Baldur's Gate 3 actor Samantha Béart says people don't realise how awful Karlach was before the events of the game: 'I think she was a piece of work in hell'

(Image credit: Larian)

Were I to guess, I'd say the position of most beloved Baldur's Gate 3 party member is probably a hard tie between Astarion and Karlach. Which is wrong, because it should actually be Lae'zel, but never mind; people love the hoity-toity vampire boy and the large, red, armed puppy-dog, and I'd never take that away from them.

But according to Karlach's voice actor, Samantha Béart, your favourite Tiefling might not always have been quite so nice. In an interview with TheGamer, Béart was asked what the biggest misconception about Karlach was. Their answer? "That she is a really sweet, nice, happy-go-lucky person.

"I think she was a very different person in hell," says Béart. Sure, Karlach might be strawberry-sweet up in the Prime Material plane, but survival in hell requires a different vibe entirely. Béart says they got into the role of Karlach by imagining "being locked in a supermax prison, with no hope of getting out and doing all sorts of horrible gang stuff to survive."

Béart doesn't go into just what nastiness they think Karlach got up to, but your imagination can probably fill in the gaps there. Suffice it to say, Béart reckons Karlach "was a piece of work in hell" if only out of necessity. "You just think about how people behave in those very small communities. Essentially, I think you can completely change to survive."

Which I like a whole bunch as a take on the character. Anyone who's played BG3 (which I think is everyone who doesn't belong to an uncontacted people at this point) will know that 'really not wanting to go back to hell' is a big part of Karlach's whole deal.

Baldur's Gate 3 Karlach yelling — (Image credit: Larian)

Sure, part of that is probably because hell just kind of sucks as a place to be and you have to endure no end of painful personal torments, but it fits Karlach to a tee to have her main reason being that she doesn't want to return to being the cruel, violent person that hell demands she be.

"For me, it's a redemption arc," says Béart. "Finally actually getting out and going. ‘Do you know what? I get to decide who I am now. And I'm not going to be that person anymore.'" It's a layer to the character I quite like, and makes me feel all the worse for accidentally totally obliterating her in my own ending to the game. Sorry, Karlach. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

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One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.

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