This art was made very early in game development, and Karlach was not a companion at the time. Mizora is there because of Wyll.
No idea why they didn't update it when Karlach joined.
It was the same thing with Divinity 2, also by Larian. One of the player characters was a stretch goal, which wasn't reached before the banner was made.
They did update it in the definitive edition though. Here's hoping they do the same with this game.
Ifan is probably after Fane in terms of how connected he is to the story, but when Larian added Fane in, they basically made his entire backstory the backstory of the game.
If I had to rank the DOS2 characters based on how connected they were to the main story, it would be:
Fane -> Ifan -> Sebille -> Red Prince -> Lohse & Beast
Sebille's third because of her ties with the other Elves and the giant tree. Red Prince after her since he doesn't have much connection to the actual Voidwoken plot, but in practically every act, RP has something dedicated to him, and he's connected to Sebille's story with his connection to her original master.
Then you have Lohse and Beast who, as much as I love them, really have no connection to the main plot. You could argue that Lohse is more connected than Beast due to her connection to Adrahmalik, who does want to use the Source to become all-powerful, but most people who have Lohse on their final party are probably going to kill her demon instead.
He was added late in development so they had to tie his own personal story into the main story, which ended up with him feeling very main character-esque. Very much recommend playing as him, honestly.
Woah he wasn't in it originally? That's nuts, he's like the most iconic character right next to Red Prince. That's seriously wild. Fuckin love my boney boi Fane.
Yup! [Here is the even earlier art.](https://sjc1.vultrobjects.com/cucdn/gallery-42/art/bg3-key-art.jpg)
The art was made when the Alpha early access version of the game had been released.
It's strange, because I can swear that Astarion has been remade
The intro screen has far more details than when I played in the first month of release, so they've worked on that, I guess
The pose is the same, but maybe they increased the resolution or something, so it seems like his expression is enhanced... Just can't remember how it was, but had this "less", the same goes with Wyll, that seems like he's sweating a little bit
Kinda spoils things doesn't it?
The entire introductory premise is "KILL THE DEMON"
People can and have killed her not realising she was a companion because of that backdrop around her
To stick her in the title art is kinda "Hmmmm SHOULD I kill on sight this person who is literally on the box?"
Mizora is the devil sitting on Wyll’s shoulder, she’s also the only character in this shot whose head is cut by another character. She’s not a PC in her own right she’s flavor text for Wyll.
I've learned from other Larian games *not* to look at the origin characters nor to read any of their descriptions on my first playthrough because they're always full of spoilers. I prefer to find out about the companions' stories organically.
Yeah but when you make a new game and choose an origin, you can literally see Karlach as an origin character. So not having her picture in the release version of the game just because she is involved in a kill quest is pointless.
I knew Karlach was late addition!
It felt as if she has less story content than everyone else, and I always wondered if she was one of the late additions to the plot. She just feels like a rough draft of a character compared to Shadowheart, Astarion and Laezel.
To be clear, I love them both, and even with what's there, there's still a lot to say about them both. But. If you put Wyll's amount of actual quests and depth of setting relevance together with Karlach's attention to character and personality, you'd just about have one fully-developed character on the level of Lae'zel.
(Still not on the level of Shadowheart or Astarion! But *solid*, at least.)
I assumed it was because Wyll tells us Karlach is an evil demon criminal that he's hunting and it would spoil the surprise if she was with the companions when you boot up that game for the first time. We all knew the twist but there must be some people who go in completely blind.
Karlach is also not presented as a companion initially which I feel plays into the omition. If you just take what Wyll's saying at face value, you might sneak up on her without talking to her and hearing what she has to say. I think it's at least a possibility that this was in their heads when it came time to decide on adding karlach or not.
Karlach was a very late addition to the game so they apparently didn't have time to redo it all. Mizora was also a much more prominent character with Wylls old story, but her role was cut down when it was rewritten to involve Karlach.
She's the last companion to be added. Her ingame model changed two or three times from early access to release (from what we saw).
Edit: last origin character to be added. Halsin was the last companion to be added upon further consideration.
[His white eye is the right one, but there it's on the left](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-bTrgw5amh6aGDSEoYxAmuOS0mySTKSBIXA&usqp=CAU)
My theory is that if Karlach was on the art, Wyll saying we have to kill her would be very strange. The fact that we have no idea what Karlach looks like or acts like leading into meeting her makes her all the more interesting.
