Jaheira

Jaheira is a recruitable Companion, returning from both Baldur's Gate and Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, and cannot be romanced by any character. She is a High Half-Elf and a Druid with the Soldier background. Jaheira can be first found at the Last Light Inn during Act Two.
Having become High Harper in the century since her first adventure, Jaheira is deadset on maintaining her Harper network, taking down the Cult of the Absolute, and later reuniting with her closest friend . Jaheira is a widow, and known for her sharp wits and dry sense of humor. She serves as a mentor figure to the rest of the party.
== Overview ==
=== Starting class ===
When first encountered, Jaheira is a level 8 Druid with the following Ability Scores: STR = 15, DEX = 14, CON = 17, INT = 10, WIS = 16, CH = 15.
If recruited, she reverts to a level 1 Druid with the standard ability scores for that Class. Her default subclass is Circle of the Land. Jaheira has the Soldier background.
=== Personal quest ===
If recruited, Jaheira has a Companion Quest called .
=== Recruitment ===
Jaheira can be fully recruited after is defeated. Until then, she is only available as an Attached Follower. If the Last Light Inn is destroyed and the party is still allied with Jaheira, she can be offered to stay at the camp. She does so, but is not available as a Companion until Act 3.
====Leaving the party ====
If the player character kills during her quest line, kills her children, or as embraces taking up the mantle as following their fight with , then Jaheira permanently leaves the party.
=== Approval ===
Jaheira favours direct approaches and is not interested in flattery. She loves snarky jokes, even at her own expense.
=== Romance ===
Unlike Baldur's Gate II, Jaheira cannot be romanced in Baldur's Gate 3.
==Personality==
Jaded and strengthened by her past, Jaheira is a headstrong and opinionated woman. Charismatic and insightful, she has a sharp tongue and her wit can be deprecating to those for whom it is meant. She tends to make jokes out of serious situations and approves of the player character doing so. Despite being a wizened veteran of numerous wars, she maintains a healthy sense of humour and does not mind when she is the butt of a good joke. 
During the events of the game, Jaheira is roughly 150 years old. Her experiences during her long life means she is rarely surprised and takes unexpected events calmly and unvexed. Her initial testing of the player character with truth-telling drugs, as well as her inquisitive reaction to The Dark Urge revealing their nature as a Bhaalspawn, shows she is very cautious with whom she extends her trust. But once the party proves themselves, Jaheira is a loyal and stalwart ally who sees them as equals, never afraid to speak her mind and not sugarcoating the truth. 
As one of the eldest and strongest of the Baldur's Gate Harpers, she commands the respect of most of the organisation. Meeting Harpers with Jaheira in the party reveals they almost always defer to her strength and experience. Her military background shows in her professionalism and cold analysis when dealing with most situations. One of the few exceptions to this is her old friend , whom Jaheira initially believed to be dead due to a combination of Minsc's recklessness and her own desire to put the safety of all Baldur's Gate above individual lives. She becomes enraged when it is revealed he was alive and being manipulated by Orin's Doppelgängers using her face. Once they reunite, their relationship is initially strained due to Jaheira not believing Minsc could be so easily manipulated, but they do eventually reaffirm their friendship.
==Backstory==
Jaheira was born in the nation of Tethyr to one of the nobles loyal to the king. When she was only a year old, a Tethyrian civil war broke out and her family was killed by a mob of angry peasants. One of the servant girls took Jaheira, fled into the forest of Tethyr, and stumbled upon an enclave of druids. They took her in and raised her as their own. Jaheira grew up very headstrong and militant in her beliefs that the only way to protect nature is to have an active role in the world. 
At some point, Jaheira was introduced to the Harpers and joined them. There she met and fell in love with another Half-Elf named whom she saved from an attempted assassination by the . And though they had completely different characters, they married soon after and travelled the together.
===The Iron Crisis & Shadows of Amn===
During the events of the first Baldur's Gate game, Jaheira and Khalid were sent by the Harpers to investigate the and the mines. In the they waited for their old friend but met his ward instead. They traveled with Gorion's Ward (the protagonist of the previous Baldur's Gate games) to investigate the crisis which led to their confrontation with the culprit - . 
