Cultural references

Baldur's Gate 3 contains a number of Cultural References to other pieces of media, such as books, television, and other video games. These references are collected here, although this list is certainly incomplete.

Games

Divinity series

Most of Larian's previous games are part of the Divinity series, beginning with Divine Divinity (2002) and ending (for now at least) with Divinity: Original Sin (2014) and Divinity: Original Sin II (2017). The latter game has many things in common with Baldur's Gate 3, including the use of "origin characters" who can be chosen as the player character or recruited as companions; physics-based effects like surfaces and dippable weapons; and the ability to talk to most animals.

The Digital Deluxe Upgrade contains several references to Divinity: Original Sin II:

• It adds portrait paintings of the DOS2 origin characters Fane, Ifan ben-Mezd, Lohse, Marcus "Beast" Miles, Sebille Kaleran and the Red Prince to Act 1 as loot items.
• Characters who can  Perform gain access to three additional songs which reference Divinity: Original Sin II: Of Divinity and Sin, The Queen's High Seas and Sing for Me.
• The Divinity Item Pack contains several items from Divinity: Original Sin II: the Mask of the Shapeshifter, Cape of the Red Prince, Lute of the Merryweather Bard, Needle of the Outlaw Rogue and Bicorne of the Sea Beast.

There are other references to Divinity: Original Sin II which don't require the Digital Deluxe version:

• Micheil Ros' pig Lulabelle is referenced in a Deception check during a conversation with Manip Nestor, the Fist guarding the barn at the beginning of Act 3. This may only be available when the party members are caught sneaking into the barn.
• Tarquin, an NPC from Divinity: Original Sin II, is referenced in the lore surrounding Lenore De Hurst, as well as possibly in the House of Grief's Client List.

Fallout series

• On the far side of the Jungle at X: 1500 Y: 1480 there is a skeleton dressed in a torn full body blue outfit, potentially a reference towards the Vault Dweller or Vault Suits from the Fallout series.

Final Fantasy XIV

• The popular MMORPG by Square Enix is referenced in the  Folk Hero in the inspiration event  A Smile Better Suits.... This is an unfinished quote from the character Haurchefant, who says it during the main story of the Heavensward expansion. The full line runs as: "Don't look at me so. A smile better suits a hero." The phrase is repeated several times throughout the following expansions as a bittersweet form of encouragement.

Danganronpa

• Pre-ordered copies of the Japanese PS5 version of the game from publisher Spike Chunsoft came with a special “Dice of Hope and Despair” die design “with the motif of Monokuma appearing in the Danganronpa series”, which is also published by Spike Chunsoft. In the Danganronpa series, Monokuma is a black and white robotic teddy bear who forces the students of Hope’s Peak Academy to kill each other in deadly games. The dice is mostly white, but the "20" face is black with a symbol matching Monokuma’s distinctive red left eye.

Dragon Age: Origins

• Completing the quest  Find the Missing Letters grants inspiration to  Noble characters, fulfilling a goal  Interrupted Communications. This title alludes to a quest from Dragon Age: Origins called "Correspondence Interruptus" which also involves tracking down missing letters.

Dragon Age II

• On The Risen Road, there is a group of paladins of  Tyr. The leader is a man called Anders who wields a weapon called the Sword of Justice. This may be a reference to Anders and Justice from Dragon Age II.

Criminal Case

• The  Haunted One background goal  Kill 'Em While They're Young might refer to one of the cases of this detective hidden-object game, bearing the same title.

Dungeons & Dragons (various settings)

• The  Acolyte background goal  Acolytes of the Demonweb Pits is a direct reference to Demonweb Pits. In Forgotten Realms lore, this is the 66-th layer of the Abyss, governed by  Lolth herself. The inspirational event is granted upon convincing the spiders of clan Lur in Grymforge to abandon their duergar masters in the favor of Lolth.
• The  Guild Artisan background goal  Lantanna Marvel refers to Lantan islanders from Forgotten Realms lore. According to it, the Lantanese were known for their advanced technology, including intricate weaponry and clockwork mechanisms. As islanders, they had to develop seafaring and ply far and wide for trade. The goal is fulfilled upon using the Submersible to reach the Iron Throne.
• The  Soldier background goal  Rudolph Van Richtover My Dead Body is a combination of a common saying and a name of the most famous monster hunter within Ravenloft horror campaign setting, Dr. Rudolph van Richten. His personality, in turn, is based on Professor Abraham van Helsing from Bram Stoker's "Dracula". The goal if fulfilled for defeating Cazador Szarr, if the latter has managed to become a Vampire Ascendant.
• When trying to convince Blaze Elin to let them enter the Wyrm's Rock Fortress, a  Warlock character has a unique  Intimidation line: they threaten Elin to put her name into the Book of Vile Darkness unless she allows them to proceed. However, the roll has DC 30, and if failed, Elin promises to "shove their book somewhere vile and dark" in response. The book in question is an artifact whose copy in Faerûn was written by, among others, Bane. The name is shared by sourcebooks for 3rd and 4th edition D&D, as well as the third film in the direct-to-video Dungeons & Dragons film series.

