#ethel's vicious mockery line about her selling every soul but her own just doesn't hit right if it flat out doesn't. matter at all.

[myrkulitescourge]

imo karlach’s soul coin usage seems like it should have been a little more significant than it was.

she only ever really stops to consider the magnitude of burning through a person’s soul for power during an origin playthrough—otherwise she rationalizes to the player that they’re doomed anyway, and if using them gives her an edge in combat, why not use them for good instead of leaving them to be used by evil? the dialogue with lann tarv in act 2, where he tells the story of each soul he's handing over to her, tries to humanize each soul coin, and still she doesn’t really budge and disapproves pretty heavily if she's told no in regards to using them.

it just seems like something that could have caused some kind of conflict between her and wyll, given he sold his soul to a devil in dire circumstances and takes issue with the player for sleeping with mizora, because she 1) is mizora, and 2) similarly expends tormented souls during her romance scene, even if for a different purpose. but it just... never really comes up?

i love karlach. but that seems like it should have gone Somewhere, from a writing standpoint? karlach values wyll as a person but is willing to use currency forged from souls like his for the sake of a temporary power up. she knows the soul is consumed when she uses them. that whole exchange with lann tarv is there to emphasize that every soul coin she destroys was a person once. but it all kind of loses narrative purpose if this combination of factors doesn't mean anything? karlach doesn't change at all in her willingness to use soul coins, no matter what the player says or how much she cares for wyll.

idk. missed opportunity that wyll doesn't have any dialogue about this, of all things.

#destroying souls is otherwise unambiguously portrayed as A Pretty Bad Thing To Do in bg3. so it just seems weird to go #yeah using this destroys a soul but it makes me stronger and it feels GREAT! #and stick to that no matter what without really questioning it much #ethel's vicious mockery line about her selling every soul but her own just doesn't hit right if it flat out doesn't. matter at all. #plus. idk. something something soul coins apparently are difficult for non-evil characters to even have in their possession #so using them and fully destroying the souls within seems kind of. idk. significant from a character standpoint #disclaimer: not character hate obvi. i love karlach and her relationship with wyll is very good. #but idk. conflict is interesting! and that seems like somewhere it should have happened if you have both in the party #karlach sans wyll might never question using soul coins but karlach with wyll probably should have? #in the same way wyll's character changes somewhat whether he chooses to kill karlach or spare her #as it stands this is like how using the tadpoles makes a grand total of one roll in the game harder. there's no bite. no consequence. idk #not every character has to change to be good but idk. idk! #it all seems set up to make her reconsider at SOME point #and that she just doesn’t is in itself a pretty significant moral compromise on her part #that is just not. recognized or discussed basically ever #karlach #karlach cliffgate #bg3 #baldur’s gate 3