Remember, Lae’zel cutting your throat is a great mercy and had it not been for the plot, if you were just infected by regular mind flayers, she would have saved your soul from utter destruction
I appreciate that the game lets you let her, but it also feels a little silly that you can cast revivify and then … I don’t know what’s supposed to happen then because she wiped my party 1 v 4 and I decided to talk her out of it on reload
@@taneelbrightblade6622Soooo basically if you do that and manage to kill Lae'zel, she's dead for good, at least that's what happened in my coop run. Had her frozen corpse follow through all act 1 before disappearing though.
The game is weird in that it somewhat asks us to care if any characters have souls or not. Omeluum clearly does while also being the "wrong" kind of character to have one
@@meg6187is it clear? Is it stated that Omeluum has a soul? Because being self aware is not the same as having one and we have literal avatar of Jergal saying they dont have souls, and if there is one guy that would know it's this mantis weirdo. To give you good example, casting awakening on an animal or a plant does not grant it a soul. It can be your best friend, it can be smarter than you are, but it still won't have a soul and will just vanish after it dies. Dogs never go to heaven, unless gods make exceptions and cause miracles to elevate them to soul-ownership. And frankly while u might think that's a rude comparison, it's actually rude to the animal - NOT the mindflayer.
Romancing Lae'zel, having her hold the egg during the final battle, and convincing her to stay results in you two basically becoming professional adventurers raising a child together. And who could ask for anything more?
29:40 The Orpheus comet on Vlaakith's portrait was drawn by the trainee kid who's getting mistreated by the teacher in the training area nearby. If you succeed the knowledge check to recognize the symbol and manage to persuade/intimidate the teacher into not killing him you can talk to him and discover he's an Oprheus fanboy. You can eventually persuade him into giving you his copy of the tale of Orpheus part 2 for extra Lae'zel dialogue, or if you have another part of Orpheus' tale in your inventory you can actually swap slates with him like Orpheus fanboys trading your rare Orpheus cards
I want to add that if you keep the gith egg from the creche and let laezel just have it, in the epilogue she actually claims that hatchling as a son and says that she wants him to grow into whatever HE desires. She wants him to choose his own destiny and I really love that about her character growth ❤
@@Unknown_but_better You can just talk to the guy guarding it, and he'll let you have it (with a pretty easy persuasion check if I remember correctly). The egg is supposed to be destroyed if it doesn't hatch early enough, so he sees giving it to you as a better choice. Btw, if you romance her, she considers him to be pretty much your child together.
if you play as karlach origin and romance lae, she has such great lines about him taking after Karlach than her. it's really cute. and they have him in portable hole(lol) while raiding avernus together :D
Doesnt that thing hatch and slaughter people who believed it can be a normal person if you raise it with love if u sell it to the Omellum's buds So i guess that's what it wants to be a mass murderer
18:23 Lae'zel is like 19 (in human years) too 🥲 such a babyyyy. To be fair she did spend some time in the Astral plane, but she mentions she didn't live there, so presumably hasn't had the eons to grow mentally like Voss has
Actually, Lae’zel has not been to the astral plane! She said as such when I played through the game, the first time she sees it is through the pocket of the astral plane that’s inside the prism.
@@tizooky ah ty! I was thinking the asteroid Selunes tears went through the astral but that was realmspace and forgotten realms besides which isn't strictly bg3 canon
@@skywares the way BG3 treats it, Stardock/Crèche K'liir is in the astral sea, not the astral plane. In 5e the astral sea is a border area where the mortal plane and astral plane overlap, so you get some qualities of both. (this is distinct from earlier versions of the forgotten realms lore where the astral sea and astral plane were two names for the same thing).
Not only were the gith (both githyanki and githzerai) thralls and unthralled slaves of mind flayers, it lasted for tens of thousands of years. That's why their hatred and determination to exterminate all mind flayers runs so deep
I love Lae'zel so much and she's really one of those characters that, the more you think about them and unpack them, the more you love them. Like, this woman is like ... early twenties or so, thrust into a foreign world she barely knows anything off, subjected to the WORST thing she can possible imagine (being tadpoled by a mindflayer), and has been indoctrinated by a culture that values strength above all else and curbs weakness and STILL she offers to help your band of misfits a cure without seemingly any expections of getting anything in return. This is UNHEARD OF in githyanki culture. You're absolutely right when you say that she's kind; she just doesn't know how to express it or is familiar with the concept so she comes off as abrasive and rude and aggressive, but what do you expect from someone who has never been taught otherwise?
It is a shame that so many people disregard her for her rough exterior, myself included. She's a very interesting character with an interesting journey
Jup, first time I played the game I was like "why are you so ungrateful you b*tch" because I was going for more of a teambonding, everyone should get along with everyone else experience. The second time I was going for a much more pragmatic "okay, I am here now, which are my best ways to survive" approach in which La'zael is to me how she treats me and that girl is just great. So so good in battle and the more you know her the friendlier she becomes.
We meet Lae’Zel on her WORST day, I’d be pissed too if I was kidnapped from my people mid battle, inflicted with the worst affliction known to my people not knowing my time limit, fall off of a nautiloid and immediately captured. I’d be hardcore mad too 💀
One of my favorite Lae’zel moments is when she takes every opportunity to brag to the player about her own crèche in comparison to Y’llek. Or when she assures you that it wasn’t your fault that the zaith’isk didn’t work and threatens whoever “tampered with it” and put you in danger
Lae’Zel is awesome. She really grew on me. Also her and Shadowheart’s bickering is so funny. Shadowheart’s so hostile towards Lae’Zel meanwhile she’s completely fine with my Lolth sworn which I find kind of hilarious. Edit: also one thing about lae’zel that’s really notable is that when you meet her, she’s fucking terrified. She’s been kidnapped and infected by the worst monster her culture knows, landed in a hostile and alien world, and still, she tries to help you the only way she knows how despite what Gith doctrine says.
I love Lae’zel so much! She was who I ended up romancing in my one (and probably only) playthrough. My ending i thought was interesting though, and wanted to share: I played as a max selfless good aligned character, so when presented with the choice of who to make a mind flayer, I ended up choosing… myself. Basically expecting it to detonate my relationship with Lae’zel, because i thought that Orpheus was the Githyanki’s best chance at freedom, so he was the one person I didn’t feel like I could morally justified mind flayer-ing. But despite her saying “I can’t even look at you” immediately after going full mind flayer, she actually stayed with me in the ending! Like, when Orpheus asks her to come, I told her to do what she felt was right, and she took me (a literal mind flayer!) with her to go fight with Orpheus. I legit cried with happiness at this I got so emotional that she still loved me even though I was a squid. Part of this was almost definitely the gender dysphoria of having my female character turned into the very masc mind flayer. (I ended up having to save scum to go back because I had to convince Karlach to go to Avernus with Wyll.) So anyways I asked her to stay with me, and she did! The like, bed scene afterwards was so sweet, “my eyes tell me that before me is a monster, but my heart tells me it is my love” and I was just like 😭😭😭 She stayed with me to the epilogue, to the extent she actually suggests that the two of us go and kill a crèche and then I could feed to my heart’s content like 😭😭😭 she accepted meeeee. There’s even a custom kiss animation! She smooched my weird mind flayer nose XD
That is so cute!!!! The one play through I sacrificed myself, I was with Astarion and Halsin, and they both dumped me. So I'm glad to see it's not all grim and lonely for the mind flayer endings!
One of my favorite moments in the game is at the Crèche when Vlaakith betrays Lae’zel and she just screams”What good this heart of stone for it to shatter.” Made me ball my eyes out
Lae'zel is by far the companion that has grown on me the most. She was probably my least favorite companion when I starter playing, now she's quite possibly my favorite.
Something to add regarding to her upbringing and her githyanki culture. The githyanki's rough upbringing and apparent emphasis on "militaristic" culture for a lack of better term reminds me of Spartan culture. They were also trained from early age in the form of warfare and combat. They also value putting up strong persona in front of others, which they believe other personas are perceived as weak.
Lae'zel took a while, but she seriously grew on me. She kinda reminds me of the Klingon from Star Trek or the Krogan from Mass Effect. When I watched how she started to think for herself beyond Vlaakith, there was this growing sense of respect, the kind you have for a comrade in arms. In my epilogue, she became an ambassador to the gith'zarai and it's all due to my Tav's influence. In other words...Lae'zel is Bae'zel.
I feel like the best ending for Laezel is one in which Orpheus dies and she ends up leading the war against Vlakith. After Vlakith betrays her, Laezel channels the same dogged reverence she had towards the lich queen into Orpheus instead; she substitutes one grandiose figure of quasi-religious devotion for another in what feels to me like a coping mechanism to fill the hole Vlakith left in her worldview. She's definitely changing and growing as a person, but she's still holding fast to the pattern of placing an authority figure up on a pedestal to give herself purpose. With Oprheus in the picture, the war is a anti-pretender uprising to install the correct royalty to the throne, in which Laezel is a loyal soldier. without Orpheus and with Laezel in a position of leadership, she has agency. Without an authority figure to inform her actions, she must act upon her own convictions, convictions that have been shaped by her time with the party. Her perspective could make the conflict genuinely revolutionary and change gith society into something less brutal, supremacist, and authoritarian.
