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I will say that I once saw someone say this game is like 90% about cycles of abuse.

Gortash and his relationship with the Dark Urge is something that just. Absolutely haunts me. I haven't finished a full Durge playthrough yet (farthest I've gotten in Wyrm's Crossing but I'm hoping to finish that soon), but even the hints we get at what their dynamic might've been. Of course Gortash, the child who was shunted off to the Hells and had to learn to cut throats better and faster than anyone to survive ends up becoming infatuated with the murderer. That violence has to feel comfortable and familiar. Of course the Dark Urge, who has been pulled around by the bloody leash their birthright put on them their entire life, keeps this smooth-talking tyrant around instead of just killing him. Doesn't being manipulated mean you're home? Playing as an embrace Dark Urge has to feel like the inevitable decay of that dynamic. Eventually, the beaten hound is going to bite at the hand. Eventually, the child's fear of wolves is going to outpace the comfort a guard dog brings. Playing as a resist Dark Urge... that almost hurts more. The Dark Urge got out. They broke the leash and, when given the support of their party and a chance, they became a better person. Gortash just has to watch as his fellow sinner, the depraved mirror that might've brought him a sense of comfort, became the weak, kind sort he despises. You have to wonder, would it ever be possible for him? Would he ever want that? If he was given the Orin special to the dome and tossed on a life changing road trip, could he break the cycle too? I don't know. In my fondest heart, I think he could. I like to think there's a world out there where he and the Durge both get a second chance to break free.

About changing his name in The House of Hope: his parents sold him to a devil. It was his way of disowning them. I'm in the process of changing mine from my adoptive parents'

I think the scrapbook of letters was at his parents house as a hiding place. I think he felt genuinely sentimental about them, and that means that having them in his possession is evidence of a shameful thing. I don't think he was living with his parents when writing them, but returned to store this sentimental item. After all, what better guard dogs than one's perfectly compliant parents? This especially makes sense when we consider that he thought Durge was dead. I can imagine him monologuing grandiosely about how this is for the best, no room for sentiment in this job etc.. It has the sense of locking away one's feelings somewhere they can't hurt you.

A couple interesting things I want to throw out as a Gortash/Durgetash fan for consideration if someone hasn't mentioned them already.

- There's dialogue you can get with Gortash as the Durge during coronation scene where if you decide to ally with him you can say something like (it's been a while since I've been in act 3 so paraphrasing a bit) "Let's do it, let's be gods together" and Gortash will reply with "You already are, it's just getting the world to see it" which I think is utterly fascinating when you said that you think eventually Gortash would discard you because he basically idealizes you for his validation and would need more eventually.

If he already considers Durge a god in their own right, where could he go from there when if you actually choose to become a god/goddess,  is that not pretty much the pinnacle?
So when you're at the top of the world, would he then be forced to confront his feelings? There's nowhere to hide anymore.

(Also interesting is I believe that's rare dialogue that can only be triggered if you're romancing Karlach so whether that's a bug, an oversight or a deliberate choice is up in the air)

- During the scene where his Steel Watchers surround you for the stones, Durge get pieces of dialogue from the narrator where she says
"He did miss this." and "A half smile shows he is teasing you. He doesn't think for a moment you'd fully submit to him nor should a spawn as formidable as you."

- If you do that same scene after destroying his Steel Watchers, Durge can say "For what it's worth, I think I always liked you too but this is how it must be."
The narrator replies with: There is hesitation in his eye for one moment. A passing thought of all times spent together you'll never remember.

Another thing is (SPOILERS FOR DURGE)
Is if you decide to reject Bhaal, Bhaal will kill your Durge and take their blood (you could technically see it as them being stripped of their divinity I guess).
When you return to Gortash, you can explain what happened to which he will say that he's surprised Bhaal let you escape but it changes nothing because his alliance was with YOU, not Bhaal.
The dev notes for this dialogue says that Gortash is trying to cheer you up/encourage you which is also super super fascinating because in the context of Durge, they've technically, by his own reckoning have been at the top of the world (if you run with the "you already are" comment) but have fallen from grace, twice now so by all rights, should Gortash not discard them? They've proven themselves to be "weak" and yet instead of expressing disdain for you, he tries to make you feel better and keep going (assuming you don't attack him).

I could absolutely go on but this is already wayyyyy longer than I was aiming for. I just wanted to throw bits of Durgetash I thought were great for pondering for people who don't/haven't played Durge so might not be familiar with this content.  

OH, ok, one more thing before I finish this off.
If you kill Gortash's parents, I believe you can talk to his father a little bit with Speak with the Dead to which he will say to use his creations/traps against him, that he was always making them from a young age (which could be the bad behaviour his mother refers to) but then that sparks the question, at least for me, if a child is making traps, why? Is it because he was truly wicked or was this a means of defending himself? I would be inclined to think he was making them to defend himself because the coronation hall and his office are FULL of them, he's literally throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, at you to keep you the hell away from him during his boss fights. His traps also buff him as well, giving him shields while trying to deep fry you.

I usually don't comment on videos but I really enjoyed this video as a Gortash fan! One of the best ones, if not the best one out there so I thought I'd put my two cents in.

MY FAVOURITE PSYCHOLOGY CHANNEL UPDATING A VIDEO ON MY FAVOURITE GUY OH IM SO SEATED

I am really positively suprised by this video. After finishing the game I didn't really consider Gortash to be a particularly complex character. Especially considering the rather dissapointing ending he gets in most campaigns. But as usual you were able to find a lot of hidden depth in him. I would love to see you discuss more BG3. Meaby some videos about the companions?