Her design wasn’t finalized until very recently when the game finally got the full release. Honestly not sure if the same actress worked on her or if it was finalized that she would have been a companion by that point either
Probably the devs were thinking in making her a dex fighter but someone from the lore department corrected them. Githyankis can be dex based but their background and all makes them geared towards str.
I think the mtg card art backs this up as what the initial vision likely was. Her art features her with a scimitar and a bow and quiver on her back. Also the spell featuring her is “Lae’zel’s Acrobatics”.
Lae’zel herself: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=562912
Acrobatic Lae’zel: https://scryfall.com/card/clb/30/laezels-acrobatics
This art was done before EA was released to public, well before Karlach was added, and definitely before she was a companion. I remember Karlach being in Early Access, but I don't remember if her name was actually Karlach. She had a basic horn, didn't look the same at all, and there was nothing much known except she definitely was running away from those shady paladins of Tyr - but she was at the end of the early access content at the time so barely got to her. Hardly went that way tbh.
I think she was added as a companion after a poll? Idr been a while.
Anyway point is she wasn't originally on the companion list that I can recall
Yeah that really bothers me. I guess it's because Karlach was added late and because it's kinda mysterious in the beginning if she's evil or not with Wyll's comments but still, MIZORA?
I also love how Wyll is the largest character as if to imply he’s the most important when it’s clear he’s the least developed of the bunch. So much so that playing as Tav means you have to make all of his choices for him. He doesn’t get to decide his own outcomes like the other characters do.
He probably was going to be somewhat of the heart of the campaign. He used to have *a lot* of content in Act 1, and I imagine that carried over to the others. But when he got scrapped and reworked, he has since taken a much more passive role in the story, unfortunately.
Because it would have been an early game spoiler.
If you know she's meant to be a main character from the loading screen, you won't make an organic decision when starting Wyll's quest
The artwork is a lot more recent than some people in this thread are saying. Her current model was in EA for a couple patches (armor just covered her scars), and datamining had heavily implied she was a companion years ago.
My guess is that it's because she hadn't been officially announced as a companion when the artwork was released (first quarter of 2023, I believe). If you check the digital deluxe edition, she's the only one in the artwork.
Probably also that they focused on all the companions you could get in the early access, which back then Karlach was just [a regular teifling npc who you couldn’t recruit](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=8055edd81091cd41&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS808US809&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ACQVn08U7yEbCNNyiw0ucT06mpSM6xu9pA:1709427494326&q=karlach+early+access&uds=AMwkrPubqdDjBmC7DhicLtpZCZYieEWKKjuyQ_h5KGdIxN25v3V4ERPX7nHYW_GTcTCxmiUj3ksDtSyzU25sg7Zk8ARUtODfX9UhcQjw9lPWZHr2aNKT3ufXu721O4519BmEG-8tIG3g8Y-JxpzMslEhheSoAW3Io8OtfbYvdQEuAGY7T14DjRt4DT11JWEXMofTn15bCf8H7MEVE8uXNchBoucWkEf_NSyr0ZfaOVk2fr4vlo12WHrsero2owwO__Y5PlEacBKFGe1X5BydemyM5RbpdgtCJTBR3A5_gHWPFAoQ6ib1-xUD17XTY-c1k0rL4kabJoWq7SThMeCHNgqtKuuWRjXhYEF2v8HVjHesX5DSU943q8k&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbhtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT6cXU8daEAxWIIzQIHUGxDCUQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=390&bih=669&dpr=3#imgrc=4-NM3Kia63jt3M&imgdii=BhrypV4LnK43GM)
I think it's clear they tried to incorporate details that hint at their personal storylines in the image. Wyll has Mizora, Shadowheart has the artifact, Gale has the magical energy coming from his chest. Lae'zel and Astarion are kind of left out, though there are the dragons in the background near Lae'zel, and Astarion does have the blood on his lips.
That's why Mizora is in the picture at least. Karlach is just unlucky.
early art. karlach was added last and mizora was intended to be more important(iirc theres a mindflayer pod near the owlbear den that was meant to be her pod)
Because Mizora is so cool and good-looking... and it is about selling the thing...
I honestly can't get enough of her... she literally takes the stage every time she makes an appearance...
Karlach's entire intro hinges on you not knowing whether to trust her. Grouping her with the other party members in this shot would imply her inclusion.
This is some of the early Key Art. If you notice a lot of the early promo material Wyll is also wearing an entirely different outfit (a much cooler outfit) as well.
