If you have played Baldur's Gate 3, you will know Karlach. She's the tall and muscular barbarian you can recruit to your party, and she certainly casts an imposing figure. But while she may look intimidating, there is a softer side to Karlach that, combined with a rather wicked sense of humour, makes her an endearing character.

Karlach was brought to life by actor Samantha Béart, and I got the chance to sit down with them at this year's Gamescom to find out more about what this role has meant not only to them, but to the Baldur's Gate 3 community in general.

Below, we discuss everything, from their first auditions in 2020, to Karlach's hellish humour and the deeper meaning behind it, before finding out what's next for Béart.

Samantha Béart on their audition, and finding out they got the part

"Around the beginning of lockdown, so 2020, I was asked to audition for mocap roles in a fantasy game - which I have video for and maybe one day will release - from planeswalker to devilkin, and I was like, 'when Wizards finds out, they're going to be so maaad'," Béart laughs as they look back at the very beginning of their Karlach journey. "So, there was an attempt at hiding what [Baldur's Gate 3] actually was."

Béart initially auditioned for a character known as Kayra ("or something similar to that"), who was described as being small and wiry. Kayra was worried about her mistress, and wanted to redeem her, Béart recalls, noting she was a different character to the one they are now known for. Obviously, Béart did not get the job, and thought they were "going to be the only person in the UK that wasn't going to be in Baldur's Gate 3", as by now they knew others who were already a part of the development.

However a little while later, they were a part of indie game The Excavation of Hob's Barrow. For their part as Thomasina Bateman, Béart was long-listed for a BAFTA Games Award in the category of Performer in a Leading Role, and this caught the attention of Larian.

"Someone from Larian was very nice about my performance," Béart tells me, "so I slid into the DMs and thought, 'if you are going to make a wish, make it very, very specific', which isn't 'if there is anything I can do in this game, I'll do it', because that's how you become merchant number 72.

"So, I said, 'if there are any significantly large roles left, which there are probably not because you are in the last couple of years, let me know'. And, it turns out that there was, and she was called Karlach."

Béart auditioned for the role from their home, and within two days was called in to PitStop - the studio where Baldur's Gate 3 audio and mocap was recorded - for a recall, where they auditioned again. Within less than 48 hours from their recall, Béart had landed the part of Karlach, and things were about to change forever.

Samantha Béart on finding Karlach's voice

By the time Béart had been cast as Karlach it was 2022, and many of the other Baldur's Gate 3 actors had already been part of the project for some time. In fact, they were already recording for acts two and three. This meant Béart had to catch up with act one of the game, though they said this was fine as it was largely for the early access version. But, how did they actually prepare for the role?

"One doesn't really get to prepare for game roles, unfortunately," they laugh. "Things are tied up in NDAs and also, games are so big! They could have given me the entire script of Baldur's Gate 3, but I think I would have said 'no thank you, I'm terrified'. And, also, you know, it's on an excel spreadsheet. It's not nicely in order. Also, how do you do branching narratives in text?"

However, Larian wrote a summary of Karlach explaining who she would be today and who she once was, and Béart also saw artwork of their Baldur's Gate 3 character. "Because it was mocap and voice simultaneously, it reminded me a lot of theatre, with what they call Black Box. You have to imagine the space you're in. You've not got the props, or other people," Béart furthers. "It was about a technique, learning the rules of it, and so I'd look at the text in advance as much as I could, and then it was about setting the body, and the voice came finally. You don't want to lock yourself into something too early on."

Béart knew that Karlach had to sound more "working class" than perhaps other characters ("imagine if she was really posh - Oh fuck, yah!," Béart jokes), stating that most of the accents in Baldur's Gate 3 were to be from the south of England, which "narrowed it right down" [they then jokingly begin roleplaying Karlach as if she had been more of a cockney goblin-type. While incredibly funny, it doesn't quite work for the part].

Karlach as we know her now ultimately turned out to be "a little Gordon Ramsay" with her speech. "He drops his consonants, but his vowels are quite RP [received pronunciation]," Béart explains. "That's what I did for Karlach. I loosened up the consonant by concentrating on the vowels."

Of course, while Béart portrayed Karlach, the character is the result of a collaboration between multiple parties. "It goes through a testing pipeline, it is playtested with people from Larian and the public," Béart says. "They did change direction with the character quite a bit, she was a bit of an edgelord to begin with and then they made her very funny at one point, and had to bring her back in a bit," they laugh.

I ask Béart if they ever improvised a scene, to which they say it was less about improv and more about playing with interpretations. "I would maybe do the opposite of what someone was expecting, or throw a line away that seemed significant," they explain. "That seems to me to give her more power, because she's seen this before. She's spent so many years in Hell, you know, she's seen people get tricked… there's all that advice she gives because she's lived it.

"I sort of threw a lot of that away in terms of delivery, because it's casual to her."

