Minthara

Overview

Approval

Banter

Romance

Combat

Nightwarden Minthara Baenre is a recruitable Companion with the Noble background. She is a Lolth-Sworn Drow and an Oath of Vengeance Paladin first appearing during Act One.

Ruthless in service of the Absolute, she commands a camp of goblins planning an attack on the Emerald Grove in the name of their god. Initially hostile unless the player character both sides with and sleeps with her in Act One, she can be re-encountered during Act Two and saved from execution, at which point she can be recruited into the party as well as romanced by characters of any gender.

“

Bhaal, Lolth... the Absolute. They do not have followers - they only have victims, and they reward devotion with death.

„

— Minthara on gods

Overview

For a full overview of Minthara's starting features, see the articles Paladin, Oath of Vengeance, and Lolth-sworn drow.

Background

A member of the ancient House Baenre, Minthara is a True Soul in service of the Absolute. She is one of the three leaders of the Goblin Camp in the Wilderness. She and her fellow True Souls, Priestess Gut and Dror Ragzlin, set up a base of operations in an old Selûnite temple in search of a Mysterious Artefact by order of the Absolute.

Starting class

Before she is recruited, Minthara is a level 6 paladin with the following Ability Scores: STR = 16, DEX = 15, CON = 14, INT = 10, WIS = 12, CH = 17. If she is recruited, Minthara changes to a level 1 paladin with the standard ability scores for that Class, with a focus on dual-wielding one-handed weapons. Her Subclass is Oath of Vengeance, offering an offence-oriented toolkit with many ways to control and debuff foes.

Special features

Minthara's passive  Soul Branding allows her to grant herself or an ally an additional 5 m / 17 ft of movement and 2d4 + 1Fire damage on their next attack. She also bears the Brand of the Absolute and can fully benefit from items with this effect. Furthermore, she has access to the following illithid powers:

•  Charm
•  Concentrated Blast
•  Favourable Beginnings
•  Psionic Backlash

Personal quest

Minthara does not have a personal quest like other companions. However, she is directly involved in some important quests.

As part of the main-quest  Save the Refugees, the party can decide which side to support in the conflict between the goblins and druids of the grove. If siding with the druids and refugees, Minthara becomes hostile and is an objective of  Defeat the Goblins. If siding with the Absolute, she appears as an ally during  Raid the Grove. If the grove is sealed on the day of the raid, she instructs her raiders to kill the party.

In  Decide Minthara's Fate, the party can decide what happens to Minthara after her trial at the hands of Ketheric Thorm and Disciple Z'rell at Moonrise Towers.

After recruiting Minthara, she has a personal interest in destroying the Cult of the Absolute and killing Orin the Red for revenge, therefore completing  Get Orin's Netherstone. Orin killed Minthara's drow companions and tortured and enslaved her to the Cult of the Absolute through implanting a tadpole in Minthara's brain. The Cult of the Absolute forced Minthara to commit massacres on the enemies of the cult.

Recruitment

Although Minthara can be encountered in Act One, she cannot join the player's party as a permanent companion before reaching Moonrise Towers in Act Two.

Act Two

• If left alive after the events of Act One, Minthara can be found at Moonrise Towers facing trial by Ketheric Thorm for failing to find the Mysterious Artefact. Sentenced to death, she is taken to Moonrise Towers Prison to be tortured until her execution. The party can help her escape and, if invited to camp, she offers to join them.
  • Should the party side with Minthara during  Save the Refugees and raid the grove with her, no additional steps are needed to ensure she appears at Moonrise Towers.
  • If the party side with the druids but still wish to meet Minthara at Moonrise Towers, she must be knocked out when fought. This can occur in the Shattered Sanctum or when defending the grove from the goblin attack.

Approval

Main article: Minthara/approval

Minthara approves of displays of power and control, often in the form of violent, if not efficient, solutions to problems. She respects those with the strength to follow their own will, and enjoys cruel irony on occasion. She also hates dwarves for some reason.^{[Needs Verification]}

Minthara dislikes shows of compassion, especially towards those she considers weak. She disapproves of any form of benevolence without something to gain for it, as well as senseless violence that does not aid the party in some way. Above all, she despises acts of weakness and any worship of Lolth.