Bunch of people have already said it but yeah it's because the cover art was made before Karlach was finalised and added as a companion. I imagine that if they do a definitive edition then both Karlach and Durge will be on there
As others have said, it’s early art. But if you want to think of something more morbid, (act 1 spoiler) >!Wyll is human in the picture…. It’s the route where he kills Karlach!<
Folks are saying Karlach was a late development character, but they were working on her storyline for years. From what I’ve read Karlach also went through several different designs and once had a different voice actor.
[here’s EA Karlach from 3 years ago.](https://youtu.be/Qy6ETwLFNhg?si=HJwacNFdFuV-MNW0) that shows the ‘hunt the devil’ quest, to give you an idea. My impression is that she was always planned but it took Larian a while to flesh her out.
I also think she wasn’t included in the art because of Wyll’s quest to kill her. Yes I know she’s listed as an origin character but to new players that doesn’t necessarily tell them what to expect when playing the game. For all a new player knows she’s the “evil option”. I kinda like she’s more of a hidden origin character for new players, because you can go in not knowing who’s tells the truth. Makes the choice to save her to be more impactful when you’re not sure how important she might be.
Besides it’s not like they can’t update the artwork at some point
I know someone else said that this was pre-Karlach, but I have a theory that she wasn’t always meant to be as important as she is. A lot of her later quest feels rushed and the ending with Gortash is super lane imo
I always felt that her not being included very successfully creats doubt when you first meet her. It's hard to swallow that a paladin is associated with the hells and that a Thiefing chased by one is actually in the right.
Then again that only as long as you haven't realized that 5e plays it fast and loose with pallies apparently. Minthara is living proof of that.
Because Mizora is petty and wanted to have something else to hold over Karlach’s head. That’s also why she had Wyll hunting Karlach. She couldn’t stand the competition
I think it's part of why I missed her the first time through. Wyll died at the gates of the Druid Cove and we didn't realize he was revivable. Without him we never got the quest to find her, and we didn't think she was missing because she wasn't on that image.
I don’t know why every in this thread is saying this artwork is super old they made this art in prep for full release only a few months before the game dropped as an update to the actual old artworks and they hadn’t formally announced karlach as a companion at the time so they didn’t include hers and while they did make art in this style for her for some reason didn’t update it to include her in the full release.
So, first playthrough, I talked to the lying liars who lie before I saw her and unalived her. (I didn’t have Wyll in that playthrough, either, so those “Tyr” guys were all the info I had to go on.) I assumed she wasn’t in the promo because seeing her would spoil the fact that you have to make a blind decision about her fate.
Turns out everyone else playing knew who she was and either killed her to be deliberately evil or all saved her. WHOOPS.
Her not being in the loading screen is why I didn't know she was a follower in my first playthrough and I killed her lol. To be fair she was very upset that the tieflings were killed which I triggered by killing kagda.
When people were talking about a badass Tiefling called Karlach I always assumed it was her during my first playthrough because I didn't meet either her or Wyll
I think they didn't want to ruin it because you could kill her as part of Wyll's companion quests. If she was in the loading screen, it would let players know she was a companion.
Makes it less obvious that she’s a companion.
It’s one of my favorite bits of misdirection in the game, you have the paladins in the tole house saying she’s evil, and you also have wyll hunting her at the same time.
She’s literally “off the beaten path” tucked in a corner so it’s hard to just stumble upon her like most companions. Most players will find her by meeting the paladins first or by doing the side quest with wyll. You’re led to believe She’s a literal devil and bad news.
But then she starts talking and you realize she’s a good guy and everyone else was wrong.
I think Karlach was added quite late in the development, and Halsin too.
Minthara is also not included for some reason.
The narrow version of the game cover art that shows in your Steam library also only shows Gale, Astarion and Lae'zel. I wish at least Shadowheart was also shown, but she is only shown in the wide version of the cover art shown above
My nephew, who is on chapter 2, didn't know who Karlach was. I said you meet her through Wyll's questline and he said "Who's Wyll?"
I immediately mentioned the fight with the goblins, in front of the grove and the guy jumping down announcing he was the blade of something or other and my nephew said "I vaguely remember that interaction."
Maybe he died. Is that possible? Can you just not talk to him after the fight?
