Unlikeliest hero can actually save your life in Baldur’s Gate 3

The rats in Shar’s Gauntlet have more to them in Baldur’s Gate 3, so much so that if you make the right decisions, they can be the hero who comes to your aid in a tough battle.

Baldur’s Gate 3 players have briefly mentioned some strange interactions they had with rats in the Gauntlet of Shar. They do have a little story of their own, which we’ll get to in just a minute, but the most interesting find was that these rats can actually come to your rescue. 

One player in particular found themselves in a tricky situation against Balthazar, which can be a difficult fight to get through if you aren’t prepared. 

“I had no movement left. I focused on DPS and [neglected] defense, so I had 15 AC for 50 hp. Flesh can pretty much one-shot me,” ‘ComprehensiveCopy824’ shared on Reddit. “Fortunately, there was a rat who had joined the fight when Flesh raged (don’t ask me why, I have no idea). So when it was his turn, he attacked the rat instead.” 

More fans in the comments shared their own experiences with a rat randomly appearing and saving them from assured destruction. But, how does this happen? 

On the second level of the trials in Shar’s Gauntlet, you can climb down a cragged rock to get to the feet of the giant Shar statue. Here you can read a book and inspect the broken effigy to conjure a rat who you can speak to. 

Here, you come to find that the rats in the Gauntlet of Shar are actually many ‘pieces’ of one person – Lyrthindor. 

So, these rats aren’t just normal rats. They’re actually many parts of a man, and they can come to your aid in battle if you decide to take Balthazar on when you meet him for the first time. Don’t expect them to be nice to you, though, as one player also explained “[the rat] told me to f**k off and leave” after the fight.

They won’t do much damage, to be fair, but the distraction they provide is enough to give you time to react in the way you want to win the fight. In fact, if Balthazar is low, the rat can actually kill him for you. 

So, the next time you’re walking around in the Gauntlet of Shar, make sure to look around and learn the story of the rats. You never know, you may have a new friend to help you out of tough situations.