go into too much detail but spoilers, if you missed this part of the game (I did on my first playthrough): a SMALL bit has to do with an NPC that the Emperor knew who lives under the city. You have a boss fight with this NPC and afterward the Emperor admits a lot of stuff. More of the lore is revealed if you turn down his romantic advance at the last minute: he fully admits what he did to Stelmane and that he would and will thrall you if "gentler" methods don't work, because I guess thralling Stelmane made her a pain in the ass to control (as she was basically brain-damaged).
... Wait. Ansur is a Dracolich right? Normally Metallic dragons become Hollow Dragons and Chromatic Dragons become Dracoliches. So does that mean that Ansur was so consumed by revenge that his alignment turned either neutral or even more possible evil? Gods damn you Balduran/Emperor.
In the Wyrmrest prison, there are so dragon shaped lanterns near a wall. Turn them off, hit them with a lightning spell, turn them on again and the wall will reveal a hidden entrance to the trials. Complete them all and Ansur awaits in the end :)
Kinda neat how the blue effects in the eyes and mouth of Tav bug out and revert to green instead of blue as the encounter basically puts the speak with dead animation on the player character
There isn't even a unique interaction with dragonborn. This isn't an interaction, this is a dialogue choice that has the same response as if you were a human that responded with the basic choices.
Yeah it would be kinda neat if they did that as a unique racial feat like the did in D&D, it would be as simple as trading the jump for a fly distance and or reduced if not negated fall damage.
There is no difference whatsoever, i got to here as a human, it plays out identically, for the dragonborn they give you that additional dialogue option but it does notning, this was pointless since the outcome is the same.
was kinda disappointed there's no interaction for draconic bloodline sorcs, though i doubt my tiefling raised by a single mom (her non-magic parent) would have had many opportunities to learn draconic. a bit of a shame, though, as i would have liked to play more with her curiosity about dragons within the game itself.
I felt so bad for him. You could hear the pain and anger in his voice when talking to the emperor, I'm sorry Ansur. I'll get you your revenge in the final battle!
I just got whacked by Ansur in my honor mode run. He literally had just 5 hit points left and suddenly flew up and blasted my whole party to death within one turn. I was just about to go to the Netherbrain and finish this game in Honor for the first time (it's my sixth playthrough). I wanna cry :c
It's a huge secret that the Emperor is, in fact, Balduran. I was genuinely surprised when this scene played out. I had thought all the background hints for the Emperor were suggesting that he was perhaps the PC from a previous BG game. May wish to consider adding a little spoiler warning somewhere, friend.
You are literally clicking on and watching a video giving you a scene from the game. I dont think a spoiler warning is necessary for a literal opt in spoiler.
@@noecarrier5035 Youre.... literally watching gameplay of a game. And the title explicitly states what scene it is going to be. If you are someone who cared about spoilers, both are reasons you shouldnt click on the video. Its like ordering chocolate ice cream and complaining theres chocolate in your ice cream...
@duo1666 The title doesn't actually convey the depth of the secret to be revealed, though, does it? It didn't bother me, I already knew who Ansur was and that the Emperor was Balduran, but it occurred to me that others might not. You should try cultivating some concern for your fellows. It's a positive character trait.
![[Patch 7] Meeting Ansur: Updated Cinematics! | Baldur's Gate 3](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/o4jTUx3GPDQ/mqdefault.jpg)
i always loved the detail that his scales are green because he's a dead bronze dragon and when bronze oxidizes it turns green
Some of the color options for copper and bronze dragonborn player characters include significant amounts of verdigris. I made mine copper just for the sweet verdigris highlights on her horns.
I always thought he was a green dragon and was so confused why he was considered a hero of Baldurs gate, makes so much more sense that he’s bronze
Ooohhh, I was wondering about that, 'cause it doesn't take a genius to figure out that, unless he's just really weird, he isn't a green.
@@chainsawboy2388 He has distinctive head of a bronze dragon which is similar in form to the one of red dragons and scales on his nose are still of bronze color. Besides, his references to storm and tempest and breath weapon also reveal he is bronze ravener.
He still has streaks of bronze that shows through the green all over his body. When he says, "Let my bones rise, and the storms gather" you can see bronze mixed in with the green along his wrings.
"friend, yes - and more.
until you killed me" UGH THE DRAMA
Ansur: "Why did you come?"
Dragonborn: SENPAI NOTICED ME!
Ansur: "I wasn't talking to you"
Dragonborn: Senpai didn't notice me....
Dragonborn where slaves to chromatic dragon before they arrive at Feyrun.
They should hate dragon guts. Just like how Gith/Duegar hate Mindflayer.
It is very odd to see your dragonborn Tav just admiring dragons.
@@farn1991 some of the dragons helped the dragonborn so there is respect at least for the white dragons the bronze dragons and the blue dragons
@@farn1991 Some of dragonborns revere their heritage. It's stated that Tiamat has notable following of dragonborns, thus a dragon-respecting dragonborn isn't a total rarity.
Um ok
@@farn1991Ansur isn’t chromatic and some Dragonborn worshipped dragons albeit they were considered outcasts
killing your own dragon boyfriend just because you wanna be a squid....the worst kind of person.
