ENNARIS TAVANE
— BALDUR'S GATE 3 —

these boots have seen everything.

Background.

Ennaris Tavane's first memory is the argument her parents had when deciding which of them should be the one to raise her. Mother's life would be too dangerous, the woman claimed, while her father insisted that a library was no place for a toddler. Ness listened from a corner of the room and learned that she is a burden her own parents will squabble to be rid of.

She was four years old, and it's a lesson she never quite forgot.

Eventually, her father relented. Ness loved books, and seeing himself in her thawed Vazeiros somewhat to the idea of raising a child. Her mother left to continue adventuring, and neither Ness nor her father ever saw her again.

Growing up in Candlekeep, the library her father had escaped to after one hundred years of slavery in his native Menzoberranzan, Ness was a friendly, studious child. She excelled in her lessons and stayed out of trouble, certain that if she gave anyone reason to dislike her she would be sent away from the only home she had ever known. Throughout the years, she took on odd jobs around the library and its grounds to make herself useful, from cleaning to food prep to animal care, in hopes of making herself less of a burden. She made some friends, but there weren't many permanent residents of Candlekeep in her age range, so mostly she had pen pals.

When Ness was 15, Netherese wizards invaded the library. She survived the attack, as did her father, but many of her tutors did not, including one particular monk she privately considered her only real parental figure. She has had an intense and abiding hatred for all things Nether ever since.

At 20 years old, having reached maturity, Ness was faced with a dilemma: would she take orders and become Avowed, tied to the library forever, or did she want to leave and begin a new life outside the bounds of Candlekeep? She loved the library and always had, but was its care and preservation truly her life's calling? On the other hand, if she left Candlekeep without taking orders, she would be subject to the same rules as any other Seeker, and may never be allowed to return to her childhood home again.

In the end, she chose to leave, going with one of the merchant caravans headed for Baldur's Gate with intent to get a job, perhaps, or apprentice with a tradesman if she was lucky. Fate had a different plan, however, as she was abducted onto a mindflayer nautiloid on only her second day outside of the library.