How To Release Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3

In the best RPGs, interacting with the world and making important choices make the genre work well. Baldur’s Gate 3 introduced Shadowheart, a trapped elf woman inside a Mind Flayer pod in the prologue, which you may want to release. Whether you played the Early Access version or hopped into the full release, this is how you can rescue her. When you do, we will also cover what happens, like if she becomes a companion or an enemy.

After following the main path of the prologue, you will meet Lae’zel. She will join you to have some fights and impatiently watches you inevitably interact with pieces of Mind Flayer tech and loot bodies. As you try to escape the Nautiloid, you find yourself in a room with a screaming elf on the east side. You have two ways to rescue her. One will lead you past her and circle back to save the elven woman. The other is much easier, but it’s only possible if you are a Wizard or Warlock.

If you don’t pick Wizard or Warlock in Baldur’s Gate 3, you must move past Shadowheart. 

1. Head through the fleshy door on the east side of the room that she is in. 
2. Follow this path and stick to the east as much as possible until you come across a room with a dead Thrall. 
3. Loot the body for an Elaborate Key. 
4. Nearby, there is a table with an Elaborate Chest, which you can use the key or picklock as a Rogue to open for the Eldrich Rune. 
5. Go back to the pod to rescue the elf.

You can skip those steps to rescue Shadowheart in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you are a Wizard or Warlock. 

1. Instead of going through that fleshy door, interact with the control panel to the right of the pod. 
2. Succeed a check after determining the kind of magic that you are feeling. 
3. If you pass the seven-skill check, select the next option to “inscribe the device with the glyphs you sensed from the pod’s warding runes.” 
4. Once you “place your hand on the console” to “will the pod open” for a zero wisdom skill check.

By freeing Shadowheart, you can unlock her as a companion once the Nautiloid crashes and you meet up with her again. From there, you will have plenty of relationship development, like with other companions you meet throughout the game. You will need a support character, so this Cleric should be on your mind when forming your group.