What if you aren't killing any dragon bfs?
He didn’t want to die, yet the dragon decided he should.
Balduran did the right thing.
@@sitalius7591 not quite right. Ansur was right.being illithid means you change completely. your thoughts your feelings are not same anymore. balduran and emperor are not same person actually .yeah emperor remember who he was but that is it. Their characters different balduran was trust worthy and good person but emperor is not he is very secretive,ruthless and calculative if he thinks you are danger to him or his plans he removes you or kills you for example minsc he was danger to his plans so he intend to left him to die and duke stelmane was good woman but in order to control her he used his illithid powers kinda brainwashed her and that caused health problems for her after a while that left her partially paralyzed .so ansur wanted to that because he wanted protect his friends good side but it was too late he had already changed.even we change a little if we chose to become illithid. We think different but that is it .we are different from emperor if you suicide as an illithid withers tell you that you have a soul and our feelings and thoughts are still intact
@@yusufkaradag8983Theres a bit of a discrepancy with how the "no-soul" thing is handled. If i recall correctly, this piece of lore is canon only to larian's game , and not to the source material. But i think we can safely assume that both Omelium and the Emperor managed to keep their souls, based on what we are given. (Omelium helping the duke over himself, and Ansur recognising Balduran after transforming)
The whole "no-soul" thing is necessary for the plot, as without it, Withers and some gods needn't be involved, but as to why it happens, how it happens, and what makes someone an exception is never mentioned at all, cause in the end, this whole thing is just a convenient plot device...
I don't think Balduran was a "good person" before transforming. Even back then, he was really selfish, only pursuing his own whims and interests above all else.
And i also don't think he's a bad person after transforming. Sure, he entralled Stellmate, but he kinda had no choice about that.
He lets the player make their choices despite all while sticking by them,
he doesnt force us to transform in any circumstance,
if you did tranform, he doesn't turn on you after your "usefulness is over" like you could turn on him, instead he's happy he has a partner,
He needs to be "convinced" to do the evil ending
The emperor was, and still is kind of a "brat" , and while Ansur's actions can be understood more if we believe he knew about the "no-soul" thing, deciding what one does with their life, is still not his decision to make. He fell in love with a version of Balduran, that most likely...verly likely, only existed inside his head. Im sure they would have had plenty issues , even if Balduran never transforms.
@@dani22flore yeah that might be true but that just means he is like gortash .he didnt try to to control us with illithid powers because he wanted us to be healthy and belive him so he could use us better .so a beliving soldier is better than a brainwashed one. and after all after he paralyzed duke stelmane. he could stop after seeing her condition .after all she didnt paralyzed in a second there was symptoms something was not right with her and about bad ending i think he didnt try to use netherbrain for his purposes because he didnt belive he can Win a fight with gods yes even though they cant involve with humans life because of AO i think they would try protect their belivers because except from Ao gods needs belivers to have their "godly" powers without belivers they are good as dead.the reason for ansur is kinda right is not just image of his friend in his mind but also he wouldnt want to his friend do bad things or lost himself more. lets think like they should at least tried to talk before the the fight and there is two possibility .one empror failed to convince ansur that he didnt change so ansur blindly belived balduran losing about his pastself second ansur was right balduran was really losing all his morality to become good person and ansur wanted kill him because he thought his friend wouldnt want to lose his morality because of being illithid is influential to a persons mind think like a peson losing his mind because another person giving him a chemical that changes him so ansur thought his friend wouldnt want to hurt another person so her rather choose to die than killing someone.thir possibility is balduran was deceiving ansur about he is a good person and then first possibility happened . I belive second one or thir one happened because no one wants to person they love to die and also i belive emperor knows having a dragon as an ally is very helpfull.so there must be a proof he is changing drastically. he must be doing acts he wouldnt do in life because of being illithid.so emperor must done something not good.and ansur wanted to kill him
I wish there was a way to befriend Ansur. Imagine how awesome it would be having a zombie dragon help in the final battle
That should've been an option for if you sided with Orpheus. Ansur realizes you aren't an illithid pawn, and chooses to help you.
I tried bringing only Jaheira who has no tadpole (Halsin should be the same) but Ansur still speaks as if she's a slave to the emperor and the prism flies to her despite tav not being near. As much as larian fleshed out our options in many interactions, this one was very on-rails.
Exactly. I think Ansur is a cool dude. Not liking the fact you have to kill him.
@@Rikard_Nilsson A tadpole is not required for an illithid to make a thrall. Duke Stelmane was a Thrall and she was not tadpoled. Teh Emperor repeatedly tries to keep us from meeting Ansur by sayings its just a legend, and there is nothing down below, and no dragon sleeps beneath the Gate. He knew for a fact that Ansur may still be down there and he didn't want us to speak to him. Ansur would reveal some truths The Emperor would not wish us to find out, and which would likely have turned us against him.
It makes sense he'd fly to anyone who goes down there associated with the party. Dude is constantly using Detect Thoughts on everyone, even if they do not have a tadpole.
