Should you save or kill Nightsong in Baldur’s Gate 3? Location and BG3 quest explained

Looking for Nightsong in Baldur’s Gate 3? This quest is given to players early on in Act 1 of the game. Over time, they slowly learn how significant this is to the main storyline. Read on to learn how to take on the Balthazar boss and the choices you will have in the Nightsong quest.

If you’re prepping a PC for the latest titles, here’s our best GPU for Baldur’s Gate 3 guide. And if your character is already traversing the Forgotten Realms, here’s a handy Baldur’s Gate 3 companions guide to win their approval and kit them out for combat.

Nightsong location in Baldur’s Gate 3

You first hear about the Find the Nightsong quest from a bounty offered on a relic by a wizard in Baldur’s Gate 3. Here’s how you can start the Find the Nightsong quest in BG3:

• Speak to Aradin in the Emerald Grove. He will hand over the Nightsong contract to you. He might die off in the first fight with the Goblins.
• Once you reach the Goblin Camp and then the Shattered Sanctum, you’ll find a man named Liam being tortured. He will also tell you about the Nightsong.
• After defeating the Goblin leaders, you can talk to Halsin about the Nightsong.

And here’s a Find the Nightsong quest walkthrough for Act 1 in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• In the Shattered Sanctum, go to Priestess Gut’s private chamber. Defeat her and loot her corpse. You’ll find a key that unlocks the door at the back of her room. Watch out for the ogre.
• This takes you to the Defiled Temple where you need to solve a puzzle. Check out our Baldur’s Gate 3 Defiled Temple puzzle solution guide to learn more. A Perception check can reveal a lever that bypasses this challenge.
• Pass through the door and descend the ladder to reach the Underdark. You’ll find yourself in an abandoned Selunite outpost. This is where the Nightsong’s trail goes cold.

Finding the Nightsong in Act 2 of BG3

You’ll learn more about the Nightsong in the second act of Baldur’s Gate 3. Expect spoilers in this section of the guide. Here’s a Find the Nightsong quest walkthrough for Act 2 in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Head to the Shadow-cursed Lands via the Mountain Pass or the Underdark via an elevator in Grymforge.
• Here, move to the Thorm Mausoleum in Reithwin Town Cemetery. This is to the south of Last Light Inn. Bring Shadowheart and Astarion along.
• In the Thorm Mausoleum, you’ll find a secret passageway behind a portrait of Ketheric Thorm. To gain entry, press the buttons under the paintings in this order: Moonrise Towers, Grief, General. 
• This takes you to the Gauntlet of Shar. Expect plenty of Dark Justiciars, warriors of the goddess Shar. This goddess of darkness is the sister of Selune. The location tasks you with finding four Umbral Gems to access the Inner Sanctum. You get these from Yurgir (Quest: Kill Raphael’s Old Enemy) and three Sharran trials. Here’s a guide on completing the Gauntlet of Shar in Baldur’s Gate 3.
• Once you reach the Silent Library, you can get a weapon crucial to the quest – Spear of Night. Here’s our Baldur’s Gate 3 Silent Library guide to clear this segment. It involves the book “Teachings of Loss: The Nightsinger.”
• This lets you enter the Shadowfell and speak to Nightsong, who is revealed to be a person. Do this after clearing all the Act 2 quests because the choices here will have major consequences.
• You’ll overhear a conversation about Shar wanting Shadowheart to kill a Selunite, a worshipper of the goddess of the moon. You’ll also spot Balthazar, the Absolute’s advisor. You can choose to side with him or against him.

How to beat Balthazar in Baldur’s Gate 3

Here’s how you can defeat Balthazar easily in BG3:

• Use a character with Thunderwave on the right rock formation to knock out some zombies. A ranged character gains an advantage on attacks here.
• Try using a buff melee fighter like Karlach or Lae’zel while facing Balthazar in direct combat. The other companions can try to take out the zombies or tackle Balthazar from a distance. Remember that Balthazar can cast Misty Step.
• The 20 undead skeletons and three Apostate Destroyers can be a chore to beat as they can shove allies off the sides of the arena. Area spells like Cloud of Daggers are great against them.