I actually feel the Dark Urge is the option that is truest to the spirit of the Baldur's Gate series, and although it seems like most people use that as their evil playthrough, I thought playing Dark Urge with a redemptive goal gives you a really poignant story.

Reading between the lines has resulted in many with chronic illnesses feeling his story touching on their own. It’s not explicitly in there, but his gauntlet resembles some of the tools people with hyper mobility sometimes use to prevent injury, which combined with his parents talking about how needy he was as a child makes a read of Gortash as a chronically ill person and adds an interesting extra layer to his story. Even his boss fight can be read as feeding into this. Orin and Ketheric are both physically imposing enemies in their own right. Ketheric can easily drop any given person he sets his sights on solo (nobody does that better than a paladin), and even out of her slayer form, Orin stripped of allies isn’t a joke 1:1. Strip away the steel watch; strip away the traps; strip away all of the accoutrements of that fight, and Gortash isn’t a match for the incredibly powerful people your party is by the time you arrive at him. Any difficulty in his fight comes from how thoroughly he’s stacked the deck in his favor and made a hostile environment for you to fight in.

Now, I can’t say I love the idea that one of your few examples of chronic illness in the game is in villainous form (though you could make a case for Karlach’s story touching on similar themes and providing a counterpoint to Gortash), but it certainly makes his backstory even more tragic and makes his parents look even more abominable.

"Glorifying trauma as a rite of passage to toughen you up" gives big Oxbridge vibes. They're great universities, and some of my tutors were incredible academics and teachers. Despite this, I became convinced that an uncomfortable amount of the prestige of those universities is putting students through an inordinate amount of pressure, and slapping a degree on the shellshocked ones who make it through without crumbling entirely. Some people call this meritocracy, but having seen how many students develop maladaptive coping strategies, I refuse to believe that this is actually facilitating excellence of any sort.

I was once wondering why there aren't more ex-students who speak against the awfulness, given how prevalent this experience seemed to be. A friend theorised that it's because the ones that survive the process, in addition to possible trauma, they also have gained some power in society due to having a degree from a prestigious university. They can't undermine the university without undermining themselves. And so then they come to believe that their own suffering was necessary and good

This was a bit of a tangent, but damn, I didn't expect this to map onto Gortash's stuff so well

1:05:49 You're not wrong here,

Spoliers





it doesn't last. If the Durge gives up the nether stones,  He will deadass try to kill you because in his mind the Durge he knew is gone--there's no point of keeping you around at that point. Although it does seem he hesitates just for a moment but regardless he still tries to kill you.

"Why is Gortash' scrapbook at the Flynn house?"

The world is messy, people make mistakes.  When Enver returned it might not have just been to punish his parents.  He might have also been collecting things.  In Faerun, if you have something that was once part of someone (hair, nail clippings, baby teeth, et cetera...) you can affect their current body,  So Enver is searching the house in case his dad kept a baby tooth or lock of hair in memorium.  And while packing any such thing Gortash accidentally leaves behind some old letters from the Dark Urge.

It could have even been a subquest.  Sometime later Gortash discovers the letters are missing.  And is now paranoid about them having been "stolen".

Anyway, fascinating video.

Damn, this video is criminally under viewed. I haven't actually watched the video yet, but I can only assume that you ship Gortash with Durge, and that the YouTube algorithm is Orin.

I think the book is just there because the place is related to Gortash and we shouldn't read more into it.

But there's also a part of me enamoured with the idea of how lame and pathetic (and I say this with all the love in my heart for this greasy failure of a man) it would've been for gortash to just crash at his abusive parent's place and write love letters to his favourite murder lizard form his childhood bedroom.

Anyways, thank you for making this video. Maybe Orin next ? Plenty of Childhood trauma there too.

Gortash might have hidden his little journal in his parent's home on purpose, never intending to come back for it. Maybe he didn't want to be rid of it, but thought it was the best option to not have a record of something that could point to an internal weakness. He depended on Durge at least a little, after all.

On that note about Gortash being willing to share power with you, I think its a perfectly fitting character moment. He knows how to manipulate people. Having the coronation when we arrive wasn't a coincidence. It was a show of power, and a promise of it. His plan was both succeeding perfectly, and yet completely collapsing. He is consolidating power but also loosing it. When the player walks in, you are not only literally holding the key to his downfall, you personally killed his "unkillable" general and sent the plan into a death spiral. Gortash has the city and the watchers, but the brain is freeing itself, Orin is no longer working with him, the army set to siege Baldurs gate is leaderless, out of control and who knows if it will even arrive. And now you are standing in front of him intent to kill him. Gortash knows he is outmatched, that its falling apart, yet he flips the script. Offers power to you. Be his ally, and he can solve all of your problems. You are personally strong, he is politically strong. If you are the Dark Urge, reclaim your spot, here you go. Its your plan to begin with. If you take it, he still succeeds in his plan, gains unimaginable power and control, you fix all of his problems for him, and then he can betray you when its convenient because you have proven easy to manipulate. Its brilliant.

My understanding of what Gortash did was tadpole them and then he stayed there for awhile as they were forced to behave towards him the way he always wanted them to, but he didn't want them brainwashed. He wanted them completely aware while he did this to them. So on the outside they are acting like the loving parents he wished he'd had, but on the inside they are being tormented.

I think Sally Flymm is narcissistic or has some other personality disorder, considering her talk of her son as evil, needy, etc. I can’t see how a mother could sold her child and have zero regrets about it (one could go through it but be devastated afterwards or have second thoughts) unless she’s deeply not okay.
But I could be wrong, ofc!
Also, great vid, very thorough and deep analysis. I’m happy I got it in my recommendation feed.

OOOOH. I look forward to you analyzing all of the characters that interest you!