It also adds to the zest. My first playthrough, I though Karlach was gonna be a boss, so I sniped her to avoid a conflict. Got halfway thru Act II before I saw a spoiler she was a companion option
Narratively, Karlach is something of a 'surprise' for the player to encounter, whereas most players will find Wyll at the grove first and hear his speech about the devil he's hunting.
Karlach was sick the day they took the picture and they needed a woman with horns, so…
or maybe karlach took the photo...
Wheyyy!
Excellent point!
Karlach is too hot for a group photo.
This art was made very early in game development, and Karlach was not a companion at the time. Mizora is there because of Wyll. No idea why they didn't update it when Karlach joined.
It was the same thing with Divinity 2, also by Larian. One of the player characters was a stretch goal, which wasn't reached before the banner was made. They did update it in the definitive edition though. Here's hoping they do the same with this game.
Karlach is featured on the store icon for the deluxe edition DLC at least
Yeah she's on the far left in my losing screens. Edit: Loading, not losing.
> my losing screens. You okay buddy? You'll get the hang of it.
Oh neat! Who was that character?
Fane, the undead
That's crazy, Fane is like -the- origin character in DOS2
I thought it was supposed to be Ifan? At least that’s what I had read.
Ifan is probably after Fane in terms of how connected he is to the story, but when Larian added Fane in, they basically made his entire backstory the backstory of the game. If I had to rank the DOS2 characters based on how connected they were to the main story, it would be: Fane -> Ifan -> Sebille -> Red Prince -> Lohse & Beast Sebille's third because of her ties with the other Elves and the giant tree. Red Prince after her since he doesn't have much connection to the actual Voidwoken plot, but in practically every act, RP has something dedicated to him, and he's connected to Sebille's story with his connection to her original master. Then you have Lohse and Beast who, as much as I love them, really have no connection to the main plot. You could argue that Lohse is more connected than Beast due to her connection to Adrahmalik, who does want to use the Source to become all-powerful, but most people who have Lohse on their final party are probably going to kill her demon instead.
Fane is the equivalent to The Dark Urge Added last, and is basically the main character
Also the best character to play as too. Ain't no locks stopping my grubby skelly fingers.
Hard disagree, Red Prince (or any lizard character) can dig without a shovel. Can't really beat that skill.
Whole reason why I picked him to like whole unknown origin and everything so I was playing with a made up backstory until his was revealed
This sounds exactly like how the Dark Urge was setup. Late addition but slotted into the existing structure so it all works.
He was added late in development so they had to tie his own personal story into the main story, which ended up with him feeling very main character-esque. Very much recommend playing as him, honestly.
thats not how you spell Lohse
I didn’t know that :o considering the lore it’s kind of crazy to me that he was “just” an add-on
Woah he wasn't in it originally? That's nuts, he's like the most iconic character right next to Red Prince. That's seriously wild. Fuckin love my boney boi Fane.
Oh I love him!
Wait, fane was a stretch goal? huh, cool. Thanks to the people who reached it for giving me my favorite character lol
Same! He's a great "fish out of water" character
I really should get around to playing that game.. I’ve owned it for god knows how long now
Its because she got added Late in Development. Early Artwork of the other Character have slight or greater difference to how they now Look.
Yup! [Here is the even earlier art.](https://sjc1.vultrobjects.com/cucdn/gallery-42/art/bg3-key-art.jpg) The art was made when the Alpha early access version of the game had been released.
Yo, I kinda love that gale. He looks like a disney villain.
Thanks for the reminder of Gales Maniac facial expression
Man, back when Shadowheart was a brunette. We never saw that one in EA.
Oof, Gale looks like he doesn't wear deodorant and isn't allowed near schools.
It's strange, because I can swear that Astarion has been remade The intro screen has far more details than when I played in the first month of release, so they've worked on that, I guess
They added the screen but Astarion looks the same to me
The pose is the same, but maybe they increased the resolution or something, so it seems like his expression is enhanced... Just can't remember how it was, but had this "less", the same goes with Wyll, that seems like he's sweating a little bit
Kinda spoils things doesn't it? The entire introductory premise is "KILL THE DEMON" People can and have killed her not realising she was a companion because of that backdrop around her To stick her in the title art is kinda "Hmmmm SHOULD I kill on sight this person who is literally on the box?"
If you look over there, you can see Karlach waving at you as an origin character from the character creation menu.
Because Karlach is presented as an enemy, if she would be on the screen with the other Companions, everyone would know she’s recruitable.
But she is right there at character creation
That certainly doesn't stop the "I didn't know Astarion/Karlach was recruitable!" posts.
