Many in my generation were handed fairy tales for love stories and happy endings as the promised reward, but my favorite love story is not so happy. It comes from Baldur’s Gate II—my favorite video game of all time and one of the best stories I’ve ever encountered.
This entry will give you some contextual details and analysis, but someone recently uploaded a video that goes through all of the major romantic dialogues in the game. Checking out at least some of this video will give you an idea of how top-notch music and voice acting contributed to the story.
For those unfamiliar with the series, let me elaborate on some details from the first game of the series. The core plot of the first game is summarized for you in the opening cut-scene of the second:
[Your foster father's] murder brought answers to your questions when his killer, Sarevok, was revealed to be your brother. You and Sarevok are a product of the Time of Troubles: A chaotic period when Gods were made flesh and forced to walk the earth. One such deity foresaw his own death and walked the land before the cataclysm. He left a score of mortal offspring, intended to be the fuel for his rebirth. That God was Bhaal, Lord of Murder, and you are one of his children.
The short version of the rest of game one is you beat Sarevok. Then, after the original Baldur’s Gate ends, you leave with five of the non-player characters from the original game: Imoen, Minsc, Dynaheir, Khalid, and Jaheira. Khalid and Jaheira, a married couple who bickered adorably during the first game (with it being quite clear that Jaheira wore the pants in the relationship), came to your aid because they were friends of your now-deceased foster father.
When the second game opens, your character has been captured by Jon Irenicus—a man you don’t know but who definitely seems to know you. He has been torturing you and your friends. As you rescue the friends who are still living, you discover the fate of those who are not. Dynaheir has been killed (Minsc blames himself and much of his development will hinge on his sense of failure) and Khalid has been worse than killed. After his death, his body was mutilated while Imoen was forced to watch. Jaheira is not-so-particularly happy about this. At first, she’s inconsolable, quickly denying that this can actually be Khalid but then falling into deep anger—rejecting and insulting the rest of the group for their attempts at comfort. She says are the words are empty, and she swears vengeance against Irenicus for his actions (“There will be payment for this crime … and I shall not rest until it is collected”).
When you escape from Irenicus, he escapes from you. Tracking him down is the next chapter of the story. Throughout this chapter, Jaheira remains … moody. Her first official romantic dialogue with you can go like this, for example:
Jaheira: So, where to now, fearless leader?
Protagonist: Hmm, I don’t rightly know. I’m taking suggestions.
Jaheira: I would suggest you get moving and decide on a plan.
And never say something like “don’t rightly know.” It makes you sound like you were dropped as a child.
Or kicked.
She’s quick to apologize about her emotional outbursts, of course, but there’s no mistaking that she’s in a difficult emotional space. Meanwhile, handling loss becomes a major theme in the story. The first “dream sequence” (one of the game’s most beautifully written segments) has Irenicus appearing to ask the protagonist, “Do you cling to the past or can you see through the pain?”
Jaheira continues to try to give support, but remains suspicious of the protagonist–who is, after all, the child of the God of Murder. She worries about what Irenicus intends with you, as well as your role in the world and things to come. But she struggles with other levels of interest as well, which start to creep in gradually.
Jaheira: Irenicus seems to have a special interest in you. I don’t imagine he’ll be the last, and I cannot blame him. I have an interest as well.
As a Harper, I mean. I wouldn’t want you to think …
Um … let’s just get moving.
Jaheira’s status as a Harper means that her beliefs about the world center on a sense of balance. Extreme forces are dangerous because they disrupt the natural balance, and that makes the protagonist an inherently dangerous person according to Jaheira’s long-held beliefs.
Throughout the story, Jaheira continues to struggle with her own sense of loss. The protagonist catches her waking from nightmares. He can tell her that his own dreams are sometimes haunted by those he’s lost, and she asks how he deals with it. You can give any number of responses, but one is that:
Protagonist: You feel terrible, but you still feel. It shouldn’t consume you lest it consume the memories and you’re left with only sadness.
A message, as I read it, of mourning the lost and allowing one’s self to feel without resenting that we feel that pain. Not letting ourselves be consumed by an internal battle that would pull us away from the lost.