@@Resi1ience sadly even if he knew he still kill you Bronze are 2nd most stubborn metallic dragon when it comes a strong sense of justice, once they made up their mind it final, if the emperor must die, he must die, Good above all else, working with us would mean working with evil as he be aiding the emperor who the games make clear over and over with literal devils and gods telling you mindflayers are soulless manipulative creatures
They were just friends!
"your presence has stirred me, as it ever did"
"friend, yes - and more"
Friends with sailing ships.
“And they were roommates”
even funnier if you romanced him as dragon born cuz that just mean he have a type
That's f-ed up
"Dear Ansur..." if they ain't gay idk what is
When the Duke told me of a Bronze Dragon who will come to save the city in it's greatest need i was so fucking excited to meet this dragon, there had been no Dragons until this point. My disappointment was immeasurable when i seen him lying there dead.
1. Cutscene dragon
2. telescope dragon
3. voss dragon
@@michasokoowski6651 none that you interact with is what I meant
This questline was a pure rollercoaster of emotions. Yay, a dragon, I can recruit for the final boss. Aw, the dragon is dead. Hmm, it still talks? Whoah, the Emperor is Balduran? Oh my god, my f***ing emotions, Cool bossfight, massive plot-twist, 2 legendary items, everything. I loved that quest
@@activekiwi1221 is he that legendary man who founded Baldurs Gate?
@@quint3ssent1a correct
A bronze dragon will help us save the city!
...hours later the city is filled with red dragons fighting the illithid. Don't think a bronze dragon would've done much.
Power difference between a young/adult dragon and an ancient dragon is pretty large in universe (with action economy in acount though no diff)
Elder Bronze dragon could kill a thousand Red young dragons.
Little red dragons would have been an amuse bouche for an Ancient Bronze Dragon.
@@illythriah793Then how was The Emperor able to kill him? The Emperor is an unusually strong Illithid, but it's still not all that strong.
@@David-ol6fw True true! Haha! I had to revive him at least twice while getting up to the brain.
I played through the game as a Bronze dragonborn, so upon finding out there was a Bronze Dragon under Wyrm's rock I was so excited!!
And then...
I just took Brass because it has ass in it.
Dragonborn hate the shit out of Dragons, just like the Gith hate the Illithid.
Both were once slaves to these respective masters.
This happened to me too, my first playthrough too!
wait, this is the wyrm you could summon for the final battle? I did not knew that :
@@Phili89ppno, you must kill him
Man i wish there were more dragons to interact with, and that they don't always have to end in battle. I only know of Ansur, which is an inevitable fight, and Qudenos in dragonborn form but that doesn't count
Ansur is completely missable. I have beaten the game twice now, and never encountered him. Same with Qudenos.
@@collinsmith5978Need to save Wyll's father to get information on Ansur.
@@collinsmith5978i think he means that the interaction with ansus always end in a fight, no matter your choices
@RazielTheUnborn you don't *have* to save Wyll's dad if you know where and how to get to him. There are some books in Act 3 that even hint at how to get there
If you become Bhaal's Unholy Assassin, you can encounter the blood spirit of another dragon in Dragonborne form
I like how in this interaction you can see Ansur making sure to point out that it isn't you he means to offend, just Balduran
He's also tired of you being stupid and not realising it.
I feel like if you're playing a Dark urge playthrough and resist/have resisted Bhaal there should be an option to just go "FUCK YOU NOT AGAIN."
This is like the most "Wait what? WAIT WHAT? WAIT WHAT?????????"
Moment in the game like i was thinking i was gonna get a cool dragon to help me but i only got a helm and drama about the one who built the gate aka Squidward
I'm a huge fan of dragons... always have been since I was a kid. I lived for the beginning parts with the red dragons (evil or not, they're beautiful) and was excited to meet a good aligned dragon at last.
For the first time in the whole game, I broke out into genuine tears at Ansur's fate and what had happened to him. I played as a Bard and ended up playing the Divinty & Sin song between turns, since it seems the only song to truly fit how sad the whole thing felt to me.
That is the most bard thing I've seen today. But you are correct. This scene really made me hate the emperor on a new level
I wish there was a way to help them reconcile, just like how I wish there was a way to tell the Emperor to come to his senses and let Orpheus go so we can persuade him to help and don't have to sacrifice anyone.
But alas, fanfic is all that remains.
If you like dragons so much you should play pathfinder wrath of the righteous, there your character can learn the dragon form skill depending on your class or choices in the story.
Glad I am not the only one. My sould and body were fighting against this clash the entire time, and I never felt more miserable in my entire RPG life. Watching Ansur then battle, trying to resist his energy leaving his body... too much.
A genuine friend, betrayed. And then, betrayed again in his attempt to find some justice.
Of course you played as a bard lmao
In all seriousness, having him as an ally would have been so cool. Act 3 feels extremely on rails compared to acts 1 and 2 for me. Though act 1 has its own issues in terms of levelling and how awkward it is to navigate all the tough encounters pre-level 4.
I love how as a *bronze* dragon his corpse is covered with patinated green bronze
When bronze metal is in contact with oxygen for a long time it turns green
@@Mazuranicdolazi and?
