Minsc


 * For the Belarussian capital, please see Minsk.

Minsc is a prominent fictional character in the Baldur's Gate series of Dungeons & Dragons computer role-playing games created by Bioware. Appearing in all four games of the series, he served as a light-toned comic relief and was always accompanied by a pet hamster named "Boo", represented as an icon in Minsc's first quickslot. Minsc insists Boo is in fact an highly intelligent being in the body of a hamster ("the only miniature giant space hamster in the Realm [sic]"). Some suspect Boo may be just an ordinary hamster, and that Minsc has just taken a few too many blows to the head. (In Baldur's Gate II, he mentions that he was suffering from a head wound when he purchased Boo.)

He is one of several playable characters (PCs) available in the Baldur's Gate series to accompany the player's character through the storyline, but Minsc stands out as a particularly noticeable character, and is regarded as one of the most popular PCs in computer gaming, recently receiving high rankings in polls run by IGN and GameSpot.

He is voice-acted by Jim Cummings.

Ray Muzyka, co-founder of Bioware has stated that Minsc is his favorite character from the series.

Game appearances
Minsc is a bald, purple-tattooed ranger from the Forgotten Realms country of Rashemen. Originally a berserker on his "dajemma", a rite of passage, to gain entrance to the prestigious "Ice Dragon Berserker Lodge", he swore to guard the witch Dynaheir. Following his failure to do so, Minsc becomes a mercenary and self-proclaimed "defender of good".

In the first Baldur's Gate game, Dynaheir and Minsc are ambushed by gnolls near the Wood of Sharp Teeth. Dynaheir gets captured and taken to a Gnoll Stronghold west of the town of Nashkel and Minsc and Boo travel back to Nashkel, where the main characters can meet him. The player will encounter him as a bulging fighter wielding a two-handed sword who is talking to, and even taking advice from, his pet hamster whose cuddly noises make sense to Minsc. He asks for the main character to help him free Dynaheir before she gets eaten, and will hold the main character to his word, with violence if necessary, and if the player does not rescue her within ten days after Minsc joins the party then he will turn on the group and attack. It is possible to encounter a sworn enemy of Minsc and Dynaheir, in that the mage Edwin Odesseiron will engage the main character with the offer to assassinate Dynaheir, an offer which naturally outrages Minsc, and keeping the two, or three, of them in the main character's company is sure to erupt into physical fighting at any time. If Dynaheir is rescued, she and Minsc will become inseparable, and if any of the two are later dropped from the party, then the other will also leave (you can however kill one, petrify one, or throw him out of the party while he stands inside a house to overcome this limitation).

In Baldur's Gate II, Minsc and Boo are found alongside the main character as the game starts. Together with Imoen and Jaheira, they have been captured each in a separate prison cell, and he is in a brutal rage as Dynaheir has been murdered by their captor Irenicus. Minsc travels with the main character, if allowed, and develops long-standing bonds with other PCs Jaheira, Imoen and Nalia. In the place of Dynaheir, he chooses the avariel elf Aerie (or, if she is not present and Nalia is, he choses Nalia instead), whom he protects as his new witch. If this happens, should she be reduced to zero HP, Minsc will automatically fly into a berserk rage. He also has some famous banter with the chaotic gnome thief-illusionist Jan Jansen. If his old enemy Edwin Odesseiron joins the party, Minsc is prone to attacking him after a while, for a fight to death; the outcome largely depends upon how well each of the combatants have been equipped by the player before, and if Edwin has enough spells left.

In the released retail version of Baldur's Gate II, Minsc, unlike most other PCs in that game, did not have a personal mini-quest. However in a game modification called "Unfinished Business", a Director's Cut-style modification which adds quests left as unfinished code or hinted through interviews by the game developers, introduced a quest for Minsc called "The Kidnapping of Boo". This miniquest was stripped from the original version because Minsc's game voice recordings often included the squeaking of Boo, even if the game developers did not request this extra sound.

