Weeks ago, Larian Studios gifted the players of Baldur’s Gate 3 with the new finale party: Those who have finished a run can meet their companions again and see what has become of them. However, one of the new endings for the strong Karlach brings fans to tears.
Which celebration is it about? Those who have completed Baldur’s Gate 3 can attend a very special party at the invitation of the creaky Lazarus. Six months later, you can reunite with all your companions there and drink to the adventures.
Depending on your decisions in the game and especially towards the end, Astarion, Gale, Shadowheart, and others have different stories to tell. To avoid spoiling you, we want to keep the details under wraps.
However, we will discuss a specific ending of the companion Karlach. If you want to avoid spoilers, you should proceed with caution.
This ending for Karlach will make players cry
Which ending for Karlach is affected? From the moment you pick up Karlach until the end, she struggles with the infernal machine in her chest. The devil Zariel placed it there to make Karlach her obedient servant.
Karlach’s questline and her romance mainly revolve around grappling with the machine – if not getting rid of it entirely.
Unfortunately, you can only cool down and enhance the machine repeatedly. While this prolongs the inevitable, after the battle against the Absolute, Karlach’s time in Faerûn is ultimately up.
You can make various decisions, but one decision chain leads to Karlach’s machine overheating and she eventually dies.
Why isn’t Karlach at the celebration? Karlach is dead in this special ending. But since Lazarus is not just any quirky old man, but the original god of death, that should not prevent her from coming. Yet Karlach doesn’t want to.
If you talk to Lazarus at the party, he will tell you that Karlach’s soul is in the so-called Fugue Plane
. There, all souls who did not worship a specific god during their lifetimes gather. It is located in the middle of the Astral Sea.
Lazarus says in his conversation with you about Karlach:
On the Fugue Plane, her soul shines so brightly that it hurts the gods to look at her. Remember, everything changes, and everything comes together again. You will be reunited with her.
As with many dialogues at the celebration, Lazarus also gives the player a glimmer of hope here: Even if Karlach should be dead, we have not seen the last of her yet.
How are players feeling about this? Karlach is one of the friendliest and most beloved companions. Accordingly, players react sadly to this ending – it is more bitter than sweet after all.
In a thread on reddit, they express their feelings freely:
- rupeeblue:
Ohh, the line about her soul burning so bright is so damn good.
- Aarnivalkeaa:
Well, that’s damn sad. 😭 As if she doesn’t make me cry in every playthrough. 9/10 of the time it’s Avernus for her, at least there’s some hope and she doesn’t have to go alone.
- nendz:
Thank you for sharing this with us, I would have never found out because I refuse to ever let her die again. I only let her die in my first playthrough because I hadn’t done Wyll’s companion quest yet, so I couldn’t suggest they go together. I cried my eyes out and promised myself I’d never put either of us through that again.
In another comment, user SzyszkaFanatic laments on reddit that the patches and Karlach’s new ending have simplified her original dilemma.
MeinMMO demon Cortyn described the original and unsatisfactory ending of Karlach in a separate post. There, there were exactly two options: Karlach goes back to Avernus alone and searches for a cure or she dies right after the battle against the Absolute.
At the end of August 2023, Larian Studios released a patch with a new ending that allows you or Wyll to go with Karlach to Avernus. There, there is the lasting hope that Karlach will eventually get rid of the hell machine in her chest.
What do you think about it: Are you proponents of Karlach’s original ending or are you hoping that she will find a solution in the new ending with you or Wyll? Does her fate after death affect you as much as the other players? Let us know in the comments.
The head of Larian Games recently announced that Baldur’s Gate 3 will never come to Xbox Game Pass, that is only fair.
