Summary
Baldur’s Gate 3weaves choices, both big and small, throughout its epic plot, allowing an astonishing number of outcomes that make each playthrough unique. However, not all endings turn out to be positive ones and some decisions can have unforeseen consequences later down the line. While most companions get happy endings, there is one party member whose choices are more limited, with one particular outcome that is far darker than most realize.
[Warning: Spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3.]
Each ofBaldur’s Gate 3’s companionshave their own personal quests and goals that often span multiple acts of the game. From freeing them of a malevolent force in their life to lifting a terrible curse afflicting an entire area,every party member has personal struggles and obstacles to overcome on top of saving the world from the Absolute. However, these struggles can sometimes lead companions to make rushed choices, perhaps out of panic, which could result in some questionable outcomes later in their lives.
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Karlach Can Voluntarily Become Illithid To Live
Out Of All Her Options, This Might Seem Like A Win
Karlach’s story is perhaps one of the most heartbreaking even among the rest of the companion’s backstories, and that is due in no small part to the futility many feel when attempting to save her. Although her engine can be maintained throughout the game, her end choices are bleak and,out of desperation, Karlach will offer to transform into a mind flayerat the end of Act 3. This is a choice born out of the desire to stay alive, but at great cost, which might actually result in the “death” of Karlach anyway.
Karlach’s Sacrifice Can Spare Orpheus & The Player
With No Way To Fix Her Engine, Karlach Seems Like The Best Choice
Karlach’s story begins initially tied to Wyll’s, as she is the target he has been set by Mizora on behalf of the Archduke of Avernus, Zariel. However,if spared, the party can get to know Karlach and enjoy this bubbly tiefling’s companyand learn more about her past along with the strange glowing things inside her. Karlach will explain that she was betrayed by Gortash and given to Zariel, who put an infernal engine inside her to replace her heart against her will, which, due to being on the Material Plane, is ready to blow.
Pieces of infernal iron can be found throughoutBaldur’s Gate 3and are needed for Karlach’s personal quest"The Hellion’s Heart.“Giving Dammon the pieces of infernal metal will let him upgrade Karlach’s engine twice, allowing it to burn more stably and buying her more time. However, there is no way to fix the engine, meaningby Act 3, Karlach is resolved to die rather than return to Avernus,where the engine can sustain itself.
This goes some way to explain why, after attempting to subdue the Netherbrain and failing, Karlach volunteers to make a shocking sacrifice for the party. After saving the party from the Netherbrain,the Emperor will explain that only an illithid will be able to properly use the netherstonesto dominate the Absolute. Many will already know about the choice of whether toside with the Emperor or free Prince Orpheus, but fewer might realize that if Karlach is in the party the choice becomes more complex.
If players side with the Emperor, either he, an illithid Tav, or illithid Karlach will have to consume Orpheus’ brains in order to keep his protective powers.
Regardless of who is sided with between Emperor or Orpheus, Karlach will offer to transform into a full mind flayer to help defeat the Netherbrain. Karlach will clearly state that she doesn’t see the choice as a sacrifice, as she is already dying and if it is the end, then she wants to be the one to save the world. Once changed, she’ll explain that the infernal engine is silent and no longer going to explode and,on the surface, this seems like a good ending as Karlach will live.
The Terrible Cost Of Karlach’s Transformation
With No Soul & A Massive Personality Shift, Is She Still Karlach?
The question that needs to be asked if Karlach becomes a mind flayer is how much longer will she realistically be Karlach? Is becoming an illithid a worse fate than if she had returned to Avernus with Tav and/or Wyll? Although the changes are only physical at first, six months down the line,the difference between tiefling Karlach and mind flayer Karlach is stark.
To get a better idea of what Karlach might be experiencing, the epilogues with a mind flayer Tav or Dark Urge offer insight as while chatting with companions at Withers' party, craving will manifest as the desire to eat brains grows stronger. Passing a Constitution save will prevent any bloodshed, butthe narrator’s cold assessment gives a glimpse behind what Karlach and Tav are truly thinking. If the check is passed, then resisting the craving is brushed off as highly illogical as the companion is a valued ally instead of being horrified at the thought of eating a friend.
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Illithid Karlach herself at the epilogue party is also a very different being from the one who travelled with the party. When she’s spoken to as a mind flayer in the epilogue, Karlach is oddly calm and detached.Gone is the excitable and passionate woman who took down the cult of the Absolute, and it feels like she’s already lost the spark of who she was.
Karlach will calmly explain that she is eating brains but is trying to stay true to who she is – or rather, was. She has made arrangements with a healer in the city, and only eats the brains of the terminally ill. They are offered a choice, andKarlach reasons that this way they get to live on in her as she absorbs their memories. This has echoes of the story told by the Emperor, who claimed he hunted villains on the streets of Baldur’s Gate to survive, but it’s obvious from the chains in his lair that the situation didn’t last.
This change in personality and the slow diminishing of self could be put down to the loss of the soul. Withers specifically mentions inBaldur’s Gate 3that illithid don’t have souls and, sinceWithers is Jergal, he would surely be correct in that assessment. Although it could be that he means that their souls are incompatible with Toril’s gods and the souls they want, as mind flayers from the Far Realm. So it seems that even though her body is still alive in its new form, with no soul,Karlach now seems destined to fade awayif allowed to become a mind flayer.
Baldur’s Gate 3
Developed and published by Larian Studios, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an upcoming role-playing game set to release in August of 2023. Players will create a character to embark on a large-scale journey and can do so solo or cooperatively with a friend. Combat is a turn-based style this time around.
