Companion Alignments *SPOILERS*

[Pyromaiden]

So obviously Alignments aren't really a thing in BG3 but I wanted to do the mental exercise of trying to pin each character to the traditional D&D alignments as accurately as possible.

Here is my attempt at pegging the characters in the "right" Alignments:

Halsin = Lawful Good
Wyll = Neutral Good
Karlach = Chaotic Good
Minsc = Chaotic Good
Jaheira = Chaotic Good
Gale = True Neutral
Shadowheart = Chaotic Neutral
Lae'zel = Lawful Evil
Minthara = Neutral Evil
Astarion = Chaotic Evil

Now of course I'm basing the above pegs off their initial personalities and dispositions when you first meet them. However, let's consider how the possible changes some these characters may undergo as a consequence of their class stories:

• Gale - Changes to Lawful Neutral if he becomes the God of Ambition or Neutral Good if he becomes a teacher.
  
• Shadowheart - Changes to Lawful Evil if she becomes a Dark Justiciar or Neutral Good if she rejects Shar.
  
• Lae'zel - Changes to Lawful Neutral if she rejects Vlaakith, otherwise remains Lawful Evil.
  
• Astarion - Swaps to Neutral Evil if he becomes an Ascended Vampire or Chaotic Neutral if he doesn't go through with it.

None of the other companions really undergo major transformative arcs that change their dispositions much.

[GriffinPilgrim]

Personally I'd put Halsin as Neutral Good. I don't really see him as strictly sticking to a code.
I'd pitch Gale as Neutral Good from the start; he is generally benevolent, he's just a bit too self absorbed.
Minsc was Neutral Good and Jaheira was True Neutral back in the old Baldur's Gates for what that's worth. But then I think back in 2e Druids had to be True Neutral.

[Pyromaiden]

Originally posted by GriffinPilgrim:

Personally I'd put Halsin as Neutral Good. I don't really see him as strictly sticking to a code.
I'd pitch Gale as Neutral Good; he is generally benevolent, he's just a bit too self absorbed.
Minsc was Neutral Good and Jaheira was True Neutral back in the old Baldur's Gates for what that's worth. But then I think back in 2e Druids had to be True Neutral.

Halsin seems to have more of a code than most of them IMO. Hence why I put him as Lawful Good.

Gale is *generally* a good person but I don't feel like morality plays a big part of his disposition, hence why I assigned him Neutral. The "Good" Alignments strike me as more heroic-types, which doesn't seem to fit Gale in my opinion. He's not a bad person, nor is he prone to evil, but that doesn't necessarily make him heroic. I guess if he decides to go through with the whole orb-thing then I could see that as a heroic action. But otherwise I went with Neutral because the way the "Neutral" Alignments are described it sounds more like what everyday people are like, and I would classify the average Joe as being a "good" person but not necessarily a heroic character - if you get what I mean.

Minsc, from what I found, was already classed as Chaotic Good and that fits his depiction in BG3 in my opinion. Maybe that was different in the previous games, but I haven't played those.

Jaheira also struck me as Chaotic Good because she's a Harper and they don't seem to care much about codes while striving to protect people and communities while fighting evil at any cost, which sounds squarely Chaotic Good to me and I think Jaheira fits that well too since that's basically how she operates.

[seeker1]

Spoiler warning?

My quibbles ... Halsin and Jaheira are probably Neutral Good, druids in 5E are no longer True Neutral but often tend to be partly so. Plus Harpers are all about balance and neutrality.

Clerics tend to match the alignment of their deity. Shar is Neutral Evil. But, Shadowheart IMHO only becomes Neutral Evil if she goes Dark Justiciar; if she returns to becoming a cleric of Selune, she then matches Selune's alignment of Chaotic Good. Perhaps when you find her she is in the "in between" zone of True Neutral. You help her decide which way to go.

Seriously, this is WHY she changes her hair from black to white/silver. Darkness to moonlight. Her hair color starts to match other clerics of Selune you've already met in the game.

