Baldur's Gate 3: Zariel, The Warlord Of Avernus

a name that comes up on more than one occasion in baldur's gate 3 early access is that of zariel although she's mentioned several times by name the game itself tells you very little about who she is and what she wants other than that she's the ruler of the first layer of the nine hells of ernest however she is one of those figures who might loom large in the context of baldur's gate 3 and thus exploring who she is and what she might want might not only be of general interest but also relevance to us as players for the plot and story of the game as many of you know the game bothers gate 3 starts off after a pen and paper dnd adventure called descent into a vernis where zariel features prominently zariel is an archduke of the nine hells and consequently one of the most powerful devils on that plane equaled and superseded only by other archdukes and her master esmodius the lord of the nine hells himself but who is she really and how did she become what she is today zaryal began as a solar the most powerful and highest of angels in the service of the deities of good she served the powers of law and good and hailed from mount celestia or the seven heavens the plane of absolute law and good zarya's original appearance was unearthly and beautiful with precious skin gold-feathered wings and a blindfold covering her eyes as an angel zarya's original duty was to watch over the blood war tracking its progress for her superiors on mount celestia however zaryal grew obsessed with the war between demons and devils and her desire to actively join the battle became irresistible in her view the celestial powers were doing far too little to stand the tide of evil by not directly intervening in the blood war she simply could not accept that the angelic host should stand idly by whilst the fiends brought their destruction across the plains so great was this conviction that zarya disobeyed her superiors and led an army of mortal heroes into the blood war despite succeeding in slaying many devils zarya was overwhelmed by sheer numbers zarya lost her left hand and sword in the battle ordering her devoted generals to escape with the weapon and hide it so it could not be captured or destroyed zarya's body was eventually recovered by asmodius and having observed her passion for combat and warfare was thoroughly impressed allowing her to recover in his fortress on the ninth layer of hell nessus whereupon after recovering she was offered the position of lordship over the first layer of the nine hells called the vernis of course in exchange for her loyalty this only bolstered her zeal in fighting in the blood war and she took to it rather easily losing her old appearance as she embraced her infernal nature she took on a more diabolical appearance a halo of fire burned atop her head as she lost her hair her once fine skin appeared scorched and her formerly angelic wings ruined by flame took on a leathery appearance her blindfold was abandoned fully revealing eyes that glowed with white hot rage and her lost hand was replaced by a massive flail zarya became the overlord and archduke of avernus as well as its protector mercilessly driving away invaders to avernus above all the demons from the abyss known as the warlord of avernus zarial relentlessly drives her troops to war and battle she is known for her lack of patience her hot-bloodedness and her temper however zarya's position as ruler of ernest was not always static untold millennia ago there was an ancient baatasu civil war known as the reckoning of hell wherein the factions took sides in an attempt to usurp rulership from miss modius the lord of the nine hells and zarial sided with what one might call the wrong faction though we're not certain what exactly happened the most common explanation we are told is that soon after siding with the wrong faction the dark aid the ruling pit feeding council of the nine hells in cooperation with her former loyal general and right-hand devil a powerful pit fiend called bell huntered her down and had her imprisoned whereupon bell was authorized by the dark gate and this modius to take over the lair and defend it against the abyss zariel was imprisoned in belle's bronze citadel where her energy and life force was parasitically drawn upon for centuries feeding the pit fiend and granting him her power with her only recourse being tossing fireballs across a vernis in a fit of futile rage but eventually bell fell out of favor with osmodius and zarya was reappointed and forced to work with her former tormentor and a tenuous pseudo-piece ensued now zarya is unlike most devils in terms of her personality who typically revel in wordplay in politicking zarya has neither the tongue nor the patience for it and her actions are characterized by boldness impulsivity and wrath she does not see herself as having fallen to evil in fact quite the contrary to directly quote her my legions are the only thing standing between your precious seven heavens and the bottomless hunger of the abyss i did not fall into the clutches of evil i rose to shoulder a cosmic burden of course evil beings often find reasons to justify their actions in existence particularly devils who insist upon the necessity of order and why their machinations actually serve the benefit of the cosmos which might be a topic for another video if interest exists but zariel truly sees herself as the ultimate guardian against the demonic forces of chaos from the abyss and in this sense she's quite different from most archdukes who usually busy themselves with their own plots and plans and have little to do with the blood war directly virtually the entirety of her existence has been dedicated to prosecuting the blood war and is also her justification for her existence and her fall from grace and her ambitions almost singularly revolve around the defense of avernus and the blood war that said she bears great resentment towards us modius whom she despises for his constant manipulations and she chafes under his rulership and in the context of baldur's gate 3 zariel is obviously relevant we begin on her plane of avernus on the illiterate nataloid and we hear her name spoken by her troops as they attempt to prevent our escape later in the game we encounter the fallen followers of tyr who've made a pact with zario and most importantly we encounter carlock a tiefling who almost certainly will be a companion and possibly even an origin character and we are told quite directly by carlack that she was a former soldier and servant of zariel who has defected from her armies and zarya wants her back in all likelihood to punish her in all manner of unpleasant ways and as such carla's story will almost certainly involve the nine hells and her former mistress zariel to what degree it will we cannot know but it would not surprise me at all if we at least had some face time with the warlord of avernus as we certainly will do with our agents and perhaps we might even be able to side with our former mistress only time will tell as always thank you for tuning in do leave a like comment subscribe as it helps the channel immensely take care until the next time

Channel: Spell&Shield

Views: 7,352

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Id: 6dO5-zZl_V8

Length: 6min 31sec (391 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 23 2022