I have a nasty suspicion that Karlach's under represented story is because of her late addition to the game. Yes she was in EA but the other Origins had years and plenty of feedback to be fine tuned and reworked. Not to mention how early her story can end due to Wyll. Hopefully patches will arrive enabling us to give our girl a slightly better ending than what we have now.
They had Astarion from start to finish, yet he got the same treatment. Neither of his endings are what he wanted or particularly desirable. The book of thay was a meaningless red herring and all that talk about drinking Cazador's blood was a lie. They set these paths up and then made them go nowhere. Hell, Gale's redemption to mystra is
suicide
. You can tell SH and Lae'Zel were Larian's favourites.
Well I guess I spoiled myself. Whatever.
What is this German Fairy Tale ass writing? It’s like:
Hee hee hoo hoo there once was a magical mystical world full of talking animals and heroes trying to cure themselves and save the world and confront their pasts and fall in love. Hee hee hoo hoo there was funny stuff too! But then everyone died horrifically or went back to where they started. And that’s why little ones must eat their vegetables at supper. THE END.
I can't be sure Gale doesn't have another ending. Maybe Elminster's instructions aren't the only way to earn Mystra's forgiveness. He's also bugged and may turn evil against your intentions. I guess the Gale conspiracy theory half won? Still, Karlach and Astarion... nobody seems to have found a secret ending.
Their quests are singular red herrings that fool the player for a while, but ultimately you can't achieve their hearts' desire. Karlach is more tragic. Much more tragic. Yet, I feel trolled on either account. Astarion just makes no sense. It eats at me. One of his endings isn't horrible... for Astarion, that is. It's just not what he really wants and not what the player is lead to believe would happen. It's so comically evil. The other,
you may have doomed him the minute he believed in kindness
