BG3 Iron Throne prison walkthrough: How to save everyone

Deep underwater, off the coast of the city of Baldur’s Gate, lies the Iron Throne prison, a mechanical marvel constructed at the behest of Lord Enver Gortash to house his most valuable prisoners.

As you reach the climax of Baldur's Gate 3, you get the chance to save everyone inside the Iron Throne, but at the cost of breaking any alliance you’ve forged with the contemptible Lord Gortash up to this point.

There are many key characters housed in the Iron Throne, and it’s the culmination of several side quests and companion missions. It’s possible to save all of them, but it’s still very tough.

Where to find the Iron Throne Prison

To get to the Iron Throne in the first place, make your way to the Flymm’s Cargo warehouse on the eastern side of the harbour in Baldur’s Gate.

Pick the lock on any of the doors to the warehouse and defeat the Worgs inside. In the northwest corner, under some boxes you can reach a basement area. Run through the doors marked detention area, then machine parts storage through to the underwater dock.

Here you find a dwarf called Redhammer the Deviser, with some deception, you find out that he was responsible for the drowned priestess who went missing from the Water Queen’s temple. However, press him on the Iron Throne and he reveals that it’s an underwater prison where Gortash is holding some Gondians as collateral to keep the workers in the Steel Watch foundry working. You can then pressure him into providing passage over to the Iron Throne if you wish.

Take the submersible to The Iron Throne and along the way you will receive a message from Gortash saying the jig is up and he knows that you’re trampling all over his best laid plans. You’re then given the choice of whether to turn back and preserve your armistice, or break your agreement and storm his special prison.

If you ignore his warning and continue your infiltration, Gortash activates the self-destruct sequence that’s built into the prison, giving you a very limited window to get everyone out alive.

How to save everyone in the Iron Throne

To save everyone on the Iron Throne you have to play tactically and waste no turns. Therefore, it’s best to make a quicksave at the start of the encounter just in case things go wrong.

When you leave the vessel, you hear from an old friend, Omeluum. The mind-flayer from the Society of Brilliance communes with you to ask you to save Duke Ravengard. He’s apparently being held in the Security Wing, but you have just 8 turns of turn-based mode to save everyone, return to the ship and make your escape.

There are 5 groups of hostages to save overall. 3 Gondians in the room immediately surrounding the ladder down in front of you. Duke Ravengard in the east spoke of the prison, along with two Gondians. 6 Gondians in the west spoke of the prison. 2 trapped Gondians in the south spoke of the prison. Then finally Omeluum in the southwest flooded corridor.

You can’t just free the prisoners and leave them to their own devices. The patrolling Sahuagins will kill the fleeing gnomes very easily if you don’t keep them preoccupied.

They will fire really annoying pot shots at the captives and kill them really quickly if you’re not careful.

I recommend sending one character east, one character west and have two ready to go south or help out either way. The captives in the south spoke are the most vulnerable, and that’s where many of the Sahuagins spawn.

First, go down the ladder immediately in front of you and there are two trapped hostages behind doors that you need to save on your left and right: Flansy Thronwhist and Caralee Grollo. A third will already be free and making a break for it. Thwack the Sahuagin on your right, then pull the lever next to the door to free the gnome. When you do, they will get the “glimpse of freedom status and run away to the ship”.

Starting with the east spoke, there are two Sahuagin, one of which is a champion. He’s a slippery chump who will try and snipe the fleeing gnomes, so try and engage him as far up the corridor as possible.

Inside the chamber, pull the middle and right-hand levers to empty the cells of prisoners. Once Ravengard is free, you can control him like the rest of your characters, but he’s badly injured.

Depending on the outcome of your pact with Mizora, she will also help Ravengard as promised. Despite his condition though, Ravengard is a vital member of the rescue party. Not only does he have actions that can be used to free captives, but he can perform a whopping 6 unarmed attacks. They’re weak, but the damage can add up and help to finish off the legions of Sahuagin.

As you approach the west spoke, the side of the prison wall will explode and shut the blast doors. They’re vulnerable to bludgeoning, so you can bash them in to continue onwards. Defeat the mermen guarding the prison doors, then activate the levers to free the captives and follow them back to the middle of the Iron Throne.

In the south spoke, I’d recommend using a character who can fly or jump really far (like a shapeshifted druid or Lae’zel). They can make it across the water, unrestrain Santoria, then pull the lever on the door more easily than someone just on foot.

As you free the prisoners, move your characters back to the middle of the prison to protect them from the Sahuagin that spawn, while leaving a mobile character free to save Omeluum. Omeluum can only be reached via the corridor heading west from the south spoke.

It’s very difficult to reach him in time, however, he has a unique ability to teleport himself and one ally back to the submersible, so you can throw someone after him with just 1 turn left and still make it back - provided you’ve already saved everyone else.

This is a very frustrating scenario, since wild shapes can’t interact with things sporadically, and there are bugs which seem to skip vital turns for your characters. Duke Ravengard, especially if he has the massive movement buff from Mizora, is an absolutely key character if you intend on saving everyone, because he can get to Omeluum the easiest.

With everyone safely on the ship, it sails away into the deep as the Iron Throne explodes. The attitude of the Gondians towards your party, as you’d hope, is raised to new heights. Ravengard, disoriented after being freed from the Tadpole’s influence, has mixed feelings towards Wyll, but agrees to make camp with the rest of your party. Your journal will also update to add him to the ever-growing list of allies.

When you dock back at the secret base, speak to Omeluum and he will ask you to meet him back at the Lodge of the Society of Brilliance. Then, before you leave, speak to Obelia Toobin and she expresses her gratitude and tells you about their similarly captive family who are being forced to work on the Steel Watch.

Agree to help the rest of the halflings rebel and you will be able to take out Gortash’s Steel Watch protection - which should prove vital in the battle to come to claim the final Netherstone.

You will also be surrounded by the amassed priestesses of the Wave Mother’s temple upon your return. They’ve figured out that your submersible driver was the one responsible for their sister’s death and demand you hand over the dwarf.

Karlach dislikes it if you agree, but this is still probably the “good” ending. You get the best reward for handing him over, don’t completely wipe out an institution of the city and, if you forgot, Redhammer kind of willingly facilitated the running of an underwater super-prison, so you could argue he got his just desserts.