Baldur’s Gate 3 does not ask one ending question. It asks who will use the Netherstones, what happens to Orpheus, whether anyone accepts an illithid transformation, and—after the final battle—whether the Netherbrain is destroyed or controlled. Treating all four as a single “Emperor or Orpheus” choice is how players reach the Astral Prism without the person or item their intended ending requires.
This decision guide was checked on August 17, 2026. Patch 8 is Larian’s final major content patch; Patch 7 added expanded evil endings, and Hotfix #36 is the current official version boundary. The guide maps the final decision chain rather than cataloguing every romance, Origin, Dark Urge, or epilogue variation.
Prepare the ending before boarding the Morphic Pool skiff
The final point of no return begins at the skiff beneath the Lower City. Finish the dependency route in the Act 3 quest-order guide, then make a named manual save before boarding. For the widest final choice set, verify:
- Ketheric’s, Orin’s, and Gortash’s Netherstones are all in party control.
- The Orphic Hammer is carried by an active character if freeing Orpheus is under consideration.
- Lae’zel is in the final party if you want her direct response and githyanki future represented.
- Karlach is present if you want her to be available as a potential mind flayer.
- Gale is present if his Crown and orb dialogue belongs in the plan, while recognizing that his route is not a universal substitute for every illithid requirement.
- Any player character considering transformation has a save made before the Prism conversation.
The Orphic Hammer comes from Raphael’s bargain or the House of Hope. Owning it does not free Orpheus automatically; it preserves the option until the Prism decision. Without it, siding with the Emperor is the normal available route. Do not build an ending around a possible emergency offer from Raphael, because his survival and prior bargain state can remove it.
Read the first fork as control of Orpheus’s power
After the Netherbrain rejects the first Netherstone attempt, the Emperor pulls the party into the Astral Prism. He concludes that a mind flayer must wield the stones with Orpheus’s power. The first fork decides how that power is obtained.
| Choice | Immediate cost | Who joins the final route |
|---|---|---|
| Trust the Emperor | Orpheus is consumed. His personal and political future ends. | The Emperor remains an allied illithid and can wield the stones. |
| Free Orpheus | The Orphic Hammer is required. The Emperor leaves and becomes an enemy in the final battle. | Orpheus joins, but an illithid wielder is still required. |
Siding with the Emperor does not require the player character to transform. Giving him the stones lets him perform the illithid role. It does, however, require accepting Orpheus’s death. Lae’zel and Voss can oppose that decision depending on their earlier loyalty states, and a high-difficulty persuasion check may be needed to keep Lae’zel from leaving.
Freeing Orpheus does not make him attack the party. He condemns earlier decisions, then cooperates against the Netherbrain. The cost is tactical and political: the Emperor joins the opposing force, while someone on Orpheus’s side must solve the mind-flayer requirement.
Choose the illithid by the life it changes
There is no cost-free transformation that preserves every person and faction. Compare the long-term role, not just combat powers:
| Illithid wielder | Available when | What the choice preserves or sacrifices |
|---|---|---|
| The Emperor | You side with him and hand over the stones. | The active party remains physically unchanged, but Orpheus is consumed and the githyanki liberation route loses him. |
| Player character | You accept transformation in the Prism. | Orpheus can remain mortal if freed, but the protagonist’s body, instincts, romance reactions, and epilogue choices change. |
| Karlach | She is in the active party and offers the sacrifice. | Her infernal-engine death is averted through transformation, but the result is an illithid Karlach rather than a repaired tiefling life. |
| Orpheus | You free him and refuse transformation for the party. | No party member transforms, but the prince becomes illithid and cannot lead his people in the same way. |
If the player or Karlach transforms on the Emperor branch, Orpheus is still consumed for his power. If the player or Karlach transforms after Orpheus is freed, Orpheus can remain githyanki. That distinction is more important than which illithid has the strongest final-combat action bar.
Gale can propose using the Netherese orb against the brain. Dialogue paths around that plan are sensitive to party composition and prior promises. Do not enter the Prism assuming Gale automatically lets every character remain non-illithid; preserve a valid Emperor, player, Karlach, or Orpheus plan until the conversation itself confirms otherwise.
Know the immediate price of freeing Orpheus
Use the Orphic Hammer on the binding crystals after rejecting the Emperor. He leaves because he believes Orpheus will kill him and the Netherbrain cannot be defeated by the party’s plan. In the final battle, the Emperor appears with the Netherbrain’s forces. This is a combat cost, not a hidden game-over state.
Orpheus then requires an illithid solution. If he transforms, he can ask for death after the brain is destroyed; a persuasion route can instead convince him to live in isolation and see what becomes of the rebellion. If someone else transforms, Orpheus can depart with Lae’zel to oppose Vlaakith, or leave without her if she remains in Faerûn. Those branches depend on Lae’zel, Voss, romance, and dialogue states established long before the Prism.
Freeing Orpheus therefore serves a clear player goal: preserve the prince and the anti-Vlaakith cause, accepting the Emperor as an enemy and assigning the illithid cost elsewhere. It is not automatically the route that saves every companion.
