Baldur's Gate 3 actors, from Astarion's Neil Newbon to Shadowheart's Jennifer English, are well-known for playing their own characters in Larian's award-winning 2023 RPG, and it's always fascinating to hear how they interact with their virtual fantasy avatars. Lae'zel actor Devora Wilde documented her own playthrough a couple of years back, but she's now revealing some conflicted feelings about the character she played so famously.
"When I'm playing, the experience I'm having with Lae'zel is as if it's somebody else," Wilde tells IGN. "I think it's because the voice is quite different to mine, some of the mannerisms are different to mine, because obviously we created a character. So, I'm just getting to enjoy it, and I don't have that feeling of, 'Oh, that's me.'" Because it doesn't really sound how I sound. I think I'm quite bubbly and quite enthusiastic."
Wilde adds that she "nearly broke up with her the other day," but ultimately, "didn't have the guts to go through with it."
Hearing Wilde talk about Lae'zel is like listening to a loving parent acknowledge their child's, uh, differences compared to other kids. She references a hilarious exchange between famous rivals Shadowheart and Lae'zel in which Shadowheart asks if they've "buried the hatchet," and Lae'zel takes it completely literally. "Shadowheart's like, 'Girl, I'm just trying to get you to bury the hatchet, you know what I'm saying?' But she doesn't get it. She's just a sweet little queen lizard."
Wilde also invokes one of my all-time favorite lines from Baldur's Gate 3, in which Lae'zel drops one of the sickest burns of all time on Tav, who she says has a "large, fleshy nose" that looks "like a mistake."
"You never say that in real life, do you? You shouldn't," Wilde says.
It's true that Lae'zel can be a little tough to get along with, and if you're Shadowheart, specifically, you want to tread very carefully, but she also has one of the most rewarding storylines in the game if you choose your dialogue wisely. Wilde says one of her favorite scenes involves the romance path with Lae'zel and, without spoiling anything you might not have experienced yet, it is genuinely one of the most beautiful, heartfelt scenes in the whole game. Don't judge a Githyanki by the cover, and all that.