I don't think Gale ever really undergoes much alignment change. Probably Lawful Neutral through the whole game. He does (possibly) become a god of Ambition, but I'm not sure ambition really has a specific alignment it can be tied down to. Both Gale and Raphael are driven by ambition, but they're not really the same.

[Govi]

Originally posted by GriffinPilgrim:

Personally I'd put Halsin as Neutral Good. I don't really see him as strictly sticking to a code.
I'd pitch Gale as Neutral Good from the start; he is generally benevolent, he's just a bit too self absorbed.
Minsc was Neutral Good and Jaheira was True Neutral back in the old Baldur's Gates for what that's worth. But then I think back in 2e Druids had to be True Neutral.

They did back then

Which doesn’t mesh with her place on that story

[Pyromaiden]

Originally posted by seeker1:

Spoiler warning?

My quibbles ... Halsin and Jaheira are probably Neutral Good, druids in 5E are no longer True Neutral but often tend to be partly so.

Clerics tend to match their alignment of their deity. Shar is Neutral Evil. But, Shadowheart IMHO only becomes Neutral Evil if she goes Dark Justiciar; if she returns to becoming a cleric of Selune, she she matches Selune's alignment of Neutral Good. Perhaps when you find her she is in the "in between" zone of True Neutral.

Seriously, this is WHY she changes her hair from black to white./silver. Darkness to moonlight.

Selune is listed as Chaotic Good AFAIK.

Dark Justiciars don't strike me as Neutral Evil. They're basically crusader-types, and that feels more Lawful Evil since they're more rigid, dogmatic, and loyal instead of the more self-centered Neutral Evil.

Jaheira seems too extreme to be Neutral Good to me, and Halsin seems too 'traditional' to be Neutral Good.

[seeker1]

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Selune is listed as Chaotic Good AFAIK.

Yeah. Fixed that when I looked it up on the FR Wiki.

Gale is a classic kind of Neutral character. If you slaughter all the druids and tieflings in the grove, he does get upset ... but then also can be convinced to stay through Persuasion. Unlike the two other do-gooders, not bothered enough to leave.

[Wokelander]

Jaheira was always Neutral Good even if her official alignment said otherwise. Halsin hasn't really shown much character other than indicating some level of benevolence (but that's mostly based on his own previous failures so pretty egotistical) so probably neutral or maybe Neutral Good too.

I'd put Wyll somewhere between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral, he doesn't seem to have a lot of respect for authority and is basically a vigilante taking the law into his own hands.

Shadowheart is probably just neutral (True Neutral) at game start, she's not particularly nice but not actively malicious either, she's mostly just focused on her own immediate needs and doesn't really care about neither good/evil or law/chaos. As for her change, it imagine she just either Good or Evil but still doesn't really bother with law/chaos

The rest are probably right, though I could see Gale as Lawful due to the whole wizard gig and the fact that I think he's supposed to autistic 😅

[Wokelander]

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Originally posted by seeker1:

Spoiler warning?

My quibbles ... Halsin and Jaheira are probably Neutral Good, druids in 5E are no longer True Neutral but often tend to be partly so.

Clerics tend to match their alignment of their deity. Shar is Neutral Evil. But, Shadowheart IMHO only becomes Neutral Evil if she goes Dark Justiciar; if she returns to becoming a cleric of Selune, she she matches Selune's alignment of Neutral Good. Perhaps when you find her she is in the "in between" zone of True Neutral.

Seriously, this is WHY she changes her hair from black to white./silver. Darkness to moonlight.

Selune is listed as Chaotic Good AFAIK.

Dark Justiciars don't strike me as Neutral Evil. They're basically crusader-types, and that feels more Lawful Evil since they're more rigid, dogmatic, and loyal instead of the more self-centered Neutral Evil.

Jaheira seems too extreme to be Neutral Good to me, and Halsin seems too 'traditional' to be Neutral Good.