@@eyeballpapercut4400it means he's been rotting for a long time and thematically appropriate. If this was what you meant, take the comment as a supplementary to yours for those ignorant of this branch of science, rather than a comment trying to correct you.
@@thesidneychan We'll see what the replier's intent was
@@eyeballpapercut4400 ye thought it was ovbious
An instrumental version of "Song of Balduran" playing right before the Emperor is revealed is such a good touch
Friend...and more.
Becoming Illithid means the removal of all sentiment, all love, all humanity and every bit of emotion we cherish as people. It is the real, true death of their soul through cerromorphosis, and so Ansur, seeing the fate of his beloved Balduran meant losing his soul for all time, losing everything about the man he loved, grew to love, and cherished, did the only you can do for the person you love if their immortal soul is in danger of being lost...he tried to save him.
He died, failing at it.
Ansur's grief and shame are what keep him bound to his bones, not his duty. I can't imagine the pain of seeing the Emperor again. It must have hurt as much as dying to him the first time, or worse, knowing the illithid abomination still lived, and being forced to confront the pain of that certainty.
This is such an amazingly powerful scene emotionally.
So your telling there’s Dungeons and Dragons?
There always is
*aim with a light crossbow and prepare for a sneak attack*
@@jimmyc2223😂
Wouldn't be much of a DnD game otherwise would it? xD
@nobodynothing282 I gave my astarion dungeon delver. He can literally stand in a fireball trap and take no damage as it continues to go off.
@nobodynothing282 Dungeon Delver isn't a bad skill - give it to a dwarven rogue, add as extra language from background some undercommon, be proficient with nature/survival, and you likely never need to leave the Underdark!
DM : "There lies before the corpse of a great dragon."
Player: "Can I cast Speak with Dead?"
DM: "No, but it can cast "Speak with the living"
Player- "Uhm, WTF"
Ansur 😞 I was so upset by this whole encounter. That was the end of any hope I had for the Emperor. It had to die.
Honestly, I felt the same way. He always kept saying he never lied to you, yet kept hiding information every single time we asked for the truth. He still lied, despite what he says.
Apparently The Emperor forgot the term "Lying by Omission."
@@coloradoblue6929 That's the illithid side of him rearing its head. The PoV of even the most anomalously empathetic mind flayer is basically akin to a high functioning sociopath -- while capable of forming genuine bonds and displays of affection toward others, they care most of all about self-preservation, even if they have to sacrifice their loved ones to achieve it when desperate enough. They find breaching others' established social boundaries, no matter how severe, to be just as easy an act to commit as breathing.
Illithid society is domineered by self-preservation, such that the elder brains in the heart of each colony rely on deceiving their illithid supplicants into adding their brain matter to the elder brain upon expiration with lies of joining a perceived notion of a hive mind, when instead they just have all their knowledge stripped bare and identity annihilated afterward.
Balduran is dead. The Emperor, for all of his genuine beliefs in himself to be both Balduran and a morally upstanding paragon of virtue who cares about the benefit of all, is merely the tadpole that once rested in his head, now having assimilated his memories and portions of his powerful personality.
@coloradoblue6929 Also don't forget that in one of the first dream visits he says something like " I too have a tadpole *and wish to be free of it* ". But then you find out that not only has he already undergone ceremorphosis, but he his completely content with being a mindflayer.
@@overforest1195 Yeah I never fully trusted it, I always felt like it was lying and I was willing to be optimistic at first because Omeluum is nice for an ilithid. But my opinion soured quickly once it offered me the astral touched tadpole. I used it the first time out of curiosity and was horrified at what it did to my tav. Reloaded the save and chose a different option, my trust in th emperor wavered until I was able to finally get it to admit that it had been lying and was manipulating us and despite "promising" that it would help us find a way to get rid of the tadpole. It did not want to help us find a cure it was acting only in its self interest, much like what it did to Duke Stelmane the stuff about her in his hideout and the stuff that Wyll said about her was really the tipping point though. It doesn't care about life, it can say that it is an adventurer like us all it wants. But it's not, Balduran died the second ceramorphosis is complete, his soul is gone and the mindflayer only has an echo of who it used to be, believing that it is Balduran despite that it clearly isn't. Sorry about this being long, the emperor gets me really heated.
doesnt the game end after you kill the emperor?
its a Unique Interaction for if the player is Dragonborn but the response is the same as one of the other optional answers
To me this was the last straw in trusting the emperor. Constantly the emperor stands to say that they can be trusted and even when catching it in a lie states that lies would be told no longer but ansur was the prime example of continued betrayal of lies and deceit so when it was time to free Orin I had no choice bc why would I trust someone who genuinely may have kept me alive but continued to lie about the reasons and lie about lying again
I mean i didnt trust him to begin with hes a ghaik afterall. And espcially when you turn down hos advances he gets pissy and tells you if he wanted to he could just mind control and grape you and you should thank him for not doing it
@@CodeeXDit’s made clear he’s an ass and a manipulator. He killed his friend because he wanted to have tentacles as well
He basically speaks like a mindflayer, no heart. He speaks like it’s a business transaction but doesn’t try to appeal to your emotions, only thinking logically
@@thunder2275 The sad part of it, that i doesn't think, that has any connection to him being an illithid. He just such a selfish, egoistic b@st@rd, who would do that anyway.
