First spotted by GamesRadar, Withers pulled out all the stops in Baldur’s Gate 3’s new post-game epilogue, calling in a favor with the Forgotten Realms’ god of music, Milil, to perform for you. Fans noticed an uncanny resemblance to Larian composer Borislav Slavov, and while the artist didn’t confirm it either way, it seems like a deliberate homage.
Slavov previously did the excellent soundtrack for Divinity: Original Sin 2, and his score for Baldur’s Gate 3 is up for best music at this year’s Game Awards. I didn’t clock the resemblance between Slavov and Milil right away, but seeing them side by side, that’s totally him, right? In response to GamesRadar’s reporting, Slavov simply replied “Well..🙃” on Twitter.
(Image credit: Borislav Slavov)
(Image credit: Larian)
The Forgotten Realms has a ton of gods, all of whom have died, come back, become mortal, been forgotten, and been re-deified at least once or twice in the setting’s 36-year history. Milil’s definitely one of the less-flashy deities, not at all like that diva, Bhaal. I remember him from my old Forgotten Realms 3E Faiths and Pantheons sourcebook though—a lunchpail god you can hang your hat on, and every pantheon needs a god of music, right?
If you talk to him at Withers’ party, you can pass a Religion check to deduce his identity, or use deception to flatter him that way and get Milil to play different tunes from the soundtrack. The god implies that he owes Withers (who himself is probably an incarnation of the Realms deity Jergal) for saving his keister. At some point in the past, Milil ticked off yet another god, Cyric—think some kind of kooky fantasy Joker, he’d definitely be played by Mark Hamill doing The Voice.
But all that’s neither here nor there. This story does combine two of my favorite things, though: obscure lore from the D&D sourcebooks I hope I can still find in my parents’ basement, and funny cameos/casting gags. You can still vote for Slavov’s BG3 score in the Game Awards, by the way. He already has my vote.