Should you save or kill the Nightsong in BG3

Here are the choices that you can choose from for Nightsong in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• You can side with Balthazar and hand Nightsong over to him. This gets you on favourable terms with the cult of the Absolute while drawing the ire of the Harpers and Shadowheart.
• You can choose to fight Balthazar instead. This necromancer is tough to beat but focusing on him over his minions will help. This is when the confrontation between Shadowheart and Nightsong begins.
• You can choose to let Shadowheart proceed and kill Nightsong. Shar powers her up and tells her to kill Ketheric Thorm. Thorm is weakened without Nightsong and Shadowheart is promised a reward at Shar’s temple in Baldur’s Gate. Shadowheart also gains new abilities, the Spear of Night, a Dark Justiciar Helmet, and a suit of Dark Justiciar armor from Shar. But this weakens the power of Selune, destroying the ward that protected the Last Light Inn. Everyone dies in the area. This is similar to the fail condition of the Baldur’s Gate 3 Last Light Inn situation with Isobel.
• You can, instead, try to talk Shadowheart out of it. This requires a good approval rating and a high Persuasion proficiency. Good choices like saving Druid Grove and Isobel will help your odds. If you try to bring it up directly, you’ll need to clear a Persuasion check of 30. But if you argue back and forth, Nightsong says something that lowers this to 21. Pass this check and you’ll watch Shadowheart throw the Spear of Night away as Nightsong guides her.

✓ Antony’s annotation

You get to decide Shadowheart’s path

Keep a high-Charisma character to get the results that you want. If you fail to convince Shadowheart, she will fight Nightsong and win.

Should you side with Nightsong or Lorroakan in BG3

If you choose to save Nightsong, she will join your camp. Nightsong is revealed to be an Aasimar and one of Selune’s daughters as she is freed from her soul prison. You can then head to the upper floors of Sorcerous Sundries (Lower City, southwest of Baldur’s Mouth) to meet Lorroakan, the wizard who had placed a bounty on Nightsong. You can either side with Lorroakan or Nightsong here.

Here’s how you can meet Lorroakan in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Speak to Lorroakan’s projection about Nightsong in the second floor of Sorcerous Sundries. This location houses multiple Baldur’s Gate 3 legendary items like the Markoheshkir.
• He will task you with picking from four portals. Pick the one on the far left with the plaque: “The Nightsong is an immortal being, the child of a deity.” The other portals will down your party.
• You can pass a Deception check to prove that the Nightsong is gone. Any other choice makes Lorroakan aware of the Nightsong’s location. He’ll then ask you to bring her to him.
• Go back to the camp and speak with Isobel and Nightsong. Nightsong will fly off to the tower to teach Lorroakan a lesson. Quickly head back to the tower.
• Here you can side with Lorroakan and his elemental constructs or Nightsong.

Here’s what happens if you pick Lorroakan or Nightsong in Baldur’s Gate 3:

• Fighting Nightsong is simple and grants you a Sage inspiration bonus: The Karsus of Our Times. Lorroakan, Rolan, and their minions will support you.
• Fighting Lorroakan is a tough battle. Rolan takes your side, though. Lorroakan can use Elemental Retort when attacked, causing 12-96 quad-elemental damage. Use Counterspell, a level 4 spell, to counter this. Try to evade AoE spells by moving your characters around. 
• A grey choice is to lie to Lorroakan about not knowing the Nightsong’s whereabouts and then lie to Nightsong about Lorroakan.

Defeating Lorroakan in BG3 gives you the following rewards:

• Sage Inspiration: Stopping the Repetition of History
• Haunted One Inspiration: How High They Fall
• Weapon: Despair of Athkala – 9-19 damage. +1 bonus to spell save DC and attack rolls. +2 weapon enchantment.
• Clothing: Shelter of Athkala – +10 Armour Class. Advantage on saving throws against spells. Mirror Image spell.

We recommend beating Balthazar and talking to Shadowheart about protecting Nightsong as this is the “good” decision you can take. Nightsong will also make for a powerful ally. While the other option sounds like it fulfills Shadowheart’s companion quest, it causes a lot of irreparable harm. Just have a character with high Charisma handy for this Dungeons & Dragons encounter. The same goes for Lorroakan and Nightsong. Picking a side cements their support for you in Act 3: Gather your Allies.

And that’s all the information you need about Nightsong in Baldur’s Gate 3. Check out how to multiclass in Baldur’s Gate 3 if you’re looking for a new set of D&D abilities. And if you want to tinker with new characters, consider Baldur’s Gate 3 Hirelings too. The game is out on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Nightsong FAQ

What is the Nightsong bg3?

The Nightsong is Dame Aylin in BG3.

Where to find Nightsong bg3?

Nightsong can be found in the Shadowfell in BG3.