Ketheric Thorm

Ketheric Thorm
	Stats
	Level 11
Race	Undead, formerly High Elf
Type	Undead
HP	188
AC	22
Size	Medium
Weight	75 kg / 165 lbs
Proficiency Bonus	+4
Initiative	+1
	Passive features
	Arcane Enchantment Darkvision Defence Divine Health Extra Attack Fey Ancestry Immutable Form Improved Divine Smite Magical Plate Opportunity Attack Reaper's Rigidity Shield Bash
	Resistances
Character information
Location	Moonrise Towers; Mind Flayer Colony
Faction	Cult of the Absolute
Family	Melodia (former wife); Malus Thorm (uncle); Gerringothe Thorm; Thisobald Thorm; Isobel Thorm (daughter)
Allies	Myrkul, Enver Gortash, Orin the Red, Balthazar, Z'rell
Enemies	Dame Aylin, Jaheira, Halsin, Harpers, Shar, Selûne
Additional information
Voice actor	J.K. Simmons
Model

General Ketheric Thorm is one of the Chosen of the Absolute, the enigmatic cult taking over the Sword Coast, and serves as one of the main antagonists in Baldur's Gate 3.

Once the governor of Reithwin Town, personal disaster and grief drove him down the path of darkness and violence, eventually being defeated in battle a century ago by the combined forces of the Harpers and druids of the Emerald Grove. Now, risen from the grave to lead the Absolute's forces as their general, he seeks to destroy Baldur's Gate and spread the cult of the Absolute.

I'll tell you a story, True Soul. About a man who sold himself piece by piece.
— Ketheric Thorm

Background

Risen from the grave a hundred years after the events that lead to his downfall, Thorm serves as the main antagonist of Act 2 of the game, being introduced during Act 1 through dialogue and in-game notes first. As the party searches for ways to cure their tadpole situation, many clues point towards Moonrise Towers and Ketheric himself and the party is ultimately tasked with bringing Ketheric down in order to rid the Shadowlands from its curse.

Through battle with him, and later exploring the Illithid colony under the stronghold, the party discovers there's something more perverse going on with the tadpoles in their heads. Ketheric's alliance with Enver Gortash and Orin the Red is also exposed, and in the process of the fight against him, it's revealed that it was Myrkul that brought Ketheric back from the dead. With Thorm dead, the party now have one of the Netherstone that power the trio, and the clues to their next destination: Baldur's Gate.

Gameplay

Ketheric is an Undead that retains some features of his past life as a High Elf
In combat, he's most similar to an Oathbreaker paladin, able to cast a form of Smite with his attacks, as well as having access to Aura spells and able to raise Undead minions
Despite his status as a boss, Ketheric can still be disarmed, knocked prone or affected by other types of weapon abilities
True to his skill as a general, Ketheric commands his allies to focus their attacks on targets he deems especially dangerous via Deadly Orders
The outcome of the quests relating to the Nightsong, as well as dialogue checks, can influence the encounters with him

Quests

History

A devoted worshipper of Selûne, Thorm lived with his wife Melodia and daughter Isobel in the family stronghold of Moonrise Towers, ruling over the town of Reithwin. Disaster struck the Thorm family when Melodia passed away, leaving Ketheric to raise their daughter alone. With a child in his care, Ketheric persevered, and though doubts plagued his mind, he never abandoned the selunite ways he would raise his daughter in. It wouldn't be too long after, however, that tragedy would befall Ketheric once more, this time with Isobel dying.

Grief-stricken and unable to cope with her loss, he renounced the worship of the Moonmaiden and turned to worshipping Shar, the Lady of Loss. In his downward spiral into darkness, Shar compelled him to build an army of dark justiciars beneath his home village in order to cleanse the world of Light. Ketheric would trick his daughter's lover, Aylin and trap her in a prison, made to serve as a perpetual sacrifice for dark justiciar initiates. Reithwin soon became the site of battle between Ketheric's army and the combined forces of the Harpers and druids of the Emerald Grove.

In the end, the sharran army was defeated, Ketheric himself perishing along with them. Yet, before the final blow was struck, he would curse the lands with a terrible darkness that would persist long after his demise, afflicting any survivors from the battle and all the inhabitants left. His body was buried in the Thorm mausoleum.

Years later, Thorm would be brought back from the dead by Myrkul, tasked to form an alliance with the apostles of the other Dead Two and bring death to the world. Not long after, he would set out to revive his daughter Isobel with help of Balthazar, though his plan at a family reunion failed when she saw his broken visage after being revived, fleeing from him. Empowered by Myrkul, and granted immortality by the Nightsong, Ketheric begins amassing an army of followers of the Absolute in order to march to Baldur's Gate and sow destruction.