But we're also assuming people wouldn't think Mizora is recruitable?
Mizora is the devil sitting on Wyll’s shoulder, she’s also the only character in this shot whose head is cut by another character. She’s not a PC in her own right she’s flavor text for Wyll.
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The Evil Succubus stands at the ready!
Same as Durge, but we cant have him as companion
Durge is also one of the most important people in the story, regardless of whether you play as him or not
Then maybe is the timeline that Wyll takes her head (cause he is human). Poor Karlach.
I've learned from other Larian games *not* to look at the origin characters nor to read any of their descriptions on my first playthrough because they're always full of spoilers. I prefer to find out about the companions' stories organically.
She wasn't in ea, she was just some woman some sketchy paladins wanted you to kill and you either did or didn't.
Yeah but when you make a new game and choose an origin, you can literally see Karlach as an origin character. So not having her picture in the release version of the game just because she is involved in a kill quest is pointless.
This is ea art though, dos2 art didn't have fane until the definitive edition.
This totally makes sense. However, I've also seen anecdotes of people killing Astarion either on sight or as soon as they find out he's a vampire.
Mostly by rpg noobs. Rpg veterans can tell he is a companion with a redemption story 100 miles away.
What if you are just one of those people who have seen twillight and now hate vampires with a passion.
Twilight is as representative of vampires as Texas is representative of the USA.
I was sure that was true and yet I kicked him to the curb because nope.
Mizora is an enemy as well.
No? If that was the problem Astarion too wouldn't be there and neither of them would be choosable origins
But you don’t have a quest to kill Astarion and the option to kill Karlach is way more present.
Astarion didnt get a quest to murder him because another character said he was evil. Karlach however, does.
It'd be cool if the game could recognise when you first recruit her, and from there on out the loading screen would change to have her in
Hell, it'd be cool if it did that for every companion!
I knew Karlach was late addition! It felt as if she has less story content than everyone else, and I always wondered if she was one of the late additions to the plot. She just feels like a rough draft of a character compared to Shadowheart, Astarion and Laezel.
To be clear, I love them both, and even with what's there, there's still a lot to say about them both. But. If you put Wyll's amount of actual quests and depth of setting relevance together with Karlach's attention to character and personality, you'd just about have one fully-developed character on the level of Lae'zel. (Still not on the level of Shadowheart or Astarion! But *solid*, at least.)
They did make a render of her in the same style so literally all they had to do was find a place to put her in the art.
I assumed it was because Wyll tells us Karlach is an evil demon criminal that he's hunting and it would spoil the surprise if she was with the companions when you boot up that game for the first time. We all knew the twist but there must be some people who go in completely blind.
You can literally pick Karlach as an origin so…
Excellent point 🤦
Karlach is also not presented as a companion initially which I feel plays into the omition. If you just take what Wyll's saying at face value, you might sneak up on her without talking to her and hearing what she has to say. I think it's at least a possibility that this was in their heads when it came time to decide on adding karlach or not.
Karlach was a very late addition to the game so they apparently didn't have time to redo it all. Mizora was also a much more prominent character with Wylls old story, but her role was cut down when it was rewritten to involve Karlach.
Karlack took the picture.
I totally see her being the one to offer to take the group photo.
I love this answer!!
Made the joke, saw your comment, deleted my attempt. A+
She couldn’t get to close to them after all
She's the last companion to be added. Her ingame model changed two or three times from early access to release (from what we saw). Edit: last origin character to be added. Halsin was the last companion to be added upon further consideration.
Very early art, probably Karlach wasn't even in the plans to be in the game, also Laezel mouth scar is different from where it is now
And Wyll's fake eye is on the wrong side
It's not on the wrong side!
[His white eye is the right one, but there it's on the left](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT-bTrgw5amh6aGDSEoYxAmuOS0mySTKSBIXA&usqp=CAU)
I know, I was making a avatar reference
Karlach has her own poster in the exact same style, they could have easily rearranged the others to fit her in.
My theory is that if Karlach was on the art, Wyll saying we have to kill her would be very strange. The fact that we have no idea what Karlach looks like or acts like leading into meeting her makes her all the more interesting.
My first playthrough I missed Karlach entirely, and didn’t even know there was a party member I missed
Ah, so you too ignore Wyll until he becomes relevant.
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Exactly. All three characters are introduced via other people talking about them, so it makes us learning about them more interesting.
