Pages Behind the Pixels: Baldur's Gate and the Accompanying Fiction

 Baldur's Gate is a popular series of video games produced by BioWare. The first released in 1998 and was followed by a sequel, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn in 2000. A spin-off series, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance followed in 2001 with a sequel in 2004. The latter were produced by Snowblind Studios and Black Isle Studios, respectively. Many years later, in 2023, Larian would produced Baldur's Gate III to critical acclaim.

These games brought to life the Forgotten Realms in ways previously tapped into by games like the old Gold Box series or The Eye of the Beholder series. I will talk about those in different articles, but today I want to make people aware of the fiction that ties into the Baldur's Gate series of games. This is for fans both old and new!

Baldur's Gate was novelized the year following its release. This novelization was done by Philip Athans, and Baldur's Gate II got a similar treatment. There was even a third novel for the second game's expansion, Throne of Bhaal written by Drew Karpyshyn. 

Sadly, the novel line was ended in several years ago, so beyond the occasional release of a Drizzt novel or the movie tie-in, we don't get any novels. Many fans believe a tie-in to the new game would make a lot of sense, too bad we don't have any sway at Wizards of the Coast.

However, there is more than just these three novels. While Dark Alliance never got blessed with any fiction, there are a number of short stories that deal tangentially with the story of the Baldur's Gate games. These are as follows: 

"Final Exam" by Dave Gross (read on page 317 here)

"Unburdened" by Dave Gross (read it here)

"Best Friends" by Dave Gross (read on page 324 here)

"Rancor" by Dave Gross (read on page 89 here)

"Law and Order" by Dave Gross (read on page 188 here)

(These next three specifically tie into the first game's expansion, Siege of Dragonspear)

"Amulet Fellow and the Regal Rose/Glint's Story" by Andrew Foley (read on page 17 here)

"Den of Chaos" by Amber Scott (read here)

"Dangerous World" by Andrew Foley (read here)

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