Baldur’s Gate 3’s Withers Is Hiding A Dark Secret About Your Party

Summary

• Withers controls all the hirelings in Baldur’s Gate 3, puppeteering them and speaking through them, revealing his true power.
• The hirelings are empty shells, with their minds lost and bodies controlled by Withers, chosen from individuals who died at the hands of the Absolute.
• Withers is an avatar of Jergal, the original god of death, who uses his power to resurrect the bodies of the slain to thwart the plans of the Dead Three.

As such a massive game, it’s no surprise that Baldur’s Gate 3 holds a lot of secrets. Although many unfold over the course of the game, there is one hiding in plain sight during every playthrough. While many will already be suspicious that there is more to their camp’s resident undead, Withers, than meets the eye, few will realize just how strange he truly is.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3.]

Withers is one of many characters who can join the camp and can be found very early in Act 1 in the Dank Crypt and will join the party to offer services of resurrection, hirelings, and respecing any playable character. While it is easy to dismiss Withers as yet another NPC, there is far more to this cryptic entity. Oddly, it is through one of the services he provides that more about Withers’ true power and his wider role in BG3 can be discovered.

Withers Controls All The Hirelings

Of all the services Withers offers, perhaps the most underused is hirelings. For a fee, Withers will summon a person to join the party with all the BG3 classes to choose from. Although these hirelings have their own custom appearances and backstories, they are completely devoid of personality and are instead puppeteered by Withers himself.

The Hirelings Are Actually Empty Shells

When first hiring one of these many hirelings on offer, Withers must be conversed with to the point where he asks if the player character requires a new ally. From there, Withers can be paid 100 gold and the hireling character selection screen appears. There are 12 hirelings to choose from, each covering one of the classes available in BG3, and although they have names and default appearances, those can be fully customized.

Each hireling has a brief backstory which is displayed when they are selected, explaining how they met their end. The cult of the Absolute is involved in the demise of every hireling, the first clue as to where Withers is drawing these souls from. For example, Brinna Brightsong, the halfling bard, was murdered after singing something a cultist didn’t like. Whereas Zenith Feur’sel, the high elf cleric, was killed by an Absolute warband.

However, it is once a hireling has joined the party in BG3 that Withers’ secret is revealed, as they will all speak in a rather familiar way. This is the cue for the helpful Narrator to clarify that it is in fact Withers speaking through the newly summoned person. When asked why, Withers will explain through the hireling that they cannot remember how to speak, so he does it for them.

This chilling revelation certainly has many looking at the hirelings in a new way, as they are little more than puppets. Their minds are perhaps long-lost to whatever killed them, and all that is left is the body. Indeed, the hirelings, when spoken to, will refer to themselves in the third person, usually calling themselves vessel or soul, further cementing that these are only empty shells.

While there are jokes to be made about DMPCs, characters controlled by a DM who join the party, it’s worth thinking about why Withers would choose these people in particular. With all the hirelings meeting their ends at the hands of the Absolute, it’s possible that Withers chose them out of some sense of guilt or remorse, given who ends up being revealed as the true power behind the Absolute. Perhaps by using these particular souls, Withers is trying to tip the odds in favor of the party as much as he is able, without being seen to directly intervene.

How And Why Withers Would Control The Hirelings

Just why Withers might feel responsible for the deaths of those individuals at the hands of the Absolute, of course, links to Withers’ real identity in BG3. It is heavily implied throughout Baldur’s Gate 3 that Withers is actually Jergal, Faerûn’s original god of death who gave up his position to the Dead Three: Myrkul, Bhaal, and Bane. It is these three dead gods who are the true force behind the false Absolute.

The being called Withers is an avatar of Jergal so that he can interact with those attempting to save Faerûn, as the gods themselves were forbidden from directly interfering by Ao. Although Jergal is no longer the god of death, he has a good relationship with Faerûn’s current god of death, Kelemvor, acting as his seneschal or steward. This would give Jergal access to the recently departed but not necessarily their souls, which would fall firmly in Kelemvor’s domain.

Ao is the Overgod of the Forgotten Realms and is able to oversee the actions of the other deities. It is this being that prevents the gods from directly interfering in the affairs of mortals, forcing them to use avatars or Chosen ones.

Using his avatar, Withers, Jergal resurrects the bodies of those slain by the Absolute in order to thwart the Dead Three’s plans. Withers himself as an avatar is another puppet, so, in a sense, he is the same as the hirelings. Judging by the location he is found in during BG3’s Act 1, the undead players know as Withers was most likely a high ranking priest of Jergal.

It might seem that controlling all the puppets could be strenuous, but Withers will explain through the hirelings that it actually takes very little of his power. This shows that Withers is far more powerful than he first appears, further demonstrated in BG3‘s new epilogue ending. Here, Withers is able to banish any player character who interfere with his party, where he seeks to strengthen the bonds between the surviving party members.

While some might feel uncomfortable having almost silent, soulless puppets running around with their party, it’s important to remember that this is as much help as Jergal/Withers is able to give them. And with the actions of the Absolute cult affecting so many souls and other gods, any assistance should be appreciated. Whether this was under Kelemvor’s orders or Jergal making amends for giving his portfolio to the Dead Three is unclear and perhaps the subject for a Baldur’s Gate 3 DLC or sequel to address.