Baldur’s Gate 3 Theory Says Everything You Know About Halsin Is Completely Wrong

Summary Players speculate Halsin may actually be a cave bear in disguise as a wood elf.

Plenty of content in the game suggests his cave bear form is more than just a Wild Shape.

Some theories suggest Halsin could be a werebear, replacing the scrapped werewolf character.

Former Archdruid and famous bear Halsin is one of the more popular companions in Baldur’s Gate 3 – especially after going viral for his romance scene pre-release. Players initially find Halsin in his bear form in the worg pens at the Goblin Camp in Act 1, being harassed by goblins throwing stones at him. Though he eventually becomes a BG3 companion and maintains his wood elf form (unless the player uses his Wild Shape), players aren’t convinced this is his true identity.

In a Reddit post from Marisa_Darkbane, the user argues that Halsin is actually a cave bear “pretending” to be a wood elf. Arguments for this include his suspiciously large size, his occasional inability to control his Wild Shape (especially when romancing him), and the story he shares with Tav about a bear that once tried to mate with him – which is actually how he got the scar on his face.

“Working theory is that he was a bear who made friends with Thaniel,” Marisa_Darkbane argued. “They became such good friends that Thaniel granted him an elf form so that he would have a long life and they could continue playing/being friends.” This theory has gained plenty of traction, and it has some players speculating just how honest Halsin is being when sharing his backstory with Tav.

Related Baldur's Gate 3: How to Recruit Halsin and Minthara Together Halsin and Minthara are meant to be mutually exclusive. But, doing Baldur’s Gate 3’s quests out of order results in them both joining the same team.

There Are Also Theories Halsin Is A “Werebear”

Changing His Class Still Keeps His Wild Shape

There are plenty of other arguments that support Halsin isn’t really just a wood elf druid, as he claims to be. This has been a theory plenty of players have been toying with since the game released, though developer Larian Studios hasn’t commented publicly on Halsin’s hypothetical background. Others in the comments of Marisa_Darkbane’s post speculate that Halsin replaced the werewolf companion that was scrapped before the game’s release, essentially making him a werebear.

“He seems to have enhanced scent (but playing as a druid, it doesn’t seem like your character has any animal senses unless you wild shape), and I think if you turn him into another class he still always has his bear transformation,” user SunRidersCantina speculated in the comments. “So I always wondered if he took the place of that werewolf bard since so many people liked Halsin at launch.”

Related 10 Best Cut Content From Baldur's Gate 3 For a game as big as Baldur's Gate 3, it's no surprise there's cut content. But what are players missing out on and how does it impact the game?

Halsin isn’t the only druid players have available to them in Baldur’s Gate 3, though he is the only one whose name changes when entering his Wild Shape. Even when changing Halsin’s class, he still retains the class action for his bear Wild Shape, though without the Wild Shape charges from the druid class, the player can’t use it in combat.

“My preferred theory is that Halsin is actually a werebear who is concealing his identity by pretending to be using wild shape,” user Malgayne commented, “I remember seeing a post a while back suggesting that werebear Halsin might have been content that was cut for time.” Werebears are canonically lawful good characters, further aligning with Halsin’s character. Whatever the case, it seems there just may be more to this popular Baldur’s Gate 3 character than players get in the game.

Sources: Melisa_Darkbane/Reddit, SunRidersCantina/Reddit, Malgayn/Reddit