Baldur’s Gate 3’s Cut Content for Cazador Was Right to Remain in the Grave

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a huge game, but it was originally even bigger. Dataminers have found evidence of large amounts of cut content, ranging from weapons and spells to companions, quests, and areas to explore in Baldur’s Gate 3.

One of the most infamous pieces of cut content is the Upper City area of the titular city, which would have reportedly featured a more extensive arc—and potential redemption—for vampire antagonist Cazador Szarr. While fans would be glad to see most of the game’s cut content restored, Cazador works better as a villain who thoroughly deserves the undignified death he receives.

Cazador May Once Have Played A Role In A Potential Upper City Plot

In the final version of Baldur’s Gate 3, the Upper City, where the wealthy patriars dwell, is visited only briefly. Players traverse a small section of the area as they make their way towards the Netherbrain, the game’s final boss. However, datamined content hints that the Upper City once played a much larger role.

Any Upper City content beyond the final battle seems to have been removed quite early in development. In a Community Update in August 2023, Larian Studios stated, “It was always our intention for the Upper City to be an epic, cinematic epilogue bringing the story of Baldur’s Gate 3 to a close.” But Cazador Szarr, who lives in an elaborate mansion in the Upper City where he pretends to be an ordinary patriar, would likely have been a major party of any such story. (In the final game, players must access his mansion via a side entrance in a guard tower. The front entrance may have been in the cut area.)

There are hints of what a more fleshed-out story for Cazador could have entailed. The vampire lord threw a masquerade ball before his Rite of Profane Ascension. Players can only find the bloody aftermath, but perhaps they would have had to infiltrate his mansion as guests? Most notably, datamined content seems to indicate that Cazador was once a potential ally in the final fight against the Netherbrain.

Why Aiding Cazador Wouldn’t Feel Right

Cazador’s existence as a scrapped ally likely indicates that there was a version of the game where the player cooperated with the vampire lord, rather than killing him or simply ignoring him outright. The possibility of allying with Cazador doesn’t necessarily mean he would get any sort of redemption arc. In the final version of the game, the player can get aid in the final battle from some pretty shady sources, including the demon Mizora, the hag Auntie Ethel, and even Bhaal, the God of Murder himself.

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The potential cut content seems to indicate that Cazador was staunchly anti-Absolute and would oppose Orin the Red and the Cult of Bhaal. Working with a not necessarily heroic ally against Bhaal’s forces is potentially interesting, but Cazador is a poor choice to play this role. For one, it would presumably involve losing access to Astarion, who would have to die for Cazador to Ascend. If the two were somehow to coexist, it would be a hard story to swallow. Forcing Astarion to work with the man who abused him for centuries is a choice not even the darkest of Dark Urges would make.

Cazador Isn’t A Complex Character — And That’s Okay

Baldur’s Gate 3 is filled to the brim with complex villains. The conflicted Ketheric Thorm was once a truly good man. Sharran Mother Superior Viconia deVir is a former ally from Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate 2 who has followed a dark path since the second game. Minthara Baenre, depending on the player’s choices, can be a dangerous antagonist or a loyal ally. Even Enver Gortash has a fascinating charisma to him, despite being far from the “handsome young man” the game promises.

Cazador Szarr is not one of these complex villains, and he doesn’t need to be. He’s the nightmare who tormented Astarion for two hundred years. He’s a man who desires power, uncaring of the seven thousand souls who would have to die for it. In many ways, Cazador is the archetypal vampire as Dungeons and Dragons describes them: soulless, selfish, constantly thirsting for power and blood both.

The vampire lord works well in the role he currently plays in the game’s story, as one of the most hateable characters in Baldur’s Gate 3. He’s the obstacle Astarion must overcome to reclaim his freedom and his identity. He’s evil at its most banal: unfeeling, cruel for cruelty’s sake, never satisfied with what he has. Players can learn a bit about him by exploring his manor, finding that he began his life as a vampire suffering abuse under his own master, Vellioth. But the fact that he perpetuated that abuse in his treatment of his own spawn makes ending his long life more satisfying, rather than provoking sympathy.

Ascended Astarion’s Story Does It Better

Another reason, and possibly the reason the option to ally with Cazador was ultimately cut, is a simple one: the story of “working with a cruel, powerful vampire lord” is already present in Baldur’s Gate 3 in the form of Ascended Astarion. Players can choose to allow Astarion to complete the Rite of Profane Ascension, sacrificing seven thousand souls (including Cazador) for immense vampiric power. Ascended Astarion is available as a possible ally against the Absolute; his ability, “Retinue of the Vampire Lord,” is likely the same one Cazador would have used.

Choosing to ascend Astarion is an intense and emotional experience. Baldur’s Gate 3 players bear witness as all signs of kindness and genuine feelings Astarion had begun to show during the journey disappear, leaving a callous, calculating, and cruel vampire in their place. He encourages the player towards evil acts and delights in violence and death. Any potential romance between Astarion and the player becomes twisted and empty of emotion. He can even choose to make the player his own spawn and mistreat them, continuing the cycle of abuse just as Cazador himself once did.

The story of working with a heartless Vampire Ascendant towards the common goal of ending the Absolute works so much better with Astarion, someone the player has been traveling with for multiple hours of gameplay. Cazador is not met until Act 3 of the game, and players know little of him. Allying with him against the Netherbrain, presumably after helping him complete the Rite, would feel redundant and much less satisfying than giving him an undignified death. (Sadly, the ability to push him into a pit was patched out long ago, but he can still be fried by sunlight or subjected to the likes of Otto’s Irresistible Dance). Larian Studios’ decision to focus on Ascended Astarion while removing the potential alliance with Cazador was a good one, and Baldur’s Gate 3 is a stronger game for it.

Released

August 3, 2023

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence