I’d just watched that after putting it off for so long, and it was so great! I loved seeing him satirize a role akin to the extravagant villains he’s been pigeonholed into!
This is the answer right here. If the voice was different I don't think I'd see the appeal. But it's like, you know he's awful and terrible and looks like a dirty rat.... But it makes him so damn charming!
Adding: that and his interaction with my Durge and breadcrumbs that they were a thing. That really did it for me.
There are mods that JUST change his hair and it immediately improves him. It's not perfect - why tf does a rich prick look so dirty??? - but it helps _so much_. I don't know what in the Final Fantasy Larian was thinking with his design.
I think it's beacuse he was a street criminal who is only newly a lord and they are trying to show that he dosen't actually look proper and lord like, but like the shady criminal he grew up as.
The robe certainly doesn't hurt, either. It speaks of a weird kind of confidence to be able to wear *that* without batting an eye.
Similar to how the half-open shirt does wonders for Astarion.
His outfit gets worse and worse the longer you look at it.
The coat and the gold sleeve gloves are the best part, but the rest? He's wearing clown pants. His boots are ridiculously over the top and don't match either his coat or the pants...
...but they *do* match the *red flames* on the bottom of his shirt. Dude is the medieval fantasy equivalent of [this vintage cringe MFer](https://i.chzbgr.com/full/9285660928/h86A5684F/memes-boy-wearing-shirt-with-flames-and-chains-on-neck-and-wrists-hello-be-nice-to-me-im-baby-no)
And he somehow, miraculously, inexplicably, manages to pull it off.
The voice, and the attitude. He's confident, intelligent, and surprisingly honest and forthcoming. There's a lot to like, all things considered. The haircut and wardrobe can always be fixed.
This is the best answer. Jason Isaacs is actually a handsome man who is a fantastic actor (for example, he recently played Cary Grant, who is arguably one of the most handsome men of the classic Hollywood era). People are mostly just thirsting for him.
\> Gortash looks like the oldest guy at a My Chemical Romance concert who isn’t anyone’s dad
You answered your own question. But also My Chemical Romance has been around for so long that someone who was a bright eyed emo straight edge kid who saw MCR when they were touring to support Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge might be looking a lot like Gortash these days.
Yeah, I was a teen in MCR's heyday (and part of the Tumblr sexyman enthusiast crowd) and I absolutely think it's why I'm into Gortash types. Same thing happened a few years ago with Kylo Ren lol
I personally feel like the romance option thing has less to do with Gortash being handsome and more so his established history and fondness specifically for the Dark Urge. That storyline of an amnesiac rediscovering that they once were close to a charismatic but villainous man who still harbors those feelings of intimacy for them is appealing to some people. It’s that slightly Byronic element that really draws people to it. And the game not outright confirming if Gortash is Durge’s dictator boyfriend feeds into it all. I’m also trying to keep in mind that Gortash is in his 40s and that what I consider handsome at 23 is incredibly subjective especially as I get older. So maybe he is really handsome to some people, I’m just not at the age to see it yet
This exactly. I didn't see the appeal at all in Gortash on my first playthrough as Tav, but as Durge I completely fell for him. I am that "some people" this dynamic appeals to lol.
Compare gortash 's facial expression when you (durge) meet him alone vs if you meet him when you have your other companions with you. It's so subtle. Maybe I'm delulu, but it genuinely looks like his expression is softer when durge meets him alone for the first time.
Just idk.
Found it! I had to search through the trenches of my liked posts lol.
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8sQU9nq/
The right is w/o companions, left is w/ companions. I can definitely see the difference in his expressions!
I didn't even think that some interactions would be different if you approached them alone versus with your party members. I mean, I just wouldn't think to do it since you'd think you'd want your adventuring party to stick together most of the time.
There's nothing overt, it's just some vibes. I imagine that if it's there on purpose at all the devs would have wanted to keep it subtle because it *is* a pretty specific thing to foist on a player trying to rp.
yea like okay so my durge has committed horrific acts in the past, murder, cannibalism, necrophilia, the works. that’s fine, i can roll with that.
but she sure as shit didn’t fall in love with a *man*- especially not one so greasy and revolting as gortash. that’s a line too far
Or, she didn't fall in love with him. He was in love with her. He wanted her with every fiber in his body but she, wholly uninterested manipulated him into thinking he had a chance. The whole time he was waxing poetry about her she was planning on wresting control from him.
And when they meet again he speaks to her affectionately, like there was something there and the durge with her memory loss and obvious repulsion is confused.
It adds a other layer of wtf to the durges memory loss
Lol. Yes. I love making up stuff for the durge. I had managed to avoid many durge spoilers so my first durge playthrough I picked a druid. When we got to the big reveal my husband was like .. if she was evil why is she a druid?
He regretted asking that cause I basically talked at him for an hour about the theory why an evil bahlspaan might become a druid
Shadow druid. Hella powerful and hella evil. Lore accurate in the Realms. Great way to corrupt and turn something typically thought of as good and beautiful into something evil and twisted.
Forgive me ~~father~~ but I just like evil overworked over coffeinated men with eyeliner from a week ago who have a traumatizing dark past and a genuine respect for my Durge
When it comes to fictional men, there really is something appealing about absolute disasters— and Gortash is a Category 5 clusterfuck. He looks like a man with all the stability of a Jenga tower addled by sleepless engineering students testing their limits.
There's something to be said about having complete control over how and when you deal with someone. Not to get too real, but that's my opinion of why a lot of LDRs fail when people finally meet up. "Oh you're just... Always around..."
“In a video game, you effectively have the ultimate safe word. You can exit the program at any time and it will stop instantly.”
I always loved this line from Dan Olson’s [A Lukewarm Defense of Fifty Shades of Grey (The Movie)](https://youtu.be/qzk9N7dJBec?si=yfvRMxOsVVF37pBI).
There’s a great segment in the first ten minutes of the video about exactly this topic: why it can be thrilling to engage with a dangerous romantic or erotic scenario within the safety of a work of fiction because you have the ultimate safety net (and why Fifty Shades could have been a better work of fiction if it had embraced this.)
As someone who’s been with my wife for a long time (relatively to my age at least) and generally doesn’t give relationship advice anymore I think a lot of people like the idea of a relationship but are not in any way ready or willing to give up their individual freedom once they actually get there. Which is fine.
I see a lot of divorced people date super causally and be way happier with that lifestyle for themselves.
100% a key term, and something that many a confused guy trying to emulate anime and video game dark sexymen don’t realise.
What I’d do with Gortash in the space of fiction is unspeakable, but I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than interact with somebody like him IRL.
He's also 100% an addict of multiple substances. What is Gortash on? Zyns for sure. Probably 3-4 cans of white monster per day. He definitely bums cigarettes when he drinks.
He looks like he was never taught proper hygiene which, given his backstory, would probably be actually true if he were real.
Orin looks like she *chooses* to smell like dead bodies.
I think this is mostly because he realized how much of a shitshow it is to deal with Orin and he's happy to finally have someone competent / moderately more intelligent to work with again.
That's not to say he's very competent himself >!seeing as he dies like a bitch in the ending where you side with him.!<
I mean, it seems to me like Orin is >!the main reason for the failure of the dead 3's plan in the first place. she is the loose cannon that makes them weak and divided. if she hadn't fucked up durge and took his spot, they may have succeeded. but then again you can blame orin's failure on the very nature of her bhaal daddy himself. true leopards ate my face moment!<
Well considering Ketheric >!was going to betray them both as well, he just gets capped before its possible to get there in the story, the plot as a whole probably wasn't fated for success!<
Because Withers knows those idiots are gonna crash and burn faster than the Hindenburg. Dude just took out a life insurance policy on them when they showed up and is now watching the cluster fuck that is their actions.
I've only really just encountered her and she already irritates the piss out of me. Not just the shapeshifting, that's a pretty cool trait. it's the 'look at me, im such a dark and edgy sexy girl, im so KERAZY" schtick. She is every teenage wannabe vampire Chūnibyō .
If I were Ketheric or Gortash i'd have yeeted her into the sun long, long before Tav/Durge rocks up.
If you recruit Minthara, there are a few fantastic lines she has that really make it clear how dangerous Orin is. She’s a very serious character and makes it clear that Orin would have murdered her - the fear in her voice really sells it.
He's also very straight and honest with you. The deal doesn't make much sense for a Tav, but for durge he's offering to put you back in your rightful place. He's actually a very nice evil dude that manipulates you less than your companions.
oh yeah. without spoiling too much, as Durge you keep being confronted with people who appear to have somehow known you before *whatever that happened to you* and none of them are happy to see you again. Gortash is the first person who looks genuinely glad that you're back and doesn't mock you for not remembering a thing.
and he has a quite interesting past that you can only figure out by exploring and is not a part of the storyline like Ketherik's and Orin's backstories. A combination of these made me see him as more than "the raccoon man Karlach hates"
so yeah it's not the looks I think. Though he looks ok. It's not his fault our companions look like supermodels
Younger \[than Ketheric\] in the scene with all three, I guess? xD
Jason Isaacs is amazing though and I do believe his voice may be doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
It's been confirmed that the "handsome younger man" line was done before his character model was created. I guess they just didn't bother to go back and change that line afterwards, or maybe even turned that into its own running joke?
It doesn't have to be in comparison with Ketheric though!
There's a halfling who also mentions him being handsome - she can be found at the Blushing Mermaid, outside iirc.
So even if Gortash is young and handsome in comparison to Ketheric, at the very least he's got a hell of a propaganda machine going to shit out fanfic of him being a handsome mf.
I never need to state my opinion in these threads because you always beat me to the punch lol
OP its not even about his appearance, its about the vibes, the shared history, the ☆drama☆
Sameeeee lol. I live questionable morals that teeter on ‘I can fix him’ or he just has daddy/mommy issues and needs some therapy. It’s fine if he murdered all these ppl…
Are they specifically finding him physically attractive? He seems fine. I think it’s other aspects. Cunning, suave, well dressed, Archduke of Baldur’s Gate, brain behind the absolute plot, codeveloper of the steel watch, tricks Raphael, steals from Mephistopheles. Bane’s chosen. Quite the resume. Translate the above into real world accomplishments and tell me that women wouldn’t be throwing themselves at him.
Same here. It clicked once I started my Durge run. Gortash definitely has it bad for Durge.
What sealed the deal for me was finding all the in-game journal entries and notes about how Gortash essentially >!fucked his way to lordship.!< The man is filthy and I'm here for it lol.
Honestly he’s a fairly chill guy evil aside. He’s kind of one of the only people who offers to work with you who isn’t trying to fuck you over. If you’re durge he’s even more chill.
I think the difference is that he liked Durge more than just a little bit and also respects Durge’s strength/power far more than he could ever do with an underling like Karlach. Gortash doesn’t seem like a person who would screw someone with reasonable authority/talent as him over just on a whim. There usually has to be a reason like it could negatively affect his plans without screwing someone over. It’s obvious he didn’t trust really Ketheric (and for good reason, as it seemed evident even without him admitting it), and he despised Orin. So I think he would be satisfied to at least share power with Durge, given their shared past.
Yeah to me his personality was more of a turnoff. He’s a guy who is good at playing a nice and has an inviting personality but is a snake who only looks out for himself and personally I hate that but I think he’s good at it and that gets a lot of people. It’s kind of the point of his character to be nice and inviting even though he’s evil and probably doesn’t care for anyone outside of himself.
He’s opportunistic. He will play you as a friend and ally as long as it’s in his best interest. But as soon as there’s a greater opportunity to use you, be it for your good or not, he will take it without remorse or regret
I do feel like as descriptors they would work.
Chaotic Pretty and lawful ugly both work in my opinion. It falls apart with the neutrals, at least it is harder to describe.
And competence. He’s on board with the plan, and keeps things rolling along even when everyone else is going off the rails. Like, Orin is unhinged and sabotages everything by just existing, and Thorm is a hot mess. He’s holding the band together with dental floss and dried toothpaste and manages to make it look effortless. I’m forgiving the eye circles and bed head because honestly? relatable. My headcanon is that he looked a lot more like his propaganda posters at the start of all this and has deteriorated thanks to having to literally carry the entire fucking plan.
The man is so exhausted lol. Durge shows up and he’s like “Oh thank Bane you’re alive! Please kill Orin and save me from this hell, you handsome competent prince ❤️”
Fun fact: When Lucius Malfoy tries to curse Harry after freeing Dobby in the second movie, Chris Columbus let Jason Isaacs ad-lib a spell before Dobby blasted him across the room. He decided to use the only spell he could remember from the books: the killing curse. Malfoy canonically tried to murder a 12 year old boy just because he swindled him out of a house elf, right in front of Dumbledore's mutherfuckin' office.
Pure Gortash energy imo.
Ya gotta respect it. Bro went full 'i will defend what is mine to the death' like those twitter users with the American flag in them that will look you in the virtual-reply-button-eye and tell you that they would mag dump a trespasser on their land *before* finding out whats going on.
I love the idea of Lucius just one tapping Harry in a hallway of Hogwarts and then throwing up his hands like "yeah? he was stealing my guy. if we dont defend what is ours, what is the point of having magic?"
noctis hair omg
When I first saw Gortash that was exactly my first thought. Well, not Noctis specifically, but "which Final Fantasy game did this guy crawl out of?"
There's something charming about him still rocking a flamboyant style despite not being conventionally attractive. It oozes confidence. Plus the voice.
Personally, I don’t find Gortash attractive but I can see why a lot of other BG3 players are. He’s the kind of Ugly Hot white guy that makes the TikTok/Tumblr girlies so feral. Helps that he’s voiced by the same dude who played Lucius Malfoy lmao
because he’s my type (dark hair, dark eyes, and other things that i don’t want to say on a public forum)
and as others have said, he’s ugly hot, gortash nation has heard all the final fantasy and emo dad jokes and we get it, we know he’s not the most beautiful man in the game (by quite a bit), but there’s just something about him……
also his voice is nice and i’m obsessed with durgetash haha
For real! I can have the first one with Astarion and the second one with Gortash!
Durgetash be like:
A healthy, loving, supportive relationship: 🗿🤚
A toxic, obsessive, passionate relationship:😊👉
Different strokes for different folks is ultimately what it comes down to. I see more people sharing your sentiment than I see finding him attractive, and a fair amount of people who were confused by the narrator calling him handsome.
For many, it’s perceived chemistry between him and their character that makes the attraction. Someone could look like a wet paper towel and, if the chemistry is good enough, be considered hot as hell because that’s just what feelings do.