@@CodeeXDI feel like the only illithid I could trust was Omeluun and dude is essentially a sorta crazy scientist studying mushrooms and trying to find a way to change his ppl so they don't need brains(or be under control)
This whole thing made me so salty because my Tav wasn't a dragonborn but WAS a draconic bloodline bronze lightning sorceress also from Baldur's Gate and I spent the entire time waiting to meet him as I levelled up severely hoping I'd have an option to ask if he was my distant grandpa. 🤣 But I didn't get a single extra line and I was so sad. Still, glad the dragonborn got something :)
Literal dungeon with a literal dragon
*insert the leonardo dicaprio pointing meme*
The saddest fight for every Dragonborn player.
Can I get an F in chat Scale-Friends?
F
F
F
F
F
I had wyll with me and thought he’s going to have a lot to say about the fact that the man he admired the most of all is a mindflayer now, but no. Barely mentioned once and that’s it.
So... What if I forgot to take him on the quest with me? Btw, did you talk to him after the fact and at camp and long rest? Sometimes the responses aren't always immediate, I've noticed. But yeah.. I completely derped out and forgot to bring him because I thought I had found a secret area. :(
"This time you will not escape it!"
Dies in the first turn.
Proud to say I understood when he called "Vrak" your character.
I have two Dragonborn characters in 5e :
- Delmirev Mehen, a Warlock of Dendar, ended making a deal with Shar, who claimed a treasure of Selune he stole and his firstborn.
- Vorel VRAKmehen, the child of Mehen, Cleric of Shar.
What does it mean?
@@nabeelahmed7689 "Vrak "means "Child" in Dragon tongue.
"Dear Ansur"
"ENOUGH!" is so tender and sad, what the hell
If anyone hasn't picked up on it the emperor is the balduran who made baldurs gate and is mentioned in bg1
Are you saying Balduran was a welder?
You can find his crashed ship where in which you would be kidnapped by mind flayers
Once you accept that that illithid is not balduran, you Understand Ansur’s point of view. He was right by his friend, but was betrayed
How can you be betrayed by someone who is supposedly not your friend anymore?
How is that betrayed. Ansur tried to kill the emperor first, in his sleep
@@lmSheep That doesn’t suit the lore of bronze dragons they believe in justice and are commonly good aligned. The emperor if you choose certain options tells you you’re his puppet and nothing more. It’s pretty obvious he’s the ‘bad option’ to side with
@@lmSheep yes, and that would save Baldurans soul. Balduran responded by killing his friend, in order to save the creature that consumed his soul, and killed not just his body, but his very soul. That’s why I said you HAVE TO account for the fact, that that thing is NOT Balduran.
@@Walsinats4
His soul was consume/claim by Illisine the moment he turned into mindflayer, at least that is how Wither understand it.
He is a different being than Balduran, that inherit his memories and personality. Mindflayer things.
Which is why when the emperor try to court you, he is flirting with the tadpole inside your head.
This was one of the best bit of dialogues in the game. I had to sit and process for a while after this.
My first ever dnd character was a bronze dragon ancestry sorcerer, so I decided to recreate her my first playthrough. I was so excited for this scene. Even though my character has a different backstory, it could have been similar. Her dragon ancestor was a spurned female bronze dragon who fell in love with nobility, a famous prince, and their children betrayed her and my character is the result of a line of once proud nobles fallen to ruin and criminality . With a little tweaking it almost fit! Ahhhh the fanfiction I could write.
Holy shit. The Emperor is Balduran? That's so sad!
He isn't. That's a parasite wearing Balduran's mutated body and stolen memories it consumed during Ceremorphosis.
The soul is kicked out of the body as the process begins. It only thinks its Balduran because of the strong impressions, memories and well lived life Balduran had. Most Mind Flyer colonies consider that a sign of failure and sickness, an incomplete takeover.
Considering dragonborn in faerun despise dragons i expected way more drama
Unfortunately many people believe dragonborns are children of dragons or in some way worship dragons.
I mean the name can be misleading but if someone did the slightest bit of googling they'd find how rare it is for a dragonborn to even consider the possibility of a dragon being "good", less so risk the possibility of being exiled from their clan for worshiping one.
@@KyloB Well, it depends on the world.
In Faerun, they despise them, but the fact, that they created them, still remains. The point missed by a lot - or just doesn't care about it, even if they know -, that the dragons created them to be their servants... And the Dragonborn were unwilling to accept that status (which led to the creation of the kobolds, if i remember correctly).
But there are other worlds, where the Dragonborns were created as noble warriors of the Dragons, and the Kobolds as servants - and in these worlds, the Dragonborns look up to the Dragons.
