Lore'd to Death

Bane, Bhaal & Myrkul - The Dead Three [Baldur's Gate 3 / D&D]

• Brett

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This week we dive into the Dead Three who consisted of Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul; three mortals who dared to challenge the God of Dead for his portfolios. We go over everything from their life as mortals, their ascension to godhood, and their deeds as deities as well as how they were involved in the infamous Time of Troubles. If you're a fan of Baldur's Gate 3, you're not going to want to miss this one.

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Hey there, welcome to the Lore’d to Death podcast– a deep dive into the lore of your favourite games, movies, shows, and more! My name is Brett, and today I want to finally continue the story that we started ages ago in our episode about Jergal and talk about the Dead Three– whom I would consider the main antagonists of Baldur’s Gate 3. This will be the story of three mortals who dared to ascend to godhood, their misdeeds, and answering the question of why are they called the Dead Three?

Just so that you’re well aware at the top of the episode; the following will contain full spoilers for the plot of Baldur's Gate 3. I mentioned that I would consider these three gods to be the antagonists, and there’s no way to tell this story without talking directly about the plot of the game. So if you haven’t quite finished the game, go ahead and wrap up your playthrough and come back to this episode. It’s going to explain a lot of things about the game that I know I personally wanted to know while I was playing, and I hope it wraps things up nicely for you as well.

Before we started I just wanted to ask that you rate this podcast 5 stars wherever you’re listening to it, or like and subscribe if you’re on Youtube. The only way I know that you’re enjoying the content I’m making is if you let me know! So rate the show, leave a comment, or send an email to loredtodeath@gmail.com to suggest an episode, or just say hi! So with that out of the way, let’s get on with the episode.

And where better to start then all the way in the beginning. Centuries before the Dale Reckoning, there lived three adventurers: Bane, the tyrant; Myrkul, the necromancer; and Bhaal, the assassin. Unfortunately, we know next to nothing about them during this time save for some information about Myrkul, who’s full title was Myrkul Bey al-Kursi, the crown prince of Murghôm. So while we don’t really know anything about Bane or Bhaal, we know that Myrkul had a royal lineage, which would seemingly set him up for life with whatever he might have needed. And we know that Murghôm was full of mages, so it makes sense that Myrkul was also a powerful mage and a necromancer to boot.

These three adventurers, assumedly clothed in the riches of Murghôm, made a pact that they would ascend to godhood or die trying. And, of course, what better portfolio to go after for a group of assassins, tyrants, and necromancers than the portfolio of death held by Jergal, Lord of the End of Everything. And so the three would travel around Faerûn doing quests and gaining power over time until they felt like they had what it took to take on the God of Death himself.

I really wish that there was more information about this time, because I feel like there’s so much that we’re missing. Who exactly were these three adventurers, how did they meet, and why did they suddenly set their sights on godhood? We might never know the answers to these questions, unfortunately, but we have a pretty detailed account of what their adventures were past this point.

So much so that we have a date that we can put them in, -357 DR, in which the three adventurers, would decide that they were ready to take on the God of Death and started to marshall an army to help them get to his fortress, the Castle of Bone in the Grey Waste. This alliance consisted of several unlikely champions such as the wizards of Barze, the peoples of Varam, Gnolls from Flindyke, Goliaths of Akoro, and Gnomes of Forharn. I say this is an unlikely alliance just because the peoples that were gathered were from all over the place and consisted of races and groups of people who would have never really bothered with each other otherwise. It’s not that they were enemies, per se, but that it must have taken some seriously good rolls from the adventuring party to get them all to agree to slay a god together.

But in order to slay the god of the dead, they needed one more thing because you can’t just wake up on a Tuesday morning and decide to kill god unless you’re a highschool student in an anime series. What they needed was a shard of divinity to give them an extra edge and the first step to godhood. So, with their army in tow, they headed to the Frozen Forest at the base of a giant glacier in northern Faerûn where Maram of the Broken Spear, one of the Seven Lost Gods was currently residing. Maram was an ancient primordial who had been enlisted by agents of Netheril to fight in the Seven Sigils War a century earlier, but escaped their control and was hiding in the Frozen Forest. In the end they were successful in slaying Maram, and Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul all took a piece of their divinity for themselves. This bolstered them, but it did not give them any divine powers. For the moment, they were still mortal.

But it did give them enough to finally seek the Grey Waste in search of the Castle of Bone where they would hope to find Jergal and steal his godhood. There they fought through waves of skeletons, zombies and various undead creatures controlled by liches which seemingly had no end. But, eventually, they succeeded and were granted access to the Castle of Bone and the bone throne that Jergal sat on… and I know I made the same joke in my Jergal episode but… heh… bone throne…

Without any formalities, the three adventurers claimed that the throne was theirs by right since they had gotten this far.

