Durgetash

Durgetash is the non-binary ship between The Dark Urge and Gortash from the Baldur's Gate fandom.

Pre-Game
The Dark Urge’s and Gortash’s relationship before the events of the game is one of mutual respect and admiration. They first meet as Chosen for their respective gods, along with Ketheric. The Dark’s Urges’s god; Bhaal, Gortash’s god; Bane, and Ketheric’s god; Myrkul, make up a trio known as ‘The Dead Three'—an infamous triad of evil deities. Together and instructed by their respective gods, the three Chosen developed a plan to enslave an Elder Brain with the Crown of Karsus. The plan also involved the creation of the cult of the Absolute. One of the first steps of this plan was to steal the Crown of Karsus from the archdevil Mephistopheles’s vault. The Dark Urge and Gortash worked together directly to steal the crown and were successful.

Near the end of Act 2, the Dark Urge can find a note written by their own hand before they lost their memories. Titled ‘Prayer for Forgiveness’, the note is written to Bhaal. It starts off with the Dark Urge asking their father for forgiveness, as they ‘cannot help’ admiring Gortash despite him being the Chosen of Bane, Bhaal's 'sworn foe’. They also call out Gortash’s ‘brilliant plan’. The Dark Urge reassures Bhaal that they still plan on betraying and killing Gorash and Ketheric before themselves to ensure that all life will die in His name.

With the plan beginning to come together, the three Chosen continued to work together. The plan involved the Dark Urge killing in the Absolute’s name, Ketheric marching an army of Absolute followers to Baldur’s Gate, and - with the scare of the Absolute’s army - Gortash would serve as a leader against the Absolute and gain power in Baldur’s Gate. However, The Dark Urge was eventually betrayed by fellow Bhaalspawn Orin and infected with the mind flayer tadpole. Orin was harsh and violent when inserting the tadpole, resulting in brain damage. Orin then takes over as the Chosen of Bhaal, and the Dark Urge ends up on the Nautiloid ship. Orin does not inform Gortash and Ketheric of exactly what happened, other than that she is now acting as Bhaal’s Chosen.

During Game
During the prologue, Act 1, and Act 2, the Dark Urge has no memories about who they were before the Nautiloid due to Orin. Seeing anything related to Bhaal has no effect on them, nor does it stir memories or feelings.

Between Acts 2 and 3, Gortash and Orin talk about Ketheric’s death and the party that killed him. Orin reveals that the Dark Urge is among them, and Gortash is surprised to hear they live, smiling as he hears the news.

The first time the Dark Urge and Gortash meet in-game is during his coronation. After the party has entered, Gortash excuses himself to the room as he must talk to his ‘most esteemed guest’. As he walks down the stairs, he enthusiastically welcomes the Dark Urge and calls them his favourite assassin. He says Orin told him that she ‘made a fool’ of them, but he adds that he should have known they wouldn’t have died easily. The Dark Urge responds, confused that Gortash seems to know them. If Karlach is in the party, after Gortash calls the Dark Urge his favourite assassin, she will be shocked to hear that the two are familiar. After the Dark Urge responds, Gortash points out how they and Karlach travelled together without her knowing how they used to work with him. He says he’ll clear up the mysteries as they ‘share so much history’. Gortash begins to explain the Dark Urge’s role in the Absolute plot and that everything was working as intended until they disappeared. Orin then took their place but couldn’t control herself, unlike them.

'You misread me' =


 * -| 'You are mistaken…' =


 * -| 'I’m back now' =


 * -| 'How dare Orin…' =


 * -| 'The plan sounds brilliant!' =

Gortash continues that now that the Dark Urge has come with Kethric’s netherstone, they can continue their plan, as without the three stones working together, the Elder Brain is difficult to control. He proposes to renew their old partnership in order to control the brain, as well as take Orin’s netherstone, as she can’t be trusted to work with. Gortash explains that he doesn’t want to destroy the city, only rule it, so he wants to once again work with the Dark Urge. He wishes to make a pact with them, one that means they cannot bring harm to each other for the time being. He’ll let them keep Ketheric’s stone, and when they kill Orin, they bring the netherstone to Gortash to unite the stones once again. Then, they will rule Faerûn together. If the Iron Throne and Steel Watch factory are still present, the Emperor informs the Dark Urge that Gortash means every word he says, and an insight check reveals the same. If the Dark Urge points out that Gortash did nothing to help them after Orin took their place, he says that there was a previous agreement between the three Chosen that they wouldn’t meddle in the affairs of the others. He adds that while he tolerated Orin, he liked them. If the Dark Urge says they shouldn’t trust him again, he says that he isn’t anything like Orin and adds, “You and I always knew we could only stand against the world united.”

If the party comes to Gortash’s coronation after defeating Orin, he calls them ‘dear friend' and congratulates them for defeating Orin. He says that he and Bane have always admired the Dark Urge.

If the Dark Urge after the coronation goes off and brings down the Iron Throne and/or the Steel Watch factory, Gortash and Wyrm’s Rock will become hostile, and the alliance cannot happen anymore.

If the Dark Urge wishes to ally with Gortash again, they can meet in his office. As the party enters, the three stones begin to resonate with each other. He’s pleased to see Orin gone, and he asks the Dark Urge how their reunion went. He says he trusts that they used their ‘creative genius’ on her and adds that he always preferred how the Dark Urge mastered their urges compared to Orin’s ‘gruesome obsessions’. Even if the Dark Urge mentions they no longer associate with Bhaal, Gortash will say it changes nothing and will still desire to work with them again. He explains that he never had a true alliance with Orin, and he never saw her as his equal, but the Dark Urge can be his equal. With the alliance, Gortash will come with the party to deal with the Netherbrain during the endgame. However, during the confrontation, the Netherbrain says that while they respected the Dark Urge, they did not respect him. With one order, Gortash is killed by the Netherbrain. The Dark Urge must finish the fight without him.

Quotes
"No offence to my old friend, but it's *you* I've been dying to see."

- Gortash's response to the Dark Urge saying he should speak to Karlach.

"To think you and Karlach travelled together all this time, and she hadn't the faintest you were one of my nearest and dearest."

- Gortash the Dark Urge if Karlach is in the party.

"I tolerated Orin, but I *liked* you."

- Gortash to the Dark Urge.

"Forgive me, Father, for I cannot help but admire the Chosen of your sworn foe: Enver Gortash's genius will take us far, but fear not - those of Bane always fall to the same folly: they cannot see the beauty of obliteration."

- The Dark Urge to Bhaal about Gortash.

Fanon
Durgetash is a fairly popular ship within the fandom. Both people who actively ship it and those who are neutral have noted that the way Gortash interacts with the Dark Urge is a lot more positive compared to a normal Tav or other origin character. From certain phrases used and some facial expressions, people get the feeling that the relationship between the two wasn’t purely platonic.

There are many interpreted dynamics between the two that fans have taken on. Some view them as former lovers, some view them as having mutual but unsaid feelings, and some view Gortash as having unrequited feelings.

A lot of fan content involves the creator's own version of the Dark Urge and their dynamic with Gortash. However, there’s still a plethora of content involving the default Dark Urge (a white Dragonborn). One of the most common fan contents involves comparing the old Dark Urge/Gortash dynamic with the current Dark Urge, usually involving the Dark Urge’s new partner with Gortash as an ex-partner.

Even without the romantic angle, many still see the Dark Urge and Gortash as the closest people they had to each other.

On AO3, The Dark Urge/Enver Gortash has 300+ works.

Fandom

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