Where things came from

Remove all ads!

It's painfully, blindingly obvious that the first Conan movie was a huge creative influence on the design of the Baldur's Gate saga, from Coran, "thief and archer," to the more-obvious Subotai ripoff, Yoshimo, in SOA. Also, the theme music for both BG1 and TOB, and to a lesser extent, SOA, clearly rips off/draws inspiration from the main musical theme of Conan. Also, at the City Gates of Amn, a guard stops a merchant for selling "Black Lotus," the same stuff Conan and Subotai enjoy for its narcotic properties in the movie.

Minsc is Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

There are 3 NPCs in BG1 named Larry, Darryl, and Darryl, a reference to the old Bob Newhart TV show.

There's a bounty hunter NPC in BG1 named "Bub Snikt," presumably a reference to the Canadian comic book character Wolverine. (BIO is based in Edmonton, Alberta Canada)

It seems arguable that Firkraag was at least partially inspired by Tolkien's Smaug from The Hobbit. Bored, too above the matters of common men to care about most things, but vengeful when roused.

 

I think most ideas of dragons from Tolkien. I mean, the idea that they hoard treasure and are very powerful and mostly evil.

In the quest involving Safana and Coran in BG2 (cant remember where), one of the characters is Lanfear. Wheel of Time. You could probably compare the PC's being a child of bhaal with Rand Al Thor's being the Dragon Reborn and thus responsible for a lot of bad stuff but also necessary to save the world.

 

Killjoy, I would've thought you'd have spotted BG's reference to Fritz Lieber (fafhrd password).

Pirate Newf and Sailor Newf - yes, Newfoundlanders sing that song

 

kuemper, I would've hoped you'd catch the reference to the gold box Pool of Radiance, in which "fafhrd" was used as a password on the old code wheel.

 

here are a few more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldur's_Gate_II:_Shadows_of_Amn#Trivia

Trivia
The game is dedicated to Daniel Walker, the graphic designer of Baldur's Gate.

Division Director Feargus Urquhart makes a cameo appearance in the game near the circus tent at Waukeen's Promenade.

To complete the pantaloons easter egg the player has to import a Baldur's Gate game with a party that carries the pantaloons, and have the Throne of Bhaal expansion pack.

In the Adventurer's Mart on Waukeen's Promenade are paintings showing characters from the old Dungeons & Dragons TV series. Clicking on the pictures provides text that implies that every one of them died horribly.

In the cage near the circus on Waukeen's Promenade are a moose and a squirrel. They are perhaps a reference to Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Drizzt Do'Urden makes two appearances in the Baldur's Gate series. In Baldur's Gate, the cheat code "CheatsrizztDefends();" spawns Drizzt, who will defend the party while the cheat"CheatsrizztAttacks();" spawns a hostile Drizzt. The player can also encounter him in the forest and help him fight a pack of gnolls. Later, in Baldur's Gate II, the characters encounter him and his party at a certain point of the game, when the player can choose to have him help the group or fight them. If the player character is an elf named 'Drizzt' with low reputation, then the real Drizzt will challenge him for the honour of his name.

The game features two hidden bonus merchants[1], Deidre who sells items associated with Black Isle's Planescape: Torment game (such as "Dak'kon's Zerth Blade" and "Vhailor's Helm" which are both references to characters the player would meet in that game) and Joluv who sells items linked to Icewind Dale (such as "Axe of Hrothgar" and "Jerrod's Mace", again referencing characters from the Icewind Dale game). However, none of the Planescape weapons retain their unique abilities (such as Dak'kon's Zerth blade increasing in damage as the player/NPC allies' levels rise)
Many minor NPCs in the game and its expansion were named after members of the suggestion forums provided by Bioware. Examples include Gromnir, Draconis, and Yakman

Biff the Understudy makes a cameo appearance as an understudy for a play, and is booed from the stage. Biff was a character from the first game who appeared when a character who was needed for a conversation was dead. Biff would speak the lines of the absent or deceased NPC, the intention being to prevent plots or quests (and in some cases, the game itself) from breaking. It was possible to crash the game if Biff was filling in for one of the NPCs that could be recruited into your party, as this could result in recruiting Biff.

Jan Jansen, who is notorious for talking endlessly about nothing, is a parallel to Yon Yonson who is most well known from a nursery rhyme that appears in Kurt Vonnegut's book, Slaughterhouse Five.

One of the characters in the game is named "Minister Lloyd Wainwright". Lloydminster and Wainwright are the names of communities in Alberta, Canada, east of Edmonton where BioWare is headquartered.

And in BG there was the character Garrick an obvious reference to the Sir Robin character from Monty Pythons Holy Grail
Brave-brave Sir Garrick, Sir Garrick led the way. Brave-brave Sir Garrick, Sir Garrick ran away.

 

In ancient nordic tales there are many wyrms guarding treasures just take a look at Wagners Ring Trilogy.

 

Feargus appears in pretty much every Black Isle RPG. Look for brother Ferg and brother Gus in IWD's Kuldahar, for instance.

Smaug, like all of the LOTR trilogy, was inspired by Wagnerian mythology. The one ring, dwarves covetous of gold, all that. In other worlds, Tolkien didn't make that stuff up. Still, I feel that Firkraag's character was inspired by Smaug specifically, since he played the role of the bored villain above it all, and because he was a firebreather (unlike the frost dragon Fafnir of Wagnerian mythos).

 

True I forgot about those old dragon stories. Wonder who first told a tale about a giant worm with wings and fire breath.

I dont know many of those tales but I think many of the personality traits Tolkien described dragons as having, eg vanity, intelligence, are present in modern day dragons like firkraag and saladrex.

 

yes thats true. dragons appear to be noble creatures rather than huge mindless destroyers

 

Mind you, the Tolkien encyclopia I have doesnt describe Ancalagon the Black (most powerful dragon ever) and Glaurung (father of dragons) as being very noble at all, rather just evil beings bent on destruction for their lord and master.

 

Personally I think the eldest tales of dragons would date back to ancient pagan folklore and whatnot. One story, while not ancient, is Beowulf, in which he ends up fighting a fire-breathing dragon.. >.> But who knows if that's really what the pagans described it as.