If there's one thing that both Baldur's Gate 3 and its community share, it's an unabashed horniness. So it probably shouldn't surprise me that the inevitable arrival of body pillows based on the RPG's characters make the most of that shared lust, too.
Last night, creator Hanna Schroy unveiled their line of pillows, with double-sided cases based on Astarion, Karlach, and Halsin. Each case has a moderately more SFW side - Karlach and Astarion are even fully-dressed - as well as a side that really lets you invest in your favourite Baldur's Gate 3 romance options.
I will say that even when these pillows veer towards more lewd territory, they're pretty lore-accurate. Astarion might be suspiciously cheeked-up, but the scars on his back are impressively detailed. Karlach's infernal engine is ticking away beneath her pretty intricate infernal tattoos. And then we come to Halsin.
The druid whose Wild Shaped romps arguably kickstarted the entire Baldur's Gate 3 community romantic desires during the game's final pre-launch Panel from Hell is putting his muscle to work in his SFW outing, but his alternative side is literally just a grizzly bear giving off some serious bedroom eye. That's canon, I guess, but I suppose it's the apparent demure-ness that's surprising me here.
The links between Dragon Age and Baldur's Gate 3 have been drawing significant attention since the latter RPG's launch, thanks in no small part to the fact that Dragon Age dev BioWare also developed the original Baldur's Gate games. I'm reminded here, though, of Mass Effect - over the past few years, BioWare came out with some official novelty pillows featuring best alien boys Garrus and Thane. Last year, however, they pushed that 'novelty' tag to the limit with a Liara pillow - stepping over the line from 'meme horny' to 'actually horny', as Dustin so eloquently put it.
I'd argue that Halsin goes the other way. Karlach and Astarion are two of the most popular romance options in the game. Halsin is also well-liked, but I'm not sure many people are really investing in that Wild Shape scene in an attempt to get their rocks off. Regardless, you can pick up all of the pillowcases (and smaller keychain versions of each one) via Schroy's shop. And if Baldur's Gate 3 isn't your bag, you can get cases based on Hades, Pedro Pascal's Joel Miller, or Dragon Age.
For my money, I'd like to see a pillow based on Baldur's Gate 3's most unhinged romance option.
Sign up to the 12DOVE Newsletter
Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more
I'm GamesRadar's news editor, working with the team to deliver breaking news from across the industry. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.