"Bhaal and Durge are stupid for wanting to murder the whole word."
Every time someone says that, I lose a few brain cells. Bhaal and Durge are not stupid; they are simply following their own nature, and their nature doesn't care about whether or not they could succeed in trying.
Divinity, in Forgotten Realms, is more of a curse than a blessing.
In 'Prince of lies' Ao straight out tells that Cyric, who is convinced that becoming a god will make all your problems go away. It won't.
Bhaal is murder and the process of dying in general. He will always try to cause as much death as possible because he doesn't have the option to be something else. You can't ask him not to kill, just like you can't ask the wind not to act like the wind. He is also a god. It doesn't matter if the Absolute plot succeeds or not; what matters is that he follows through with the duty every god has: to act in accordance with their portfolio.
Bhaal is not stupid. He knows that, at most, he can slaughter a few cities before he, inevitably, begins to upset the balance of the realms and unites many other gods against him. The plan was always doomed to fail.
Bane and Myrkul know this as well.
Bane is Tyranny, and thus it is in his nature to seek domination over everything. One of his greatest ambitions is to slay Mystra (the most powerful god in all the realms) and take her portfolio for himself. The problem? This:
'It's against Bane's essential nature to relinquish anything, and the sacrifice is not a choice available to him.' - Ed Greenwood, on the Candlekeep Forums
Mystra's duty as the goddess of magic is not to fight against evil or keep wizards from using magic for nefarious purposes, but to ensure that the Weave stays whole; that magic keeps functioning.
While Mystra possesses the ability to bar anyone from using the Weave, she is not allowed to because that would be a direct abuse of her power against mortals and other gods. She did bar wizards from using the Weave during the whole Cyric-debacle and it got her quickly disciplined by Ao.
If Bane were to claim Mystra's portfolio, he would have to allow others to use the Weave without getting anything in return. But he couldn't. That goes against his nature. He would, sooner or later, have to relinquish Mystra's domain. And he knows that, but that doesn't stop him from trying, just like Bhaal doesn't stop trying to cause mass genocides just because he knows he can't succeed.
The only reason Mystra gets involved in the events of Bg3 is because the Crown of Karsus directly threatens her domain. Mystra doesn't care about the Dead Three beyond the threat to her and her portfolio.
Gods are busy beings that constantly have their eyes set on the greater schemes of things. Mystra will ask Gale to sacrifice himself for the 'greater good'. Myrkul and Bane both have a habit of throwing their followers into the gutter. Bhaal will not save you from dying, no matter how valuable you are (he may resurrect you, but the Dead are Myrkul's and Kelemvor's domain so he is still acting in accord with his nature). Shar will abandon her faithful even in death because she is loss. Selune will offer guidance to the lost, no matter how evil, because she is the Goddess of Guidance. Lolth will always cause chaos; Kelemvor will always be the impartial judge of the dead; Tyr the judge of the living.
Lolth is a goddess who is often opposed by other gods:
'Most of the gods of Toril will help mortals work against Lolth, because she's a constant pain to them and endlessly ambitious, so they think she must be curbed and thwarted at every turn.' - Ed Greenwood, Twitter
They don't necessarily oppose her because she is considered evil; they oppose her because her plans constantly threatens them and the domains they represent.
Selune and Shar are not, necessarily, foes because of the spat they had near the beginning of time; they are at odds with one another because Selune is tasked (by proxy of her domain) with helping people find themselves, while Shar is supposed to make people lose themselves.
Even Lathander, who is known to be optimistic and always sees the best in people, once caused the so-called 'Dawn-Cataclysm' in an attempt to reset the whole world because he is the god of New Beginnings and Renewal. Helm's lover, aside from many others, died in that attempt.
Being literally unable to act against your nature has nothing to do with being stupid or short-sighted.
And Durge isn't a fool either for following their father's wishes. Aside from the obvious abuse they suffered, they are, as the Elder Brain correctly calls them, 'Murder Incarnate'. They are a piece of Bhaal without any mortal lineage. They are just as much Murder as Bhaal is, the only difference being the amount of divine essence both harbour. Durge can still resist and act against their impulses; Bhaal can only ever push them back down until he snaps completely.
That's also why it irks me to see people calling God!Gale disappointing for saying that he doesn't care about how ambition is used. He simply can't care because that would go against his nature. No one can expect Ambition to keep others from trying just because their goals may not align with his. Is it upsetting to see the cat-loving bookworm to be changed so much? Yes. But everyone who knows how divinity in the Forgotten Realms lore works should not be surprised to see that. The moment that man started talking about wanting to become a god should have been a red flag.
Even Bane, who is now the face of all evil, didn't seek to become a god to rule everyone else. He wanted to turn into one because he wanted to protect himself; to keep others from having any kind of power over him:
'She fought closer to the shame and the trembling fear he so hated, that made him seek tyranny over others... He was slaying himself, to keep from yielding to her.' -Stormlight
So, every time I see people calling Bhaal stupid and the Dead Three idiots for trying to turn everyone into Mindflayers, I get a bit pissy. It's in Bhaal's nature to try to kill.
As for the Absolute plot, theoretically speaking, it could have succeeded. Problem is: the chances are so slim that it is almost impossible.
"Oh, but Mindflayers have no souls! Withers/Jergal tells us that."