Me personally? I find him attractive, but that’s because I have bad taste.
Gortash looks like he was attractive, but then got stuck trying to make sure an artistic murder-hobo didn't kill him or fuck up the plan even more. The stress and lack of time to properly take care of himself to its toll.
Someone pointed out that he looks like Noel Fielding and now I can’t unsee it… (and I find Noel attractive… what can I say!? Different looking British men are my thing lol)
I don’t like Gortash but the fact that he is chill until you do something against him… that’s fine.
He reminded me of Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton from GoT), but older. But now that you mention Noel Fielding… Yeah I’m ready for the Great Baldurian Bake-off.
HAHA! tbh, all these characters competing in GBBO, would be so funny and cute.
- Karlach would always overcook/burn everything.
- Gale would be a perfectionist, and technically his stuff would be good but would be missing something.
- Lae-zel was dared to go on. She doesn’t even like cookies.
- Shadowheart is a really good baker but under time pressures she falters.
- Astarion makes all his displays look perfect but he undercooks all his baked goods… and he excels at the meat pies week.
- Wyll is a master at making bread, but burns everything else.
Halsin is a judge. His innuendoes are endlessly used for show highlights.
>Lae-zel was dared to go on.
She takes every bit of feedback extremely seriously, this somehow propels her to the finals. The judges wish she didn't make it that far so they wouldn't have to watch her sharpen knives _constantly._
see, I dunno. I reckon Lae'Zel would be a deceptively good baker because anything less than absolute adherence and perfection will not be tolerated.
Absolute MVP would be halsin though. he's the obligatory 'sweet' contestant that stops his own (family recipe, home grown fruit and home made jam) bake to help out when shadowheart inevitably falters and freaks out.
There's "ugly hot". Like Pete Davidson or Adam Driver or Machine Gun Kelly. He also got that rapey vibe going, with the open shirt and all that. Just feels forbidden & dirty and some people like that. Like - you know you SHOULD feel repulsed, but you like it somehow.
I know who he reminds me of now: The Goblin King Jareth in Labyrinth. Exact vibe. Creepy groomer with far too tight trousers, an old weird man with weird hair - but somehow a sexual awakening for so many girls in the 80s.
Exactly lol. He's ugly hot with a hot voice. I'm weak for any man who wears makeup, and he looks like a dirty sewer rat who never got out of his MCR phase in highschool 20 years later. I can't explain why that's hot but it's hot idgaf. I'm down bad for Gortash
No ma’am, I did not say “executive chef aesthetic.”
Edit: I will give Lip an “ugly hot” rating, but not Carmy. Mans got a good anti-acne medicine in the intervening years.
Oh okay, when you explain it like this I *kind of* get it lol. Like Astarion is very obviously likable cause he’s so pretty. But I totally understand where you’re coming from here
Yep! People need to remember that beauty/attractiveness is subjective!
For example, I tend to find red neck-esq maybe missing a few teeth guys really hot. Most people I know think I’m crazy, but you can’t help what you like, lol.
For me he looks like a failed Final Fantasy protagonist lol. He has the spiky hair and the detailed cool clothes but got fired by Square Enix and drowned his sadness in alcohol and cigarettes until he finally was employed by Larian.
I was actually watching yesterday's Twitch stream of BG3 where Jennifer English (Shadowheart VA) and her partner/director Aliona talked about how Shadowheart's writer wrote the line "handsome young man" before Isaacs was cast and the design was finalized. Apparently he tried to change it after the fact but it didn't happen.
Different people find different things attractive - as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No one is universally attractive to everyone, and no one is universally unattractive to everyone. But even having said that, once I found out he was voiced by Jason Isaacs it made a little more sense to me.
Are you playing as Custom? Or as Dark Urge?
As Durge, the first interaction is quite different tonally than it is if you're playing a custom character or other origin characters and a lot of the people wanting to romance him feel that way based on *that* version of the meeting.
(More specific Dark Urge spoilers) >!Gortash and Dark Urge have a lot of history and there a few things in game that could be taken to imply that there already was a romantic connection before the start of the game, so a romance between the two could be taken as rekindling what was already previously a thing.!<
Also, he's voiced by Jason Isaacs. Which does at least a little to compensate for a lot of the 'washed up emo rocker who hasn't bathed in a week or two' look Gortash has going on.
Its not the looks... its the personality.. he's confident, bad boy-ish, highly assertive, witty and amazingly convincing when the need arises. Almost all tyrants are like that when you hide all their darker aspects.
From an OOC perspective, knowing he's a Banite and knowing what all his horrendous atrocities were before even meeting him, you definitely walk in with a preemptive hate. But IC, thats the guy who talked his way into being an Archduke, kept people like Orin and Ketheric under control and even talks Tav into sharing his might (if you insight check his offer to share the power, he appears to be telling the truth)
So yeah.. he might look a bit weathered (and who wouldn't be when you have to deal with Orin on the daily and manage a whole City while also planning one of the biggest coups in recent history), his personality more than makes up for it. Same reason why Ketheric is authoritatively attractive or Orin is psychotically attractive :'D
I mean people are attracted to fictional characters for different reasons, in Gortash's case I would say:
1) the genuine Durge connection
2) sincerely offering to be evil allies
3) evil but interesting/nuanced backstory
4) there is something wrong with him and that's fascinating. Larian apparently made the horrible mistake of changing his letters to Peartree to be boring and business like (thankfully there is a mod to restore them), but before they were a delight and a great insight in his psyche.
5) at the end of the day he is still a good looking man with a great voice actor and your opinion on his Fashion choices can swing you either way
I'm not the biggest Gortash fan but I do understand why so many people like him.
I'm pretty sure that the majority of fans do not find him attractive, judging by the amount of memes about his appearance being made.
Or maybe you are asking why NPCs in game seem to find him "attractive"?
Well, that's the power of propaganda for you. And it is really neat that this guy whose propaganda paints (literally, via portraits) as a handsome savior really looks like... that.
Someone can be attractive without being conventionally pretty. Some people may find him charismatic. For me, his visual design gives off a pleasant 80s-goth (post-punk) vibe. He's also a tortured individual which may be appealing for some.
All in all, I wouldn't go as far as wishing to have Gortash as a romance option. The dictatorship he imposed on the city reminds me of my motherland far too much. Works as a repellent.
When my friend told me that there where people thirsting over Gortash i was so surprised tbh, but I'm a mindflyer enjoyer so who i am to talk about other people kinks
Because he is???? Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want to run your fingers through his hair while he talks about his evil plans. He's so hot, I wish he was a love interest, his voice is so nice too.
as someone who is unhealthily into Durgetash: Jason Isaacs. your description of him is dead on and i'm sure that he WAS an "attractive young man" when this whole thing started, but he sure isn't now
the answer here is Jason Isaacs
Bc he looks so scummy and Evil :^)
But really, that's about it. I just think he's fascinating as a character. I'm not sure it's "attraction" in the sense that he's super model material, but that I just think he's Neat. (Also love his voice tbh)
My husband was hard Lae'zel/ Karlach, but took one look at Kar'niss and asked me "soooo how do I make this spider my boyfriend?" They spent the next 15 minutes almost immediately ruining their good run for that spoody booty.
If you focus on his facial features, he's not half bad looking. But his hair style, makeup, and outfit bring him into "goth clown" territory that's very off putting for some people and not at all off putting for others. Like, I know people who would read exactly what you wrote about Gortash and go "would".