Romance

Main article: Minthara/romance

If the party side with the Absolutists and successfully raid the Emerald Grove, the player character can have a one-night stand with Minthara to celebrate their victory.

Should Minthara be saved and recruited, she can be romanced by characters of either gender. Though initially cold, Minthara reveals some of her deepest fears to her partner, as well as displays a more romantic, if not jealous, side of her.

Description

Appearance

With a stern countenance and piercing eyes, Minthara has an imposing presence. Like most drow, she has purplish-blue skin, with crimson eyes and pointed ears. Her silver hair is kept in a messy top bun, with stray strands of hair adorning her face. On the left side of her neck, she bears the seal of House Baenre in black, marking her a member of the ancestral house. Her combat equipment is well-made, and her at-ease clothes reflect some of her noble upbringing.

Personality

As a drow and follower of the Absolute, Minthara has a highly hostile and cruel attitude towards other beings, considering almost everyone as inferior. She has a special disdain for those who do not share her beliefs, and holds other drow in high regard. Her upbringing as a noble in Menzoberranzan further compounds her superiority complex. Aligned with the Absolute, she is willing to do whatever it takes to serve it.

Power hungry, she is always looking for ways to increase her standing among her peers, which is a product of her drow upbringing. Having been a follower of Lolth once, she also knows that violence, deception, and cruelty are great tools to obtain what she wants.

Despite her overt dislike for others, she is an observant person, always studying those that surround her. Minthara often understands the plights of her companions, even if she doesn't care for them, and she is always willing to offer a solution in her own way. Though her methods are sometimes extreme, they always have sound reasoning. Still, she doesn't support mindless cruelty if it serves no purpose, and even shows a weak spot for Scratch. If romanced, she shows that she harbours doubts about her life and circumstances.

Whether due to her looks or attitude, Minthara reveals she has had quite a few past lovers and even has a few suitors amongst the goblins, unbeknownst to her.

If recruited and freed from the Absolute's influence, Minthara's cruelty becomes more tempered, and her fury is aimed solely at other leaders of the Cult - particularly Orin the Red. She becomes contemplative of her actions under the Absolute's influence, and rues their exploitation of her fears and yearning for belonging to use her as a tool.

History

Menzoberranzan

Born into the ancient House Baenre of Menzoberranzan, Minthara was raised as a noble of the city in Qu'ellarz'orl, a plateau above the city expanse. Taught in the ways of Lolth, she rose to be an important house matron, enjoying all the luxuries of her birthright. She survived her first assassination attempt as a child, and another at the hands of her mother when she came of age.

Sometime during her life there, she encountered a True Soul and two novices preaching the message of the Absolute. Minthara hanged and displayed as a warning against heresy, but curiosity got the best of her, and after using necromancy on the corpses to find their base of operations, she prepared a retinue of warriors to strike at Moonrise Towers.

Indoctrination and time in the Cult

Minthara gathered her allies to battle the absolutists, yet, when they arrived at the Moonrise Towers, they were met with a lavish feast and a welcome fit for a house matron. Ketheric Thorm had been expecting her, and invited her to partake of his feast alongside Orin the Red. He explained he wished to form an alliance between Moonrise and Menzoberranzan, flattering Minthara and playing to her pride. Lowering her guard, Minthara was unable to react in time as Orin jumped on the table and sliced her men's throats as she approached her. Standing before her, Orin expressed her interest in Minthara, and Ketheric approved of it, ordering her to be taken to the Mind Flayer Colony. There, Minthara was held for some time, helplessly watching as her men were processed for food or to be turned into thralls. Eventually, Orin returned and placed the tadpole in Minthara's eye, sealing the drow's fate as part of the Cult of the Absolute.

