Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
The Shadow Curse is a constant problem for your party in Act 2 of Baldur’s Gate 3. While we’ve already covered how to protect yourself from the Shadow Curse, there is a way to remove the Shadow Curse from the Act 2 completely. You’ll have to follow a few very specific steps to reach that point, though. You’ll need to recruit one particular hero and follow his questline to purify the Shadow Curse and bring light back to the land. While the Shadow-Cursed Lands won’t look much better, they will be a less dark-and-gloomy place once the permanent darkness is lifted. Learn what it takes to remove the Shadow Curse forever with the full guide below.
More Baldur’s Gate 3 guides:
Beginner Guide | All Origin Companions | Should You Use Tadpoles? | Recruit Minthara | Recruit Halsin | Recruit Jaheira | Recruit Minsc | Romance Karlach | Infernal Iron Locations | Best Magic Items In Act 1 | Owlbear Companion | Craft Healing Potions | Perfect Pickpocket Guide | Oathbreaker Paladin Subclass | How To Cure Gale | How To Rescue Halsin | Kill The Goblin Camp Leaders | Assassin & Gloomstalker Tips | Defiled Temple Puzzle | Auntie Ethel Guide | Underdark Entrances | Easy Gold Trick
Before Lifting The Curse
To progress this story, you must follow the steps to recruit Halsin. Here’s a quick overview of steps that are required before progressing.
- To Recruit Halsin:
- Save the Emerald Grove from the Goblinc Camp.
- Invite Halsin to your camp. He’ll remain here until later in Act 2.
- Progress to Act 2 and reach Last Light Inn.
- Find the NPC in a coma at the inn. Read the note on the bed.
- Tell Halsin at your camp about the unconscious man.
- Go to the House of Healing and acquire the Battered Lute. (Advanced Shadow Curse Protection Required)
- Return and talk to Halsin at the Inn. Play the lute to learn more.
- Help Halsin as he enters the Shadowfell. Defend the portal.
After defending the portal, you’ll be able to recruit Halsin. In addition to recruiting Halsin, we’ll also need to gain protection against the Shadow Curse. This is needed to progress Halsin’s quest.
- There are multiple ways to gain Shadow Curse protection.
- A Moon Lantern can be stolen from Moonrise Towers. Find one in Balthazar’s Quarters.
- Join the Harper Patrol in Last Light Inn and ambush the Drider.
- Talk to Isabel on the second floor. This triggers an attack on Last Light Inn.
When you have all those steps done, you can continue to progress the story.
How To Lift The Shadow Curse Permanently
Go to the strange house to the east of the Shadowed Battlefield waypoint and talk to the spirit here. You must complete the spirit’s quest and play hide-and-seek. Defeat the Shadow Parents and find him — he’ll disappear. But he’s more important than he seems.
Talk to Halsin and tell him about Oliver. Halsin will connect Oliver with Thaniel. Return to Oliver (still at the strange house) and tell him he must [return to Thaniel] in dialogue.
Oliver will leave and enter a Shadow Portal. Enter the portal to initiate a battle in the town square north of Moonrise Towers. Oliver will defend himself with a powerful shield.
- To break the shield, defeat the enemies Oliver spawns. Defeat the Mummy and Daddy Shadows, and then the copies of himself he spawns.
- Use Magic Missile to quickly wipe out the copies. They have 1 HP each.
- If you defeat the enemies quickly and have turns left, you can also attack the shield directly to deal a small amount of damage. Destroying Oliver’s summons breaks the shield much faster.
Defeat all the copies and Oliver’s shield will break. If you have Halsin in your party, Halsin can take over and talk to Oliver, convincing him to return to Thaniel. Once reunited, the Thaniel will appear at your camp.
- Return to the Camp and talk to Halsin. Thaniel will reappear and talk to you. He’ll give you one final objective — you must defeat Ketheric Thorm.
To repair the land and lift the curse, you must kill Ketheric Thorm. If you’re on the side of the Harpers, this is a natural next step in their storyline. If you Infiltrate Moonrise Towers, you’ll learn the secret to killing Ketheric Thorm. You must go to the Grand Mausoleum, north of the House of Healing, and enter the Gauntlet of Shar. The Nightsong is at the end of this extremely long dungeon. That is the key to defeating Ketheric Thorm.
Once you have the Nightsong, you can then gather your allies and prepare to launch an attack on Moonrise Towers. Once Ketheric Thorm is defeated, which can be done several different ways, you’ll be able to lift the Shadow Curse from the Act 2 map permanently. Talk to Thaniel in the camp to complete the quest.
