Halsin

Overview

Approval

Banter

Location Remarks

Romance

Halsin is a recruitable Companion, and can be romanced by characters of any gender. He is a Wood Elf and a Druid with the Outlander background. Halsin can be first found in the Shattered Sanctum during Act One as an Attached Follower and / or as a Camp Follower.

Having recently resigned as Archdruid of the Emerald Grove, Halsin seeks to create a perfect balance between nature and civilization as well as find a cure for the Shadow Curse that has haunted his home for the past century.

Halsin is the only character with access to the spell  Wild Shape: Cave Bear.

“

I'm 350 years old. Of course there have been lovers. Just because I love nature doesn't mean I'm betrothed to it...

„

— Halsin on his sex life

Overview

Background

Halsin is the Archdruid of the Emerald Grove and an accomplished healer. Before he went missing, Halsin and his apprentice Nettie were researching the recent spike in illithid tadpole infections.

Starting class

Before he is recruited, Halsin can be first met in the Worg Pens of the Shattered Sanctum as a level 5 Druid, wildshaped as bear with the following Ability Scores: STR = 20, DEX = 10, CON = 16, INT = 10, WIS = 17, CH = 13. If he is freed and met later in the Emerald Grove, his Ability Scores are: STR = 16, DEX = 11, CON = 14, INT = 10, WIS = 17, CH = 13. If recruited in Act Two, Halsin reverts to a level 1 Druid with the standard ability scores for that Class. His Subclass is Circle of the Moon, specialized in Wild Shaping into various creatures to attack enemies or support allies in combat.

Personal quest

Halsin does not have a Companion Quest. He is, however, deeply tied to  Lift the Shadow Curse; it cannot be completed without his assistance.

Recruitment

In order to recruit Halsin, the quest  Defeat the Goblins must be completed with him alive, and he must agree to join the party as they travel to the Shadow-Cursed Lands. Halsin can be recruited in Act Two after progressing in lifting the Shadow Curse to a certain point. However, if proceeding to Act Three without fully completing the quest, Halsin leaves the party and stays behind in the Shadow-Cursed Lands.

Approval

Main article: Halsin/approval

Halsin only gains or loses approval once he has joined the party as a full companion. He likes those who are kind, especially to animals or children, and dislikes any decisions that involve harming the natural world, or support corruption and cruelty.

Romance

Main article: Halsin/romance

Halsin can be romanced. Though the majority of his romance happens in Act Three, he can be flirted with in prior Acts. He is polyamorous and is the only companion that may be romanced in later stages alongside Astarion, Shadowheart, or Karlach - with their consent.

Description

Despite his tenacity in combat, Halsin is a gentle, honest elf who treasures the sanctity and beauty of nature. Despite being a powerful healer with a lofty title, Halsin is humble and patient - though he is willing to act with force if the need arises. He views carnal pleasures as a natural calling and monogamy as something which suits others better than himself. One of Halsin's core beliefs is that desire should flourish wherever it finds purchase.

Gameplay

For full information on Halsin's starting features, see Druid and Elf.

As a druid, Halsin is capable of filling a variety of roles in the party. He can debilitate enemies with control spells, support the party with spells that enhance himself and his allies, and can deal damage with elemental damage-dealing spells. His Wild Shape ability allows him to wade into battle as a melee combatant or sneak and scout as a small animal.

Skills with Proficiency

•  Animal Handling
•  Nature
•  Perception
•  Stealth
•  Survival

Temporary companion abilities

As a temporary companion he knows the following spells:

•  Call Lightning
•  Healing Word
•  Misty Step
•  Thunderwave
•  Wild Shape: Cave Bear

If unlocked as a party member in Act Two, Halsin will always have the above spells prepared for free.

• Pre-requisites (Wild Shape charges, appropriate-level Spell Slots) will still have to be met in order to activate the abilities.

Permanent companion abilities

Cantrips Known

As a druid, Halsin automatically knows all non-cantrip druid spells.