Under orders of her new god, Minthara participated in many massacres carried out by the cult, mostly against religious communities who refused to be converted. She became a zealot, and in time, even began to admire Orin. Orin would manipulate her further, telling her lies of how she was a True Soul, chosen by the Absolute as her greatest weapon. For Minthara, the Absolute was more than just a god, it was everything she ever truly wanted. With a new purpose, Minthara heads to the Wilderness in search of a powerful weapon her new goddess desires, hungry to prove herself.

Involvement

Act One

Minthara is first encountered at the Shattered Sanctum within the Goblin Camp, planning an attack on Emerald Grove at the behest of the Absolute. When spoken to, she quickly identifies the party as fellow True Souls and reveals that she believes the druids are hiding a powerful weapon that the Absolute desires. She has been surveying the land in search of the weapon, sending scouts to track the leader of the grove, Halsin. Minthara probes the party's minds with her tadpole, possibly exposing the grove's location.

Save the Refugees

Though Minthara does not have a personal quest, she is deeply involved in  Save the Refugees. The party can fight Minthara as part of the quest  Defeat the Goblins, turning her and the rest of the goblins hostile. With one of the three goblin leaders dead, Dror Ragzlin and Priestess Gut would be next.

Raiding the Grove

Alternatively, the party can raid the grove with the Absolutists, which initiates  Raid the Emerald Grove. If the party ally with the Absolute and disclose the grove's location, the raid begins after the next Long Rest. Completing the raid causes Karlach and Wyll to permanently leave the party. After the grove is destroyed, Minthara and the goblins join the party at their camp to celebrate slaughtering the druids, even if they failed to find the weapon the Absolute desired. Minthara also offers a casual encounter with the player character. Rejecting her angers her, but carries no negative consequences.

After the celebrations, Minthara urges the party to join the Absolute at Moonrise Towers in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. She gives the party her Spider's Lyre to summon a guide that helps them through the deadly shadows, and she departs shortly after.

Double-Crossing Minthara

After initialising the raid on the grove, it is possible to double-cross her. Halsin must be freed in the Worg Pens but left there. After agreeing to seize the grove with Minthara, the party must talk to Halsin and immediately travel to the Emerald Grove. All this must be done without a long rest.

At the Emerald Grove, the party must side with the tieflings. If the goblin forces are defeated and Minthara is killed or knocked out, then the quests  Rescue the Druid Halsin and  Defeat the Goblins are completed without killing Dror Ragzlin and Gut.

Act Two

Decide Minthara's Fate

Minthara reacts with fear and outrage at Ketheric Thorm's Death Sentence for failing to retrieve the Mysterious Artefact.

Should Minthara survive Act One, whether friendly or hostile, she is next encountered in Moonrise Towers on trial by Ketheric Thorm for failing to retrieve the Mysterious Artefact. The party can intervene on her behalf, but Ketheric sentences her to death regardless of what is said. This begins the quest  Decide Minthara's Fate.

The party can choose to follow, in which case they find her at the Moonrise Towers Prison undergoing torture by two gnome questioners. The party can join the questioners in erasing Minthara's mind, turning her into a witless thrall of the Absolute, or help her escape by slaying the gnomes or through dialogue. If freed, the party needs to escort Minthara out of the prison, either through dialogue or violence. Once freed, Minthara can leave or be convinced to join the party, at which point she joins the camp.

If the party allow Balthazar to take the Nightsong during  Find Ketheric Thorm's Relic, and find Isobel for the Absolutists, they are granted an audience with Ketheric Thorm, who allows them to pray at the altar of the Absolute. Doing so ultimately imprisons the party in pods in the Mind Flayer Colony, where Balthazar attempts to turn them into zombies at his service. In the ensuing fight, the party may battle a Zombie Dror Ragzlin and Zombie Minthara, if either died during prior events.

Act Three

Minthara is one of the possible victims of Orin's kidnapping during Act Three as part of  Rescue Orin's Victim. If so, once Orin is defeated and Minthara rescued, she comments on the entire ordeal. Additionally, she expresses feeling disheartened after killing her former abuser. Although Orin could only copy the surface characteristics of her victims, Minthara saw herself in Orin's bloodlust and madness, a shattered but possible version of herself had she not broken free from the Absolute's control.