The Elder Scrolls series

• The Dragonborn trader Exxvikyap in Rivington may be a vague reference to [[1]], a character from an in-game book titled "The Lusty Argonian Maid", which is quite often encountered in all The Elder Scrolls games since The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. Both are quite fond of the men they are working for, and have a particular interest for spears. Besides, Lifts-Her-Tail, as the title suggests, is an Argonian - a reptilian race in the realm of The Elder Scrolls.

Films & Television

'Allo 'Allo!

• When first encountering Hope in the House of Hope, she says "You have to listen very very very closely. I will say this only once.", alluding to the famous phrase "Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once", a line spoken very often in the series by several characters, but mainly by Michelle Dubois, a woman in the French Resistance during WWII.

Apocalypse Now

• The  Soldier background goal  Love That Smell, alludes to a scene in the film Apocalypse Now in which an American military officer proclaims "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" as an attack on a civilian target commences.

Asterix and Cleopatra

• The  Guild Artisan background goal  Special Iced Arsenic... Brew? references a song about poisoning a cake (a "special iced arsenic cake", according to the lyrics) from the animated film Asterix and Cleopatra.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

• The character Geezer Loryss is a merchant in the Lower City, who bemoans the destruction of his cabbage stand. This references the recurring Cabbage Merchant bit character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, who is a frequent victim of collateral damage from the heroes' adventures. Loryss also has unique dialogue for the  Monk class, referencing protagonist Aang's monastic character.

Beetlejuice

• Across the Devil's Fee in Lower City stands a NPC by the name of Nelburn Frust, who tries to activate some item that should make him "lucky forever". To achieve the effect, he must pronounce three times words "Scarab Sap", which actually is a periphrasis of the incantation that summoned the main antagonist in the Tim Burton film. The very mechanism of the summoning (saying the words thrice aloud) is the same as there, too.

Brandy & Mr. Whiskers animation series

• The  Urchin background goal  What Price Dignity? is named same as one of the episodes of the show. Its plot, in turn, refers to a 1926 Ralph Walsh film What Price Glory.

Community

• Lavernica's Home is a reference to Britta's character from Community season 2 episode 14: "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons".

Ghostbusters

• The  Outlander background goal  I Ain't Afraid of No Shadows paraphrases a lyric from the title theme to the film Ghostbusters.

Gravity Falls

• The item Shield of Shielding is a reference to the episode Dungeons, Dungeons & More Dungeons where a main character, Grunkle Stan, casts a spell of the same name due to rather unimaginative quick thinking.

Indiana Jones

• The  Guild Artisan background goal  These Belong in a Museum! is a reference to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which Indy says this about historical artifacts being pilfered by private collectors.
• There is a corpse in Jungle in the cave underneath the Skeleton near the magic ring that can be found in the area at X: 1570 Y: 1508. Based on its outfit, it may be a reference to Indiana Jones.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

• The greataxe Sethan and its abilities are a reference to a character in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders named Alessi. Alessi wields an axe and possesses a stand spirit named Sethan that similarly wields an axe and who has the power to de-age people, usually reducing them into young children.

Kitchen Nightmares

• Chef Marjoram in Lady Jannath's Estate can be heard berating Falura for serving raw food "You served this to Lady Jannath? It's RAW!", a reference to the famous scene with Gordon Ramsay in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares.

Monty Python's Life of Brian

• In Lavernica's Home a dead drow named Incontinentia Figgin can be found. This name may be a reference to a scene in Monty Phyton's Life of Brian, in which a roman noble woman named Incontinentia Buttocks and her husband Biggus Dickus are mentioned.

Parks and Recreation

• The  Charlatan background goal  Not to Worry, I Have a Permit quotes a scene from Parks and Recreation in which Ron Swanson offers a park ranger a permit that simply says "I can do what I want".