( The world, where me and my group play, our DM made the Dragonborns respecting the Dragons, but not on the level of worshipping them. The Kobolds respects the Dragonborns, and worship the Dragons - but that doesn't mean, they wouldn't attack them, if their circumstances put them on opposite sides, they just consider them then a more noble enemy. )
Yoooooo, the voice actors SNAPPED. I was getting chills towards the end.
"I offered a merciful death"
Kind of a shit gift
I mean Balduran died either way, the Emperor is not Balduran anymore
So none of the Dragonborn dialogue choices change what he says cool lol
If you wake Ansur with someone that doesn't have the tadpole (Jaheira) and keep your other partymembers away Ansur still treats her as if she's infected and the Prism will show up despite being in tav's inventory. A bit disappointing.
the Ansur stuff was the only time in the game I went "Bro what the hell?" To the Emperor.
Although I do admit I see what both sides were going for here
-Balduran was fine with how things are and didnt want to burden Ansur with him and wanted him to move on and be unbound
-Ansur didnt want him to suffer as a mindflayer due to know they are normally
was just going "CAN I ATLEAST TRY TO DIPLOMACY THIS SHIT FOR A SEC?"
There's a lot of inconsistency with everything that the emperor said, he said that he was under the control of the elder brain, but in a book of interrogation with Gortash show that he has his free will all the time and Ansur only found him. And Ansur may consider killing him but it was the emperor that knew that and killed him first while he was in his dragon form, that may be the plan of the elder brain, to slay the defender of Baldurs gate. What happened with duque Stelmand was really sus...
just dump him and free lazael's people lol. He seems like an ass.
The Emperor is a liar and manipulative
Emperor is a real piece of sith
Because he lied the whole game
Was it truly cooperation though? From what I got when reading the book - it was after Gortash captured Emperor and re-introduced him to Elder Brain. Ergo it was not anything like willing cooperation on Emperor's part
"And more"
Oh my god they were roommates
ive seen this scene like 4 times and i still cant help but rewatch it on yt lmfao.
WAIT so the Emperor is THE BALDURAN??? As in the guy sho founded Baldurs Gate??? That's a massive lore drop???
Now I have to add a Dragonborn playthrough to my list! That's crazy!
You don't have to be Dragonborn to find that out. The only difference for the Dragonborn is that one line of dialog.
I was a half-wood elf Bard and got it too. It is related to Wyll's quest.
Still amuses me that Balduran was bf with A LITTLERAL DRAGON
Ansur was bugged for me. I played a battlemaster fighter and used evasive technique first turn of the the fight, then moved away. He missed his opportunity attack and then just despawned and I won the fight. I reloaded and it kept happening.
lmao just juked him into nonexistance?
i kinda wanna see that, got a clip of it laying around?
I had no idea this existed
"Jessie. I am the heart of the gate. I... AM THE ONE WHO ROARS!"
"A dragon opens his door and gets slain, and you think that of me? No. I am the one who roars!"
I hoped there is way to make amends with Ansur, rather than with boss fight.
An Undead dragon, who died with feelings of guilt, sadness, and betrayal... I don't think there would be enough clerics, or therapists to sanctify both his mind and remains... :(
It's too late for him. He was slain, and there's no word that resurrection magic could properly bring back something as powerful as a dragon.
@@quint3ssent1a Even as undead, he didn't have to be evil.
@@ceu160193 now, you get it wrong. Technically, he didn't turn evil. It's a Bronze dragon, they are lawfull good in the lore if DnD if I remember correctly... At the very least, helpful toward other species. So, hé wasn't evil in the end... But d*mn was he bloody PISSED ! xD
@@sirjazz1268 He became undead, and undead usually aren't nice towards living.
Well that was quite a revelation
all those hoarding of dragon slaying arrows payed off for this fight lmao
I wish there were a way to bring him back to life and join our group. I wanted him on my side so bad 😞
This entire quest is amazingly well written and has great visual storytelling. Throughout your whole journey all the way up to Act 3 you can read fragments of books or inscriptions immortalizing Balduran and letting the player see just how much of a legendary figure Balduran really is in Faerûn. Once you reach Baldur's Gate and learn of Ansur, Balduran's companion, you realize you finally have the chance to meet one of the last remains of Balduran's time and get the chance to fight alongside a legendary figure, a memory of Balduran's time.
Then, upon reaching the Wyrmway's trials, you begin to really understand Balduran's personality: a brave, just, and righteous person who stood up against evil during his lifetime and continues to inspire countless people even in death. Through the trials he prepared you learn just how much of a morally upright and good-hearted man he was. The Emperor's revelation as Balduran completely shatters this previous perception the player has about Balduran all the way up to this point. Any connection between the kind Balduran and the manipulative Emperor becomes immediately invalidated. The Emperor is not Balduran: Balduran would never turn Stelmane into a mindless thrall or manipulate others to fulfill his own agenda even if it's at the cost of innocent lives and deceit.
Balduran died the moment he turned into a mindflayer, and any traits of his personality are long gone, with its only remains being a creature mocking what Balduran stood for by inhabiting what once used to be his body.
