Most ofBaldur’s Gate 3’ssecond act revolves around the conflict between the player’s party and Ketheric Thorm, the chosen of Myrkul and the tyrannical general of the Absolute’s army. Investigating the region, however, reveals that Ketheric is not as straightforwardly evil as he first seems. His turn to the god of the dead was fueled by the loss of his wife, Melodia, and his daughter, Isobel.He serves Myrkul because the god was able to restore his daughter to the land of the living,even if she rejects his new role as a servant of the Dead Three.
The mystery of Isobel’s identity and Ketheric’s motivations is interesting enough, but the game never directly answers one question about Isobel: how she died in the first place. While it establishes that her mother died from an illness,the actual cause of Isobel’s death is left ambiguous, and the clues as to what caused it in the Shadow-Cursed Lands don’t paint a full picture. Still, by examining what evidence we do have, cut content from the early access version of the game, and the lore behind Faerun’s deities, it’s possible to get a better idea of who killed Isobel Thorm.
Isobel’s Death Was Originally Explained In Cut Content
Halsin’s Glaive Was Supposed To Have Done The Deed
Much has changed inBG3’s story since the early access of the game, with Wyll’s character altered entirely and Isobel’s fate rewritten. Specifically,in the initial version of the game, Halsin killed Isobel during the war with Ketheric Thorm, apparently using the glaive known asSorrow. Both were sent by their respective sides to negotiate, only for talks to break down and Isobel to attack, requiring the druid to put her down.
This path for Halsin would have much better explained his guilt overthe Shadow Curse, as well as the story behind this glaive locked away below the Emerald Grove. In the final release, however,the notebook containing this information was deleted, Halsin has no unique interactions or dialogue about Isobel, and, from the sound of things, Isobel actually died before the war at Moonrise even began. So, while remnants of this narrative may remain, it’s safe to say that Halsin did not kill Isobel in the current version, and whatever curse haunts the glaive Sorrow is unrelated to her.
Clues About Isobel Can Be Found In Moonrise Towers
Reading Ketheric’s Diary And Speaking To Squire
In the current version of the story,the most obvious conclusion about Iosbel’s death is that she died the same way her mother did: from a mysterious illness. It would make sense timeline-wise, with them dying in quick succession, and even though Isobel hada paladin like Dame Aylinbeside her, if she couldn’t heal Melodia’s sickness, it would make sense she couldn’t heal Isobel’s, either. Whatever afflicted her would have been beyond Aylin’s powers to fix.
Still, certain details about this don’t add up. When speaking with the undead canine, Squire,at Moonrise Towers, the dog states that they died defending Isobel.“Defending” doesn’t seem the word one would use if the one they were protecting died of an illness, and the fact that Squire died from it as well implies that something suddenly snuffed out their lives. Knowing that, the odds of someone having killed Isobel go up, even though she evidently perished before Ketheric turned to Shar and started a war.
It’s possible that Squire’s dialogue is a remnant of the cut Halsin storyline, further muddying the waters around thisBaldur’s Gatemystery.
And there is one more strange detail that could be read as a clue: the fact thatIsobel doesn’t remember what caused her to die. It’s a bit of an odd detail that this character has no idea what took her life, especially if it was an illness that took time to whittle her down. It could be that, whenKetheric brought her back to life, the trauma of her death and rebirth obscured her final moments. But maybe something else is at work here, deliberately hiding the truth of Isobel’s death from her and the others in her life.
It’s entirely possible that Shar killed Isobel Thorm, or rather, that Shar’s power was what killed her. Isobel, Ketheric, and Melodia wereservants of Selune, after all, and ones blessed with the love of Dame Aylin, the god’s daughter. Shar is a vindictive and petty goddess and would have considered it a great victory to destroy the lives of this family, as she destroyed Moonhaven.She may even have sought to corrupt and gain the allegiance of Ketheric, much as she does with Shadowheart in the main story.
Maybe the mysterious illness that killed Melodia, and possibly Isobel and Squire, was a manifestation of Shar’s power, explaining why Dame Aylin would have had a hard time fighting it and why the dog would have been defending Isobel from it.Shar is also known for her abilities to take and alter memories. If she was involved, it could explain why Isobel remembers so littleand why everyone else talks about her death so vaguely.
The town of Reithwin was turned into a headquarters for Sharrans rather quickly after Ketheric’s fall from grace, implying that the goddess’s followers might have already been moving in. It could even have been assassins of Shar that took Iosbel’s life.
If Shar wanted to drive Ketheric into villainy, killing his family was the best way to do so.He may not have known Shar was involved at first, becoming her loyal followerwith the promise of earning their lives back. But at the time of the story, when Myrkul has already returned Isobel’s life, Ketheric has burnt all of his Sharran memorabilia. Maybe he finally realized his family’s true tormentor, making him all the more eager to join the Dead Three’s forces inBaldur’s Gate 3.
