#Karlach: Gortash is Evil!

[overcrowded-camp]

i wish larian had done more with gortash’s childhood and career growth (arms dealing -> running a cult). make the player uncomfortable with the fact that gortash is exactly like the companions, except he didn’t have someone who helped him.

draw a parallel between him and astarion. both of them were essentially owned by a horrible person and only got out due to luck/creativity. astarion found someone to help him work through his trauma and learn to trust again. gortash did not.

the only thing separating him from the people on your side is chance.

#gortash #i just think it would have been really compelling #i think the gortash/karlach parallels are interesting but i dislike the ‘this person is just innately uncorruptable’ vs ‘this person is #innately evil’ angle that they kind of took #anyway

[incorrect-bhaalspawn-quotes]

Karlach: You! You ruined my LIFE!

Gortash: I've ruined a lot of people's lives.

#source: ash vs evil dead #incorrect bhaalspawn quotes #baldur's gate #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 karlach #karlach cliffgate #enver gortash #lord enver gortash

[lets-go-hurt-someone]

So I finally played killing Gortash to the end, and having Durge wear his ex-boyfriend’s clothes to go kill the brain so he wouldn’t be scared felt like evil doomed lovers relationship goals tbh

#gort drops good loot I’m kind of mad about it #also the bane convo #what is wrong with me that bane said he was already torturing the evil slaver and I FELT BAD FOR HIM #Karlach needs a word with my dumb ass #baldurs gate 3 #durge #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #durgetash #Gortash #enver gortash

[misschizuchi]

Heater

Astarion x Durge x Gortash could happen, because two never warm cold blooded murderers wanted some heat in their bed from something other than friction, so they seduced a decent sized human male who is absolutely analogous to a real heater in terms of the amount of heat he produces.

#would work for Karlach if they weren't so evil #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #enver gortash #durgetash #durge #astarion #astarion x durge x gortash

[maegalkarven]

AU where Dark Urge didn't loose memories and the events in Moonrise Towers in act 2 went a tag differently. Or very differently.

Fucking everything up in a new, interesting way.

Characters: m!Dark Urge, Enver Gortash, Orin the Red, Ketheric Thorm, Isobel Thorm, Dame Aylin, Wyll Ravengard, Ulder Ravengard (mentioned), Karlach.

m!Dark Urge x Enver Gortash.

It was a stupid fucking plan from the very beginning of it.

To go to the Moonrise Towers to – what, confront Ketheric? Confront the Chosen of the God of the Dead?

Nemo knew better than the others what an idiotic idea it was.

But Nightsong already took a flight, and harpers moved to attack – and what was Nemo supposed to do?

He was a wreck, a shadow of his former self, weak as a kitten, clumsy as a newborn owlcub. He was the failed Chosen of Bhaal going to a place what was his demise.

Swooped by the currents of events unfolding, he had no plan.

But again, Nemo was never the plan guy; it was Gortash’s forte, it was his work. He was the brain of their plan, the brain of all of their operations. He thought things through as Nemo sliced around, creating chaos, bringing havoc, painting world in blood.

But it was before. Before Orin took her swing, before Nemo’s once great abilities were reduced to dust, before he became weak. So weak he had to depend on others, so weak he required, no, needed allies.

The voice of Father dull in his head; illithid parasite had to do something with it, had to change the rules the same way it changed them for Astarion.

Funny, before that whole mess Nemo would never put himself and a vampire spawn on the same page. But now? Oh, how alike they were, the spawns of unrelenting cruel force commanding their will, puppets of someone else’s play.

Waking up on nautiloid was akin to waking up from a fewer dream. The Urge...subsided. It was pushed back, held at bay. He was almost alone in his own head, more alone when he ever was with Father’s constant will moving his hands.

But what good did this free will do if he was about to die anyway, probably in the same damn place he died the first time? Would Orin be the one to slice through him one final time?

Nemo was never the one for plans, as clever as he was. Gortash always claimed it drove him mad, for Nemo had all the intellect, but rarely put it to good use.

“You have to exercise your mind the same way you train your body,” his unexpected ally would say. “Otherwise what use is it to you? You, my dear murderer, is capable of much greater things than your father foresees for you.”

