Baldur’s Gate 3 writer finally reveals true nature of Shadowheart’s curse

A Baldur’s Gate 3 writer has elaborated on Shadowheart’s curse, and it may not be as extreme as some players had initially thought.

There are a lot of hard choices to make in Baldur’s Gate 3 as you sink more time into your playthrough. Deciding whether or not Shadowheart should kill her parents is certainly one of them.

On one hand, doing so lifts Shar’s curse, which causes her to get the wound flares on her hand. But at the same time, freeing her parents finally lets her reunite with her family – with the tradeoff that the curse remains with her as a way to remind her that she’s bound to Shar.

With that in mind, it’s not surprising that a portion of the community hesitates to have Shadowheart save her parents due to the consequences. However, Baldur’s Gate 3 writer John Corcoran has revealed some new insights that might have players changing their ways.

When asked if the Shar curse is more of a “chronic pain” instead of a “soul curse” for the rest of her life, John mentioned that the curse is “synonymous to a chronic pain”, like a “shock collar” that would cause pain when Shadowheart does something that’s “out of line in Shar’s eyes.”

And now that the true nature of Shadowheart’s curse is confirmed, players in a Reddit thread discussing about the curse agreed this helps make the decision easier.

Topic begins at the 1:17:20 timestamp below:

“In this case, it’s actually not that bad keeping it even as Selunite. If it resonates, you have immediate feedback that you did something that Selune will very likely approve of. Plus, parents,” commented one player.

“Yeah, now I feel like an idiot for killing off her parents; I thought she was cursed, or it was open to interpretation. Not to mention, apparently, the epilogue mentions Shar stops messing with her eventually if you save her parents. I feel like an idiot now, lmao,” mentioned another.

All in all, while players are free to choose to play however they want, many couldn’t help but point out that setting her parents free is ultimately the “good” choice for her in Baldur’s Gate 3.