Ya, bittersweet isn’t really the right word for it. It just kinda irks me that the ground work for a happy ending is there, it just leads no where. Like dangling a carrot you can never reach. I know I’ve seen some people claim that not every character needs a happy ending, but in a game where each character has multiple endings, why should all of her’s be tragic? What’s so wrong with giving her a single happy ending? I hope it’s because Larian didn’t have time and may add one later, and not because they simply didn’t want to.
It's not even necessarily that it's the groundwork for a happy ending, it's the groundwork for any alternate ending. Good or bad, no matter what you do with her quest, you end up with the same options. Why would I want to re-do her quest/play with her as an origin character in another playthrough if there's no ending variation?
I think she 100% can have a happy ending and it wouldn't compromise any tragic story beat (one could make the argument for any other companion being equally tragic, and they all get freedom in choosing their endings). But even putting that aside for a second, let's run with the "she's a tragic character" thing: there can absolutely be room for different endings while still driving home a tragic characterization--they could do a little story twist of, say, "oh, your heart was the prototype, but this perfected model that'll save you runs on the souls of orphans! The choice is yours!" Suddenly, she can die as a tragic good-aligned character, AND there can be room for Karlach in an evil playthrough, if you want to go again and already torched her in a good playthrough.
In any case, we're all missing the most important grievance she's been subjected to: why is Karlach not on the official cover art???