These thoughts were atrocious, they were heretical, they were...compelling. Flattering, warming some deep corners of the soul Nemo didn’t know he had.

No wonder lordling ended up luring Nemo into his bed.

No wonder Orin saw her brother’s newfound weakness and used it against him.

Clever little thing, his slaughter-kin, to shift into Gortash to approach him. He was a fool to lower his defenses, of course he was.

He paid for it greatly.

“We’re moving down,” Isobel acknowledged. She, a daughter of a man who turned his back to two gods for her sake. She, the priestess of a goddess Ketheric Thorm forsaken. She, a child brave enough to confront her father.

Nemo hated her before he knew her.

He hated her for the way Ketheric turned the world upside down for her to live; he hated her for how ridiculously loved she was.

She hated her because even after being corrupted by Myrkul’s unholy powers, she still dared to stay unstained. Holy. Good.

He hated her so much his whole body hurt.

She who denied her father’s love, she who had love so selfless, so unconditional-

Father’s love was always conditional. Father’s love was always a leash and never a caress.

Father’s love hurt no matter how much Nemo craved it.

Oh, how he wished he could stifle the light of her life; oh how he wanted to see Ketheric’s face as he would tell him, in every gruesome detail, how his precious daughter died the second time.

How everything Ketheric did, everything he betrayed was for naught.

But Nemo was not what he used to be: he was weak, and Isobel was his advantage in a fight against her father. Her and Nightsong, but Nemo wasn’t even sure if aasimar was alive; the last he saw of her was when Elder Brain dragged the woman down.

Down, down, down-

Down they went.

Nemo didn’t want to go down there. He didn’t want to confront anyone, he wasn’t ready, he wasn’t strong, he-

He wanted to go home.

Home, such a strange concept it is.

Bhaal’s temple was never his home, even if it was the only shelter he has ever known.

No, home was...

Home was a mechanical clicking of devices operating in Gortash’s workshop. Home was the dim light and the huge table covered in papers; the smell of hot iron and smoke, and the man with fingers stained in ink.

The bitter bile rose up his throat at the thought of it.

The Chosen of Bane was never supposed to be his home.

The Chosen of Bane was his enemy.

Nemo has failed his life’s purpose in more ways than he could count.

And yet he wanted to go back; to the security of that place, to the delighted glint in the other man’s eyes, the mad plans, the notes on the table, the open books, the diagrams, the warmth of his skin as Nemo dragged Enver away from his work:

"Rest, you need to rest. It’s unbecoming of you to run yourself ragged like that. Sleep, your machines will not disappear overnight."

The way he struggled, tried to argue as exhaustion overtook his body. The way Lord Enver Gortash, the tyrant in the making, looked vulnerable in front of him in a way, Nemo suspected, he never looked in front of anyone else.

The way Nemo went to bed with him and expected to wake up in a pool of blood, but never did.

Because some part of him resisted Father even then. Some part of him claimed Enver Gortash for himself.

And it cost him greatly.

Nemo wondered if returning to Moonrise Towers could be classified as ‘coming home’.

He wondered if his home would meet him with windows shut and new lock on the door. He wondered how quickly he would be discarded by a man having no use for him anymore.

Turned out, Nemo was a fucking idiot.

***

It happens faster than it has any right to be; Ketheric spots Isobel, Wyll sees his father, Karlach lurches at Gortash, and Orin...

Orin steps away from the Elder Brain and smiles.

“My poor slaughter-kin,” she coos. “Came back so I could finish what I’ve started, did you not?”

And then the moves.

And fuck, Nemo forgot how fast she is, and he is so out of it, he is but a shell of his former self; his body is weak, feeble, damaged-

Orin knows it. Orin was the one who damaged it in the first place.

Nemo is vaguely aware of Isobel reaching out to Nightsong and freeing her from the bonds, he thinks he hears Gortash trying to reel Orin and Ketheric back in:

“Orin, we haven’t finished, the Brain didn’t receive command yet, come back here- Ketheric, two stones can’t hold it down, we need the third, Ketheric, forget about your daughter, come right here and make yourself useful for a change-“

But Ketheric doesn’t listen. Orin doesn’t listen. Everyone is too wrapped up in their own issues, their own grudges, their own fights. Karlach slices through the undead servant and knocks Gortash into the ground, only to be pushed back by a force of small explosive detonating right into her face. It doesn’t damage her much, but pushes back a significant amount.

