Pretty much, Karlach's story would fit perfectly in a linear game where we don't get any choice and we just go for the ride. But bg3? It just feels so odd and out of the place. Almost like the DM is 'forcing' the player to go to that route and nothing else to offer us to do something.
Indeed, but I think this is why so many of us ere suspect that her ending was due to time constraints. I mean, in the purely working sense, our fiery barbarian was originally a quest NPC. Larian upgraded her as best they could…and I guess we as players upgrade her as best we can, given the constraints all around.
Bad joke. Sorry. Anyway, for those who asked (I think it was Conrad Curze) about other games or media where a character pulled through after a “terminal” type illness, we have the treasure which is TV Tropes.
Specifically, I recommend checking the two following spoiler-filled pages at TV Tropes:
Billy Needs an Organ Working for a Body Upgrade
There are probably more pages than that, but the basic idea is there. There’s no shortage of games, films, series etc. wherein characters with similar conditions to Karlach found a cure by the end.