The Poetic Irony of the Vlaakith Githyanki being born to be consumed is EXACTLY what they were under the Mindflayers. Under Vlaakith or under Mindflayers, they do their will and when it comes time, their souls must be sacrificed for their longevity.
As far as I'm aware, Orpheus is an entirely new character created by Larian Studios for BG3, and I think the intent was to create a character that could lead the Githyanki in a better direction. From what I've seen, the idea of him being genocidal comes from the fact that his mother, Gith, was not an idealistic rebel leader and was basically a case of the oppressed becoming the oppressor. However this doesn't really gel with how Orpheus is presented in the game. A githyanki youth in the creche talks about him like he was very much a good and noble leader, though of course that could just be a misinterpretation on his part. But the fact that he is willing to work with you despite the Emperor saying that he would absolutely just kill you if he was released, and that he could be convinced to become a mind flayer in order to stop the nether brain is a good indication of his character. In the epilogue, if he survived, you'll even learn that he's talking with the Githzerai to form an alliance, something Mother Gith would have never done. To be honest, I think there is a bit of a disconnect happening with BG3 and Forgotten Realms lore in this case, and it probably would have made more sense if Orpheus was Githzerai.
Yeah, that was my impression as well. Just covering the bases because I had a lot of people dismissing my thoughts on the basis that they thought Orpheus was a genocidal maniac based on outside information. But I have noticed that BG3 does veer off from Forgotten Realms lore in order to tell the stories they set out to tell.
Her Act 3 romance scene is so, so sweet. Holding hands and watching the sun rise with this once stoic devoted warrior turned loyal friend/lover while you two promise that no matter what comes next, you do it together made me tear up. Its such a great foil to her Act 1 scene where she looks to the stars wishing she were among the Tears resenting the fact that she's stuck on Faerun with a worm buddy in her head.
39:00 i believe she says something along the lines of "I'm frustrated that you didn't take the deal but glad you challenged my instincts" if you tell her you're still going to get the hammer but refuse the contract.
Orpheus in BG3 lore is the son of a queen named Gith. The queen who freed the people but was betrayed by vlaakith. Orpheus was born after the githyanki illithid rebellion or during because in dnd lore Gith brought down the illithid empire in 1 year. She eventually was betrayed by Vlaakith who wanted to be queen. I read this as gith ruled for a decade to three, probably stuck in a 3 way war that began due to the Githzerai civil war. This left the whip out of the illithids to be curbed. Then vlaakith suggests to Gith to meet Tiamat. This is a ruse to sacrifice gith to Tiamat. Gith thinks she goes to broker an alliance but is eaten sealing Tiamat and Vlaakiths alliance. Orpheus after Gith’s death discovers his mom was betrayed, maybe hearing behind a door Vlaakith cheering about how she killed Gith. Orpheus then gathers Gith’s body guard and loyal troops in a civil war that was quickly crushed by Vlaakith causing Orpheus to be imprisoned like we see him in BG3 which is his made up story as the character is made up. In BG3 I assume Vlaakith went and over eons whipped out all scripture of the war covering up her betrayal. That does fall in line with who Vlaakith is.
I personally, while playing as my dark urge, I told Lae’zel that she was seeking an easy way out, and that we would break in, and it actually improved my reputation with her, after which she somewhat insulted herself, saying that I reminded her of her ideal way of doing things, before being determined to break in for herself
I love that she is essentially rude and aggressive to everyone at the beginning, but even if she is, that is much nicer than most Gith, since most of them won't hesitate to kill someone who isn't them as soon as they see them. But Lae'zel is willing to team up with you even if you aren't the same race.
Great to see this! Watching as much as I can before real world tasks, will finish after. So nice to see your take on Lae'zel. I agree fully that by Githyanki standards Lae'zel is kind. She thinks of herself as the leader, but she's the kind of leader who wants her charges strong and healthy and successful. Even happy, as you learn in the romance path particularly but also the friendship path. She also sincerely admires many of her companions. She adores Karlach, and has good things to say about Gale, Wyll, and even Shadowheart. She has appreciation for the Underdark, and even eventually learns to appreciate Faerun. Your enthusiasm for her really shows through. It has always been my head canon that the first reason she hates Shadowheart so much is that they are both passionate about their entirely incompatible religious faiths. That Shadowheart has also stolen a Gith relic makes it worse. And yet those similarities also are part of why they can start to relate to one another over the course of the game.
I can see that! I do think a lot of Lae'zel's hostility towards Shadowheart is her matching the energy because Shadowheart is very openly distrustful and hostile towards her from first sight.
@@OakandIVit’s actually so funny that he declines because if you decline to talk about what you and Lae’zel were up to (if you sleep with her), he’ll get all grumpy and mad at you for not wanting to gossip 💀💀
47:25 I'm not a Karlach simp but if what we are told from Withers is true, THAT SACRIFICE IS HORRIBLE, she's not just drying, her soul is gone and the Karlach Mindflayer is more so pretending to be her. I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THIS ON MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH I DIDN'T KNOW. (I didn't meet Voss and didn't find out about the hammer and the last resort deal wasn't something i was comfortable with doing so i thought Karlach sacrificing herself would be okay)
34:21 Admittedly I'm also not super familiar with the githyanki in the wider scope of DnD, but as far as I can tell you're right about her experiences with emotional intimacy (or basically the lack of). She confirms it herself in an Act 3 banter between her and Gale Gale: Tell me, Lae'zel, is it common for githyanki to fall in love? Lae'zel: Love. Is that this feeling in me, then? This ... passion to peel every layer of one's heart to see what light and shadows lurk there? Lae'zel: Githyanki have playmates. Thrill-partners. But I'd never heard anyone profess love, nor read of it in our slates. Lae'zel: I doubt I am the first githyanki to... to feel this way. But few would ever declare it. I'm so insane about this dialogue 🥺💕 I love her so much
The comet vandalism wasn't from Voss, it was from the youth who refuses to fight to the death. You can learn that if you can convince the instructor to leave him alone and then convince him to talk about Orpheus.
Damn as a person who moved to US from not a very nice place, Lae’zel is so relatable. I had a lot of similar experiences like her, like speaking a second language and struggling with it, and facing people with totally different backgrounds and mentality. I knew we’ll be besties when I first saw her!!!!!!❤❤❤
Your content has been great. Lae'zel is definitely an underappreciated character. I hope more people can get past her intial abrasiveness to see what she's really like. On my first playthrough, I went to the creche, but I did not fight the Inquistor. This led to some interesting changes: - Voss does not appear during Act 1 long rest and does not appear for the rest of the game (I didn't kill Orpheus, so I'm not sure if that would have changed this). - Ch'r'ai Tska'an (Avatar of Vlaakith), who hunts you down in Act 2, does not appear until next act. - Ch'r'ai Har'rak (Paladin of Vlaakith), who you encounter at the Emperor's hideout under the Elfsong Tavern, has W'wargaz (Inquisitor of Vlaakith. From Act 1) and Tska'an join her, making this battle significantly tougher. - When Vlaakith appears in camp during an Act 3 long rest, Lae'zel is still a believer, so the DC 30 Persuasion check is needed to get her to *defy* Vlaakith instead of the opposite.
I actually prefer to take the zaithisk myself, she actually approves of you standing up to her. And you don't have to convince her about the zaithisk, she immediately knows it was trying to kill you because she feels it through the tadpole. Lae'zel is so loyal she is more willing to believe your pain than her own.
Plus each time you fail a skill check durning this sequence and she’s the one in it she’ll get permanent debuffs. If you do it you get a permanent buff that turns any Illithid actions into permanent bonus actions.
I was so hoping you’d make this video!!!!! Lae’zel is my favorite character. Her character development, story, and psychology is my favorite in the entire game. Really sucks that people think she’s a one dimensional evil character when imo she’s the most complex, multi-faceted character in the game. I hope this video changes more people’s minds about her!
Been waiting a while for your next character unpacking, since I found them you're my best source of background entertainment videos while I play bg3, mostly because TH-cam for some reason recommends over an hour long videos over and over again, but hey I keep clicking on them, probably watched all twice or thrice already, so thanks for taking the time to make such long videos, keep it up gorgeous
A note that points to a potentially upcoming official acceptance of Orpheus no longer being genocidal in table top lore... The explanation of how Orpheus has managed to learn to indefinitely halt or instantly cause ceremorphosis to complete is due to his recognition that in order to truly effectively defeat the grand design and overthrow vlaakith both, it'll require the combined forces of the githyanki and their estranged cousins the githzerei, so he had begun secretly starting diplomatic channels to reunite both tribes. The githzerei are more peaceful, not actively hostile to prime material plane races, etc, and voss was helping. Then he was caught and trapped in the prism by vlaakith. His contact with the zerei taught him mediation forms, through which he discovered how to control ceremorphosis, which was good, because he had been tadpoled. So, his softening to more peaceful ways, meditation skills and thousands of years to rethink his attitude towards other races. That would explain why he turned out to not be the homicidal maniac the emperor claims. He can teach others how to stop ceremorphosis, so he has no driving need to murder every tadpoled victim. He's tadpoled, too. Otherwise when the githysnki aren't actively hunting mindflayers, they're floating in spelljammer ships policing the astral sea, and the reason for their silver swirds is because that is how they cut the silver cord that tethers a persons solid, material form on the prime material plane to their astral projection form as a person is astral projecting into the astral sea and wild space. It instantly turns the material body catatonic, and destroys their astral firm. They're effectively dead. Maybe you knew this.
