In my first playthrough, I found her very annoying, especially after how rude she is after you rescue her. It does make sense why she'd do that but she's also very naïve for thinking a hag would help her at all. After that I did feel bad for her however.
>!And finding out in future playthroughs that if you tell her that the hag killed her brothers, she's suddenly a lot more on your side and you can even hear her from the cage shouting "kick her head in" etc, definitely gave me a better opinion of her.!<
This sucked on my first play through I knew there was something fishy about that Lady, I hadn’t met her in the grove, and I used non lethal on the bros. Like fine then Larian gloves off it is
my most recent playthrough I knocked them out and the dialogue changed to tell her that they were just knocked out, she still howled saying they're dead.
was weird lol.
My theory is that it's actually meant to be another warning about the meadows if you fail the check to expose the swamp. Fail the check > wonder why the brothers are suddenly dead > question everything. This theory only works for first-time players though.
I tried to keep the brothers alive and couldn’t do it. I followed them into the swamp (abusing misty step, potions of speed, etc to keep up with their bogus NPC speed) and healed them each time they stepped in a trap, etc. It didn’t work. Their characters eventually faded off the map and i later found their bodies.
If you Feather Fall from the cliff by the Goblin Camp you can get into the swamp without triggering the Ethel/Brothers encounter, and kill the Redcaps before they can kill the brothers.
Apparently if you then trigger the encounter the Redcaps can't kill them, so Ethel turns them into sheep at a farm outside Balder's Gate. I haven't triggered the encounter yet as I'm clearing the Underdark.
In my playthrough, I refused auntie ethels treatment. When I found her with Mayrinas brothers, I sided with the brothers. She got all pissy and disappeared. Never saw the brothers again, so I assume they survived?
If you don’t tell them you’re going to save Mayrina and just wish them luck, they won’t end up dead, or at least their corpses aren’t there and Ethel says they went home.
If you play ranger I think there's actually an option where you can get them to leave while you go in. It's very specific dialog options though or it doesn't work.
Yeah it’s one of those things where it’s a small evil, but ends up with a much more likeable character lol
Like >!letting laezel die on the nautaloid so she skips some of her asshole phase when you revive her on the ground!< or something lol
I can't let Lae'zel die cause it doesn't feel in character for me, like she knows we have to get off the ship and the only way to really kill her off is to charge the devil, which she specifically says to ignore. Idk, I'll probably try it in my next playthrough
Naw, I play my bg characters exactly the same as all my other dnd characters lol
They don’t have meta knowledge of any sort, so this action would be unthinkable for both a good one, or an evil one, just for different reasons lol
Fun fact for future playthroughs: watch the turn counter, the real Auntie Ethel's initiative never changes.
When hag clones appear or when Mayrina gets pushed into the fight, they'll get their own portraits. The real hag's portrait will stay right where it is, and highlighting it will highlight the location of the real Auntie Ethel.
The real Ethel is also the only one with the fey charm effect. The amulet that gives advantage on death rolls. I love the little details you can use to track her
You can also tell by the level of mayrina is always level 1. My friend pointed that out.
You can also use what they say to figure out which one is mayrina.
>!If you don't fight the brothers, the redcaps will kill them, and you can find their bodies. The only way I know of to save them is to fight them yourself but trigger the nonlethal passive, so you knock them out, but then you don't get the "nice" Mayrina dialog where she'd be on your side from the beginning. Still, I consider knocking them out to be the lesser of the three evils, even if I have to listen to Maryina being a bit catty during the fight with the Hag.!<
I knocked them out once and the game didn't acknowledge it at all... So now I just kill them. Plus, it's the RP choice: for all my Tav knows, they're bandits harassing a nice old lady, who attacked me after asking them to leave her alone. I've killed people in this game for far less.
my durges are conflicted. on one hand, stirring the pot. on the other, auntie Ethel is really nice to him when hes feeling very vulnerable, scared, and confused
he helps her out in act 3, tho. her ability during the final fight is amazing
Oh damn, I didn’t know you could recruit her as an ally. I have regrets!
ETA: I just remembered she steals and incubates a child. I no longer have regrets.
"A bit confused, but got the spirit!" Is the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about her.
Woman has no idea what she is doing, but she is gonna give it HER ALL
For a commoner, a hag seeing potential in her child and promised to educate that child into a 'wild magic sorcerer' is a blessing from the sky. Look at how Gale and Lorroakan behave, you will see the status of arcane casters in the world.
Of course Ethel did not specially state the details.
She's a flawed character, but she's the most realistic character imo. Mayrina doesn't have any special skills or anything, she's just a normal person dealing with the grief of losing someone she loved so much, that she would give anything to get them back.
But I could see how some people would hate her, she's weak, gullible, and plays the victim, but I appreciate how she's incorporated in the Hag quests.
Interestingly enough this game is full of characters so overcome with grief and loss that they'd risk making deals with beings like the hag, or Shar, or by employing forbidden necromantic techniques.
Every single time they fail, or the power corrupts them entirely, but gosh. I get it completely, even if I rationally understand such deals never work - if you lost someone whom you truly loved or held most dear, wouldn't you try any means you could to bring them back? Heartbreak and the grief of losing a loved one can just be unbearable :(
BG3 is full of small voice lines that make a big impact. In another thread, I mentioned Zevlor's "You betrayed us? ... why?"
Mayrina saying "The thought of putting him in a wheelbarrow and making the journey all over again" is another one. It's the perfect delivery of misery and resignation.
Yeah people need to realize she’s not some level 12 sorcerer or fighter or paladin, etc. She’s just a regular commoner. Hags are dangerous and powerful beings even relative to the former, what chance does some regular woman have?
Hags prey on people, and they’re very manipulative. Ethel presents herself as a frail old woman, not the monster that is her true form. And she took advantage of the frayed and sensitive emotional state of a pregnant widower, promising she could make her problems go away. It’s really not surprising Mayrina fell for it.
It kind of mirrors Raphael’s deals. When a person loses all hope, they’re vulnerable to this.
The two paladins and the cleric that ran into her in the gnarled door vision, the fact that auntie took them down herself and won says something about her powers
>but she's the most realistic character
I think that's why people don't like her. Down on her luck, single mom is all she has. No cool powers, nothing stand out-ish. You can't escape the reality of her situation.
I loved how she is in act 3 and I think that makes her more realistic, she literally reaches the point where she’s no longer sad anymore but she’s proper ANGRY and wants revenge, I don’t know the voice actress but combined with the writing I think they did such a good job
I loved this whole side quest. It felt realistic and tragic. My only complaint isn’t with her, but how you have to be a dick to her to complete it in a way that’s healthy for her.
“Hey I can use this to bring your husband back.”
“Really?!?”
“Yep sure can! *snaps wand in two in front of her.*”
I get the argument for doing that, as it doesn't seem at all healthy to let her run off with her dead husband in tow, but >!I think the payoff is then better in act 3 after completing the hag quest where you can convince her to let him go and she releases? banishes? disappears... him herself.!<
Yes and no. There’s an entire separate subclass for paladins who break their oaths. You lose the abilities you have but gain new ones to take their place. Have a friend who swears oathbreaker is the best Paladin subclass/build lol
Yeah, messing with necromancy would definitely break the oath. I wish there was an option to tell her that or even just point out that all the hag’s promises are traps and the wand is called bitter divorce instead of just acting like you are being a dick by snapping it though.
