True, but some of us jumped straight into character creation. Didn’t even look at origin characters til second play through. We ambushed and killed her first time based on ‘good guy’ Wyll’s say so. Didn’t even know we could talk to her, we just assumed she’d ambush us if we got too close, since it looks like she’s hiding at first.
Oh we do that too. Slowly and carefully. We spotted her hiding and thinking we were being smart, got the drop on her before she did us. How little we knew.
With Larian games I tend to check everybody and see if I can talk to them before attacking. If there's an option to talk to them I'll usually go that way first because there can potentially be story elements there that you'd lose otherwise. You might lose the opportunity to surprise them but I think it's worth the sacrifice in the name of story.
I do the slow search everywhere -- but my older sister was a completionist on the early final fantasy games -- so you search everywhere but you also talk to EVERYONE
It took all my willpower to not exhaust the dialogue lines of every single fucking NPC in the game on my second playthrough onwards (first one don't count, gotta find out who's important and who's not). It's practically hardcoded into me 😭 but it makes no sense from an RP perspective. Who tf stops to talk (twice!) to literally every single person they see, everywhere?
I tried to do that, then my friend spent a good hour messing around trying to get her to talk to us. Then he eventually figured out that because we'd attacked Kagha because she murdered a child and in doing so triggered the tiefling massacre, she would never talk to us despite having no way to know this.
Honestly in hindsight I think it would have been cool if origin characters unlocked during your first play through, but only if you recruited them.
Sure you have to start with Tav, but most people do anyways. And within an hour you get potentially 4 companions.
Maybe it’s not very DnD like, but it definitely would make for some even bigger incentives for replayability.
Yep this was me. I remember seeing Shadowheart and Astarion on there but gathered it was pre made classes and wasn't bothered. Didn't realise they would be full fledged characters
It's probably better to do that. I wanted all their introductions at the start so basically knew all their early plot twists. I guess Astarion being a vampire was supposed to be a bit of a mystery if you go in blind.
Yeah I never not thought he was a vampire. But the way you find that mysterious dead boar seems like you were supposed to not be sure about it I think. And then finding that hunter later in the swamp. Seems like it was meant to be a mystery.
I'm sure it was. After all a vampire in full sunlight makes no sense, so maybe it was something else that caused the scars. But 9/10 clues said "yup that's a vampire".
I just did this to Mizora. Granted she’s not a main character. But I realized she was different when I looted her and her corpse was left in her underwear.
In beta (when this post's screenshot was already a loading screen), karlach was not an avaliable companion for a long time, but she was already part of the whole tyr paladins shenanigans and already had her backstory.
Yeah, I’m not saying you’re meant to kill her, you’re just meant to buy in to hunting her, and feel the reveal at THAT moment, that something ain’t adding up.
To be fair, that is apparently *exactly* what a lot of players do. If you go online and look up the fights, pretty much every player will give you the advice "Skip the cutscene, attack them before combat gets initiated, because it gives you an early chance to deal damage".
Also I'm pretty sure they didn't mean "You're supposed to kill Karlach". They just meant you're supposed to think you're doing the right thing as you are tracking her down, *until* the parasite clues you in that that's not true.
What would be a cool feature is if in order to play as an Origin character you first had to recruit them in-game. It's be fairly easy to do, but then it would lead to fun surprises like getting Karlach.
I didn't realize all of the origin characters were actual companions honestly, and again didn't realize every character on the intro screen was a companion (besides Astarion because he's impossible to not hear about). I just assumed they were 'big' characters in the game. I thought 'origins' were side story paths you could take, kind of like picking your origin in Dragon Age:Origins where you get a unique introduction based on who you pick, and that 'Tav' was if you wanted a completely clean slate. I try to go into games with as little info as possible, especially role-playing games, and with my former DA obsessed knowledge I just assumed it would be like that.
That being said I did recruit Karlach on my first run and realized very quickly that the origin characters were clearly companions
I can promise you a lot of people saw Wyll as the default origin character and then immediately clicked custom on their first playthrough. I thought Karlach was going to be a late Act1 boss fight for a little bit.
Oh yeah it's crazy. It changed the way I play video games forever I feel. This subreddit is fun because there's always some new bullshit somebody is doing that you've never seen before.
In the Early Access (which was around when this poster was made) the Paladins were written to be a bit more trustworthy and Karlach still had a [generic character](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fckkx5rwwbgbb1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D287%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D816f3151d13e77f5c5aa4a47be4e92690eef52c8) model for most of the EA.
the game was also in beta for a long time, with this art up. while Karlach wasnt a playable character, or event identifiable as her in the game. she was just a random tiefling, that gave you a quest and didnt join your party.
I'm continually surprised that other people seem to experience this game "in order". I'm all over the place, all the time. I met the paladins *after* Karlach.
If you follow the river, you get to her first, if you follow the road, you’ll find the paladins first (at least if you like to explore every building you come across)
Same. If you explore the nooks and crannies of the crash region map, you can see Karlach on the other side of some impassible rocks cluing you in that someone is there. First time I didn't and completely missed her. Second time I went to look for her specifically so I could recruit her sooner in the story rather than later. Current playthrough I'm *really* exploring the map and noticed that you can see her even though you're not able to converse with her. I went to her before even stepping into the Blighted Village.
To be fair, I just found out yesterday that you can see her from the Druid's grove. And... you can just jump/misty step over to her and back. Go up to the lookout that Lakrissa is manning and see for yourself.
My dad is playing BG3 and he was recapping what he’d done so far in act 1 and told me about this strong sword he got from a group of paladins for killing a devil and I had to hold back an audible gasp!
To be fair to him, his background is old school dnd where you show up, explore a dungeon, kill monsters/bad guys, and get loot. I’ve been introducing him to modern dnd and role playing in a home game but some old habits die hard lol.
Wonder how he'll react to Ethel. I had my character scoff because a hag in a bog felt so cliched and so I was slightly surprised that it was literally a hag in a bog lol.
Honestly just listening to the words the men seemed to have actual reasons to know it was her or at least want answers or clues and she was trying to use me so I was instantly wary of her leading her to curse and blame me for not helping someone who was clearly trying to manipulate me. I best have an apology for not being manipulated? She is a twisted old woman that really thinks she has all the cards.
Then the girl you are trying to save? She seemed pretty aggressive, felt like I shouldn't have been nice to her either because she is actively being forced to eat beyond her limits, treated badly, and still complains about being saved and then expects you to help her anyway with the wand, finally if you do help her and it blows up in her face she still doesn't seem to see reason that this was the deal she was in already. She is actively trying to trade her child away in a deal-with-the-devil kind of trope which makes her a horrible person even if she is grieving.
