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

All origins follow a similar thematic pattern: they each struggle with an abusive figure/negative force that has had a significant impact in their lives (and, in a way, even made them who they are at the beginning of the game). Depending on the player's choices they can either succumb to it, walking down the path of self-destruction until their literal or metaphorical death, or choose to break free from it, at the cost of giving up a significant part of themselves (usually a power, belief or personality trait strongly influenced by the aforementioned force/figure); this compromise prevents the better endings from feeling either "tragic for the sake of tragedy" or "too perfect and "Disney-like"

I thought the formula above would apply to Karlach's story as well, and I was dead wrong.

In Act 1, her outburst post-Anders encounter is met by present companions with a shared, ominous sentiment of: "if she keeps letting it get too far, this power will be her undoing", an idea which I thought nothing of, at least until the matter of infernal coins (specifically, overusing them) and the "btw you're dying" reveal came up, because by the end of Act 2 I had already gotten plenty of chances to influence (or at least challenge) the other companions' personal choices (and thus, control their questlines) via dialogue, something the game had only let me do with Karlach when it came to her usage of her engine and the consumption of soul coins. I thought her "narrative split" was gonna revolve around those issues, but as it turns out there was never any splits or routes to begin with.

By the time in Act 3 when I was completing the first few companions' questlines, I was still convinced someone in Baldur's Gate was gonna offer her a permanent solution to the engine problem, with the drawback of rendering it powerless: you can live, just not as Zariel's supersoldier (which in hindsight I think would've been a meaningful bargain, considering how much she loves fighting and feeling powerful). I'd get to save her life and unlock a hopeful ending, just like I did for every other companion, or I'd do something wrong/evil and doom her to a bad fate, just like I could do to every other companion: with this thought in my silly silly brain I carried a shitload of infernal iron pieces all throughout the final stretch of the campaign, only in the end to get completely proven wrong. I finally finished the game this Saturday and was so upset at the endings that I bailed on that evening's plans (with an excuse, mind you: "no clubbing tonight, my virtual girlfriend died" didn't have a nice ring to it)

All origins follow a similar thematic pattern: they each struggle with an abusive figure/negative force that has had a significant impact in their lives (and, in a way, even made them who they are at the beginning of the game). Depending on the player's choices they can either succumb to it, walking down the path of self-destruction until their literal or metaphorical death, or choose to break free from it, at the cost of giving up a significant part of themselves (usually a power, belief or personality trait strongly influenced by the aforementioned force/figure); this compromise prevents the better endings from feeling either "tragic for the sake of tragedy" or "too perfect and "Disney-like"

I thought the formula above would apply to Karlach's story as well, and I was dead wrong.

In Act 1, her outburst post-Anders encounter is met by present companions with a shared, ominous sentiment of: "if she keeps letting it get too far, this power will be her undoing", an idea which I thought nothing of, at least until the matter of infernal coins (specifically, overusing them) and the "btw you're dying" reveal came up, because by the end of Act 2 I had already gotten plenty of chances to influence (or at least challenge) the other companions' personal choices (and thus, control their questlines) via dialogue, something the game had only let me do with Karlach when it came to her usage of her engine and the consumption of soul coins. I thought her "narrative split" was gonna revolve around those issues, but as it turns out there was never any splits or routes to begin with.

By the time in Act 3 when I was completing the first few companions' questlines, I was still convinced someone in Baldur's Gate was gonna offer her a permanent solution to the engine problem, with the drawback of rendering it powerless: you can live, just not as Zariel's supersoldier (which in hindsight I think would've been a meaningful bargain, considering how much she loves fighting and feeling powerful). I'd get to save her life and unlock a hopeful ending, just like I did for every other companion, or I'd do something wrong/evil and doom her to a bad fate, just like I could do to every other companion: with this thought in my silly silly brain I carried a shitload of infernal iron pieces all throughout the final stretch of the campaign, only in the end to get completely proven wrong. I finally finished the game this Saturday and was so upset at the endings that I bailed on that evening's plans (with an excuse, mind you: "no clubbing tonight, my virtual girlfriend died" didn't have a nice ring to it)