Jaheira

“	Nature's servant awaits.	„
	— Jaheira

Jaheira is a Half-Elf Druid, and High Harper. She previously appeared in both Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and now has returned in Baldur's Gate 3. Jaheira is introduced to the player during Act Two as an NPC, but if players make the right choices, she can eventually become a temporary companion, and later permanent companion.

Overview

Starting class

In Baldur's Gate 3, Jaheira has the Soldier background, and Druid is her default class. At subsequent level-ups, her default subclass is Circle of the Land, but the player can fully adjust her character build as desired.

Personal quest

If recruited, Jaheira has a Companion Quest called The High Harper.

Recruitment

Jaheira can be fully recruited only after you have defeated Ketheric Thorm. Until then she is only a temporary companion. If the Last Light Inn is destroyed but you are still allied with her you can offer her to stay at your camp. She will do so but will not be available as a companion until Act 3.

Approval

Main article: Jaheira/approval

Jaheira favours direct approaches and is not interested in flattery. She loves snarky jokes, even at her own expense.

Romance

Unlike Baldur's Gate II, Jaheira cannot be romanced in Baldur's Gate 3.

Personality

Jaheira is a headstrong and opinionated woman. Charismatic and insightful, she has a sharp tongue and her wit can be deprecating to those for whom it is meant. She tends to make jokes out of serious situations and will approve the player doing so. Despite being a wizened veteran of numerous wars, she maintains a healthy sense of humour and does not mind when she is the butt of a good joke.

During the events of the game, Jaheira is roughly 150 years old. Her experiences during her long life means she is rarely surprised and takes unexpected events calmly and unvexed. Her initial testing of the main party with truth-telling drugs, as well as her inquisitive reaction to The Dark Urge revealing their nature as a Bhaalspawn, show that she is very cautious about to whom she extends her trust. But once the party proves themselves, Jaheira is a loyal and stalwart ally who sees them as equals, never afraid to speak her mind and not sugarcoating the truth.

As one of the eldest and strongest of the Baldur's Gate Harpers, she commands the respect of most of the organisation. Meeting Harpers with Jaheira in the party shows that they almost always defer to her strength and experience. Her military background shows in her professionalism and cold analysis when dealing with most situations. One of the few exceptions to this is her old friend Minsc, whom Jaheira initially believed to be dead due to a combination of Minsc's recklessness and her own desire to put the safety of all Baldur's Gate above individual lives. She becomes enraged when it is revealed he was alive and being manipulated by Orin's Doppelgangers using her face. Once they reunite, their relationship is initially strained due to Jaheira not believing Minsc could be so easily manipulated, but they do eventually reaffirm their friendship.

Backstory

See Jaheira for full backstory

She was born in the nation of Tethyr to one of the nobles loyal to the king. When she was only a year old a Tethyrian civil war broke out and her family was killed by a mob of angry peasants. One of the servant girls took Jaheira and fled into the forest of Tethyr and stumbled upon an enclave of druids. They took them in and raised the child as their own. Jaheira grew up a very headstrong girl, very militant in her beliefs that the only way to protect nature was to have an active role in the world.

At some point Jaheira was intoduced to the Harpers and joined them. There she met and fell in love with another half-elf named Khalid whom she saved from an attempted assassination by the Shadow Thieves. And though they have completely different characters, they married soon after and travelled the Sword Coast together.

The Iron Crisis & Shadows of Amn

During the events of the first Baldur's Gate game, Jaheira and Khalid were sent by the Harpers to investigate the Iron Crisis and the Nashkel mines. In the Friendly Arm Inn they waited for their old friend Gorion but met his ward instead. They traveled with Gorion's Ward (the protagonist of the previous Baldur's Gate games) to investigate the crisis which led to their confrontation with the culprit - Sarevok Anchev.

Sometime after Sarevok's defeat, the group parted ways for a while until they once again joined up alongside their friends, Gorion's Ward, Imoen, Minsc, and Dynaheir. After they left Baldur's Gate they were captured by Shadow Thieves and imprisoned in a dungeon beneath the city of Athkatla in Amn. She, Minsc and Imoen survived, but Dynaheir and her beloved husband Khalid were killed. Their captor was Jon Irenicus - an Elven wizard who wanted to steal the Bhaalspawn essence for himself. She eventually helped Gorion's Ward to defeat him.

Crusade against Ketheric

About 20 years later Jaheira alongside Harpers and druids of the Emerald Enclave fought Ketheric Thorm and his forces of Shar at Moonrise Towers. Their unified force managed to defeat Thorm and imprison him within his family's mausoleum in Reithwin Town. The united army was scattered when Ketheric brought down the Shadow Curse upon the surrounding lands, twisting them into a horrifying place of deadly shadows and cursed beings.

Life in Baldur's Gate

Jaheira's home in Baldur's Gate

At some point later Jaheira made herself a home in Baldur's Gate where she raised her foster children Jord, Rion, Jhessem, Fig and Tate. But a Harper's life demanded her to spend a lot of time away from her home and children.