Lae'zel's final romance scene is def one of my favorites and helps justify the ending for her to strike out on her own. Gith culture is very collective focused and she even states it in game so to see her become more independant while still holding true to her beliefs is a great example of excellent character writing. She was the first character i romanced and her entire story is incredible
Great video! I had trouble with Lae'zel when I first started playing, but she grew on me over time. BTW, the comet was drawn on on the painting by the youth in the training room. If you manage to save him, he turns out to be a total Orpheus fanboy. He can admit that he grew it himself.
The symbol of the comet was drawn by Varrl, the githyanki youth the instructor guy almost or does kill. If he lives, you can talk to him and get information about orpheus. If you have the first part of the story from the arcane tower in the underdark, you can show him and he gives you part two. He tells you he hid the symbol somewhere to see if anyone would recognize it. It is possible though that voss did the same by leaving that slate there to incite something.
God I love these videos so much! My partner is going to start a playthrough soon and we’re gonna watch all of these together after we finish the game! She’s been equally obsessed with various fantasy books lately so I know she’s gonna love this game
I fell in love with the story of the Gith due to Planescape Torment. If someone enjoyed the story of the Gith in Baldur's Gate 3, I HIGHLY recommend playing Planescape Torment to learn about the Githzerai, the Yang to the Githyanki's Yin.
I ended up getting into the Gith during my first playthrough when I was a Teifling charlatan bard romancing Shadowheart. And I was undecided of how I would go between sketchy mind flayer who has protected us but calls hiself the Empiror, which is sketchy as hell and siding with Gith Freedom and having my mind made up when Orin kidnapped Lae'Zel. I kind of viewed her in the same light as Worf from Star Trek TNG. Kind of the first tiem I was that angry at a video game character, which happened a few times in that playthrough. But needless to say, Orin paindted a target on her head, when I saw her an an annoyance compared to Gortash first. But after that, no way I wasn't siding with her. Then the Emperor did the Empiror thing and I was angry at him. My next playthrough. Red Dragonbourn Cleric of Tiamat. 1. Wnted to explore Gith soem more. 2. Was going to be as antagonistic to the Emperor as possible. Romanced Lae'Zel in that playthrough of course. And hell. 1. when you get to teh act 3 scene, she reveals that she's been sneaking off to watch sunsets and I kkind of like to think that sh was doing that in playthroughs where you don't romance her, but she never tells anyone. 2. If you get to that point, I don't see how you can end things without feeling bad. when she confesses feelings, she looks like she's bracing herself to get hit. And IMO, if you put Romanced Lae'Zel at a table with Gomez and Morticia Addams and get them talking about love and passion, she could keep up with them. I'm in my third playthrough as a Gith and one thing I noticed in Act 1. The Gith TAV has never heard of the zaith'isk and brings it up multiple times. Which ques you in as a player that something's wrong. Playing a Gith Swords Bard Disney Princess who's got her eye on Wyll this time. And usually she sees Lae'Zel as a big sister, but I had her go first because she seemed to think something is off. Also Gith get a cool interaction with the Duegar in act 1 if you talk to the right people.
If anything regarding Githyanki; Vlaakith is the maniac as her entire goal is to become a god. Being a lich was just to ensure she couldn't die, and as such she needs souls to sustain herself, hence she consumes the souls of those who earn her favor; this way she makes sure these individuals don't grow powerful enough to oust her while all her other subjects fervently grow to replace these champions, rinse and repeat. The Githyanki as a whole are classified as evil since their goal is to first destroy the illithids, then take the multiverse for themselves, hence their warlike culture. This is in stark opposition to the Githzerai, a second faction of Gith whose primary goal is the simply destroy the illithid, but are otherwise ascetic; they live in Limbo, a chaotic realm opposite of the Astral Plane, and are more about balance and discipline.
Excellent look at her character. I don’t know why, but I fell for her instantly. This is something that is so rare for me. If you look at her when she talks, you see how soft she becomes when you ask her about her culture. I know she isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I felt like there was more to her when I first saw her.
I let her go to fight for the Gith at the end (couldn't accompany her as a dwarf pre-patch) because it felt like a "if you love her, support her" moment and boy that epilogue was great
Finally finished. This was really good. One more soft parallel. Vlakath’s lie to the Githyanki mirrors the Absolute’s lie to true souls and the Elder Brains lie to the Mind Flayer’s. Even the tadpole’s lie to your characters in pre release. All of them promise Ascension / Evolution / Eternal Life. But all truly plan to consume and destroy their followers. Vlakath tells her followers they will ascend; then, when they are powerful enough, she consumes their souls as she strives for godhood. The Absolute promises her followers paradise. Instead she will use them as hosts or consume them. The Elder Brains promise mindflayers that at the end of their lives their physical brains and knowledge will join the collective. But in truth their is no survival of personality. Their flesh and knowledge is just food for the Elder Brain. It’s that same lie, and that same terrible fate. Astarian and Durge have parallels here as well. Looking forward to your next video.
I love Lae'zel with all my heart! I think she's always been an intensely loving, passionate, and romantic person, so her growth is less about changing as a person and more about learning that she doesn't have to hide who she is in order to conform to Githyanki society. Watching her come out of her shell and learn to be happy by being true to herself is genuinely delightful. Definitely agree with the interpretation of her being autistic-coded. Not only the way she struggles with speaking in half-truths and innuendo like you talked about, but also in her intense, single-minded adoration for the things that matter to her (the way her eyes light up when she's infodumping about the Astral Sea and Githyanki culture is just so damn adorable!) Of her different endings, I think the best is the one where she stays on Faerun. Rebelling against Vlaakith in Orpheus's name is certainly a good path, but imo the most satisfying conclusion to her arc (not to mention the one that I think is best for her personally) is the one where she finds happiness in being entirely her own person, not bound to any god or leader or cause. Her being Vlaakith's Snickers bar is objectively bad; her being Orpheus's champion or the rebellion's hero is better; her being _Lae'zel_ is best. The icing on the cake is that, in addition to being a fantastic character, Lae'zel is also super pretty! Those big golden eyes, and that cute little nose, and the she carries herself, and the way she does her hair, and the beautiful poetic way she talks... she's almost too much for my gay little heart to handle!
Officially there's no true main character to Baldur's Gate 3, and unofficially there's a few contenders; Dark Urge, Shadowheart. In my opinion Lae'zel is unofficially the true main character of Baldur's Gate 3. She's the first of the companions you see, even before you make your own character. She's the Githyanki equivalent of a class valedictorian getting out of high school. Very accomplished and capable... for someone just out of high school but she's about to hit the real world and it's going to be rockier than she expects which is already a good starting place for a main character's arc in that she doesn't have an extensive secret backstory to find out compared to say, Gale or Wyll or Astarion. She's the fish out of water. She's never been to Faerun and only has passing familiarity with it from her education. And again fish out of waters are great material for protagonists as the protagonist can learn alongside the audience. Her nature as a Githyanki makes her the most tied into the central conflicts of the main story. From the Ilithid, to the Elder Brain, to the Emperor, and the Orpheus and Vlaakith. All of which are core to her personal identity and arc and not something she gets pulled into like the other companions like Wyll and Gale. And finally, Lae'zel has the most radical complete transformation in her character arc if you take her down her "good" route. She goes from a zealot, a vicious soldier who only cares about following Vlaakith's orders to a freedom fighter against Vlaakith and with a level of kindness and levelheadedness that is almost unthinkable compared to when you first meet her at the start of the story. She turns her back on everything she thought she ever wanted in order to become a better person and to fight for the freedom of not just herself but all of the githyanki. And even becomes an adoptive mother if she take care of the egg. So yeah, Lae'zel true Main Character. Fight me.