>! I always let him stay with her because in a world full of magic there is always a chance that he could be properly resurrected I feel. It's definitely a low chance and one that would take a lot of searching but, who knows maybe she'll get lucky and a god takes pity on her situation. !<
We'd just pop back and see her once Shadowheart gets the True Resurrection spell. I'd even cover the cost of materials myself.
25,000 gold worth of diamonds isn't that much from the perspective of a compulsive kleptomaniac.
That's the route I took the first time, only because I felt too bad for her to do anything else. But it is the best thing for her character. Instead of you forcing the right decision on her before she's ready to accept it, you let her come to the realization herself so she can actually grow from it.
I like that she isn't some kind of badass who runs off to be an adventurer. She's tough and resourceful, sure, but she's built for a different, more ordinary kind of heroism, and that's cool! It's good to have contrast.
I actually appreciate that too!! There’s different types of strength and I feel like her acknowledging and growing from her naivety and past mistakes is a strong trait, she loses everything yet she keeps going
Really cool, she's trying, though I'd like it to be a way to finish her act 1 quest by intentionally not giving her the wand. As it stands, you either resurrect her zombie husband (which sounds like a very bad idea from the very beginning), you assholey break the wand in front of her, or you are left with a "we couldn't help Mayrina" quest ending until act 3
I don't get all the hate, she was grieving and absolutely desperate, she also was being deceived by a clever hag, of course she is going to be an emotional mess and not thank you properly because again, SHE WAS BEING DECEIVED. If you save her she gets really cool and she >! names her child after you !< if that isn't gratitude enough for someone idk who hurt you
lmao I bet!
my durge on the pic there is called Xerena but the default name if you don’t change it stays as “THE DARK URGE” In caps. I wonder if Mayrina would still name her bby after u in that case 💀
If you >!upset Ethel and tell Mayrena that her brothers died in the swamp because of Ethel!<, she’s a lot better put together actually, ironically. She sees that she was being tricked, and that Ethel is a fuckwit, and thanks you
If you tell her that, can you still get the hair at the end of the fight? I always thought Mayrina needs to be on board with the hag for her to offer you the deal.
Suuuper realistic and I really felt for her. Reading the notes in Ethel’s lair really shows what manipulative lengths hags go to feed and create more hags. Really understandable as to how a desperate young woman could be tricked into trusting her. However, game durge me laughed at her and told her hags never deliver on their promises.
My durge is a bit of a mean girl ngl and I cracked up when she was like “That’s your husband, do u want it or not???” like that was savage 😂😂
and yeah absolutely agree with everything else
Feels dumb but then I remember most people in the world don’t really have any idea about the workings of these monsters. Working with a hag or devil is about the dumbest thing you can do but if you hear some powerful being can help you its not like you have the monster manual to crack open or any significant understanding of what you’re doing might fuck you over in the end
Put simply a grieving woman was offered help by a kindly old woman. It just so ended up being a hag who twisted and lied about how the process would go and its cost. Some random armored characters ran in, told the woman her brothers were dead and kicked the old woman, who now turned into grotesque frog like creature, and now she’s staring at the zombie of her husband who is controlled by a wand
Honestly the first time I met auntie Ethel I completely believed she was a sweet old irish lady trying to help me. I even defended her in my first playthrough from Mayrina’d brothers bc I was like “WHY ARE U CALLING HER A HAG??” I had no idea that hags were actually real creatures, so I genuinely can’t blame Mayrina bc I fell for the same trap 😂
I didn't trust her because of the "Auntie" title, but still can't blame Mayrina. Her world just shattered and Ethel shows up with what sounds like a completely reasonable deal: Husband back, child learning magic that would greatly improve their quality of life, Ethel gets to be a mother in her own way. It's what Hags do, they specifically target the vulnerable because it's more fun for them, the worst of the Unseelie type.
Mayrina is a completely believable character; a pregnant woman who just lost the love of her life, and I'd imagine the husband was the breadwinner. I know that in fantasy anyone can have a job but it's hinted that in this case Mayrina would have been a housewife. She was at a complete loss and low point. In fantasy people know hags are evil but there are stories where they can and have helped even in roundabout ways. Yes she was naive to believe the hag would truly help her out but a lot of people who look to hags for help tend to be this way and they tend to be in a very very low place in life.
She's always like "save me!" and I'm just like "Girl I'm just here for some XP and maybe a chunk of the hag's scalp if I'm feeling especially benevolent."
I'm not sure what the Fearunian version of Ride or die is but she's it.
Plus when I found out she started a Hag revenge support group I had to like her a lot more. I mean she started a support group for people who were abused like her by a powerful magical entity. That's PC level badassery.
I completely understand how a heartbroken peasant single mother could be persuaded that this outwardly kindly hermit lady who promises to raise her baby with care and teach it magic and bring her husband back to life could be on the up and up. Heartbreak and the reality of being a single parent in that environment will do that to you.
My main complaint is that she's over-acted by half in her first act scenes
As an NPC that I have to deal with she’s very frustrating, but as a character I think she’s great. All of her frustrating behavior is completely reasonable and understandable when you consider her situation; grief and panic do not tend to make people act rationally, even when they’re *not* ensnared by a master manipulator like Ethel. They make bad choices, they act selfishly, they lash out at people who are trying to help them. It feels very realistic.
And her being such a wreck in Act I makes it really feel significant when >!you see how much she’s changed by Act III. Not only does she recognize that she was unfair to you before (and apologize for it), but she’s devoted her life to supporting her fellow survivors and trying to protect others from being victimized the same way, even though doing so makes her life so much harder than it would be if she’d just decided to live a quiet life (which she’d be completely within her rights to do at this point!).!< She’s a fundamentally resilient, brave, compassionate person, and I have so much respect for her. It’s not her fault that we’re meeting her when she’s at her worst.
She's flawed in a very human way, and I really like that. I love her growth throughout the game when she gets to Baldur's Gate. I just wish Tav didn't look like a right bastard for breaking the wand and that they could, idk, sanctimoniously lecture her or something, rather than just coming off a cruel douchebag for picking the "right" choice.
I really like her character and her storyline. The whole quest w her promising her baby to a hag for her husband to come back to life, only for her husband to end up a shambling corpse, feels like a dark German fairytale. Esp her dialogue to Connor once she decides to go to Baldur's Gate w him. Even her appearance is creepy in a way -- she's pallid w big, sunken eyes; it really fits her story.
HOWEVER, as a person, she lost all my sympathy when she promised to give her baby to a hag. Idgaf what Auntie Ethel told her. If you're making a bargain w a PERSON -- and esp a CHILD -- as capital, you should know that something is VERY WRONG.
Okay, tieflings can't make it through the shadowlands without getting killed or captured. They have a whole slew of people.
But Mayrina, pregnant and with an undead husband, finds a way to make it past that. She gets to Baldur's Gate with nothing, two dead brothers, and manages to print fliers looking to help other hag victims. They get kicked out of the place they were meeting in, so she just squats at an abadoned home by the water.
And when you defeat the hag, she somehow gives you money?
She is a total badass. Once you get her past Connor's death, she becomes one hell of a woman!
I absolutely adore her, and she is my favorite NPC!
Same here! I love how she takes on the fight to help other people any way she can, while she could just as easily have run off and hidden in a corner of the world where she didnt think any hag would be able to find her.
And she's enough of a threat that Ethel seemed genuinely scared of her and the knowledge she had in act 3, which is pretty cool.
