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Goblins are the most common enemy you’ll encounter as you startBaldur’s Gate 3. While there’s a mandatory fight with them as they assault the Druid’s Grove, you don’t have to always slay them. In fact, you can even side with them on their next raid.
But are goblins evil? While they certainly act that way, they are part of the Cult of the Absolute, a group known for mind-controlling their followers. This makes you wonder how much control they have of their actions, sincecharacters like Mintharaaren’t willing participants of the Cult.
Spoiler Warning!
Are Goblins Evil In Baldur’s Gate 3?
In a word, yes.Goblins are taught to follow the strongest among them, and their definition of strong is based on blood and fear. Their most common deity,Maglubiyet, is an evil god of war that demands his followers to be in a constant state of slaughter. So even if the goblins you meet were following their usual god, they would still be evil.
Yetthis is still all taught behavior.If you compare them to the Drows you meet in your adventure, they have a tendency to be cruel, but they’re not all evil. This is because they come from a culture that pushes them towards that behavior, but they can learn to act differently. Sadly, there are not many chances for a goblin to learn a different way, butyou can attempt to kill as few as possible.
Are Goblins Willing Participants Of The Cult?
As mentioned before, the Cult of the Absoluteuses mind control on most of its participants, but not all of them. Goblins mostly follow what their leaders do, particularly if it leads to better raids. A change in deity is not so uncommon, yet you can find some that still follow their old customs.
Yet it’s hard to call them willing participants whenall their leaders are being mind-controlled. While the goblins might not know they’re being manipulated into worshiping a non-existing god, they’re still being manipulated. This ends up being what makes them most dangerous, since the deadliest goblins are the organized ones.
Can Goblins Be Good?
Any individual can be good or evil, but goblins have a hard time being anything but evil due to their culture. Still, they’re not demons or devils, so they’re not inherently evil. All those you encounter in Baldur’s Gate 3 have likely taken innocent lives, so it’s hard to say if those goblins are capable of any good.
There is, however,a whole culture of good-aligned goblins that follow Kikanuti. This is something not present in Baldur’s Gate 3, but it’s worth noting since goblins are not born evil. The followers of Kikanuti are a great example of that, even if a fairly limited one.
