Xzar

"When asked about his past Xzar has very few coherent things to say. His desire to determine the cause of the iron shortage seems benevolent enough, but his motives remain unclear. His ramblings seem disjointed, but his faculties are obviously in good enough order for him to be adept at magic. He mutters something about how he and his associate Montaron are in the employ of a powerful group, but when pressed for details he gets extremely agitated and does not speak for some time. He is obviously at least partially insane, and the network that would hire him must be dark indeed. "

- Character description from the Baldur's Gate computer game

Xzar was an insane wizard and a member of the Zhentarim. He was quite unbalanced and would randomly spout gibberish at unpredictable moments. He was sent to the Baldur's Gate area during the iron crisis with his "colleague" Montaron.

In the Novel
In the Baldur's Gate novelization, Xzar saved Abdel Adrian from a horde of gibberlings with an odd magical device or spell of his making. He and Montaron both accompanied Adrian to the "Friendly Arms Inn" and from there on to the Nashkel mines. Xzar repeatedly stated that Adrian was a Bhaalspawn, but that was put down to his insanity and no-one listened to him. He and his companion were killed by Sarevok after the group had cleared the mines.

In the Games
In Baldur's Gate, Xzar (together with Montaron, whom he calls "Monty") is likely to be amongst the very first party NPCs encountered. The two are lurking along the Way of the Lion east of Candlekeep, not far from the place where Gorion is killed. Xzar will offer the player character potions of healing as a supposed token of good will, and then try to shame them into accompanying him and Montaron to Nashkel in return for the favour. Much like Jaheira and Khalid, the two are in the area to investigate the iron shortage and happenings in the Nashkel mines, which are in fact being sabotaged by kobolds led by Mulahey. Whereas Khalid and Jaheira work for the Harpers, though, Xzar and Montaron are acting on behalf of the Zhentarim; if the two pairs guess each other's alliances, they will start fighting.

Xzar is both intelligent and insane at the same time; his treatment of others is most commonly coldly disdainful or derisive, but fairly often he also lapses into bouts of what to everyone else is nonsense, ranging from acting like a frightened child to remarking that he ate someone's liver "with a nice chianti and some fava beans". He's partnered with Montaron against both their wills, and they will not be separated if they can help it, each following the other in joining or leaving the player's group.

In Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, Xzar appears in Athkatla if the player character takes Renfeld to the local Harper hold. He asks the player character to infiltrate the Harpers to find Montaron, who has been spying on them and taken captive. In return, he offers information about where Imoen and Irenicus have been taken by the Cowled Wizards. The Harpers will want the player character to do a favor for them in exchange for entrance to their hold, and that favour is to enter a house that actually belongs to Xzar himself and slay the "monsters" the owner has been creating. The creatures turn out to be fairly ordinary goblins, but they have been the subject of some research. In addition to them, the party will have to kill Xzar's two nervous apprentices. When the party gains entrance to the hold and retrieves a bird that seems to be a polymorphed Montaron, it shortly turns out they have been duped. When Xzar reverses the transformation, the bird turns out to be a Harper who kills him, never giving him a chance to tell his supposed information about Imoen and Irenicus.

In both games Xzar is voiced by Frank Welker.

Appearances

 * Baldur's Gate computer game
 * Badur's Gate novelization
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn computer game