Baldur’s Gate 3 Includes a Moving Tribute to a Fan’s Father Who Has Alzheimer’s

With countless different endings and around 100 hours per playthrough, Baldur’s Gate 3 is jam-packed with rooms, lines of dialogue, and characters that players might miss. However, one player has shared their especially meaningful experience with one of the game’s lesser-known NPCs, and their story is now resurfacing thanks to a recent post from a developer.

In 2020, Larian forums user Solfalia shared a post thanking Larian Studios for releasing Act I of Baldur’s Gate 3 in early access — the game’s early release enabled them to play with their father, who played previous Larian games with them but had recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

“This Early Access means that this Xmas I’ll be able to go on an adventure with him one last time, and I know he’ll enjoy it,” Solfalia wrote in the original post.

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when we read that letter, and I volunteered to write Golbraith (I’m not super writer btw, and I’ll respect their privacy unless they want to reveal themselves). Really happy we got to honour the mighty mindflayer hunter ❤️ https://t.co/FefUkkbpWu

— Rachel Quirke (@quirkiltons) January 4, 2024

Nearly three years later, after the full release of Baldur’s Gate 3, Solfalia returned to the Larian forums to thank the team again — this time for a much more personal addition. After seeing their original post, an anonymous writer had offered to add a tribute to Solfalia’s father. Solfalia thought this might be a book or plaque, but the team surprised them by adding an NPC named Golbraith with his own cellar to explore, all inspired by Solfalia’s father.

“Not only did Golbraith look like my father, but he had multiple lines of dialogue,” Solfalia wrote. “Some really touching ones too (for me, at least). The different papers in the house were amazing, the stack of letters between Golbraith and his son put a lump in my throat. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t misty eyed. The secret mindflayer-hunter cellar was awesome.”

“As soon as I finished looking through the whole house, I told my Dad. He’s in a care home now, so can’t play the game, but he listened to my description with a child-like glee I haven’t seen in a while. He loved every moment of it. He loved the idea that his character has a monocle, and was proud his character has a secret cellar with weapons. He still talks about it from time to time during our weekly chats.”

Today, Rachel Quicke, a writer for Larian Studios, shared the original post, saying she had volunteered to write Golbraith (although she wasn’t the anonymous “superwriter” who had originally reached out to Solfalia).

“Really happy we got to honour the mighty mindflayer hunter,” Quicke wrote.

In part thanks to the little details like this, we gave Baldur’s Gate 3 a 10 in our review, calling it “a landmark moment in the genre.” Since then, it’s gone on to win Game of the Year at the Game Awards and a few of IGN’s own awards.

Amelia Zollner is a freelance writer at IGN who loves all things indie and Nintendo. Outside of IGN, they’ve contributed to sites like Polygon and Rock Paper Shotgun. Find them on Twitter: @ameliazollner.