Abdel Adrian

Abdel Adrian was a male human Bhaalspawn and a mercenary warrior. He became tangled in the sinister plans of a number of other Bhaalspawn, as well as of Jon Irenicus, but emerged victorious.

Aliases
Gorion's Ward: Abdel is commonly referred to as Gorion's Ward by different individuals in the Baldur's Gate game franchise.

Veldrin: Abdel was briefly known as Veldrin when he was masquerading as a drow to help a silver dragon in the underdark.

Biography (novels)
Adopted by Gorion, Adrian was raised in the library fortress of Candlekeep, unaware of his heritage and nature as a mortal child of Bhaal. Other orphans were also raised there, including another Bhaalspawn called Imoen, who became his friend in spite of his often unfriendly and even cruel treatment of her. When old enough, he left the citadel to travel around and work as a mercenary. Eventually he was called back by Gorion, who had found out about Sarevok's plans which threatened other Bhaalspawn. They left together, but where ambushed by Sarevok's mercenaries; Adrian dispatched them, but not before one had fatally wounded Gorion. Joining with Gorion's friends Khalid and Jaheira as well as some others, Adrian started to follow clues that eventually led him to unravel Sarevok's plot to drive Baldur's Gate and Amn into war with each other, also finding out about his own heritage. He and Jaheira also developed a romance; they had been attracted to each other from the first, but since she was married to Khalid, they did not fully act on these feelings until after he had been turned into a monster and Adrian had been forced to kill him. In the end Adrian killed Sarevok himself.

Adrian returned to Candlekeep and was welcomed with open arms, meeting Imoen again, but both of the two as well as Jaheira were soon captured by Jon Irenicus. They found themselves in a dungeon together with Minsc and Yoshimo but escaped as Shadow Thieves attacked it. Imoen and Jaheira both were captured by Cowled Wizards along with Irenicus. Adrian set out to rescue them with the help of Bodhi (who was really in league with Irenicus). At the prison Adrian found that Irenicus had control of the whole place, and the wizard captured him and turned him into a monster using his tainted blood. Adrian, Jaheira and Imoen escaped and travelled through the Underdark and back to the surface again. They helped a group of elves whose city Irenicus was attacking, destroyed Bodhi and Irenicus, and saved the Tree of Life.

The final act in Adrian's story came when he fought against the powerful Bhaalspawn known as The Five and prevented Bhaal from being resurrected.

Traits and Abilities
Adrian was physically very strong, reflected in his enormous, seven-foot-tall frame. He had long dark hair and generally evoked awe in anyone who saw him; fear in opponents and desire in women. In spite of his very human weaknesses, it was often obvious to those seeing him that he was far greater than a normal mortal. He was an experienced mercenary and a fairly skilled if brutal fighter. His Bhaalspawn blood also gave him certain special abilities that allowed him to prevail even when he was otherwise outmatched in combat. After he found out about his true heritage, these seemed to grow in power. When he had been imprisoned by Jon Irenicus and tortured, he noticed his injuries healing at a rapid rate. This regeneration soon became veritably troll-like, so that even when he broke his spine it healed within moments. He also became able to draw on his divine blood in combat to defeat powerful creatures his mercenary's skill in battle was no match against. Eventually he gained invulnerability to normal weapons. He was no tactician; he was quite impulsive and would usually just charge whatever he faced without thought. This obviously sometimes brought less than desirable results.

Adrian's personality was characterized by a struggle between the demands to be a hero and the temptation to give in to his inherent bloodlust and to other base urges. Even his love for those close to him was hard-pressed to fight against his darker side. He tried to follow Gorion's peaceful teachings, and after falling in love with Jaheira tried to turn a new leaf in his life and leave behind the amoral life of a killer for hire, but he never ceased to enjoy violence, and he was also forced to kill for money he sorely needed. He had a concept of honor, but he found it difficult to adhere to, and he wasn't interested in being a hero. On several occasions, events would drag him along with them, making him save the day completely without his consent. Sometimes his dark side would manifest itself completely without thought on his part, as befit his impulsiveness; at others, he would fight it with varying degrees of success. For example, he would often resort to violence without thinking about the implications, but when cheating on Jaheira with another woman, he was clearly aware that what he was doing was wrong and just could not resist the temptation.

Behind the Scenes
Abdel Adrian corresponds to the protagonist in the Baldur's Gate Series of games, who was named by the player and could be of either gender and of almost any conventional race and class. The most notable difference between Adrian and this character is that Adrian was already an experienced mercenary when he got into a conflict with Sarevok, whereas the game protagonist was a 1st-level character still living in Candlekeep.

Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast comes with a save file ("Mission-Pack-Save") that starts right out in the new area of Ulgoth's Beard with a ready-made party. The party's leader has been made to be a human fighter called Abdel with very high scores scores for all physical attributes and Charisma but very low Intelligence and Wisdom. Perhaps less appropriately, he also has gray skin, blue hair and Neutral Good alignment (despite working with NPCs such as Edwin Odesseiron and Viconia DeVir).

Appearances

 * Baldur's Gate
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn
 * Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal