Once you reach Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3, if Shadowheart is still in your party you will have the opportunity to finally conclude her companion quest, Daughter of Darkness. It is time for Shadowheart to reach Shar’s cloister and come face to face with her past. Once you reach the House of Grief to investigate, you will have the option to betray Shadowheart and surrender her to Mother Superior Viconia, the leader of the Shar cultists and Shadowheart’s teacher. So should you betray your companion and give Shadowheart to Viconia in Baldur’s Gate 3?
What happens if you betray and surrender Shadowheart to Mother Viconia in BG3
Deep in the heart of the temple of Shar under the House of Grief in BG3, Viconia will offer you a choice. You can either choose to engage in battle, or you can simply hand Shadowheart over to her. Though it goes contrary to what most players would want, it warrants mentioning that the battle with Viconia is quite grueling, especially if companion Shadowheart chooses to follow the path of Selune.
Choosing to betray Shadowheart here not only spares you a difficult battle, but Viconia also promises to order Lady Shar’s faithful to serve as allies in your battle against the Elder Brain. That said, however, you do lose Shadowheart as a companion forever. If you were endeared to her character throughout your journey as most other players are, this comes as a difficult prospect to accept.
What happens if you side with Shadowheart
As can be expected, refusing to hand over Shadowheart to Viconia in BG3 leads to you going up in a fight against the followers of Lady Shar. Shadowheart will obviously appreciate this gesture, you fighting for her and won’t leave your party.
The fight against Viconia and other followers of Shar is quite a tough one if you aren’t properly prepared beforehand.
Viconia herself reflects radiant damage at twice the damage you dealt so if your party is heavy on radiant damage use or classes such as Clerics and Paladins, then this battle can be extremely frustrating. Add on the fact that enemy disciples will spam spells like Darkness. If you are grouped together, you will need to have a very precise and proactive game plan to avoid certain death.
It is recommended to engage in the battle with ample AoE spells to pick off enemy groups and spell resistance boosting equipment and even counterspell to nullify possibly fatal spells when on the backfoot.
Regardless, once you overcome this grueling trial, you will be able to claim your prize after killing Viconia.
Once Viconia is dead, loot her body for the legendary shield Viconia’s Walking Fortress. The shield boosts your AC by +3 and grants various other fringe benefits such as the Warding Bond and Reflective Shell actions, as well as the exclusive Rebuke of the Mighty equipment feature and Spellguard, which grants you an advantage on spell saving throws.
Beyond that, you also get a few special keys, which allow you to access previously inaccessible doors in the House of Grief. One opens a door that holds Shadowheart’s parents captive and allows you to determine their fate.
Another opens a door to Baldur’s Gate 3 Mirror of Loss, which essentially grants you a permanent +2 bonus to any stat you wish. However, you must deduct 2 points from another stat to do this. The penalty can be removed via spells like Remove Curse as it is technically registered as one.
After killing Viconia, two other notable sites in the House of Grief remain. First is the Dormitory, where you will find an NPC called Nocturne. She is an old friend of Shadowheart and can actually serve as a merchant who sells useful items. After talking to her, you can loot Viconia’s chest for some pricey loot and special items, most notably the ‘Counting House Vault 8 Key’.
Using this in the Counting House will give you ‘The Patriar Blackmail Files’, ‘Skeletons in Patriar Closets’, 40 Gold, Onyx Ring, Silver Necklace, Diamond, Amethyst, Sapphire, Silver Band, Amethyst Ring.
Finally, the Night Orchid Cave is another noteworthy location in the area. If you go there, you will learn another new piece of information about Shadowheart. Turns out this used to be her hiding place where she would come to relax.
Should you give Shadowheart to Viconia in Baldur’s Gate 3?
All in all, I personally recommend siding with Shadowheart in BG3 instead of betraying her to Viconia. Regardless of what path she was made to follow before the encounter, what you stand to gain by successfully confronting her past and overcoming Viconia largely outweighs the hasty resolution obtained by betraying her.
Even discounting the various loot you stand to gain, it just feels like a disservice to not see a proper resolution to Shadowheart’s story arc. Especially having been there to watch it unfold since the very beginning. Though the battle may be hard, the payoff with regard to the conclusion of her character arc alone makes siding with Shadowheart worth it.
