let me toss a suggestion for an ending which has been sitting in my mind for the past few days. The whole Karlach thing with having happy and sad moments, it adds an emotional value to the story and, no matter how much it hurts, I like it. Now, all of this would feel cheap if mid-game a heart fix is added (a man can hope), so how about merely making Dammon barge into the epilogue scene as Karlach is about to combust with a perfectly good, Material Plane-friendly heart? Also, of course, for those who prefer current endings, leave them as fail states if you don't collect regular and enhanced infernal iron bits and deliver them to Dammon.
There is no real way to keep the impact of the emotional lows while also fixing her engine. We'll have to sacrifice some of that to achieve a more hopeful ending with some actual agency.
The movie Stranger Than Fiction perfectly encapsulates this dilemma. Spoilers about the movie (WARNING: very long post):
In that movie, Will Farrell plays an IRS auditor who realizes that he's the main character of a draft novel penned by Emma Thompson who plays an author known for her tragic endings. His struggle is to find and convince her that his life is worth more than a masterful conclusion.
Will Farrel starts off as a punctual, apathetic loner who grows into an empathetic and spontaneous man. After he fell in love with a kind-hearted anarchist, Will learned to love life and the people around him. Even the annoying ones. But alas, Will isn't supposed to get a happily ever after. He is supposed to die saving a little boy from an oncoming vehicle. That ultimate act of selflessness will bring his character arc to a satisfying conclusion.
In the end, he does save the boy. But he survives thanks to shrapnel from his trusty wristwatch, which blocked a vital artery from bleeding out. Emma had changed the ending. But why?
She says it's because she couldn't do it. He asks if this is because he's real, and Emma says no.
She explains to Dustin that the original novel was about a man who didn't know he was supposed to die and had no say in what happened to him. But that changes when he learns of his fate. Now that he knows how it all ends and yet still struggles against it, then... "Isn't that the type of man you want to keep alive?"
That's the question everyone should ask each time they decide a character's fate.
The movie ends with Will in the hospital, all bandaged up. The doctor explains to him with sarcastic bemusement how he miraculously survived thanks to the piece of wristwatch now embedded in him. Even the doc knows how hackneyed this is: A glimpse of that wristwatch is how the movie started and it's what saved him. Cliche af. But it's worth it because he's worth it.
His girlfriend soon comes to visit him, bringing Bavarian Sugar Cookies for him.
Then the narrator whom he constantly heard in his head throughout the movie finishes up with this:
"As Harold [Will] took a bite of Bavarian Sugar Cookie, he finally felt as if everything was going to be okay.
Sometimes, when we lose ourselves in fear and despair, in routine and constancy, in hopelessness and tragedy ... there are Bavarian Sugar cookies.
And, fortunately, when there aren't any cookies we can still find reassurance in a familiar hand on our skin ..."
We then flash back to consecutive scenes of Will having touched other people's lives as the narrator lists other things that save us:
"A kind and loving gesture ...
Or a subtle encouragement ...
Or a loving embrace ...
Or an offer of comfort.
Not to mention hospital gurneys ...
And nose plugs ...
And uneaten Danish ...
And soft-spoken secrets ...
And Fender Stratocasters ...
And maybe, the occasional piece of fiction.
And we must remember that all these things, the nuances, the anomalies, the subtleties which we assume only accessorize our days, are in fact here for a much larger and nobler cause.
They are here to save our lives.
I know the idea seems strange. But I also know that it just so happens to be true.
And so it was ... a wristwatch saved Harold Crick."
It is an implausible, cliched ending that you'll find on any cheesy Hallmark flick. But you know what? Tragedy is also cheesy these days, and sometimes hope is the better cheese.
So why should Karlach live? Because she's suffered enough? Because she deserves better? No. Because she's the type of woman you want to keep alive. Yet you're not allowed to, and therein lies the problem.
In a game like this, it should be possible. But it's not.
And as for the emotional gravity of her tragic ending... well, who's to say that an uplifting speech by her after all that struggle wouldn't hit you harder than the hopeless one?