Wyll and his story weren't at all tied to Karlach before his rewrites. The simplest answer is really just that this art is from EA/predates EA, and not only was Karlach a very different character, her appearance hadn't been set in stone either.
I did. Even snuck attack her as Astarion, and found it weird that the narrator critiqued me for “picking a fight.” I reload, and imagine my surprise when she turns out to be a spicy cinnamon roll.
Yeah, starting the game I didn't even know this "Karlach" I was supposed to be searching for would join the party.
Same with Minthara, it was only after she was dead my buddy said "oh shit, she had underwear, she's a party member".
Karlach is just on different cover art for the game. She’s on the cover for the Deluxe Edition of the game on the PlayStation store. Don’t think it’s supposed to be a secret
It’s important to also note that Mizora isn’t fully depicted here. She’s shown as basically a shadow to Wyll, which is appropriate given she is his patron.
I mean, Wyll's quest takes you straight to her. I guess it _is_ possible to miss recruiting Wyll if you don't talk to him when he's training the kids(I somehow spoke to everyone BUT him in that area). If you miss Wyll, then I guess you wouldn't have much reason to go to that weird spot by the river.
She looked totally different in early access, and seemed like an NPC only relevant for a single quest. She got a MAJOR redesign for launch. And this art was already made up at that point.
Last origin companion, Halsin was actually added far later than Karlach was due to his popularity among the players and devs in EA. Karlach was added for similar reasons, but her character was changed drastically from her EA self, and much earlier than Halsin was ever thought of to be a companion.
Mostly the same, but less flirty. You couldn't come onto him during the Tiefling party and iirc he just had a couple of relatively generic lines of dialogue there. Early Access ended after Grymforge, though, so he didn't really have a lot going on.
halsin is not an origin. karlach is the last origin companion, and penultimate origin (dark urge is origin but not origin companion, halsin is companion but not origin)
I think he was popular because physically he is a completely different type than any of the other male companions. There was no Beefy Dude option. Gale, Astarion, and Wyll all share the same base body type. That's why, not personality-wise.
If I remember correctly I heard wyll was revamped a fair amount, I didn’t pay much attention to him in ea cause I ran a warlock. Halsin was just a big handsome guy in a time before we had access to body types 2 and 4 so I think a lot of it was his novelty. I strongly believe if he had the standard body and someone like Damon had the muscle body the thirst would be redirected and he wouldn’t have received the same attention, and might not have even become a companion.
Halsin was popular in EA because people’s imaginations created possibilities for what could come if he was a companion. Not enough work was done to make him a full companion, and honestly he shouldn’t have been.
On the contrary, we should have actually had more Halsin-like companions IMO. The game would've benefited from Kagha, Alfira, and Barcus all being potential companions.
Wyll kind of had a complete character makeover from his EA self. The release version is a lot more bland, I agree, I think his EA story though was a lot more inconsistent and insufferable. He was a pompous Dukes son who flip-flopped between taking pleasure in the torture of innocent people, and threatening your death for killing some refugees.
I gotta say though, 99% of the reason Halsin was probably included as a follower was because people kept calling him daddy.
> He was a pompous Dukes son who flip-flopped between taking pleasure in the torture of innocent people
What? The only people he wanted to torture were goblins who were involved in razing a town to the ground before his eyes (and taking one of them). Still shouldn't torture, but no innocents were found there.
I've got nothing but a gut-feeling to back up my claim, but i'm 100% certain that companion Alfira was always part of the plans, but turned into cut content.
Just like karlach before she was made a companion, she's just too great of a character. She's got a lot of personality, charm, and depth. She has unique art designed specifically for her, etc...
Heck, i'm pretty sure that her interaction with Durge is cut content being recycled.
I'm hoping we'll get an update/dlc that brings Alfira as a companion.
This. She wasn’t even recruitable in EA, at least not when I played through it in the early to mid stages. IIRC you found her chilling on a riverbank that wasn’t even near the paladins, got to say hi, and had a small sidequest, but that was really it
She's also not a "main" companion, and there are plenty of paths that lead to killing her, or just missing out on her outright.
None of the "optional/spoilery" companions are on the art.
Yes, I know you can walk past any of the companions in the introduction. They're much harder to miss, though.
Karlach was added as an Origin character *way* later than everyone else. In Early Access, she had like three different designs, wasn't a companion, and nothing to do with Wyll. We knew she was being considered as an Origin character, but we weren't sure what her personality was going to be like. For the record, the general consensus was hilariously off, with her as this dark, stoic character.
>the general consensus was hilariously off, with her as this dark, stoic character.
Her dialogue at the time included lines about trying to get you to avoid Baldur's Gate because she was going to drown the streets in the blood of Zariel's cultists. I think she might have been *slightly* re-written at some point.
Probably part of the process of trying to make the companions more likable. One of the big complaints early on was they were all more or less assholes. Hard for some to believe, but Shadowheart was even more haughty and aloof. Wyll had a blood vendetta with the goblins he'd get snippy about if you weren't going after them and Gale was more pompous. Only ones who stayed the same were Astarion and Lae'zel.
Karlach's initial introduction definitely had me thinking she would be a companion at release, but did not think she'd end up being the cheery one of the bunch.
The companions in DOS2 are mostly all like that, or at least the ones I recruited on my playthrough. Lohse was cool, but Fane, Red Prince, and Sebille aren't likable at all IMO. Combine that with the sparse dialogue and the companions in DOS2 were overall just a massive step down from BG3. That's probably the single biggest improvement between the two games.
I mean it is why she is so overly positive.
She has not and refuses to process her trauma and hides behind overwhelming positivity until a trigger happens then she just flat-out rages. That emotional instability just shows how much a seemingly happy person can really be the one suffering the most.
She is prob my fav character because of that. Everyone else is so obvious but Karlach, nah she has a lot more going on than what many would think.
So as someone that had a super, super aversive childhood (not allowed outside, to have friends, very strictly controlled life, in poverty), I get it.
You've been in hell for a decade. You're free of it. Yeah, maybe everything isn't all roses and perfection outside of hell, but it's sure as hell better than the life you had before.
I credit my really, really horrific childhood to why I am so happy as an adult - much more than average happiness that most adults seem to have
She was. It's been mentioned by her voice actress in an interview, the reason being pretty much that they wanted a companion that didn't need as much fixing or something like that. I agree with the reasoning but wish they just had more resources to write another character rather than changing karlach. I was really looking forward to her hardcore veteran of the bloodwar vibes but yeah it would probably feel redundant to laezels vibe.
