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Discover everything you need to know about how to complete “Daughter of Darkness” quest in Baldur’s Gate 3 and what rewards you obtain.
The Daughter of Darkness quest in Baldur’s Gate 3 is a companion quest for Shadowheart and this automatically adds to the journal after Shadowheart joins the party. Shadowheart tells her wishes to become a Dark Justiciar. Navigate the Sharran ruins and find skeletons in Justiciar armor. However, the quest objectives and journal entries may vary depending on story decisions. The questline delves deeply into Shadowheart’s backstory, revealing her traumatic childhood and allowing you to understand her motivations and inner struggles. In this guide, we’ll discuss all the necessary steps required to complete the “Daughter of Darkness” quest in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Daughter of Darkness Quest Overview in Baldur’s Gate 3
Daughter of Darkness is the Companion Quest for Shadowheart. It is automatically added to the journal if Shadowheart joins the party officially after the events of the Prologue. Completing Daughter of Darkness will progress Shadowheart’s story forward. The “Daughter of Darkness” quest is part of Shadowheart’s sacred mission for Shar. Shadowheart has lost most of her memories about herself, but she believes she can regain them by returning to her cloister with an artifact.
Make your journey to the House of Grief and find a way into the Cloister. Complete the Trails of Shar and get into the Silent Library. You must choose to kill the Viconia or spare the defeated Viconia. Killing Viconia allows her equipment to be looted, though Jaheira disapproves. A Selûnite Shadowheart can be convinced to spare her parents with a DC 20 Religion check or DC 20 Persuasion check.
How to complete Daughter of Darkness in BG3
Shadowheart’s place in the epilogue is determined by two major decisions you make during her quest for the Daughter of Darkness. First, whether she embraced or rejected Shar. Secondly, whether or not her parents are still alive, if Shadowheart accepts Shar, defeats Viconia, and becomes Mother Superior, she shares that the devastation of the city has led to many new recruits for the House of Grief. If Shadowheart rejects Shar but kills her parents, then she will become a vigilante avenger, slaying Sharran’s assassins. These assassins hunt her, in turn, so she typically doesn’t feel free to visit her friends. However, if you or Wyll went to Avernus with Karlach, she would want to join the group once Karlach returns to Faerûn.
Shadowheart can be mysterious, pragmatic, and sometimes confrontational, but as a versatile cleric class, she makes a great addition to your team. After recruiting her, you can include her in your active party or keep her in the camp, ready to join your adventures whenever you wish. Be warned; she can be very protective of her past, and any questions about it will be treated with distrust.
Start the quest by getting close to the Shadowheart and rescuing Halsin from the goblin camp. Talk to the Halsin during the celebration in your camp and Shadowheart will note the former Dark Justiciar stronghold in the Underdark. Talk to the Shadowheart after the celebration.
Recruiting Shadowheart
Shadowheart in BG3 is first encountered in the Nautiloid, she’s trapped in a Mind Flayer Pod. We don’t recommend you save her in the first place as if you save her, there will be some charges where you encounter her once the ship is destroyed. The Shadowheart will be in the vicinity when you move through the Nautiloid once you free her. You will follow the shore to the north of where you landed if you don’t rescue her. Then the Shadowheart is available at the door of random ruins. You can also recruit her easily without facing any difficulty when attacking her.
Moving with Shadowheart
Many side quests can trigger chances or conversations with the Shadowheart when you travel with her. Below are some prominent events that can occur.
- Shadowheart will experience an old wound when you successfully save Arabella, allowing you to speak with her.
- She fails a saving throw against being frightened by wolves, allowing you to speak to her about it.
- Shadowheart argues for using the resources within when you use the Sellunite Prayer sheet to get access to the chest in the Owlbear cave. Here you can either convince her or avail the chance to talk and learn more about her.
- You can also speak with her after you meet with Raphael.
- While rescuing the mushroom picker if you somehow manage to collect the noblestalk from the bibberbang field, you can convince Shadowheart to eat it. This allows her to restore some of her memories and she will remember Rennald, a childhood friend, and ask you to locate him at Baldur’s Gate.
- While exploring the Shadow-cursed Lands collect a night orchid as this allows you to provide it to Shadowheart as a gift.
