Karlach's engine was meant to be fixable, this is supported by several things (Fazer recording dialogue for Dammon fixing the engine / the items we find / the questlog being as short as it is)
It's useless to discuss on wether you prefer it like it is right now or not, chekhov's gun is not an opinion; it's a narrative shortcoming.
If some people want so desperately to prove their point that "this is a tragedy" they should advocate for the removal of the stuff that clearly point at it not being meant to be a tragedy. If you DON'T think some elements should be removed or rearranged to make her a doomed character it means you are selectively choosing to ignore them. That isn't good narrative, you know? Seeing what you want to see while ignoring what doesn't fit your headcanon doesn't make a story good. It just means you got married to an idea and are willing to ignore the points that might make it seem less appealing.
I don't bring conjecture, those are cold hard facts. You are allowed to like the ending as it is, it's your god given right. You are however for the love of all that is holy NOT allowed to keep ignoring the elements that got people discussing in the first place, if you all want to toss your two cents in this you should at a minimum consider all the elements present. entitled to your own opionion and all that, but if you blatantly keep ignoring the elements (in game and outside it) that make your arguments crumble, that's not a very good look for you.
I never typed "Chekhov's gun" so much in my life like this entire thread, jeez.
Well, for me her engine was never supposed to be fixable (same as V's Relic in Cyberpunk) so I naturally assumed that the little hints were just supposed to be that - hints that ultimately fail. I see now that at least among this small group of players (to be honest I've never seen anyone complaining about anything outside here) that's the issue so yeah. Enriched iron should be removed and few lines from Gondians should obviously be added to make clear that the engine is impossible to fix if that helps.
Originally Posted by NomTheBurritos
I must say, it's been interesting following the past couple of pages. Sudden influx of people who would die on the hill that is "Karlach deserves to die because tragedy is storytelling and she's doomed and sometimes shit just be like that".
Okay, let's for a second give the fellas a moment shall we. Indulge me, please, why don't you.
To those who choose to still think that Karlach deserves to die or go back to hell, despite everything my friends have said so eloquently multiple times over, I want to ask: Why do you believe she deserves to die? How would the option of furthering the quest with Dammon and the Gondians hurt the overall story? How would a late Act 3 quest and success in making her able to durvive on the material plane make the story worse? Especially if the choices we have now remain, as that is what we've said all along we want.
Why does (specifically) Karlach deserve to die? Why doesn't Gale? Why doesn't Astarion? Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Wyll?
Why do you think that she, specifically, deserves to die? Why does it have to be her? Why is it better she dies than we try to use the items and allies already implemented in the game to try and help her?
This is a genuine question and we know the answers to the opposite, because we've 103 pages of those. Now all I've heard from "the opposition" is that it should *just be* like that. Because. Because sometimes shit happens to good people.
But aren't the other companions good people? Who are we to decide that Karlach's just the odd one out, even when compared to the temporaries?
No offence, but you seem a bit too emotional when it comes to just a fictional character. You make it seem like me (and the few others that agree with me) have some weird hatred towards Karlach but that's not the case. I already explained that but maybe I wasn't clear enough so I'll try to be now. For me, personally it's all about the narrative and narrative is the most important part of the story (once again, for me). The option to fix her engine would break that narrative because some sudden magical fix would be something propably 90% of the players would chose, making her whole story invalid. For example, imagine if V suddenly got the option to just fix their brain without going to Mikoshi or dealing with FIA without any conseqences (or very minor ones), obviously people would pick that and render rest of the choices mostly not used. Hell, that's already the case in Witcher 3, the ending where Ciri dies is mostly got by accident. Same for Mass Effect 3, people are biased towards Destroy ending because that's the only one where Shephard can survive so for many it's not really a choice. Same thing here. Karlach's story is about accepting unavoidable death, what's the point of accepting it if everything can be fixed at the very end? You talked about other companions, the thing is their stories are about something different. Lae'Zel is about breaking free from toxic enviroment, Gale is about overcoming the odds. If Karlach suddenly got fixed, that would just make her female Gale, why tell the same story twice? Astarion for example is about overcoming trauma, we don't see people complaining that we can't cure him out of vampirism.
