A secret scene in Baldur’s Gate 3 reveals a lot about one of the most popular characters. Because Karlach has a great love – which is more than obvious.
Even though Baldur’s Gate 3 is a gigantic game with well over 100 hours of gameplay and high replay value, we already know that many contents from the final game have been cut.
Among them is apparently also a special romance for Karlach – which is still in the game but cannot be triggered in the usual way.
What kind of romance is this? Fans have long speculated that Karlach and the hellish blacksmith Dammon feel attracted to each other. Both characters have known each other for quite some time and especially in Act 2, they have many conversations while trying to repair Karlach’s hell machine to keep it from overheating.
It seems that Karlach also heats up for completely different reasons when she thinks of Dammon.
How can you see the scene? Although the scene is fully contained in the game, complete with camera movements and voice acting, it cannot be viewed in the conventional way. To trigger it, there are two conditions that must be met simultaneously during a long rest:
- You must have already met the blacksmith Dammon.
- You must not have left the beach at the beginning yet.
This is simply impossible because Dammon can be met at the earliest in the grove with the refugees. However, YouTuber Sparrows managed to manipulate the game data to reverse these two requirements. As a result, Karlach behaves in the first rest scene on the beach as if she had already met Dammon.
What does the scene show? If you play Karlach as an origin character, you get insight into her thoughts during the first rest. If the Dammon requirement is met, she thinks about him while trying to slowly fall asleep. The monologue of thoughts is quite funny and also shows Karlach’s rather innocent way of thinking – well, at least until a certain moment. We have translated the relevant passage here:
„I did it. After 10 long years in the hells, I am finally free, damn it.
[Response: Finally, finally.]
The air smells so much better here. The breeze, the trees, just all of it. I could die now and that would be okay.
[Response: While I’m at it, I better find a way to turn off this raging inferno in my heart.]
Dammon seems to have had a good start. I should keep him close to me. Really close. And then, next time he leans in to listen to my heart, I’ll take his chin in my hand and lift his face to meet mine and I – stop, brain! This is not the time for that. Or?
[Response: It is.]
So I take his chin in my hand and lift his face to mine, with his face becoming softer as if he is seeing me for the first time. ‘Karlach …’, he says while tensing up.
He places his hand on mine, moves closer to me. His hand is now on my hip, as he kisses me as gently as if he truly enjoys it.
His hand slips lower and he pulls me closer to him. I’m so nervous, it’s like my head is exploding and raining him with skull fragments to show the mass of tentacles – OH GODS!
[Response: Oh gods.]
Retreat. Abort. Step back. Ugh – why?
How do I turn you off? Oh, wait. I know how.“
After that, Karlach closes her eyes and falls asleep.
It becomes more than clear that Karlach apparently longs for a future by Dammon’s side – even if this romance is never fully accessible in the game.
This, however, explains why there is always a slight impression that there is something going on between Karlach and Dammon during their conversations – because that was obviously intended at one point.
