Thaniel has been trapped in the Shadowfell region of Baldur’s Gate 3 for over a century. You first learn about him through Halsin, the Druid who stays at your camp if you saved Emerald Grove from the goblins in Act One.
But after speaking with Art Cullagh at the Last Light Inn, Halsin will find a way to bring Thaniel back. If you’re looking to save the Shadow-Cursed Lands, you need to find your way to Thaniel and reunite him with a core piece of his soul he’s been missing since he’s been gone. There are a lot of steps to this quest, but this is crucial for saving this area, and you would like to do it before going forward to Act Three. Here’s everything you need to know about how to find Thaniel and how to save the Shadow-Cursed Lands in Baldur’s Gate 3.
How to find Thaniel in Baldur’s Gate 3
The quickest way to track dowm Thaniel is to complete the Wake Up Art Cullagh quest, which you receive at the Last Light Inn in Baldur’s Gate 3. During this quest, you’ll learn Thaniel’s location and can continue working through the updated objectives of the Lift the Shadow Curse questline to find Thaniel. Cullagh is a critical character you’ll find, but you won’t know how to wake up immediately. You can do this by making your way to the House of Healing, defeating Malus Thorm, and bringing an item called the Battered Lute to Cullagh, and playing it near him to wake him up.
If you keep talking to Halsin through Act Two when you’re in the Shadow Cursed Lands, he’ll mention Thaniel as his biggest failure. Halsin has no idea if Thaniel is still alive after all these years, and without more knowledge, he has no way of finding him.
You can begin looking for Thaniel after you defeat Malus Thorm, and wake up Art Cullagh in BG3. From there, you’ll learn how to track down Thaniel, and Halsin will be ready to assist you on the matter.
Where to find Halsin to help him rescue Thaniel in BG3
Halsin will ask you to meet him by the Lakeshore—a short walk from the Last Light Inn, roughly at the coordinates X: -74 and Y: 204.
Meeting Halsin will reveal he plans to go into the Shadowfell to rescue Thaniel, and you need to stay behind to protect his portal from waves of enemies. Before you start this discussion with Halsin, we highly recommend that you save on your BG3 profile and adequately prepare your party members for a tough fight ahead of them.
The best way to do this is to ensure they’ve had a long rest, have plenty of scrolls, potions, and ammunition on them, and double-check your spell shots. You’re going to want massive spells that deal large area of effect (AoE) damage or ones that can do a large amount of crowd control, such as Confusion, Hypnotic Pattern, Hold Person, Glyph of Warding, Hunger of Hagar, or Sleet Storm, to name a few choices.
How to protect Halsin’s portal in BG3
After speaking with Halsin, a short cutscene will play out, and then Halsin will attempt to bring Thaniel back. However, that’s why he called you to his side, and he requests that you keep him alive. Your next quest objective is to keep Halsin alive for several turns as he attempts to bring Thaniel out of the veil. You need to protect the portal from the large horde of shadows coming through the forest with your BG3 party.
Although the enemies have low health, there are a lot of them. They also progressively become stronger as the turns slowly slink away and you get closer to the end. Attacks that hit multiple targets, like Magic Missile, are beneficial. This is where those large AoE spells come into play, and your entire BG3 party can work together to turn the tide.
However, the most significant advantage you will have here is Shadowheart or any Cleric you have in your BG3 party. Move her into an area near a large group of enemies and use the Turn Undead spell. If an enemy fails the Wisdom Save Throw for this, they become Turned and are forced to use their turn to move as far away from Shadowheart as possible. At this point, Shadowheart should be past level five, which means this spell also deals 4d6 Radiant damage to any undead that fails the Wisdom Saving Throw.
You may have to reload and try again since some of it’s luck. But once the task is completed, Halsin will return with Thaniel and any remaining enemies die. Halsin, however, explains something’s wrong with him.
Return to camp and speak to Halsin, where you can recruit him as a companion. He’ll tell you Thaniel is missing part of himself and task you with finding an area with floral blooms.
The area should be marked on your map, but it appears to be bugged, as it did not for me. You can head to the coordinates X: 76 Y: 40.
How to find Thaniel’s Shadow Half in BG3
Travel to the House in the Deep Shadows to find Thaniel’s other half. If you’ve unlocked the Shadowed Battlefield Waypoint, head there for quick access. Otherwise, head to the above coordinates X: 76 Y: 40 or southeast from the Last Light Inn.
Before traveling, however, make sure you have a working Moon Lantern or Pixie Blessing. You’ll need it to complete the objectives in this quest.
How to complete Hide & Seek dialogue in Baldur’s Gate 3
In the House in Deep Shadows, you will run into a boy named Oliver. If you’ve already discovered Oliver, you know he will ask you to play hide and seek with him, and you must win at playing Hide and Seek. If you haven’t, play Hide and Seek with Oliver during this BG3 playthrough.
You can talk to him if you’re returning to this location or just finished playing Hide and Seek. After he asks you to play with him, you’ll gain access to some new dialogue.
Of the dialogue options, choose the first one, where you tell Oliver that you know who he really is and that he needs to return to reunite with Thaniel since he will die without Oliver’s presence. The two are one and the same; Oliver is simply the shadow version of Thaniel.
Of course, Oliver won’t like this, and he will say you can’t make him stop playing. He will run off into a portal, which you must enter to follow him with your party. We recommend taking a short rest before embarking through the portal, and preparing for a fight on the other side.
Here, Oliver will summon his shadow parents and dog and trap himself in a magical bubble called the Nightdome. You’ll enter into a battle with various creatures.
How to beat Oliver in Baldur’s Gate 3
To get to Oliver, you must defeat the creatures in your path, and the best way to do that is to beat the parents first, then the dog, and finally damage the dome enough so Oliver is forced to come out.
As shadows, they aren’t too difficult to defeat, and killing them also weakens Oliver’s bubble, which has 300 health. There are a few tips and tricks you can use to beat them with ease.
- Select one high-damage-dealing person, like a Sorcerer or a Warlock, to clear the dogs.
- Magic Missiles is the best and most efficient ability to clear the mobs because you get three missiles, and they’re 100 percent guaranteed to land. You can also use Eldritch Blast.
- The rest of your team will focus on the parents, starting with one, and when that one is killed, the other. You’ll want to have your tanks keeping them in check.
- When one parent is killed, this will deal 60 damage to the dome. So, if you can quickly kill them both, you’ll deal 120 damage to the dome.
- Oliver will also create shadows of himself that you’ll need to kill. They each have one health, so you can use an AoE spell, like Fireball or Magic Missiles, to clear them.
- Use a light to ensure you can see Shadows.
- If any of your characters are Fighters, like Lae’zel, use Action Surge to gain an extra action that turn. This will help whittle down Mommy and Daddy’s health much faster.
- If you have a Barbarian, like Karlach, you can also use Frenzy to gain an extra action and deal more damage to Mommy and Daddy.
- Once you’ve killed all the shadows, you can focus your abilities and destroy the Nightdome.
How to convince Oliver to return to Thaniel in Baldur’s Gate 3
When the fight ends, convince Oliver to return to Thaniel. To do this, tell Oliver that with Thaniel, he’ll always have someone to play with, and he doesn’t have to be alone anymore. This makes Oliver see reason and become a real boy for your Baldur’s Gate 3 playthrough. Return to camp after Oliver disappears and you can speak with Halsin. He shares that Thaniel is recovering now Oliver has returned. Within a few days, Thaniel will be as good as new.
Now, you can see Thaniel at your camp, and this part of Halsin’s questline is complete in Baldur’s Gate 3. Even better, this will help you increase your favorability with him if you want to romance Halsin later.
