Freeing Orpheus is one of the side plot lines in Baldur’s Gate 3. When you start progressing to the end game of Act 3, Orpheus is a major part of the side plots, and companion plots too. If you’re looking to rescue Orpheus in Baldur’s Gate 3, then, here’s everything you need to know about it.
How to Free Orpheus in Baldur’s Gate 3¶
(1 of 2) A walkthrough explaining how to free Orpheus in Baldur’s Gate 3, featuring decisions, consequences, and ending impacts.
A walkthrough explaining how to free Orpheus in Baldur’s Gate 3, featuring decisions, consequences, and ending impacts. (left), You need to get this hammer if you want to free Oprheus in BG3, and have control over the ending. (right)
To free Orpheus in BG3, you will need to get your hands on the 
Orphic Hammer. This Hammer is a legendary weapon, albeit it is only a quest item in particle senses. To get your hands on this weapon, you will need to make a deal with the devil at some point. You can either accept a deal with Raphael in the Sharess Caress, where he gives you the hammer immediately, or you can steal it from his property. If you get to the final battle sequence, and you still don’t have the hammer, don’t worry, as Raphael gives you one last chance to take his deal, and he can use the hammer on Orpheus for you.
This entire section has consequences and has a chain of endings for the game. So, if you’re interested in learning more about that page, you can read more about our Raphael deal page here.
If you manage to get the hammer before the final battle sequence to complete the game, you can get your hands on a side quest for Voss. If you’ve spoken to him in the Sharess Caress, you can find him in the sewers. This will give you a side quest giving you some more info on the Gith plotline if you want to do that side content too.
Should you Free Orpheus or not in Baldur’s Gate 3¶
You get to decide if you free Orpheus in BG3, and here is what happens if you do or do not.
Once you’re at the point where you meet Orpheus chained up, you have several choices.
All of this is spoiler content for the ending, so review the list of possibilities at your own peril. You can tap the spoiler box and reveal the information if you want to know.
- Hand Orpheus over to The Emperor: It allows you to team up with the Emperor and defeat the Elder Brain.
- Team up with Orpheus: Either the character speaking to Orpheus, or Orpheus himself will need to become a Mind Flayer to use the stones to capture the Elder Brain in the final fight.
- If you become the mind flayer, it means your PC can defeat the Elder Brain, while Orpheus can stay true to his nature and lead the Githyanki against Vlaakith in their own plotline not related to the
Either way, if you don’t side with the Emperor, you will need to use Orpheus in your fight. Orpheus also has very strong base skills, a barrier of invulnerability. This is a very strong ability to protect your Player Character as it does its one-turn channel to defeat the Elder Brain. Using this skill means you can avoid the mechanic where the dragon auto-targets the channeler, offering you a method of protecting against it and defeating the boss. Not every class has that power, and it’s a very rare scroll to find otherwise. So, this could be one of the best tactics to end the final fight with, and therefore, freeing Orpheus, and making him not a Mind Flayer is a very good strategy.
In terms of the game’s endings, you can use your Illithid form to end the game in whatever way you want. It merely grants you all Illithid Powers, and changes your form in cutscenes. You can then end the game by either living freely in your new form, telling Orpheus how they should remember you by, or throwing yourself in prison or killing yourself if you don’t trust yourself. All of these are potential micro endings you can get while you’re the Illithid.
How Companions React to Freeing Orpheus in Baldur’s Gate 3¶
Your companions, like Lae’zel are very invested in your freeing Orpheus in BG3…
There are quite a few possible endings in Baldur’s Gate 3 when you free Orpheus. Both 
Lae’zel and 
Karlach have their own alternatives to the Freeing Orpheus option. Again, these are all spoilers, as it’s important to know what you’re factoring in here as you aim to get the ending you want.
For Lae’Zel, her personal quest can make her an ally of Voss and a follower of Orpheus now she knows the truth. If you side with the Emperor, you may need to defend yourself and the Emperor as she tries to protect Orpheus with her life. There’s even a decision for your to attack Lae’Zel as she starts speaking to you. It’s a potential ultimatum, depending on how you want Lae’Zel’s and the Gith’s storyline to end. If you go with persuading her, you need to roll a 30, which is very hard to make, even with a character with many proficiency bonuses in Charisma. If you fail, it’s time to kill your companion.
On the other hand, if you have Karlach on you, it is possible to make her become the Mind Flayer, as you will likely find out she doesn’t have a working heart. So, she can consume the Illithid power and become the Mind Flayer instead. This means your character can get an ending where it doesn’t have to question itself, and Orpheus can lead the Githyanki rebellion as himself. These are more decisions you can consider when it comes to freeing Orpheus in your save.
The other companions all give a different flavor about you becoming an Illithid, either supporting your decision regardless of what you do, or encouraging you to do it (Minthara).
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A very important thing to mention here is for players who wanted to free Orpheus and have killed Raphael rather than taking his deal. Make sure you bring the Orphic hammer with you to the Morphic Pools because if you forget to, you will not be able to free him.
If that happens to you, since you can't teleport out any longer after that point in the game, you will have to load your save and if the save is not recent, lose hours of game play.