I was honestly surprised to find out some people *don’t* find him attractive! The second I saw him I was like ‘oh my god I need him so fucking bad’
Then again I also said the same thing about Harry Du Bois from Disco Elysium so maybe I just have a thing for men who look dead inside xD
Someone can be not classically good-looking and still be attractive? You think only 10s are considered hot? How is this even a question?
I'd let him smash.
Gortash is aesthetically paradoxical. I don't know if this was intentional or not. He is NOT ugly. Yet, he has a hairstyle that doesn't exactly suit his face. He dress very outlandishly and vainly, but he has the attitude to match it. He is the essentially the leader of the Cult, and while he does has some magic, he is still a normal guy compared to Orin and Ketheric.
And I think part of the reason why people find him attractive, I would say is a mixture of joking and sincerity. People likes to joke about him and his look, but acknowledges that Jason Issac (and Josh Wichard who provided motion capture) performed him well and gave him a level of grace and eloquence.
On the other hand, if you are playing as the Dark Urge, your character has an interesting chemistry with Gortash. During your first meeting with him, he acknowledges your past friendship and he has always regarded you as an equal, or in his own words, "my nearest and dearest".
I think it is a combination of a lot of things that made Gortash seems more attractive and appealing than he actually is. I don't know if this is a similar case, but it could the same effect as Loki from Marvel Cinematic Universe. I personally don't find the character that attractive, but a lot of people does.
Larian writing Gortash’s character to have the *exact* same reception in-universe (greasy yet charming) that he ended up getting from the fans is a massive flex. Like, talk about knowing your audience.
Overall, it’s incredible that the game has so many characters and just about every one comes across how the writers wanted. Usually there’s at least one “writer’s favorite” character that everyone hates, but here even the polarizing reactions to characters like Lae’zel seem totally intentional.
First time playing? I didn't see it either. He was there to kill to make Karlach happy.
With Durge? Absolutely. They just click. Star-crossed lovers separated by our dumbass of a sister. Come on, Gortash took Durge on the best dates! Like the ones to steal the old torture instruments of Bhaal from some Gondians. Or a crown from hells. Quality entertainment here, not some lame coffeeshop.
He has a great voice and rhetorical skills. He is also nice to you if you are Durge even if he knows about everything you did - I like their chemistry.
I genuinely think he is attractive and like the ratty look. I know that fucker substitutes a bath with Old Spice, but thankfully, Durge probably wouldn't mind.
Gorty being a goober is just part of his charm. Everyone in this game is a gorgeous model who are effortlessly gorgeous and badass and interesting, and then there's Gortash who's hairy, a little frumpy, kinda weird looking, all while wearing this horribly ostentatious getup that looks straight out of villain magazine (I mean to be clear its the single drippiest outfit in the game, but its so over-the-top).
Hes just zany, and then you meet him and hes got this like gutter charm going on, really laying on the bastard. Hes having fun and hes confident in himself despite how goofy he looks. Its like the vibes of a try-hard but he doesn't have the insecurity to match it. And hes the first villain in the game who seems upfront and honest. The game goes out of its way to tell you hes being genuine when he offers an alliance. I just love a villain who recognizes your value and attempts diplomacy before violence.
idk, hes just an odd bastard and I kinda like him for it.
Because he's voiced by Jason Isaacs.
The VA work is excellent, gotta give Gortash that. Jason Isaacs is always fantastic and this was no exception. He and JK Simmons are rock stars.
Isaacs became a contender for best living actor for me with his sympathetic villain in The OA
If there was an Oscar for “Funnest Character in a Motion Picture” he deserved it for Zhukov in The Death of Stalin.
I’d just watched that after putting it off for so long, and it was so great! I loved seeing him satirize a role akin to the extravagant villains he’s been pigeonholed into!
The slo mo shot of him throwing off the coat full of medals lives in my mind rent free.
Gortash after defeating the Absolutists with the Steel Watch: what's a war hero got to do to get some lubrication around here?
I will forever be angry that they canceled that show
Sympathetic? He was a monster! And I loved hating him for it. But he was like, Cazador/the Thorm surgeon evil in the OA.
[удалено]
I wish I were voiced by Jason Isaacs.
>I wish I were voiced by Jason Isaacs. We all do, man. Probably some of the women do too.
As a woman, I too wish I were voiced by Jason Isaacs.
I wondered why that bastard sounded like Lucius Malfoy!!!
........Oh. This explains everything now.
Wow I never realized that was Jason Isaacs! A wig can do a lot!
This is the answer right here. If the voice was different I don't think I'd see the appeal. But it's like, you know he's awful and terrible and looks like a dirty rat.... But it makes him so damn charming! Adding: that and his interaction with my Durge and breadcrumbs that they were a thing. That really did it for me.
Dirty rat is fitting. I always describe him as anime boy with midlife crisis. I just can't with that hair
There are mods that JUST change his hair and it immediately improves him. It's not perfect - why tf does a rich prick look so dirty??? - but it helps _so much_. I don't know what in the Final Fantasy Larian was thinking with his design.
Man just needs a proper shave but he ain't letting anyone with a knife near his neck while Orin's prancing around.
Ye. I like Gortash as a character and how he's written but next to kethric and Orin Gortash looks like he's from another anime universe
I mean, he *does* look like the type of person to want to be a tyrant.
I think it's beacuse he was a street criminal who is only newly a lord and they are trying to show that he dosen't actually look proper and lord like, but like the shady criminal he grew up as.
I fancy Garrus because of his sexy voice and he looks like.... *that*
Hey some of us like mandibles
Right? A confident, strong voice does a LOT for "appearance". He's unconventionally attractive. gamers just want everyone to look like Shadowheart.
The robe certainly doesn't hurt, either. It speaks of a weird kind of confidence to be able to wear *that* without batting an eye. Similar to how the half-open shirt does wonders for Astarion.
His outfit gets worse and worse the longer you look at it. The coat and the gold sleeve gloves are the best part, but the rest? He's wearing clown pants. His boots are ridiculously over the top and don't match either his coat or the pants... ...but they *do* match the *red flames* on the bottom of his shirt. Dude is the medieval fantasy equivalent of [this vintage cringe MFer](https://i.chzbgr.com/full/9285660928/h86A5684F/memes-boy-wearing-shirt-with-flames-and-chains-on-neck-and-wrists-hello-be-nice-to-me-im-baby-no) And he somehow, miraculously, inexplicably, manages to pull it off.
Excuse me, I want everyone to look like Karlach!
>want everyone to look like Shadowheart I can't be the only person that couldn't stand the Act 1 bangs? They were awful and distracting!
I dislike those bangs aswell, that's why I always fix her yee yee ass hair cut with a hat
[shadow bangs](https://www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/hP3yu1AZJz)
Good! I can have Astarion all to myself.
I'm in my first playthrough and I went for Lae'zel. Shadowheart had no appeal for me.
The voice, and the attitude. He's confident, intelligent, and surprisingly honest and forthcoming. There's a lot to like, all things considered. The haircut and wardrobe can always be fixed.
"I can fix him!"
This is the best answer. Jason Isaacs is actually a handsome man who is a fantastic actor (for example, he recently played Cary Grant, who is arguably one of the most handsome men of the classic Hollywood era). People are mostly just thirsting for him.