It’s not merely people that Jaheria is losing, however. She must confront the ways in which her beliefs about the world and her status as a Harper are being challenged. As those beliefs change, Jaheria tries to work out whether these are truly changed beliefs or the result of emotions, which Jaheria seems to have generally negative feelings about. She at one point rants about how emotions are foolish because they make you do things like “fall in …”—at which point she quickly changes the direction of the conversation.
Throughout the game, Jaheira and the protagonist form a closer friendship. Each supports the other, offers a listening ear, and faces down the inevitable complexities of their closeness. By the time the protagonist and Jaheira sleep with each other, there’s a strong sense of trust, friendship, and hard-earned love. It’s not a passion-driven tryst: It’s a moment of comfort and intimacy between two people who care about each other despite all odds.
Jaheira leaves the protagonist at multiple points to pursue her own quests and face down difficult decisions. Ultimately, however, it’s clear that the protagonist and Jaheira serve as solid ground for one another. In the final chapter of the saga, when Jaheira recalls all they’ve been through, the two share their sense of being stabilized by the other, with Jaheira saying, “I’m just happy to have weathered it all with you by my side.”
The final movement of the story has the protagonist and his party traveling into a literal hell dimension where the essence of the dead God of Murder has been gathering. One way or another, that divine essence must be taken care of. The culminating romantic dialogue in the expansion begins just prior to entering this hell, and runs (in my favorite way) like this:
Jaheira: I trust you. Just remember that.
Protagonist: I’m glad someone does. Seems like the gods want to hold my hands through it.
Jaheira: I will too, if you like.
Protagonist: Oooh, aren’t you sweet. Okay, beautiful, you and me. Here we go.
Jaheira: Yes … you and me….
Jaheira and the protagonist have a relationship that allows them to walk hand and hand into hell.
But hell isn’t the end of the struggle for the duo. When the final enemy is defeated, the protagonist is given a choice: Allow the divine essence to be destroyed or adopt that essence as is his birthright, becoming a god.
Jaheira: What comes next … could change you forever and dictate your … our future.
Protagonist: I don’t want to leave you, Jaheira. I love you.
Jaheira: I … Strange, isn’t it? After all we’ve faced, those few words scare me more than anything. It’s just that … I don’t know if we could have a normal life after all of this.
I do know this. There is no place for me at your side if you accept this power. It would be … hard … to lose you. Just as it was hard to say goodbye … to Khalid.
Bastards … both of you, to do this to me. I knew this would…
Protagonist: Jaheira….
Jaheira: *ahem* I knew this would happen, that I would lose you. Not that I could see this coming, of course. Seems the gods themselves conspire to … to …
This is ridiculous. This isn’t about me. This is about you. I won’t ask you to stay. I won’t make your choice for you. You worked for this, fought through so much….
Protagonist: With you at my side.
Jaheira: If it is important, then go. I will not have you stay and regret it later. I will not be the great mistake that forever follows you. I have … too many of those to wish them on another.
Go. Do what you must. I … I love you.Jaheira kisses the protagonist and turns away, resigned to the decision she feels the protagonist has already made. She speaks against when the protagonist turns down the divine power.
Jaheira: Wh … what?
Protagonist: What do you mean, “what”? I’m staying. I’m staying, and you’ll never get rid of me.
Jaheira: Oh my … I, um … what can I say?
Protagonist: Just smile. That’s enough.
The romance concludes with Jaheira’s epilogue:
The years following the Bhaalspawn saga were kind to Jaheira. They couldn’t be called peaceful, by any means, but her relationship with the protagonist weathered it all. Theirs was an unshakable union, and while duty or adventure might separate them for even years a time, they always returned to one another. Her friends would marvel at how secure in this Jaheira seemed to be, especially considering her initial reluctance, but she would chuckle when thinking back on those first cautious days. After all, she and the protagonist had literally been to the hells and back, and when the gods themselves couldn’t separate the two, what were simple months and miles going to do? She lived long and well. Not always with the protagonist, but never truly apart from him.
It’s a model of a far more complex and healthy relationship than the vast majority of what I’ve seen. Jaheira’s tale is more love story than romance; it is about overcoming loss, moving forward, and building something of beauty in spite of the odds. It portrays a relationship that supports and sustains each person. Neither becomes dependent on the other, but both come to trust and rely upon the other in powerfully nourishing ways. They walk hand in hand into hell, and even the conspiring gods cannot separate them.
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