She has a private basement that looks like a Druid's cavern and it is heavily trapped. The basement is inhabited by the Postmaster Badger and his messenger rats, whom he trains to be harper spies.

Jaheira keeps a key under a trapped bookcase which unlocks a secret door hidden behind the bookcase. This is where she keeps some of her most private items, such as Khalid's Gift and Rite of the Timeless Body.

After Minsc was rescued from his stone prison they reunited once again. They were the first to uncover information about the threat of the Absolute. Due to Minsc's eagerness to fight he got captured by the cultists and Jaheira, realizing that they were severely unprepared and unarmed against the cult decided to leave him in order to share news about the cult. She later regretted how easy she made the decision to leave him behind, knowing that he would never had done the same to her.

Last Light Inn

After learning of Ketheric's return, Jaheira quartered herself with a squad of Harpers at Last Light Inn, in the middle of the Shadow-Cursed Lands. From there, her scouts venture forth to keep a close watch on the cult's forces at Moonrise Towers.

Ever since she left her family for Last Light Inn they only ever got one sending message from her saying "I'm sorry, you know what to do."

Present days

"We fight, we die, and when our time comes we just hope that there is someone else to take our place."

When the party reaches Last Light Inn Jaheira is instantly wary of them and summons vines to stop them. She produces a Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen and explains that the mind flayer tadpoles react to those infected. She brings the specimen up to the party and it reacts, causing Jaheira to believe the party are True Souls. Either Mol (if tieflings were saved) or Marcus comes to their aid, vouching for them.

Jaheira is shocked at how that's possible. She demands answers. Jaheira insists to know the whole truth, not accepting any vague answers. The Mysterious Artefact gets Jaheira to back down, to which she invites the party in for a drink. If the wine is smelled first (Medicine DC 10, or DC 6 for rogues and druids), a hint of Klauthgrass is detected - a truth serum. Jaheira's trust can be earned regardless of if the serum is drunk and the question she asks is the same - is the parasite changing the party? Jaheira refuses to believe an assertion that the parasite isn't doing anything, but she will believe an assertion that the party is resisting the urge to change.

Once Jaheira trusts the party, she explains the situation. The leader of Moonrise Towers is a man named Ketheric Thorm. He's immensely powerful, and gifted with immortality. The Harpers have come to find a way to stop the cult and kill Thorm once and for all. The Harpers have had little luck, but Jaheira believes that the party can make a difference by infiltrating Moonrise as a True Soul. She tells the party to go upstairs and meet the cleric Isobel who is the one responsible for keeping Last Light Inn shielded.

After Jaheira starts to trust the party, she refers them upstairs to gain a blessing from Isobel. When Marcus tries to abduct Isobel, the party can help him or try to stop him. If Isobel is taken or killed, everyone in the tavern except for Jaheira and the party is killed and turned into a shadow-cursed zombie. The player can lie to Jaheira, telling her they tried to stop Marcus. Jaheira can be invited to stay at their camp, but she will not become a companion until Infiltrate Moonrise Towers is complete.

Otherwise, if Isobel was saved Jaheira will continue to operate from Last Light Inn until the party is ready to defeat Thorm once and for all. When Find Ketheric Thorm's Relic is complete Jaheira and her Harpers will have already started the assault on the Moonrise Towers. She can be invited to join as a temporary companion until they get to the towertop and defeat Ketheric for the first time. If Dame Aylin was spared, she will see her assaulting the tower and say:

“	Unshackled from shadows, she will rise in moonlit glory and carve a path of brightness to the accursed one's second death. So sayeth the wise Alaundo.	„
	— Jaheira on Dame Aylin

When Ketheric escapes to the Mind Flayer Colony, Jaheira will stay at the towertop and formally join the party in Act 3 becoming a full companion.

In Danthelon's Dancing Axe

After Jaheira is recruited, in Wyrm's Crossing she will ask the party to visit the Harper safehouse in a shop called Danthelon's Dancing Axe. This starts her companion quest The High Harper to rescue her old friend Minsc.

Gallery

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  Jaheira's model.

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  Camp model.

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  Underwear model.

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  In-game Portrait.

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  Render by Alena Dubrovina.

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  First appearance at Last Light Inn.

Notes

• Jaheira is voiced by Tracy Wiles, replacing Heidi Shannon from previous games.
• Unlike other companions, Jaheira, alongside Minsc, was revealed in a trailer at the Video Game Awards 2022.
• Jaheira has multiple references to her past voice lines, such as "Nature's servant awaits". Having her in the party during Act Three offers the player a lot of unique interactions that heavily reference the prior Baldur's Gate games.
• Jaheira's pose and expression in her character portrait exactly match her portrait from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.
• Before going into Moonrise Towers she quotes Alaundo the Seer (...so sayeth the wise Alaundo). His prophecy was a central point in the first Baldur's Gate game.

External links

Jaheira on the Forgotten Realms Wiki