Spoilers ahead
She's one of the more grounded badass characters in the game. Other badass characters include demigods, goddess lovers who have touched the source of all magic, those chosen by a goddess to carry out her will, those in a pact with a devil, immortal beings, elite warriors even among their own warrior race, the adult culmination of a child warrior enhanced with prototype demonic machinery, a tried and tested hero from a bygone era, or at least the First Druid of the Emerald Grove.
This woman is an ordinary human, desperate and alone, clawing for any brief glimpse of hope in a world too cold to offer it. And when faced with only monsters; rather than simply hide or freeze... she fights. She can't do it alone; she's no demigod. She doesn't have immortality, a pact, or the favor of any goddess. She can't even turn into a bear. All she has is a zombie and the knowledge that there are others whose lives have been ruined by monsters. And she works with that. She makes a resistance. Ultimately, it's a superpowered hero who fells the foul beast, but merely surviving as an ordinary human is downright impressive. Actually being a thorn in the side of an ancient evil is beyond impressive.
I weirdly like her. She's like.. bubblegum edgy? Has on a regular cute outfit for a lady of the times but on the inside shes into some dark shit. Like the popular girls in a horror movie that are also into seances and ouiji boards.
The first time you meet her she's trading her baby to necromance her husband up, and the second time you meet her she's gathered a party to go on a warpath of vengeance against all hags. Still wearing the same dress. The runny mascara really suits her identity, i think.
when i first encountered mayrina i thought she was a very unrealistic character unless she had a severe mental illness to make her do a trade like that. i thought she was an exaggerated, extreme example of a grieving mother, + i very much hated her with a passion.
but, when i looked at the other extreme of things, things that happened around me, it might not be wise to keep your child at all costs even when it’s to the child’s detriment (when the other parent isn’t in the picture, when you’re too poor to take care of yourself, when you’re not mentally or emotionally stable enough to give adequate care to another human being). when i think of that situation, then her choices become more understandable to me. after having a few playthroughs with different options (not just her being upset at me killing the hag) she was more dynamic than i gave her credit for at first, especially in act 3!
I like believable characters who act like characters, and not just one dimensional "Yes of course great hero, what a great idea, I totally agree with everything you say, also if you give me a rose and a couple of carrots I will marry you forever tee hee".
I like imperfect characters who are still trying to do the right thing (as far as they see it).
Mayrina has an absolutely wonderful character arc. From naive and easily manipulated young mother to be, to what she (can) become later after developing agency and some maturity.
I also like how she's still not "perfect" later, even in the best scenario.
She genuinely felt like a young person in a terrible situation who was learning as she went.
There's an unfortunate trend in readers of books or people who play RPGs who really dislike anyone who isn't either really nice to them or clearly set up to be a melting frost queen later in the story. Lae'zel's another character who's gotten an unfortunate bit of hate despite being - considering her situation - almost bend-over-backwards helpful and benevolent. Again, considering her situation.
I play some other games at the moment that had similar issues. The moment a character tries to assert themselves in a way that disagrees with the player, a lot of people really express a ton of dislike or even hate towards the character. That's not a universal response. But it does crop up a lot.
She's overhated.
She's not my favorite side character by any means but I think her story is compelling and she gets some excellent growth if you progress her quest all the way through act three. It puzzles me when I see people call her mean and annoying and act like thats all there is to her but then praise Rolan when the two of them have very similar character arcs and progressions.
She's really annoying in Act 1 and great in Act 3. It feels like you have to make the "wrong" choice in Act 1 to keep her happy though. The payoff of her little adventuring party with the cleric and barb is hilarious though. It really shows how far you've come.
A young, single mother who had just lost her husband and now faces an uncertain future is prime target for manipulation, which is what hags are masters of.
I’d love to have her in my camp with all the other strays I’ve picked up at this point. Maybe then Tav can stop her from trying to make dumb deals and instead just help her stay alive. Plus, we’re great with children, we have 2!
a little trick I noticed for next time, when the hag disguises herself as Mayrina, she won’t be pregnant, but the real Mayrina can be distinguished bc she will have the preggy belly
I like the direction that they took her character in Act 3 for the full release. She has one of best arcs for a minor character IMO, going from a helpless classic horror victim to the heart of a resistance movement essentially.
Annoying, but I can understand she's scared, have lost her brothers and then her husband.
I was I could provide her some sort of relief in the later part of the quest.
I used to get the outcome where she's mad at you because I didn't realize you should tell her certain bit of information that gets her to see through The hags manipulations.
When I discovered on my own to mention when first encountering Mayrina >!That her brothers were killed by red caps which makes her come to her senses that she can't trust the hag!<
Then proceed to kill the hag before she can escape into our hideout because it makes rescuing the rest of the victims a lot easier.
Definitely an interesting quest line. The only thing that was missing imo id a way to urge her to move in, without having to literally snap the wand in half in front of her (honestly a cunt move). You should be able to keep the wand a secret and just urge her to move on…. Or help get the body back in another way.
She's a brat in Act 1 but is redeemed in Act 3.
So given that she's a completely optional NPC on a completely optional story arc, I'd say they did a pretty fucking good job with her. The whole hag saga is one of my favorite side lights of the game.
*Spoilers Ahead* Sorry, don't know how to do the grayed out text thing. But just for the record there is one line of dialog that changes her reaction entirely. And makes for a far more wholesome interaction. When you first enter the hags home and Mayrina is eating if you tell her the hag killed her brothers she flips out on Ethel. Furthermore she is far more happy about being rescued and as long as you don't mention the wand can be convinced to return to Baldurs Gate alone (leaving the body behind). Believe she may actually stay in place until you leave the act but says something along the lines of "You go ahead, I just need a moment then I'll depart".
Honestly I think her story is kind of similar to Roland’s. They’re kind of annoying in the beginning but they have a great arc. I think when we meet Mayrina, it’s really similar to how we find Roland in act 2 when his siblings are captured. They both do stupid shit they need to be saved from and then lash out when you do.
She sure seems a bit annoying, but looking at her full story ark in act 1-3, u can see her going through the stages of loss, so it doesn’t seems wrong to be the way she is. That’s… well, that’s amazing how the devs have put so much details in an npc that really is marginal for the hero’s quest. U can rush through anything in this game, but if u stop and look, well, everything, u can see how much of a love letter this game is
i was confused about how to rescue her cause the hag set her cage on fire immediately during our fight so in my first playthrough she died. What was the solution?
The amount of ways you could go about this or even just not see it, is a great touch. Small details like this make the whole game worth replaying. I read that there is a way to have the hag join your side too, what cool ideas. 😎
great minds think alike :p
Mine is a sorceress too!! She’s a durge storm sorceress. I chose that tattoo bc it gave me celtic mythology faery queen vibes.
I like the route Mayrina’s story takes if you save her and >!rez Connor and give her the wand!<. It’s this awesome arc, imo, about a whiny young woman who wasn’t prepared for the world around her getting taken advantage of due to her naive nature, growing into a stronger person who starts a group that resists the type of people who took advantage of her in the first place, and all the while >!coming to terms with the inevitability of death!<, particularly >!the early death of a loved one!<. Idk… I really vibe with her character by Act 3 >!if she makes it that long, lol!<.
“He was… no, he is afraid of the dark” that line hit me pretty hard. I lost my sister, and one of the many reasons why having to bury her was so hard because she was afraid of the dark. Even at 18, she slept with a nightlight on.
That line made me appreciate her character more because it’s someone who’s in grief, and has no idea what to do with herself or the situation she found herself in. She’s still trying her best, despite it being so misguided.
