Minthara information

Minthara
Baldur's Gate character
Minthara as she appears in Baldur's Gate 3
First game	Baldur's Gate 3 (2023)
Designed by	Mohamed Abdelfatah (face)[1] Wiktoria Kubien (hair)[1]
Voiced by	Emma Gregory[2]
Motion capture	Emma Gregory[2]
In-universe information
Race	Drow
Class	Paladin

Minthara Baenre is a character from the 2023 Baldur's Gate 3, a Larian Studios roleplaying game set in the Forgotten Realms universe of Dungeons & Dragons. Voiced by Emma Gregory, she is a drow Paladin in service of the game's antagonist, and acts as a central villain for the game's first act. Depending on the player's actions, she can be recruited as a companion in the game's second act, and can be romanced if the player chooses to do so. Outside of video games, she has appeared on cards for Magic: the Gathering.

Minthara went through several iterations during development of the game, developed by lead writer Adam Smith with help from her voice actress to have a "pragmatic" approach to evil but also a vulnerable and demonstrating a degree of awkwardness and compassion. Several bugs in the game however affected how players perceived her character, with one in particular preventing a large amount of her in-game dialogue from being able to play. Another resulted in players being able to find a "work around" to bypass her related quest by knocking her out with non-lethal damage, bypassing the loss of several companions if one wished to recruit her. Smith found it fit the game's narrative, and a simplified version of the workaround was added as an option in a later patch.

Minthara received mostly positive reception upon release, in particular for the portrayal of drow culture in the game but also her role as a strong female character that did not require a redemption arc. However, response was more varied when compared to other companions in the game, with media outlets questioning if it was worth the effort when the game sharply penalized players. Some outlets felt the use of workarounds to be able to full enjoy the game and her character was a shortcoming of how the latter was handled, while others felt the official implementation of an option to bypass the hard moral choices undermined her character and the player's commitment.