Baldur's Gate 3 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Jennifer English reveals that she didn't initially want to record the viral "God's favorite princess" line – but with a push from partner and performance director Aliona Baranova, she eventually did.
English, who plays Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3, explains as much in a new video from Fall Damage on YouTube. While competing in a "Shadowheart quiz" alongside Baranova, she recalls how the meme was initially discovered by the performance director – and how she wasn't willing to record it as a line at first. "Aliona found a meme that someone had made of that quote next to Shadowheart," says English, "and this was really early on."
The actor continues, joking that Baranova "bullied" her into doing the line: "And Aliona goes, 'Babe, you have to record that.' And I didn't want to because I'm avoidant. And she bullied me into it." English did eventually do it – but "just like God's favorite princess, I did it in my own time." Things didn't end there, though. The memed bit of dialogue made such waves that it was added to Baldur's Gate 3 and canonized as a real Shadowheart line.
Players can hear English recite the line as Shadowheart during the Baldur's Gate 3 epilogue, which was added in Patch 5 – just a few months after the RPG's full release in 2023. It comes after the companion confidently states that "everything sounds good when I say it." Fans do have to make sure that they're playing as a Cleric, Dark Urge, or Githyanki Tav to trigger the dialogue, however… but it's 100% worth witnessing at least once, if you ask me.
As a fan myself, I'm happy Baranova and English took note of the amusing Tumblr post from the Baldur's Gate 3 community. If they hadn't, we may never have gotten one of the game's most iconic lines – one that arguably sums Shadowheart's personality up just as well as those originally written in by Larian Studios do: "I may be a hater and a gatekeeper, but I'm also God's favorite princess, and the most interesting girl in the world."