This was one of those jaw drop moments. 😳. The best twists aren't hinted at!
top notch voice acting for this scene amazing game through and through
Yes one of the best cutscenes in the game played dragonborn paladin first playthrough so this was awesome
When Ansur says “I am the one who roars” I can’t help but think of the breaking bad quote lol
my first playthrough was a dragonborn and so this is exactly how it went for me lol
Ansur: *tries to kill balduran*
Also Ansur: :O
The Emperor is not Balduran. He does not think of himself as Balduran, just that he used to be Balduran. Ansur tried to save his friend, but what he saved wasn't Balduran it was the parasite. A parasite that had no desire to be destroyed, and returned to the form of its host. Mindflayers created from individuals of strong will maintain a lot of their hosts memories, feelings, and motivation but those things are an echo the tadpole picked up when consuming the host body.
Better to die a hero than to live on as a villain, or worse, a _ghaik._
@@ComplexityComplex I know right, fucking ghaik, ghaiking all over the place like the ghaiking ghaik they are
@@daqueda1577 "I wont let it potentially, maybe kill you so i will kill you myself" - great logic. Yeah, id off Ansur too.
@@duo1666 Balduran was already a Mindflayer, he wasn't just infected, its revealed he had already transformed. What they are referring to is trying to reverse it. When Ansur figured out that Balduran wasn't coming back, because the brain eating parasite that consumed him wasn't suffeciently influenced by what remained of his psyche, Ansur decided to kill him.
the moment it happened with my dragonborn i was like: DOVAKIM DOVAAKIM
Balduran liked what he became. He maintained his identity, even Ansur acknowledges that. Ansur came to him in his sleep, and tried to give him a “merciful death” - at work we would call this premeditated murder. Ansur could have listened to his friend/lover and accepted him for who he is now, not who he was. I read this as accepting people for their changes. Balduran killed him in self-defense, any jury would agree, which Ansur also acknowledged. The Emperor is sadden about reliving this moment and said he hated doing it. He was also truly sadden by Belynn’s death - no, he didn’t kill her if you do the entire quest and read all the messages from her, she was murdered by the Bhaal cultist and poisoned. Also D&D canon - yes, mindflayers can have feelings and care about their allies.
I will side with a mindflayer who wants to save the city he founded over the githyanki, who are a Tiamat worshiping cult. Just because we like Lae’zel does not mean the rest are like her.
I mean Mind Flayers are soulless creatures who have a predisposition towards evil so Ansurs reaction was, I'd say, valid.
Balduran is dead, emperor is the tadpole wearing his memories/identity.
The Emperor is full of shit, though. He doesn't actually feel a damn thing and he isn't Balduran, really, but an illithid. If you deny him at a later point he'll lash out and reveal all that. He forced Belynn to be his thrall and he's the reason she was crippled.
@@FeralSheWolf Why would I deny him? What benefit do I have there? I try not being a jerk to the person helping me. I won’t say he’s not a sassy drama queen who thinks is a martyr, but he didn’t thrall me. Also wasnt Stelmane killed by cultists? They poisoned her wine? I got that quest. But everyone else seemed to get some quest that made Stelmane their grandmother because they are so quick to tell me some about some NPC I never interacted with, let alone care about. And who am I to judge someone’s past - you know how much goblin blood is on my hands in the first Act.
@@illythriah793 SO I won't go into too much detail but spoilers, if you missed this part of the game (I did on my first playthrough): a SMALL bit has to do with an NPC that the Emperor knew who lives under the city. You have a boss fight with this NPC and afterward the Emperor admits a lot of stuff. More of the lore is revealed if you turn down his romantic advance at the last minute: he fully admits what he did to Stelmane and that he would and will thrall you if "gentler" methods don't work, because I guess thralling Stelmane made her a pain in the ass to control (as she was basically brain-damaged).
I love that he just calls you child, a good both insult and/or neutral way to address you
... Wait. Ansur is a Dracolich right? Normally Metallic dragons become Hollow Dragons and Chromatic Dragons become Dracoliches. So does that mean that Ansur was so consumed by revenge that his alignment turned either neutral or even more possible evil? Gods damn you Balduran/Emperor.
Well it's not a unique interaction, ansur responds in the same way every time if you pick the same options with any race.
150 hours into the game and i have not experienced this😭😭 where exactly can i have this cutscene?
Save Duke Ravenguard and he'll give you a hint to chase down: A great bronze dragon who lives under Baldurs Gate and protects it.
Duke died for me u can still get the mission if u talk or free Flor rick, its a mission for wyll
you can get the dragon without saving the duke or florrick just don't have wyll with you he hard bugged out in my playthrough when i did it
In the Wyrmrest prison, there are so dragon shaped lanterns near a wall. Turn them off, hit them with a lightning spell, turn them on again and the wall will reveal a hidden entrance to the trials. Complete them all and Ansur awaits in the end :)
@@DarkJSN no need to turn them off, just hit with lighitning as you said :P.
What happens if you killed the Emperor and freed Orpheus
If you reached that part you're in the end game and cannot reach Ansur.
