I still remember the first time Auntie Ethel called me 'petal' while something ancient and hungry peered out from behind her smile. She runs a teahouse in the sunlit wetlands, but the place smells like rot and old bargains. In Baldur's Gate 3, Ethel doesn't simply kill her customers. She grants their wishes in the most literal, backhanded way possible, leaving them worse than dead. Honestly, my first stroll through her hut made my stomach turn. But the real shock was discovering that many of her victims can still be pulled back from the edge—if I keep my weapons set to non-lethal and my wits intact. As of my latest 2026 run, these rescue routes still hold up beautifully.
Mayrina and the Anti-Hag Support Group
Mayrina is the first broken deal I stumbled into. She sat in Ethel's teahouse, convinced that trading her unborn child for her husband's life was a fair exchange. Grief makes people sign awful contracts, I suppose. Ethel never intended to play fair. She planned to bring Connor back as a zombie, which my party could actually do later, but that is a whole other mess. In the basement fight, I passed a charisma check to let Ethel go while saving Mayrina and taking a powerful item. It felt clever for about five minutes, and then it followed me for two acts.
Mayrina wasn't exactly grateful, but she eventually headed to Baldur's Gate and started an anti-hag support group. That's the kind of resilience I can respect. Unfortunately, Ethel wasn't finished with her. Even after I thought I'd killed the hag in Act One, she slithered back in Act Three, sent a redcap into the support group, and turned Mayrina into a sheep with a cursed doll. I had to find the group at Old Garlow's Place, cleanse the doll with a remove curse spell, and survive a sudden crab-summoning ambush. Once the crabs were smashed, Mayrina and her friends were finally safe.
The Masked Thralls
The Whispering Mask wearers still get to me. Four in Act One, four beneath the Blushing Mermaid in Act Three. Each one thought they were bargaining for relief, and each ended up as a charmed guard in Ethel's little army. They use masks of servitude, vengeance, terror, and regret—the naming alone tells you how little she thinks of them.
The trick is not to kill them. I knock them out with non-lethal attacks and then wait. And here's the kicker: do not remove those masks while Ethel is still breathing. Yank one off too early and the wearer dies on the spot. I learned that lesson the hard way. After Ethel is gone, I circle back, loot the masks, and set the survivors free. Most are too shattered to recover, but the mask of regret in Act One and Captain Grisly in Act Three can both be saved. The mask of regret even joins Mayrina's support group, which warmed my cold adventurer heart.
Efrin and Lorin: Stone and Mirrors
These two are easy to miss. In Ethel's basement, the place is arranged like a twisted museum, and Efrin and Lorin are part of the exhibit. Efrin wanted a disease halted, so Ethel petrified him where he stood. Lorin wanted to see the future, so she cursed him to see everyone—including himself—as decaying corpses. Lovely.
Both can be saved after Ethel is dealt with. Lorin just needs a conversation once the hag is gone. Efrin requires a potion of Basilisk Oil, which I found in the Blighted Village and the Underdark. But here's the catch: if I let Ethel walk away in Act One, freeing Efrin kills him instantly, because his illness was never real—it was her curse. I had to reload a few times before I figured that one out. With Ethel truly dead, unpetrifying Efrin lets him walk out alive.
Vanra: Cutting a Child Out of a Hag
Then there's Vanra, a child Ethel swallowed in Act Three. I won't sugarcoat it—that revelation made me pause the game and stare at the screen for a moment. Ethel wasn't just digesting her; she was infusing Vanra with hag power to turn the kid into another monster.
If Mayrina's support group survives, they offer Hag's Bane, a poison that makes a hag retch up anyone she has eaten. I confronted Ethel at the Blushing Mermaid, chased her into the basement, and fought through her masked guards. To save Vanra, I either threw Hag's Bane at Ethel or knocked her out with non-lethal damage, then cut the hag open. After that, the fight still isn't over until I destroy the pearlspore mushrooms around the lair that can revive her. The golden rule: free Vanra before killing Ethel. If I do that, the kid gets out alive and returns to her mother.
My Cheat Sheet
| Victim | Location | Key Rescue Step |
|---|---|---|
| Mayrina and the support group | Act One hut, Act Three Old Garlow's Place | Cleanse the cursed doll, survive the crab ambush |
| Mask wearers | Act One lair, Act Three Blushing Mermaid cellar | Knock out, then remove masks after Ethel dies |
| Efrin | Act One basement | Use Basilisk Oil after Ethel is truly dead |
| Lorin | Act One basement | Speak to him after Ethel is gone |
| Vanra | Act Three Blushing Mermaid cellar | Throw Hag's Bane or knock Ethel out, cut Vanra free |
Auntie Ethel may be one of the nastiest supporting characters in the game, but her cruelty has a strange silver lining: the people who survive her bargains form one of the most memorable rescue chains in Baldur's Gate 3. I still hate her voice, though. That sing-song 'petal' will never leave my nightmares.