Once known as the “Dreamlover” in Baldur’s Gate 3’s beta, the mysterious Guardian seems to be a major influence in the newest entry of this Dungeons & Dragons-inspired video game series. But who are they exactly? As cryptic as their first appearances may be, we’re here to give you a comprehensive guide on everything known about the Guardian.
Making the Guardian in Baldur’s Gate 3
When you load into Baldur’s Gate 3, you start by creating your character. However, in Baldur’s Gate 3’s character creation, you also make a second character — the Guardian. Despite the fact you create them, they aren’t a second playable character. In fact, they are an NPC who will talk to and consult you throughout the game.
Though you can’t play as the Guardian, you can make them any gender, race, or build.
What is the Guardian’s purpose?
Once you’ve finished creating your character and the Guardian, you’ll head into the Forgotten Realms and begin your adventure. As you journey through the world and follow the main questline, you’ll start meeting with the Guardian and having conversations with them. Most notably, your first conversation will be in a dream-like state. This is where the Guardian will reveal they saved you from the nautiloid crash and they don’t want you to remove the mind flayer tadpole from your head. Instead, they want you to use the power of the illithid tadpole to your advantage.
In the early hours of Baldur’s Gate 3, it’s not entirely clear what the Guardian wants. They seem wise and helpful, even saying they want to help you avoid turning into a mind flayer. The game portrays them as a benevolent entity. However, knowing the complicated and twisted world around you, it’s hard to tell if the Guardian is telling the truth or has a much more malevolent agenda in mind.
How to talk to the Guardian in Baldur’s Gate 3
Despite not giving players the “why”, Baldur’s Gate 3’s story does give a clear message that the mind flayer parasite in your character’s body is connected to the Guardian. You can encourage more conversations and influence from the Guardian the more you use the parasite’s powers. However, be careful. The more you use these powers, it might influence the way your companions perceive you. Will you choose to get closer to your party members or the cryptic Guardian?
Guardians in Dungeons and Dragons
If we want possible clues to the Guardian’s origins or purpose, we’ll have to dig into the source material — the Dungeons & Dragons lore. There are quite a few mentions of Guardians throughout the game considering the ubiquitous nature of the word. There’s a druidic subclass called Guardian that focuses more on protection and elemental magic. There’s also the Guardians of Faith, a particular Cleric ability that helps protect you. A prestige class of Monk is also called a Guardian.
However, the name could be a little misleading. Considering their ties to the illithid tadpole, they could be a mind flayer thrall trying to trick you.
We’ll just have to play more of the game to glean the Guardian’s exact goals.