Lae’zel is so abrasive during the first half of the first act that I was waiting for her to go her own way or betray me one of those times I made her mad. By the time I got to the third act I was so upset that I wasn’t too fond of her at the beginning. Looking forward to another play through with her as my main companion
Another great piece Lae’zel of dialogue is in the Selunite outposts in the Underdark she comments on how surprisingly dangerous Faerun and Gale is like “you’ve seen nothing yet wait until you see a Beholder” I took this as her noticing the strength of the other races and coming to respect them more CJ
the drawing was made by the gith that was being humiliated by the teacher in the crèche, you can talk to him after saving him and he'll say that he found a story of orpheus and find him amazing, he decided to draw this to see if anyone would react to it so he can talk about him to the others
Lae'zel is also trying to maintain a semblance of order on her own part. She may have threatened Zorru, but when Astarion is like "No bloodshed? Pity. I thought you were going to eviscerate him." , Laezel snarls "Cool your blood! I'll indulge you soon enough!" Lae'zel kinda gives me the vibe of an autistic dog mama.
I think it's important to note that even if Orpheus isn't changed in BG3 that the player character is extremely unlikely to know that. After all, the Gith are hardly known in Feruen. It's not a good thing to free Orpheus, but it's more interesting to account for what the character knows and make a choice that is ultimately terrible because they think it's the right thing to do.
I have played the game a grand total of 13 times, and in 12 of those runs, I have always romanced Lae'zel. She has the most character growth, the best story arc and the most relevant story focus seconded only by Shadowheart. She also mellows out so much and shows her vulnerable side to you the moment you let her. She's extremely possessive and genuinely learns to love and care for you by the end of the game. I love Lae'zel honestly.
There are two populations of Gith, Githyanki (Children of Gith) and Githzerai (Those who spurn gith). Githyanki are more notable for their warrior culture, the Astral plane and Vlakith. They don't really have loving relationships where the Githzerai are more monk like, residing in the plane of Limbo. Voss seems to be taking the place of a githzerai in the story and I would have loved to see a githzerai in the main plot though the gith hireling that can be summoned by withers seems to be a githzerai in concept.
She's pretty open minded considering her culture and race. Going to the local creche showed me that she is very curious, kind and funny. I get giddy everytime I upgrade from 'speak' to 'greetings' when you chat to her in camp. She's a rebel that my street kid rogue Tiefling Ciri is proud to have as a bestie.
You ask her to use the tadpoles because that auto-critical hit is amazing. If you steal Voss' sword and give it to her, she will scold you and still use the blade. She understands that the boon it gives is greater than her personal qualms.
I love Lae'zel, she is so direct, no airs and graces, just a simple straightforward character. My 2nd run (Durge) I am romancing Lae'zel and hoping for a positive ending. I hadn't considered Lae'zel as an autistic coded character, but after you mentioned it, yes I can see it, and that is probably why I love her so much.
i just finished a playthrough today, and i decided to persuade mind flayer orpheus to live. i was going to avernus with karlach, it seemed on-theme to keep orpheus alive as well. lae'zel very much seems to lead the charge on liberating her people if this happens, but i liked that orpheus was still there. i wanted her to stay in faerun, but alas the dice said no to that. orpheus seems to make peace with the whole mind flayer thing too, surprisingly. i think it's cool that you can spare him and still have lae'zel in charge, and it works out nicely if you apply his concerning outside lore. becoming illithid humbled him, perhaps. i love lae'zel for all the reasons you've stated, i think she's one of the best written characters in the game. her abrasiveness seems to throw a lot of people off and miss a lot of this characterization, which really sucks. her idle champions profile says she's 22, which reframes everything for me. she's so young, and a lot of her behaviour at first can be explained by the overconfidence of youth. but damnit she can do anything she sets her mind to! she's one of your most loyal companions, and she never lies or misleads you (which can't be said for plenty of the others). she's just so, so great.
The comet on the painting was done by one of the teenagers in the creche. You can do his whole thing if you go into the training room and interact with stuff before having the creche fight :)
I remember starting off disliking her. Then in time starting to realize how observant and intelligent she actually is. I imagined she’d be a one track mind person, ignoring or brushing aside everything the others are going through. She actually shows she thinks about their issues, and shows empathy to them. And also she’s way smarter than she’s given credit for. Through her own personal quest you really can see the gears moving in her mind as she processes everything she hears
I'm suprised that you didn't touch on Lae'zel's Act 3 romance scene. It really shows just how far she's come in understanding and loving Faerun, waking you up just to simply watch the sunrise with her, hand in hand.
@@sw4gtastic891my favourite as a Galemancer was when we were in the boat and he was STILL going on about Mystra and taking the Crown. I was like damn no one EVER told this man he's Kenough.
The youngling Varl tells you he did the comet drawing after getting smitten with Orpheus. He found the book while cleaning the armour of one of the visiting Kith'raki and basically drew the comet hoping that like-minded others would see it and talk about it. Funnily enough in the inquisitor's chamber there's a note that reads "Hasharlak Voss?" basically showing that there's already doubts as to Voss' loyalties Also I think Orpheus is a BG3 original character, he has no other sources listed in the Forgotten Realms wiki
If you pay attention to Orpheus for more than a second you'll see that he's a warmonger like his mother. It's not just FR lore. If he wasn't then the choice would be an extreme baby mode moment.
Bring a person mildly on the autism spectrum, but growing up in a teally Orthodox religious, insulated community that spoke in confusing euphemisms and coded language that i struggled to figure out as a kid, boy did i have fun relating to how you explained tht exasperating experience of trying to understand ppl who always beat around the bush, spoke indirectly about taboo things, spoke in coded, euphemism filled language etc i was expected to understand. It led to me having to become so direct and impatient with that nonsense, as well as always being interrogated because ME just flat out saying what i meant apparently confused others, because they expected the codes and euphsmisms and talking AROUND EVERYTHING. Like, sex was so taboo, when we were taught that engaging in certain things would send us to hell, they'd use terms like, "heavy petting" and "necking".??!!! As an adult that found my way out of the culty culture, i finally unlearned the bizarre attitudes about sex, and asked what the hell those things meant... Apparently "heavy petting" touching below the waste, mutual masturbation, etc. necking? Everything above the like. Like touching boob, lol. I had literally soent my childhood picturing petting as i understood it, like oetting your dog, and necking puzzled me... Was there some kinda thingbppl did that was like giraffing their necks sround each other? What's naughty sbout that?! hugging seemed awful close, i just couldn't figure out how someone managed to move up from hugging to this girsffe thing, lmao
38:20 my take on the situation is that Raphael even with the crown couldn't overpower Asmodeus like he thinks he can, but I wouldn't risk the possibility
I'm playing Act 3 at the moment and I forgot Voss said he was gonna be waiting in the sewers lol I was on Minsc's trail and stumbled upon him and realized he had been down there for like a week of in game time with all the long rests I had been doing between quests 😂
1:02:44 last lore comment from me. Mother Gith was almost as bad as Vlaakith when it came to how they treat other races, but Mother Gith wasn't literally stealing the souls of her people (I give Mother Gith a pass because she was literally fighting an empire of Mindflayers, treating people nice shouldn't be a priority when the souls of your entire race are at stake). It was bad already but Vlaakith made it significantly worse, those not okay with Vlaakith left and formed the Githzori. Orpheus's willingness to work with the Githzori (prob incorrect spelling) as we see in Lae'zel's ending if she goes with him and we talk to her at the party in her astral form is a HUGE development for the race as a whole shows that there is hope for their development overall.
Remember, Lae’zel cutting your throat is a great mercy and had it not been for the plot, if you were just infected by regular mind flayers, she would have saved your soul from utter destruction
I appreciate that the game lets you let her, but it also feels a little silly that you can cast revivify and then … I don’t know what’s supposed to happen then because she wiped my party 1 v 4 and I decided to talk her out of it on reload
@@taneelbrightblade6622Soooo basically if you do that and manage to kill Lae'zel, she's dead for good, at least that's what happened in my coop run. Had her frozen corpse follow through all act 1 before disappearing though.
The game is weird in that it somewhat asks us to care if any characters have souls or not. Omeluum clearly does while also being the "wrong" kind of character to have one
@@meg6187is it clear?
Is it stated that Omeluum has a soul? Because being self aware is not the same as having one and we have literal avatar of Jergal saying they dont have souls, and if there is one guy that would know it's this mantis weirdo.
To give you good example, casting awakening on an animal or a plant does not grant it a soul. It can be your best friend, it can be smarter than you are, but it still won't have a soul and will just vanish after it dies. Dogs never go to heaven, unless gods make exceptions and cause miracles to elevate them to soul-ownership.
And frankly while u might think that's a rude comparison, it's actually rude to the animal - NOT the mindflayer.
@@xelloskaczor5051animals do have souls in D&D, their afterlife is the Beastlands lmao
Romancing Lae'zel, having her hold the egg during the final battle, and convincing her to stay results in you two basically becoming professional adventurers raising a child together. And who could ask for anything more?
29:40 The Orpheus comet on Vlaakith's portrait was drawn by the trainee kid who's getting mistreated by the teacher in the training area nearby. If you succeed the knowledge check to recognize the symbol and manage to persuade/intimidate the teacher into not killing him you can talk to him and discover he's an Oprheus fanboy. You can eventually persuade him into giving you his copy of the tale of Orpheus part 2 for extra Lae'zel dialogue, or if you have another part of Orpheus' tale in your inventory you can actually swap slates with him like Orpheus fanboys trading your rare Orpheus cards
Oh that's really neat! I have got to talk more to the NPCs
"She's so real for that" the character
Lae'zel: I am fury, I AM DEATH
me: go get 'em bae
I want to add that if you keep the gith egg from the creche and let laezel just have it, in the epilogue she actually claims that hatchling as a son and says that she wants him to grow into whatever HE desires. She wants him to choose his own destiny and I really love that about her character growth ❤
That is really cool!