Tasked with the recovery of the mysterious artifact, the only object capable of thwarting the Dead Three's plans, he ultimately fails and falls at the hands of the party who kill him for good.

Encounters

Though the party learns about Ketheric during Act 1, his involvement in the cult of the Absolute is only explored during Act 2, allowing them to meet Ketheric himself in Moonrise towers before or when it's sieged.

First meeting

The Party's first encounter with Ketheric Thorm starts with the general judging the members of the Absolute's forces from the Goblin Camp, including Sazza and Minthara if either of them are still alive. Should Minthara be alive, he will send her to the dungeons to be punished, and is left with the goblins, who attack him out of fear. Even when impaled, or nearly decapitated with a halberd, he shrugs off the wounds as if they were minor annoyances, killing one of the goblins as punishment. He will leave the fate of the rest of the goblins to the player.

Players can visit him before the finale by simply visiting on the top of Moonrise Towers. Attempting to go through the door that leads to him will make everyone around it hostile.

While speaking to NPCs such as Jaheira, Z'rell, and Balthazar, it will be revealed, to some capacity depending on who you speak of, that a magical relic grants Ketheric immortality. Assisting Balthazar will reveal that sometime between his life as a Sharran, and his time serving Myrkul, Ketheric Thorm had discovered the Nightsong, and used it to render him unkillable.

Act two finale

The party may encounter him again at the top of Moonrise Towers during the siege and are granted a quick exchange with him before combat. Should Isobel be dead, he will recount his life story, and his sacrifices, blaming the party for her death, but not punishing them, as he wishes to keep up the façade of the Absolute's judgement. If Aylin was saved, she will interrupt the conversation and combat will soon begin. Otherwise, the encounter begins as normal.

Combat

See: Ketheric Thorm/Combat

Ketheric Thorm's actual battle has three individual stages.

After either destroying, or liberating the Nightsong, his invulnerability is lost, and he can finally be killed. During the first stage of the boss fight, he will eventually flee to the lower levels of the Tower, towards the Mind Flayer Colony to reconvene with Lord Enver Gortash and Orin the Red, revealing himself, Gortash, and Orin as the Chosen of Myrkul, Bane, and Bhaal respectively.

If Gale uses his Netherese Orb Blast, the game can end at this very moment, allowing the party to kill Ketheric Thorm, Enver Gortash, Orin the Red and the Absolute in one fell swoop.

The latter two will leave Ketheric to retrieve the Mysterious Artefact in order to lead the Absolute's army to Baldur's Gate. During this second segment of the boss fight, which the player can bypass entirely with a successful Charisma skill check. In either case, if the Nightsong has not been destroyed, he will retrieve it once more, and either he, in the second stage or the Apostle of Myrkul in the third, will regain their invulnerability - but this can be rectified by using a Help Action on Nightsong.

Once he is defeated, he will finally die for good, allowing the party to retrieve his Netherstone, and proceed to Baldur's Gate.

The Chosen of Myrkul

Loot

Notes

His invulnerability is removed by completing the Shadowfell portion of the Find the Nightsong quest. Until completed, Ketheric is unkillable.
If disarmed during the first encounter on top of Moonrise Towers, and he's not given the chance to pick his weapon up, Ketheric will wield a Flail of Myrkul for the next phase.

Trivia

A letter written by Malus found in the House of Healing refers to Ketheric as nephew, thus it can be inferred that Malus is indeed his uncle.
It's unclear what degree of kinship Ketheric and Gerringothe share. It can be presumed she's his aunt following Malus' situation, however, notes and narration mention that Ketheric dug up many of his ancestors tombs, which could indicate she could be a far older relative if necromancy was practiced on the corpse too.
Ketheric's kinship with Thisobald is not quite clear, either. Though Thisobald refers to Ketheric as "father", neither Ketheric nor Isobel ever acknowledge him in dialogue or otherwise. Given that Ketheric and Balthazar have desecrated the Thorm mausoleum and resurrected Isobel, it's possible that Thisobald is another resurrected relative and refers to Ketheric as father not in the paternal sense, but as "creator".
Ketheric's method of immortality derived from the Nightsong isn't clearly explained in the game. The Nightsong mentions being taken captive shortly after the death of Ketherics daughter, and being used as the sacrifice for the dark justiciar initiates employed by Thorm. Given she hasn't been moved in over a century, it can be assumed that Ketheric enjoyed the same immortality back then as he did in the present, however, if that were the case, it's unclear how he was able to be defeated in the first place.

Gallery

Character portrait by Edward Vanderghote

External links

Ketheric Thorm on the Forgotten Realms Wiki

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