There also is a beauty to love not necessarily lasting forever or being eternally bound by dark magic. It means that it's something precious that you hold dear and work for every day a new. It's a choice, freely made, instead of a fate you are bound by and condemned to - which again ties into the whole idea of equal partnership.
I really want to like Karlach too - but if a narrative wants me to feel for a character too badly and I notice it, it backfires so badly. ^^; That one feels more like a parent to her is a very apt description.