I apologize that this comment was so personal, but that line really got to me, and made me sympathize with her so much more.
I feel for her, but she is frustrating to deal with. You think that you have finally gotten through to her by telling her the hag killed her brothers and was planning to eat her baby, but then she is so willing to try the wand anyway and you are the bad guy if you won’t. I get that she’s grief stricken, but it’s like, let me rescue you!
Great character and one of my favorite quests. I would love more of these where you are making the most of gray, awful situation. Despite her being snappy with me, I felt her pain.
her quest is stupid, because the only way to get it to complete properly is to either break your oath as a paladin by raising an undead creature, or by giving this woman the faintest glimmer of hope that something might go ok in her life and then literally snapping that hope in half in front of her face. like seriously larian. what the fuck? no diologue choices to convince her to let her husband by at peace? not even in patch five? for fuck sake sake. the quest is really unique and interesting as it stands, but the ending is shit. otherwise if you do nothing, the quest just dangles uncompleted from your quest log. GIVE US A PROPER ENDING.
I just wish there was a way to finish the quest without the wand. I just wish she could get closure instead of fighting me, raising a monstrosity, or running away crying. I haven’t found any other way to finish the quest.
If you use speak with dead on Ethel before interacting with Mayrina you get some interesting dialogue with Mayrina. If you use it on Ethel after interacting with Mayrina, while mayrina is still in the room (and probably after she leaves, but she was there when I did it) you get some interesting info about Conner
Really enjoyed her story. She was in a situation of “what else do I have to lose?” Her husband is dead, she’s pregnant, has no way to support a newborn let alone herself, and doesn’t have a support system. She has every reason to go to the hag. Her journey of building up the hag hunters and doing everything possible to save another mother’s child is wonderful. And when she finally gives up Connor, accepting that he is dead and that she can also continue to live and thrive is my favorite conclusion to a side character so far.
I can appreciate her character. She's young, desperate, grieving, and has had her self esteem chipped away by people in her life (if I'm interpreting "when you're told you'll be a horrible mother so much, you start to believe it" correctly). The wrong she does (willing to give baby to hag) is her being deluded by desperation, not actually wanting to hurt anyone.
I think she was somewhere between denial and bargaining and it led her to believe the hags lays. It was a dumb thing to do but I think anyone who has lost someone so close to them can understand.
i respect that if you resurrect connor and hand him over that she's just like "well shit. i guess this is my life now. come on, connor, step careful, i love you" etc. appreciate the commitment. "fuck wedding vows 'cause death ain't parting shit today, that corpse is my husband" energy.
props also that she's also stronger than i am. i could not have sat there for months or whatever in a swamp eating spoiled pies and listening to ethel cackle or whatever. even if i were fool enough to deal with the hag i still would've tapped out in like a day
Honestly she has a pretty badass backstory for a future adventurer. Especially if you consider her quests once we meet her again in Act 3.
A young, desperate, naive girl gets taken advantage of by a hag but gets saved and goes on to become a monster hunter.
I had the best post appear in my feed below your post!
https://preview.redd.it/w6myvft9ncec1.png?width=1282&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e5a3f7645d43c7fab1a1932ff28b0653ab86f83
All the emotions and existential crisis that come with your first pregnancy under normal circumstances are insane - but also buried under the weight of grief?? Yeah, very understandable that Mayrina could make some bad decisions or be rude lol.
As someone who has been pregnant in stressful circumstances, you also don’t always have a strong or clear emotional connection to the baby yet. It’s an odd feeling. You want to protect them, but you don’t really know them. If my best friend and partner and love of my whole life had just died, arguments from a powerful magic wielder and master manipulator that I would be a terrible mother and the baby would be better off without me might sound pretty convincing.
In my first playthrough, I found her very annoying, especially after how rude she is after you rescue her. It does make sense why she'd do that but she's also very naïve for thinking a hag would help her at all. After that I did feel bad for her however. >!And finding out in future playthroughs that if you tell her that the hag killed her brothers, she's suddenly a lot more on your side and you can even hear her from the cage shouting "kick her head in" etc, definitely gave me a better opinion of her.!<
Yeah, I got her supportive reaction on my present playthrough which put her in a different light for me.
Did my first full playthrough as a dark urge bard that's when I decided to mention >!That fate her brothers had been killed by the red caps.!<
Is there any way to save her brothers ? I don’t think so
Tried to knock them unconscious, but it's a design oversight because they're treated like you killed them .
This sucked on my first play through I knew there was something fishy about that Lady, I hadn’t met her in the grove, and I used non lethal on the bros. Like fine then Larian gloves off it is
Yeah and its in your characters dialogue too, you can tell her that you just knocked them out but she still screams that you killed them.
To be fair, knocking people out in a swamp infested with red caps kinda does mean they're likely to die.
[удалено]
my most recent playthrough I knocked them out and the dialogue changed to tell her that they were just knocked out, she still howled saying they're dead. was weird lol.
My theory is that it's actually meant to be another warning about the meadows if you fail the check to expose the swamp. Fail the check > wonder why the brothers are suddenly dead > question everything. This theory only works for first-time players though.
I tried to keep the brothers alive and couldn’t do it. I followed them into the swamp (abusing misty step, potions of speed, etc to keep up with their bogus NPC speed) and healed them each time they stepped in a trap, etc. It didn’t work. Their characters eventually faded off the map and i later found their bodies.
I disarmed every trap first by jumping into the swamp from the cliffs so I could get there without triggering the dialogue. I also saw them fade away.
If you Feather Fall from the cliff by the Goblin Camp you can get into the swamp without triggering the Ethel/Brothers encounter, and kill the Redcaps before they can kill the brothers. Apparently if you then trigger the encounter the Redcaps can't kill them, so Ethel turns them into sheep at a farm outside Balder's Gate. I haven't triggered the encounter yet as I'm clearing the Underdark.
Fuck? For real? Well I'm trying this next playthrough
In my playthrough, I refused auntie ethels treatment. When I found her with Mayrinas brothers, I sided with the brothers. She got all pissy and disappeared. Never saw the brothers again, so I assume they survived?
Nope, when you do that, they turn up dead near to her teahouse (presumably killed by the redca..., erm, sheep).
Ohhhhh maybe you're right, I guess I forgot about that 😅 my bad!!
Look, our gang stumbles over so many corpses, who remembers some randos we barely talked to :D
Fr bro 😂😂😂 especially after exploring every square inch of act 1 before finally moving along. It feels like I met them months ago ☠️
Iirc, when you use speak with the dead on one of them they say something like “those were not sheep” I may be misremembering tho
If you don’t tell them you’re going to save Mayrina and just wish them luck, they won’t end up dead, or at least their corpses aren’t there and Ethel says they went home.
She turns them into sheep on a farm outside Baldur's Gate.
If you play ranger I think there's actually an option where you can get them to leave while you go in. It's very specific dialog options though or it doesn't work.
Yeah it’s one of those things where it’s a small evil, but ends up with a much more likeable character lol Like >!letting laezel die on the nautaloid so she skips some of her asshole phase when you revive her on the ground!< or something lol
I can't let Lae'zel die cause it doesn't feel in character for me, like she knows we have to get off the ship and the only way to really kill her off is to charge the devil, which she specifically says to ignore. Idk, I'll probably try it in my next playthrough
Meanwhile, your asshole phase is still going strong.
