Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion [END SPOILS WARNING] Addressing Karlach (PLEASE PUT SPOILERS IN TAGS)

Karlach is popular because of multiple factors (not exhaustive and in no particular order):

Looks:

1) She looks cool.
2) She's an attractive woman.
3) She's a buff girl -- all the rage these days,
4) She resembles a demon -- a very enticing and popular archetype.

Personality:

1) She's very personable.
2) She's vibrant, upbeat, and endearing.
3) She's a tomboy -- all the rage these days.
4) She has cool, memorable lines.

Sam made a lot of the above happen. She started off quite different from how she ended up. Larian was probably aiming for her to be popular, given the intentional reworkings of her design and personality, but didn't have enough time to flesh her out.

WE MADE IT TO PAGE 80 WOO

#JUSTICEFORKARLACHSTRONG

Yeah they did. And they almost had to close the whole thing + sell like 30% or so of the company to tencent for financial safety to even think about BG3.

Well I'd say it's a combo of a very good voice acting PLUS a personality that's very hard not to love (and we didn't get a chance to know her all that well in EA since she couldn't be recruited yet, so that's new) for most people PLUS uh, well, big strong woman who can bench-press you is hot, what can I say. PLUS her story and the way she reacts to it are also very hard not to sympathize with (which makes the ending that much more frustrating).

I don't frequent many sites nowadays but from what I see posts about her are either* "PROTECT KARLACH AT ALL COSTS" with a screenshot of some wholesome dialogue or reaction, compliments to Samantha or aesthetically appreciative with various degrees of horniness x) Some angstier ones pop up here and there as people reach the end.

So I'd say it's a combination of everything, to each in their own proportion.

* - well, that, and as more and more people reach the end and also as the hype dies down - players begin to notice the unfair divide in content between some characters, including Karlach's quest and ending. Also at least one of my mutual followers is sitting on an unfinished playthrough in defiance the same way some of us do here.

Granted, the sitch maybe different on, say, twitter, which I'm much less on.

Ah, Walking Kole outlined it all much nicer than I did while I was typing, props!

EDIT: (I also feel mildly called out, but well, this is the thread for that)

all the*Rage* these days.
Heh

I don't understand why you think what's already happened will never happen again

It's been less than two months since the game was released

Well Larian themselves said they're not done with Baldur's Gate 3. But we don't know what they mean by that.

I already explained that. Last time they did it, they almost bancrupted. Sven had to sell 30% shares to tencent to even think about BG3. You'd think they'll think twice before repeating the same mistake, especially if the last one was so costly.


Maintance patches, considering that the patches break more than they fix it seems

If you aren’t enthusiastic about Justice for Karlach, there’s no need to post and dampen other folks’ enthusiasm. I love the brainstorming, speculating, and sharing links that’s happening here. It’s fun and hopeful. It’s nice to see folks sharing what they like about Karlach, coming up with cool ideas about other uses for stuff like soul coins, outlining their headcanons for possible expansions. This thread seems like a really nice way to honor the character.

I’m optimistic that Larian will incorporate fan feedback once again, like it seems like they do pretty consistently? Buuut even if they don’t, I kinda think that having hope is worth the potential cost… of disappointment down the line.

I agree with the notion that Larian just didn’t anticipate that Karlach would be so popular, and that so many people would get so invested in the character. They haven’t had time to develop something new in response to that yet. Hopefully something crops up in the next year or so!

In terms of what makes Karlach popular, for me personally I love the contrast between her and most of the other companions. If you try to probe Shadowheart’s thoughts in the beginning, she threatens to gut you—- big mistake I made ONCE, never again! (I know Shadowheart gets really sweet if you romance her though.) But with Karlach, you never have to try to probe her thoughts because she’ll tell you everything straight up, straight out. She’s not secretive, she doesn’t lie to you. Yeah, there’s some moral ambiguity associated with her character, like her use of soul coins. But at the end of the day, she’s a heroic character, and always wants to do the right thing. Save those in distress, etc. And that’s VERY different from the other companions as well.

And she’s not mean or condescending in the slightest. Larian seems to like to make companions who are really unpleasant and mean to you, who change when you get to know them over time. Same as in DOS2. (Case in point, Sebille, Red Prince, Fane.) So it’s refreshing to have a companion who is just wholesome and good-hearted. And sincere. Through and through.