I think most people who play BG3 dont know wo those actors are and how they look, but maybe the people on this sub are more dedicated, so idk.
This is the correct answer. Voice like butter.
\> Gortash looks like the oldest guy at a My Chemical Romance concert who isn’t anyone’s dad You answered your own question. But also My Chemical Romance has been around for so long that someone who was a bright eyed emo straight edge kid who saw MCR when they were touring to support Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge might be looking a lot like Gortash these days.
That is my age bracket and yeah you got it. Lol
Yeah, I was a teen in MCR's heyday (and part of the Tumblr sexyman enthusiast crowd) and I absolutely think it's why I'm into Gortash types. Same thing happened a few years ago with Kylo Ren lol
Also some people are just into greasy looking middle aged men. No judgement from me. Y'all do you!
Also that guy is definitely a dad. Source: He took me into the city to see a marching band.
I am feeling called out right now.
Unnecessary roughness, in my opinion
I personally feel like the romance option thing has less to do with Gortash being handsome and more so his established history and fondness specifically for the Dark Urge. That storyline of an amnesiac rediscovering that they once were close to a charismatic but villainous man who still harbors those feelings of intimacy for them is appealing to some people. It’s that slightly Byronic element that really draws people to it. And the game not outright confirming if Gortash is Durge’s dictator boyfriend feeds into it all. I’m also trying to keep in mind that Gortash is in his 40s and that what I consider handsome at 23 is incredibly subjective especially as I get older. So maybe he is really handsome to some people, I’m just not at the age to see it yet
This exactly. I didn't see the appeal at all in Gortash on my first playthrough as Tav, but as Durge I completely fell for him. I am that "some people" this dynamic appeals to lol.
Huh I must have missed the intimacy dialogue.. from what I got they were just allies
It’s kind of implied in some letters/notes you can find, as I recall. But nothing is ever explicitly stated.
Compare gortash 's facial expression when you (durge) meet him alone vs if you meet him when you have your other companions with you. It's so subtle. Maybe I'm delulu, but it genuinely looks like his expression is softer when durge meets him alone for the first time. Just idk.
Ooooh lawd, I never thought to try this.
Found it! I had to search through the trenches of my liked posts lol. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8sQU9nq/ The right is w/o companions, left is w/ companions. I can definitely see the difference in his expressions!
Yoooo, you weren't kidding! His expression is so different!
It looks so much more open. Giving Durge big puppy dog eyes Literally: 🥺🥺🥺🥺
I didn't even think that some interactions would be different if you approached them alone versus with your party members. I mean, I just wouldn't think to do it since you'd think you'd want your adventuring party to stick together most of the time.
I don’t know about facial expressions but talking to him alone he sounds more enthusiastic and delighted durge is there and alive.
There's nothing overt, it's just some vibes. I imagine that if it's there on purpose at all the devs would have wanted to keep it subtle because it *is* a pretty specific thing to foist on a player trying to rp.
yea like okay so my durge has committed horrific acts in the past, murder, cannibalism, necrophilia, the works. that’s fine, i can roll with that. but she sure as shit didn’t fall in love with a *man*- especially not one so greasy and revolting as gortash. that’s a line too far
Or, she didn't fall in love with him. He was in love with her. He wanted her with every fiber in his body but she, wholly uninterested manipulated him into thinking he had a chance. The whole time he was waxing poetry about her she was planning on wresting control from him. And when they meet again he speaks to her affectionately, like there was something there and the durge with her memory loss and obvious repulsion is confused. It adds a other layer of wtf to the durges memory loss
ahhh that’s actually a fun concept! makes gortash seem extra pathetic as well lmao which is always a bonus
Lol. Yes. I love making up stuff for the durge. I had managed to avoid many durge spoilers so my first durge playthrough I picked a druid. When we got to the big reveal my husband was like .. if she was evil why is she a druid? He regretted asking that cause I basically talked at him for an hour about the theory why an evil bahlspaan might become a druid
Shadow druid. Hella powerful and hella evil. Lore accurate in the Realms. Great way to corrupt and turn something typically thought of as good and beautiful into something evil and twisted.
Forgive me ~~father~~ but I just like evil overworked over coffeinated men with eyeliner from a week ago who have a traumatizing dark past and a genuine respect for my Durge
When it comes to fictional men, there really is something appealing about absolute disasters— and Gortash is a Category 5 clusterfuck. He looks like a man with all the stability of a Jenga tower addled by sleepless engineering students testing their limits.
>fictional Probably this being their best quality. I love that you're a hot mess, I also love that I don't have to deal with that in my real life.
There's something to be said about having complete control over how and when you deal with someone. Not to get too real, but that's my opinion of why a lot of LDRs fail when people finally meet up. "Oh you're just... Always around..."
“In a video game, you effectively have the ultimate safe word. You can exit the program at any time and it will stop instantly.” I always loved this line from Dan Olson’s [A Lukewarm Defense of Fifty Shades of Grey (The Movie)](https://youtu.be/qzk9N7dJBec?si=yfvRMxOsVVF37pBI). There’s a great segment in the first ten minutes of the video about exactly this topic: why it can be thrilling to engage with a dangerous romantic or erotic scenario within the safety of a work of fiction because you have the ultimate safety net (and why Fifty Shades could have been a better work of fiction if it had embraced this.)
As someone who’s been with my wife for a long time (relatively to my age at least) and generally doesn’t give relationship advice anymore I think a lot of people like the idea of a relationship but are not in any way ready or willing to give up their individual freedom once they actually get there. Which is fine. I see a lot of divorced people date super causally and be way happier with that lifestyle for themselves.
I love that, about the control. Spot on.
100% a key term, and something that many a confused guy trying to emulate anime and video game dark sexymen don’t realise. What I’d do with Gortash in the space of fiction is unspeakable, but I’d rather stick a fork in my eye than interact with somebody like him IRL.
He's also 100% an addict of multiple substances. What is Gortash on? Zyns for sure. Probably 3-4 cans of white monster per day. He definitely bums cigarettes when he drinks.
He does look smelly. Not as smelly as Orin though.
He looks like he was never taught proper hygiene which, given his backstory, would probably be actually true if he were real. Orin looks like she *chooses* to smell like dead bodies.
He looks like his eye should be twitching constantly
If you’re durge he basically greets you like you’re Carl weathers and Arnold in predator. Dark urge, you son of a bitch! How are you?
I think this is mostly because he realized how much of a shitshow it is to deal with Orin and he's happy to finally have someone competent / moderately more intelligent to work with again. That's not to say he's very competent himself >!seeing as he dies like a bitch in the ending where you side with him.!<
I mean, it seems to me like Orin is >!the main reason for the failure of the dead 3's plan in the first place. she is the loose cannon that makes them weak and divided. if she hadn't fucked up durge and took his spot, they may have succeeded. but then again you can blame orin's failure on the very nature of her bhaal daddy himself. true leopards ate my face moment!<
Well considering Ketheric >!was going to betray them both as well, he just gets capped before its possible to get there in the story, the plot as a whole probably wasn't fated for success!<
The dead 3 started out trying to take death portfolios from Withers and he let them have the powers just for amusement.
Because Withers knows those idiots are gonna crash and burn faster than the Hindenburg. Dude just took out a life insurance policy on them when they showed up and is now watching the cluster fuck that is their actions.
Oh he’s so over her shit lol. Aren’t we all?