“My poor brother,” Orin taints as Nemo tries to dodge one of her slices and comes out short. Blood oozes from the new cut and his murder-kin giggles. “So out of it, so pathetically weak. I did a good job on you, brother dear. But,” another smile, another attack. Nemo barely parries it in time. “I can do better. Father knows I can do better, Father knows you have failed him. He loves you no more, my failure of a brother. He has left you.”

Nemo would love to argue what Father went nowhere, what he still haunts Nemo’s every waking and dreaming moment, what the only thing stopping the God of Murder from consuming his wayward son is the illithid parasite in the bhaalspawn’s brain. But he doesn’t have the time, he doesn’t have the strength, he is failing, and-

The next strike to come is fatal.

Or it would be, if not for a huge tentacle of the brain to come flying out of nowhere.

Sending Orin flying right into the Morphic pool.

To the Brain.

With her stone.

Fuck.

Nemo turns around and meets a bewildered stare of Enver fucking Gortash, the man who just successfully compromised his own plan - their plan - beyond any recovery.

A fool.

Nemo’s blood is so loud in his ears he can barely hear; his heart is throwing itself against the cage of his ribs with a force unbeknown to him before.

He feels elevated, he feels scared, but most of all he feels-

“What the fuck did you do?” he snarls and everything, miraculously, stills. Everyone freezes, staring between them in a mix of surprise and dread.

Everyone feels what something just went very wrong.

“I-“ Enver starts, but Nemo gives him no chance to continue.

“You just threw the Netherstone to the Brain! The Netherstone we use to control the Brain! And you just threw it right at it,” there’s indignation burning in him but also...confusion?

Why? Why would Enver do something like that? Why would he compromise everything? Why would he-

“She was about to kill you,” Gortash seethes. “I saved your life.”

“By dooming everyone and everything in the process,” Nemo shouts back. “By dooming yourself. By the gods, Ketheric, did you see that? How he just- Ruined everything?”

“I did in fact see that,” Ketheric, who is pretty much being held down at the fire point, states. The only thing stopping Nightsong from murdering him here and now is Isobel’s hand on her shoulder. “It was a very stupid thing to do.”

Gortash looks appalled at that.

“I just saved his life!” he repeats like this fixes everything. Like it explains anything. There’s a mad look in his eyes, of a man who just realized what he has done. Then he turns to Nemo. “I saved your life, you ungrateful little-“

“Why?” comes out so quietly it’s barely a whisper.

At first Nemo thinks he asked that, the question was definitely on the tip of his tongue. But no, the voice belongs to Karlach. She rises from the ground, shaken but unhurt.

“I know you; you’re an awful fucking person who only cares for his own well-being. Why would you do something like that,” she gestures at Nemo and Nemo makes a face at her. He knows how he looks, thank you very much. “For him?”

Gortash opens his mouth, hesitates. His eyes dart to Nemo and Nemo meets his gaze with just as inquisitive expression as the one on Karlach’s face.

“Yes, Enver,” he agrees. “Why?”

But Enver never gets to answer, for in that precise moment the waters of the Morphic pool part and a figure crawls out.

A figure of a pale woman with even paler eyes, dressed in red.

Orin.

She takes a step, then another.

And something is wrong.

Her movements are unsteady; her head dangles as if she’s held up the strings and her eyes-

They’re vacant, her eyes, almost empty. They’re...peaceful, and Orin has never been peaceful in her entire damn life.

Nemo makes the involuntary step forward and is immediately held back by Wyll, who, gods only know how, managed to not only teleport his father right next to Karlach, but also come back to Nemo, and is now holding him firmly by the forearm.

“Don’t,” he whispers into Nemo’s ear. “This is not your sister.”

“Orin?” Nemo calls out regardless, because this is his sister. It has to be.

Orin raises her head and looks straight at him. Then she opens her mouth and speaks:

“Praise the Absolute.”

“By the Nine Hells,” Karlach curses. “She got tadpolled.”

“And she has the stone,” Ketheric is the first one to move, ripping himself out of Nightsong’s grip and stepping forward.

“Well, shit.”

