17 replies to this topic

[Scipio]

A search through this forum shows there hasn't been a thread specifically about BG2 trivia, although some of these factoids have been mentioned in other contexts.

** From IMDB:
One of the characters in the game is named Minister Lloyd Wainwright. Lloydminster and Wainwright are the names of communities in Alberta, Canada, east of Edmonton where BioWare is headquartered.

** From Mobygames:
Ever wonder what happened to the obnoxious kids from the animated Dungeons and Dragons television show? In the back of the Adventurer's Mart, there are two portraits on the wall of these "Adventures far from home" with rather snide descriptions and the speculation that they ended up in the belly of Tiamat. I guess the creators of Baldur's Gate II didn't like the show either.

** And all the following from Wikipedia:
Division Director Feargus Urquhart makes a cameo appearance in the game near the circus tent at Waukeen's Promenade.

Drizzt Do'Urden makes two appearances in the Baldur's Gate series. In Baldur's Gate, the cheat code "Cheats:DrizztDefends();" spawns Drizzt, who will defend the party while the cheat "Cheats:DrizztAttacks();" spawns a hostile Drizzt. The player can also encounter him in the forest and help him fight a pack of gnolls. Later, in Baldur's Gate II, the characters encounter him and his party at a certain point of the game, when the player can choose to have him help the group or fight them. If the player character is an elf named Drizzt with low reputation, then the real Drizzt will challenge him for the honour of his name. Drizzt will also initially be hostile if the player character had killed Drizzt in the original Baldur's Gate and imported that save game, or if the player character was imported with any of Drizzt's items.

Deidre sells items associated with Black Isle's Planescape: Torment game (such as "Dak'kon's Zerth Blade" and "Vhailor's Helm" which are both references to characters the player would meet in that game) and Joluv sells items linked to Icewind Dale (such as "Axe of Hrothgar" and "Jerrod's Mace," again referencing characters from the Icewind Dale game). However, none of the Planescape weapons retain their unique abilities (such as Dak'kon's Zerth blade increasing in damage as the player/NPC allies' levels rise). Additionally, "Deidre" appears as a shopkeeper in Targos in Icewind Dale II.

Jan Jansen, who is notorious for talking endlessly about nothing, is a parallel to Yon Yonson who is most well known from a nursery rhyme that appears in Kurt Vonnegut's book, Slaughterhouse Five.

The Cult of the Unseeing Eye in the Temple District is a reference to the movie City of Lost Children. One of the cultists in the game utters lines from the movie.

Lanfear, the wolfwere that kills Sefana, is a reference to the character of the same name in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Her name, as well as her jealous love of Coran, who rejects her because of what she is, closely mirrors RJ's character, who loves Lews Therin and was rejected because she was one of the Forsaken.

Biff the Understudy makes a cameo appearance as an understudy for a play, and is booed from the stage. Biff was a character from the first game who appeared when a character who was needed for a conversation was dead. Biff would speak the lines of the absent or deceased NPC, the intention being to prevent plots or quests (and in some cases, the game itself) from breaking. It was possible to crash the game if Biff was filling in for one of the NPCs that could be recruited into the party, as this could result in recruiting Biff.

The player can encounter some NPCs from the Dragonlance world, even a Knight of Solamnia, and is able to help them get back to their realm if the main character is a mage.

Some of the more unusual NPCs in the game were put in after winning a contest held during the development cycle. Habib, who attacks by throwing his scimitar and later throwing gold coins at the player, was the #1 winner.

Many minor NPCs in the game and its expansion were named after members of the suggestion forums provided by BioWare. Examples include Gromnir, Draconis, and Yakman.

[Rastor]

Marlowe and Vongoethe
Christopher Marlowe (a contemporary of Shakespeare) wrote a play called Doctor Faustus, which was about a man who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for wealth and privilege.

A few hundred years later, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a story called Faust which was a variation on Doctor Faustus by Marlowe.

[Sir_Carnifex]

Cyrando the Gnome and Garrick the Bard.

This is a play off of Cyrando de Bergerac ("The nose that launched a thousand ships", hence the use of a gnome) who was hired by some guy to help him with poetic romantic lines. I'm not entirely familiar with de Bergerac, but I believe that he ends up marrying the lady the other guy was trying to woo. At least, that's what I gather from what I heard. It'd fit in with the Garrick/Cyrando/Irlana episode.

Also, there's a reference to (I believe) one of Walt Whitman's writings, "Oh Captain, My Captain".

Notice all the conditional statements I have in there? That's because I'm too lazy to research all that so I go by memory.

[Leonard DeVir]

I forgot the name due to my incredibly busy brain *cough*, but the circus and Kalah strongly reminds me about a movie (??)...

[Sammi Somara]

Cyrando the Gnome and Garrick the Bard.

This is a play off of Cyrando de Bergerac ("The nose that launched a thousand ships", hence the use of a gnome) who was hired by some guy to help him with poetic romantic lines. I'm not entirely familiar with de Bergerac, but I believe that he ends up marrying the lady the other guy was trying to woo. At least, that's what I gather from what I heard. It'd fit in with the Garrick/Cyrando/Irlana episode.

Also, there's a reference to (I believe) one of Walt Whitman's writings, "Oh Captain, My Captain".

Notice all the conditional statements I have in there? That's because I'm too lazy to research all that so I go by memory.

In addition, Garrick may have been named after the famous 16th century English actor, David Garrick.

[Icendoan]

Oh Captain, My Captain was said by the Spectator Beholder when you encounter him in Sendai's Lair.

