Imoen

Imoen is one of the main characters of the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons a computer role-playing game. Her role as a character is to always stay by the protagonist, unless she is removed by the player. She is voiced by Melissa Disney.

Baldur's Gate is a location in the Forgotten Realms fantasy setting. This setting has been used and expanded via a series of books of the same name, as well as being incorporated into the Role Playing Game (pen and paper) Dungeons & Dragons. The Baldur's Gate series utilizes the setting as well as the rules of Dungeons & Dragons.

Storyline

Baldur's Gate

In the first game she is shown as one cheerful young girl in her late teenage years, an initiate thief and childhood friend of the protagonist, living in Candlekeep where they were raised.^[1] After the brutal attack, which claimed the life of the protagonist's foster father Gorion, she joins the bewildered and scared protagonist, through his adventures in the Sword Coast. Imoen is goodhearted, kind and compassionate and always wants to help other people.

Baldur's Gate II

Imoen arrives in the nick of time to rescue the protagonist from his/her cell and to join them again. She has dual-classed into Thief-Mage, but has lost much of her cheer due to the tortures imposed on her and on the protagonist by the mysterious mage Irenicus.

After passing through the dungeon, they witness the significant magical power of Irenicus against the Shadow Thieves, who he decimates. Enraged by her torment at the hands of her captor, Imoen attacks Irenicus, but he mocks the attack. The Cowled Wizards arrive and attempt to imprison both Irenicus and Imoen for unlicensed use of magic. Irenicus agrees to give himself up, but to her horror he demands the wizards take her as well.

The two prisoners are teleported to a magical prison named Spellhold, where Irenicus quickly proceeds to overrun the entire place, killing all of the wizards with ease and taking control of the premises. Meanwhile, the protagonist must find a way to the prison island and after he arrives there, Irenicus finishes his torturing of the protagonist; in doing so, he steals the main character's soul.

It is revealed that Imoen is also a child of Bhaal and thus the protagonist's half-sister. Irenicus's sister and accomplice, a vampiress by the name of Bodhi, accomplishes the same feat, taking Imoen's soul. Without their souls both Imoen and the protagonist are dying. Effectively, Imoen and the protagonist have swapped fates with Irenicus and Bodhi, who as exiled elves are preordained to slow death. The player kills Bodhi later in the game, and Imoen's soul is returned.

Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal

Imoen has grown to be a highly powerful mage herself, though is significantly less self-confident and constantly questions herself. Nevertheless, if chosen, she will battle along with her siblings—the protagonist and the revived Sarevok—in an epic conclusion against the remaining and most powerful children of Bhaal.

Non-canon

In the semi-official mod developed by David Gaider for Throne of Bhaal Imoen starts exhibiting some Bhaalspawn characteristics. She is able to cast some healing spells and has some bonuses on her stats, receiving +5 strength and +1 dexterity, which significantly boosts her physical firepower as she also becomes an efficient backstabber. At the climax of the game, she turns into the Slayer like the main character and it is only with his encouragement that she is able to control the inner beast.

Powers

In the original game, she is the best of all thieves with perfect attributes (Dexterity 18, Constitution 16) and the option to dualclass her to mage (Intelligence 17) or to some of the mage specialties. In the second game she is the third best thief, as she constitutes a stalled but sufficient thief for finding traps, scouting and opening locks (the bounty hunter Yoshimo is better, however he turns out to be a traitor mid-game; Jan Jansen, a multi-class mage-thief, is also better because he advances in thief skills). With the Ascension add-on her thieving skills are further boosted.

Character

As a Child of Bhaal, Imoen is an essential part of the storyline of the game, but the player is never forced to include her in the party. Being raised with the protagonist, she is the only character in both games who stays in the party no matter the party's reputation. Imoen is a very amiable character. She is very passionate and gentle toward other people's feelings and loves the protagonist deeply.

Her epilogue reveals that some time after her saga, she travelled with Elminster and Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, as well as founded an influential thieves' guild.^[2]

Reception

Dakota Grabowski of GameZone listed Imoen as one of the top BioWare created teammates, commenting "As the first character to join the squad in Baldur's Gate I, Imoen essentially becomes troubled by torture in Baldur's Gate II, creating a dilemma that players will want to protect this vulnerable rogue from all danger. Her sweet and sugary demeanor only aided in her appeal rating skyrocketing to unparalleled levels."^[3]

References