An overwhelming, overbearing horror embraces Nemo.

Orin, his little sister. Orin, his murderer, his torturer.

Orin, the perfect slayer. The puppet of the Absolute.

“Maybe I can use the prism,” he starts. “I can bring her back to her senses.”

“And then what?” Wyll argues and it takes Nemo an embarrassingly long time to realize his friend has already started to pull him away. “She’ll try to kill us on her own volition and not the Brain’s? No.”

“We need to go,” Gortash speaks up. “Quickly, now.”

“There’s no ‘we,’”, Karlach argues. “And ‘we’ are not going anywhere with you.”

“Karlach, now is not the time to argue-“

“You sold me to Zariel-“

“Father?” Isobel calls out. “Father, what are you doing?”

Ketheric unsheathes his sword.

“Atoning,” he speaks. The moves to rip the Netherstone from his armor and throw it at Nemo. Nemo, surprisingly, manages to catch it. “Keep it safe,” the man orders and oh, is this his general voice now? “Keep her safe.”

Nemo doesn’t need to ask who he means by that. Instead he argues.

“I am a murderer, you know that, right?” as if any sane argument would work right now. “A murder incarnate. I do not keep people safe.”

“This time you will,” and this is why Ketheric was so feared and respected; a single hard stare pins Nemo to the ground. “Or I will come back and hunt you down to the end of Toriel. To the end of every known realm, if I have to.”

“Not to interrupt this fine and lovely conversation, but general,” Gortash looks just as puzzled as Nemo feels. “What are you doing again?”

The man has some strength enough to smirk.

“What I should have done long time ago,” he sends Isobel a long, sickeningly loving gaze. “The right thing. Isobel.”

“Father,” the girl’s chin trembles. “Father, I don’t-“

“I love you more than any god could understand,” the old general speaks. “And I will never regret bringing you back, never. But now,” he turns his gaze back and manages to parry the quick, efficient and entirely deadly strike of Bhaal’s unloved daughter. “You have to live. And I...I have to take a stand. Go,” he says. “Go,” he commands. “I will hold her back for as long as I can.”

“The undying against the slayer,” Gortash murmurs as he already sprints towards the elevated platform.

The ground shakes as the Brain breaks out of its bonds, bit by bit, slowly but surely. The wave of psionic energy what comes their way almost knocks them all down.

“Go,” Nemo shouts as he and Wyll teleport closer to the exit. Thank fuck for the teleportation spells. Thank fuck for Wyll.

Karlach all but carries dazed Ravengard away as Dame Aylin takes Isobel in her arms and takes flight.

“Go, go, go!” he repeats as a familiar hand grabs him by the shoulder. Nemo doesn’t have time to think, doesn’t have time to act as he is dragged the remaining way to the platform by no-one but the tyrant himself.

The moment Karlach reaches the platform Wyll hits the control panel and they start to rise. Nemo is afraid it is not fast enough.

From the height of their ascend he sees the undying general fight off the slayer. Two Chosen of Gods against each other.

Even from that far away it is clear Ketheric will fall.

He sacrificed himself. He brought them time.

Fool.

***

Down below the illithid colony, amidst the Hell of his own creation, general Ketheric Thorm receives one last, final blow.

Blood oozes out of his wounds, painting the floor red. Above him a woman dressed in red stands; eyes vacant, empty, soulless.

But it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters anymore.

Isobel is safe. And Ketheric...

“Melodia,” he whispers as the last breath leaves his body. “I am coming.”

Somehow he knows she is waiting for him; what she has always waited for him, no matter how far he strayed.

Ketheric Thorm dies peacefully. It feels like falling asleep.

#dark urge: nemo #enver gortash #ketheric thorm #isobel thorm #dame aylin #karlach #wyll ravengard #orin the red #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate 3 spoilers #is it a fix it if i ruin everything in a different way? #is it ketheric thorm redemption fix? yes #durge is a half-drow assasin named Nemo #who is WEAK AS FUCK thanks Orin #also it's kind of a good run as you can see it bc nemo is not strong or powerful enough to be evil #evil is a luxury #this is this fic where gortash accidentally pushes orin into the morphic pool #TO the elder brain. WITH her stone #oh joy #also a fix it where Ketheric gets to atone and Gortash is forced to work together with the team of tadfools #nemo is bad at feelings #the dark urge #bg3 dark urge #durge spoilers #gortash's pov of this is just: #gortash: *saves nemo* everyone: *disliked that*

[bhaalsdeepbat]

Because of the implication that Karlach didn't know any of the more devious shit Gortash was doing while she was employed by him, I HC that he sold her at a point where he couldn't be as covert in his private dealings. Like it was a point where she clearly was going to be a liability and she's good. Too good. Like to her core.