“I claim this throne of evil,” shouted Bane the tyrant.

“I’ll destroy you before you can raise a finger,” threatened Bhaal the assassin.

“And I shall imprison your essence for eternity,” promised Myrkul the necromancer.

But, assumedly since they saw that there was only one throne, they started bickering with each other. See, as much as they had been adventuring together for an untold number of years, they were all still a group of evil dudes who were in it for themselves. It sounds like, because of their nature, they were always pitting everyone against each other and constantly in a state of arguing.

Jergal, however, was like my dad whenever I asked if it was my turn on the xbox and let out an exasperated sigh and said, “The throne is yours. I have grown weary of this empty power. Take it if you wish– I promise to serve and guide you as your seneschal until you grow comfortable with the position.”. Jergal was also looking for a change of scenery, it turns out and willingly gave up his portfolios. However, there could only be one god of death and so Jergal offered to give it to one of the three members and be their coach while they were getting used to the position before retiring. This, of course, started another fight between the three. They quarreled over who should be the one to sit on the bone throne.

Jergal, ready to retire, was already tired of their infighting and intervened lest he be trapped in this moment for an eternity waiting for everyone in the room to die of exhaustion. He said, “After all you have sacrificed, would you come away with nothing? Why don’t you divide the portfolios of the office and engage in a game of skill for them?” To which the three agreed that this was a fair compromise. And playing for the portfolios in a game of skill would mean that the best man would come out on top.

The game was that of skull bowling. Jergal gathered the three skulls of his most powerful liches and gave one to each of the three. The goal was to roll a skull across the Grey Wastes and whomever rolls the farthest wins. Whether by coincidence or not, Malar the Beastlord happened to arrive to visit Jergal at this very moment and learned of the mortals who were competing to take his portfolios off his hands. The three adventurers, having bowled their skulls already, were already engaged in the game to take the portfolios, and Malar would not have that. He chased off after the skulls and halted them and the game until he was considered for the role as well, since he apparently wanted to be god of death as well. Who doesn’t? Of course, this sparked another argument between the three about how Malar had ruined their sport and Jergal was forced to intervene again.

“Why don’t you allow Lady Luck to decide so you don’t have to share with the Beast?” Jergal asked. And the trio agreed to this. Better that than having to fight a god in a rigged game of skill only to lose. And best to do it while Malar was off chasing the skulls and not around to participate in their game of luck.

So Jergal broke off his skeletal fingers and gave them to the three adventurers so they could play a game of knucklebones. Thankfully for the three, they finished their game before Malar returned, and by the time he got back they were being awarded their portfolios. He was furious, but what could he do against the god of death? He was a mere lord of the beasts and held no contest.

Bane won first place, Myrkul second, and Bhaal third. Bane, being called the tyrant, decided that he would take the portfolio of tyranny. “As winner, I choose to rule for all of eternity as the ultimate tyrant. I can induce hatred and strife at my whim, and all will bow down before me while in my kingdom” he said.

Myrkul, being in second, declared, “but I choose the dead, and by doing so I truly win, because all you are lord over, Bane, will eventually be mine. All things must die– even gods.” This also makes sense for Myrkul, being a necromancer, that he would choose to be god of the dead. That, and it seems like being god of the dead was the overall goal for the three anyways. The fact that Bane didn’t choose it seems like a missed opportunity, but he seemed happy nonetheless.

Bhaal technically lost the game, but he still made it out with a good portfolio. He stated, “I choose death, and it is by my hand that all you rule Lord Bane will eventually pass to Lord Myrkul. Both of you must pay honour to me and obey my wishes, since I can destroy your kingdom, Bane, by murdering your subjects, and I can starve your kingdom, Myrkul, by staying my hand.” And Bhaal thus became the god of death.

I think it’s a good idea to make the distinction between Bhaal and Myrkul, however. Bhaal chose to be the god of death, while Myrkul chose the god of the dead. Dead and death are two different things, and it took me a minute to really realize the difference myself. Being god of death is typically looked at as being the god of murder, as Bhaal would be more known as, and I think that god of murder is a better way of looking at it. Meanwhile, being the god of the dead meant that he was essentially the grim reaper. He presided over the domain of the dead and more importantly was the embodiment of the fear of death, whereas Bhaal was more the act of being murdered itself. I’m not sure that I can really put it into better words myself, honestly, but I hope that makes some sense.

