AfterDungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, it’s not hard at all to imagine the Heroes of Baldur’s Gate serving as the protagonists of a futureDungeons & DragonsTV adaptation. Currently,chances ofHonor Among Thieves 2coming to passseem dim, and to make matters worse, Paramount axed their plans for a live-actionDungeons & Dragonsshow. That said, the continued popularity of the tabletop game and the fantasy worlds associated with it creates hope that the idea will be revisited soon enough.
If and whenaDungeons & Dragonsshowtakes shape again, it’s worth wondering what story it would tell. LikeHonor Among Thieves, it could craft its own narrative and an original cast of characters - or, it could head in another direction and lean on existing material, or perhaps one oftheDungeons & Dragonsbooks. After all, the franchise offers plenty for a potential series to work with. Among the most intriguing options is an adaptation of the first two installments in theBaldur’s Gatevideo game series. And based onHonor Among Thieves, it could work out very well onscreen.
Edgin’s Party In Honor Among Thieves Creates A Perfect Blueprint For The Heroes Of Baldur’s Gate
The Heroes Of Baldur’s Gate Could Follow The Formula Set By Edgin’s Party
Clearly striving to be more than just a standard fantasy movie,Honor Among Thievesinfused its characters with comedy. Through Edgin, Simon, Holga, and Doric, the movie managed to build a diverse party of misfits, all complete with their own quirks and motives. Their differences, as well as their flaws, lent themselves well to the movie’s humor, with Simon’s seeming ineptitude,Xenk’s righteous persona, and Edgin’s style of leadership contributing much to the fun.
Something similar can be said of how the characters in aBaldur’s Gateseries would likely work. They too are a diverse bunch, with humor being a big part of their appeal. Case in point is Minsc, the franchise’s most recognizable hero. Known for his friendship with Boo, a hamster he believes he can communicate with, Minsc is a good-natured barbarian-like ranger devoted to “the butt-kicking” of evildoers. His one-liners, combined with his individual dynamics with the other party members, are responsible for a lot of the comedy in the games.
Why Drizzt Wasn’t In Honor Among Thieves (& Can He Be In Future Dungeons & Dragons Adaptations?)
Drizzt was not in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, but his chances of being featured in future adaptations may not be completely gone.
Minsc only scratches the surface when it comes to theBaldur’s Gateseries' potential for great characters. A multitude of fun and quirky characters are available to join the player character’s party, including Jan Jansen, a gnome with a black market business and a penchant for tall tales about his relatives. There’s also Anomen, an aspiring knight whose self-righteous, arrogant attitude makes for some humorous interactions with some of the other party members. Another example is Xan, a perpetually depressed wizard who thinks their adventure is doomed to fail.
Like Honor Among Thieves, Baldur’s Gate Carefully Balances Comedy & Drama
Honor Among Thieves Signals That A Baldur’s Gate TV Show Would Work
Humor is key to bothBaldur’s GateandHonor Among Thieves, but it’s hardly what defines either of them. What ultimately drivesHonor Among Thievesis a very deep, personal story about love, grief, and letting go. For all its efforts to deliver laughs,Honor Among Thievesultimately ends with a dramatic, emotional punchthat sees Edgin give up on his long-held wish to resurrect his wife, having realized that he was really on this quest for himself, and that what his daughter really wanted was Holga as her mother figure.
Were aBaldur’s Gateadaptation to happen, it should be expected to take that approach as well. Humor is sprinkled throughout the games via exchanges with both the player’s party members and the colorful characters they meet along the way. But while these elements enhance the entertainment value, they’re only one part of the fabric that makes upBaldur’s Gate, with much more serious themes being the real driving force of the saga.Baldur’s Gatehas a flair for tragedy, as evidenced by the gruesome, seemingly pointless murder of party member Khalid.
Baldur’s Gatepaints an extremely dark picture of the Forgotten Realms and the characters who comprise its world. A focal point of the second game, for instance, is the ambitious goals of the main villain, Jon Irenicus. In the game, it’s made clear that Irenicus is a once-respected member of an elven society whose lust for power cost him his humanity. Now, he’s a shell of his former self, consumed by hate and a willingness to do whatever it takes to acquire the soul of a god.
Honor Among Thieves’ability to perfectly balance comedy and drama demonstrates that it wouldn’t be unfeasible for aBaldur’s GateTV adaptation to recreate the magic of the first two games without compromising any of its core themes.
But as bleak asBaldur’s Gatecan be, it can still find a way to effectively utilize humor without there being a sense that its tone is inconsistent.Honor Among Thieves’ability to perfectly balance comedy and drama demonstrates that it wouldn’t be unfeasible for aBaldur’s GateTV adaptation to recreate the magic of the first two games without compromising any of its core themes.
Why A Baldur’s Gate Adaptation Is Perfect For A Multi-Season Story
It Would Probably Take Several Seasons For The Heroes Of Baldur’s Gate To Finish Their Adventure
Further building the case forBaldur’s Gateto become a live-action TV show is how well its story would fit into a TV format. In contrast to Honor Among Thieves, which works as a two-hour adventure, the first twoBaldur’s Gateoffer a story that would take a significant amount of time to tell in full. The two games follow the long and arduous journey of a character referred to by most as “the Bhaalspawn.” The offspring of the God of Murder, the player begins the game as a naive adventurer unaware of their true identity. The story is split into multiple chapters, which is a perfect framework for a show consisting of multiple seasons.
True to the spirit of the games, theDungeons & Dragonsshow could make each season a crucial stage in the character development of the main protagonist and their allies, which plays out over a fairly long period of time. In the games, the character winds up adopting several goals, from investigating an iron shortage, defeating their adoptive father’s killer, rescuing their sister from Jon Irenicus, and battling a host of their offspring for their birthright. It could devote a season to each of these. An evolving cast would naturally come with them; in the same vein as fantasy shows likeGame of Thrones, the show could see favorites die off gradually and get replaced with new characters.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Cast
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves follows a cunning thief and a group of unlikely adventurers on a quest to recover a lost relic. The film details their epic heist, which takes a perilous turn as they encounter formidable adversaries, adding complexity to their mission.