Separate the Prism alliance from the Netherbrain verdict
The Emperor-versus-Orpheus decision determines the final ally and illithid wielder. It does not by itself decide whether the brain survives. After reaching the Netherbrain and completing Karsus’s Compulsion, the game presents the decisive verdict.
- Destroy the Netherbrain: the illithid wielder orders the brain to die, ending the Absolute and the active tadpole threat. Companion and city epilogues then resolve from prior choices.
- Dominate the Netherbrain: betray the allied wielder or persuade the Emperor toward control where that route allows it. Patch 7 expanded the resulting evil endings for Tav, Origins, and Dark Urge.
“Control” is not a cooperative power-sharing guarantee. If the Emperor takes control, the player’s autonomy is not preserved as an equal ruler. If the player character takes control, the Origin or Dark Urge state changes which domination scenes and commands are available. Make a separate save before this verdict if you want to view both branches without replaying High Hall.
Submitting to the Netherbrain during the earlier confrontation is not the same as the domination ending. Surrender there produces defeat rather than a controlled Absolute route.
Protect the companion ending you actually value
The “best” sacrifice depends on which future the playthrough has spent time building:
- Lae’zel and Orpheus: free Orpheus and transform someone else if the priority is a living githyanki prince leading the rebellion. Letting Orpheus transform preserves the party but transfers the cost to that future.
- Karlach: illithid transformation keeps her alive without an infernal-engine death, but changes what she is. Keeping her tiefling body instead requires accepting the death scene or an Avernus route made possible by Wyll and/or the player.
- The protagonist: transforming personally protects Karlach and can keep Orpheus mortal, but changes romance responses and creates a post-battle struggle with illithid appetite.
- Gale: his orb can replace portions of the final combat in a supported dialogue route, but his Crown ambition, Mystra relationship, and survival have their own epilogue costs. Confirm his willingness in the live conversation.
- The Emperor: trusting him avoids a party transformation and a later fight against him, while permanently removing Orpheus and placing the stones in the Emperor’s hands.
Do not infer a companion’s complete ending from the person standing in the Prism. Astarion’s ritual, Shadowheart’s parents, Wyll’s pact and title, Gale’s Crown promise, Karlach’s repairs, and romance decisions were settled in their own quests. The final route activates those states; it does not rewrite them into a single universal epilogue.
Save at three points so each test answers one question
A clean branch test needs three manual saves:
- Before the Morphic Pool skiff: change the active party, retrieve the Orphic Hammer, shop, and finish city quests.
- Inside the Prism before the alliance: compare Emperor, Orpheus, player, Karlach, and Orpheus-transformation dialogue without replaying the first brain encounter.
- Before the Netherbrain verdict: compare destroy and dominate outcomes without changing the alliance or final battle.
Name the files by the decision rather than relying on autosave thumbnails. “Morphic Pool – Karlach present,” “Prism – hammer carried,” and “Brain – destroy/control” are useful recovery labels. An autosave after an unwanted transformation is not a substitute for the pre-Prism party save.
Use this choice matrix when the dialogue pauses
| Priority | Required preparation | Prism choice | Cost to accept |
|---|---|---|---|
| No party member transforms | None beyond the stones | Trust the Emperor, or free Orpheus and let Orpheus transform | Orpheus dies on the Emperor route or loses his githyanki future on his own transformation route |
| Keep Orpheus mortal | Orphic Hammer; player or Karlach willing to transform | Free Orpheus and assign the illithid role elsewhere | A party member becomes illithid and the Emperor becomes an enemy |
| Keep Karlach alive without Avernus | Karlach in the active party | Accept her offer to transform | Karlach survives as an illithid |
| Avoid fighting the Emperor | Accept Orpheus’s death | Side with the Emperor | The Orpheus and githyanki-prince outcome closes |
| Take the evil Absolute route | Preserve the desired Origin or Dark Urge state | Reach the final verdict, then dominate | The brain survives under control and companion freedom is sacrificed |
This matrix deliberately does not label one result “true,” “best,” or “canon.” Baldur’s Gate 3 makes the sacrifice legible and leaves the value judgment to the character you played.
Keep the Patch 8 boundary on ending claims
Patch 7 expanded evil cinematics; Patch 8 added subclasses, cross-play, photo mode, and fixes without adding new narrative content or significant changes to companion storylines. That makes the decision structure above current for an unmodded Hotfix #36 game. Mods, Origin-specific scripting, a Dark Urge allegiance to Bhaal, romance states, and dialogue checks can still add or remove individual lines and epilogues.
This is not an “all endings” gallery. It is the actionable route from pre-skiff preparation through Orpheus, the illithid wielder, and the final brain verdict. If a desired outcome depends on a companion quest that was never completed, reload before the Morphic Pool and fix that state in the city rather than searching the final dialogue for a replacement.
Sources & credits
The Baldur’s Gate 3 official Steam listing confirmed AppID 1086940 and supplied both original JPEGs. Larian’s final major patch record establishes that later updates were not planned to add narrative content. Ending references were compared for the Hammer, Emperor, Orpheus, illithid candidates, brain verdict, Patch 7 evil routes, and companion aftermath.