Among the many decisions players will be forced to make throughout their Baldur’s Gate 3 campaign, the one near the end of the story is arguably the most important. With the fate of the world at stake, players will have to choose between setting the imprisoned gith Prince Orpheus free or leaving the Emperor to handle the situation himself.
After grabbing the Orphic Hammer in the House of Hope, Baldur’s Gate 3 players will get the opportunity to shatter Orpheus’ shackles. However, this may not be the best thing to do, as it can drastically affect the party’s own destiny. Here are the possible outcomes for this scenario.
The following contains spoilers for the ending of Baldur’s Gate 3. Reader discretion is advised.
Should You Free Orpheus in Baldur’s Gate 3?
This is a tough decision to make, and it’ll depend on what players want out of their playthrough. At the start of Act 3, the Emperor will tell players that keeping Orpheus contained is the only thing preventing the party from turning into Illithids. Naturally, if Orpheus is freed, all members of the party will be doomed to become Mind Flayers.
After failing to beat the Netherbrain, the Emperor will teleport the party inside the Astral Prism. Here, they will be presented with a choice: do they free Orpheus, or do they let the Emperor assimilate the gith prince in order to exploit his power?
Siding with the Emperor spells the end for Orpheus. Lae’zel and Karlach might not appreciate this as his survival is tied directly with their own personal quests. This will give the party the advantage they need in order to beat the Netherbrain, but it might not be the most appealing outcome to the fans of these characters.
On the other hand, freeing Orpheus will cause the Emperor to side with the Netherbrain. Also, as mentioned earlier, the party will be doomed to become Mind Flayers, which is counter-intuitive to the reason the party got together in the first place. However, Orpheus will join the fight against the Netherbrain alongside the rest of the Githyanki in the encounter.
To summarize, players should side with the Emperor if they don’t want to become Mind Flayers, and they should free Orpheus if they don’t mind all the tentacles. The former may cause Lae’zel to turn against the player, and it will force Karlach to return to Avernus so her Infernal Engine doesn’t cause any more problems. Either way, it’ll be up to the players to decide which outcome suits them more.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is available now on PC.