So that’s some of the stuff I love about Karlach. Of course, her voice acting is amazing and she’s just fun, always lightens up the mood, and her interactions with the other companions make me laugh. (It seems like Lae’zel and Shadowheart are both low-key thirsting after her, which is so silly and gay, I love it. Speaking as a queer woman.) And I love that all she really wants, deep in her soul, is a hug.

Well as I said I want to know what are you planning to accomplish because I don't know what's more sad the fact you call screaming into the small circlejerk a "fight for better ending" or the fact that you think this small circlejerk of a few people can actually make larian change their mind.

New here and first time posting, I haven't read most of this thread to avoid as many spoilers as possible.

Adding a reply to help this thread grow in hope that Karlach will eventually get a good ending. I haven't yet finished the game and prefer not to at this point.

We want. To accomplish. Talking to other people. Who share our views. Can you read.


^^^ thiiiis

Whatever part this thread could play in a "fight" it has already played, it was seen and known as much a forum thread can be, now it's just for talking and shooting the shit (it's what forums are FOR).

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So ONCE AGAIN trying to re-rail it back I swear one day I'll learn to ignore the trolls ('cause any person with an actual life to live would leave us alone by this point).

I've actually started re-playing the game AS Karlach recently, and oh boy that's a fascinating POV. The difference between Tav internally being all "Ah shit, the tadpole, the Hells, the mindflayers, it's all so overwhelming" at the beginning of the game and Karlach at the same exact point mentally going "YESSSSSSS I AM FREE THE SKY IS BLUE THE RIVERS ARE NOT BLOOD THERE'S A COLOR GREEN" is so stark, I love her. I mean, we been knew, but it's amazing to see it narrated. And it's narrated a lot, 'cause she talks to herself.

However, on a sadder note, and this is a spoiler if you want to see her playthrough for yourself,

For sure, all of us hope that Definitive Edition in a year or more will truly address this.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with this opinion, and I believe you're right. We won't see a better/happy ending for quite some time assuming one will be added. But, that's fine, I can wait. Karlach's endings are some of my only gripes with the game. I'm still in act 1 after 90 hours and stopped playing after her endings were spoiled. Which may be stupid but I can't play knowing her current options. I got the impression progressing through her quest that the engine would eventually be fixed, but to my understanding it's just a fetch quest that's doomed to fail from the beginning and it doesn't sit well with me.

Well, at least you don't pretend that you want an actual change to her ending, there's that.

Reading this brought back tears to my eyes again after having experienced that playthrough myself. It'snot as much that her condition has been kept away from the player, nor that it hss been written badly - because it's some of the best tragedies ever, honestly.

But it's so wrong in the sense that there's genuinely nothing the player can try to do and accomplish in terms of helping her with all the already implemented possibilities in the game. In a high-fantasy world full of opportunities. I for one would gladly give my life or sell my soul to the devil if it meant she got to live happily in Faerun.

I refuse to get too far into act 3 as the endings were something I personally looked up as I was closing in on the final act because I've heard other endings being good and wanted to make sure my favorite gal also got that. Imagine my face when I was met by a big fat nope.

I just want to do the near impossible in late-game act 3 and give her a chance at staying alive without pain, in the colorful world she loves and defends.

We want it as in we hope for it. We don't want to go on an actual crusade for it, no. It's not that deep.

here we go talking in spoilers again ahah



I mean, I do agree. It's actually well done in some regards and that's frustrating. Because again, it's like... the possibilities (not even the cheesy ones like wish spells or scrolls or whatever, actual directly linked to her possibilities) are right there. Even if they don't work in the end and we're still adamantly meant to fail (in which case, I do have the same question as Karlach herself - WHY HER), at the very least should've been available to be tried. Like, I, as a Tav, I want to try.

Also as someone mentioned a while ago it's really mean that the only person who can't climb out of the narrative pit we meet them in is Karlach, who also had very little to do with the fact that she got into that situation. Like, all of them are victims, 100%, but at the very least our other resident bomb-in-chest haver got his hubris to blame. And even so he's fine. Karlach is just... what, some people are just unlucky? Sometimes all bad things happen to one person just because? Is that the moral here? It's not even a sickness (as in a classic terminal patient cases) that indeed just strikes people out of nowhere, it's a very much man-made/devil-made condition that was actively done to her. And if the former is, okay, often something that you have no choice to accept, then the latter is just mean. You got royally screwed over, deal with it, oh and also even your vengeance didn't feel good or change anything. Sigh.

I suppose that's its own sort of tragedy, but when put in a line up with everyone else... why her, indeed.