Originally Posted by Moongerm
Originally Posted by Cawyden
although in contrast to Daisy he might actually be sincere with his feelings (at least according to the dev notes in the game files).

It feels to me that he is in-fact not sincere with his feelings in that regard, given that if you reject him too harshly during his romance
he reveals his exact relationship with Duke Stelmane and tells you some messed up stuff about what he could have done to you too and that he will continue to use you until the whole Absolute thing is over, even threatening to force you to turn into a Mindflayer. The entire romance is a front.


Reject him too harshly is a nice way to say that you outright insult him by either saying that he is a freak or that he is doing a human impression, basically telling him that you still not trust him and treating him like he is not a feeling person. I know gamers can't know this until they check the game files, but there it says that manipulations are no longer necessary (as he says too - no need for subterfuge anymore). If you are constantly being antagonistic with him, insulting him, not believing a word he says then he finally treats you harshly back - you are not his trusted ally but he has no choice - and while he threatens you, he never forces you to anything, he is just angry at this point. And to be honest - what can he say or do to make you trust him if you still don't trust him? Whatever he says some people always expect him to be lying or being manipulative and surprise - usually he does speak the truth. He hides information, yes, e.g. that
he is a mindflayer, things from his past that doesn't matter and things that would give you a hint that he might be a mind flayer. The only thing I found in the game (and I checked the game files too) that comes close to lying is when he feigns surprise at the tentacle/oubliette in moonrise towers.

If you play the game accepting his help and being trusting of him you can see that he is actually quite nice and no matter if you trust him or not, if you tried to kill him before or not, he does keep his word in the end and does not betray you (I don't count the control ending as betrayal as this is the same ending for every character that takes control). And in the end he leaves you be. If you play solo without companions he will even tell you that you have become important to him.
And if you play as Karlach and you are about to die he will be sorry about that
. Why would he show sympathy at this point if everything is just manipulation?
And if you transform into a mind flayer you can actually stay together with him.

We also know from the game files that his grieving of Duke Stelman is genuine. And when he tells you that he would never lie to you - that was meant to be the truth and genuine too. It is in the dev notes, internal comments to give the cinematic and voice actors information how things are meant. But with a mind flayer it is very difficult to express things - you can't see if he is smiling or not for example.