Baldur’s Gate 3: How to solve the plaque puzzle in the Shadowlands

There’s a statue you can find in the Shadowlands in Baldur’s Gate 3 with three plaques, and after a little investigation, you may figure out there’s something more going on here. Well, let’s figure out what’s going on with this plaque puzzle in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3: How to solve the plaque puzzle

If you haven’t managed to track down the plaques in question, they’re just northeast of The Waning Moon. They’re dotted around a statue that’s up a small flight of stairs. Be careful when approaching this since there are a handful of Shadow-Cursed Harpers to take down. Once these are taken care of, we can put our puzzle-solving hats on.

Related: PSA: Release the pixie in the Moonlantern in Baldur’s Gate 3

As you look around the statue in this location, you should uncover three plaques. You’ll need to pass a Perception check on each of these to be able to see them, which should be fairly easy with four party members.

Upon inspection of each plaque, you’ll see a jumble of letters and words appear. It may not seem completely obvious, but you need to interact with these plaques in a certain order for a door to appear. Luckily, the order in which you need to interact with these plaques isn’t very complex at all. This is actually one of the nicer puzzles Baldur’s Gate 3 has to offer.

The solution to the plaque puzzle

First up, head around to the north side of the statue and interact with this plaque. Next, walk to the west side and click on this plaque. Finally, walk around to the east side and click on the final plaque. The picture above also shows the order in which you should select each plaque.

Honestly, I clicked at these plagues on my own for a bit and miraculously solved the puzzle and opened the secret door on my own. I also tried piecing together the broken words and phrases because they trail together to form a complete paragraph. Reading and/or understanding that isn’t necessary, though.

After you’ve done this, a secret door will reveal itself on the south side of the statue and take you to the Sharran Sanctuary. As a handy bonus, the Sharran Sanctuary isn’t afflicted with the same curse that affects the Shadowlands, so you won’t need the Moonlantern’s protection down here.

That’s about it for the plaque puzzle in Baldur’s Gate 3. In short, it’s not a very complicated puzzle at all. Now, I recommend you head over to our Sharran Sanctuary guide so as to not miss anything in this small dungeon.