•  Shillelagh
•  Thorn Whip

Level 1 Spells Known

•  Animal Friendship
•  Charm Person 
•  Create or Destroy Water
•  Cure Wounds
•  Enhance Leap 
•  Entangle 
•  Faerie Fire 
•  Fog Cloud 
•  Goodberry
•  Healing Word
•  Ice Knife
•  Longstrider 
•  Speak with Animals 
•  Thunderwave

History

Many years ago, when Halsin was younger and far more foolhardy than he is now, he ventured to the Underdark to experience the beauty of its unworldly flora and instead found himself captured by a noble Drow house - in his words, "something between guest, prisoner, and consort". The house's matron and patron took an interest in him, seeing a wood elf from the surface as quite the novelty, and he spent nearly three years chained in their bedchamber.

Halsin did what was necessary to survive the experience, though he does not look negatively upon it because while he feared for his life, he is proud he was willing to wait for the chance to regain his freedom. That chance came when his captors' rivals attacked, as Lolth's noble houses are constantly at each other's throats. While the drow were distracted by the battle, he escaped, though he never learned what became of his "hosts".

One hundred years before the events of the game, Halsin was part of the Emerald Grove's forces in the attack against Ketheric Thorm at Moonrise Towers. However, shortly after Ketheric's body was interred within the Grand Mausoleum, the shadow curse took hold. In the chaos that followed, Halsin lost contact with Thaniel, his childhood friend and the living spirit of the land, and worse still, the Archdruid of the Emerald Grove was lost to the curse, leaving Halsin to take command and lead the survivors to safety.

Involvement

Act One

Halsin joined Aradin's ill-fated expedition to find the Nightsong, hoping to find a way to reach Moonrise Towers and the Shadow-Cursed Lands. However, he was captured and can be  saved by the party; he can be found in the Worg Pens within the Shattered Sanctum. He is being harassed by nearby goblins, who are throwing stones at him while he remains in wildshape.

If released, Halsin offers to help the party in seeking a cure for their tadpole problem, but first asks them to  defeat the goblin leaders in order to protect the Grove. While he can join the party as a temporary companion at this point, he attacks the rest of the goblins on sight, so if discretion is preferred he can be asked to wait in the Worg Pens.

If killed,  Rescue the Druid Halsin can be progressed by using  Speak with Dead on Halsin's corpse.

After the goblin leaders have been defeated, Halsin returns to the Emerald Grove, where he may be found confronting Kagha based on the party's choices when  investigating her actions.

The morning following the tiefling's celebration, Halsin will tell the party about the two leads he has on how to reach the Shadow-Cursed Lands: travelling through the Mountain Pass, which would be less dangerous at first but would mean a longer journey through the shadow curse, or exploring the Underdark in search of an alternative route, which would bypass some of the shadow curse but comes with all the dangers inherent there.

Regardless of which option the player character suggests exploring, Halsin accompanies the party as a Camp Follower in the hopes of travelling to the Shadow-Cursed Lands and lifting the Shadow Curse afflicting the region.

If proceeding to the Rosymorn Monastery Trail or the Shadow-Cursed Lands before rescuing Halsin from the Goblin Camp, he is found dead in his cell should they return.

Act Two

Halsin provides vital assistance in the process of  lifting the Shadow Curse, and it cannot be completed if he dies. He asks that the party keep an eye out for any information regarding a boy called Thaniel, who is in fact the land's spirit.

Once given a lead to Thaniel's location by Art Cullagh (whether through  waking him or  from his corpse), Halsin performs a ritual to open a portal to the Shadowfell and leaves to retrieve the boy. If failing to protect the portal from the waves of shadow-cursed creatures, it closes and Halsin is lost to the Shadowfell forever.

If Thaniel is successfully rescued from the Shadowfell and Thaniel's other half, Oliver, is also convinced to reunite with him, Halsin offers to join the party for the remainder of Act Two. He becomes a permanent companion if Ketheric Thorm is defeated and the Shadow Curse is lifted upon leaving the Shadow-Cursed Lands.

Act Three

Halsin has no direct involvement in any Act Three storyline, though taking him out of the Lower City campsite and speaking with him has him express fear that balancing nature and civilization may not even be possible. He is also one of two companions (alongside Astarion) who can have a foursome at Sharess' Caress without having been romanced, and he tells the player character about his experience with the noble drow after participating. Lastly, he is added to  Gather Your Allies, harnessing Thaniel's strength to provide the  Spirit of the Land condition once the party reaches the Upper City.