Sometime after Sarevok's defeat, the group parted ways for a while until they once again joined up alongside their friends, Gorion's Ward, , , and . After they left Baldur's Gate they were captured by Shadow Thieves and imprisoned in a dungeon beneath the city of in . She, Minsc and Imoen survived, but Dynaheir and Jaheira's beloved husband Khalid were killed. Their captor was - an Elven wizard who wanted to steal the Bhaalspawn essence for himself. She eventually helped Gorion's Ward to defeat him.
===Crusade against Ketheric===
About 20 years later Jaheira, alongside Harpers and druids of the Emerald Enclave, fought and his forces of at Moonrise Towers. Their unified forces managed to defeat Thorm and imprison him within his family's Mausoleum in Reithwin Town. The united army was scattered when Ketheric brought down the Shadow Curse upon the surrounding lands, twisting them into a horrifying place of deadly shadows and cursed beings.
===Life in Baldur's Gate===
At some point later Jaheira made herself a home in Baldur's Gate where she raised her foster children , , , and . Yet a Harper's life demanded she to spend much time away from her home and children.
She has a private basement that looks like a Druid's cavern, and it is heavily trapped. The basement is inhabited by the Postmaster Badger and his messenger rats, whom he trains to be harper spies.
Jaheira keeps a key under a trapped bookcase which unlocks a secret door hidden behind the bookcase. This is where she keeps some of her most private items, such as and . 
After Minsc was rescued from his stone prison they reunited once again. They were the first to uncover information about the threat of the Absolute. Due to Minsc's implusivity and eagerness to fight he was captured by the cultists and Jaheira, realizing that they were severely unprepared and unarmed against the cult, decided to leave him in order to warn others with news about the cult. She later regretted how easy she made the decision to leave him behind, knowing that he would never have done the same to her.
===Last Light Inn===
After learning of Ketheric's return, Jaheira quartered herself with a squad of Harpers at Last Light Inn, in the middle of the Shadow-Cursed Lands. From there, her scouts ventured forth to keep a close watch on the cult's forces at Moonrise Towers.
Since she left her family for Last Light Inn, they received only one message from her. It read: "I'm sorry, you know what to do."
==Involvement==
=== Act Two ===
On reaching Last Light Inn, Jaheira is instantly wary of the party and summons vines to stop the player character. She produces a . Suspicious that the ensnared player character may be a True Soul, she demonstrates how the tadpoles react to those infected by bringing the specimen up to their face. It moves excitedly in its bottle, reinforcing her belief the party is comprised of True Souls. Either (if the tieflings were saved) or (if not saved) comes to their aid, vouching for them. 
Jaheira is shocked at how anyone clearly infected somehow manages to have free will and demands answers. She insists on knowing the whole truth. If given vague answers, a is required to convince her to back down, while showing her the convinces her to relent without a check. She then invites the party in for a drink. If the wine is smelled first (, or for Rogues and Druids), a hint of Klauthgrass is detected - a truth serum. Jaheira's trust can be earned regardless of whether her altered drink is consumed and her query is the same: is the parasite changing the party? Jaheira refuses to believe an assertion that the parasite isn't doing anything, but does believe a statement that the player character is resisting the urge to change.
Once Jaheira trusts the party, she explains the situation. The leader of Moonrise Towers is . He is immensely powerful, and gifted with immortality. The Harpers are attempting to find a way to stop the cult and kill Thorm once and for all. They have had little luck, but Jaheira believes that the party can make a difference by infiltrating Moonrise as a True Soul. She asks the party to go upstairs and meet , the one responsible for shielding the Last Light Inn.
==== Isobel's abduction ====
After Jaheira starts to trust the party, she refers them upstairs to gain a blessing from Isobel. When Marcus arrives to abduct her, the party can help him or try to stop him. If Isobel is taken or killed, everyone in the tavern except for Jaheira and the party is killed and turned into a shadow-cursed zombie. The party can lie to Jaheira, telling her they tried to stop Marcus. Jaheira can be invited to stay at their camp, but she will not become a companion until is complete.
==== Assault on Moonrise Towers ====
If Isobel is saved Jaheira continues to operate from Last Light Inn until the party is ready to defeat Thorm once and for all. When is complete, Jaheira and her Harpers will then have already started the assault on the Moonrise Towers. If is spared, Jaheira sees her assaulting Moonrise Towers.