The Chosen of Shar
This is the initial stage of Shadowheart’s active quest. She informs you that she has always dreamed of becoming a Dark Justiciar, but the Mother Superior thwarted any attempts. You can find additional information about the Dark Justiciars within the Inner Sanctum of the Druid Grove. Investigate the murals with Shadowheart in the party. Halsin can explain more about a war fought between the Selûnites and the Dark Justiciars if you save her life during the “Rescue the Druid Halsin” quest. You can find multiple signs of Dark Justiciar remnants when you Travel through the Underdark and enter the Grymforge.
You can find several Dark Justiciar corpses that Shadowheart talks about while moving in the area closer to the deep rothe in the “Get Past the Rubble quest”. If you travel through the rubble leading above the ground floor of Grymforge, there are pressure plate traps. They are found while crossing Perception Checks and then be disarmed. There is a trapped Gargoyle Statue on the path at a locked grate. You can open the grate by lockpicking it, smashing it with force damage, or pulling the lever using Mage Hand. You can use spells like Misty Step or Gaseous Form to pass through the grate. Talk to Shadowheart to gift her Statuette of Shar. Doing this can more dialogue options and also a chance to gain approval with the player character.
Investigating the Gauntlet of Shar
Once you enter the Grand Mausoleum in the Shadow-cursed Lands, a side quest for Shadowheart starts. For this, you can bring the Shadowheart along when you activate the traversal gem at the end of the mausoleum. You can find the Grand Mausoleum in north of the House of Healing. Enter the Mausoleum after being accosted by Raphael. You will find three paintings with buttons under them. The button needs to be pressed to open the ways leading to the Moonrise Towers, Grief, and General.
Once you’re inside, the Shar will speak with you and invite you to take on her trials and prove yourself worthy. Accessing an Umbral Gem is the first objective you need to complete. Snuff out eight Mystic Thuribles around the room to do this. Pressure plates protect the room and there are two levels to the north and south of each side of the room. Now you have two choices: solve the statue Shar Puzlle or take longer proud and go west until you find the share trials.
When you enter, you’ll see a Shar statue with a globe and many side rooms. You won’t be able to get close to the status. It will knock you out immediately. In each room is a sarcophagus, trap, and lever that can lower the hanging purple braziers in the room around the statue. Your task is to lower all braziers using levers and turn them off until the room is completely covered in the dark. Then, avoiding light from the floor, you can safely interact with the globe in front of the statue and solve the puzzle. Now, the main door behind the statue should open, and you can go deeper into the Gauntlet of Shar.
This is not the only puzzle you will need to solve. Further north, you’ll encounter a glowing Ancient Altar in the middle of the temple, with a missing orb called the Umbral Gem. One will be already inserted, and one is missing. You need to find all four to get to the inner sanctum and locate Nightsong.
Encountering Balthazar
Straight ahead is the Ancient altar, where you can pray or leave. If you choose to pray, you must pass an Intelligence check in Religion with DC 14. If you successfully pass the skill check, you will gain Nightsinger’s Favour and resist necrotic damage until your next long rest. It will become useful later if you decide to fight with Balthazar.
If you go straight north, you’ll first encounter a few skeletons controlled by Balthazar, help them defeat the dark justiciars, and just next, you should be able to unlock Gountlet of Shar’s fast travel portal. You can find Balthazar to the west at X:-852 Y:-785. The result of the conversation with him will determine which spear you’ll receive at the end. He can share some good information with you, so it’s worth learning more and listening to his part of the story.
To get Selune’s Spear of Night, you must kill or trick Balthazar. Even though fighting an enemy is powerful, I advise you to kill him here. He can rise dead spamming enemies your way, so focus on eliminating him first if possible. After you kill Balthazar, you will achieve the Acolyte: Those for Whom the Bell Tolled. Make sure to loot the area; some good items are inside and behind the locked door.
The Trials of Shar
To find Nightsong and complete the quest, you need to obtain the remaining Umbral Gems and complete the four Sharran Trials.
Soft-Step Trial
Trials are relatively easy to pass. Interact with the Shar statue in the middle of the room to be able to access the trial. If you have Shadowheart with you and allow her to do it, you’ll get some approval from her. Soft-Step Trial in Gauntlet of Shar requires you to sneak unnoticed to the back room behind the labyrinth filled with traps, hidden passages, and patrolling shades.
Pick the last door to the right and, while sneaking and avoiding patrolling shade, went straight to the wall and then, on the left in a small room, passed a simple 10 Perception check that revealed the button and the lever. You can activate it, and the wall will move, showing the straight path to the back of the labyrinth. The wall will close eventually, but you have a few chances to get there. Once you pass the Soft-Step Trial, you can get the orb and use the portal to return to your companions.