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

• The  Charlatan background goals  Always Trust a Dishonest Person and  Never Trust an Honest Person both refer to one of the final scenes of the film, where Captain Jack Sparrow explains that one can always trust a dishonest man... to be dishonest. The honest ones, however, should be watched out for, because they might at any moment do something incredibly stupid.

South Park

• The text of the book Gondian Autoprinter Manual, although missing the question (????) marks, may nevertheless be a play on the profit meme that arguably originated from this show.

The AristoCats

• The  Urchin background goal  Alley Cats, granted for speaking to both His Majesty and Steelclaw, is a reference to a cat jazz band with the same name - supporting characters in 1970 Walt Disney Production The AristoCats animation film.

The Fifth Element

• The  Noble background goal  Multipass is enthusiastically repeated a number of times by Milla Jovovich's character Leeloo in the film The Fifth Element.

The Karate Kid

• Sa'varsh Kethk in the Classroom in Crèche Y'llek can be heard saying "Strike hard! Slice flesh! No hesitation!" a reference to the motto of Cobra Kai, the antagonistic dojo in the film The Karate Kid.

The Lord of the Rings film trilogy

• One of the jokes that might be brought forth by the player character during the 'Laff Riot', a stage contest held by Harvard Willoughby in Elfsong Tavern, runs as "Say, what's the difference between a dwarf and a bulette? You can't toss the bulette!" This might be a reference to the two episodic scenes involving Gimli the dwarf and Aragorn in The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, both describing Gimli's concern about whether his fellow should (or should not) toss him over the distance he might not be able to jump over.

The Matrix

• The  Sage background goal  They're in the Walls! might refer to a scene in the 1999 Lana & Lilly Wachowski movie, where a special operation trooper figures out the route of Morpheus's crew retreat by hearing Cypher's cough.

The Simpsons

• The Crawling Claws Itchy and Scratchy in Lucretious' tent share their names with the titular characters of The Itchy and Scratchy Show, a show-within-a-show on The Simpsons.

Tomb Raider

• There is a corpse in the Jungle the cave underneath the Skeleton near the magic ring that can be found in the area at X: 1566 Y: 1503. Based on its outfit, it may be a reference to Lara Croft.

Various Films

• During the game's opening cinematic, a Wilhelm Scream can be heard from one of the townspeople abducted by the Nautiloid. This is a stock sound effect from the 1950s that became something of a meme after being included somewhere in every Star Wars movie. It has been used as an easter egg in many films, TV series, and video games since.

Vox Machina

• In the Elfsong Tavern are two patrons, Dame Guisarme and Bombasto, resembling Vox Machinas gnome cleric Pike Trickfoot and goliath barbarian Grog Strongjaw. A Guisarme is a medival polearm - or a pike.

Literature

Discworld

Terry Pratchett's Discworld is a series of comic fantasy novels set on a flat world which travels on the back of an enormous turtle. While it developed into its own fantasy universe, it was born from and always contained elements of parody of other fantasy - including Dungeons & Dragons. Larian's Swen Vincke has said on Twitter that the first book he gave to his wife was the Discworld novel Small Gods, and that he has converted "countless people" to the series via that book.

• In addition to the Poe reference (see below), Quothe the Raven is likely also a reference to the talking raven named Quoth (no "e") appearing in the Discworld novels Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time. Quoth was originally a wizard's familiar, but in the novels he is the companion, translator and flying mount of the Death of Rats, the rat equivalent of the grim reaper.
• Lupperdiddle Swires is a gnomish adventurer famed for their ability to leap extraordinarily high. While they do not appear in the game, they are mentioned several times in the name or description of various items, including the Potion of Glorious Vaulting, Arsonist's Oil, Shield of Returning, Swiresy Shoes and Swires' Sledboard, as well as in Brave. "Swires" is the name of two different gnome characters in Discworld: Swires, the first gnome in the series, who appears in The Light Fantastic; and Buggy Swires, a member of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, who is not known for leaping but does give aerial support by riding on various birds. (On the Discworld, gnomes are only about six inches tall.)
• The in-game book The Butler's Cane Has A Knob On The End is a reference to "A Wizard's Staff Has a Knob on the End", a bawdy Discworld tavern song frequently sung by the witch character Nanny Ogg.
• The in-game book You've Got Friends in the Guild contains the sentence "Their view is this: if you got to have crime, better it be organised crime!" This is a paraphrase of a line from the novel Men at Arms, attributed to Lord Vetinari, ruler of Ankh-Morpork, explaining the logic behind having a legalised Thieves' Guild.
• A group of dwarves in Rivington can be found enjoying several Fried Rat Skewers. In Discworld, fried rat-onna-stick is a favorite dwarven delicacy.
• The in-game book Lessons of Helm is written by someone named Thou Shalt Not Suffer The Doom Herring To Live O'Reilly. That's similar to a kind of name used in the Discworld novels like Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, No'-As-Big-As-Medium-Sized-Jock-But-Bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock or Constable Visit-the-Infidel-with-Explanatory-Pamphlets. The last is in turn a parody of some real-life religious names such as the 17th century English Protestant preacher and politician Praise-God Barebone and his son Nicholas, a prominent economist, whom he supposedly christened If-Jesus-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barbon.