Boo
Throughout both Baldur's Gate I and Baldur's Gate II, Minsc repeatedly refers to Boo as the only "Miniature Giant Space Hamster in the Realms!". Many view this as merely a symptom of or delusion from the "headwound" he also references. However, Miniature Giant Space Hamsters verifiably exist in the AD & D game. They are first referenced in the AD & D Second Edition supplementary sourcebook "Monstrous Compendium - 7 - Spelljammer" (1990), as a creation of a Genetic Engineering Guild of Tinker Gnomes, the highly indiosyncratic Gnomes of Krynn. Bred giant to power the paddle wheels of their flying ships and in minature because they presumably had run out of normal size hamsters. The publishing of this sourcebook predated the release of the original Baldur's Gate by several years.

Powers
Minsc is the strongest joinable warrior in both games (Strength 18/93) until the Baldurs Gate II addon Throne of Bhaal that introduced Sarevok (Strength 18/00), which at that time is not that important as strength items are quite frequent in the second game.

His other fighting stats - Dexterity and Constitution - are respectably high at 16, though he is best used as a second-liner, preferably wielding a two-handed weapon like halberd or sword, combined with a bow for a long-range attack. Minsc's stats make him a formidable warrior, and he is considered one of the most powerful PC fighters in the game. His developing of clerical spells at the final stages of the game further boosts his efficiency.

Quotes

 * Full plate and packing steel.
 * Minsc grows tired of yelling battle cries when fighting this mage! Boo will finish his eyeballs once and for all so he does not rise again!
 * Evil, meet my sword! SWORD, MEET, EVIL!!!!!!
 * There is no hope of ever separating Minsc and Boo. Boo is small and evasive, and there is ever so much of Minsc to search!
 * Minsc will lead with blade and boot! Boo will take care of the details.
 * Magic is impressive. But now, Minsc leads!  Swords for everyone!
 * AAAH! Minsc will be free! These bonds will not hold my wrath! Butts will be liberally kicked in good measure!
 * Minsc and Boo stand ready!
 * Despair not! I shall inspire you by charging blindly on!
 * Go for the eyes, Boo, GO FOR THE EYES! RAAAAAAAAAAAURGH!!!
 * Squeeky wheel gets the kick!
 * Terrible hamster justice shall be wreaked upon you!
 * Jump on my sword while you can evil, I won't be as gentle!
 * Ahh, I prefer the bright of day, evil must be able to see the justice I dispense.
 * Boo must have his exercise, lest he bite us all in hard-to-reach places.
 * Cities always teem with evil and decay. Let's give it a good shake and see what falls out!
 * We are all heroes: You and Boo and I. Hamsters and rangers everywhere, rejoice!
 * Swords, not words!
 * When the going gets tough, someone hold my rodent.
 * Evil beware! I'm armed to the teeth and packing a HAMSTER!
 * Another den of stinking evil. Cover your nose Boo! We'll leave no crevice untouched!
 * This behavior will not be tolerated. Feel the burning stare of my HAMSTER and change your ways!
 * The bigger they are, the harder I hit!
 * Butt Kicking for Goodness!
 * Comradery! Adventure!  And Steel on Steel.  The stuff of legends!  Right, Boo?
 * Evil 'round every corner. [Be] Careful not to step in any.
 * You point, I punch!!
 * Yes! Lead evil by example, and one day we need no longer put the boots to those that stray off the path of goodness into the muck and bile of villainy and track great bloody footprints across our lily white tiles! Boo will have clean wood shavings you evil bastards!
 * Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach a man to fight and he can chow down on the meaty marrow of evil!
 * We must inspire fear in evil! Quiet tales of hamsters are foolish, but a man and his hamster that tear evil limb from limb? That's scary!

References to Minsc and Boo

 * In the webcomic Megatokyo, Largo has a hamster as his conscience which is called Boo, a tribute to Baldur's Gate II of which Rodney Caston was famously a fan.
 * In the game Guild Wars Nightfall there is a skill called "Go for the Eyes!", probably named after the shout that Minsc shouts as he charges into battle.
 * In a Cartoon Network show "Codename: Kids Next Door" episode, a character voiced by Jim Cummings named Vin Moosk appears, who has a personality similar to Minsc, in being a tough warrior protective of the weak. Moosk is a fighter of ties; this is because he used to work as an accountant, until he discovered that he hated his job, and hated his tie even worse. Numbuh One confessed to him at the end of the episode that he was "the only cool adult I've ever met."