Bhaalspawn

Bhaalspawn is the name given to the mortal offspring of the now dead god Bhaal. It is said that Bhaal foresaw the Time of Troubles and came to Toril before the climactic event, mating with females of almost any species. Like Bane he would attempt to use these offspring to bring himself back to life. Alaundo made a prophecy about the Bhaalspawn that foretold the great destruction they would bring.

Nature
Note: General statements below are canonical. Game-specific examples, all indicated as such, are not. The canonical parts aside from Abdel Adrian's existence also apply to the games.

Bhaalspawn mostly seemed like normal members of their race at first, so long as the race was humanoid (Abazigal was considered a half-breed according to the game). Part of their soul was divine, however, and this would eventually reveal itself, sometimes granting supernatural powers of different kinds but usually also tempting them to evil and murder. Individual reactions were very different, however. The personalities of individual Bhaalspawn were just as varied as those of other people, but they all had to deal with similar issues when their other side manifested itself. Some, such as Sarevok and most of the Five, fell to the temptation of power and embraced their darker sides in a quest for divinity. Others, weak-willed rather than power-hungry, had no such ambitious goals and may have even tried to do the right thing, but revelled in bloodshed nevertheless. Examples include Abdel Adrian (canonical) and a serial killer whose shade is encountered in the first test in the Pocket Plane in the game Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal. Yet other Bhaalspawn, such as Balthazar and the game's protagonist if they "succeed" in enough of the tests in the Pocket Plane, conquered their darker nature and acted selflessly, turning their divine power into something unlike its original nature. In the game version of Throne of Bhaal, many of the Bhaalspawn in Saradush were simply ordinary people who never even needed to worry about the taint before they started being persecuted and who wished no part in the prophecy. And yet, it was that very prophecy that predicted that Bhaal's children should be not of all races but also of all alignments.

If Bhaal's plans had gone as they were meant to, the Bhaalspawn would have destroyed each other until none remained, at which point the essence of Bhaal scattered among them would have accumulated, and his chosen follower, Amelissan, would have performed rituals that would have brought him back. Neither Amelissan nor the last Bhaalspawn (Adrian/the protagonist) complied to these plans, however. As a side effect unintended by Bhaal, the Bhaalspawn's share of the essence meant that each of them had the potential to become a god in their own right, provided they could get all the rest of the essence - even if someone like Sarevok who tried to fulfil the prophecy would simply have turned into a resurrected Bhaal if he "succeeded". Another side effect was that it was theoretically possible if rare for a Bhaalspawn to turn into an avatar of Bhaal, either the Slayer or in more extreme cases the Ravager (both of which appeared as creatures far more bestial than the original avatars).

Bhaalspawn characters
A number of Bhaalspawn appear as characters in the Baldur's Gate series of computer games and in the Baldur's Gate novels.


 * The protagonist. In the games, this is the player character. Abdel Adrian is the protagonist of the series in the novels (which, unlike the games, are canon).


 * Imoen is a follower of the protagonist who only later on turns out to be a Bhaalspawn.


 * Sarevok is the main antagonist in the first game and novel, and a potential party member in the last, although by then he is no longer a real Bhaalspawn.

The Five
The Five were a group of supposedly allied Bhaalspawn that caused much havoc in Tethyr around the time of the fulfilment of the prophecy. They were all among the most powerful of their kind, and each plotted the destruction of the others, as well as of all their lesser siblings. Their group was brought together by Amelissan, a former servant of Bhaal, who promised them demigod status once the Lord of Murder was resurrected, but also planned to destroy all of them and gain the powers of a god for herself. The Five included:


 * Abazigal, a blue (half-)dragon.
 * Balthazar, a monk who led the monastery in the town of Amkethran.
 * Illasera
 * Sendai, a Drow who organized an army of rebel Underdark creatures to attack Tethyr and the rest of the Sword Coast region.
 * Yaga-Shura, an "invincible" Fire Giant who led the army that destroyed Saradush.

Lesser Bhaalspawn

 * Gromnir Il-Khan - a half-orc and the ruler of Saradush at the time of its fall.
 * According to Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal, the ogre mage leading the Sythillisian revolution was also a Bhaalspawn, and was killed by another who was a fire giant (probably Yaga-Shura).