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Viconia DeVir
| Overview | Combat |
“L'il Alurl! For Shar!„
Overview
Background
Viconia was born to House DeVir in the drow capital city of Menzoberranzan in Underdark. She was a priestess of Lolth for many years. To prove her faith she was tasked with killing an infant in a ritual sacrifice to the Spider Queen. Viconia refused and her house fell out of Lolth's favour. It seemed that the only way for House DeVir to regain their goddess' favour was for Viconia to prostrate herself before the Spider Queen. Viconia was fed up with Lolth's ways and believed she could survive without her.
House DeVir was left vulnerable to other Houses' attacks and in desperation Matron DeVir tried to sacrifice Viconia, but her wizard brother intervened and killed their mother. For this action Lolth turned him into a drider. Viconia lost her clerical powers and fled to the surface. Some time later she found herself a new goddess - Shar.
Being a possible companion in Baldur's Gate 1 and Baldur's Gate 2, she canonically, if not traveled with, at the very least met Gorion's Ward (the protagonist of previous games) and their group as Jaheira and Minsc remember meeting her. Depending on the party's actions and if Viconia was their companion, she could've also met Sarevok.
Present days
In the century that passed since Baldur's Gate II Viconia DeVir became the Mother Superior of the Shar enclave in Baldur's Gate. She previously had a grander enclave in Waterdeep, but Lady Shar commanded her to raze it and kill all her loyal followers. Viconia's new mission was to take a child of Selûne and turn them over to Lady Shar. At some point she likely surrendered a part of her memories to the Mirror of Loss.
She and her group ambushed a Selûnite family that was in the process of a coming-of-age ritual of their half-elven girl Jenevelle Hallowleaf. Her parents were captured and imprisoned while the girl was raised a cleric of Shar under a new name - Shadowheart.
Shadowheart always dreamed of becoming a Dark Justiciar, but Viconia thwarted any attempts at doing so.
Recently she tasked Shadowheart with retrieving the 
Mysterious Artefact that will help the Sharrans against the Absolute.
Involvement
Viconia DeVir resides in the Cloister of Sombre Embrace which is located in Sharran Ruins under the House of Grief. She provides the Mapping of the Heart for those in need of Sharran guidance.
If the player character or Shadowheart undergoes the Mapping, Viconia will remove her hood revealing her identity and invite the party to the Cloister. She explains that she knows the party has the artefact in their possession and that she needs it to destroy the Absolute. If the Intimidation or Persuasion checks are passed, then Viconia will relent. However, she demands to hand over Shadowheart to her. The party can either agree, starting Surrender Shadowheart to Viconia quest, or refuse, which starts a fight. If Shadowheart is a Dark Justiciar, then she can convince some of the cultists to fight along with the party, taking over the cloister after Viconia's defeat.
If the meeting results in combat, Viconia will manifest the fears she learned from the party (she will turn into a wolf to scare shadowheart, or she will temporarily turn the player character into a mind flayer if the player character told her their fear of becoming one).
If Shadowheart was handed over to Viconia, Viconia can become an ally in the final battle providing Nightbringer's Shadow Adepts support. Alternatively, if Shadowheart replaced Viconia as the Mother Superior the same support will be provided by Shadowheart instead.
Changes to Viconia's backstory
Viconia's state in Baldur's Gate 3 is partially reflective of her default ending in Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, wherein she found a Sharran cult in Waterdeep. However several differences can be found:
In her original epilogue[url 1] Viconia killed all cult members due to one's betrayal, shrugging off the admonishment of her goddess, which mirrors her early rebellious actions against 
Lolth. She then wandered the Realms and stopped several crises with the help of Drizzt Do'Urden, including saving the elven city of Suldanessalar, for which she received honours from Queen Ellesime. Her fate following the events above was unknown.
In Baldur's Gate 3, Viconia's motive behind the Waterdeep slaughter was changed to obeying Shar's order, and she remained obedient to her goddess ever since. Despite having a history of refusing to sacrifice a child to another goddess, she has performed Shar's tasks faithfully, such as abducting children and torturing their relatives, similar to what Lolth did to her beloved brother — which has caused her nightmares in the previous game.
Related Quests
Notable loot
Quotes
“Loss is a gift, girl. Do you still not understand that?„
“Where once the mirror showed nothing, there is now something. Memories, experiences, skills. All prised from the minds of others, and now offered to you, to choose from. [...] Turn to the wisdom of a drow. Once of Lolth, then of Shar.„
Gallery
Character portrait by Edward Vanderghote
Preparing for Battle
Notes
- Viconia's actual Strength is 14 but because of her Handmaiden's Mace it is set to 18 until she is disarmed.
- She gains unique spells depending on the player character's answers during the Mapping of the Heart and the "Heartform" (False Heart, Craven Heart, etc) that she determines the player character have.
- In Baldur's Gate 3, Viconia DeVir is voiced by Jess Nesling, replacing Grey DeLisle/Griffin from the previous games.
- Her final line before combat (L'il Alurl! For Shar!) is a direct reference to her battle cry from the previous games[url 2].
References
- ↑ Baldur's Gate Wiki: Viconia's original epilogues. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
- ↑ Baldur's Gate Wiki: Viconia's Baldur's Gate & Tales of the Sword Coast quotes. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
External links
Viconia DeVir on the Forgotten Realms Wiki