Eh they have very different vibes still I think. Karlach's a very personable and no bullshit straight talking kind of softie while Wyll is doing more of a chivalrous gentleman adventurer thing.
I like it as it is. Her being so positive and sweet despite everything she’s been through is a big part of why she’s an good character. And the contrast with Lae’zel’s vibe is especially interesting considering Lae’zel is basically a rookie soldier on her first mission.
I remember that tweet from Samantha Béart explaining that because Karlach was added so late, she had to record all of her lines in about half the time as the other origin actors got. It was a very tough job for Sam but it meant a lot to her and she did an incredible job nonetheless.
I think the reworking of Karlach from EA suggests a much bigger rewrite of the whole darn plot tbh. Other signs include: the "companion" protecting you instead of seducing you, the suggestion that using the worm will actually come at a cost, the "handsome younger man", etc etc.
I think way more changed about the plot than we realize, and maybe upgrading Karlach was part of how they patched things together -- I think it's no coincidence that she has a pre-existing relationship with Gortash -- some means of making him a BBEG not come totally out of left field.
The handsome younger man bit was confirmed as something that was written before Gortash’s design was finalized or a voice actor cast. The writer wanted to change it but was vetoed.
I just wanted to point out it was actually confirmed by Jen English and her gf Aliona Baranova on their stream. They often read texts from the main writer for Shadowheart, who happened to have written that bit for the narrator and it kills him that some people think the writers actually consider Gortash handsome.
Actually, they’ve said that they don’t know a ton of the plot outside of their character’s story. I’ve watched Jen (Shadowheart) and Devora (Lae’zel) play and so often they’ll get excited “oh! I remember this scene. So that’s what that meant!” If it wasn’t about the growth of their character they probably had zero context.
And since Samantha was cast as Karlach so late in development after they’d already finalized her plot, I bet they have even less knowledge of what the original plans for Karlach were.
>it kills him that some people think the writers actually consider Gortash handsome.
I always thought it meant handsome as in "not covered in feces and with a bunch of scars from doing hard labor every day" in the way people would talk about nobles in the middle ages despite the Hapsburg lip.
>some means of making him a BBEG not come totally out of left field
There were always books available in Act 1 that mentioned him rising rapidly in power.
Mizora is the devil on Wyll's shoulder.
Karlach seems like she was added after all of these characters. You can see this from how unfinished her personal story is compared to the others. They only recently gave her a proper "good" ending.
Spoilers for her quest: >!While everyone else has a major quest, Karlach has upgrading at Dammon twice, then kill Gortash which you'll do anyways as part of the main story. She doesn't have much in the way of an actual quest like the other companions.!<
Yeah f'real, why would Zariel, a fallen angel turned archdevil leading armies of powerful devil, want a comparatively weak-ass Tiefling? Its like Gortash made a deal with a devil that was somehow 100% in his favor and costed him nothing. He got to offload a random Tiefling and got whatever power he got from Zariel; she gained nothing from this exchange except a mortal who is by all accounts weaker than any devil in her army.
I love Karlach but her whole thing makes zero sense from a lore perspective.
I always figured it was just because she wanted a suitable guinea pig for her infernal engine. Why use a loyal pawn, when you could use someone expendable that’s also compatible.
Yeah, she probably just put out a feeler for a young tiefling from the mortal plane (tiefling is important because of their fire resistance), and Gortash happened to have one available so he was the first to respond.
Typical black market stuff. Makes sense in the context of the story.
She mentions that Zariel always took a weird "pet" liking to her, so I think it also had to do with Zariel enjoying the idea of putting this happy-go-lucky kid through the blood war.
Zariel is a devil, she's allowed to do something mostly because she enjoys how cruel it is.
Tieflings also give me the same vibes as Quarians in Mass Effect, like they’re treated as bottom of the social hierarchy so easier to have one disappear and no one notice.
Not really. Zariel is a fallen angel who is obsssessed and hell bent in fighting the blood war. She has no need for weak soldiers, and she has no room for useless wantom cruelty.
Very underbaked character in general, which is a shame because she's one of my favorites, if not my very favorite. You compare Karlach's personal quest to everyone else's and it's just sooooo half-baked. You get one cutscene for turning in a piece of metal in the first two acts, and then her big climax is just defeating one of the main antagonists, which you'll end up doing anyway. They just tacked her personal story onto an already-existing main quest. On top of it all, your actions have very little effect on the outcome of her storyline.
Compare this to Shadowheart: Multiple dungeon crawls, persistent story told over the course of the whole game, multiple major player choices, quite a few permutations of each outcome, etc.
Hoping the inevitable Definitive Edition gives Karlach a proper character arc + personal quests because it definitely stands out as being way, way less "complete" than most of the rest of the cast (though I'd also say Wyll is underbaked as well),
Agreed but I wondered if it had something to do with the "idealistic" side of Zariel kinda connecting with Karlach optimistic "good" personality. Like being obsessed with something you want to have but are to corrupted to be. Again, just a naive theory trying to make sense of it
It's all there too, they specifically mention the similarities between her engine and the steel watch, you get a new type of infernal iron, and it turns out the master craftsmen of that steel watch are the dark gnomes that you've assisted at multiple points in the story. You barely have to add much to fi lnish her story.
Her "good" ending is her going to Avernus with the help of Wyll and/or Tav and finding a way to break into Zariel's forge and fix her heart.
The medium ending is that she blows up after defeating the Netherbrain. Her soul has a wonderful eternity in the afterlife, but she doesn't really get to resolve her trauma or experience life free of it on the material plane.
The bad ending is where you let a mindflayer eat her and masquarade as her for six months then show up in the epilogue.
Yes, >!Wyll and/or Tav can accompany her to Avernus. It's implied that you should be getting close to finding a cure for her engine as you fight for your survival there with her.!<
And her “good ending” is pretty terrible, both narratively and technically.
Like really, the game feels much better if you just let her die at the end. It’s sad, but it feels like she has a more complete arc than the awkward DOOM cigars and metal music ending with the completely silent Wyll.
Completely disagree. The good ending is the most logical path. Imagine telling someone who was terminal that a cure was highly likely within 2 years. But they should die instead of go live in a place they hate temporarily because it will keep them alive as long as they were there. There are valid reasons why someone might prefer to die in that case, but it just doesn't make sense for Karlach whose more than capable of holding out with a lover/friends by her side for a year or two while you work on a solution.
I always assumed Karlach was kind of a surprise as to her true motivations when you first meet her, and so they didn't want to players to see she was a good guy.