Self-Same Trial
This time, your task is to defeat the mirror images of your team. It can be a challenging fight because you’ll essentially be fighting yourself. After the fight, go up to the balcony with the brazier, and don’t forget to pick up the Killer’s Sweetheart ring, which will be on the bench next to it. Grab the orb, and let’s get to the last, the hardest task.
Faith-Leap Trial
The last trial is on the lower level, underneath the previous two. Take the stairs down to get to it. The room will be filled with darkness. Make blood offerings, and take a look at the floor in front of the blood altar. It shows the map of how to proceed through the shadows to get to the other side of the room and get the umbral gem. Your task is to take the path on the left side and retrieve the gem. Make sure you save the game before entering the trial’s shadow path, as it can sometimes be a little buggy.
Raphel’s Enemy
You may wander there already as you see and follow a Displacer Beast seemingly running away from you. Follow it down the stairs, jump, and proceed to the east to find a sad sight of corpses and what’s left of previous temple inhabitants. You’ll be surprised by Yurgir, a Hell’s Orthon and Raphael’s enemy there. Ask questions and learn more about Raphael’s deal and both creatures’ history because there are two solutions to it. Kill Yurgir and claim his Umbral Gem, or use persuasion to convince him to kill all his allies and himself. The first approach requires a strong team because the enemy is very challenging, so make sure to come prepared. Second, you must pass many persuasion, history, and insight checks to achieve your goal.
The fight will be long and focus on the hardest enemy first, Yurgir, but send one or two party members to simultaneously kill his minions because, from range, they can deal serious damage. If you decide to go the persuasion path, you’ll get less experience but avoid hard fights. In a peaceful solution (kind of), you must first learn more about the deal that Raphael and Yurgir signed. After he sings the song to you, you must pass an automatic insight check to receive an option to tell him that you know the solution to his problem. You can save the game after each successful roll(load the saved game if necessary) and slowly convince him that he cannot leave the place because there are still those who can hear his song. The Displacer Beast, his minions, and himself.
Regardless of how you deal with the Yurgir, get the Umbral Gem from his bed made of corpses, then come back to the pedestal to insert all gems, and finally find Nightsong in the inner sanctum.
The Silent Library
Silent Library is located next to the Faith-Leap Trial X:-756 Y:-753. Inside, you’ll encounter dark justiciars enemies, and you can’t use spells until you destroy the portal of the librarian in the middle of the room. During the fight, you can stay on the stairs leading to the library and let enemies come to you. After the fight, scout the area. There are various traps, but you should easily pass the perception checks. The weapon to kill Nightsong is in the Treasure room deeper into the library. To open it, you must lockpick the gate and find the book Teachings of Loss: The Nightsinger. The book is on one of the bookshelf, alongside many other fantastic lore stories and entries.
Lockpick the gate, but be aware of traps and disarm them if possible. Place the Teachings of Loss: The Nightsinger book on the pedestal in the middle. It will open the treasure room. Inside, you’ll find the Dark Justiciar Helmet, Dark Justiciar Half-Plate, and the weapon to kill the Nightsong – Spear of Night. Now, you are ready to confront Nightsong.
Shadowfell
You will find yourself on a floating stone island when you enter the Shadowfell. You can easily jump down to an area as this place has no gravity. Entering the Shadowfell will lock you out of nearly all side quests you may have unlocked in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. When you return, the game will propel the story forward into Act 2’s climax confrontation. Make sure you’ve done everything else you wanted to complete before going any further.
Next, take the four Umbral Gems you have collected to the first Ancient Altar and place one in the empty slot. The elevator that appears will take you to another platform, where you must insert the other three gems. This will unlock a doorway that leads into a mysterious pool with a statue of Shar. A dialogue scene will Shadowheart will trigger automatically. Afterward, step into the pool of water and you’ll be transported to the Shadowfell.
Killing the Nightsong
The major reveal is that the Nightsong is not an inanimate object but a living being: an Aasimar and daughter of the goddess Selûne, whose proper name is Dame Aylin. The necromancer Balthazar has trapped her and is funneling her power of immortality into General Ketheric Thorm. The Nightsong is the reason he cannot be killed. Furthermore, she and the cleric Isobel had fallen in love, and Aylin’s feelings have not changed despite the passage of decades. She still believes Isobel to be dead, and is unaware of Ketheric’s new alliances.