Gotta go steal that egg now-
@@Unknown_but_better You can just talk to the guy guarding it, and he'll let you have it (with a pretty easy persuasion check if I remember correctly). The egg is supposed to be destroyed if it doesn't hatch early enough, so he sees giving it to you as a better choice. Btw, if you romance her, she considers him to be pretty much your child together.
if you play as karlach origin and romance lae, she has such great lines about him taking after Karlach than her. it's really cute. and they have him in portable hole(lol) while raiding avernus together :D
Doesnt that thing hatch and slaughter people who believed it can be a normal person if you raise it with love if u sell it to the Omellum's buds
So i guess that's what it wants to be a mass murderer
18:23 Lae'zel is like 19 (in human years) too 🥲 such a babyyyy. To be fair she did spend some time in the Astral plane, but she mentions she didn't live there, so presumably hasn't had the eons to grow mentally like Voss has
Actually, Lae’zel has not been to the astral plane! She said as such when I played through the game, the first time she sees it is through the pocket of the astral plane that’s inside the prism.
@@tizooky ah ty! I was thinking the asteroid Selunes tears went through the astral but that was realmspace and forgotten realms besides which isn't strictly bg3 canon
@@skywares the way BG3 treats it, Stardock/Crèche K'liir is in the astral sea, not the astral plane. In 5e the astral sea is a border area where the mortal plane and astral plane overlap, so you get some qualities of both. (this is distinct from earlier versions of the forgotten realms lore where the astral sea and astral plane were two names for the same thing).
@@sabrina0013 ohhh that makes sense! Explains some conflicting things I'd found earlier online too lol
Not only were the gith (both githyanki and githzerai) thralls and unthralled slaves of mind flayers, it lasted for tens of thousands of years. That's why their hatred and determination to exterminate all mind flayers runs so deep
I love Lae'zel so much and she's really one of those characters that, the more you think about them and unpack them, the more you love them. Like, this woman is like ... early twenties or so, thrust into a foreign world she barely knows anything off, subjected to the WORST thing she can possible imagine (being tadpoled by a mindflayer), and has been indoctrinated by a culture that values strength above all else and curbs weakness and STILL she offers to help your band of misfits a cure without seemingly any expections of getting anything in return. This is UNHEARD OF in githyanki culture.
You're absolutely right when you say that she's kind; she just doesn't know how to express it or is familiar with the concept so she comes off as abrasive and rude and aggressive, but what do you expect from someone who has never been taught otherwise?
She’s 17 in bg3
It is a shame that so many people disregard her for her rough exterior, myself included. She's a very interesting character with an interesting journey
My entire perspective on Lae'zel changed when someone on twitter called her Invader Zim
Jup, first time I played the game I was like "why are you so ungrateful you b*tch" because I was going for more of a teambonding, everyone should get along with everyone else experience. The second time I was going for a much more pragmatic "okay, I am here now, which are my best ways to survive" approach in which La'zael is to me how she treats me and that girl is just great. So so good in battle and the more you know her the friendlier she becomes.
We meet Lae’Zel on her WORST day, I’d be pissed too if I was kidnapped from my people mid battle, inflicted with the worst affliction known to my people not knowing my time limit, fall off of a nautiloid and immediately captured. I’d be hardcore mad too 💀
One of my favorite Lae’zel moments is when she takes every opportunity to brag to the player about her own crèche in comparison to Y’llek. Or when she assures you that it wasn’t your fault that the zaith’isk didn’t work and threatens whoever “tampered with it” and put you in danger
Lae’Zel is awesome. She really grew on me. Also her and Shadowheart’s bickering is so funny. Shadowheart’s so hostile towards Lae’Zel meanwhile she’s completely fine with my Lolth sworn which I find kind of hilarious.
Edit: also one thing about lae’zel that’s really notable is that when you meet her, she’s fucking terrified. She’s been kidnapped and infected by the worst monster her culture knows, landed in a hostile and alien world, and still, she tries to help you the only way she knows how despite what Gith doctrine says.
I love Lae’zel so much! She was who I ended up romancing in my one (and probably only) playthrough. My ending i thought was interesting though, and wanted to share:
I played as a max selfless good aligned character, so when presented with the choice of who to make a mind flayer, I ended up choosing… myself. Basically expecting it to detonate my relationship with Lae’zel, because i thought that Orpheus was the Githyanki’s best chance at freedom, so he was the one person I didn’t feel like I could morally justified mind flayer-ing. But despite her saying “I can’t even look at you” immediately after going full mind flayer, she actually stayed with me in the ending! Like, when Orpheus asks her to come, I told her to do what she felt was right, and she took me (a literal mind flayer!) with her to go fight with Orpheus. I legit cried with happiness at this I got so emotional that she still loved me even though I was a squid. Part of this was almost definitely the gender dysphoria of having my female character turned into the very masc mind flayer. (I ended up having to save scum to go back because I had to convince Karlach to go to Avernus with Wyll.) So anyways I asked her to stay with me, and she did! The like, bed scene afterwards was so sweet, “my eyes tell me that before me is a monster, but my heart tells me it is my love” and I was just like 😭😭😭 She stayed with me to the epilogue, to the extent she actually suggests that the two of us go and kill a crèche and then I could feed to my heart’s content like 😭😭😭 she accepted meeeee. There’s even a custom kiss animation! She smooched my weird mind flayer nose XD
That is so cute!!!! The one play through I sacrificed myself, I was with Astarion and Halsin, and they both dumped me. So I'm glad to see it's not all grim and lonely for the mind flayer endings!
@@PocketLeaves Oh no! That's so sad! I would have expected Lae'zel to be the least accepting of the companions, wow, that's such a surprise to me
One of my favorite moments in the game is at the Crèche when Vlaakith betrays Lae’zel and she just screams”What good this heart of stone for it to shatter.” Made me ball my eyes out
Lae'zel is by far the companion that has grown on me the most. She was probably my least favorite companion when I starter playing, now she's quite possibly my favorite.
Something to add regarding to her upbringing and her githyanki culture. The githyanki's rough upbringing and apparent emphasis on "militaristic" culture for a lack of better term reminds me of Spartan culture. They were also trained from early age in the form of warfare and combat. They also value putting up strong persona in front of others, which they believe other personas are perceived as weak.
Lae'zel took a while, but she seriously grew on me. She kinda reminds me of the Klingon from Star Trek or the Krogan from Mass Effect. When I watched how she started to think for herself beyond Vlaakith, there was this growing sense of respect, the kind you have for a comrade in arms. In my epilogue, she became an ambassador to the gith'zarai and it's all due to my Tav's influence.
In other words...Lae'zel is Bae'zel.
I feel like the best ending for Laezel is one in which Orpheus dies and she ends up leading the war against Vlakith. After Vlakith betrays her, Laezel channels the same dogged reverence she had towards the lich queen into Orpheus instead; she substitutes one grandiose figure of quasi-religious devotion for another in what feels to me like a coping mechanism to fill the hole Vlakith left in her worldview. She's definitely changing and growing as a person, but she's still holding fast to the pattern of placing an authority figure up on a pedestal to give herself purpose.
With Oprheus in the picture, the war is a anti-pretender uprising to install the correct royalty to the throne, in which Laezel is a loyal soldier. without Orpheus and with Laezel in a position of leadership, she has agency. Without an authority figure to inform her actions, she must act upon her own convictions, convictions that have been shaped by her time with the party. Her perspective could make the conflict genuinely revolutionary and change gith society into something less brutal, supremacist, and authoritarian.
The Poetic Irony of the Vlaakith Githyanki being born to be consumed is EXACTLY what they were under the Mindflayers. Under Vlaakith or under Mindflayers, they do their will and when it comes time, their souls must be sacrificed for their longevity.
Omg yeah that's so true!!!
As far as I'm aware, Orpheus is an entirely new character created by Larian Studios for BG3, and I think the intent was to create a character that could lead the Githyanki in a better direction. From what I've seen, the idea of him being genocidal comes from the fact that his mother, Gith, was not an idealistic rebel leader and was basically a case of the oppressed becoming the oppressor. However this doesn't really gel with how Orpheus is presented in the game. A githyanki youth in the creche talks about him like he was very much a good and noble leader, though of course that could just be a misinterpretation on his part. But the fact that he is willing to work with you despite the Emperor saying that he would absolutely just kill you if he was released, and that he could be convinced to become a mind flayer in order to stop the nether brain is a good indication of his character. In the epilogue, if he survived, you'll even learn that he's talking with the Githzerai to form an alliance, something Mother Gith would have never done. To be honest, I think there is a bit of a disconnect happening with BG3 and Forgotten Realms lore in this case, and it probably would have made more sense if Orpheus was Githzerai.