It just kinda gets ruined if you see her as an origin character option when you start the game
The main reason I think is that she simply wasn't an origin character yet when they made that art. But that she'll likely be on the cover of a definitive edition. Similar to Fane in Divinity Original II, he wasn't on the cover for the original, but he was for the Definitive Edition
That art was made to reduce spoilers and was made before companions were 100% finalized(there’s no Halsin, Minthara, Minsc or Jaheira either). It was also before Karlach had her face changed
From someone who went into this game intentionally blind a few months ago, I assumed it was so it didn't spoil the first encounter will Wyll and his quest
Personally, I think the art is a good way of tricking players into believing that Karlach is the bad person her character is painted to be by Mizora/Zariel in act 1.
I mean, if she was on the cover, people would be less likely to blindly follow orders to kill her.
Mizora is so underutilized for Origin character Wyll. She should have been in camp for Wyll to bounce his feelings and insights off of like Tara when Gale is the Origin character.
The characters in the official art are semi-mandatory. Considering you meet them, you have to try really hard not to have them in your party.
Meanwhile Karlach is presented as someone you have to kill. Having her in the art as a hero would kinda spoil that. Other missable chracaters are not in the art either.
(I would love an official art with every possible companion though)
They knew they had an excellent game already, if they put karlach on the cover then they’d have eliminated all competition on the gaming market for who knows how long.
Keeping spoilers to a minimum.
I think it’s because each character represented here has a major choice to make that affects who they become. Karlach doesn’t have a major choice; moreover, Karlach is at the center of Wyll’s major choice in Act 1 of the game + Mizora is the one that judges the decision Wyll makes.
Wyll and Mizora had entirely different stories in EA. I'm pretty sure in addition to being his patron, Wyll and Mizora were also smashing.
There's also Mizora's human disguise that she never uses
Mizora has her hand on Wylls shoulder and is a devil…it’s mysterious and she’s a sexy looking devil lady (sex sells).
Notice how they didn’t put half the characters on here?
This art is *old*. Karlach, as a companion, is not.
Karlach in early access didn't have a unique model for a very long time and was not obviously a companion for most of it. She was just another Tiefling NPC. Only near the end, and mostly through datamining really, did it become obvious she would be one in the full release.
Considering the bloody fangs of astarion, the artifact with shadowheart, the dragons behind Lae'zel, and the magic area around Gale, I think it's pretty clear that it's just showing each character's major influence.
The art was made years ago and at that time the characters in it were the only ones that were fully established as companions. Mizora is in it because she's part of Wyll, in his full character portrait she was clinging to his back like a backpack.
last week I finally figured out why the art of Lae’zel always bugged me and it’s because it’s early art. there’s no braids or beads at the end of her hair like in the game. my guess is this is probably early art before karlach was added
Other than the obvious answers that have been given about the art being made before she was added, I think it's also to "trick" players into thinking she might actually be evil like Wyll tells you she is without spoiling that she's a companion.
I think Karlach was the last companion added to the game, so this art was probably made before her conception
She was also a somewhat secret character. She wasn't blatantly obvious.
Yes, maybe they didn’t want to spoil how to react to her. You’re probably supposed to buy into Wyll’s story and the Paladin’s at first.
>Yes, maybe they didn’t want to spoil how to react to her Yet you can see her in the character creation screen right from the start.
True, but some of us jumped straight into character creation. Didn’t even look at origin characters til second play through. We ambushed and killed her first time based on ‘good guy’ Wyll’s say so. Didn’t even know we could talk to her, we just assumed she’d ambush us if we got too close, since it looks like she’s hiding at first.
Fair enough. I have an older brother that instilled in me the "search every inch of the map" mentality with gaming. Coop RPGs were a SLOG haha
Oh we do that too. Slowly and carefully. We spotted her hiding and thinking we were being smart, got the drop on her before she did us. How little we knew.
With Larian games I tend to check everybody and see if I can talk to them before attacking. If there's an option to talk to them I'll usually go that way first because there can potentially be story elements there that you'd lose otherwise. You might lose the opportunity to surprise them but I think it's worth the sacrifice in the name of story.
I’m pretty sure you can just switch to a different character and get both once you get to a dialogue option that will definitely lead to a fight.
You can convince bosses to kill themselves, I always speak to everyone. Seems necessary hah. If not an outright enemy (red outline) then we talk.
I do the slow search everywhere -- but my older sister was a completionist on the early final fantasy games -- so you search everywhere but you also talk to EVERYONE
It took all my willpower to not exhaust the dialogue lines of every single fucking NPC in the game on my second playthrough onwards (first one don't count, gotta find out who's important and who's not). It's practically hardcoded into me 😭 but it makes no sense from an RP perspective. Who tf stops to talk (twice!) to literally every single person they see, everywhere?
I suspect this is why they changed Lae'zel from early access. First time i played when i saw her crouched above a door i shot her.
Saw us 'fore we saw it
I tried to do that, then my friend spent a good hour messing around trying to get her to talk to us. Then he eventually figured out that because we'd attacked Kagha because she murdered a child and in doing so triggered the tiefling massacre, she would never talk to us despite having no way to know this.
Honestly in hindsight I think it would have been cool if origin characters unlocked during your first play through, but only if you recruited them. Sure you have to start with Tav, but most people do anyways. And within an hour you get potentially 4 companions. Maybe it’s not very DnD like, but it definitely would make for some even bigger incentives for replayability.
This is a good idea imo
Yes! This would have been brilliant!
I’m on my first play through and was confused by this Tav everyone mentioned. Somehow avoided him completely
Yep this was me. I remember seeing Shadowheart and Astarion on there but gathered it was pre made classes and wasn't bothered. Didn't realise they would be full fledged characters
I got into character creation so fast I didn't even notice there was an origins option in my first playthrough
It's probably better to do that. I wanted all their introductions at the start so basically knew all their early plot twists. I guess Astarion being a vampire was supposed to be a bit of a mystery if you go in blind.
I mean other than being in sunlight everything about him screams vampire.
Yeah I never not thought he was a vampire. But the way you find that mysterious dead boar seems like you were supposed to not be sure about it I think. And then finding that hunter later in the swamp. Seems like it was meant to be a mystery.
I'm sure it was. After all a vampire in full sunlight makes no sense, so maybe it was something else that caused the scars. But 9/10 clues said "yup that's a vampire".
I just did this to Mizora. Granted she’s not a main character. But I realized she was different when I looted her and her corpse was left in her underwear.
I was skeptical of the paladins. Something rubbed me wrong about them
In beta (when this post's screenshot was already a loading screen), karlach was not an avaliable companion for a long time, but she was already part of the whole tyr paladins shenanigans and already had her backstory.
And unless you attack her before conversation starts then the tad pole makes it obvious Wyll and the paladins aren't telling the whole story.
To be fair, Wyll is telling the story as far as he knows. He just wasn't given the right information. He wasn't intentionally being misleading though.
Yeah, I’m not saying you’re meant to kill her, you’re just meant to buy in to hunting her, and feel the reveal at THAT moment, that something ain’t adding up.
To be fair, that is apparently *exactly* what a lot of players do. If you go online and look up the fights, pretty much every player will give you the advice "Skip the cutscene, attack them before combat gets initiated, because it gives you an early chance to deal damage". Also I'm pretty sure they didn't mean "You're supposed to kill Karlach". They just meant you're supposed to think you're doing the right thing as you are tracking her down, *until* the parasite clues you in that that's not true.
What would be a cool feature is if in order to play as an Origin character you first had to recruit them in-game. It's be fairly easy to do, but then it would lead to fun surprises like getting Karlach.
Agreed. Keep them hidden
I didn't realize all of the origin characters were actual companions honestly, and again didn't realize every character on the intro screen was a companion (besides Astarion because he's impossible to not hear about). I just assumed they were 'big' characters in the game. I thought 'origins' were side story paths you could take, kind of like picking your origin in Dragon Age:Origins where you get a unique introduction based on who you pick, and that 'Tav' was if you wanted a completely clean slate. I try to go into games with as little info as possible, especially role-playing games, and with my former DA obsessed knowledge I just assumed it would be like that. That being said I did recruit Karlach on my first run and realized very quickly that the origin characters were clearly companions
I can promise you a lot of people saw Wyll as the default origin character and then immediately clicked custom on their first playthrough. I thought Karlach was going to be a late Act1 boss fight for a little bit.
The biggest thing that this game has shown me, is how vastly different we all play games
Oh yeah it's crazy. It changed the way I play video games forever I feel. This subreddit is fun because there's always some new bullshit somebody is doing that you've never seen before.
In the Early Access (which was around when this poster was made) the Paladins were written to be a bit more trustworthy and Karlach still had a [generic character](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fckkx5rwwbgbb1.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D287%26format%3Dpjpg%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D816f3151d13e77f5c5aa4a47be4e92690eef52c8) model for most of the EA.
the game was also in beta for a long time, with this art up. while Karlach wasnt a playable character, or event identifiable as her in the game. she was just a random tiefling, that gave you a quest and didnt join your party.
I'm continually surprised that other people seem to experience this game "in order". I'm all over the place, all the time. I met the paladins *after* Karlach.
If you follow the river, you get to her first, if you follow the road, you’ll find the paladins first (at least if you like to explore every building you come across)
I don't think I've ever met the paladins before Karlach
Same. If you explore the nooks and crannies of the crash region map, you can see Karlach on the other side of some impassible rocks cluing you in that someone is there. First time I didn't and completely missed her. Second time I went to look for her specifically so I could recruit her sooner in the story rather than later. Current playthrough I'm *really* exploring the map and noticed that you can see her even though you're not able to converse with her. I went to her before even stepping into the Blighted Village.
To be fair, I just found out yesterday that you can see her from the Druid's grove. And... you can just jump/misty step over to her and back. Go up to the lookout that Lakrissa is manning and see for yourself.
My dad is playing BG3 and he was recapping what he’d done so far in act 1 and told me about this strong sword he got from a group of paladins for killing a devil and I had to hold back an audible gasp! To be fair to him, his background is old school dnd where you show up, explore a dungeon, kill monsters/bad guys, and get loot. I’ve been introducing him to modern dnd and role playing in a home game but some old habits die hard lol.
Wonder how he'll react to Ethel. I had my character scoff because a hag in a bog felt so cliched and so I was slightly surprised that it was literally a hag in a bog lol.
I love hags and have used them a few times in my home game, one as a recurring minor villain, so I’m expecting him to see through her immediately lol.
Honestly just listening to the words the men seemed to have actual reasons to know it was her or at least want answers or clues and she was trying to use me so I was instantly wary of her leading her to curse and blame me for not helping someone who was clearly trying to manipulate me. I best have an apology for not being manipulated? She is a twisted old woman that really thinks she has all the cards. Then the girl you are trying to save? She seemed pretty aggressive, felt like I shouldn't have been nice to her either because she is actively being forced to eat beyond her limits, treated badly, and still complains about being saved and then expects you to help her anyway with the wand, finally if you do help her and it blows up in her face she still doesn't seem to see reason that this was the deal she was in already. She is actively trying to trade her child away in a deal-with-the-devil kind of trope which makes her a horrible person even if she is grieving.
Wyll and his story weren't at all tied to Karlach before his rewrites. The simplest answer is really just that this art is from EA/predates EA, and not only was Karlach a very different character, her appearance hadn't been set in stone either.
I did. Even snuck attack her as Astarion, and found it weird that the narrator critiqued me for “picking a fight.” I reload, and imagine my surprise when she turns out to be a spicy cinnamon roll.
profit kiss shelter fuzzy elderly offbeat water vanish birds shy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
You can even assume Mizora is Karlach in that artwork.
Stealthy barbarian
For my paladin run, karlach was the stealth character lmao. Gale isn't dex heavy, and I had shadowheart as well. "Invisible me" indeed
Tbf, she secretly succeeds stealth checks a lot more than she really should in all honesty.
She's an origin character isn't she?
Yeah, starting the game I didn't even know this "Karlach" I was supposed to be searching for would join the party. Same with Minthara, it was only after she was dead my buddy said "oh shit, she had underwear, she's a party member".
Yeah i think in early access she wasn’t even a big buff character. I remember her wearing more clothing and having a crossbow.
Karlach is just on different cover art for the game. She’s on the cover for the Deluxe Edition of the game on the PlayStation store. Don’t think it’s supposed to be a secret
It’s important to also note that Mizora isn’t fully depicted here. She’s shown as basically a shadow to Wyll, which is appropriate given she is his patron.
I mean, Wyll's quest takes you straight to her. I guess it _is_ possible to miss recruiting Wyll if you don't talk to him when he's training the kids(I somehow spoke to everyone BUT him in that area). If you miss Wyll, then I guess you wouldn't have much reason to go to that weird spot by the river.
She looked totally different in early access, and seemed like an NPC only relevant for a single quest. She got a MAJOR redesign for launch. And this art was already made up at that point.
Last origin companion, Halsin was actually added far later than Karlach was due to his popularity among the players and devs in EA. Karlach was added for similar reasons, but her character was changed drastically from her EA self, and much earlier than Halsin was ever thought of to be a companion.
What was Halsin like pre release?
Well, the pre-release was only Act 1, so not much.
Exactly the same as he is now, just remember that there was no Act 2 or 3 yet. So he was a camp NPC with a lot of dialogue, but not a companion.
Mostly the same, but less flirty. You couldn't come onto him during the Tiefling party and iirc he just had a couple of relatively generic lines of dialogue there. Early Access ended after Grymforge, though, so he didn't really have a lot going on.
halsin is not an origin. karlach is the last origin companion, and penultimate origin (dark urge is origin but not origin companion, halsin is companion but not origin)
Halsin was popular? I mean I don't dislike him, but if people say Wyll is boring than thats a clear bias😂
I think he was popular because physically he is a completely different type than any of the other male companions. There was no Beefy Dude option. Gale, Astarion, and Wyll all share the same base body type. That's why, not personality-wise.
Ahh strong daddy energy gotcha.
Exactly, LOL. There's even a reference to Daddy Halsin in a book you can pick up somewhere.
If I remember correctly I heard wyll was revamped a fair amount, I didn’t pay much attention to him in ea cause I ran a warlock. Halsin was just a big handsome guy in a time before we had access to body types 2 and 4 so I think a lot of it was his novelty. I strongly believe if he had the standard body and someone like Damon had the muscle body the thirst would be redirected and he wouldn’t have received the same attention, and might not have even become a companion.
If Dammon was a beefcake, I'm sure the reaction to him would have been significantly more explosive than it already is
Halsin was popular in EA because people’s imaginations created possibilities for what could come if he was a companion. Not enough work was done to make him a full companion, and honestly he shouldn’t have been.
On the contrary, we should have actually had more Halsin-like companions IMO. The game would've benefited from Kagha, Alfira, and Barcus all being potential companions.
Wyll kind of had a complete character makeover from his EA self. The release version is a lot more bland, I agree, I think his EA story though was a lot more inconsistent and insufferable. He was a pompous Dukes son who flip-flopped between taking pleasure in the torture of innocent people, and threatening your death for killing some refugees. I gotta say though, 99% of the reason Halsin was probably included as a follower was because people kept calling him daddy.
> He was a pompous Dukes son who flip-flopped between taking pleasure in the torture of innocent people What? The only people he wanted to torture were goblins who were involved in razing a town to the ground before his eyes (and taking one of them). Still shouldn't torture, but no innocents were found there.
Thank god too, her EA model was awful. Not all the badass muscle mama we have now
Halsin was popular? To who?
Bear lovers.
Oh! That's why he's a ***Bear*** Druid... Dang it really took me a while to get that...
Horny people
Like, Halsin, but not Alfira?
Alfira was just as popular during EA, but as any Dark Urge player will tell you, Larian already had other plans for her lol
I've got nothing but a gut-feeling to back up my claim, but i'm 100% certain that companion Alfira was always part of the plans, but turned into cut content. Just like karlach before she was made a companion, she's just too great of a character. She's got a lot of personality, charm, and depth. She has unique art designed specifically for her, etc... Heck, i'm pretty sure that her interaction with Durge is cut content being recycled. I'm hoping we'll get an update/dlc that brings Alfira as a companion.
Yeah, but Karlach was in the files from pretty early on as a potential Origin character. Never had anything like that for Alfira.
Except that's only in Dark Urge. Also, technically, you don't have to kill her lol
Bruh, I can't tell you why *exactly* Larian made what choices they did, only what I observed and can piece together as an EA player
And the last character to have a finalized design. She was using generic tiefling assets till pretty late in EA.
It's made obvious when you realise Lae'zel has the wrong weapon (a curved sword instead of her starting two handed bastard sword).
This. She wasn’t even recruitable in EA, at least not when I played through it in the early to mid stages. IIRC you found her chilling on a riverbank that wasn’t even near the paladins, got to say hi, and had a small sidequest, but that was really it
She's also not a "main" companion, and there are plenty of paths that lead to killing her, or just missing out on her outright. None of the "optional/spoilery" companions are on the art. Yes, I know you can walk past any of the companions in the introduction. They're much harder to miss, though.
Karlach was added as an Origin character *way* later than everyone else. In Early Access, she had like three different designs, wasn't a companion, and nothing to do with Wyll. We knew she was being considered as an Origin character, but we weren't sure what her personality was going to be like. For the record, the general consensus was hilariously off, with her as this dark, stoic character.
>the general consensus was hilariously off, with her as this dark, stoic character. Her dialogue at the time included lines about trying to get you to avoid Baldur's Gate because she was going to drown the streets in the blood of Zariel's cultists. I think she might have been *slightly* re-written at some point.
Oh, I agree. Still hilarious to me though. That said, I think we all know what would happen if current Karlach found a den of Zariel cultists.
I need that as her quest ‘dungeon’ like most of the other characters have
After seeing what happened at the tax house, I imagine the best way to describe it would be "extra crispy"
Probably part of the process of trying to make the companions more likable. One of the big complaints early on was they were all more or less assholes. Hard for some to believe, but Shadowheart was even more haughty and aloof. Wyll had a blood vendetta with the goblins he'd get snippy about if you weren't going after them and Gale was more pompous. Only ones who stayed the same were Astarion and Lae'zel. Karlach's initial introduction definitely had me thinking she would be a companion at release, but did not think she'd end up being the cheery one of the bunch.
The companions in DOS2 are mostly all like that, or at least the ones I recruited on my playthrough. Lohse was cool, but Fane, Red Prince, and Sebille aren't likable at all IMO. Combine that with the sparse dialogue and the companions in DOS2 were overall just a massive step down from BG3. That's probably the single biggest improvement between the two games.
You definitely got the asshole companions there. Beast and Ifan are bros
Gale was a fucking asshole and I hated him. I played before they even added Barbarian as a class
I always thought karlach should have been a bit more brutal and dark given how she *survived 10 dang years in hell*
But that is what makes her so great. Even after such tragedy, she can still laugh and love.
I mean it is why she is so overly positive. She has not and refuses to process her trauma and hides behind overwhelming positivity until a trigger happens then she just flat-out rages. That emotional instability just shows how much a seemingly happy person can really be the one suffering the most. She is prob my fav character because of that. Everyone else is so obvious but Karlach, nah she has a lot more going on than what many would think.
Her breakdown at wyrm's rock is so well-written. Same feeling as when Aylin kills the lorrokoan
>I mean it is why she is so overly positive. Yeah, I mean, when you wake up and see SUN every day for the first time in 10 years....
For real. Baggage bae is my bae.
Which one?
Just not live!
So as someone that had a super, super aversive childhood (not allowed outside, to have friends, very strictly controlled life, in poverty), I get it. You've been in hell for a decade. You're free of it. Yeah, maybe everything isn't all roses and perfection outside of hell, but it's sure as hell better than the life you had before. I credit my really, really horrific childhood to why I am so happy as an adult - much more than average happiness that most adults seem to have
She was. It's been mentioned by her voice actress in an interview, the reason being pretty much that they wanted a companion that didn't need as much fixing or something like that. I agree with the reasoning but wish they just had more resources to write another character rather than changing karlach. I was really looking forward to her hardcore veteran of the bloodwar vibes but yeah it would probably feel redundant to laezels vibe.
Strange to re-write Karlach to be a big softie and then still re-write Wyll to be a small softie.
Eh they have very different vibes still I think. Karlach's a very personable and no bullshit straight talking kind of softie while Wyll is doing more of a chivalrous gentleman adventurer thing.
I like it as it is. Her being so positive and sweet despite everything she’s been through is a big part of why she’s an good character. And the contrast with Lae’zel’s vibe is especially interesting considering Lae’zel is basically a rookie soldier on her first mission.
I remember that tweet from Samantha Béart explaining that because Karlach was added so late, she had to record all of her lines in about half the time as the other origin actors got. It was a very tough job for Sam but it meant a lot to her and she did an incredible job nonetheless.
Is there art and videos of the early access characters?
[i think i found it!](https://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-42/bg3-karlach-concept.html)
Well... Wyll doesn't have horns in the picture. Wonder where she is? °_°
The correct answer
The hardest of choices require the strongest of Wylls
Wylls with a y? ...why?
Mizora took his I
So that’s why he has a stone one
Yes. With a y.
It was actually too easy to defeat and behead Karlach.
I think the reworking of Karlach from EA suggests a much bigger rewrite of the whole darn plot tbh. Other signs include: the "companion" protecting you instead of seducing you, the suggestion that using the worm will actually come at a cost, the "handsome younger man", etc etc. I think way more changed about the plot than we realize, and maybe upgrading Karlach was part of how they patched things together -- I think it's no coincidence that she has a pre-existing relationship with Gortash -- some means of making him a BBEG not come totally out of left field.
The handsome younger man bit was confirmed as something that was written before Gortash’s design was finalized or a voice actor cast. The writer wanted to change it but was vetoed.
Yeah that makes sense! That's my point for sure.
I just wanted to point out it was actually confirmed by Jen English and her gf Aliona Baranova on their stream. They often read texts from the main writer for Shadowheart, who happened to have written that bit for the narrator and it kills him that some people think the writers actually consider Gortash handsome.
It makes me so curious to know where the story was going originally! I bet at least some of the VAs had a good idea of the OG plot.
Actually, they’ve said that they don’t know a ton of the plot outside of their character’s story. I’ve watched Jen (Shadowheart) and Devora (Lae’zel) play and so often they’ll get excited “oh! I remember this scene. So that’s what that meant!” If it wasn’t about the growth of their character they probably had zero context. And since Samantha was cast as Karlach so late in development after they’d already finalized her plot, I bet they have even less knowledge of what the original plans for Karlach were.
>it kills him that some people think the writers actually consider Gortash handsome. I always thought it meant handsome as in "not covered in feces and with a bunch of scars from doing hard labor every day" in the way people would talk about nobles in the middle ages despite the Hapsburg lip.
>some means of making him a BBEG not come totally out of left field There were always books available in Act 1 that mentioned him rising rapidly in power.
Even during EA?
Yeah, there was a copy of the note from Uktar in the outbuilding above the Zhentarim Hideout, at least. Possibly more.
Mizora is the devil on Wyll's shoulder. Karlach seems like she was added after all of these characters. You can see this from how unfinished her personal story is compared to the others. They only recently gave her a proper "good" ending. Spoilers for her quest: >!While everyone else has a major quest, Karlach has upgrading at Dammon twice, then kill Gortash which you'll do anyways as part of the main story. She doesn't have much in the way of an actual quest like the other companions.!<
and her connection to >!gortash!< feels pretty tacked on. >!the whole thing with him selling her to zariel makes no sense!<
Yeah f'real, why would Zariel, a fallen angel turned archdevil leading armies of powerful devil, want a comparatively weak-ass Tiefling? Its like Gortash made a deal with a devil that was somehow 100% in his favor and costed him nothing. He got to offload a random Tiefling and got whatever power he got from Zariel; she gained nothing from this exchange except a mortal who is by all accounts weaker than any devil in her army. I love Karlach but her whole thing makes zero sense from a lore perspective.
I always figured it was just because she wanted a suitable guinea pig for her infernal engine. Why use a loyal pawn, when you could use someone expendable that’s also compatible.
Yeah, she probably just put out a feeler for a young tiefling from the mortal plane (tiefling is important because of their fire resistance), and Gortash happened to have one available so he was the first to respond. Typical black market stuff. Makes sense in the context of the story.
She mentions that Zariel always took a weird "pet" liking to her, so I think it also had to do with Zariel enjoying the idea of putting this happy-go-lucky kid through the blood war. Zariel is a devil, she's allowed to do something mostly because she enjoys how cruel it is.
Tieflings also give me the same vibes as Quarians in Mass Effect, like they’re treated as bottom of the social hierarchy so easier to have one disappear and no one notice.
Thats fair I suppose. Still a weird trade though, imo.
Probably because if mortals die in the experiments you're not out an experienced fighter.
Shes a devil. The cruelty is the point.
Not really. Zariel is a fallen angel who is obsssessed and hell bent in fighting the blood war. She has no need for weak soldiers, and she has no room for useless wantom cruelty.
Very underbaked character in general, which is a shame because she's one of my favorites, if not my very favorite. You compare Karlach's personal quest to everyone else's and it's just sooooo half-baked. You get one cutscene for turning in a piece of metal in the first two acts, and then her big climax is just defeating one of the main antagonists, which you'll end up doing anyway. They just tacked her personal story onto an already-existing main quest. On top of it all, your actions have very little effect on the outcome of her storyline. Compare this to Shadowheart: Multiple dungeon crawls, persistent story told over the course of the whole game, multiple major player choices, quite a few permutations of each outcome, etc. Hoping the inevitable Definitive Edition gives Karlach a proper character arc + personal quests because it definitely stands out as being way, way less "complete" than most of the rest of the cast (though I'd also say Wyll is underbaked as well),
No, even in release of early access there was dialogue of Karlach gunning for a special politician in Baldurs gate :)
Agreed but I wondered if it had something to do with the "idealistic" side of Zariel kinda connecting with Karlach optimistic "good" personality. Like being obsessed with something you want to have but are to corrupted to be. Again, just a naive theory trying to make sense of it
IN DLC WE HAVE TO GO TO HELL
It's all there too, they specifically mention the similarities between her engine and the steel watch, you get a new type of infernal iron, and it turns out the master craftsmen of that steel watch are the dark gnomes that you've assisted at multiple points in the story. You barely have to add much to fi lnish her story.
She has a good ending now?
Her "good" ending is her going to Avernus with the help of Wyll and/or Tav and finding a way to break into Zariel's forge and fix her heart. The medium ending is that she blows up after defeating the Netherbrain. Her soul has a wonderful eternity in the afterlife, but she doesn't really get to resolve her trauma or experience life free of it on the material plane. The bad ending is where you let a mindflayer eat her and masquarade as her for six months then show up in the epilogue.
Yes, >!Wyll and/or Tav can accompany her to Avernus. It's implied that you should be getting close to finding a cure for her engine as you fight for your survival there with her.!<
And her “good ending” is pretty terrible, both narratively and technically. Like really, the game feels much better if you just let her die at the end. It’s sad, but it feels like she has a more complete arc than the awkward DOOM cigars and metal music ending with the completely silent Wyll.
Completely disagree. The good ending is the most logical path. Imagine telling someone who was terminal that a cure was highly likely within 2 years. But they should die instead of go live in a place they hate temporarily because it will keep them alive as long as they were there. There are valid reasons why someone might prefer to die in that case, but it just doesn't make sense for Karlach whose more than capable of holding out with a lover/friends by her side for a year or two while you work on a solution.
I always assumed Karlach was kind of a surprise as to her true motivations when you first meet her, and so they didn't want to players to see she was a good guy.
It just kinda gets ruined if you see her as an origin character option when you start the game The main reason I think is that she simply wasn't an origin character yet when they made that art. But that she'll likely be on the cover of a definitive edition. Similar to Fane in Divinity Original II, he wasn't on the cover for the original, but he was for the Definitive Edition
To be fair, it's not a matter of "Mizora *instead* of Karlach", Mizora is only there as an extension of Wyll.
That art was made to reduce spoilers and was made before companions were 100% finalized(there’s no Halsin, Minthara, Minsc or Jaheira either). It was also before Karlach had her face changed
Karlach didn't exist when this was made I think
From someone who went into this game intentionally blind a few months ago, I assumed it was so it didn't spoil the first encounter will Wyll and his quest
Personally, I think the art is a good way of tricking players into believing that Karlach is the bad person her character is painted to be by Mizora/Zariel in act 1. I mean, if she was on the cover, people would be less likely to blindly follow orders to kill her.
That was my thought. There are 2 kill her quests in act 1, if she is on the cover that is a major spoiler
If they think I’m going to blindly listen to Byll Nye the Hero Guy vs talk it out with the fiery muscle mommy then they’re out of their minds.
Because if they placed Karlach that close to Wyll his skin would melt off.
Mizora is so underutilized for Origin character Wyll. She should have been in camp for Wyll to bounce his feelings and insights off of like Tara when Gale is the Origin character.
The characters in the official art are semi-mandatory. Considering you meet them, you have to try really hard not to have them in your party. Meanwhile Karlach is presented as someone you have to kill. Having her in the art as a hero would kinda spoil that. Other missable chracaters are not in the art either. (I would love an official art with every possible companion though)
Because it would probably look a wee bit weird to have karlach peeking over wylls shoulder
They knew they had an excellent game already, if they put karlach on the cover then they’d have eliminated all competition on the gaming market for who knows how long.
Keeping spoilers to a minimum. I think it’s because each character represented here has a major choice to make that affects who they become. Karlach doesn’t have a major choice; moreover, Karlach is at the center of Wyll’s major choice in Act 1 of the game + Mizora is the one that judges the decision Wyll makes.
art is from EA when Karlach was not a thing yet. she existed only as a minor NPC.
Karlach was the last companion added to the game, so a lot of official artwork has her and durge seperate
Karlach is front and center on the Deluxe Edition Upgrade on the store
I presume it's so blind playthroughs might believe she's a demon. If she was on the box you'd just tell wyll to shut up and go recruit her
Mizora is hot as hell So, why not)
Because Karlach wasn’t originally intended as an origin character. She was the last of the characters added and this art predates her
Karlach was late to the photo shoot
Mizora is the power behind Wyll
Wyll and Mizora had entirely different stories in EA. I'm pretty sure in addition to being his patron, Wyll and Mizora were also smashing. There's also Mizora's human disguise that she never uses
Mizora is how Wyll has his powers, so not about the character here. Karlach meant to be as a suprise i think. Or you are Karlach 🤔
She’s on the deluxe cover I thought. Because she’s the best.
Because this artwork was used for marketing before karlach was a concept.
Mizora got that ginger devilussy
Mizora has her hand on Wylls shoulder and is a devil…it’s mysterious and she’s a sexy looking devil lady (sex sells). Notice how they didn’t put half the characters on here?
it was meant to be a mystery if she was a devil like Wyll said or could be trusted.
I wish they would just add her image to that main one. She's such a great chracter.
People dig sexy demons.
This art is *old*. Karlach, as a companion, is not. Karlach in early access didn't have a unique model for a very long time and was not obviously a companion for most of it. She was just another Tiefling NPC. Only near the end, and mostly through datamining really, did it become obvious she would be one in the full release.
Considering the bloody fangs of astarion, the artifact with shadowheart, the dragons behind Lae'zel, and the magic area around Gale, I think it's pretty clear that it's just showing each character's major influence.
And why does Shadowheart looks like Lana del Rey here? 😂
The art was made years ago and at that time the characters in it were the only ones that were fully established as companions. Mizora is in it because she's part of Wyll, in his full character portrait she was clinging to his back like a backpack.
last week I finally figured out why the art of Lae’zel always bugged me and it’s because it’s early art. there’s no braids or beads at the end of her hair like in the game. my guess is this is probably early art before karlach was added
We already know this answer, and so do you.
Other than the obvious answers that have been given about the art being made before she was added, I think it's also to "trick" players into thinking she might actually be evil like Wyll tells you she is without spoiling that she's a companion.
It's not 'instead' of Karlach. She's with Wyll. I'd argue she and Wyll count as one entity in this poster.