And so the three became the gods of their respective domains, Jergal assisted Myrkul as his seneschal while he was getting into the position, and Malar was left to pout in the corner because he wasn’t allowed to have a horse in that race. So he left and continued presiding over his beasts. Now that we know how they became gods, I think it’s worth it to talk over each of the three as individuals; go over their personalities, worshippers, all of that good stuff, and then we can go into their history as the dead three and find out why they were referred to as such. So let’s just go in the order that we’ve been mentioning them this entire time (not that it particularly matters); Bane, Bhaal, and then Myrkul.

Bane was known as the Faerunian god of tyrannical oppression, terror, and hate. He was referred to as Lord Bane, the Lord of Darkness, The Dark one, The Black Lord, The Black Hand, and Bane the Accursed. I think most people referred to him as the Black Hand, and he ruled from his divine realm, the Black Bastion, which could be found in Avalas, the first layer of Archeron, while his home plane was Banehold, also known as the Barrens of Doom and Despair. And, as you might expect from someone with that excellent introduction, Bane was recognized as lawful evil.

To this end, he was wholly malevolent and tended to distance himself from other mortals who he looked down upon. Because of this, he tended not to deal with his worshippers face-to-face very often, and didn’t favour being summoned directly. Instead, he tended to rule from afar and focus on instilling as much terror in the hearts of mortals, whether they followed him or not, and used that hatred as fuel to gain greater control over the realms.

You might be wondering, as someone who used to be a mortal themselves, why did Bane hate mortals so much? And that’s because he has a big, stupid ego just like the rest of his ilk. As we know, the three’s plan was to become gods, and so once Bane had achieved that end he thought of himself as better than everyone else because he was essentially able to pull off a zero to hero. He was an extremely ambitious individual who believed that the strong had the duty, and the right, to rule over the weak. And so now that he was a god, he felt that it was his place to make sure everyone knew how much better than them he was.

That being said, he did have respect for those who seemed to share the same drive as him. He favoured those with courage and the drive to be the change that they wanted to see in the world when he pertained to those who were doing so for personal gain or for the sake of inflicting pain upon others, like gaining new territory or taking it from others. It would also seem that he was a large proponent of slavery, as his teachings were largely used in places that were under a dictatorship or had rampant slave trades as those were two themes that fit into his strong-over-the-weak mentality.

When he was summoned, he had a dark and shadowy appearance and appeared as though to be wearing armour made of shadow along with his iconic gauntlet which he wore on one hand. He had no favoured weapon, just the gauntlet, which he would use to punch his way through the opposition while occasionally being accompanied by a raven named Koravis.

Interestingly, Bane was also individualistic when it came to dealing with other deities as well. Since he wanted to be the best around, and no one’s ever gonna keep him down, he tended to only make alliances that were certain to work out in his favour, or make thin promises that he could easily break later for his own gain. The only real exception to this was with Myrkul, whom he had a long-standing alliance with since they began adventuring together. It doesn’t say it outright, but because it doesn’t specifically mention Bhaal in this, it seems like Bhaal was looked down upon in the group. Bane in particular seemed to loathe Bhaal, and there are even sources that state that Bhaal was actually a servant to Bane and was under his thumb rather than standing with him as an equal. Other than Myrkul, though, Bane had working relationships with Loviatar, the goddess of agony; Talona, the goddess of poison and disease; and Mask, the god of shadows and thievery.

Of course, there are no alliances without making enemies, of which Bane had plenty. Most notably on the naughty list was Mystra, the goddess of magic, whom Bane hated because of the power that she held. Being an evil god, Bane also hated the Triad which consisted of Tyr, Ilmater, and Torm, three lawful good deities, for reasons that we’ll get into later, along with Cyric who was right up there with his hatred for Mystra.

Bane’s worshippers, called Banites, were much like he was– just the worst sorts of people– but there was a merit to his church. Among the evil gods, Bane’s church is said to be the most stable despite his entire mantra being based around power struggles. You would think there would be plenty of infighting, but his followers tended to settle their disputes through debates rather than a show of force, which made for a relatively constructive atmosphere. That doesn’t mean it was a great place to be, though, and he was just as strictly structured as any other evil gods was. Everything was centered around power, like I mentioned, and so Bane was at the centre of all things and his worshippers were willing to give their lives at a moment’s notice if he willed it. They were nothing if not entirely subservient.

There were no calendar holidays under Bane, but instead gratitude was shown by ritual torture and sacrifices in the name of their god and their holy symbol was the black hand of Bane. They would pray at midnight for their spells, pledging their full loyalty to Bane knowing full well that the penalty for disloyalty was death. His cleric could be recognised by the black-enameled gauntlet worn on one fist, symbolizing Bane’s own weapon which was just the same. Other than being pugilists, his followers were given extra power when casting spells against undead, having a greater effect against lesser undead, ghouls, and phantoms.

