Baldur’s Gate 3, as any good CRPG, is filled with fantastic loot to kit out every possible race and class combination possible.BG3’s Everburn Bladebuilt a reputation early on, as players can only get it by defeating a hard boss in the opening sequence, and that weapon will carry gamers through the early game and beyond. Of course, legendary weapons are also a thing, and there’s one 2H Sword available in Act 3 that everyone should pursue for their two-handed melee characters.
Balduran’s Giantslayeris an excellent 2H Sword (stats below) and is cut above many legendarymelee weapons inBG3. The reason is that it takes the idea of a legendary weapon to the fullest; there are some “legendary” weapons that are only such because of combat prowess, while others have interesting but largely irrelevant lore. Not only does Balduran’s Giantslayer have great stats, but it involves lore that is incredibly important to the main story, toBG3’s Guardian, and more.
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BG3: Balduran’s Giantslayer Lore is Mind-Blowing
There are a couple of waysBG3players may stumble onto Balduran’s Giantslayer, with either through careful exploration or at the direction from Wyll’s father. He’ll tell players they need to seek our the protector of Baldur’s Gate, a Great Wyrm known as Ansur, for its aid against the Netherbrain threat. This requiresBaldur’s Gate 3players to solve intricate puzzles in the Wyrmway, and the result is discovering the corpse of Baldur’s Gate’s great protector. Players can search around this area, finding Balduran’s Helm (which pairs greatly with Balduran’s Giantslayer, listed below), but interacting with the deceased Ansur leads to a boss fight, where upon completion, players can then loot the dragon for this weapon.
Ansur reveals a lot of key details that build upon story developments inBG3to this moment. By this point, players will have learned that theirBG3Guardian is a Mind Flayer known as The Emperor, that he is using theprisoner of the Astral Prism, Orpheus, to protect the player, that he was a free-willed adventurer with roots in Baldur’s Gate, and so forth. Even before the Mind Flayer reveal, players have plenty of reasons to trust or distrust BG3’sEmperor, and that’s a big deal when contained to the modern day. Ansur, however, throws a big wrench in all of this.
It turns out thatThe Emperor doesn’t just have roots in Baldur’s Gate; he is the Roots of Baldur’s Gate. The Emperor was human once, indeed, a human named Balduran who built the city of Baldur’s Gate. On paper, this would suggest players have more reason to trust The Emperor, but in a quickly-revealed twist, it turns out that The Emperor killed Ansur. Shortly after the mind flayer escaped control of the Elder Brain the first time, he returned to Baldur’s Gate where he became known as The Emperor in the underground and he returned to his longtime ally: Ansur. However, Ansur wasn’t capable of accepting or understanding Balduran’s new form, constantly searching for a cure for his old friend. Balduran, or The Emperor now, grew to accept his new popular and his evolution, and when Ansur attempted to perform a “Mercy Killing” on Balduran, the Mind Flayer slew his old friend instead. Such action is taken with this very sword that players can now wield, as the weapon description reads,
Wielded by Balduran, the founder of Baldur’s Gate and friend to its guardian dragon, a great glittering wyrm called Ansur. Fellowship can be undone, though, as easily as you or I might unlace the strings of our shoes, and it was in a time of skullduggery and hardship that Balduran killed Ansur, carrying out the deed with this sword.
Now, this is more than enough to give Balduran’s Giantslayer its status as a legendary weapon, but it still manages to pack even more on top of that. First is the matter of trust still. Balduran implies that Ansur tried to kill him in his sleep, and he sadly retaliated. However, the Mind Flayer is highly manipulative and this leads to even more questions, such as Ansur’s corpse being in a special worship room of sorts, built for him. It’s not out of question that the Emperor slept there, but The Emperor had his own special place within the city. And, in turn, it can makeBG3’s The Emperora little more sympathetic if players buy it because it means his cloest friend turned on him, nonetheless. The truth is lost to this lore, the lore this weapon embodies.
But, in turn, that lore is still very much alive: literally in The Emperor, metaphorically in the player (depending onchoices made inBG3). In short, if players use this weapon and helm themselves while accepting the gradual transformation into an Illithid, then they walk the very same path as Balduran. Or, there are other options to pursue their own path. But, even on a surface level, Balduran’s Giantslayer is as much storytelling and lore delivery tool as weapon, earning its claim to the Legendary status. Going deeper only adds to that.
Baldur’s Gate 3is available now on PC, releases for PS5 on September 6, and will drop on Xbox Series X/S before the end of the year.
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