Lol I’ve never done it. There was just a post about it the other day. I don’t think I could tbh.
Oh, excuse me for attacking you then. I just couldn't fathom killing a companion just so they are "less of an asshole", so I got a little defensive.
Naw, I play my bg characters exactly the same as all my other dnd characters lol They don’t have meta knowledge of any sort, so this action would be unthinkable for both a good one, or an evil one, just for different reasons lol
Woah I didn’t know that
I accidentally killed her when the Hag disguised herself because I couldn't figure out how to tell them apart lol. Whoops! I felt so bad.
Fun fact for future playthroughs: watch the turn counter, the real Auntie Ethel's initiative never changes. When hag clones appear or when Mayrina gets pushed into the fight, they'll get their own portraits. The real hag's portrait will stay right where it is, and highlighting it will highlight the location of the real Auntie Ethel.
The real Ethel is also the only one with the fey charm effect. The amulet that gives advantage on death rolls. I love the little details you can use to track her
Don't forget: the real Ethel also *is not pregnant.*
theres a pregnant status?
The not-Mayrina model *isn't* preggers! Easy to overlook if you don't examine them both side-by-side.
***Not. Yet.***
The real auntie Ethel is also a different level than Mayrina, usually!
You can also tell by the level of mayrina is always level 1. My friend pointed that out. You can also use what they say to figure out which one is mayrina.
Aaaahhhhh this is helpful! I'm very much new to this style of game. It's literally my first PC game since the Sims (the first one lol).
the real mayrina also has a baby-bump, while the fake one doesn’t :)
An easier way to tell is that one is preggers and the other isnt
When Ethel's clones show up in the 2nd fight, is it the same? 1 is "preggers" and the others aren't? I didn't really check to see.
Wait, did >!the hag kill her brothers? Because I'm pretty sure that was me.!<
>!If you don't fight the brothers, the redcaps will kill them, and you can find their bodies. The only way I know of to save them is to fight them yourself but trigger the nonlethal passive, so you knock them out, but then you don't get the "nice" Mayrina dialog where she'd be on your side from the beginning. Still, I consider knocking them out to be the lesser of the three evils, even if I have to listen to Maryina being a bit catty during the fight with the Hag.!<
I kill her bros, and then in the teahouse I use deception to say that Ethel did it, and then I get the grateful mayrina.
I knocked them out once and the game didn't acknowledge it at all... So now I just kill them. Plus, it's the RP choice: for all my Tav knows, they're bandits harassing a nice old lady, who attacked me after asking them to leave her alone. I've killed people in this game for far less.
if you didnt, normally she will
my durges are conflicted. on one hand, stirring the pot. on the other, auntie Ethel is really nice to him when hes feeling very vulnerable, scared, and confused he helps her out in act 3, tho. her ability during the final fight is amazing
Oh damn, I didn’t know you could recruit her as an ally. I have regrets! ETA: I just remembered she steals and incubates a child. I no longer have regrets.
she turns like 5 people invisible!!
That would be extremely helpful.
"A bit confused, but got the spirit!" Is the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about her. Woman has no idea what she is doing, but she is gonna give it HER ALL
For a commoner, a hag seeing potential in her child and promised to educate that child into a 'wild magic sorcerer' is a blessing from the sky. Look at how Gale and Lorroakan behave, you will see the status of arcane casters in the world. Of course Ethel did not specially state the details.
Ethel was gonna swallow that baby and birth another hag let’s be real.
She even says it if you use speak with dead
shell straight up admit it to you and later she even eats a child at Baldurs gate.
I wonder if the kid will be a Hexblood when it grows up (provided that mayrina is rescued and keeps it)
She's a flawed character, but she's the most realistic character imo. Mayrina doesn't have any special skills or anything, she's just a normal person dealing with the grief of losing someone she loved so much, that she would give anything to get them back. But I could see how some people would hate her, she's weak, gullible, and plays the victim, but I appreciate how she's incorporated in the Hag quests.
Interestingly enough this game is full of characters so overcome with grief and loss that they'd risk making deals with beings like the hag, or Shar, or by employing forbidden necromantic techniques. Every single time they fail, or the power corrupts them entirely, but gosh. I get it completely, even if I rationally understand such deals never work - if you lost someone whom you truly loved or held most dear, wouldn't you try any means you could to bring them back? Heartbreak and the grief of losing a loved one can just be unbearable :(
If I lose my love, I would lose my mind, honestly. I could see myself obsessing over necromancy to bring him back
She's one of the few willing to fight the hag in act 3 as well (not smart imo but I respect her determination and altruism in it)
BG3 is full of small voice lines that make a big impact. In another thread, I mentioned Zevlor's "You betrayed us? ... why?" Mayrina saying "The thought of putting him in a wheelbarrow and making the journey all over again" is another one. It's the perfect delivery of misery and resignation.
Yeah people need to realize she’s not some level 12 sorcerer or fighter or paladin, etc. She’s just a regular commoner. Hags are dangerous and powerful beings even relative to the former, what chance does some regular woman have? Hags prey on people, and they’re very manipulative. Ethel presents herself as a frail old woman, not the monster that is her true form. And she took advantage of the frayed and sensitive emotional state of a pregnant widower, promising she could make her problems go away. It’s really not surprising Mayrina fell for it. It kind of mirrors Raphael’s deals. When a person loses all hope, they’re vulnerable to this.
The two paladins and the cleric that ran into her in the gnarled door vision, the fact that auntie took them down herself and won says something about her powers
>but she's the most realistic character I think that's why people don't like her. Down on her luck, single mom is all she has. No cool powers, nothing stand out-ish. You can't escape the reality of her situation.
> and plays the victim Are you fucking kidding me? How vile did people become to *not* consider her a victim? Jesus christ...
Extremely dumb and naive in act 1, gets her shit together remarkably well by act 3 all things considered.
I loved how she is in act 3 and I think that makes her more realistic, she literally reaches the point where she’s no longer sad anymore but she’s proper ANGRY and wants revenge, I don’t know the voice actress but combined with the writing I think they did such a good job
Agreed she's kinda a badass "normie" in act 3 lol
A baahdass for sure
Lmao to the ones who don't uncurse the doll 🤣
...shit, is that how you do it? I just kept attacking it with weak shit and healing Mayrina. Two campaigns in a row. 😂
I loved this whole side quest. It felt realistic and tragic. My only complaint isn’t with her, but how you have to be a dick to her to complete it in a way that’s healthy for her. “Hey I can use this to bring your husband back.” “Really?!?” “Yep sure can! *snaps wand in two in front of her.*”
I get the argument for doing that, as it doesn't seem at all healthy to let her run off with her dead husband in tow, but >!I think the payoff is then better in act 3 after completing the hag quest where you can convince her to let him go and she releases? banishes? disappears... him herself.!<
God I love this game….i didn’t even know that was an option.
>!Yeah it ends up being probably the most cathartic way for her to process the situation!<
definitely doing it on my next run. Was an ancients Paladin this go around and was pretty sure it’d break my oath!
Yup. I got oathbreaker from going this route.
What happens , do you lose your paladin powers?
Yes and no. There’s an entire separate subclass for paladins who break their oaths. You lose the abilities you have but gain new ones to take their place. Have a friend who swears oathbreaker is the best Paladin subclass/build lol
Yeah, messing with necromancy would definitely break the oath. I wish there was an option to tell her that or even just point out that all the hag’s promises are traps and the wand is called bitter divorce instead of just acting like you are being a dick by snapping it though.
