Baldur’s Gate 3 has always prided itself on offering an unprecedented level of player freedom, allowing your Tav to alter the fates of countless NPCs across the game world. Even some of the most doomed characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 can still have their fate altered with the right preparation, but one character still can’t seem to catch a break years after release.

Countless players have attempted to subvert Meerna’s scripted death in Baldurs Gate 3, and Reddit user AspieAsshole prompted a new discussion of the topic by asking, “Has anyone ever figured out a way to save Meerna?” Unfortunately, while there are a few bug-filled ways to prevent Meerna’s initial fate at the hands of Nere, Baldurs Gate 3‘s NPCs still consider her dead after the encounter, with the character nowhere to be seen afterward.

Despite Your Best Efforts, Not Every NPC Can Be Saved

Scripted Events Are Essential For Good Storytelling

Although preventing Meerna’s death is just one in a long list of reasons why you might want to kill Nere, there’s still no way to prevent her death as a “canon event” for the story, as noted by HeroDeleterA. Compared to several other NPCs you can save across Baldur’s Gate 3, like the secretive Harpers in the Underdark or members of the Emerald Grove, Meerna’s death at the hands of Nere feels more preventable than most at first glance.

Despite how many NPCs can be saved, Meerna isn’t the only doomed character in Baldur’s Gate 3, and Kanon from the Emerald Grove dies long before the party can even interact with him during the siege. While open-world encounters have drastically more options to circumvent character deaths, NPCs that die in preset cutscenes can rarely be saved. No matter how hard you prepare for the inevitable, there’s only so much wiggle room to be had in a narrative-driven story, even for a game with as much player freedom as Baldur’s Gate 3.

Our Take: Meerna’s Death Is At Odds With Baldur’s Gate 3’s Player Freedom

A Surprising Oversight From Larian Studios

Custom Image by: Ben Brosofsky Custom Image by Jessica Mills-Cox Custom Image by Katarina Cimbaljevic.

Some Early Access players have noted that Meerna could originally be saved in Baldur’s Gate 3, raising the question of why Larian Studios decided to leave these kinds of inevitable encounters in the final release of the game. Given that sparing Nere’s life unlocks new storytelling choices later in the game, saving a background NPC like Meerna feels like it should be par for the course for a roleplaying game like Baldur’s Gate 3, even with a small update that doesn’t need its own complicated backstory or character development.

It’s hard not to try to save the Deep Gnome even after your first time playing through Baldur’s Gate 3, imagining there has to be some way to prevent Nere’s cruelty, given how much freedom the game already offers in spades. Despite the challenge, some players have even found technical ways around the cutscene by instantly killing Nere before it plays, but even these methods have their own issues. After countless attempts, Baldur’s Gate 3‘s NPCs still consider her dead even after successfully avoiding the event, with Meerna being frozen and unable to be interacted with.