Who is the Guardian in Baldur's Gate 3?
Learn more about the Baldur's Gate 3 Guardian
Want to know more about the Guardian in Baldur's Gate 3? Whether you create a custom character or choose to play as an Origin character in Baldur's Gate 3, you'll need to also create a Guardian. It's a rather mysterious task to be handed in the character creator, and Baldur's Gate 3 doesn't reveal exactly what it's for. Of course, you could let the mystery play out, but we can see that you're itching to know right now.
In this guide, we'll break down what we know about the Guardian in Baldur's Gate 3, so that you can better understand more about who they are and what role they play in the story. Understandably expect some light spoilers in this guide, as we'll dive into the first encounter with this character!
Who is the Baldur's Gate 3 Guardian?
Strangely, the Baldur's Gate 3 Guardian does not appear to be an actual person who you can actually meet in the open world. They also, seemingly, aren't a character that you can control at any point.
Instead, the Guardian only appears in your dreams - at least, up until the point that we've reached, which is admittedly still in Act 1. During a random Long Rest in Act 1, the Guardian will appear to your player character and have a chat about that parasite in your brain. You know, the one you've been desperate to remove by any means necessary? Well, the Guardian has other ideas, suggesting instead that you let the parasite stick around so that you can benefit from its powers.
In practical terms, the Guardian's suggestions to embrace the parasite allows you to progress through an Illithid skill tree, which grants psychic powers separate from any abilities that you get from your class/subclass. There are 25 Illithid powers available throughout the game, focused on Manipulation, Health Restoration, Psionics, Damage, and Status Effects.
The Guardian will continue to appear in dreams at random intervals throughout the story, prompting you to further embrace the parasite. You can chat with them and, presumably, learn more about their identity as the game progresses. In early access, you could even romance them, but we've yet to discover whether this option remains in the full launch version. Regardless, there's clearly plenty of fun roleplay opportunities to be had here.
So, the Guardian is a mysterious figure that appears in your dreams and tells you to embrace your inner mind flayer. Ultimately, then, their customisable appearance doesn't seem to have an impact on how the story progresses. Instead, it's purely a way to get you invested in this character, before they appear and start tempting you to stop worrying and love the parasite.
That wraps up our guide on the Guardian in Baldur's Gate 3. If you're still messing around in the character creator and have yet to commit to any one playstyle, take a look at our Baldur's Gate 3 class guide! To learn more about falling in love with your companions, check out our Baldur's Gate 3 romance guide. For some early loot, take a look at our guides on how to open the Elaborate Chest and how to move the scuffed rock in Baldur's Gate 3.
Disclosure: Former RPS deputy editor Adam Smith (RPS in peace) now works at Larian and is the lead writer for Baldur's Gate 3. Former contributor Emily Gera also works on it.