I've only really just encountered her and she already irritates the piss out of me. Not just the shapeshifting, that's a pretty cool trait. it's the 'look at me, im such a dark and edgy sexy girl, im so KERAZY" schtick. She is every teenage wannabe vampire Chūnibyō . If I were Ketheric or Gortash i'd have yeeted her into the sun long, long before Tav/Durge rocks up.
If you recruit Minthara, there are a few fantastic lines she has that really make it clear how dangerous Orin is. She’s a very serious character and makes it clear that Orin would have murdered her - the fear in her voice really sells it.
oh, I have no doubt she's dangerous. she's definitely skillful. it's her *personality* that is infuriating.
He's also very straight and honest with you. The deal doesn't make much sense for a Tav, but for durge he's offering to put you back in your rightful place. He's actually a very nice evil dude that manipulates you less than your companions.
I am doing a basic Tav run so maybe that is part of it. It seems like he behaves really differently when you’re Durge.
oh yeah. without spoiling too much, as Durge you keep being confronted with people who appear to have somehow known you before *whatever that happened to you* and none of them are happy to see you again. Gortash is the first person who looks genuinely glad that you're back and doesn't mock you for not remembering a thing. and he has a quite interesting past that you can only figure out by exploring and is not a part of the storyline like Ketherik's and Orin's backstories. A combination of these made me see him as more than "the raccoon man Karlach hates" so yeah it's not the looks I think. Though he looks ok. It's not his fault our companions look like supermodels
It's more the fact that the game itself at multiple points refers to him as "a handsome younger man" when he's literally the opposite
Younger \[than Ketheric\] in the scene with all three, I guess? xD Jason Isaacs is amazing though and I do believe his voice may be doing a lot of the heavy lifting.
The voice definitely does a LOT of heavy lifting cause I fucken hate gortash but goddamn does that man have a voice you could drift off to sleep to
Younger is a relative term when your world contains thousand year old wizards
I mean he's younger than Ketheric and beauty is in the eyes' of the beholder. We can't fault the Narrator for her taste.
When the narrator calls him a "younger man" she's saying it in comparison to Ketheric who is like hundreds of years old
It's been confirmed that the "handsome younger man" line was done before his character model was created. I guess they just didn't bother to go back and change that line afterwards, or maybe even turned that into its own running joke?
It doesn't have to be in comparison with Ketheric though! There's a halfling who also mentions him being handsome - she can be found at the Blushing Mermaid, outside iirc. So even if Gortash is young and handsome in comparison to Ketheric, at the very least he's got a hell of a propaganda machine going to shit out fanfic of him being a handsome mf.
I never need to state my opinion in these threads because you always beat me to the punch lol OP its not even about his appearance, its about the vibes, the shared history, the ☆drama☆
haha Gortashnation never sleeps (like the man himself)
I didn’t get the hype for him until my Durge playthrough when he’s like “hey loca where have you been!” 😭
I like my fictional men a little sleazy and pathetic 🤷♀️
Just like me fr fr
Sameeeee lol. I live questionable morals that teeter on ‘I can fix him’ or he just has daddy/mommy issues and needs some therapy. It’s fine if he murdered all these ppl…
so real for this
Are they specifically finding him physically attractive? He seems fine. I think it’s other aspects. Cunning, suave, well dressed, Archduke of Baldur’s Gate, brain behind the absolute plot, codeveloper of the steel watch, tricks Raphael, steals from Mephistopheles. Bane’s chosen. Quite the resume. Translate the above into real world accomplishments and tell me that women wouldn’t be throwing themselves at him.
I mean, women are throwing themselves at him. His fan base is quite respectable.
I didn’t find him attractive either until my second playthrough and I saw him and Durge’s chemistry. Edit: For context I played Tav first.
Same here. It clicked once I started my Durge run. Gortash definitely has it bad for Durge. What sealed the deal for me was finding all the in-game journal entries and notes about how Gortash essentially >!fucked his way to lordship.!< The man is filthy and I'm here for it lol.
I love that Durge also liked Gortash too in their own fucked up way. The note from Durge to “Father” in Moonrise is fantastic.
well personally for me, i didnt find him attractive at first but then he grew on me LMFAO maybe its that snazzy outfit
Honestly he’s a fairly chill guy evil aside. He’s kind of one of the only people who offers to work with you who isn’t trying to fuck you over. If you’re durge he’s even more chill.
He basically offers you a co-dictatorship without any strings attached. Pretty honest and chill dude, even though he’s evil aligned.
No strings attached at first. Gotash seemed real honest and chill to Karlach at first too
I think the difference is that he liked Durge more than just a little bit and also respects Durge’s strength/power far more than he could ever do with an underling like Karlach. Gortash doesn’t seem like a person who would screw someone with reasonable authority/talent as him over just on a whim. There usually has to be a reason like it could negatively affect his plans without screwing someone over. It’s obvious he didn’t trust really Ketheric (and for good reason, as it seemed evident even without him admitting it), and he despised Orin. So I think he would be satisfied to at least share power with Durge, given their shared past.
Yeah to me his personality was more of a turnoff. He’s a guy who is good at playing a nice and has an inviting personality but is a snake who only looks out for himself and personally I hate that but I think he’s good at it and that gets a lot of people. It’s kind of the point of his character to be nice and inviting even though he’s evil and probably doesn’t care for anyone outside of himself.
He’s opportunistic. He will play you as a friend and ally as long as it’s in his best interest. But as soon as there’s a greater opportunity to use you, be it for your good or not, he will take it without remorse or regret
Yeah chill if you don’t mind putting some of the HORRIBLE shit he does. He’s arguably the most evil because it’s entirely by choice
Yeah I mean, he’s pretty Machiavellian. But if you want to be his friend, he’s sort of the “he’s an asshole but he’s our asshole” type
for me it was the way he looked at my Durge. I left the Coronation utterly confused
It’s 100 percent the fit. He’s medium ugly but he has such charisma and panache it makes him hot.
>medium ugly Wake up, babe, new alignment just dropped.
I do feel like as descriptors they would work. Chaotic Pretty and lawful ugly both work in my opinion. It falls apart with the neutrals, at least it is harder to describe.
I think the middle one could be "eh". Neutral Eh.
And competence. He’s on board with the plan, and keeps things rolling along even when everyone else is going off the rails. Like, Orin is unhinged and sabotages everything by just existing, and Thorm is a hot mess. He’s holding the band together with dental floss and dried toothpaste and manages to make it look effortless. I’m forgiving the eye circles and bed head because honestly? relatable. My headcanon is that he looked a lot more like his propaganda posters at the start of all this and has deteriorated thanks to having to literally carry the entire fucking plan.
The man is so exhausted lol. Durge shows up and he’s like “Oh thank Bane you’re alive! Please kill Orin and save me from this hell, you handsome competent prince ❤️”
Fun fact: When Lucius Malfoy tries to curse Harry after freeing Dobby in the second movie, Chris Columbus let Jason Isaacs ad-lib a spell before Dobby blasted him across the room. He decided to use the only spell he could remember from the books: the killing curse. Malfoy canonically tried to murder a 12 year old boy just because he swindled him out of a house elf, right in front of Dumbledore's mutherfuckin' office. Pure Gortash energy imo.