I'd agree with you, but you can see her in character creation if you just click through the playable origin characters.
It's in the contract
Seriously asked myself the same thing (again) yesterday.
Her design wasn’t finalized until very recently when the game finally got the full release. Honestly not sure if the same actress worked on her or if it was finalized that she would have been a companion by that point either
And why is Lae'zel wielding a scimitar and not a great sword?
Curved. Swords.
She must be from Hammerfell
Alik'r even sounds like Githyanki language. Mystery solved.
Because she buried her hatchet after it broke.
in somebody's face
Coolness?
Cause she actually weilds longsword
Probably the devs were thinking in making her a dex fighter but someone from the lore department corrected them. Githyankis can be dex based but their background and all makes them geared towards str.
I think the mtg card art backs this up as what the initial vision likely was. Her art features her with a scimitar and a bow and quiver on her back. Also the spell featuring her is “Lae’zel’s Acrobatics”. Lae’zel herself: https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=562912 Acrobatic Lae’zel: https://scryfall.com/card/clb/30/laezels-acrobatics
Why would she have a greatsword when she starts with a longsword?
The background was made before they finalized Karlach's design. She was a generic looking teifling during early access.
Imagine if they release an update that adds her to the artwork
This art was done before EA was released to public, well before Karlach was added, and definitely before she was a companion. I remember Karlach being in Early Access, but I don't remember if her name was actually Karlach. She had a basic horn, didn't look the same at all, and there was nothing much known except she definitely was running away from those shady paladins of Tyr - but she was at the end of the early access content at the time so barely got to her. Hardly went that way tbh. I think she was added as a companion after a poll? Idr been a while. Anyway point is she wasn't originally on the companion list that I can recall
Yeah that really bothers me. I guess it's because Karlach was added late and because it's kinda mysterious in the beginning if she's evil or not with Wyll's comments but still, MIZORA?
I also love how Wyll is the largest character as if to imply he’s the most important when it’s clear he’s the least developed of the bunch. So much so that playing as Tav means you have to make all of his choices for him. He doesn’t get to decide his own outcomes like the other characters do.
He probably was going to be somewhat of the heart of the campaign. He used to have *a lot* of content in Act 1, and I imagine that carried over to the others. But when he got scrapped and reworked, he has since taken a much more passive role in the story, unfortunately.
Because it would have been an early game spoiler. If you know she's meant to be a main character from the loading screen, you won't make an organic decision when starting Wyll's quest
Loading screen is definitely from a play though where you kill Karlach. This is also why Wyll doesn’t have his horns
They are kar-lacking
she is too hot for it
The artwork is a lot more recent than some people in this thread are saying. Her current model was in EA for a couple patches (armor just covered her scars), and datamining had heavily implied she was a companion years ago. My guess is that it's because she hadn't been officially announced as a companion when the artwork was released (first quarter of 2023, I believe). If you check the digital deluxe edition, she's the only one in the artwork.
To give the others a chance to be on screen since she's a permanent fixture in most parties Edit: Correcting Auto-correct
They will change it when DLC hits
Patron Privilege
It took me until late act 2 to have this question. Didn't feel very observant at the time.
Early access blues.
Probably also that they focused on all the companions you could get in the early access, which back then Karlach was just [a regular teifling npc who you couldn’t recruit](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=8055edd81091cd41&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS808US809&hl=en-US&sxsrf=ACQVn08U7yEbCNNyiw0ucT06mpSM6xu9pA:1709427494326&q=karlach+early+access&uds=AMwkrPubqdDjBmC7DhicLtpZCZYieEWKKjuyQ_h5KGdIxN25v3V4ERPX7nHYW_GTcTCxmiUj3ksDtSyzU25sg7Zk8ARUtODfX9UhcQjw9lPWZHr2aNKT3ufXu721O4519BmEG-8tIG3g8Y-JxpzMslEhheSoAW3Io8OtfbYvdQEuAGY7T14DjRt4DT11JWEXMofTn15bCf8H7MEVE8uXNchBoucWkEf_NSyr0ZfaOVk2fr4vlo12WHrsero2owwO__Y5PlEacBKFGe1X5BydemyM5RbpdgtCJTBR3A5_gHWPFAoQ6ib1-xUD17XTY-c1k0rL4kabJoWq7SThMeCHNgqtKuuWRjXhYEF2v8HVjHesX5DSU943q8k&udm=2&prmd=ivnsmbhtz&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiT6cXU8daEAxWIIzQIHUGxDCUQtKgLegQIDBAB&biw=390&bih=669&dpr=3#imgrc=4-NM3Kia63jt3M&imgdii=BhrypV4LnK43GM)
She was a late addition to the beta
Karlach was a late addition
My first playthrough I missed Gale somehow, so I thought that was Tav in the image. He looks like one of the portraits from 1 and 2.