Choosing to let Shadowheart kill the Nightsong will bind her forevermore to Shar, and she will fulfill her dream to become a Dark Justiciar. You will be rewarded with Shar’s Spear of Evening, a legendary weapon that will grant you an Advantage on saving throws while hidden and a unique spell.
Furthermore, Aylin’s death will result in the light shield protecting the Last Light Inn failing. As a result, any who are sheltering there will die. This will include potential party companions Jaheira and Halsin, along with major NPCs like Isobel and Dammon.
Baldur’s Gate
You will move into Ferg Drogher once you enter the Rivington, on the outskirts of the city. He tells you that the Shadowheart check in at the Cloister of Sombre Embrace. You can’t get into the location once you move into the lower city.
The Lower City
The House of Grief is found in the far northwestern corner of the Baldur’s Gate Lower City map. We recommend going here next in our Baldur’s Gate 3 Act 3 Checklist. Furthermore, this location is vital to resolving Shadowheart’s quest. No matter what choice she made while facing the Nightsong in Act 2, you will want to make sure you put Shadowheart in your party and bring her to this house of Shar worshipers.
We recommend you wait until you’re level 12 before heading directly to the Sharran Enclave as soon as you arrive in the Lower City. You can encounter multiple battles here, so getting involved in these fights might be dangerous. Move to the west side and get inside the building over there. The building is found north of Lady Jannath’s Estate, across a small bridge. Shadowheart will be welcomed into the basement if she renounced Shar before. You now give her up to the church and gain the church’s support in the fight in return.
You will encounter a dozen Sharrans when you choose not to surrender. The Sharrans are led by the Viconia DeVir. The enemies cast the Darkness, making the fight more intense and tough.
Defeating Viconia DeVir
You’ll start this fight with the high-ground advantage, and you can move back to put some distance between you and your enemies. The Shar’s followers will be nicely stacked together, so any AoE spell, arrows, or attacks will help you deal with more of them at once. They will cast a Darkness spell, an area effect that will prevent your range weapon characters and spellcasters from far attacks, so move away from the affected area to avoid issues.
Choosing “make it quick” prompts Viconia to reveal more about Shadowheart’s past, leading to further dialogue options. To obtain Viconia’s Walking Fortress Legendary Shield in Baldur’s Gate 3, you must kill Viconia DeVir and loot the items from her body. She will also have other remarkable gear, including Viconia’s Priestess Robe and Handmaiden’s Mace.
When the battle ends, you need to loot the Sharrans until you find a Silver Key. The key is required for opening the door on the West End. The Shadowheart’s parents are being held at this place. Speak with the Nocturne, Shadowheart’s old friend by heading into the dormitories, north of the main chamber. The Shadowheart will decide to save their parents, give herself to Shar once again in return, or allow them to die. Regardless of any decision you make, the “Daughter of Darkness” quest is complete here.
Rewards for completing Daughter of Darkness Quest in BG3
If Shadowheart becomes a Dark Justiciar, the Shadowheart and her Sharran Followers as allies for the quest Gather Your Allies. If Shadowheart is given over to Viconia, the Iconia and her Sharran Followers become your allies for the quest Gather Your Allies. You also gain Dark Justiciar Boots, Dark Justiciar Gauntlets, Dark Justiciar Half-Plate, Shar’s Spear of Evening, and Dark Justiciar titles. Completing the quest also rewards you with Spear of Night, Viconia’s Walking Fortress, Viconia’s Priestess Robe, and Handmaiden’s Mace.
FAQs about Daughter of Darkness in Baldur’s Gate 3
What is Shadowheart’s artifact?
Shadowheart’s artifact is the Mysterious Artefact, a many-sided box of blackened iron with runes that pulse. There’s something that stirs within the box.
How do I gain Shadowheart’s approval?
It is easy to gain Shadowheart’s approval by helping people, respecting her privacy, and fighting against oppression. You need to help people, be kind to children and animals, and avoid violence. You need to respect her desires if she doesn’t want to talk about something.
Can I romance Shadowheart during this quest?
Yes, you can start a romance with Shadowheart during the “Daughter of Darkness” quest. So, be mindful of your actions and dialogue options during the quest.
What happens if I reject Shadowheart’s loyalty to Shar?
She’ll be welcomed into the basement, where you can simply give her up to the church. You gain the church’s support in the final battle in return.
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