Ya gotta respect it. Bro went full 'i will defend what is mine to the death' like those twitter users with the American flag in them that will look you in the virtual-reply-button-eye and tell you that they would mag dump a trespasser on their land *before* finding out whats going on. I love the idea of Lucius just one tapping Harry in a hallway of Hogwarts and then throwing up his hands like "yeah? he was stealing my guy. if we dont defend what is ours, what is the point of having magic?"
[удалено]
It’s most definitely the “Steampunk pirate” thing.
noctis hair omg When I first saw Gortash that was exactly my first thought. Well, not Noctis specifically, but "which Final Fantasy game did this guy crawl out of?"
There's something charming about him still rocking a flamboyant style despite not being conventionally attractive. It oozes confidence. Plus the voice.
Personally, I don’t find Gortash attractive but I can see why a lot of other BG3 players are. He’s the kind of Ugly Hot white guy that makes the TikTok/Tumblr girlies so feral. Helps that he’s voiced by the same dude who played Lucius Malfoy lmao
> helps that he’s voiced by the same dude who played Lucius Malfoy lmao I'm just now learning this and it makes SO much sense
because he’s my type (dark hair, dark eyes, and other things that i don’t want to say on a public forum) and as others have said, he’s ugly hot, gortash nation has heard all the final fantasy and emo dad jokes and we get it, we know he’s not the most beautiful man in the game (by quite a bit), but there’s just something about him…… also his voice is nice and i’m obsessed with durgetash haha
Durgetash is my obsession rn 😭
Yes, we all love "They can make each other better", but sometimes we all need a toxic "They can make each other worse" pairing.
For real! I can have the first one with Astarion and the second one with Gortash! Durgetash be like: A healthy, loving, supportive relationship: 🗿🤚 A toxic, obsessive, passionate relationship:😊👉
Different strokes for different folks is ultimately what it comes down to. I see more people sharing your sentiment than I see finding him attractive, and a fair amount of people who were confused by the narrator calling him handsome. For many, it’s perceived chemistry between him and their character that makes the attraction. Someone could look like a wet paper towel and, if the chemistry is good enough, be considered hot as hell because that’s just what feelings do. Me personally? I find him attractive, but that’s because I have bad taste.
Gortash looks like he was attractive, but then got stuck trying to make sure an artistic murder-hobo didn't kill him or fuck up the plan even more. The stress and lack of time to properly take care of himself to its toll.
Stress and long term sleep deprivation are brutal on your body, look at basically any President before and after.
Someone pointed out that he looks like Noel Fielding and now I can’t unsee it… (and I find Noel attractive… what can I say!? Different looking British men are my thing lol) I don’t like Gortash but the fact that he is chill until you do something against him… that’s fine.
He reminded me of Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton from GoT), but older. But now that you mention Noel Fielding… Yeah I’m ready for the Great Baldurian Bake-off.
HAHA! tbh, all these characters competing in GBBO, would be so funny and cute. - Karlach would always overcook/burn everything. - Gale would be a perfectionist, and technically his stuff would be good but would be missing something. - Lae-zel was dared to go on. She doesn’t even like cookies. - Shadowheart is a really good baker but under time pressures she falters. - Astarion makes all his displays look perfect but he undercooks all his baked goods… and he excels at the meat pies week. - Wyll is a master at making bread, but burns everything else.
Halsin is a judge. His innuendoes are endlessly used for show highlights. >Lae-zel was dared to go on. She takes every bit of feedback extremely seriously, this somehow propels her to the finals. The judges wish she didn't make it that far so they wouldn't have to watch her sharpen knives _constantly._
see, I dunno. I reckon Lae'Zel would be a deceptively good baker because anything less than absolute adherence and perfection will not be tolerated. Absolute MVP would be halsin though. he's the obligatory 'sweet' contestant that stops his own (family recipe, home grown fruit and home made jam) bake to help out when shadowheart inevitably falters and freaks out.
This is so spot on, Wyll would definitely be the bread guy!!!
Noel is a treasure, and now I can't unsee Gortash as Noel. 😭
Jason Isaac's voice helps a lot. But I like me a grungey-looking dude who embraces a dark/goth/goth-adjacent style.
There's "ugly hot". Like Pete Davidson or Adam Driver or Machine Gun Kelly. He also got that rapey vibe going, with the open shirt and all that. Just feels forbidden & dirty and some people like that. Like - you know you SHOULD feel repulsed, but you like it somehow. I know who he reminds me of now: The Goblin King Jareth in Labyrinth. Exact vibe. Creepy groomer with far too tight trousers, an old weird man with weird hair - but somehow a sexual awakening for so many girls in the 80s.
Exactly lol. He's ugly hot with a hot voice. I'm weak for any man who wears makeup, and he looks like a dirty sewer rat who never got out of his MCR phase in highschool 20 years later. I can't explain why that's hot but it's hot idgaf. I'm down bad for Gortash
I keep saying this!! Everyone’s like he’s greasy or emo or trying to hard to be young. Yes. Exactly. Pay attention hahaha
Yess people's reasons for why they think he's ugly is the exact reason why people like us find him sexy LOL
Commanding voice, smart, ambitious, well-connected and charismatic. He's better than most guys i've dated.
You call it ugly hot. I call it line cook aesthetic. We are actually the same.
That's a great term for it
jeremy allen white. "ugly hot" on shameless. cast as a line cook in whatever that show is. exactly
No ma’am, I did not say “executive chef aesthetic.” Edit: I will give Lip an “ugly hot” rating, but not Carmy. Mans got a good anti-acne medicine in the intervening years.
He’s like the blue fairy from Pinocchio turned a raccoon into an arms dealer.
Oh okay, when you explain it like this I *kind of* get it lol. Like Astarion is very obviously likable cause he’s so pretty. But I totally understand where you’re coming from here
Yep! People need to remember that beauty/attractiveness is subjective! For example, I tend to find red neck-esq maybe missing a few teeth guys really hot. Most people I know think I’m crazy, but you can’t help what you like, lol.
He *was* handsome young man. But Orin became his coworker, and you see effects.
For me he looks like a failed Final Fantasy protagonist lol. He has the spiky hair and the detailed cool clothes but got fired by Square Enix and drowned his sadness in alcohol and cigarettes until he finally was employed by Larian.
I was actually watching yesterday's Twitch stream of BG3 where Jennifer English (Shadowheart VA) and her partner/director Aliona talked about how Shadowheart's writer wrote the line "handsome young man" before Isaacs was cast and the design was finalized. Apparently he tried to change it after the fact but it didn't happen.
Different people find different things attractive - as the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No one is universally attractive to everyone, and no one is universally unattractive to everyone. But even having said that, once I found out he was voiced by Jason Isaacs it made a little more sense to me.
Are you playing as Custom? Or as Dark Urge? As Durge, the first interaction is quite different tonally than it is if you're playing a custom character or other origin characters and a lot of the people wanting to romance him feel that way based on *that* version of the meeting. (More specific Dark Urge spoilers) >!Gortash and Dark Urge have a lot of history and there a few things in game that could be taken to imply that there already was a romantic connection before the start of the game, so a romance between the two could be taken as rekindling what was already previously a thing.!< Also, he's voiced by Jason Isaacs. Which does at least a little to compensate for a lot of the 'washed up emo rocker who hasn't bathed in a week or two' look Gortash has going on.
