While inside the Gauntlet of Shar, players must undertake different puzzles to advance Shadowheart’s companion quest. This companion quest is tied to the Nightsong quest and the progression of the main story. One of those puzzles is in the Silent Library of Baldur’s Gate 3, and completing it can allow players to get a vital item for Shadowheart’s story.
While completing the main quest requires players to find Umbral Gems through Trials of Shar and taking the last one from Yurgir the Orthon, the Riddle of Night inside Silent Library is only necessary for the companion quest.
Silent Library Puzzle location
The puzzle is located on the lower floors of Gauntlet of Shar. The same corridor that has the Faith-Leap trial has the entrance door to the Silent Library. Go down the stairs after completing Soft-Step and Self-Same trials and you will be in the corridor where the Silent Library is. Its door (X: -742, Y: -755) has a shimmering veil that you can cross to enter it.
Baldur’s Gate 3: Silent Library Puzzle Solution
Before you can try to solve the riddle, you will have to clear the room. As soon as you enter the Silent Library, you will encounter a number of enemies. The main enemy in the center of the room, the Librarian, will cast Silence on your party members. This enemy is an umbral orb you must deal with first. As you can’t cast spells, use your melee fighters to take it down.
This will remove the Silenced condition, and the Librarian won’t be able to summon more Dark Justiciars. Now, focus your attacks on the Dark Justiciars and take them down.
Once all the enemies are dead, you can explore the silent library and solve the riddle. There is a room with a pedestal, but its entrance is closed with a portcullis. Search the library to find four hidden buttons, one in each corner. One button is real; others are fake.
Only the button in the Northwest corner is real. Make sure to ungroup the party if you want to try all the buttons. Pressing the wrong button will hit the attacker with a chained lightning attack that can be fatal. Once you press the right button, the portcullis will be lifted, and you can find a pedestal with a depression in front of a Shar portrait.
Unlike some other riddles, you don’t get the choice to answer the riddle. Instead, you must place an item on the pedestal to complete the Silent Library puzzle. When you interact with the altar, you will be asked the question, “What can silence a Nightsong?“
The solution to this riddle is within the Silent Library. There are multiple bookshelves there. Go to the one near the Northern wall (X: -770, Y: -745) in the room where you fought the enemies. Search it to find a book called Teachings of Loss: The Nightsinger. Keep in mind that all these bookshelves are booby-trapped. So, make sure you disarm the traps before interacting with them.
Add the book to your inventory, then head to the Riddle of Night pedestal again in Baldur’s Gate 3. Interact with it and place the book within the slot. This will open a vault behind the Lady Shar portrait on the wall. Head inside and loot the area to grab the Dark Justiciar armor set.
Besides the armor, you will also get Spear of the Night, the main item you came here for. The Spear of the Night is crucial to Shadowheart’s story and needed when you must decide whether to kill the Nightsong or let her live.
