What Shadowheart Sees When Her Hand Hurts is One of the Saddest Parts of Baldur’s Gate 3

Early in BG3, Shadowheart reveals a wound on her hand that hurts at random times. She claims it won’t heal, but there’s a lot more to this story, and we learn it by playing her Origin Character. What does Shadowheart see when her hand hurts in Baldur’s Gate 3?

What Does Shadowheart See When Her Hand Hurts in Baldur’s Gate?

Shadowheart glimpses childhood memories when her hand hurts. These memories aren’t shown to us through cinematics or images, unfortunately, but the narrator describes them to us. There are many throughout the story, but I got the first bit of dialogue when entering the Emerald Grove and seeing the wolf in Kagha’s room. It had me intrigued. What did it mean?

In short, these memories produced by the pain in Shadowheart’s hand are fragments of Shadowheart’s childhood, specifically from the night she was kidnapped by Sharrans only to prove that Shar could turn a Selunite to the darkness. It’s a terrible reminder of a life lost and an unforgivable trauma. Even worse, Viconia later forced Shadowheart to use the Mirror of Loss, and she forgot her life and parents, becoming the Cleric we know in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Why Does Shadowheart Have the Wound on her Hand in the First Place?

Eventually, Shadowheart begins to remember the life she had before being kidnapped. But Shar injures Shadowheart’s hand as punishment, etching a permanent mark in the life she had already ruined. At the end of Act 2, Shar explicitly explains that the wound is her way of keeping Shadowheart in line. Hurting Shadowheart when she thinks of her family or starts turning back toward Selune keeps her imprisoned, the wound acting as a leash to keep her a Sharran.

Can You Remove Shadowheart’s Wound in BG3?

Can you remove Shadowheart’s wound in Baldur’s Gate 3, freeing her of Shar’s torment? Yes, but the way to do so is nearly as tragic as Shadowheart’s past and subjugation. To remove the wound, you must kill her parents in Act 3. Found in the House of Grief, Shadowheart’s parents were immured by Sharrans when she was taken. In that way, the wound connects them to Shar’s curse, so killing them frees Shadowheart.

The saddest part is that it may not always work, adding an even deeper meta layer to the story. I encountered a bug that caused the wound to remain even with her parents dead. Curing Shadowheart’s curse is already a sad ending to a sad BG3 throughline, and it’s even worse if you kill her parents and can’t remove the curse.

That’s what Shadowheart sees when her hand hurts in Baldur’s Gate 3. Her story is more complex than it seems at first, making her into a tragic character who had her family and identity stolen. But from here, check out our BG3 guides hub for more topics like 10 best Cleric gear pieces or how to beat the Brewer in Waning moon.