#faerun lore

To preface: all dates are listed in DR, or Dale Reckoning, which is the most commonly used dating of years in Forgotten Realms lore, established with 1 at the signing of the Dale's Compact, creating peace between the elves of Cormanthyr and the human+ civilizations of the Dalelands (notable to current discussions, as Elminster Aumar is equally well known as the Sage of Shadowdale, one such dale in the Dalelands).

So Shadowheart's arc highlights the tug of war between Shar and Selune, but Shar and Selune are ALSO the progenitors of a lot of the other deities INCLUDING the OG Mystryl, born when Selune tore a part of her essence & threw it at Shar during their initial war post-sun creation, wounding them both & casting Shar into the void for a while. Mystryl was that piece of magic torn from Selune and having grabbed up a piece of Shar's as well when she hit, a blending of light and dark.

Mystryl then much later gave her life to save the world during Karsus's Folly in -339 DR. That's how Karsus fucked up magic so bad and so permanently. He almost DESTROYED the Weave, because Mystryl - and in future, Mystra - IS the Weave! And she died - thus also killing him, as she was inside him at the time - to preserve the Weave when he tried to steal some measure of her power!

*And Gale knew this*, knew much of it anyway. How could he not, with his own research that led him to the Orb? And his relationship with Mystra? And friendship with Elminster?

Anywho, Mystryl took time to reincarnate herself using a young peasant girl as her vessel, she then chose to go by the name Mystra instead of Mystryl. Once in this vessel she regained control of the Weave, bringing magic back to Toril (the planet Faerun, a continent, is on), which had been chaotic & largely depowered. After Karsus, she became much more strict/ Lawful in her decrees around magic, banning mortals from using any magic above 9th level spells (Karsus's Folly involved at least one 10th or 11th 12th level spell iirc).

Later, during the period known as the Time of Troubles, which began when Bane & Myrkul (two of the Dead Three) tried to steal the Tablets of Fate from Ao (the Overgod that most mortals don't even know exists). Ao then locked the deities into the Material Plane, forcing them to walk among their followers on Toril. Mystra at one point defied Ao's order, attempting to return to the heavens, and was killed by Helm, who had been tasked by Ao with protecting the gates and ensuring none of the gods disobeyed him. (Good job, Mystra.)

Also during the Time of Troubles the Dead Three got their name in truth, as Myrkul, Bane, and Bhaal were killed (as were several other gods, some of whom Ao chose to resurrect as they perished while fulfilling the obligations of their portfolios, like Torm). The Time of Troubles is also when Bhaal was seeding his Bhaalspawn - including Sarevok Anchev - in the world (the results of which gave us Baldur's Gates 1 and 2).

Anyway, as previously established, Mystra IS the Weave, so killing her fucked magic up again, unleashing the Spellplague (hello 4e D&D and your reduced pantheon & reduced magic). Ao selected several mortals to either ascend into vacated portfolios or rewarded mortals for killing gods who needed killing; Cyric was a mortal who killed Bane, while helping to retrieve the Tablets of Fate for Ao, for example of one such occurrence, who fwiw was the adventuring companion of two other mortals chosen for godhood, Kelemvor and Midnight. Kelemvor took on a portfolio of the dead, and Midnight was who Ao picked to take on Mystra's role and she chose to take on Mystra's name as well. This happened in 1358 DR, and when the Tablets were returned to Ao, he ground them to powder so they'd never be at risk again. This however fucked up the natural laws of Realmspace, which began to unravel, beginning the Era of Upheaval. The Era of Upheavel lasted from its beginning in 1358 DR (BG1 takes place in 1368 & BG2 takes place shortly after) through the Second Sundering (though most mortals only know of it as the Sundering, since the First Sundering happened even before Karsus's Folly by millenia, in -17,600 DR, in the time of elves) which took from about 1482 through 1487 DR. (The Second Sundering and its associated tie in novel series - very good! - brings us from 4e into 5e D&D, in ttrpg terms.) Baldur's Gate 3 takes place in 1492 DR, starting in the equivalent earth month to August, late August specifically.

Considering that Midnight took on the mantle of Mystra in 1358, I'm pretty sure Gale has only dealt with *her*, while Elminster has served Mystra - including being her lover and raising 3 of her 7 daughters - for 1300 years by BG3, which would include both previous incarnations of Mystryl/Mystra.

So in summary, the gods are all Like That, even the ones who used to be mortals (and I'm pretty sure Gale doesn't know his Mystra used to be a mortal, or that any other gods were either, based on dialogue after you get the Tome of Karsus in Act 3).

All the delicious BG3 god machinations are connected and have been for centuries if not eons. The Dead Three like to cause problems on purpose, Shar and Selune are sisters & also kind of contentiously divorced parents who can't play nice & use the kids to fight. Even the Lathander stuff at the gith creche is kind of connected, since the kick off of the big war between Shar & Selune was the creation of the sun to give their first child, Chauntea, the og earth/nature deity, warmth. Lathander (& Amaunator, rip) is the deity of the dawn/sun, among other things, and Silvanus (hello deity of the Druids in Act 1 & Halsin) is the wild nature counterpart to Chauntea's now largely agricultural portfolio. Chauntea has been known to have romantic connections with Lathander, as well. Zariel too - hello Wyll & Karlach's storylines - is connected, because before her fall into Avernus where she became an Archdevil in service to Asmodeus, she USED to be a solar (most powerful type of angel/celestial) in the service of Lathander.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for listening to my lore dump lol. I hope it enriches your experience of BG3 & the Forgotten Realms!

Post-Script: if you're left wondering how the unraveling of the laws of Realmspace got fixed, the Second Sundering began when Ao decided to recreate the Tablets of Fate to fix what he'd broken vis a vis the chaos of the Realmspace.