Baldur’s Gate 3: What is the Point of the Guardian? Explained

The official launch of Baldur’s Gate 3 brings players into an incredibly immersive fantasy RPG world, complete with one of the most diverse character creators available. The game not only lets you build your own character for traversing the world of Faerun, but a mysterious, supplementary character called the Guardian that has a strange influence over your storyline. It’s not exactly clear where or why this additional character is brought forth, and if you’re wondering as well, here is our handy guide for who exactly the Guardian is in Baldur’s Gate 3.

What is the Guardian For in Baldur’s Gate 3

If you took part in the Early Access version of Baldur’s Gate 3, you’ll probably recall during your initial Character Setup that you were asked to create a second, mysterious character in the vision of “someone you’d dream about”. Many players understandably took this for a romantic connotation, and the game didn’t specify anything else at the time about who they were.

However, with the actual full game now available, this secondary character has been revealed as the Guardian for your primary one. As you decide what you look you want them to have, you’ll notice that there aren’t any choices for Classes, Cantrips, etc. This is because the Guardian is only meant to serve a narrative role, as part of your character’s storyline.

The first time you meet your Guardian seems to be after you use the Illithid abilities of the parasite embedded in your brain a few times, and then take a Long Rest, most likely at the Druid Camp. The Guardian appears in your dreams on some kind of astral plane, and reveals that they have helped protect you on your journey so far, since the Nautiloid crash.

While those in your group have suggested getting the parasite removed as soon as possible, the Guardian actually advises that you don’t, and use it instead to grow stronger. They insist that they’ll be able to protect you from turning into a Mindflayer, and that you’ll need all the power you can get to save the world from The Absolute and its parasitical cult.

In a second dream, the Guardian will reveal more about their own life, that they’ve supposedly stolen a powerful magic that an unknown entity wants back, hence why the Guardian is always caught mid-fight during the dream sequences.

While it appears that the Guardian, as their moniker would suggest, is in fact on your side and determined to guide you on a challenging but necessary path, it’s not yet absolutely clear who they’re truly allied with, and what their endgame intentions are. Whether or not you can actually trust them remains to be seen, and more will undoubtedly be revealed through further story progression.

That concludes our guide for what the point of the Guardian is in Baldur’s Gate 3. We hope you find this helpful, and let us know what you like most about the game so far.

Be sure to check out all of our other guides as they come out, such as our very own Baldur’s Gate 3 Launch Guide.