As the epitome of a Neutral Evil goddess worshippers, they're likely to be Neutral Evil I'd say

[Pyromaiden]

Originally posted by Wokelander:

Jaheira was always Neutral Good even if her official alignment said otherwise. Halsin hasn't really shown much character other than indicating some level of benevolence (but that's mostly based on his own previous failures so pretty egotistical) so probably neutral or maybe Neutral Good too.

I'd put Wyll somewhere between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral, he doesn't seem to have a lot of respect for authority and is basically a vigilante taking the law into his own hands.

Shadowheart is probably just neutral (True Neutral) at game start, she's not particularly nice but not actively malicious either, she's mostly just focused on her own immediate needs and doesn't really care about neither good/evil or law/chaos. As for her change, it imagine she just either Good or Evil but still doesn't really bother with law/chaos

The rest are probably right, though I could see Gale as Lawful due to the whole wizard gig and the fact that I think he's supposed to autistic 😅

Wait, Gale is supposed to be autistic?

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Originally posted by Wokelander:

Jaheira was always Neutral Good even if her official alignment said otherwise. Halsin hasn't really shown much character other than indicating some level of benevolence (but that's mostly based on his own previous failures so pretty egotistical) so probably neutral or maybe Neutral Good too.

I'd put Wyll somewhere between Chaotic Good and Chaotic Neutral, he doesn't seem to have a lot of respect for authority and is basically a vigilante taking the law into his own hands.

Shadowheart is probably just neutral (True Neutral) at game start, she's not particularly nice but not actively malicious either, she's mostly just focused on her own immediate needs and doesn't really care about neither good/evil or law/chaos. As for her change, it imagine she just either Good or Evil but still doesn't really bother with law/chaos

The rest are probably right, though I could see Gale as Lawful due to the whole wizard gig and the fact that I think he's supposed to autistic 😅

Wait, Gale is supposed to be autistic?

I don't see it, TBH. If anyone's autistic, it's that kid who sits in front of a hidden hatch and can't seem to talk or look at you in the eyes.

[Pyromaiden]

Originally posted by Wokelander:

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Selune is listed as Chaotic Good AFAIK.

Dark Justiciars don't strike me as Neutral Evil. They're basically crusader-types, and that feels more Lawful Evil since they're more rigid, dogmatic, and loyal instead of the more self-centered Neutral Evil.

Jaheira seems too extreme to be Neutral Good to me, and Halsin seems too 'traditional' to be Neutral Good.

As the epitome of a Neutral Evil goddess worshippers, they're likely to be Neutral Evil I'd say

I get that, but I don't think that worshipers should necessarily have to share the Alignment of their deities and that sharing them isn't always a good thing.

Like Viconia for example comes off as Neutral Evil to me, but despite revering Shar she's also kind of undermining her - especially since Shar wants Shadowheart to replace her and Viconia is basically trying to subvert the will of her goddess in order to stay in control of her cult. Thus Shar orders Dark Justiciar Shadowheart to remove her.

Shar herself is definitely Neutral Evil, but I think her followers could getaway with being Lawful Evil.

[Pyromaiden]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Wait, Gale is supposed to be autistic?

I don't see it, TBH. If anyone's autistic, it's that kid who sits in front of a hidden hatch and can't seem to talk or look at you in the eyes.

*grunt*

[GriffinPilgrim]

Originally posted by seeker1:

Spoiler warning?Clerics tend to match the alignment of their deity. Shar is Neutral Evil. But, Shadowheart IMHO only becomes Neutral Evil if she goes Dark Justiciar; if she returns to becoming a cleric of Selune, she then matches Selune's alignment of Chaotic Good. Perhaps when you find her she is in the "in between" zone of True Neutral. You help her decide which way to go.

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Originally posted by Wokelander:

As the epitome of a Neutral Evil goddess worshippers, they're likely to be Neutral Evil I'd say

I get that, but I don't think that worshipers should necessarily have to share the Alignment of their deities and that sharing them isn't always a good thing.

