I'm probably going to make a longer post about this in story section once I've fully finished, but the "bad" ending for a particular character is on point when you consider a main theme of the BG3 story:
The essence of love is sacrifice, not victory or trade. One can define sacrifice as letting go of something you cherish highly for the (not guaranteed) hope of something you cherish above all else. ALL of our origin companions (and the PC) have to make this decision at some point, where they can "win" or "trade" something away for what they want, or they can sacrifice something they hold dear to hope for what they truly need. I'm worried that people demanding an unapologetic "good" ending for this character did not understand the story or her character and want a sort of "moral desert" for this character to trump the thematic storytelling at play. This character makes it abundantly clear where their true priorities lie, and an unqualified "good" ending makes their entire story superfluous, and just a personality stuck to a character model. If you remove the "bad" endings, this character faces no sacrificial dilemma in the game and undergoes no arc.
For those of you unaware of the concept of moral desert: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_(philosophy)
I'm one of the first people who critiqued the "bad" ending on the grounds of being an incomplete tragedy, in that there is no catharsis or "being one's own undoing." Those who are upset by what I am about to say can check the beginning of those threads in defense of this character. But as my game draws to a close, I disagree with what I initially said: this character does bring the end upon herself in a cathartic way, and it is thematically in line with the sacrifices other characters have to make. A good ending cheapens this.
I'm not against a bad or sacrificial ending. But I would like to see a complete questline in Act 3, where we do everything we can to get a "good" ending, and besides our efforts, we fail. And we need a GOOD reason for why we fail.
We meet many VERY powerful people in this world and we have access to MANY powerful spells. Off the top of my head, there are three suggestions on how to get a "good" ending. The game MUST give explanations on why none of them work with said character, otherwise, it remains inconsistent with the laws of the forgotten realms:
1. Wish spell: Either get Elminster (buddy of Gale) to cast it or make a quest on finding a wish spell scroll ourselves and then use it as a one-off to try and fix Karlach's heart.
2. Cast greater restauration spell on Karlach. Should grow back body parts according to the lore.
3. Get the Gondians to supply the means of fixing the engine.
Again, it's fine if none of these things work in that particular case, but there need to be reaons WHY it does not work.