Jaheira can be invited to join the party as an Attached Follower until getting to the towertop and defeating Ketheric for the first time. If not invited, she fights alongside the party in the assault. Jaherira is neither shy about wading into melee combat or discriminating about who she engages (e.g, against enemies who deal high damage). As such, it is quite easy for her to die and, because she is not a companion at this point, she cannot be revived if killed here. If intending to have her as a companion later, it is advisable to keep her well protected.
When Ketheric escapes to the Mind Flayer Colony, Jaheira can be recruited as full companion. If not recruited then, she stays at the towertop and joins the party in Act Three.
=== Act Three ===
==== Meeting the Harpers ====
After Jaheira is recruited, in Wyrm's Crossing she asks the party to visit the Harper safehouse in a shop called Danthelon's Dancing Axe. This starts her companion quest to rescue her old friend .
Upon entering the shop and speaking to the shopkeeper, greets the party, although Jaheira tells him to skip the pleasantries if she is present. Entharl gives the key to a secret room where the Harpers are waiting down the iron ladder. 
Once down below, Harper greets the party with a strange greeting - "May Selûne's Tears shine on this meeting." He again emphasizes Selûne's Tears a few moments later. A successful Insight check reveals that Geraldus is not nervous, but terrified, and is using Selune's Tears as a code. Jaheira mentions that the Harpers remind her of , implying they are traitors laying a trap. Choosing to strike while Jaheira has them distracted makes the enemies .
After the Harpers are defeated, they revert to their natural form as doppelgangers and Geraldus explains the rest of the Harpers were murdered or dragged away, while he was only kept alive to lay a trap for Jaheira. Disillusioned at this revelation, Jaheira suggests the life of a Harper might be unsuited for Geraldus, as he endangered Entharl and others by going along with the doppelganger's plans, but she can be persuaded to think otherwise. Either way, Geraldus leaves and Jaheira explains the main reason she sought out the Harpers was for more information on , who she had sent them after. Previously, Minsc and Jaheira had been investigating the cult together, but were separated and Jaheira had to leave him behind so that she could spread word of the cult to others.
With the Harpers gone, Jaheira needs a moment to think. She tells the party she has some ideas on how to proceed, but wants to consider whether this is truly her last resort. After arriving in the Lower City, she explains her plan to enlist the help of the Guild and .
==== In the Guildhall ====
Keene is in her office, well aware of the Harper's entrance into her territory. She informs the party she already knows of Minsc, who is going by the new title of the Stone Lord, that he now works for the Absolute, and is decimating the members of the Guild. As he threatens the Guild, she intends to take him down, but refuses to let the party confront Minsc themselves. However, there are plenty of other members with loose lips who eventually reveal the Guild's intention to ambush Minsc at the vaults of the Counting House.
==== The vaults of the Counting House ====
Once inside the vaults, the deepest area of the room is straight ahead. The party must move forward beyond the locked door. Minsc can then finally be seen in the flesh. Unfortunately, Minsc disappears before he can be confronted and a group of Bhaalists attack the party as a parting gift.
Once the Bhaalists have been defeated, the party must search for clues on where Minsc went. Approaching the large vault at the end of the room (which was completely smashed by Minsc) with a successful perception check shows mud from the sewers.
==== The Sewers ====
Minsc can be found in the Abandoned Cistern. There are two ways to find Minsc: belowground and aboveground.
* Belowground, it is necessary to jump the pipes above the caustic water and defeat the Bhaalists guarding the area. Going north, there is an area with a Sluice Valve, which is stuck. A successful athletic check opens it. Otherwise, it is necessary to interact with the temperature valve and the water level valve, timing it properly to open the door. The sluice tunnel leads to Minsc.
* Aboveground, there is a garden area north of the Steel Watch Foundry with a door that says, "Keep Out." There are two pressure plates on the north and south walls of the room. Moving a party member (or one of the crates in the room) on each of them at the same time opens the door to a secret area. In this area is an ornate hatch which leads to the area where Minsc is.
==== Facing Minsc ====
After finding Minsc again, his tadpole is controlling him and he does not see reason. He immediately attacks the party, along with a number of doppelgangers, cultists, and a Zhentarim. All Absolutists must be killed. Taking down "Jaheira" the doppelganger elicits some panicked voice lines from Minsc. If the Zhentarim escapes, they are found later in the Guildhall.