Like Viconia for example comes off as Neutral Evil to me, but despite revering Shar she's also kind of undermining her - especially since Shar wants Shadowheart to replace her and Viconia is basically trying to subvert the will of her goddess in order to stay in control of her cult. Thus Shar orders Dark Justiciar Shadowheart to remove her.

Shar herself is definitely Neutral Evil, but I think her followers could getaway with being Lawful Evil.

The "One Step" rule; you can be a Cleric (or Paladin, Druid or Ranger) of a deity so long as you are within one step of the deities alignment. So a Cleric of Shar could certainly be True Neutral, yes.

[Wokelander]

Originally posted by Orion Invictus:

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Wait, Gale is supposed to be autistic?

I don't see it, TBH. If anyone's autistic, it's that kid who sits in front of a hidden hatch and can't seem to talk or look at you in the eyes.

That's a pretty outdated interpretation actually.

[GriffinPilgrim]

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Originally posted by GriffinPilgrim:

Personally I'd put Halsin as Neutral Good. I don't really see him as strictly sticking to a code.
I'd pitch Gale as Neutral Good; he is generally benevolent, he's just a bit too self absorbed.
Minsc was Neutral Good and Jaheira was True Neutral back in the old Baldur's Gates for what that's worth. But then I think back in 2e Druids had to be True Neutral.

Halsin seems to have more of a code than most of them IMO. Hence why I put him as Lawful Good.

I dunno. He's rather quick to abandon his post for a Lawful character.

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Gale is *generally* a good person but I don't feel like morality plays a big part of his disposition, hence why I assigned him Neutral. The "Good" Alignments strike me as more heroic-types, which doesn't seem to fit Gale in my opinion. He's not a bad person, nor is he prone to evil, but that doesn't necessarily make him heroic. I guess if he decides to go through with the whole orb-thing then I could see that as a heroic action. But otherwise I went with Neutral because the way the "Neutral" Alignments are described it sounds more like what everyday people are like, and I would classify the average Joe as being a "good" person but not necessarily a heroic character - if you get what I mean.

I never saw the alignment system that way. A Neutral (between good and evil that is) character likely wants good things for the people they care about personally and usually doesn't wish anyone ill unless they've harmed them in some way but won't much care about strangers. Gale generally approves of kind and heroic actions. He's less focused on being a hero than Karlach, Halsin and particularly Wyll and the returning companions but he does care.

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Minsc, from what I found, was already classed as Chaotic Good and that fits his depiction in BG3 in my opinion. Maybe that was different in the previous games, but I haven't played those.

I was slightly wrong; he was Neutral Good in the first game, Chaotic Good in the second; certain events made him less stable.

Originally posted by Pyromania™:

Jaheira also struck me as Chaotic Good because she's a Harper and they don't seem to care much about codes while striving to protect people and communities while fighting evil at any cost, which sounds squarely Chaotic Good to me and I think Jaheira fits that well too since that's basically how she operates.

"Harpers work against villainy and wickedness wherever they find it—but they work ever mindful of the consequences of what they do.
All beings should walk free of fear, with the right to live their lives as they wish.
The rule of law aids peace and fosters freedom, so long as the laws are just and those who enforce them lenient and understanding.
No extreme is good. For freedom to flourish, all must be in balance: the powers of realms, the reaches of the cities and the wilderlands into each other, and the influence of one being over another.
Whatever it takes, a Harper will do. Pride never rules the deeds of a true Harper.
Harpers can spare themselves less freedom than those they work to protect must have—but even a Harper must be free.
Harpers police their own. A Harper who hears the call of personal power can no longer hear the sweet song of the harp. A Harper who seizes power, and holds it above all else, is a traitor to the harp. Traitors must die, for freedom to live.
Without a past, no being can appreciate what they have, and where they may be going."
The Harper Code.
Advocating just laws and balance but also focusing on freedom a lot, very Neutral Good. Thats where I'd place Jaheira, now that it's not 2e and the rules don't force her to be True Neutral.