Considering how big Baldur’s Gate 3 is, it’s quite difficult to get an ending where everything goes your way. Sure, most of the major storylines can be pushed in a direction you want, but many things are out of your control due to decisions you’ve made earlier, or that’s just the storyline of the game. You can replay the game to fix your past mistakes, but there’s no way around scripted events.
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I made many mistakes in Baldur’s Gate 3, so my second playthrough was about making things right.
One of the most heartbreaking, or heart-exploding plotlines is that of Karlach. The muscle-bound Tiefling’s heart will explode if you don’t get around to fixing it. And even then, if you do everything right, her heart will only sustain if she travels back to Avernus. Fans of the game know that there will be no DLC, but if there was one, they’d like it to be about this.
A Trip To Avernus To Soothe The Heart
Just to clarify, Larian Studios has stated that Baldur’s Gate 3 will not be receiving any story related DLC, but that can’t stop fans from dreaming. A rather Halloween-themed post on the Baldur’s Gate 3 subreddit features a clown-faced Astarion recreating Pennywise’s sewer scene from It, with the caption, “Your Karlach’s Heart Restoration DLC is down here, darling.”
Now, I’m not the kind of person to follow random clowns into the sewer, but if this is what they were offering – and in Astarion’s voice – I’d probably be diving in. The comments share my sentiment, with gifs and images that suggest they too would join me. “Why hesitate? It’s a giant spider/shapechanger with some illusion magic. Break in, cast hold monster and then stab it a dozen or so times,” said one of the comments. “Or send Karlach with a dozen explosive barrels in her inventory.”
It seems players aren’t opposed to facing a being that can morph into your biggest fear, if it means they get to save Karlach’s heart.
For reference’s sake, in the best possible ending for Karlach, you convince her to go to Avernus instead of letting her heart explode. The final cutscene shows her charging towards some demons along with Tav or Wyll, depending on your choices. In the epilogue we learn that Karlach’s mission is still ongoing, but we never really find out how it ends.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing our beloved companions again. We’ll just have to imagine that everything worked out, and Karlach’s heart was restored again.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is the long-awaited next chapter in the Dungeons & Dragons-based series of RPGs. Developed by Divinity creator Larian Studios, it puts you in the middle of a mind flayer invasion of Faerûn, over a century after the events of its predecessor.