Well, he is lying. Or maybe ignorant. Jergal is not a nice man, and you shouldn't trust him (it may as well be just one more oversight of Larian, though).
Mindflayers do have souls, and he even recognized that the Mindflayer!PC has one after killing themselves in the epilogue. The problem with a mindflayer's soul is not its non-existence; it's the fact that they are mostly worthless to the gods.
Gods treat mortal souls as a currency they use to empower themselves, which is one of the major reasons they try to amass worshippers. They can, however, only truly claim a soul if that soul worships (or at least accepts a patron deity). Minflayers, usually, believe that all gods are cruel and will consume their souls upon death. Why? Because of the Illithid god 'Illsensine', who is incredibly egoistic and seeks to hoard all knowledge for himself. All mindflayers are beholden to him (he is the chief-god of the illithid pantheon) in a way that is very similar to Vlaakith and the Githyanki (someone should tell Lae'zel; she might find herself more sympathetic towards them). The common illithid only knows that a mortal soul gets consumed upon death. They believe they cannot get a chance of reincarnation or whatnot, because most hate them, and gods will only spare you this fate if you remain somewhat useful.
Furthermore, if Illithids didn't possess souls, there couldn't even be an Illithid god due to the fact that their gods couldn't claim a soul to empower themselves (or, in Illsensine's case, consume it). Other Illithid gods would be Thoon and Maanzecorian.
Also, we do know of a mindflayer that escaped his hivemind and did serve a non-illithid god: Sangalor.
Sangalor worshipped Oghma, the God of knowledge, and specifically became one of his clerics. Sangalor could never have become a cleric if he lacked a soul!
Now I want you all to side-eye Jergal with me, cause the fandom trusts that fucker far too much. Fun fact: Bhaal (and a bunch of others) made the same mistake, and look where he ended up! He is traumatised! Don't trust the creepy, ancient, insectoid god who wants to bring about the literal apocalypse. I am begging you to question everything he says.
All done with side-eyeing? Good, then I will continue my rant.
Well, if the Dead Three had succeeded and managed to turn everyone into a mindflayer (probably aside from their own clerics), other gids would have, inevibatly, lost most of their power while the Dead Three could have ascended to the most powerful gods in all the realms... unless, of course, either the other gods oppose them before that could ever happen (very high chance) or Ao would shut their kindergarten-tantrums down (even higher chance). Or just sent Jergal and a bunch of traumatised mortals to beat them over the head (with Bhaal's perfect little child among them). That worked just as well.
Anyway, the Dead Three are no fools and even though Bane is shortsighted as fuck, Bhaal and Myrkul definetly aren't.
The Absolute plot was, probably, mostly about regaining power and spreading fear of them once again.
Bhaal and Myrkul definitely need to, and Bane... is still himself. I don't know why he decided to jump down from Greater Deity status to Quasi, but he did.
I mean, Bane even kinda tells the player that he ultimately doesn't really care about whether or not the plot succeeds. And Bhaal doesn't even give enough shits about it to send his own Avatar to protect Orin. He just watches her being slaughtered in his own temple and then lets the party leave. Myrkul, arguably (and surprisingly), crashes out. Still, Myrkul going full force on a band of adventurers who just killed his chosen is a bit unusual for him. Usually he either kills them himself or just shrugs and moves on... kinda like Shar. No wonder those two get along.
The Absolute plot is about people fearing them; about being reminded of who is still out there, because them being feared will increase the number of people willing to worship them again. It becomes quite clear here:
Yeah.
Especially the last part just points out that fear strengthens all three of them (Bane is being a little bit egoistic when he claims that it only empowers him).
I've also seen people claim that the Dead Three are no threat and just three Demipowers walking the world... are we talking about the same three idiots???
It's true that in raw power they are no longer that threatening, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they can't fuck over other gods.
Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul were mortals once and weaker than they are now as Demipowers. Do you guys even know what they managed to pull off despite being mortal?
They killed and subdued at least seven primordials, who are equals to the gods, (Bane is still, activly, bitchslapping them (he has hobbies)), they razed at least one entire kingdom completely to the ground, destroyed an entire region (and, also, cursed it), wielded god-slaying weapons (by recovering them (mostly Bhaal)), commanded multiple armies, led a war, and discovered some of the most ancient and well-guarded secrets out there, and built their own artifacts capable of storing and unleashing the power of multiple primordials (thank you Myrkul).
Believe me, even if they are only demipowers, they are still incredibly dangerous. There is a reason they are three of the most renowned and feared gods in the entire realmspace, despite having been deities for only roughly 1400 years (they are literal children compared to most other gods; children with too much free time).
Anyway, it irks me when I see people calling them stupid. They aren't and have never been. Bane may have only ever one plan, but he is the powerhouse of these three idiots who gets into fistfights with other gods if his only two friends get bullied again (although he is also willing to just start one out of boredom). Myrkul is the one with at least five other schemes and is the actual brains of their little party. And Bhaal is the one to get the actual work done because he is the only one who has no problem with obeying another person's order (he is an assassin; he needs to get hired (don't hire him though; chances are that he will eat you after killing whomever you want dead)).
I ranted for quite some time. Again. Welp, this was my way of saying that the fandom, often, vastly underestimates the actual threat they pose just because they don't seem that intimidating in the game.