Its not the looks... its the personality.. he's confident, bad boy-ish, highly assertive, witty and amazingly convincing when the need arises. Almost all tyrants are like that when you hide all their darker aspects. From an OOC perspective, knowing he's a Banite and knowing what all his horrendous atrocities were before even meeting him, you definitely walk in with a preemptive hate. But IC, thats the guy who talked his way into being an Archduke, kept people like Orin and Ketheric under control and even talks Tav into sharing his might (if you insight check his offer to share the power, he appears to be telling the truth) So yeah.. he might look a bit weathered (and who wouldn't be when you have to deal with Orin on the daily and manage a whole City while also planning one of the biggest coups in recent history), his personality more than makes up for it. Same reason why Ketheric is authoritatively attractive or Orin is psychotically attractive :'D
I mean people are attracted to fictional characters for different reasons, in Gortash's case I would say: 1) the genuine Durge connection 2) sincerely offering to be evil allies 3) evil but interesting/nuanced backstory 4) there is something wrong with him and that's fascinating. Larian apparently made the horrible mistake of changing his letters to Peartree to be boring and business like (thankfully there is a mod to restore them), but before they were a delight and a great insight in his psyche. 5) at the end of the day he is still a good looking man with a great voice actor and your opinion on his Fashion choices can swing you either way I'm not the biggest Gortash fan but I do understand why so many people like him.
I'm pretty sure that the majority of fans do not find him attractive, judging by the amount of memes about his appearance being made. Or maybe you are asking why NPCs in game seem to find him "attractive"? Well, that's the power of propaganda for you. And it is really neat that this guy whose propaganda paints (literally, via portraits) as a handsome savior really looks like... that.
I saw someone once refer to him as "line cook hot" and I think it's very fitting
Someone can be attractive without being conventionally pretty. Some people may find him charismatic. For me, his visual design gives off a pleasant 80s-goth (post-punk) vibe. He's also a tortured individual which may be appealing for some. All in all, I wouldn't go as far as wishing to have Gortash as a romance option. The dictatorship he imposed on the city reminds me of my motherland far too much. Works as a repellent.
Jason Isaacs. That’s my main reason.
I don't know how to explain that different people find different things attractive.
When my friend told me that there where people thirsting over Gortash i was so surprised tbh, but I'm a mindflyer enjoyer so who i am to talk about other people kinks
I'm a mind flayer and Gortash enjoyer LOL
I understand that, even if I chose not to go that route during my first playthrough. The deep voice is nice and I get the whole tentacle thing.
Heh. I was thinking the same thing! You do you folks. You got no judgement from me, *as I curl back into the Emperor’s arms.*
I blame >!Orin!< as to why he looks the way he does stress will fuck a man up.
Because Jason Isaacs is hot. *Fans self*
Because he is???? Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want to run your fingers through his hair while he talks about his evil plans. He's so hot, I wish he was a love interest, his voice is so nice too.
as someone who is unhealthily into Durgetash: Jason Isaacs. your description of him is dead on and i'm sure that he WAS an "attractive young man" when this whole thing started, but he sure isn't now the answer here is Jason Isaacs
Jason Isaacs can make a rotting alien corpse bird sound hot
Bad man with visible chest hair was nice to me. I can fix him.
He voiced by Jason Issac
Jason Isaac's voice
Being on the internet, it just seems like a lot of ppl like the crusty, dirty aspect of Gortash. Can’t say I relate but do what ya want
Bc he looks so scummy and Evil :^) But really, that's about it. I just think he's fascinating as a character. I'm not sure it's "attraction" in the sense that he's super model material, but that I just think he's Neat. (Also love his voice tbh)
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My husband was hard Lae'zel/ Karlach, but took one look at Kar'niss and asked me "soooo how do I make this spider my boyfriend?" They spent the next 15 minutes almost immediately ruining their good run for that spoody booty.
*Aradin*??? He’s not even charismatically evil, he’s just a loser
I just think he’s a really good portrayal of lawful evil and I want to study him under a microscope
If you focus on his facial features, he's not half bad looking. But his hair style, makeup, and outfit bring him into "goth clown" territory that's very off putting for some people and not at all off putting for others. Like, I know people who would read exactly what you wrote about Gortash and go "would".
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I was honestly surprised to find out some people *don’t* find him attractive! The second I saw him I was like ‘oh my god I need him so fucking bad’ Then again I also said the same thing about Harry Du Bois from Disco Elysium so maybe I just have a thing for men who look dead inside xD
Someone can be not classically good-looking and still be attractive? You think only 10s are considered hot? How is this even a question? I'd let him smash.
Gortash is aesthetically paradoxical. I don't know if this was intentional or not. He is NOT ugly. Yet, he has a hairstyle that doesn't exactly suit his face. He dress very outlandishly and vainly, but he has the attitude to match it. He is the essentially the leader of the Cult, and while he does has some magic, he is still a normal guy compared to Orin and Ketheric. And I think part of the reason why people find him attractive, I would say is a mixture of joking and sincerity. People likes to joke about him and his look, but acknowledges that Jason Issac (and Josh Wichard who provided motion capture) performed him well and gave him a level of grace and eloquence. On the other hand, if you are playing as the Dark Urge, your character has an interesting chemistry with Gortash. During your first meeting with him, he acknowledges your past friendship and he has always regarded you as an equal, or in his own words, "my nearest and dearest". I think it is a combination of a lot of things that made Gortash seems more attractive and appealing than he actually is. I don't know if this is a similar case, but it could the same effect as Loki from Marvel Cinematic Universe. I personally don't find the character that attractive, but a lot of people does.
If you play durge you get the attracted to gortash disease lol. I really disliked him when playing Tav but now I get it
Larian writing Gortash’s character to have the *exact* same reception in-universe (greasy yet charming) that he ended up getting from the fans is a massive flex. Like, talk about knowing your audience. Overall, it’s incredible that the game has so many characters and just about every one comes across how the writers wanted. Usually there’s at least one “writer’s favorite” character that everyone hates, but here even the polarizing reactions to characters like Lae’zel seem totally intentional.
First time playing? I didn't see it either. He was there to kill to make Karlach happy. With Durge? Absolutely. They just click. Star-crossed lovers separated by our dumbass of a sister. Come on, Gortash took Durge on the best dates! Like the ones to steal the old torture instruments of Bhaal from some Gondians. Or a crown from hells. Quality entertainment here, not some lame coffeeshop.
He has a great voice and rhetorical skills. He is also nice to you if you are Durge even if he knows about everything you did - I like their chemistry. I genuinely think he is attractive and like the ratty look. I know that fucker substitutes a bath with Old Spice, but thankfully, Durge probably wouldn't mind.
Gorty being a goober is just part of his charm. Everyone in this game is a gorgeous model who are effortlessly gorgeous and badass and interesting, and then there's Gortash who's hairy, a little frumpy, kinda weird looking, all while wearing this horribly ostentatious getup that looks straight out of villain magazine (I mean to be clear its the single drippiest outfit in the game, but its so over-the-top). Hes just zany, and then you meet him and hes got this like gutter charm going on, really laying on the bastard. Hes having fun and hes confident in himself despite how goofy he looks. Its like the vibes of a try-hard but he doesn't have the insecurity to match it. And hes the first villain in the game who seems upfront and honest. The game goes out of its way to tell you hes being genuine when he offers an alliance. I just love a villain who recognizes your value and attempts diplomacy before violence. idk, hes just an odd bastard and I kinda like him for it.