What A Character! Contest

The world of Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale comes alive because of its beautiful areas, its rich history, its religious and political orders, and its ferocious monsters. Those components form a backdrop from which the really memorable aspect of the game can shine: the characters.

Everyone has a favorite lineup of joinable companions. Perhaps you're the canon party type, adventuring with Minsc and Dynaheir, Khalid and Jaheira, and Imoen. Maybe you prefer an evil party and recruit Korgan Bloodaxe, Viconia, and Edwin to back you up. You could be partial to the enhanced edition characters, Neera, Rasaad, Dorn, and Hexxat, and collect them for your journey.

The villains too are memorable. Who could forget the terror of [spoiler redacted], and of course the shocking reveal of [spoiler redacted]? (Hey, just because the games are over a decade old doesn't mean everyone has played them.)

Who could this spiky figure be? It's a mystery!

But there are more characters in the world than just the companions. Many players have a favorite character in the game, be it the annoying Noober in Nashkel, or the goblin Weenog in Orrick's tower, or the wild mage Zaviak who's, like, totally radical, man.

For this week's contest, we want to know: Who is your favorite non-companion* character in any of the enhanced edition games? As with our favorite area contest, we'll publish the results of our poll when we announce the winners. We probably won't have a pie chart because the likelihood of even two entries having the same answer is pretty low. But we can list off the entries for your amusement and edification.

Email us at social@beamdog.com with the subject line “Character Contest.” Include your favorite non-companion character in the text of your email. The contest begins today, May 26, and ends at midnight on June 2, 2015. We'll post the list of responses and congratulate the winners in a blog post once the contest ends. If you've won a prize from us in the last six months you're not eligible to win one in this draw.

As for prizes, well, we couldn't think of anything better to offer than the history of one of the most popular characters to ever come out of the Forgotten Realms. The randomly drawn winner will receive a copy of The Legend of Drizzt 25th Anniversary Edition, Book I. This tome contains the first three novels detailing the life of Drizzt Do'Urden by R.A. Salvatore. Two runners-up will receive a Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition t-shirt.

Good luck!

*If you enter with a companion name, we won't disqualify you but we won't publish the answer in our results either. There are plenty of polls and discussions about the best companions on our forums, and we're interested in seeing what other characters stick in your mind.