Get Orin's Netherstone

Having been indoctrinated into the Cult of the Absolute by Orin herself, Minthara has a personal stake in the quest  Get Orin's Netherstone.

Endings

When spoken to in either ending, Minthara bemoans the party's lack of extravagance and asks if the player character regrets their decision not to control the Absolute. Ambient chatter from Minthara has her wryly suspect there have been other reunions to which she hasn't been invited, that all the heroes gathering together paints a target on the party for hostile attack, and that she is becoming accustomed to the taste of surface-grown plants.

Return to Menzoberranzan

Minthara can be encouraged to return to Menzoberranzan, to which she will agree, suggesting they put the gnomes back to work to rebuild the Steel Watch, returning as conquerors to found a new noble House. Six months after the fall of the absolutists, Minthara will mention that the war against House Baenre is going well, but that she welcomes the distraction of Withers' party.

Baldur's Gate

Otherwise, if encouraged to stay in Baldur's Gate, then Minthara claims that Baldur's Gate needs new leadership that she is happy to provide. She shares that she has been scheming in the shadows and that the political intrigue has been enjoyable. She asserts that the people will learn from her or bow to her.

Quest rewards

• Gift from the Absolute — given by Minthara for siding with the absolutists and raiding the grove.
• Spider's Lyre — given by Minthara after the camp celebration upon successfully raiding the grove, or can be looted on her body if killed during act one.

Interactions

Companion interactions

Minthara has unique dialogue interactions as a companion available after certain events. Whenever one is available, she has a floating [ ! ] icon above her.

Act Two

• Upon arrival at the camp as a companion, she has dialogue about her time under the Absolute and her vow of vengeance. If she joints the party while she still has unfinished dialogue, she asks the player character for privacy, and cut them out of this dialogue.
• After defeating Ketheric, Minthara sits on his throne, gloating. When spoken to, she reveals more about her indoctrination into the Cult, and her plans after the Cult is destroyed.

Act Three

• Upon reaching Rivington, Minthara comments on the state of the refugees and city's refusal to let them in.
• If pursuing a romance with her, she asks about the player character's thoughts on her.

Unique interactions

As a companion, Minthara has unique interactions and special dialogue with the following characters, listed by the act they are first encountered in.

Act Three

• Viconia DeVir

Combat

Main article: Minthara/Combat

Loot

Minthara possesses the same items as her starting equipment, except for her underwear. If knocked unconscious, she does not drop a Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen nor asupply pack.

If all equipment and clothing are looted from her and she is left unconscious, she reappears in Act Two at Moonrise Towers in a new set of camp clothes including camp shoes and underwear.

Starting equipment

If looted:

• Minthara's At-Ease Clothes
• Minthara's Tasteful Boots
• Minthara's Underwear

If not looted:

• Alchemy Pouch
• Boots of Striding
• Camp Supply Sack
• Dagger
• Drow Leather Gloves
• Mace
• Minthara's At-Ease Clothes
• Minthara's Tasteful Boots
• Minthara's Underwear
• Spider's Lyre
• Spidersilk Armour
• Supply Pack
• Xyanyde

Related literature

• Drow's Letter
• Note to Self
• Parchment
• Unfinished Love Letter
• War Map

Gallery

• 

  Base model.

• 

  Camp clothing model.

• 

  Underwear model.

• 

  Early Access post-Patch 6 model.

• 

  Early Access Patch 5 model.

• 

  Early Access pre-Patch 5 model.

• 

  Appearance on the level-up screen.

• 

  Portrait by Edward Vanderghote.

• 

  PS5 reveal press kit appearance.

• 

  Patch 6 of Early Access.

• 

  Patch 5 of Early Access.

• 

  At the start of Early Access.

• 

  Digital Artbook concept.

External links

Minthara Baenre on the Forgotten Realms Wiki