And I think that’s all that we have to say on Bane for now, so let’s move forward to Bhaal.

Bhaal was simply known as the Lord of Murder or the Dread lord. He was also known as, and I know I’m going to butcher this, Niynjushigampo amongst his Gugari worshippers. He was the Farunian god of violence and ritualistic killing. He ruled from the throne of blood on Khalas, the first layer of the outer plane of Gehenna and was depicted as neutral evil.

Bhaal lived for the thrill of the hunt, and lived only to kill. Fitting for an assassin, I would say. He was a very cruel, violent, and hateful being, and even the mere presence of the living would cause him to go into a frenzy and he was liable to kill everyone around him. Being neutral evil, his behaviour went from cold, calculating, and ruthless to a complete savage whose only goal was to shed blood by any means necessary.

Bhaal had three different avatar forms: the Slayer, the Ravager, and Kazgoroth. The Slayer resembled a humanoid male’s corpse with ivory skin that had deep lacerations when in urban areas. However, as we see in Baldur’s Gate 3, the Slayer is depicted as a four-armed bipedal beast with a long tail, spikes all over its body, and far too many teeth. This is the form that Orin takes in her fight, or the form that the Dark Urge can take later in the game considering that they are both Bhaalspawn. I believe there’s a difference in descriptions for the Slayer because the first one, the human male, is Bhaal’s own avatar while the Slayer that you can transform into in Baldur’s Gate 3 is an aspect of Bhaal, so technically not his actual avatar but a depiction of it. 

The Ravager was a giant monster said to be 30 feet tall with a flowing beard and mane of hair with glowing eyes that held the fires of Gehenna. And from its forehead protruded two 7 foot long horns. This was the form that he would take in more rural areas.

Kazgoroth was simply a shapeshifting monstrosity and took the form of terrifying creatures like a T-Rex. This beast was born from a moonwell corrupted by Bhaal called the Darkwell in 1345DR. It took several different guises throughout its existence, and would come to terrorize the inhabitants of the Moonshae Isles until it was defeated. Then it would bide its time and draw power from the moonwell so that it could rise again in a few years and start all over.

And I just want to get ahead of this by saying that there are some serious discrepancies with Kazgoroth. In earlier sources, Kazgoroth is cited as being an aspect of Malar, the god of beasts that we mentioned before. And considering that Kazgoroth is typically depicted as a T-Rex or other beasts and had the ability to inflict lycanthropy, it makes sense that this would actually be the aspect of Malar rather than the avatar of Bhaal. But all later sources state that it was an avatar or minion of Bhaal. An avatar here seems to allude to being an agent of Bhaal rather than a form that Bhaal himself would take, but it’s still described as an avatar throughout sources so I figured it still makes an amount of sense to put in here. Plus, we get to learn of all of the discrepancies with the word avatar and that it can mean many things.

Speaking of minions of Bhaal– the clergy were known as Bhaalists or Bhaalyn in lands east of the Dragon Reach. The church was very disorganized, having no set structure or hierarchy and what little order they did have was different from church to church. But while they were a bit distant from each other, they all collectively agreed that murder was their favourite hobby as it was their gods. Each cleric was expected to murder at least one person every week. The holy symbol of this church was a skull surrounded by a ring of bloody droplets.

And just like Bane, Bhaal had his fair share of adversaries within the pantheon. Chief among those was Chauntea, the goddess of life. I don’t think it takes much imagination to figure out why the god of murder might have it out for the goddess of life and bounty. He also had it out with Helm, Imater, Lathander, Lliira and Tyr; all of which were either lawful or good. Those who served and work with him were Talona, the goddess of poison, and Loviatar, the goddess of agony whom Bane also worked with. In turn, he also worked for Bane. And by worked for I mean was probably enslaved or indentured in some way to serve Bane. But in his servitude, he also had an Imp butler named Cespenar who would also do his bidding for him.

And that brings us to Myrkul; the new god of the dead. He was also known as the Lord of Bones, Old Lord Skull, The Reaper, and the Deathless Lord of Death. His full portfolio was that of death, decay, old age, exhaustion, dusk and autumn– all things that revolved around or were close to death. And being associated with death and being a former necromancer, his alignment was neutral evil. I think it’s interesting to note at this point that we almost have the full spectrum of evil-aligned members in the dead three, but we never see chaotic evil. I feel like, if anyone could have filled that slot and rounded out the table, it could have been Bhaal. Bane has a strict set of rules that he follows, hence being lawful-evil. Myrkul is the god of the dead, which I can see neutral being associated with, although I would think that since death is impartial and it comes for us all in the end that a good god of the dead would have been true neutral, I understand that Myrkul’s mortal life as a right bastard comes into play here so his alignment makes sense. Bhaal being the god of murder feels like he would have been a good candidate for the chaotic-evil slot, especially considering everything we talked about with his avatars and general disorganization of his church. But, I digress.