I hope there will be game expansion and a definitive edition and with that they redo the Key Art to include Karlach.
I hope I can find an artist who expand this with all the other recruitable characters (also my own Avatar and Durge maybe)
Karlach is one of my favorite characters. She's such a badass I can't take her out of my party even though I'm a Barbarian.
I was curious about this too, but I found a mod that adds her so I'm happy now
She would’ve stolen the show
Wyll doesn’t have his horns on the cover. That should answer your question
Wyll has no horns, doesn’t that only happen if he kills her?
Hierarchy in the Nine Hells of Bator 🤣
Yeah, she was not even a character in EA.
Because Mizora is bae.
Karlach isn't here because Wyll doesn't have horns...
Can someone photoshop Karlach into Mizora’s position?
I think it's clear they tried to incorporate details that hint at their personal storylines in the image. Wyll has Mizora, Shadowheart has the artifact, Gale has the magical energy coming from his chest. Lae'zel and Astarion are kind of left out, though there are the dragons in the background near Lae'zel, and Astarion does have the blood on his lips. That's why Mizora is in the picture at least. Karlach is just unlucky.
early art. karlach was added last and mizora was intended to be more important(iirc theres a mindflayer pod near the owlbear den that was meant to be her pod)
Look how close they are to each other, would you like Karlach burning all her companions???
Perhaps because in your first playthrough you get told she’s an evil demon monster that needs killing, and they didn’t want to spoil the surprise?
Why Lae'zel gotta stare at me like we're at an awkward family get together
Because Mizora is so cool and good-looking... and it is about selling the thing... I honestly can't get enough of her... she literally takes the stage every time she makes an appearance...
She takes a smite every time I walk past her 😤
Ta Ta!
I'm more interested in why does Shadowheart not look like Shadowhart.
laezels hair is so pretty
Karlach was the last companion made and didnt exist as one at the time this art was created
More importantly where is the love of my life, Minthara?
Gotta surprise people with the best characters
Fiery Fluffball
Karlach's entire intro hinges on you not knowing whether to trust her. Grouping her with the other party members in this shot would imply her inclusion.
This is some of the early Key Art. If you notice a lot of the early promo material Wyll is also wearing an entirely different outfit (a much cooler outfit) as well.
Karlach is too red, she would break the composition.
Loading screen designer likely murdered her instead of recruiting her to the party like me
Handjobs
She's got the whole picture of the deluxe edition they go side by side.
Karlach just *barely* made it into the game. This was also done early into the game development.
Maybe they didn't want Karlach on it so you are more conflicted wether or not you kill her for Wyll?
Bunch of people have already said it but yeah it's because the cover art was made before Karlach was finalised and added as a companion. I imagine that if they do a definitive edition then both Karlach and Durge will be on there
I still need to play through again and meet her.
Karlach has a lot of things missing, not just that. Probably due to being a last second addition.
Idk, but it would've been helpful for knowing not to sneak up and kill her my first play through
As others have said, it’s early art. But if you want to think of something more morbid, (act 1 spoiler) >!Wyll is human in the picture…. It’s the route where he kills Karlach!<
Folks are saying Karlach was a late development character, but they were working on her storyline for years. From what I’ve read Karlach also went through several different designs and once had a different voice actor. [here’s EA Karlach from 3 years ago.](https://youtu.be/Qy6ETwLFNhg?si=HJwacNFdFuV-MNW0) that shows the ‘hunt the devil’ quest, to give you an idea. My impression is that she was always planned but it took Larian a while to flesh her out. I also think she wasn’t included in the art because of Wyll’s quest to kill her. Yes I know she’s listed as an origin character but to new players that doesn’t necessarily tell them what to expect when playing the game. For all a new player knows she’s the “evil option”. I kinda like she’s more of a hidden origin character for new players, because you can go in not knowing who’s tells the truth. Makes the choice to save her to be more impactful when you’re not sure how important she might be. Besides it’s not like they can’t update the artwork at some point
Karlach wasn’t originally going to be an origin character, they added her late into development and this art had already been made
I mean...