Yeah, that was my impression as well. Just covering the bases because I had a lot of people dismissing my thoughts on the basis that they thought Orpheus was a genocidal maniac based on outside information. But I have noticed that BG3 does veer off from Forgotten Realms lore in order to tell the stories they set out to tell.
Her Act 3 romance scene is so, so sweet. Holding hands and watching the sun rise with this once stoic devoted warrior turned loyal friend/lover while you two promise that no matter what comes next, you do it together made me tear up. Its such a great foil to her Act 1 scene where she looks to the stars wishing she were among the Tears resenting the fact that she's stuck on Faerun with a worm buddy in her head.
It’s crazy how her and Shadowheart are two sides of the same coin. It would have been neat if they made Shadowheart an Astrial Elf.
39:00 i believe she says something along the lines of "I'm frustrated that you didn't take the deal but glad you challenged my instincts" if you tell her you're still going to get the hammer but refuse the contract.
So, Lae's ending is basically building the United Federation of Planets. Love our Trek queen.
Orpheus in BG3 lore is the son of a queen named Gith. The queen who freed the people but was betrayed by vlaakith. Orpheus was born after the githyanki illithid rebellion or during because in dnd lore Gith brought down the illithid empire in 1 year. She eventually was betrayed by Vlaakith who wanted to be queen. I read this as gith ruled for a decade to three, probably stuck in a 3 way war that began due to the Githzerai civil war. This left the whip out of the illithids to be curbed. Then vlaakith suggests to Gith to meet Tiamat. This is a ruse to sacrifice gith to Tiamat. Gith thinks she goes to broker an alliance but is eaten sealing Tiamat and Vlaakiths alliance. Orpheus after Gith’s death discovers his mom was betrayed, maybe hearing behind a door Vlaakith cheering about how she killed Gith. Orpheus then gathers Gith’s body guard and loyal troops in a civil war that was quickly crushed by Vlaakith causing Orpheus to be imprisoned like we see him in BG3 which is his made up story as the character is made up. In BG3 I assume Vlaakith went and over eons whipped out all scripture of the war covering up her betrayal. That does fall in line with who Vlaakith is.
I personally, while playing as my dark urge, I told Lae’zel that she was seeking an easy way out, and that we would break in, and it actually improved my reputation with her, after which she somewhat insulted herself, saying that I reminded her of her ideal way of doing things, before being determined to break in for herself
I love that she is essentially rude and aggressive to everyone at the beginning, but even if she is, that is much nicer than most Gith, since most of them won't hesitate to kill someone who isn't them as soon as they see them. But Lae'zel is willing to team up with you even if you aren't the same race.
Lae'zel is hella underrated, great video!
Great to see this! Watching as much as I can before real world tasks, will finish after. So nice to see your take on Lae'zel.
I agree fully that by Githyanki standards Lae'zel is kind. She thinks of herself as the leader, but she's the kind of leader who wants her charges strong and healthy and successful. Even happy, as you learn in the romance path particularly but also the friendship path. She also sincerely admires many of her companions. She adores Karlach, and has good things to say about Gale, Wyll, and even Shadowheart.
She has appreciation for the Underdark, and even eventually learns to appreciate Faerun.
Your enthusiasm for her really shows through.
It has always been my head canon that the first reason she hates Shadowheart so much is that they are both passionate about their entirely incompatible religious faiths. That Shadowheart has also stolen a Gith relic makes it worse. And yet those similarities also are part of why they can start to relate to one another over the course of the game.
I can see that! I do think a lot of Lae'zel's hostility towards Shadowheart is her matching the energy because Shadowheart is very openly distrustful and hostile towards her from first sight.
Tbf Karlach is a golden retriever of a tiefling
Oh, and at least in one of my playthroughs Lae'zel slept with Astarion and complimented his skills. He declined to comment on the entanglement.
@@OakandIVit’s actually so funny that he declines because if you decline to talk about what you and Lae’zel were up to (if you sleep with her), he’ll get all grumpy and mad at you for not wanting to gossip 💀💀
47:25 I'm not a Karlach simp but if what we are told from Withers is true, THAT SACRIFICE IS HORRIBLE, she's not just drying, her soul is gone and the Karlach Mindflayer is more so pretending to be her.
I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THIS ON MY FIRST PLAYTHROUGH I DIDN'T KNOW.
(I didn't meet Voss and didn't find out about the hammer and the last resort deal wasn't something i was comfortable with doing so i thought Karlach sacrificing herself would be okay)
Next time, I'm blowing up Gale instead. With that there's a way to avoid anyone getting transformed.
31:42 My Wizard losing the duel was the moment that I went from liking Lae'zel to loving her character.
Finally!! It’s time for my GIRL!!!
While romancing lae’zel it took me three attrmpts to be defeated by her in act 2. Thank you wizards VERY cool class
???
Huh? How is it difficult to be defeated? Just skip your turn if you really need to lol
34:21 Admittedly I'm also not super familiar with the githyanki in the wider scope of DnD, but as far as I can tell you're right about her experiences with emotional intimacy (or basically the lack of). She confirms it herself in an Act 3 banter between her and Gale
Gale: Tell me, Lae'zel, is it common for githyanki to fall in love?
Lae'zel: Love. Is that this feeling in me, then? This ... passion to peel every layer of one's heart to see what light and shadows lurk there?
Lae'zel: Githyanki have playmates. Thrill-partners. But I'd never heard anyone profess love, nor read of it in our slates.
Lae'zel: I doubt I am the first githyanki to... to feel this way. But few would ever declare it.
I'm so insane about this dialogue 🥺💕 I love her so much
21 minutes in and you've used a lot of words to just say "Lae'zel is a massive tsundere."
The comet vandalism wasn't from Voss, it was from the youth who refuses to fight to the death. You can learn that if you can convince the instructor to leave him alone and then convince him to talk about Orpheus.
Damn as a person who moved to US from not a very nice place, Lae’zel is so relatable. I had a lot of similar experiences like her, like speaking a second language and struggling with it, and facing people with totally different backgrounds and mentality. I knew we’ll be besties when I first saw her!!!!!!❤❤❤
Bae'zel for life
20:44 "You WILL education me" Yes Ma'am O_O
With the video now concluded, one more "Lae'zel my beloved" and thank you for the video.
SUBSCRIBED AND LOOKING FORWARD FOR MORE
Your content has been great. Lae'zel is definitely an underappreciated character. I hope more people can get past her intial abrasiveness to see what she's really like. On my first playthrough, I went to the creche, but I did not fight the Inquistor. This led to some interesting changes:
- Voss does not appear during Act 1 long rest and does not appear for the rest of the game (I didn't kill Orpheus, so I'm not sure if that would have changed this).
- Ch'r'ai Tska'an (Avatar of Vlaakith), who hunts you down in Act 2, does not appear until next act.
- Ch'r'ai Har'rak (Paladin of Vlaakith), who you encounter at the Emperor's hideout under the Elfsong Tavern, has W'wargaz (Inquisitor of Vlaakith. From Act 1) and Tska'an join her, making this battle significantly tougher.
- When Vlaakith appears in camp during an Act 3 long rest, Lae'zel is still a believer, so the DC 30 Persuasion check is needed to get her to *defy* Vlaakith instead of the opposite.
I actually prefer to take the zaithisk myself, she actually approves of you standing up to her. And you don't have to convince her about the zaithisk, she immediately knows it was trying to kill you because she feels it through the tadpole. Lae'zel is so loyal she is more willing to believe your pain than her own.
Plus each time you fail a skill check durning this sequence and she’s the one in it she’ll get permanent debuffs. If you do it you get a permanent buff that turns any Illithid actions into permanent bonus actions.
I was so hoping you’d make this video!!!!! Lae’zel is my favorite character. Her character development, story, and psychology is my favorite in the entire game. Really sucks that people think she’s a one dimensional evil character when imo she’s the most complex, multi-faceted character in the game. I hope this video changes more people’s minds about her!
Love your unpacking videos! You have a very welcoming and warm personality, which makes them very easy to watch. 😊
Been waiting a while for your next character unpacking, since I found them you're my best source of background entertainment videos while I play bg3, mostly because TH-cam for some reason recommends over an hour long videos over and over again, but hey I keep clicking on them, probably watched all twice or thrice already, so thanks for taking the time to make such long videos, keep it up gorgeous
A note that points to a potentially upcoming official acceptance of Orpheus no longer being genocidal in table top lore... The explanation of how Orpheus has managed to learn to indefinitely halt or instantly cause ceremorphosis to complete is due to his recognition that in order to truly effectively defeat the grand design and overthrow vlaakith both, it'll require the combined forces of the githyanki and their estranged cousins the githzerei, so he had begun secretly starting diplomatic channels to reunite both tribes. The githzerei are more peaceful, not actively hostile to prime material plane races, etc, and voss was helping. Then he was caught and trapped in the prism by vlaakith. His contact with the zerei taught him mediation forms, through which he discovered how to control ceremorphosis, which was good, because he had been tadpoled.