Edgar Allen Poe

• The Raven summoned by  Find Familiar is always named "Quothe", the only standard familiar to receive a name. A raven of the same name is summoned by the Raven Gloves. This is clearly a reference to Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven", which includes the recurring line "Quoth the raven: 'Nevermore.'"

William Shakespeare

• The  Folk Hero background goal  Greatness Thrust Upon Them hails back to William Shakespeare, to Twelfth Night, or What You Will. It is part of a phrase uttered by Malvolio, the steward of Countess Olivia. The full quote is "Some are born great; some achieve greatness; some have greatness thrust upon them".
• The  Haunted One background goal  To Sleep, Perchance To Dream Tentacled Dreams is a periphrase of a line of the famous "To be, or not to be..." soliloquy from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.
• The  Sage background goal  Heavy is the Head might also be a reference to Henry IV by William Shakespeare, where the King tells his page that "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown".

Brothers Grimm

• The books Lacie and the Modrons and The House on Drench Lane and Other Stories are authored by the Sisters Macabre, which is a reference to the Brothers Grimm, who were famous for compiling and editing many folklore stories into popular children's fairytales. The Brothers' stories were often intense, violent, and sexual, some of which can be seen in the two books referencing them.

Other dramas, novels, and poems

• The name Nautiloid for the mind flayer ships in the Prologue and Act Three references not only the real life marine species Nautiloid but also the Nautilus, the famous submarine ship of Captain Nemo in Jules Verne's novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and The Mysterious Island.
• Names of wolves in the Zhentarim Basement are Istor, Indra and Isbeth. While Indra may be associated with the deity of Indian mythology (with war and fight as one of domains), "Isbeth" is also a name of a nearly-immortal queen of the Solis Kingdom in Jennifer L. Armentrout's fantasy book series Blood and Ash, described as an intelligent and ambitious, but cunning and cruel woman.
• The  Acolyte background goal  Those for Whom the Bell Tolled references Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls; the title of this novel references John Donne's Meditation XVII, which contains the often-quoted line "Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
• Both  Pied Piper ( Charlatan) and  Slaying the Piper ( Urchin) background goals are a reference to a German fairy tale about the Piper of Hamelin, who hypnotized town rats to follow him into deep water by playing a flute. After the citizens of Hamelin refused to pay him for this, the Piper lured all their children to drown with the same trick.
• The  Guild Artisan background goal  In the Palm of My Hand might refer to a line from William Blake's famous poem Auguries of Innocence: "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour."
• The  Guild Artisan background goal  Trust and a Little Pixie Dust references J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, in which it is said that all one needs to make one's dreams come true is faith, trust, and a little bit of pixie dust.
• The  Haunted One background goal  Good Ol' Long Pig may refer to Alfred St. Johnston's Camping among Cannibals study about the culture of Polynesian tribes, where the author claims the "long pig" term to mean a roasted human body.
• The  Sage background goal  All Knowledge Is Worth Having is a saying from Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Dart.
• The  Urchin background goal  Artful Dodger is taken from the nickname of the leader of a street urchin gang in Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist.
• The  Urchin background goal  Down with the Steel Oppressors! might be a reference to a 1768 political pamphlet by John Englishman, which is famous for its stance "No liberty! No life! Proper wages, and down with the oppression!". "John Englishman" was one of pseudonymes of John Wilkes, English radical journalist, politician and essayist.