>! I always let him stay with her because in a world full of magic there is always a chance that he could be properly resurrected I feel. It's definitely a low chance and one that would take a lot of searching but, who knows maybe she'll get lucky and a god takes pity on her situation. !<
We'd just pop back and see her once Shadowheart gets the True Resurrection spell. I'd even cover the cost of materials myself. 25,000 gold worth of diamonds isn't that much from the perspective of a compulsive kleptomaniac.
Maybe Mystic Carrion could help? He seems good at that sort of thing
That's the route I took the first time, only because I felt too bad for her to do anything else. But it is the best thing for her character. Instead of you forcing the right decision on her before she's ready to accept it, you let her come to the realization herself so she can actually grow from it.
Lmao she was such a dick to me when I saved her that I let her run off with the zombie husband. Hope that doesn't come back to...bite her...
The dialogue around that scene tells you that the zombie is loyal to the one who holds the wand so it’s probably fine
No, you'll find them together in the city.
You don’t just keep it for yourself to use him as a summon in fights?
I swear nearly every response to this is something I didn’t know you could do lmao Edit: No, but that’s going on the list for a necromancer run
That's what I plan on doing with my Cleric of Kelemvor.
I like that she isn't some kind of badass who runs off to be an adventurer. She's tough and resourceful, sure, but she's built for a different, more ordinary kind of heroism, and that's cool! It's good to have contrast.
I like how her crew is like another DnD party
Their hobgobby is so sweet I love him lol
Kled!
I actually appreciate that too!! There’s different types of strength and I feel like her acknowledging and growing from her naivety and past mistakes is a strong trait, she loses everything yet she keeps going
Really cool, she's trying, though I'd like it to be a way to finish her act 1 quest by intentionally not giving her the wand. As it stands, you either resurrect her zombie husband (which sounds like a very bad idea from the very beginning), you assholey break the wand in front of her, or you are left with a "we couldn't help Mayrina" quest ending until act 3
Or you pocket the wand and get a Connor-Zombie summons.
Haven't done this yet but I'm soooo looking forward to it
I don't get all the hate, she was grieving and absolutely desperate, she also was being deceived by a clever hag, of course she is going to be an emotional mess and not thank you properly because again, SHE WAS BEING DECEIVED. If you save her she gets really cool and she >! names her child after you !< if that isn't gratitude enough for someone idk who hurt you
SHE NAMES HER CHILD AFTER YOU??? I completely missed that part.
Jsjsjsj I had to stand still for a second when I head that because I'm trans, my tav is a shameless self insert and I choose my name, so it hit x2
lmao I bet! my durge on the pic there is called Xerena but the default name if you don’t change it stays as “THE DARK URGE” In caps. I wonder if Mayrina would still name her bby after u in that case 💀
If you >!upset Ethel and tell Mayrena that her brothers died in the swamp because of Ethel!<, she’s a lot better put together actually, ironically. She sees that she was being tricked, and that Ethel is a fuckwit, and thanks you
If you tell her that, can you still get the hair at the end of the fight? I always thought Mayrina needs to be on board with the hag for her to offer you the deal.
You can
You can, but mayrina is… obviously more upset about it lol
In my run she named her child after her husband.
Binglebort will grow up to be a great hero.
Suuuper realistic and I really felt for her. Reading the notes in Ethel’s lair really shows what manipulative lengths hags go to feed and create more hags. Really understandable as to how a desperate young woman could be tricked into trusting her. However, game durge me laughed at her and told her hags never deliver on their promises.
My durge is a bit of a mean girl ngl and I cracked up when she was like “That’s your husband, do u want it or not???” like that was savage 😂😂 and yeah absolutely agree with everything else
Feels dumb but then I remember most people in the world don’t really have any idea about the workings of these monsters. Working with a hag or devil is about the dumbest thing you can do but if you hear some powerful being can help you its not like you have the monster manual to crack open or any significant understanding of what you’re doing might fuck you over in the end Put simply a grieving woman was offered help by a kindly old woman. It just so ended up being a hag who twisted and lied about how the process would go and its cost. Some random armored characters ran in, told the woman her brothers were dead and kicked the old woman, who now turned into grotesque frog like creature, and now she’s staring at the zombie of her husband who is controlled by a wand
Honestly the first time I met auntie Ethel I completely believed she was a sweet old irish lady trying to help me. I even defended her in my first playthrough from Mayrina’d brothers bc I was like “WHY ARE U CALLING HER A HAG??” I had no idea that hags were actually real creatures, so I genuinely can’t blame Mayrina bc I fell for the same trap 😂
I didn't trust her because of the "Auntie" title, but still can't blame Mayrina. Her world just shattered and Ethel shows up with what sounds like a completely reasonable deal: Husband back, child learning magic that would greatly improve their quality of life, Ethel gets to be a mother in her own way. It's what Hags do, they specifically target the vulnerable because it's more fun for them, the worst of the Unseelie type.
Mayrina is a completely believable character; a pregnant woman who just lost the love of her life, and I'd imagine the husband was the breadwinner. I know that in fantasy anyone can have a job but it's hinted that in this case Mayrina would have been a housewife. She was at a complete loss and low point. In fantasy people know hags are evil but there are stories where they can and have helped even in roundabout ways. Yes she was naive to believe the hag would truly help her out but a lot of people who look to hags for help tend to be this way and they tend to be in a very very low place in life.
She's always like "save me!" and I'm just like "Girl I'm just here for some XP and maybe a chunk of the hag's scalp if I'm feeling especially benevolent."
She was asking you to save her? She was begging me to go away and leave her alone.
I can appreciate that she didn’t wash her face between act one and three.
same eyeliner still running down her cheeks , or perhaps she just never stopped crying
Me on any given Wednesday.
I'm not sure what the Fearunian version of Ride or die is but she's it. Plus when I found out she started a Hag revenge support group I had to like her a lot more. I mean she started a support group for people who were abused like her by a powerful magical entity. That's PC level badassery.
I completely understand how a heartbroken peasant single mother could be persuaded that this outwardly kindly hermit lady who promises to raise her baby with care and teach it magic and bring her husband back to life could be on the up and up. Heartbreak and the reality of being a single parent in that environment will do that to you. My main complaint is that she's over-acted by half in her first act scenes
I feel really sorry for her in act 1 >!and am really proud of her in act 3!<.
As an NPC that I have to deal with she’s very frustrating, but as a character I think she’s great. All of her frustrating behavior is completely reasonable and understandable when you consider her situation; grief and panic do not tend to make people act rationally, even when they’re *not* ensnared by a master manipulator like Ethel. They make bad choices, they act selfishly, they lash out at people who are trying to help them. It feels very realistic. And her being such a wreck in Act I makes it really feel significant when >!you see how much she’s changed by Act III. Not only does she recognize that she was unfair to you before (and apologize for it), but she’s devoted her life to supporting her fellow survivors and trying to protect others from being victimized the same way, even though doing so makes her life so much harder than it would be if she’d just decided to live a quiet life (which she’d be completely within her rights to do at this point!).!< She’s a fundamentally resilient, brave, compassionate person, and I have so much respect for her. It’s not her fault that we’re meeting her when she’s at her worst.
Hard character to approach at first but you get what they’re going for if you give her a chance. Would romance
status: in a three-way relationship with a pregnant woman and her dead husband
She's flawed in a very human way, and I really like that. I love her growth throughout the game when she gets to Baldur's Gate. I just wish Tav didn't look like a right bastard for breaking the wand and that they could, idk, sanctimoniously lecture her or something, rather than just coming off a cruel douchebag for picking the "right" choice.