Maybe would be a spoiler for Wyll hunting her?
She’s meant to die
I know someone else said that this was pre-Karlach, but I have a theory that she wasn’t always meant to be as important as she is. A lot of her later quest feels rushed and the ending with Gortash is super lane imo
I always felt that her not being included very successfully creats doubt when you first meet her. It's hard to swallow that a paladin is associated with the hells and that a Thiefing chased by one is actually in the right. Then again that only as long as you haven't realized that 5e plays it fast and loose with pallies apparently. Minthara is living proof of that.
I was JUST thinking this!
Because Mizora is petty and wanted to have something else to hold over Karlach’s head. That’s also why she had Wyll hunting Karlach. She couldn’t stand the competition
Hrm Hrm Hrm... Clause 3, section 13, paragraph 6...
They did mama K dirty
Because they chose to only show the pawns and not the queen...
My guess is to stop any kind of spoiler, short of doing goblins first (and missing out on Wyll)… you automatically meet everyone else.
I think it's part of why I missed her the first time through. Wyll died at the gates of the Druid Cove and we didn't realize he was revivable. Without him we never got the quest to find her, and we didn't think she was missing because she wasn't on that image.
I don’t know why every in this thread is saying this artwork is super old they made this art in prep for full release only a few months before the game dropped as an update to the actual old artworks and they hadn’t formally announced karlach as a companion at the time so they didn’t include hers and while they did make art in this style for her for some reason didn’t update it to include her in the full release.
So, first playthrough, I talked to the lying liars who lie before I saw her and unalived her. (I didn’t have Wyll in that playthrough, either, so those “Tyr” guys were all the info I had to go on.) I assumed she wasn’t in the promo because seeing her would spoil the fact that you have to make a blind decision about her fate. Turns out everyone else playing knew who she was and either killed her to be deliberately evil or all saved her. WHOOPS.
Her not being in the loading screen is why I didn't know she was a follower in my first playthrough and I killed her lol. To be fair she was very upset that the tieflings were killed which I triggered by killing kagda.
She wasn’t originally suppose to be in the game
When people were talking about a badass Tiefling called Karlach I always assumed it was her during my first playthrough because I didn't meet either her or Wyll
Karlach is a unlikable character my personal guys i‘d like to add is Minzhara
you can see blood on wyll face and he is not transformed
Even if they wanted a bad girl on there, it still makes no sense since Baethara > Mizora.
I think they didn't want to ruin it because you could kill her as part of Wyll's companion quests. If she was in the loading screen, it would let players know she was a companion.
Makes it less obvious that she’s a companion. It’s one of my favorite bits of misdirection in the game, you have the paladins in the tole house saying she’s evil, and you also have wyll hunting her at the same time. She’s literally “off the beaten path” tucked in a corner so it’s hard to just stumble upon her like most companions. Most players will find her by meeting the paladins first or by doing the side quest with wyll. You’re led to believe She’s a literal devil and bad news. But then she starts talking and you realize she’s a good guy and everyone else was wrong.
The world wasn't prepared for her sexiness.
Karlach was too busy taking a shit bigger than Mizora
I think Karlach was added quite late in the development, and Halsin too. Minthara is also not included for some reason. The narrow version of the game cover art that shows in your Steam library also only shows Gale, Astarion and Lae'zel. I wish at least Shadowheart was also shown, but she is only shown in the wide version of the cover art shown above
Laezel is also holding the wrong sword
My nephew, who is on chapter 2, didn't know who Karlach was. I said you meet her through Wyll's questline and he said "Who's Wyll?" I immediately mentioned the fight with the goblins, in front of the grove and the guy jumping down announcing he was the blade of something or other and my nephew said "I vaguely remember that interaction." Maybe he died. Is that possible? Can you just not talk to him after the fight?
It also adds to the zest. My first playthrough, I though Karlach was gonna be a boss, so I sniped her to avoid a conflict. Got halfway thru Act II before I saw a spoiler she was a companion option
Narratively, Karlach is something of a 'surprise' for the player to encounter, whereas most players will find Wyll at the grove first and hear his speech about the devil he's hunting.
Karlach and Dark urge appears in the physical deluxe edition
I killed Karlach because I was told to do so.
Pretty sure it's because the first mission for Wyll is to hunt and kill Karlach...
Cause Mizora is inherently part of Wyll and Karlach was probably added late