Baldur’s Gate 3 NPC “plays you for a fool” when romanced

Baldur’s Gate 3 has a wide range of romance options, but romancing this NPC in particular may leave you brokenhearted.

A part of Baldur’s Gate 3 charm is letting you make your own choices throughout the game, and that includes choosing the character you’d like to romance.

Remember the Guardian you could customize at the beginning of your game? The one who would give you advice and suggest you eat tadpoles? Well, there’s an option to romance this NPC as well later in the game, but it’s not going to be as smooth as you think, as one player had found out.

Sharing their experience in a Reddit thread, the player claimed when they got to the second Emperor cutscene in Act 3, they chose a dialogue option they wouldn’t usually choose. 

Thanks to that, they discovered that when you ask the Emperor if he’s flirting with you, if you choose to say, “I’d rather stick to business,” he would quickly agree and move on.

However, what really stood out to the player was how the cutscene ended afterwards. According to them, the narrator would mention that you were disappointed with “how fast the Emperor was willing to move on, without even the slightest amount of regret.”

They explained: “It makes it seem like no matter if you romanced the Emperor in this scene or not, everything he does is disingenuous and solely for personal pleasure/companionship.”

Ultimately, the player wrote: “In other words, he doesn’t truly love you that way, just gaslighting you into becoming closer to him for the mission. Fascinating interaction I’ve never seen!”

Regarding the OP’s experience with the Emperor, other players also shared their thoughts in the comments. 

One user claimed he’s “clearly embarrassed” and “doesn’t want to bring it up.” They added, “He didn’t fool me. I’m gonna kiss that toxic calamari next go around.”

Another user mentioned that he’s an Illithid; hence, he doesn’t “love in the way humans understand.” Meanwhile, a different user brought up that he “just moves on like an adult.”

Either way, whatever your choice is when romancing this NPC, there’s always a way to go back if you’d like to change the outcome — just don’t do it too far.