So, his softening to more peaceful ways, meditation skills and thousands of years to rethink his attitude towards other races. That would explain why he turned out to not be the homicidal maniac the emperor claims. He can teach others how to stop ceremorphosis, so he has no driving need to murder every tadpoled victim. He's tadpoled, too.
Otherwise when the githysnki aren't actively hunting mindflayers, they're floating in spelljammer ships policing the astral sea, and the reason for their silver swirds is because that is how they cut the silver cord that tethers a persons solid, material form on the prime material plane to their astral projection form as a person is astral projecting into the astral sea and wild space. It instantly turns the material body catatonic, and destroys their astral firm. They're effectively dead. Maybe you knew this.
Thank you for making these videos. You are the only person that I've found that does a full unpacking of a character. I can't wait for the next one
Lae'zel's final romance scene is def one of my favorites and helps justify the ending for her to strike out on her own. Gith culture is very collective focused and she even states it in game so to see her become more independant while still holding true to her beliefs is a great example of excellent character writing. She was the first character i romanced and her entire story is incredible
Yes! This is the type of content/series I love to binge listen too, got a new subscriber
I was looking forward to this video so much!! And you delivered as usual!! I can't wait for the Halsin video 😁
I absolutely love these videos and your laugh is so freaking adorable!
Great video! I had trouble with Lae'zel when I first started playing, but she grew on me over time.
BTW, the comet was drawn on on the painting by the youth in the training room. If you manage to save him, he turns out to be a total Orpheus fanboy. He can admit that he grew it himself.
The symbol of the comet was drawn by Varrl, the githyanki youth the instructor guy almost or does kill. If he lives, you can talk to him and get information about orpheus. If you have the first part of the story from the arcane tower in the underdark, you can show him and he gives you part two. He tells you he hid the symbol somewhere to see if anyone would recognize it. It is possible though that voss did the same by leaving that slate there to incite something.
The intimidation option when you sleep with her cracks me up.
God I love these videos so much! My partner is going to start a playthrough soon and we’re gonna watch all of these together after we finish the game! She’s been equally obsessed with various fantasy books lately so I know she’s gonna love this game
I fell in love with the story of the Gith due to Planescape Torment. If someone enjoyed the story of the Gith in Baldur's Gate 3, I HIGHLY recommend playing Planescape Torment to learn about the Githzerai, the Yang to the Githyanki's Yin.
bae'zel content for one hour is everything I need today
I loved the lul emote bouncing across the screen in the Voss at camp clip from your playthrough on twitch 😂
I ended up getting into the Gith during my first playthrough when I was a Teifling charlatan bard romancing Shadowheart. And I was undecided of how I would go between sketchy mind flayer who has protected us but calls hiself the Empiror, which is sketchy as hell and siding with Gith Freedom and having my mind made up when Orin kidnapped Lae'Zel. I kind of viewed her in the same light as Worf from Star Trek TNG. Kind of the first tiem I was that angry at a video game character, which happened a few times in that playthrough. But needless to say, Orin paindted a target on her head, when I saw her an an annoyance compared to Gortash first. But after that, no way I wasn't siding with her.
Then the Emperor did the Empiror thing and I was angry at him. My next playthrough. Red Dragonbourn Cleric of Tiamat. 1. Wnted to explore Gith soem more. 2. Was going to be as antagonistic to the Emperor as possible. Romanced Lae'Zel in that playthrough of course. And hell. 1. when you get to teh act 3 scene, she reveals that she's been sneaking off to watch sunsets and I kkind of like to think that sh was doing that in playthroughs where you don't romance her, but she never tells anyone. 2. If you get to that point, I don't see how you can end things without feeling bad. when she confesses feelings, she looks like she's bracing herself to get hit. And IMO, if you put Romanced Lae'Zel at a table with Gomez and Morticia Addams and get them talking about love and passion, she could keep up with them.
I'm in my third playthrough as a Gith and one thing I noticed in Act 1. The Gith TAV has never heard of the zaith'isk and brings it up multiple times. Which ques you in as a player that something's wrong. Playing a Gith Swords Bard Disney Princess who's got her eye on Wyll this time. And usually she sees Lae'Zel as a big sister, but I had her go first because she seemed to think something is off. Also Gith get a cool interaction with the Duegar in act 1 if you talk to the right people.
The comet was drawn by the kid being bullied in the training hall
If anything regarding Githyanki; Vlaakith is the maniac as her entire goal is to become a god. Being a lich was just to ensure she couldn't die, and as such she needs souls to sustain herself, hence she consumes the souls of those who earn her favor; this way she makes sure these individuals don't grow powerful enough to oust her while all her other subjects fervently grow to replace these champions, rinse and repeat.
The Githyanki as a whole are classified as evil since their goal is to first destroy the illithids, then take the multiverse for themselves, hence their warlike culture. This is in stark opposition to the Githzerai, a second faction of Gith whose primary goal is the simply destroy the illithid, but are otherwise ascetic; they live in Limbo, a chaotic realm opposite of the Astral Plane, and are more about balance and discipline.
Excellent look at her character. I don’t know why, but I fell for her instantly. This is something that is so rare for me. If you look at her when she talks, you see how soft she becomes when you ask her about her culture. I know she isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. I felt like there was more to her when I first saw her.
I let her go to fight for the Gith at the end (couldn't accompany her as a dwarf pre-patch) because it felt like a "if you love her, support her" moment and boy that epilogue was great
Finally finished. This was really good.
One more soft parallel. Vlakath’s lie to the Githyanki mirrors the Absolute’s lie to true souls and the Elder Brains lie to the Mind Flayer’s. Even the tadpole’s lie to your characters in pre release. All of them promise Ascension / Evolution / Eternal Life. But all truly plan to consume and destroy their followers.
Vlakath tells her followers they will ascend; then, when they are powerful enough, she consumes their souls as she strives for godhood.
The Absolute promises her followers paradise. Instead she will use them as hosts or consume them.
The Elder Brains promise mindflayers that at the end of their lives their physical brains and knowledge will join the collective. But in truth their is no survival of personality. Their flesh and knowledge is just food for the Elder Brain.
It’s that same lie, and that same terrible fate. Astarian and Durge have parallels here as well.
Looking forward to your next video.
38:00 *_As she apeaks, a memory floods your mind_* "LIVES! ALL MORTAL LIVES! EXPIRE!"
I love Lae'zel with all my heart! I think she's always been an intensely loving, passionate, and romantic person, so her growth is less about changing as a person and more about learning that she doesn't have to hide who she is in order to conform to Githyanki society. Watching her come out of her shell and learn to be happy by being true to herself is genuinely delightful.
Definitely agree with the interpretation of her being autistic-coded. Not only the way she struggles with speaking in half-truths and innuendo like you talked about, but also in her intense, single-minded adoration for the things that matter to her (the way her eyes light up when she's infodumping about the Astral Sea and Githyanki culture is just so damn adorable!)
Of her different endings, I think the best is the one where she stays on Faerun. Rebelling against Vlaakith in Orpheus's name is certainly a good path, but imo the most satisfying conclusion to her arc (not to mention the one that I think is best for her personally) is the one where she finds happiness in being entirely her own person, not bound to any god or leader or cause. Her being Vlaakith's Snickers bar is objectively bad; her being Orpheus's champion or the rebellion's hero is better; her being _Lae'zel_ is best.
The icing on the cake is that, in addition to being a fantastic character, Lae'zel is also super pretty! Those big golden eyes, and that cute little nose, and the she carries herself, and the way she does her hair, and the beautiful poetic way she talks... she's almost too much for my gay little heart to handle!
Hour long Lae'Zel vid! Lets goooo!
Officially there's no true main character to Baldur's Gate 3, and unofficially there's a few contenders; Dark Urge, Shadowheart. In my opinion Lae'zel is unofficially the true main character of Baldur's Gate 3. She's the first of the companions you see, even before you make your own character.
She's the Githyanki equivalent of a class valedictorian getting out of high school. Very accomplished and capable... for someone just out of high school but she's about to hit the real world and it's going to be rockier than she expects which is already a good starting place for a main character's arc in that she doesn't have an extensive secret backstory to find out compared to say, Gale or Wyll or Astarion.
She's the fish out of water. She's never been to Faerun and only has passing familiarity with it from her education. And again fish out of waters are great material for protagonists as the protagonist can learn alongside the audience.
Her nature as a Githyanki makes her the most tied into the central conflicts of the main story. From the Ilithid, to the Elder Brain, to the Emperor, and the Orpheus and Vlaakith. All of which are core to her personal identity and arc and not something she gets pulled into like the other companions like Wyll and Gale.