The avatar of Mykul appeared as a skeleton of a man hidden in flowing black robes who was on the brink of death with leathery skin and cracked, black lips. He spoke in a high whisper, as his voice was said to have been higher and softer than you’d expect when he was a mortal, and spoke in a monotonous tone showing no emotion. When this avatar showed up in the reams, a mere touch from him could disrupt the life force of non-divine beings, siphon away their strength, or even inflict mummy rot on them. Mummy rot was basically a death sentence, and would slowly rot away the victim until they died in a maximum of around 6 months. On the flipside, as you would expect from a necromancer, Myrkul could also use his touch to reanimate a being into an undead.

This all falls under the fact that Myrkul wanted people to be aware of death at all times and have it directly in the backs of their minds. He was a bit of an egotist as the god of death, and would do his best to make sure that he was remembered with every word and action causing general unease to remind the world that death was waiting for them and he would greet them at the end.

However, despite this, he was not very popular amongst worshippers. While his rule inspired the dread of death, it was exactly that– dread. There was little love for Myrkul, and because he was associated with the feeling of dread, there were few who decided to truly worship him. Most were happy to try their best to forget him, despite Myrkul’s best efforts. But, those who did worship him were called Myrkulites and were often undertakers in one form or another. They were tasked with ensuring that Toril both feared and respected death. And because of the mummy’s rot touch of Myrkul, the priests often spread rumours that touching one of his priests would do the same to carry out that same fear, although it was nothing more than a rumour and they didn’t possess the same power as their god. The holy symbol of these worshippers was a white skull inset into a black triangle.

One kind of neat and noteworthy part of their church is that the clerics would travel about the realms offering burial and funeral services for a fee. When called upon, they would do anything in their power to make the affected comfortable with the idea of death and assure them that it was a peaceful transition from life to death. They were also responsible, in those cases that they were hired, to carry out the remaining affairs of the deceased such as last wills and testaments. One could even pay out a “skull fee” to have a cleric of Myrkul carry out their unfinished business after their death such as things that they could not complete in their life or final arrangements for their death. I tried to find out what this skull fee is, but I can’t find more than it was likely paid by the person who was to be deceased instead of by their next of kin after they passed. Whether or not an actual skull was used in the transaction is kind of unclear. But I think that, honestly, it might have meant that the cleric had the right to take their skull after the business was done. They do seem like an odd bunch, after all, and I wouldn’t put it past them to bring skulls back to the church to make some sort of macabre sculpture out of them.

And just like the other members of the dead three, he had his share of foes and allies. It says here that he had a complicated kinship with Bane and Bhaal in both his mortal and god life, which I think is interesting but it makes sense. They were used as a means to and end for Myrkul to gain the throne of bone and become god of death, so I don’t imagine it was exactly a friendship but more of a working relationship. Another deity that was counted amongst his allies was Shar, which I think makes sense. His enemies were Chauntea, Lathander, and Mielikki, the goddess of forests. An interesting choice there. But he likely had many other foes, these are just the ones that were listed. 

And that’s all I really have to say on the dead three at this point. That’s the overview of their personalities, avatars, and churches, so now we can get into their lives as the dead three. I think it’s worth noting at this point that, while all three members were considered gods and were deities in their own respects, they were not gods as much as you would consider the originals like Chauntea, Tyr, or any major gods. They were quasi-deities. That means that they held all of the powers of a divine being, but they were not as strong as others. It was almost like being a demigod which I think is the best way I can really describe it. Their existence was that of a mortal and deity being intertwined since they were once mortal and they found a way to ascend to godhood. However, if a quasi-deity was able to amass enough followers, they could actually transcend into being a fully-fledged god. I don’t think that any of the dead three achieved this, though.

So let’s talk about the Dead Three. As deities, they reigned over their respective realms for centuries. Bane spread hate and tyrannical rule throughout Faerûn and inspired a network of thralls in the Zhentarim, also known as the Black Network, which was a mercenary company full of spies, assassins, thieves and wizards who were indentured by their leaders to service Bane. He would become one of the most detested deities across the continent, and wasn’t very popular as a result. Myrkul was also in the same boat where most people feared him too much to respect him and so he didn’t see widespread worship either. But he was given offerings at funeral services as the god of the dead, so at least he didn’t fade into obscurity.

