Baldur’s Gate 3’s character writing is one of its greatest strengths. Not just because so many of its companions feel fully realized at launch, but because so many of them carry the vestigial weight of stories that were rewritten, rerouted, or quietly abandoned along the way. What players experience in the final game is the result of years of iteration, compromise, and hard narrative decisions. In most cases, those changes refined characters into sharper, more cohesive versions of themselves. In Minthara’s case, they fundamentally reshaped who she was allowed to become.
Most Baldur’s Gate 3 players don’t know how much these beloved characters have changed since their early days. Karlach was once edgier, her story evolving dramatically before release. In another timeline, Astarion was envisioned as a pale-skinned tiefling with long black hair. Nearly every companion underwent substantial rewrites, both publicly and behind closed doors. Minthara, however, likely experienced the most consequential transformation. Not because her design shifted or because her ideology changed, but because the trajectory of her arc once pointed toward a version of her story that would have permanently altered her relationships, her autonomy, and the long-term consequences of choosing her at all.
In its cut form, Minthara’s storyline appears to have pushed far beyond a standard “BG3 evil route” companion arc. It would have asked players to reckon with permanence, sacrifice, and exclusivity in ways no other companion does.
Baldur's Gate 3 spoilers ahead.
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Minthara’s Pregnancy: A Cut Storyline That Could Have Changed It All
Baldur’s Gate 3’s romances are as intense or fleeting as the player wants them to be. At least that’s true for the main companions—other romances are entirely a one-and-done situation. Whether a companion is a one-night fling or a flame burning bright doesn’t change how the main conflicts unfold, but it does color a player’s interactions with the world. The player may even get the chance to live happily ever after with their partner if they pursue righteous endings.
The happy romance endings in Baldur’s Gate 3 are aplenty. Whether living in a little cottage with Shadowheart or rubbing elbows with nobles thanks to Wyll, a life of domesticity is all but guaranteed. But these fates await the player as a reward for their bravery. Instead, Minthara’s domestic future was supposed to be thrust upon the player on the road to saving Baldur’s Gate city. In what could have been the most dramatic twist of interpersonal drama in BG3, a romanced Minthara would fall pregnant at some point in the story.
Minthara’s Pregnancy is Shocking Because of Placement
Although Minthara's pregnancy is shocking, parenthood is not an alien concept in BG3. Regardless of whether the player is a Tav, Durge, or origin character in Baldur’s Gate 3, a future with little ones is entirely possible.
- If Wyll becomes Duke Ravenguard, then he and the player will adopt a baby girl called Lilly Aurora.
- Lae’zel and the player can have a githyanki child. All it takes is keeping the gith egg found in Creche Y’llek in her inventory. Even if not romanced, Lae’zel can still become a mother.
- Cut content resurfaced in the Withers Cut Content Dialogues mod suggests that Shadowheart was very keen on having children with Tav/Durge.
- Following the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, many orphans encountered by players are left for Halsin to raise as he helps restore the Shadow-Cursed Lands. “Daddy Halsin,” they call him.
There’s something to note about all this family-centric content: they happen after the events regarding the Elder Brain and The Dead Three. All these children are born or raised in the months after the final battle, when tadpoles are of no concern and brighter, quieter days await companions. However, Minthara’s pregnancy happens in the midst of the chaos, which paints a much more dire portrait of what can be happy news for those romancing her.
Baldur's Gate 3 Patch 8 May Have Accidentally Restored Cut Minthara Content
Baldur's Gate 3 players online notice that Patch 8 may have accidentally restored some cut Minthara content to the game.
How Minthara’s Cut Pregnancy Could Have Changed Her
Minthara is an excellent Paladin because she’s not afraid to turn the archetype on its head. She disregards the need for altruism or the “greater good,” and instead focuses on loyalty as the defining trait for her oath—no matter how many times that oath changes. Her evolving beliefs throughout the game actually showcase remarkable character development, as they allow players to see her fully commit to what she believes is right and just. The knight in shining armor doesn’t need to be good. She doesn’t even need to be right. She just needs to be resolute and flexible.
But a pregnancy changes everything. It can change her loyalties, her beliefs, and even her willingness to fight. As the cut content reveals, this pregnancy is embraced, leaving ample room for it to dramatically change Minthara’s story. It's almost a crime that players didn't get to see it brought to life. Here are some ways that her pregnancy could have changed her:
- Legacy Over Devotion: Minthara’s faith has already proven conditional. Drow society prizes power, lineage, and survival above all else. A child introduces something more enduring than Lolth or the Absolute: legacy. Protecting what comes after her could challenge the idea that her life exists solely in service to divine will or conquest, reframing her actions around continuity rather than obedience.
- Motherhood Through a Drow Lens: Drow parenting is not gentle. It is strategic, brutal, and deeply political as the Underdark demands it. Minthara likely would not raise a child on surface-world ideals of kindness or safety. Instead, she may see treachery, strength, and emotional control as acts of love: tools necessary for survival in a world that will not forgive weakness.
- Gender and Power Dynamics: Drow society is matriarchal, so gender carries huge expectations. A daughter could be groomed as a successor, a weapon, or a future rival. A son, meanwhile, might exist in a more precarious position—protected fiercely, yet constantly navigating a bias that views male drow as expendable or subordinate. Either outcome reinforces Minthara’s complicated relationship with power rather than resolving it.
- A Reason to Leave Conflict Behind: Parenthood could push Minthara toward withdrawal, secrecy, or isolation. Alternatively, it could drive her deeper into the conflict that exiled her, determined to eliminate every threat before it reaches her family. Either choice introduces stakes that are no longer abstract or ideological, but painfully personal.
The Minthara who made it into the final game is still sharp, devout, and uncompromising, yet she is also a character shaped as much by what was removed as by what remains. And that absence should quietly change how players understand her.
Baldur's Gate 3
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 96 /100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- August 3, 2023
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Larian Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Larian Studios
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- RPG