And finally, Lae'zel has the most radical complete transformation in her character arc if you take her down her "good" route. She goes from a zealot, a vicious soldier who only cares about following Vlaakith's orders to a freedom fighter against Vlaakith and with a level of kindness and levelheadedness that is almost unthinkable compared to when you first meet her at the start of the story. She turns her back on everything she thought she ever wanted in order to become a better person and to fight for the freedom of not just herself but all of the githyanki. And even becomes an adoptive mother if she take care of the egg.
So yeah, Lae'zel true Main Character. Fight me.
Lae’zel is so abrasive during the first half of the first act that I was waiting for her to go her own way or betray me one of those times I made her mad. By the time I got to the third act I was so upset that I wasn’t too fond of her at the beginning. Looking forward to another play through with her as my main companion
Another great piece Lae’zel of dialogue is in the Selunite outposts in the Underdark she comments on how surprisingly dangerous Faerun and Gale is like “you’ve seen nothing yet wait until you see a Beholder” I took this as her noticing the strength of the other races and coming to respect them more CJ
the drawing was made by the gith that was being humiliated by the teacher in the crèche, you can talk to him after saving him and he'll say that he found a story of orpheus and find him amazing, he decided to draw this to see if anyone would react to it so he can talk about him to the others
Lae'zel is also trying to maintain a semblance of order on her own part. She may have threatened Zorru, but when Astarion is like "No bloodshed? Pity. I thought you were going to eviscerate him." , Laezel snarls "Cool your blood! I'll indulge you soon enough!"
Lae'zel kinda gives me the vibe of an autistic dog mama.
Yay!! I need to give her more of a chance on my next playthrough :’)) I just really hate doing the crèche lol
I’m actually in the middle of a Lae’zel origin run so this is oddly timely
Bae Zel of creche K'lirr
The doodle was drawn by a young gith in the training room. The one that doesn’t wanna fight
I think it's important to note that even if Orpheus isn't changed in BG3 that the player character is extremely unlikely to know that. After all, the Gith are hardly known in Feruen. It's not a good thing to free Orpheus, but it's more interesting to account for what the character knows and make a choice that is ultimately terrible because they think it's the right thing to do.
I have been waiting for you to talk about my angry frog wife in depth! Can't wait to see what you have to say
I have played the game a grand total of 13 times, and in 12 of those runs, I have always romanced Lae'zel. She has the most character growth, the best story arc and the most relevant story focus seconded only by Shadowheart. She also mellows out so much and shows her vulnerable side to you the moment you let her. She's extremely possessive and genuinely learns to love and care for you by the end of the game. I love Lae'zel honestly.
There are two populations of Gith, Githyanki (Children of Gith) and Githzerai (Those who spurn gith). Githyanki are more notable for their warrior culture, the Astral plane and Vlakith. They don't really have loving relationships where the Githzerai are more monk like, residing in the plane of Limbo. Voss seems to be taking the place of a githzerai in the story and I would have loved to see a githzerai in the main plot though the gith hireling that can be summoned by withers seems to be a githzerai in concept.
She's pretty open minded considering her culture and race. Going to the local creche showed me that she is very curious, kind and funny. I get giddy everytime I upgrade from 'speak' to 'greetings' when you chat to her in camp. She's a rebel that my street kid rogue Tiefling Ciri is proud to have as a bestie.
I love Lazeal to death
You ask her to use the tadpoles because that auto-critical hit is amazing. If you steal Voss' sword and give it to her, she will scold you and still use the blade. She understands that the boon it gives is greater than her personal qualms.
I love Lae'zel, she is so direct, no airs and graces, just a simple straightforward character. My 2nd run (Durge) I am romancing Lae'zel and hoping for a positive ending.
I hadn't considered Lae'zel as an autistic coded character, but after you mentioned it, yes I can see it, and that is probably why I love her so much.
i just finished a playthrough today, and i decided to persuade mind flayer orpheus to live. i was going to avernus with karlach, it seemed on-theme to keep orpheus alive as well. lae'zel very much seems to lead the charge on liberating her people if this happens, but i liked that orpheus was still there. i wanted her to stay in faerun, but alas the dice said no to that. orpheus seems to make peace with the whole mind flayer thing too, surprisingly. i think it's cool that you can spare him and still have lae'zel in charge, and it works out nicely if you apply his concerning outside lore. becoming illithid humbled him, perhaps.
i love lae'zel for all the reasons you've stated, i think she's one of the best written characters in the game. her abrasiveness seems to throw a lot of people off and miss a lot of this characterization, which really sucks. her idle champions profile says she's 22, which reframes everything for me. she's so young, and a lot of her behaviour at first can be explained by the overconfidence of youth. but damnit she can do anything she sets her mind to! she's one of your most loyal companions, and she never lies or misleads you (which can't be said for plenty of the others). she's just so, so great.
The comet on the painting was done by one of the teenagers in the creche. You can do his whole thing if you go into the training room and interact with stuff before having the creche fight :)
I think Lae'zel is the most normal among the origins characters
I remember starting off disliking her. Then in time starting to realize how observant and intelligent she actually is. I imagined she’d be a one track mind person, ignoring or brushing aside everything the others are going through. She actually shows she thinks about their issues, and shows empathy to them. And also she’s way smarter than she’s given credit for. Through her own personal quest you really can see the gears moving in her mind as she processes everything she hears
I'm suprised that you didn't touch on Lae'zel's Act 3 romance scene. It really shows just how far she's come in understanding and loving Faerun, waking you up just to simply watch the sunrise with her, hand in hand.
That's so cute! I haven't gotten into act 3 on a play through that's romancing her yet though, so I hadn't seen it!
@PocketCon IMO its one of the most intimate act 3 romance scenes out of all the companions
@@sw4gtastic891my favourite as a Galemancer was when we were in the boat and he was STILL going on about Mystra and taking the Crown. I was like damn no one EVER told this man he's Kenough.
The youngling Varl tells you he did the comet drawing after getting smitten with Orpheus. He found the book while cleaning the armour of one of the visiting Kith'raki and basically drew the comet hoping that like-minded others would see it and talk about it. Funnily enough in the inquisitor's chamber there's a note that reads "Hasharlak Voss?" basically showing that there's already doubts as to Voss' loyalties
Also I think Orpheus is a BG3 original character, he has no other sources listed in the Forgotten Realms wiki
ill do anything for lae'zel i look forward to doing her origin playthrough
Favorite companion and romance in the game ❤
If you pay attention to Orpheus for more than a second you'll see that he's a warmonger like his mother. It's not just FR lore. If he wasn't then the choice would be an extreme baby mode moment.
How so? the only person he declares war on is Vlaakith for obvious reasons
I never let Lae’zel go first at attempting purification because if she goes in the device instead of you she gets a major debuff
Bring a person mildly on the autism spectrum, but growing up in a teally Orthodox religious, insulated community that spoke in confusing euphemisms and coded language that i struggled to figure out as a kid, boy did i have fun relating to how you explained tht exasperating experience of trying to understand ppl who always beat around the bush, spoke indirectly about taboo things, spoke in coded, euphemism filled language etc i was expected to understand. It led to me having to become so direct and impatient with that nonsense, as well as always being interrogated because ME just flat out saying what i meant apparently confused others, because they expected the codes and euphsmisms and talking AROUND EVERYTHING. Like, sex was so taboo, when we were taught that engaging in certain things would send us to hell, they'd use terms like, "heavy petting" and "necking".??!!! As an adult that found my way out of the culty culture, i finally unlearned the bizarre attitudes about sex, and asked what the hell those things meant... Apparently "heavy petting" touching below the waste, mutual masturbation, etc. necking? Everything above the like. Like touching boob, lol. I had literally soent my childhood picturing petting as i understood it, like oetting your dog, and necking puzzled me... Was there some kinda thingbppl did that was like giraffing their necks sround each other? What's naughty sbout that?! hugging seemed awful close, i just couldn't figure out how someone managed to move up from hugging to this girsffe thing, lmao
38:20 my take on the situation is that Raphael even with the crown couldn't overpower Asmodeus like he thinks he can, but I wouldn't risk the possibility
Voss doesn't have another option but to trust you. You're the only one who can get it for him so he can't exactly talk shit about you to your face.
I'm playing Act 3 at the moment and I forgot Voss said he was gonna be waiting in the sewers lol I was on Minsc's trail and stumbled upon him and realized he had been down there for like a week of in game time with all the long rests I had been doing between quests 😂
cant wait for minthara!
"Give fascism a chance."
-- Lae'zel
1:02:44 last lore comment from me.
Mother Gith was almost as bad as Vlaakith when it came to how they treat other races, but Mother Gith wasn't literally stealing the souls of her people (I give Mother Gith a pass because she was literally fighting an empire of Mindflayers, treating people nice shouldn't be a priority when the souls of your entire race are at stake). It was bad already but Vlaakith made it significantly worse, those not okay with Vlaakith left and formed the Githzori.
Orpheus's willingness to work with the Githzori (prob incorrect spelling) as we see in Lae'zel's ending if she goes with him and we talk to her at the party in her astral form is a HUGE development for the race as a whole shows that there is hope for their development overall.