Bhaal, on the other hand, became a god of immense power despite being the “loser” in their game to be gods. He was able to use his murder-hobo wiles to the most effect being the god of death and murder. In the year of clinging death, 75DR, the great seer Alaundo arrived at the library fortress of Candlekeep where he told the monks of his prophecies. One of these prophecies was a vision that Bhaal would become aware of his imminent death as a god and ensure his legacy by sowing his seed across Faerûn, with little to no respect for his partners Bane and Myrkul. This turned out to be true, and by the mid 14th century Bhaal would have sired a score of mortal progeny in his Bhaalspawn. This would ensure that his legacy went on after him in the event of his death.

Fast forward to that time during the Time of Troubles in 1358DR, which I know I’ve mentioned a few times on this podcast. It’s hard not to talk about it when you’re writing about the gods and their history as it was such a prolific event. And finally we get to dive into the full story because, wouldn’t you know it, Bane and Myrkul were at the head of it.

Probably after seeing how well Bhaal was doing, Bane and Myrkul desired more power. Like I said before, if a quasi-deity could amass a large enough following they could become a fully-fledged god, and this is likely what they were seeking. So Bane and Myrkul conspired to steal the Tablets of Fate from Lord Ao. If you don’t know, Ao was essentially the figurehead of the deities. He was known as the overgod, and all deities and primordials, no matter who or what they were, were subject to him. The Tablets of Fate were powerful artifacts in the form of stone slabs that served to maintain the balance of law and chaos.

Ao was not having any of this. He was fed up with gods being locked in a habitual power struggle that prevented them from being able to carry out their duty as deities towards their mortal faithful. After all, a god’s duties were to the mortals that walked the realms and everything that they did should be in service to them, as Ao thought. But, as  was evident by Bane and Myrkul trying to steal the Tablets of Fate in an attempt to rewrite the balance of law and chaos, the gods seemed doomed to repeat the mistakes of their forebears. And so, Ao decreed that every god (with the exception of Helm who was to guard the gates to the heavens) would be forced to walk amongst the mortals without their divine powers in an attempt to humble them.

The immediate repercussions were that divine magic no longer worked as intended. If a faithful called forth for divine aid, they would get nothing in return unless they were within one mile radius from their deity. You can see the flaws in this already. As a secondary result of this, Mystra was no longer able to maintain control over the arcane magic that she presided over with the Weave and it became dangerously unpredictable. The third, and possibly the most dangerous repercussion is that since gods were now walking the earth with no way to abscond from their avatar forms, they were extremely vulnerable. If there was ever a time to kill a god, it was right now when they were stripped of their powers and truly vulnerable for the first time to mortals.

Of course, walking the realms as an avatar without divine powers this didn’t stop Bane and Myrkul from wanting to steal the Tablets of Fate, but to do so they needed more firepower than ever. So they contacted Bhaal and had him get in on the fun too, and the three were on course to cause some havoc. Bane rallied the Zhentarim and members of his clergy to begin a hunt for the tablets. He began with an assault on the town of Shadowdale which ended with a battle with Mystra, the goddess of magic, and Elminster, one of the most powerful wizards alive. However, the weave wasn’t exactly working as intended, as I mentioned before, so they were both a shell of what they were capable of. Thankfully for them, they had plenty of help.

Bane managed to slay Mystra and learned of the location of one of the tablets, which were in the city of Tantras in the Temple of Torm’s Coming guarded by Torm himself. Myrkul was busy on the western side of Faerûn and after being defeated in battle, he learned the location of another one of the tablets and sought to bring it to his realm of the Great Waste of Hades. However, to get the other tablet guarded by Torm, they knew that they were going to need to work together in order to take down the guardian.

So Myrkul and his clergy worked on a mass-scale death spell in a scheme that could give Bane more power. With this spell and the names of all of the assassins in Faerûn thanks to Bhaal, they were able to kill scores of Bhaal’s followers in a single moment while the priests of Bane performed a ceremony that was known as the stealing of souls. This is exactly what it sounds like, and they were able to harness the power of the ungodly amount of people who had just died by the hands of Myrkul.

I wondered this for a moment, but very quickly came to the conclusion that it made plenty of sense; why did they kill Bhaal’s minions, and why was Bhaal okay with it? And then I realized that, of course, Bhaal is the god of murder and he doesn’t give a shake of a dog’s tail if his followers die because murder is what keeps him going. Of course Bhaal was willing to sacrifice a bunch of minions for the sake of their goal. Plus, he had the largest following so I’m sure that even with these deaths, he was still the most worshipped out of the three. 