And there isn't a whole lot different between himself and the tiefling rascal he took in so she could support the parents she loves so much. I think that at a certain point he'd just be kinda aggravated because, to him, her view of the world is so idealistic. I like the idea of him having a little bit of petty jealousy, but I can't see that being the motivator for the sale. I think he really believed she was strong enough to handle it - because he was strong enough to withstand the hells - and wanted her to be humbled, in a way. he needed her to have a taste of the real world, so to speak, because his understanding is that it's a cutthroat world and all people are pawns, regardless of age or relation.

that's not a way karlach can live tho

and then she comes back, broken, sure. she has her whole thing where she can consume the soul coins, which ultimately has her viewing lost souls as tokens/pawns in the way gortash sees all people, but she clearly struggles with it and it wasn't a choice she made, but something zariel pushed on her so she could survive.

regardless, karlach's optimism is unwavering and she's still so vivacious. She's angry, understandably so, she has scars, she's done shit she isn't proud of, but she, herself, was never corrupted. when she escapes, she immediately goes full hero mode, she just has the burden of the soul coins to bear bc NO ONE can come out of that situation completely unscathed. and remember the types of friends she made in the hells!!! her one only helps her if it comes with a double-edged sword. despite that, she doesn't prevent it from allowing her to bond with the companions.

so she comes back proof that you can go through what Gortash did and come out mostly in tact. you may be hurt, she shouldn't have HAD to go through that, but she's fighting for a better future for herself (even if that means dying to not return to avernus). Unlike Gortash, she doesn't need to bring the world to heel to pay for the cruelty it showed her.

in fact, everything she went through just makes her appreciate the little good in her life even more and motivates her to aggressively protect her friends.

#bat rambles #karlach #sorry for the repost i had a few things to add re: soul coins #i also am thinking abt gortash a little more and like #he's kinda pathetic in a way i'm not even sad for him about #but he is so desperate to be loved imo #not quite to the levels of Raphael's narcissism #but up there #like it was A Choice to set it up so he'd be viewed as the hero of baldur's gate #protecting them from the Evil's of the Absolute #the one person who can protect them only to be the one to sell them all out #just a mirror of what he went through y'know #the writing in this is so solid you can just see so many things that relate to one another #they're all so entangled

[lunian]

*creates first Dark Urge to make her pretty much threatening and tough looking*

*accidentally is actually the kindest character I've ever had in this game*

whoops?

#kinder than first Tav? phew #at least she is more rude tbh lol #mystuff #bg3 #baldur's gate #Gortash is so disappointed in her #:/ #i guess you cant be evil when your gf is Karlach

[googlygazer]

karlach was already having an insane time before she ever got to avernus. imagine being like... a teenager. and among the people you trust and care for most is your cartoonishly evil boss who snorts crushed pixies and is looking into ways to industrialize bottled orphan tears. and you don't even think about it, don't bother to notice that he kicks puppies recreationally. like... girl! look around! put in your two weeks! now!

#bg3 #karlach #enver gortash #that i was too young to spot evil when i saw line. were you. actually.

[antiqua-lugar]

bg3 redeemed dark urge exclusive dlc where instead of a boss fight durge carries on a heist to lobotomised and tadpole orin and gortash and everyone has to go along with it because technically it worked once

#antiqua plays bg3 #wyll and karlach object for fives seconds and then durge just gives them the biggest puppies eyes #gale was on board from the second durge said 'imagine if our evil inventor was good' #'what if they are still low key evil tho' 'we keep around astarion and minthara it's gonna be fine #ketheric sadly cannot be redeemed and tadpoled because durge only finds out in act 3 #durge and orin get a very touching scene where they both turn against bhaal #gortash gets the funniest boss fight ever against whoever was next in the church of bane and was NOT ready for this #astarion at some points gets very annoyed that he is losing his 'evil but we fixed it' companion spot #the ending is durge orin and gortash doing the magical girl netheres stone power to destroy the brain

[maybe-the-madman]

loving gortash and karlach at the same time is just being drawn and quartered metaphorically

#i cant help myself #you show me evil cringe hot topic eyeliner man and very large very strong tiefling lady at the same time WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO??? #BE NORMAL????? #bg3 #karlach #enver gortash

[baesooraya]

Enver Gortash, what have you done to me?