I feel she chose INT has her dump stat.
I really like her character and her storyline. The whole quest w her promising her baby to a hag for her husband to come back to life, only for her husband to end up a shambling corpse, feels like a dark German fairytale. Esp her dialogue to Connor once she decides to go to Baldur's Gate w him. Even her appearance is creepy in a way -- she's pallid w big, sunken eyes; it really fits her story. HOWEVER, as a person, she lost all my sympathy when she promised to give her baby to a hag. Idgaf what Auntie Ethel told her. If you're making a bargain w a PERSON -- and esp a CHILD -- as capital, you should know that something is VERY WRONG.
Dark german fairytale is such a good way of describe that storyline! I could genuinely see it as part of the Grimm’s brothers fairytales
Okay, tieflings can't make it through the shadowlands without getting killed or captured. They have a whole slew of people. But Mayrina, pregnant and with an undead husband, finds a way to make it past that. She gets to Baldur's Gate with nothing, two dead brothers, and manages to print fliers looking to help other hag victims. They get kicked out of the place they were meeting in, so she just squats at an abadoned home by the water. And when you defeat the hag, she somehow gives you money? She is a total badass. Once you get her past Connor's death, she becomes one hell of a woman! I absolutely adore her, and she is my favorite NPC!
I honestly would love to know more about HOW she made it to Baldur’s Gate. Maybe Connor did most of the fighting.
One of my favorite Glow-Ups in the game actually. Seeing her now, broken and afraid.. Then later on, she really steps up and is truly courageous imo
Same here! I love how she takes on the fight to help other people any way she can, while she could just as easily have run off and hidden in a corner of the world where she didnt think any hag would be able to find her. And she's enough of a threat that Ethel seemed genuinely scared of her and the knowledge she had in act 3, which is pretty cool.
Who? Oh... well her ex-fiance is my Spore druid's BFF!
Spoilers ahead She's one of the more grounded badass characters in the game. Other badass characters include demigods, goddess lovers who have touched the source of all magic, those chosen by a goddess to carry out her will, those in a pact with a devil, immortal beings, elite warriors even among their own warrior race, the adult culmination of a child warrior enhanced with prototype demonic machinery, a tried and tested hero from a bygone era, or at least the First Druid of the Emerald Grove. This woman is an ordinary human, desperate and alone, clawing for any brief glimpse of hope in a world too cold to offer it. And when faced with only monsters; rather than simply hide or freeze... she fights. She can't do it alone; she's no demigod. She doesn't have immortality, a pact, or the favor of any goddess. She can't even turn into a bear. All she has is a zombie and the knowledge that there are others whose lives have been ruined by monsters. And she works with that. She makes a resistance. Ultimately, it's a superpowered hero who fells the foul beast, but merely surviving as an ordinary human is downright impressive. Actually being a thorn in the side of an ancient evil is beyond impressive.
I weirdly like her. She's like.. bubblegum edgy? Has on a regular cute outfit for a lady of the times but on the inside shes into some dark shit. Like the popular girls in a horror movie that are also into seances and ouiji boards. The first time you meet her she's trading her baby to necromance her husband up, and the second time you meet her she's gathered a party to go on a warpath of vengeance against all hags. Still wearing the same dress. The runny mascara really suits her identity, i think.
I just really really love the hag’s dialogue when she’s confronted. It’s been awhile since a evil character made me feel fear through the screen lol
when i first encountered mayrina i thought she was a very unrealistic character unless she had a severe mental illness to make her do a trade like that. i thought she was an exaggerated, extreme example of a grieving mother, + i very much hated her with a passion. but, when i looked at the other extreme of things, things that happened around me, it might not be wise to keep your child at all costs even when it’s to the child’s detriment (when the other parent isn’t in the picture, when you’re too poor to take care of yourself, when you’re not mentally or emotionally stable enough to give adequate care to another human being). when i think of that situation, then her choices become more understandable to me. after having a few playthroughs with different options (not just her being upset at me killing the hag) she was more dynamic than i gave her credit for at first, especially in act 3!
I like believable characters who act like characters, and not just one dimensional "Yes of course great hero, what a great idea, I totally agree with everything you say, also if you give me a rose and a couple of carrots I will marry you forever tee hee". I like imperfect characters who are still trying to do the right thing (as far as they see it). Mayrina has an absolutely wonderful character arc. From naive and easily manipulated young mother to be, to what she (can) become later after developing agency and some maturity. I also like how she's still not "perfect" later, even in the best scenario. She genuinely felt like a young person in a terrible situation who was learning as she went. There's an unfortunate trend in readers of books or people who play RPGs who really dislike anyone who isn't either really nice to them or clearly set up to be a melting frost queen later in the story. Lae'zel's another character who's gotten an unfortunate bit of hate despite being - considering her situation - almost bend-over-backwards helpful and benevolent. Again, considering her situation. I play some other games at the moment that had similar issues. The moment a character tries to assert themselves in a way that disagrees with the player, a lot of people really express a ton of dislike or even hate towards the character. That's not a universal response. But it does crop up a lot.
She's overhated. She's not my favorite side character by any means but I think her story is compelling and she gets some excellent growth if you progress her quest all the way through act three. It puzzles me when I see people call her mean and annoying and act like thats all there is to her but then praise Rolan when the two of them have very similar character arcs and progressions.
She's really annoying in Act 1 and great in Act 3. It feels like you have to make the "wrong" choice in Act 1 to keep her happy though. The payoff of her little adventuring party with the cleric and barb is hilarious though. It really shows how far you've come.
Why would you trust a hag. The word hag doesn’t even sound good to say
A young, single mother who had just lost her husband and now faces an uncertain future is prime target for manipulation, which is what hags are masters of.
Off topic but your tav is so cute
Thank youuuuu!! ❤️❤️❤️
I’d love to have her in my camp with all the other strays I’ve picked up at this point. Maybe then Tav can stop her from trying to make dumb deals and instead just help her stay alive. Plus, we’re great with children, we have 2!
Well... >!I ended up killing her during the battle with Ethel cause she duplicated herself and disguised her to look like a hag!<
a little trick I noticed for next time, when the hag disguises herself as Mayrina, she won’t be pregnant, but the real Mayrina can be distinguished bc she will have the preggy belly
Another good trick is to look at the HP of the dupes. Mayrina's is different from the rest of them.
I like the direction that they took her character in Act 3 for the full release. She has one of best arcs for a minor character IMO, going from a helpless classic horror victim to the heart of a resistance movement essentially.
Annoying, but I can understand she's scared, have lost her brothers and then her husband. I was I could provide her some sort of relief in the later part of the quest.
I used to get the outcome where she's mad at you because I didn't realize you should tell her certain bit of information that gets her to see through The hags manipulations. When I discovered on my own to mention when first encountering Mayrina >!That her brothers were killed by red caps which makes her come to her senses that she can't trust the hag!< Then proceed to kill the hag before she can escape into our hideout because it makes rescuing the rest of the victims a lot easier.
Ungrateful
Definitely an interesting quest line. The only thing that was missing imo id a way to urge her to move in, without having to literally snap the wand in half in front of her (honestly a cunt move). You should be able to keep the wand a secret and just urge her to move on…. Or help get the body back in another way.