Icen

[Aliya]

Oh Captain, My Captain was said by the Spectator Beholder when you encounter him in Sendai's Lair.

Icen

I love this lines!

[Daulmakan]

Near the Circus is a cage with a Moose... and a Squirrel. Rocky and
Bullwinkle, anyone? (many, many people sent this in)

Ask the barkeeper in Imnesvale about the Umar Witch and he'll give you a
book titled "The Umar Witch Project."

One of the Sentient Sword's battle cries is: "Murder! Death! Kill!!", which
is the term for a homicide from the movie, Demolition Man. Also a reference
to the game MDK... MurderDeathKill. Get it?

In Chapter 4, in Spellhold, Aphril (sp?) talks of seeing a walking corpse
talking to a pillar of skulls. References to Planescape: Torment, the hero,
the Nameless One, who'll just wake up within minutes of dying. (from Matri)

Contributing to your list of Easter Eggs, on the top floor of the Five
Flagons there are what appear to be Elvis pictures on the far wall, and
guitars on other walls on the same floor. (from Per Jorner)

Those are from Dan Simpson's Walkthrough (I'm lazy too).

[Scipio]

Some trivia about Minsc and Boo:

In the webcomic Megatokyo, Largo has a hamster as his conscience which is called Boo, a tribute to Baldur's Gate II of which Rodney Caston was famously a fan.

In the game Guild Wars Nightfall there is a skill called "Go for the Eyes!", probably named after one of the many battle cries that Minsc bellows as he charges into battle.

In the game Guild Wars Factions there is a henchman named Aurora with a pet named Hector with multiple battle cries resembling Minsc and Boo.

Occasionally in the game Oblivion NPC bandits will shout "Jump on my sword while you can!" which could well be a reference to Minsc's original line. It appears to be mostly Dark Elves or Wood Elves that make this comment.

In Neverwinter Nights : Shadows of Undrentide, there is a special dialog with an imprisoned Rat character in the last chapter of the expansion. In one section of the dialog chain, the rat makes an indignant comment to the effect of "What do I look like, a miniature giant space hamster?". Despite its brief reference, the fact that both Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate are made by BioWare is a clear link to Minsc's furry little guardian.

In the 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, a tough-looking character at the Prancing Pony Inn is briefly seen cradling a small rodent - perhaps a tribute to Minsc and Boo.

In a Cartoon Network show "Codename: Kids Next Door" episode, a character voiced by Jim Cummings named Vin Moosk appears, who has a personality similar to Minsc, in being a tough warrior protective of the weak. Moosk is a fighter of ties; this is because he used to work as an accountant, until he discovered that he hated his job, and hated his tie even worse. Numbuh One confessed to him at the end of the episode that he was "the only cool adult I've ever met."

In Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer, an "Astral Rodent totem" can be found in the Thayan academy, which grants its user +4 to Strength and -2 to Intelligence, and has the words "For M" carved on it, a clear reference to Minsc and his spacefaring companion.

The french audio story "la Taverne de Kadelfek" features a paladin made explicitly of Minsc, and who speaks and lives with "Bouh" the giant minitature hamster (a very famous beer drinker).

[Discordia]

when branwen is hurt she utters

"tis nothing but a fleshwound"

and when garrick has moral failure he sings

"brave brave sir garrick, sir garrick ran away"

both are lines from the monty python film the holy grail, the first from the dark knight upon losing his arm and the second from one of sir robins minstrels

walk the path of god in the forgotten temple in bg soa is a reference to indiana jones and the last crusade

and the umar witch is a reference to the blair witch project (you can find a book labeled the umar witch project)

xzars line: i am become death, destroyer of worlds
is sanskrit and orginally attributed to vishnu and was used by oppenheimer upon unleashing the atomic bomb

[Cal Jones]

I'm fairly sure Minsc and Boo are loosely based on Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

[Scipio]

I'm fairly sure Minsc and Boo are loosely based on Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

From this source, and I've seen it elsewhere too:

Xzar is dubbed "the Mad Wizard" by his companion Montaron, and Xzar seemingly suffers from split personality, one of his personalities is very similar to the fictional character Lenny from Of Mice and Men.

[Sister Vigilante]

I was doing searches on game theory on wikipedia and accidentally stumbled across the likely origin of Kalah.

[Vhaira]

The voice of Firkraag, the ancient red dragon from BG2, was also the voice of Winny the Pooh from the animated TV show on Disney Channel. You'll know this if you click on Firkraag enough while he's still in diologue mode, he'll say 'Oh Bother', a reference to his other voice character, Pooh.

Also, in BG1, if you click on Khalid enough he'll say 'Th-th-th--that's all, folks!', a shameless porky pig reference due to his stutterring.

AND, I don't quite remember where I heard this, I think it was wikipedia... the voice of Xan from BG1 was also the voice of Johnny Bravo from the old cartoon on Cartoon Network XD I laughed so hard at that because they're pretty much polar opposites.

[_Nix_]

I was doing searches on game theory on wikipedia and accidentally stumbled across the likely origin of Kalah.

Ahh, I used to play mancala with my dad when I was a kid! (He's a mathematician, so Chess and Go he would kick my ass. Mancala was easier >.>)

I don't know if this was intentional or not, but "renal" is the medical term for "to do with the kidneys", in particular "renal faliure" is kidney faliure. Made Renal Bloodscalp somewhat amusing for me, and also seems appropriate for someone who frequently stabs people from behind.

[Vicen]

Why does Aran Linvail have only 2 guards and they dont even wear armor?!