#Not me brushing my teeth and having the awful (or is it) awful thought of Durge having some sort of relationship with Gortash . #before getting bonked on the head #If anything #they probably at least did the horizontal tango for the evil funsies #But I can also imagine Gortash actually being disappointed by how things have panned out to be - #Durge might've been a really good conquer-the-world partner + fkbuddy? #And then all of that being replaced by Orin #he must've been at least a tiny bit upset or displeased #I honest to god also was only thinking about this because I felt like my camp needed more drama - imagine poor Karlachs reaction #Gortash #enver gortash #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate

[durgesupremacy]

durge fic writing process thoughts: guilt versus shame

Write whatever you want! Headcanon your best life! And, I noticed a pattern in how I think about durge's character arc, especially because I'm currently writing an evil-to-the-end durge. No one asked for this (though asks are open!) but here it is, some rambling on how my durge(s) feeling guilt vs shame for their urges impacts whether they choose violence / stay evil.

(apparently the brand for this blog is Long Post Only)

I have a *lot* of oc durges. I'm writing Solace (they/them wood elf rogue / fighter) because they're the only one who fully pursues Gortash pre- and post-tadpole and I want to write durgetash rn. But in my weird personal multiverse of durges, the ones who were self-satisfied and confident pre-tadpole are the ones who become more "good" post-tadpole. The durges who were the most troubled pre-tadpole are more likely to do evil things, or at least be morally flexible.

Why? For me, a durge who experienced some kind of self-confidence, fulfillment, and/or pleasure during their time as a Bhaalist murder baby enters tadpole life with a seed of self-acceptance. Though they can't remember why, their amnesiac self has some preexisting inclination to like themselves for who they are and have more trust in their own judgment. They experience their urges for a second first time with enough security in themselves to reject them. They feel guilty, but they don't think this is who they are. (The internal conflict at this point is accepting their villainous past, which will be differently fun to write if I ever do it).

But a durge who moved through their Chosen of Bhaal phase with fear, insecurity, and/or low self-worth enters tadpole life with vestiges of self-loathing. Their broken brain leaned into traumatic rewiring, and when they re-encounter their urges they're predisposed towards self-hate and identify with the urges instead of challenging or rejecting them. Being Bad makes more intuitive sense to them than being, idk, Good with a Serious Problem. Something is wrong with them. They feel shame.

But without their memories, they don't really know why. Depending on party composition they can get praised and rewarded for the things they feel ashamed of. And in time, they realize they don't have to feel shame - after all, it's their reaction. They can react differently. If they stop fighting their "true nature" they can finally enjoy themselves. They'll even get rewarded for it and more or less have what they need to survive. (There's a whole other point of analysis here on companion interactions and community vs isolation, I can write that at some point if we're into it).

Ultimately, my post-tadpole self-loathing villain-arc durge is tempted not just by the urges, but by not feeling bad about themselves. Without their memories of who they were and why they should feel ashamed of that, they have the freedom to indulge in their worst traits. It might look like self-acceptance, but it's not. They just stopped caring about anything and followed the dopamine. And the more they give in to their "true self," the more inevitable it seems to them that their only path towards meaning and worth is through Bhaal. (At least it makes Solace go perfectly with Gortash. Misery doesn't love company so much as it hates being alone).

I guess this feels worth saying because I've seen nuanced discussion about durge's capacity for redemption, but the evil arc for durge seems mostly like them leaning into misc Bhaalist insanity and/or being very comfortable in their evil. I'm curious about (and enjoying) writing an evil durge that's less unhinged and is experiencing more relatable emotional arcs, even when we can't relate to their stabbing. Hopefully.