Other known aphorisms and idioms

• The  Charlatan background goal  The News of My Deeds Was Greatly Exaggerated refers to misquotation of a well-known aphoristic phrase by Mark Twain, "The report of my death was an exaggeration" (often misquoted as "The news of my death was greatly exaggerated"), which he uttered in response to a death hoax in the New York Journal in 1897.
• The  Guild Artisan background goal  Blood, Sweat, and the Other Thing, gained for participating in Araj Oblodra's experiments, derives from Winston Churchill's famous speech on meeting his Cabinet in 1940 in which he said "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat", meaning a hard toil to achieve a cherished prize.
• Another  Guild Artisan background goal  Simple Tools, Great Works may hail back to Vincent van Gogh quote that runs as "Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.".
• A pair of mutually exclusive goals for the  Noble background,  An Iron Fist and  A Velvet Glove, are actually two halves of a well-known aphorism describing a proper style of state-governing, attributed to be uttered by various outstanding historical persons, from King Solomon to Niccolo Machiavelli to Charles XIV Johan of Sweden.
• The  Noble background  Lest Ye Be Judged origins from biblical verse "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1-3).
• The  Noble background goal  Nobleborn as Below, so Above might be a reference to one of the verses from a Hermetic text known as Emerald Tablet, popular among spiritual and occult practitioners like Helena Blavatsky in the late XIX - early XX centuries. In Hermeticism, the "as below, so above" principle suggested a correspondence between the spiritual or heavenly realm and the physical or earthly realm.
• One of idle voicebarks of the Old Troutman on the Heapside beach runs as "You can have any fish you like as long as it's halibut!". This is a paraphrase of a famous quote by Henry Ford: "Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black".
• The  Outlander background goal  Bumps in the Dark might refer to an idiom "Things-that-go-bump-in-the-night", which is used to denote ghosts or other supposed supernatural beings, regarded as the cause of unexplained or frightening noises heard at night.
• The formulation of another  Outlander background goal  Cat's Got Your Tongue? is a common idiom meaning the effect of being seized by surprise.
• The  Sage background goal  If I Can't Have It... derives from an old fable plot (presumably Aesop's) about a dog lying in a manger. While the Dog cannot eat hay, it does not allow the Horse sate itself as well.
• The  Sage background goal  Hippocratic No More refers to one of the basic principles proposed by the Hippocratic Oath, formulated in latin as Primum non nocere ("First, do no harm").
• The  Soldier background goal  The Best Offence is Virtually Nonsense is a paraphrase of the folk saying "The best defense is a good offence".
• Another  Soldier background goal,  An Apple a Day Keeps the Scalpel Away is a paraphrase of a common saying "An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away", which in turn is a modern version of a Welsh proverb that runs as "Eat an apple on going to bed and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread".
• The  Urchin background goal  Good Intentions is a part of a common folk saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". Upon successfully "assisting" Nina, the party are attacked by a huge group of undead, lead by Garret Dortmell.
• The  Urchin background goal  A Dish Served Cold is a reference to a well-known saying "Revenge is a dish best served cold". This aphorism may be encountered in various literature and cinematic works. The first comparison of revenge to a meal dates back to 1846 novel by French writer Eugène Sue, a "Mathilde: Mémoires d'une Jeune Femme". This catchphrase also appeares in Mario Puzo's "Godfather" (1969), as well as in several movies: Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Nicholas Meyer, 1982), and Kill Bill: Volume 1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003).

Music

• The ring To the Best of Wives and Mothers is a reference to the musical Hamilton, specifically to the song "Best of Wives and Best of Women", performed in the second act.
• The maul Corpsegrinder is a reference to the stage name of George Fisher, the lead singer of the death metal band Cannibal Corpse.
• The  Entertainer background goal  Alien in the Big City may refer to 1987 Sting song "Englishman in New York".
• The  Entertainer background goal  Eclipse of the Heart references the 1983 Bonnie Tyler song "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
• The  Folk Hero background goal  Chained, Unfortunate Souls is a reference to a composition "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from the soundtrack to 1989 Walt Disney animated film The Little Mermaid.
• The  Folk Hero background goal  In Need of a Hero might refer to the 1984 Bonnie Tyler composition "Holding Out for a Hero", first presented in the soundtrack to a Herbert Ross film Footloose.
• The  Haunted One background goal  Who Let the Gnolls Out references the 2000 Baha Men song "Who Let the Dogs Out".

Other

• The  Sage background goal  Rennaissant Ingenuity alludes to the Johannes Gutenberg's invention of movable-type printing press, which propelled the mass spread of literature and thus had an immense impact on the development of the Renaissance cultural movement in Europe.
• The name of a cheerful and pragmatical dweller of the Rainforest's Home in Lower City, Ratin Sesescor, might be a reference to the name of a famous American filmmaker Martin Scorsese.

External Links

• Avatar: The Last Airbender – Wikipedia ● TV Tropes
• Discworld – Wikipedia ● TV Tropes
• Final Fantasy XIV – Wikipedia ● FFXIV Wiki
• Jojo's Bizarre Adventure – Wikipedia ● Jojo's Bizarre Encyclopedia