But what was all of this for? What were they siphoning the power of souls for? Well, they transferred the essence into Bane, and he was transferred from his avatar into the massively armoured statue made of black-glass known as the Black Brother. This was exactly the edge that they needed to get past Torm and get the remaining tablet.

And so Bane went towards the city of Tantras to confront the titan-sized, lion-headed Torm. Torm, as well, had been empowered by the souls of his clergy as well who sacrificed themselves willingly at his temples at their God’s request. This was unexpected, but Bane wasn’t just going to back down now and so they engaged in a massive fight. This caused unprecedented damage in the city; took down buildings, tore the earth up from the ground, and caused general disorder. But in the end, they destroyed one another in a brilliant explosion caused by the two clashing and they were both dead.

Meanwhile, a mortal Zhentarim thief named Cyric had learned of what the three gods of death were doing and decided to rally his fellow soldiers to do the same. With a group of adventurers, Cyric was able to get a hold of one of the tablets and made his way across the sea of fallen stars to the city of waterdeep. Of course, the remaining two gods, Bhaal and Myrkul, sniffed this out and learned that they had one of the tablets in their possession and sent out their minions to intercept them.

Cyric was able to escape and meet up with more of his comrades. He explained to them what was going on, and that the two gods were on his tail trying to get this tablet from him. This sparked the plan to get their hands on the other tablet so that he and his companion, Midnight, could take advantage of the situation at hand and ascend to godhood themselves. The avatar of Bhaal managed to track them down to the High Horn Hold where they trapped him in amber and were able to escape. But not before learning that the other tablet was taken by Mykrul already and held in his fortress in the Grey Wastes.

Being trapped in amber didn’t hold the god of murder for long, and Bhaal was able to escape after a time and continue his hunt where he found them camped out. Bhaal began killing everything; soldiers and their horses so that they couldn’t escape. He was able to kill a large score of them before being hit with a lightning bolt from Midnight, which hurt him greatly. He focused his attention on Midnight, and just as he was advancing, Cyric managed to use his thief skills to sneak up and plunge his sword into the avatar of Bhaal, killing him.

They were able to regroup in Waterdeep knowing that there was only one of the three left; Myrkul. And while Mykul didn’t particularly care for his companions that had just died, he did still care about the tablets and so he couldn’t just let them go. So Myrkul was able to use the one tablet he did have to create a portal into waterdeep that connected Hades and Toril, and was able to funnel legions of undead into the city.

In the chaos, Myrkul was able to obtain the second tablet of fate and, while he was attempting to escape with them, was thwarted by Midnight and her growing magical abilities, and Myrkul was forced to fight her and her allies directly to secure the tablet once again. While he was distracted by a griffin rider that flew overhead, Midnight was able to disintegrate the god of the dead, and his withered body drifted across the sky from the Blackstaff tower.

And so, the three were dead. And it was all their fault. If they hadn’t colluded to steal the tablets from Ao, Ao would have never cast all of the gods down to walk the realms in the avatar forms. And if they weren’t in that position, Cyric and Midnight wouldn’t have been able to kill Bhaal and Myrkul, and Bane wouldn’t have died fighting Torm. And this is where we get the nickname the Dead Three. The three gods of death, killed by their own folly.

But you might be wondering, this was before the events of Baldur’s Gate 3, so how could this be possible? How could they be dead? And that’s the funny thing about death in the D&D universe is that he seems to be more of an inconvenience than anything else.

Cyric was ascended to the bone throne as the god of Death which was then bestowed upon Kelemvor. So they held the portfolios that were held by Myrkul. So Myrkul wasn’t easily able to weasel his way back into the pantheon, but he was able to keep a piece of himself that wasn’t absorbed by Cyric into the crown of horns which was an ancient Netherese artifact. But he was able to come back in a more limited form in the 15th century DR where he was basically forced to share his aspect with Jergal who was acting as seneschal to Kelemvor, the current god of the dead, at this point. After that point he was able to remain a quasi-deity in mortal form.

Bhaal, as I mentioned before, was able to maintain his legacy through his vast progeny, the Bhaalspawn. While many of his clergy in urban areas ended up worshipping Cyric, who took the portfolios of Bhaal after murdering him, there were still plenty in rural areas who worshipped him and only him as their lord of murder. After a time in 1492 DR, all of his Bhaalspawn were dead after an event where two of the Bhaalspawn clashed and killed each other, which gave way for him to resurrect as was his plan all along. Bhaal was also a being of quasi-divine status, basically a strong mortal, who got his domain back from Cyric.

