Thaniel is an unfortunate soul in Baldur’s Gate 3 who has been trapped in the Shadowfell for centuries. Your quest is to find and save him from the darkness while retrieving his shadow half, Oliver. During this adventure, you will be aided by Halsin and complete two more quests, including Wake Up Art Cullagh and Lift the Shadow Curse.
If you save Thaniel, you will unlock Halsin as your companion in Baldur’s Gate 3. You will also be able to partially lift the shadow curse from the Shadow Cursed Lands. But you must make a specific choice with the Nightsong to fully dispel the curse.
Reach the Last Light Inn
The easiest way to start this quest is by reaching the Last Light Inn in the Shadow Cursed Lands and talking to a flaming fist mercenary, Art Cullagh. He is catatonic due to the Shadow Curse and can only be saved by finding and playing a Battered Lute. He will also mention a name, Thaniel.
Talk to Halsin at the camp and he will explain the tragic story of Thaniel to you. The purpose of Halsin’s life is to clear the Shadow Curse from the land, and it has something to do with Thaniel, whose current location is Shadowfell. This will start Wake Up Art Cullagh’s side quest and mark the House of Healing on your Map
Kill Malus Thorm at the House of Healing
Once you reach the House of Healing, you will find a mad quack, Malus Thorm. He will perform surgery on a patient with four nurses in the main hall. You need to kill him to loot the Battered Lute from his body. There are two ways to do so.
- Fight Malus Thorm and his four nurses. This is a difficult fight, and we recommend you take down his nurses first. Otherwise, they will keep healing Malus Thorm throughout the fight.
- Make Malus Thorm kill himself. To achieve this, you must start a conversation with Malus Thorm and pass some difficult dialogue checks. Once successful, the nurses will kill Malus Thorm and run away.
Wake Up Art Cullagh
Once you have collected the Battered Lute, return to the Last Light Inn. Play the Lute you acquired in front of Art Cullagh and wake him up. He will ask to talk to Halsin and explain the matter to him.
Go back to camp and talk to Halsin once more. He will come with you and talk to Art Cullagh, who will request him to save Thaniel. Art will mention a Field of Flowers where he can sense Thaniel’s presence.
Talk to Halsin once more, and he will ask you to come to the lakeshore. The next step will be a bit difficult due to a fight sequence. Make sure you are prepared aptly and stock up on potions.
Meet Halsin at the shore and Defend the Portal
Knowing the location of the Shadowfell, Halsin uses his magic to open a portal leading to it. However, due to his fragile magic, he assigns you a task to defend the portal while he enters it to retrieve Thaniel.
Many Shadow enemies will spawn who will try to destroy the portal. All these enemies have low HP, so you can target them with powerful AoE attacks. Once the fight for the portal ends, Halsin will come out with Thaniel in his arms. Halsin will vaguely mention Thaniel’s missing half and leave.
Find Thaniel’s other half, Oliver
A new quest, Lift the Shadow Curse, will trigger at this point. During this quest, you must return to the camp and talk to Halsin about Thaniel. He will explain how the Shadow Curse by Ketheric Thorm divided Thaniel into two parts. One was sent into the Shadowfell while the other, Oliver, stayed back. However, darkness has corrupted the other half, making him evil.
The next step is to find a house with flowers. To find this house, travel to the Shadowed Battlefield, east of the map. Once at the Shadow Battlefield, head to the Ruined Battlefield at the coordinates (X: 65, Y: 33). Here, you will come across a House in Deep Shadows. Oliver is inside the house.
Play Hide and Seek with Oliver
If you have visited this place earlier before saving Thaniel from Shadowfell, Oliver will ask you to play Hide and Seek with him. He will summon his shadow parents and a shadow dog. You need to defeat him at the game to progress the story. Once defeated, Oliver will turn sour, tempting you to kill him. However, don’t do this.
If you have already saved Thaniel and meeting Oliver for the first time, you can skip playing Hide and Seek by saying.
- I know who you are and where you belong. You need to reunite with Thaniel.
- Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.
Defeat Oliver and his parents
After the interaction, Oliver will get angry and open a shadow portal. As you follow Oliver, you will have to face the shadow parents of Oliver and his shadow dog.
Oliver will hide himself inside a Bubble called Nightdome. This is a very difficult fight, and the Nightdome doesn’t take a lot of damage. It has 300HP and can only be destroyed by killing Mama and Papa. Every time you kill one, the Nightdome loses 60HP.
Oliver will also summon a lot of his shadow copies with 1HP each. Use any AoE attack to take them all down in one attack. His Shadow Dog can be killed with the Magic Missile spell. Once the fight is over, Oliver will come out of the portal, and you can convince him to join Thaniel by saying.
- You will always have someone to play with.
- You don’t have to be alone anymore.
Once Oliver is convinced to return to Thaniel in Baldur’s Gate 3, you must gather your allies and return to the Light Last Inn. Talk to Halsin at the camp as he will explain that Thaniel is getting better with the return of Oliver. At this point, Halsin will officially join your party as a companion, and now you can romance him.