"I AM THE ONE WHO ROARS"
Bro thinks he Heisenberg💀💀
Heisansurg
Kinda neat how the blue effects in the eyes and mouth of Tav bug out and revert to green instead of blue as the encounter basically puts the speak with dead animation on the player character
Anyone know the track that plays here? It's a little lower here than when I played but it picks up at 1:30 if that helps.
I wish I knew specifics, but I can only make out the Song of Balduran motif
Now i wonder, is there any unique interactions with dragonblood sorcs?
Unfortunately no. My Tav is a bronze DA sorcerer and I didn't even notice Ansur was a bronze dragon until after I had killed him.
@@PecarosDGP damn shame. Thanks anyway.
I had the exact playout as a tiefling, idk how unique it is
There isn't even a unique interaction with dragonborn. This isn't an interaction, this is a dialogue choice that has the same response as if you were a human that responded with the basic choices.
I didn't see a unique action here. I had this same interaction as a Gith.
BALDURAN WAS TAKING BACKSHOTS FROM A BRONZE DRAGON!
It was hilarious when Florrick asked us to find Ansur for help after we had already killed him.
I want to grow wings on a tielfing or dragon born.
Yeah it would be kinda neat if they did that as a unique racial feat like the did in D&D, it would be as simple as trading the jump for a fly distance and or reduced if not negated fall damage.
Did- did the mindflayer and the dragon *fuck* ??
Mindflayer wasn't mindflayer back then
to me "and more" meant a deeper level kind of friendship. not homosexuality. i find it weird that people are fantasising with this
To think the world was saved because a mindflayer killed his top
There is no difference whatsoever, i got to here as a human, it plays out identically, for the dragonborn they give you that additional dialogue option but it does notning, this was pointless since the outcome is the same.
And what is "unique" about this? Pretty much how it went with my half-elf Paladin...
The narrator's line about the PC feeling a wave of resentment is Dragonborn-exclusive, I think.
@@easternlights3155 Nah, it's universal.
It's literally just the fact that you understand the draconic term for coward. that is literally it.
was kinda disappointed there's no interaction for draconic bloodline sorcs, though i doubt my tiefling raised by a single mom (her non-magic parent) would have had many opportunities to learn draconic. a bit of a shame, though, as i would have liked to play more with her curiosity about dragons within the game itself.
I felt so bad for him. You could hear the pain and anger in his voice when talking to the emperor, I'm sorry Ansur. I'll get you your revenge in the final battle!
I just got whacked by Ansur in my honor mode run. He literally had just 5 hit points left and suddenly flew up and blasted my whole party to death within one turn. I was just about to go to the Netherbrain and finish this game in Honor for the first time (it's my sixth playthrough). I wanna cry :c
I sympathize with sides… it is a tragedy
This reveal dealt 2d10 emotional damage
Most epic cutscenes yet 😮 I shouldn't have watched this lol
Yoooo a different line of text that changes nothing lets goooo
Not unique to only dragonborn, same interaction happened to my drow, paladin
It's a huge secret that the Emperor is, in fact, Balduran. I was genuinely surprised when this scene played out. I had thought all the background hints for the Emperor were suggesting that he was perhaps the PC from a previous BG game. May wish to consider adding a little spoiler warning somewhere, friend.
You are literally clicking on and watching a video giving you a scene from the game. I dont think a spoiler warning is necessary for a literal opt in spoiler.
@@duo1666 Eh? It's pretty common to mark out spoilers in game videos.
@@noecarrier5035 Youre.... literally watching gameplay of a game. And the title explicitly states what scene it is going to be. If you are someone who cared about spoilers, both are reasons you shouldnt click on the video. Its like ordering chocolate ice cream and complaining theres chocolate in your ice cream...
@duo1666 The title doesn't actually convey the depth of the secret to be revealed, though, does it? It didn't bother me, I already knew who Ansur was and that the Emperor was Balduran, but it occurred to me that others might not. You should try cultivating some concern for your fellows. It's a positive character trait.
@@noecarrier5035 It doesnt need to convey the depth of anything... if you care about spoilers for a game, you wouldnt watch videos of said game.
2:14 Emperor are you secretly a bard?
Hated how afterwards everyone’s basically like “who needs a dragon when we have friendship”
Stfu wyll I wanted a dragon in the final battle
I hope we get a mod that will give us a dragon transformation or something when we beat ansur as a reward.
What theme sounds in the final of the speech of the dragon?
This is when I knew I wasn't going to side with the Emperor
This isn’t a dragonborne only interaction.
Please, what's the theme ? :) Thanks
What happens if you talk to Ansur after you've already freed Orpheus? Does anyone know?
You can't. Either way you get the Orphic Hammer, you still can't access Orpheus until the endgame, past the point of no return.
You can't come back to Ansur after releasing Orpheus
THE EMPEROR IS BALDURAN??? 😵💫😵💫😵💫
I think i got the same option as a sorcerer with a draconic bloodline.
Lol a mind flayer soloed an elder dragon sure why not 🤷♂️
Remember it's a Mindflayer... _With character levels._
Wait, Balduran? Wasn't it revealed in the BG1 expansion (Tales of the Sword Coast) that he was killed by werewolves?
Unique? He gives the same answer to any option.