Baldur’s Gate 3 Was Supposed to Let You Visit Hell, the Gith Plane, and Turn Ketheric Thorm

During an interview with IGN at the 2024 Game Developers Conference, Swen Vincke, founder and game director of Larian Studios, disclosed that Ketheric Thorm, one of the three main antagonists in Baldur’s Gate 3, was initially intended to be able to be redeemed by players. The dialogue in the game hints at this possibility, but in the end, it does not come to fruition. This missed opportunity is regrettable, as it could have added an interesting dynamic to the game’s story.

During the rescoping process, we made changes to Act Two when we were struggling with it. One of these changes involved removing a crucial moment where the player could convince the character to join their team. This moment was typically the turning point for recruitment. Originally, the character was meant to be in the player’s camp while they were dealing with Gortash and Orin. This allowed for the character to provide valuable information and develop a sense of trust with the player. Ultimately, this would lead to the character’s own personal journey and eventual persuasion to join the player’s side. It was a significant element in the story.

In addition to Ketheric Thorm’s turning, other significant elements were also removed from Baldur’s Gate 3. Players were originally meant to explore Hell in more depth, beyond just the short visit to Raphael’s mansion, as well as the Gith plane.

We had planned for you to experience a complete journey to Hell, including Vlaakith’s Palace and Tu’narath, the Gith plane. Our itinerary also included a visit to the city of Candlekeep, where the original Baldur’s Gate 1 began. We had considered various possibilities and at one point, we even thought about making smaller maps to offer a greater variety of locations for you to explore. However, we realized that this would diminish the sense of exploration. As a result, we decided to eliminate a significant number of them.

Despite the recent announcement by Swen Vincke that Larian will not be creating any new content for Baldur’s Gate 3, there is still much to look forward to from the studio. While bug fixes and cross-platform mod support have been confirmed, Vincke also mentioned that there are significant features in the works and the team is still working on the epilogue, particularly for the evil endings.