Halsin also is one of Orin the Red's  potential abduction targets. If Lae'zel is dead, romanced, or in the active party upon first long resting in the Lower City, Orin instead captures Halsin and infiltrates camp disguised as him, pretending to have gone mad and almost killed Scratch. Depending on how this scenario is resolved, he either gets killed by Orin before the player character's battle with her or returns to the party afterward.

Endings

Alone with the Shadow Curse

If failing to complete  Lift the Shadow Curse, Halsin stays in the Shadow-Cursed Lands and continues studying the curse on his own. He sees the player character off at the Road to Baldur's Gate, but is never seen again in Act Three. If the player character recruits Halsin by freeing Thaniel but does not reunite the latter with Oliver, he also permanently leaves the party, taking whatever equipment he is currently wearing with him.

Life as a new father

Otherwise, if lifting the Shadow Curse and Halsin is not killed by Orin, he returns to Reithwin Town after defeating the Netherbrain to help the former Shadow-Cursed Lands continue healing. He keeps in touch with Thaniel and Oliver, resumes his hobby of whittling, and converts Moonrise Towers into an orphanage, where he adopts and raises nine wagons of children who were orphaned by the Shadow Curse and the Absolute. When spoken to at the Epilogue reunion celebration, he asks the player character for bedtime story ideas and gifts them a Whittled Duck, and the player character can ask him to take the Owlbear Cub in return as a pet for the children.

If the player character romanced Halsin, they can offer to move in with him and help with the children and, at the reunion party, he asks if they are comfortable having settled down after adventuring for so long. If also partnered to Astarion or Shadowheart, the player character maintains a long-distance relationship with whichever partner they did not stay with. If also partnered to Karlach, however, they cannot stay with Halsin unless she dies. If the player character instead went to Avernus with Karlach (as a friend or as a second partner), they can apologize to Halsin at the reunion party for leaving so abruptly, but he forgives them and says he will always be there when they get back. The player character can respond by embracing and kissing him or by amicably thanking him; either way, Halsin then shares about his new life as he would if not romanced.

Related literature

• Druid Note
• Halsin's Journal, Vol I
• Halsin's Journal, Vol II
• Hastily Written Note (Druids Grove)
• Letter from Halsin
• Logbook XII: 1371
• Notes on Drow Parasite
• Rancid Note
• Scribbled Note (Druid Grove)

Loot

Starting equipment

• Alchemy Pouch
• Camp Supply Sack
• Druidic Bracers
• Druid Quarterstaff
• Halsin's Druid Leather Armour
• Halsin's Grove Garments
• Halsin's Tasteful Boots
• Halsin's Underwear
• Leather Boots
• Potion of Healing -2x
• Scroll of Revivify

Gallery

• 

  Halsin's armed model.

• 

  Halsin's camp model.

• 

  Halsin's underwear model.

• 

  Early Access model (different tattoo).

• 

  Bear wildshape model.

• 

  Character portrait by Edward Vangerghote.

• 

  Cinematic bear form.

• 

  Halsin in Early Access.

• 

  Commander Legends' Halsin, Emerald Archdruid

• 

  Alternate version of Commander Legends' Halsin, Emerald Archdruid

Notes

• Halsin was not originally slated to be a companion but, due to his popularity among fans, Larian Studios decided to add him as one.
• Halsin did not obtain his large facial scar in battle, but rather was marked by a she-bear encountered while in wild-shape during mating season, who attacked after being rejected. This can be brought up as his greatest failure during the Test Your Love game with Zethino, though he will be disappointed and scold that "Rejecting unwanted advances is no failure, even if it earned me some scars."
• Halsin is noted to be much larger than normal for a wood elf, and speculates he may have some orc in his family tree.
• Halsin's surname is Silverbough according to his main writer John Corcoran: "While there’s nothing in the game itself, an earlier character outline stated it was Silverbough. This is probably semi-canon at best as there’s nothing supporting or contradicting it in the game." He goes on to note: "I do still like it as it alludes to an aspect of Celtic mythology that has nice thematic resonance for Halsin and Thaniel (the silver bough or branch granting access to the land of eternal youth)." (Twitter/X post from November 30, 2023 and subsequent post)

External links

Halsin on the Forgotten Realms Wiki