The creepiest scene in Baldur’s Gate 3 has been missed by most of you. Karlach plays the lead role – and behaves as if possessed.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is full of small and larger secrets, many of which have not yet come to light. This may be partly because they are very well hidden, but also because some content is simply still a bit buggy.
However, a scene has emerged that could be the creepiest in all of Baldur’s Gate 3. Because Karlach breaks the fourth wall – and realizes that she is in a game.
Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers about Karlach and the gameplay of Baldur’s Gate 3. You have been warned.
What kind of scene is it? The scene initially appears harmless. Karlach asks your main character if she can try something. It concerns a “technique” that she wants to test – something she learned from Zariel’s cleric. But she assures that it’s “nothing creepy, don’t worry.” It’s a method to determine if someone is telling the truth or lying. If you agree, she adds that it will be “fun”:
“Just stand relaxed. Look into my eyes. And then …”
From then on, it gets creepy. Because Karlach slowly turns her gaze away from your character – and instead looks directly at the camera. She looks at you, the player in front of the screen, keeping her gaze uncomfortably fixed on you.
Accordingly, she addresses the following questions to you in the real world and no longer to the main character.
She first asks for your name – and you can provide your main character’s name. But Karlach quickly clarifies that this is a “silly” answer.
You can say that this is suddenly quite unexpected, to which she simply replies:
“Good story, good sex, all of life – they all share the element of the unexpected. Get used to it.”
Then something seems to go wrong with the spell, and Karlach looks confused for a moment – only to say that the spell is probably “working correctly for the first time”.
After that, Karlach becomes noticeably calmer and more contemplative. She seems to gain true understanding – and at the same time be overwhelmed by it. She talks about how she understands the “Grand Design” for the first time and that it is not at all what she thought.
The companion begins to question the gods of her world: Are they really the gods? Can one be sure of that?
“I see … a great web. Intersecting lines, permutations, and behind it, chaos. And then the hand that decides: Yes, No. But it hardly knows itself.”
With this, Karlach „deconstructs“ Baldur’s Gate 3. A vast web of possible decisions that look like chaos. A hand that makes those decisions – our cursor.
“Tell me – tell me now. Do you know how this all ends? You, I, this adventure?”
Karlach realizes that you in front of the PC already know the end of this adventure. And she wants you to share that knowledge with her and tell her how it will end for her. She appears increasingly panicked and demanding. And then she asks: “Have you done this before?”
The dialogue is eerily hard to describe but contains amusing secrets sprinkled throughout. For example, she states that the adventure will take about “a hundred hours, maybe a little more or a little less” – which roughly corresponds to the playtime of a quick run of Baldur’s Gate 3.
She then ends the conversation with a final question that seems both accusatory and reassuring: “You enjoy this, don’t you?”
If you confirm this with “Yes,” she overly rejoices: “Thank the gods. Thank the gods. We did it! Listen everyone, we did it! YES!”
The essence of this dialogue is clear: Karlach is able to recognize with this technique that she is just part of a “game,” even if she cannot grasp the exact circumstances and tries to describe it with her knowledge.
Karlach’s voice actor says: Scene is “hard to trigger”
When does the scene take place? This is still not entirely clear. However, it seems certain that this dialogue can never be seen during the first playthrough. You must successfully complete Baldur’s Gate 3 at least once to even have a chance at this dialogue – so a second save file is necessary.
The exact starting conditions for this dialogue are still unclear. According to Karlach’s voice actress, it is supposed to be “hard to trigger” – and so far, only a few have witnessed it.
The scene makes Karlach even more interesting – and is probably the creepiest moment in all of Baldur’s Gate 3, which can be funny on one hand, but on the other hand extremely unsettling.
How did you like this scene?