Bane was the only one who was able to truly circumvent his death and managed to come back within a decade of being killed. He had anticipated that he might meet his end, and so he created a scion for the purpose of his regeneration. His half-mortal son, Iyachtu Xvim, was nothing more than a cocoon to hold his father’s divinity within himself until he was ready to literally burst forth from his chest and regenerate. But after the events of the second sundering and the spellplague, Bane was left as a quasi-deity in mortal form along with his brothers in death Myrkul and Bhaal.

So the three were essentially just really powerful mortals. I would call them demigods at this point. But they were all able to reclaim parts of themselves that were stolen by Cyric and were able to reestablish themselves in their respective clergies. And that brings us to the Absolute crisis in the 15th century DR.

The Dead Three had all chosen their champions within Baldur’s Gate in an attempt to take over the city and bring themselves back to their former glory. If you remember I said way back when that if a quasi-deity were able to get enough followers, they would be granted full godhood. Well, that was the plan.

Bane had chosen Lord Enver Gortash, Bhaal had the Dark Urge, and Ketheric Thorm was the supplicant of Myrkul. These three would do work for the Dead Three to bring them back to power and to terrorize the city of Baldur’s Gate.

Lord Gortash and the Dark Urge formulated a plot that would allow for their respective gods to commit an unholy number of murders in Baldur’s Gate and beyond. They stole the Crown of Karsus from the archdevil Mephistopheles which they forced onto the Illithid Elder Brain that ruled over a colony in the Underdark in the Moonrise Towers. They manipulated the Elder Brain into supplanting tadpoles into the brains of countless Faerûnians but with a catch; the infected would not immediately undergo ceremorphosis but rather the tadpole would lay in wait until the time was right when everyone who was infected would transform at once. These infected were basically given a telepathic link to the brain who served a divine entity known as the Absolute– hence the Absolute Crisis.

While this was happening, Ketheric Thorm was working in the Moonrise Towers with Myrkul to raise an army of the undead that would march upon Baldur’s Gate. The plan was that, when that happened, Lord Gortash would be there with his Steel Watch (an army of automatons) to save the day and formally take over Baldur’s Gate as the city’s saviour. Meanwhile, everyone turning into Mind Flayers at the drop of a dime would add to the chaos and bring about numerous deaths with which the Dead Three could siphon power from the released souls… or at least they thought. It turns out that’s not how it works and Mind Flayers don’t have souls, which meant that when hundreds or thousands of people suddenly turned into Mind Flayers, the Dead Three would gain no benefit. And, seeing as undead didn’t have souls either, Myrkul’s undead plot was moot as well.

The only thing they really had going for them in this plot was that by technicality, they were all getting plenty of followers which did bolster their power. See, the people who were implanted with the tadpoles were hearing the voice of what they called the Absolute, which was really just the Elder Brain that was being controlled by the Dead Three via the Crown of Karsus. But since the cult of the absolute recognized the Absolute as a divine voice speaking to them, it became a sort of religious cult. Because they were worshipping the Absolute, which was really just an Elder Brain, which was actually just the Dead Three, they were being inadvertently worshipped which was enough for the cult of the absolute to be considered their followers. Wild concept, really.

But, as we know, they were thwarted during the events of Baldur’s Gate 3. Or, I would assume so at least. I don’t think there’s a canon ending to Baldur’s Gate 3, so I don’t think we can say for sure what happened until the next game or module that continues the story comes out. So, going over the events of the game feels like a bit of a moot point since there are so many things that can happen in the game and we don’t know what is considered to be the right option.

And so that brings us to the end of this episode about the Dead Three; Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul. And that means I get to ask my favourite question which is; what did you think? Do you think that the Dead Three would have maintained their positions as gods if they didn’t instigate the TIme of Troubles? Or, who do you think is the strongest among the three? It seems like Bhaal ended up doing the best despite losing the game of knucklebones, but does that make him the strongest?

You can find us online @loredtodeath on your favourite social media apps, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. We’re also on Youtube, so if you head over there and hit subscribe I would really appreciate it. If you have any questions or suggestions for topics, please send me a message wherever you can find me or at loredtodeath@gmail.com. If you’re using the Spotify app, there’s a comment section attached to the episode where you can submit any questions or topics. If you’re on Youtube… you know what to do. I would love to hear from you!

And remember; don’t reach too far. It’s okay to be happy with what you have, and there’s no point giving into the hustle culture so that you can become the god of gods. Once you have a comfortable position, it’s okay to settle down and just exist. We’re only here for a short time, so make the best of it, lest you get stabbed in the back or disintegrated atop a tower. And I’ll lore you to death in the next one. C’ya.

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