If Minsc dies here, Jaheira becomes enraged, slanders the party, and leaves permanently, concluding the quest. To avoid this, Minsc must be knocked out with a non-lethal attack.
The Emperor initially refuses to bring Minsc under his protection, stating that he is too far gone to help. However, he can be convinced to bring him under protection, particularly with Jaheira present. If Jaheira is not present, Minsc can still be shown images of Jaheira alive and well, allowing him to be recruited. If Jaheira is dead, Minsc cannot be recruited.
If Minsc is successfully recruited, he rushes off to find his friend , smashing through several walls to the north. Following him and subsequently talking to Minsc and Jaheira resolves the quest .
=== Epilogue ===
Jaheira's behavior at the dinner party is slightly different based on whether was convinced to rely on her or not. The latter prompts her retirement.
In both of her endings, Jaheira talks of Baldur's Gate's reconstruction efforts and the roles her children, the Harpers and Minsc, have to play in it. She reveals Jord has joined the Harpers and is planning crop cycles in Wyrm's Crossing. Rion has temporarily joined the Flaming Fist, but she mostly spends her time incarcerating corrupt Fists. If the player character asks her, if they may join the Harpers she agrees, even if they are a mindflayer. Otherwise, she asks the player character what "home" means to them. They can answer with either Baldur's Gate, the campsite, Karlach (if they went to Avernus with her), their romantic partner, or nowhere because they prefer adventuring. She then dismisses herself to make sure no one tampers with the drinks. 
Jaheira has no ambient chatter during the party, but she can be seen practicing the flute or swaying / tapping along to Milil's music.
===== High Harper =====
If remaining the High Harper, Jaheira mentions she has to house people and rebuild the Harper network. She states she has little love for Baldur's Gate but chooses to serve the city for her family.
===== Retiree =====
If Minsc was convinced to be independent of her, Jaheira retires from the Harpers and settles down in Elerrathin's Home as a stay-at-home mother. She shares that she has done much more sitting down than she would like, and has been heavily involved in the lives of her children, who have proven themselves capable of restoring the city themselves. Jaheira confesses that she misses adventuring and that Baldur's Gate is, in fact, her home, but remarks on how you only realize someplace is home once you leave it and look back. Talking to her a second time in this ending results in her promising to stop writing so many letters back to the city - much to the player character's disbelief.
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==Loot==
===Starting equipment===
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==Gallery==
File:Jaheira Front Model.webp|Jaheira's model.
File:Jaheira Camp Model.webp|Camp model.
File:Jaheira Model Underwear.png|Underwear model.
File:Portrait Jaheira.png|In-game Portrait.
File:Alena-dubrovina-jaheira3.webp|Render by Alena Dubrovina.
File:Jaheira First.webp|First appearance at Last Light Inn.
== Notes ==
* Jaheira is voiced by Tracy Wiles, replacing Heidi Shannon from previous games.
* Unlike other companions, Jaheira, alongside , was revealed in a trailer at the Video Game Awards 2022.
* Jaheira has multiple references to her past voice lines, such as "Nature's servant awaits". Having her in the party during Act Three offers a lot of unique interactions that heavily reference the prior Baldur's Gate games. 
* Jaheira's face matches her portrait from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.
* Before going into Moonrise Towers she quotes Alaundo the Seer (...so sayeth the wise Alaundo). His prophecy was a central point in the first Baldur's Gate game.
* It is possible to use on in Grymforge. If Jaheira has not been met yet, the companions will comment on whether or not they recognize her name. Only knows exactly who she is, while and have heard of her and , , and have no clue.
** Astarion: The name sounds familiar - I hope we didn't meet on one of my little excursions.
** Gale: Hmmm, that name doesn't ring a bell.
** Lae'zel: I'm not familiar with that name. A Harper leader, perhaps.
** Karlach: Hang on... High Harper Jaheira?! Saviour of Baldur's Gate? Incredible.
** Shadowheart: Jaheira? Can't say I know the name.
** Wyll: The name sounds familiar. A Harper leader, if I recall.
== References ==
== External links ==
Category: Half-Elves
Category: High Half-Elves
Category: Druids
Category: Companions
Category: Returning Characters
Category: Members of the Harpers
Category:Authors
Category:Attached Followers