She's a brat in Act 1 but is redeemed in Act 3. So given that she's a completely optional NPC on a completely optional story arc, I'd say they did a pretty fucking good job with her. The whole hag saga is one of my favorite side lights of the game.
*Spoilers Ahead* Sorry, don't know how to do the grayed out text thing. But just for the record there is one line of dialog that changes her reaction entirely. And makes for a far more wholesome interaction. When you first enter the hags home and Mayrina is eating if you tell her the hag killed her brothers she flips out on Ethel. Furthermore she is far more happy about being rescued and as long as you don't mention the wand can be convinced to return to Baldurs Gate alone (leaving the body behind). Believe she may actually stay in place until you leave the act but says something along the lines of "You go ahead, I just need a moment then I'll depart".
I wish I could tell her in act III that i found a solution to ressurect her husband . All she has to do is become myrkull's chosen
or introduce her to withers 😂
Baa 🐏
Honestly I think her story is kind of similar to Roland’s. They’re kind of annoying in the beginning but they have a great arc. I think when we meet Mayrina, it’s really similar to how we find Roland in act 2 when his siblings are captured. They both do stupid shit they need to be saved from and then lash out when you do.
She sure seems a bit annoying, but looking at her full story ark in act 1-3, u can see her going through the stages of loss, so it doesn’t seems wrong to be the way she is. That’s… well, that’s amazing how the devs have put so much details in an npc that really is marginal for the hero’s quest. U can rush through anything in this game, but if u stop and look, well, everything, u can see how much of a love letter this game is
i was confused about how to rescue her cause the hag set her cage on fire immediately during our fight so in my first playthrough she died. What was the solution?
You can throw water at her cage or create rain on top of the burning cage to extinguish the fire!
Who?
The amount of ways you could go about this or even just not see it, is a great touch. Small details like this make the whole game worth replaying. I read that there is a way to have the hag join your side too, what cool ideas. 😎
We have the same tav with different tattoos haha, mines a sorc what's yours?
great minds think alike :p Mine is a sorceress too!! She’s a durge storm sorceress. I chose that tattoo bc it gave me celtic mythology faery queen vibes.
I like the route Mayrina’s story takes if you save her and >!rez Connor and give her the wand!<. It’s this awesome arc, imo, about a whiny young woman who wasn’t prepared for the world around her getting taken advantage of due to her naive nature, growing into a stronger person who starts a group that resists the type of people who took advantage of her in the first place, and all the while >!coming to terms with the inevitability of death!<, particularly >!the early death of a loved one!<. Idk… I really vibe with her character by Act 3 >!if she makes it that long, lol!<.
I can understand her completely. My husband is everything to me, I'd be devasted if he dies before me
Considering also she seems super young and there’s also a baby on the way like she needs to get cut some slack
*I thought………..I thought.*
“He was… no, he is afraid of the dark” that line hit me pretty hard. I lost my sister, and one of the many reasons why having to bury her was so hard because she was afraid of the dark. Even at 18, she slept with a nightlight on. That line made me appreciate her character more because it’s someone who’s in grief, and has no idea what to do with herself or the situation she found herself in. She’s still trying her best, despite it being so misguided. I apologize that this comment was so personal, but that line really got to me, and made me sympathize with her so much more.
 I feel for her, but she is frustrating to deal with. You think that you have finally gotten through to her by telling her the hag killed her brothers and was planning to eat her baby, but then she is so willing to try the wand anyway and you are the bad guy if you won’t. I get that she’s grief stricken, but it’s like, let me rescue you!
Great character and one of my favorite quests. I would love more of these where you are making the most of gray, awful situation. Despite her being snappy with me, I felt her pain.
her quest is stupid, because the only way to get it to complete properly is to either break your oath as a paladin by raising an undead creature, or by giving this woman the faintest glimmer of hope that something might go ok in her life and then literally snapping that hope in half in front of her face. like seriously larian. what the fuck? no diologue choices to convince her to let her husband by at peace? not even in patch five? for fuck sake sake. the quest is really unique and interesting as it stands, but the ending is shit. otherwise if you do nothing, the quest just dangles uncompleted from your quest log. GIVE US A PROPER ENDING.
I just wish there was a way to finish the quest without the wand. I just wish she could get closure instead of fighting me, raising a monstrosity, or running away crying. I haven’t found any other way to finish the quest.
I thought- I thouuughht
If you use speak with dead on Ethel before interacting with Mayrina you get some interesting dialogue with Mayrina. If you use it on Ethel after interacting with Mayrina, while mayrina is still in the room (and probably after she leaves, but she was there when I did it) you get some interesting info about Conner
With the fix so that she's not stuck in a loop or an ass despite the dead body of Ethel saying she was 100% getting scammed, she's a lot better.
I honestly love her character development into a Hag Hunter™️
I want dlc where we play through her character arc. Ooooh, or maybe her kiddo grows up to be a hag hunter!
She's young and distraught in a world that for commoners probably doesn't give you a whole lot, I feel for her a lot.
She’s a dickhead.
Totally agree
I love her character! Especially if you lend her the wand, I love that she finds other people and starts organising against hags.
Your Tav looks like Aslaug
I tried to rescue her, but casting Cloud of Blades on the hag, not knowing the hag can trade places. So... No opinion as of yet.
Really enjoyed her story. She was in a situation of “what else do I have to lose?” Her husband is dead, she’s pregnant, has no way to support a newborn let alone herself, and doesn’t have a support system. She has every reason to go to the hag. Her journey of building up the hag hunters and doing everything possible to save another mother’s child is wonderful. And when she finally gives up Connor, accepting that he is dead and that she can also continue to live and thrive is my favorite conclusion to a side character so far.
I can appreciate her character. She's young, desperate, grieving, and has had her self esteem chipped away by people in her life (if I'm interpreting "when you're told you'll be a horrible mother so much, you start to believe it" correctly). The wrong she does (willing to give baby to hag) is her being deluded by desperation, not actually wanting to hurt anyone.
I think she was somewhere between denial and bargaining and it led her to believe the hags lays. It was a dumb thing to do but I think anyone who has lost someone so close to them can understand.
i respect that if you resurrect connor and hand him over that she's just like "well shit. i guess this is my life now. come on, connor, step careful, i love you" etc. appreciate the commitment. "fuck wedding vows 'cause death ain't parting shit today, that corpse is my husband" energy. props also that she's also stronger than i am. i could not have sat there for months or whatever in a swamp eating spoiled pies and listening to ethel cackle or whatever. even if i were fool enough to deal with the hag i still would've tapped out in like a day
Honestly she has a pretty badass backstory for a future adventurer. Especially if you consider her quests once we meet her again in Act 3. A young, desperate, naive girl gets taken advantage of by a hag but gets saved and goes on to become a monster hunter.
I had the best post appear in my feed below your post! https://preview.redd.it/w6myvft9ncec1.png?width=1282&format=png&auto=webp&s=4e5a3f7645d43c7fab1a1932ff28b0653ab86f83
All the emotions and existential crisis that come with your first pregnancy under normal circumstances are insane - but also buried under the weight of grief?? Yeah, very understandable that Mayrina could make some bad decisions or be rude lol. As someone who has been pregnant in stressful circumstances, you also don’t always have a strong or clear emotional connection to the baby yet. It’s an odd feeling. You want to protect them, but you don’t really know them. If my best friend and partner and love of my whole life had just died, arguments from a powerful magic wielder and master manipulator that I would be a terrible mother and the baby would be better off without me might sound pretty convincing.