If you’re reading this, you’ve surely heard the news by now: The Last of Us show co-creator Craig Mazin is teaming up with HBO to adapt another beloved game for TV. That game is Baldur’s Gate 3. So far, all we really know is that developer Larian Studios isn’t involved with the project (which is simply titled Baldur’s Gate), and that the show will pick up where Baldur’s Gate 3 left off.
That doesn’t tell us a whole lot, because the game has multiple endings, each of which have quite a few variations depending on the player’s actions. The ending Mazin chooses to canonize will shape what kind of show we get. But I do know one thing for sure: If Mazin wants me to stick around, he’ll include the Dark Urge in this adaptation.
The Dark Urge — an Origin character and Bhaalspawn suffering from amnesia – is incredibly fun to play. In addition to dealing with Mindflayers and Illithid parasites, they’re also fighting an internal battle against their own endless bloodlust. Bhaal is the god of murder and violence, and as their child, the Dark Urge must choose between giving in to their violent tendencies, or trying their best to resist them. Players who willingly engage in these violent delights get an ending that sees so many characters die, I’m not sure it’s even feasible for that ending to be canonized in the show. (Mazin plans to include both new characters and familiar faces from the game, which is difficult to do if everyone’s dead). But playing as a good little Bhaalspawn who resists their bloodlust leads to a fascinating storyline and, ultimately, a happy ending. Either way, I think the Dark Urge’s internal struggle is something worth exploring on screen.
I’m not saying the Dark Urge needs to be the star of the show, but I’d love for HBO’s Baldur’s Gate to take place in a version of Faerûn in which a good-aligned Bhaalspawn saved the world from the Netherbrain. During the course of their travels, the show’s main party could perhaps encounter the Dark Urge, who would certainly make an interesting ally. Alternatively, Mazin could go with an evil Dark Urge who maybe hasn’t had a chance to kill off half their companions yet.
Setting the show after the Dark Urge has taken the throne of the Absolute has a lot of storytelling potential. Like any high-quality Dungeons & Dragons campaign, the HBO series needs a good inciting incident. “Hero who was supposed to save the world betrayed everyone, is mind-controlling a significant portion of the population, and plans to go on a never-ending killing spree to please an evil god” sounds like a pretty decent way to get the plot moving along, and cult-leader-Bhaalspawn would certainly make a formidable antagonist.
Regardless of how Mazin chooses to approach the opening episodes of the HBO show, I really hope we at least get a few episodes of Dark Urge goodness. Whether the Dark Urge teams up with the show’s protagonists, or ends up serving as the main baddie of the series, I’m just hoping we get to see the Bhaalspawn on-screen in all their bloodsoaked, unhinged glory.
Besides, leaving the Dark Urge’s creepy-yet-charismatic dread butler, Scleritas Fel, out of the show would be an absolute crime.