Stay tuned for more rambling

#baldurs gate 3 #durgetash #enver gortash #the dark urge #analysis #fanfic ideas #fanfic writing #brainrot #fic writing #evil durge #“long post long post” to the cadence of Karlach's “hot foot hot foot” #character analysis

[incorrect-bhaalspawn-quotes]

Karlach, about Gortash: I’m gonna hit him.

Tav: No, wait, we need his help!

Karlach: But I wanna hit him!

#source: epithet erased #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate #incorrect bhaalspawn quotes #bg3 #baldur’s gate 3 #lord enver gortash #bg3 tav #bg3 karlach #karlach cliffgate #don’t worry karlach you can hit him when we inevitably betray his evil ass later

[scribblingface]

chewing the walls over how close durge and gortash were and how sincerely gortash wants to be evil besties again and rule the world together

#and he really means it!! durge was prepared to kill gortash eventually to be the last one standing and gortash knows it #and he's STILL like 'let's try again together' #the fact that he just threw karlach under the bus too like he's not loyal in general he's loyal to durge specifically #he's so loyal that I'm gonna have to be the one to betray him if I want to defeat this evil cult 😭 #scribblingface plays bg3 #me posting

[maegalkarven]

I love this image of Gortash from the Emperor's story.

Look at him.

Look at his smug ass. He came to ruin both the Empreror and Stelmane's lives and is so proud of that.

#bg3 spoilers #baldurs gate 3 #enver gortash #lord enver gortash #no literally he looks like a smug cat #evil brat boyfriend material #really everyone keeps telling levi how awful gortash is and levi is just #levi: a smart sneaky man I like that ;))' #levi: Trader. Innovator. Inventor. Scientist. Tyrant. What else do you need in a man? #karlach: a conscience??? #levi: don't be ridiculous a man with conscience would mind my killing sprees. I need a man who will look at me #levi: all monstrosious and covered in blood and guts #levi: and would ask himself: how can I profit from that? #levi: basically I need someone who could make my violence tendencies serve our cause. earn some money conquer some lands #karlach: I hate what I see your point #levi: but you DO see my point!

[bhaalsdeepbat]

I saw some discussions about how evil Gortash was when Karlach worked for him, and how she should have been aware, but there are a few things going on that make me believe she never got the whole picture. I think she only saw what Gortash wanted her to see.

She's a victim of powerful people who see other people as tools and pawns for their own ambitions. She's a soldier who was tempted by the promise of a good life doing a job that she believed in (at the time), only to find out the horrors happening under her nose. And I don't think she was ever aware of them!

Karlach makes it clear she wouldn't have worked for Gortash if she knew half of what he was actually doing. She didn't even get the whole picture until she returns to Baldur's Gate with the squad.

And again. She was a child when she started working for Gortash. He must have known what to say to her, specifically, because she believed in him SO much before he ripped everything away from her and betrayed her. I don't think she'd have trusted/respected him if she had even the faintest idea of what was going on.

And that's kinda the story with a lot of soldiers, y'know? They sign up to get themselves out of poverty, they grow up a bit, and they either double down in their beliefs or they realize the life of a soldier isn't what they thought it would be. I think she represents this kind of person really well, tbh.

Then, she spends her entire time back on the Sword Coast protecting people and doing the things that she wanted to be doing with her life, before getting caught up in the service of people out for their own power and conquest.

She is the goodest girl, but even the best people can be caught up supporting the worst people, especially when subterfuge and forced servitude are involved.

#bat plays bg3 #gortash is so charismatic too he would know just what to say #zariel shes literally leashed to but gortash? #he had to know he would need to control what info karlach was privy to so he could maintain his grasp on her #karlach respected him so much i dont think she could feel the memory of that respect #if she knew literally anything #but ye i keep thinking abt this #she's the best girl who keeps continuing to do good despite the cards she's dealt #and she was misguided as a youth but like #children shouldnt have to make choices like “should I become a child soldier so i can keep food in our bellies and a roof over our head?” #bc that was the choice Karlach had to make #and im sure there were worse avenues she could have gone it was baldur's gate for durge's sake #but she would have went with the one that seemed like the lesser evil if not a net good #and i think the latter is what she saw in Gortash's ambitions #not realizing the trap she's getting caught in #karlach #bg3