Baldur’s Gate 3’s most interesting scenes aren’t shown on-screen

Karlach was a late addition to Baldur’s Gate 3, which might be why one aspect of her character design is never fully explained by the developers, with characters only interacting with it off-screen.

Karlach has one of the most tragic backstories of any Baldur’s Gate 3 character. She was sold into slavery and sent to Avernus, which is one of D&D’s many hellish afterlives. There, she had a machine called an Infernal Engine installed in place of her heart, one that would make her stronger in combat.

Throughout Baldur’s Gate 3, Karlach’s storyline involves the Infernal Engine breaking down, despite attempts to fix it by characters you meet throughout the game world. Users on the Baldur’s Gate 3 Reddit have pointed out a big question about how Karlach’s biology works, especially as it keeps coming up in-game.

How does Karlach access the Infernal Engine in Baldur’s Gate 3?

So, how exactly does Dammon install the upgrades to Karlach’s Infernal Engine? Based on her character model, the glowing engine appears fully lodged within her chest, with no easy means of access. Users on Reddit weren’t sure, but they had some theories.

“My headcanon is that Karlach’s chest opens up like an easy bake oven, and she’s thought at least once about using the engine’s heat to bake cookies for the party,” one user wrote, while another said, “You twist the nipples in opposite directions, and the chest cavity opens. Same as any woman.”

“Those little circular metal holes in her shoulder work like the SIM card tray release on a mobile phone,” one user speculated, while another wrote, “I think this begs for a mod where Karlach has a metal cylinder in her chest like Tony Stark did in the early MCU.”

The obvious answer to this, and every other Baldur’s Gate 3 & D&D-related question, is “It’s magic.” The more accurate answer is that including scenes showing Karlach installing Infernal Engine parts would have been a pain to animate, so they left it to the imagination.

It’s a shame that players aren’t given an idea of how Karlach interacts with the Infernal Engine. It could have made for a great body horror cutscene and further show the pain that she endures on her path of vengeance.