Samantha Béart on the source of Karlach's humour

While Karlach may perhaps not be as funny as she once was at one point during Baldur's Gate 3's development, there is no denying she is still a very funny character. But her humour comes from a dark place.

"Very early on I figured, for me, the whole character is all wrapped around this nameless trauma until she has to face it (no spoilers)," Béart says, adding they appreciate it is often those who have been through the most that are the ones who present with the most humour. "I've known folks in the military, I know people with PTSD. I know the funniest people are the ones you have to watch sometimes," they say.

"Some of the funniest people I know are very traumatised and they just make jokes until they don't… Karlach makes very flippant, throwaway comments, you know. She's seen everything. She's done everything.

"Until that falls away and the truth comes out."

Samantha Béart on escaping the day to day grind

Prior to getting the part of Karlach, Béart had a full time job in IT which they were still going to 9-5, meaning their work on Baldur's Gate 3 was mostly done on weekends or in the evening.

"Karlach was such a great escape," Béart laughs, while looking back at that time. "The day job was really depressing. I was an IT consultant and I figured my job wasn't to fix things but to find things we could consult for - it felt like a bit of a scam. I felt like I wasn't making a positive difference, and then to play this character who's got so little in her life and is getting so much out of what she's given.

"It was just joyful."

Samantha Béart on a personal Baldur's Gate 3 highlight you might have missed

Baldur's Gate 3 is a huge game. Before it was even released, Larian made reference to a whopping 17,000 ending variations, with the game described as a "big spider web". Of course, this means players will probably miss quite a bit that has been tucked away by the team, and this is true for one particular bit of Karlach dialogue Béart is quite fond of.

"If you play as Origin Karlach - and you absolutely should [laughs] - she talks to herself with dialogue you won't get in the main game," Béart says. "There is a scene where she is on her own in camp, and she starts thinking about all the things she wants to get up to that she didn't get up to in the last 10 years." In case you were unaware, Karlach spent the 10 years prior to Baldur's Gate 3 in Hell, before escaping with nothing but the axe on her back and the infernal engine that sits where her heart once was.

"That was really fun, but it is really well hidden," Béart says of this moment. "Of course when I played it, I streamed it and went straight to that scene and went 'Look!!!!'"

Samantha Béart on the reaction to Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate 3 released two years ago, and quickly became a huge hit which was (and still is) beloved by many. Béart has since been able to get out and meet fans at conventions, which is something they have loved being able to do, especially after the various lockdowns. But, it's the fan reactions to the game that have truly meant most to them.

"Baldur's Gate 3 and the characters mean so much to people, you know. Even the things you may think of as being quite silly. People have been like 'I was having a bad time and you were there for me'. That's always going to mean something to them," Béart reflects. "It's also got people who have never played games into video games, it's got folks into TTRPGs… there's so much out there and the community are finding each other. It's all rather wholesome and sweet"

"Certainly the folks that come to me, they're just wonderful people," they continue warmly. "And they're very smart, with fascinating backgrounds. I've met all sorts of people, from therapists who use D&D in role-playing scenarios because it gets people to open up, to soldiers with PTSD. They'll give me their challenge medals now, because of what Karlach meant to them.

"I've known folks in the military, I know people with PTSD. I know the funniest people are the ones you have to watch sometimes."

"It's so humbling. It's not why you go into this job. You want to entertain, and maybe make people think about stuff, but it doesn't normally strike them so deeply in their hearts. It's a very privileged position to be in."

Béart believes you really can't ask for better than hearing that something you have helped create has had such a profound effect on someone's wellbeing. "Baldur's Gate 3 has occupied the last two years of my life, and it is wonderful that it's such an incredible piece of art, and I get to live and breathe it every day," they smile. "It's allowed me to communicate with and congregate with fellow nerds both as a consumer and as a member of the industry."

Samantha Béart on what they have learned playing Karlach

"I think I've learned to trust my instincts more thanks to playing Karlach," Béart muses when I ask what they will take forward from their Baldur's Gate 3 experience. "Actually, a lot of the time we would use the first take because it was just a little unfamiliar, it sounded like the first time I was saying it, whereas maybe the second or third it was a bit polished. So, just to trust my instincts, and don't second guess.

"Any art, really, you've got to make that for you. I think that's the secret. What's interesting about you is your interpretation. It's not you trying to please people, it's not you trying to anticipate what people want. That's not to say don't be directable or hard to work with [laughs], but give it a go.

"Don't suppress that instinct that you have."

Samantha Béart on what's next

Béart is now working on their next projects, one of which is a puzzle game known as Fading Echo, where they play a character known as One. "She has gravity defying blue hair, and she has a habit of turning into a blob of water to solve things," they tell me. "We're about to go into playtesting for that."

They've also got Absolum, a beat 'em up roguelike coming out in October, and "plenty more to come". Stay tuned!

Samantha Béart's message to the Baldur's Gate 3 community

"Karlach can be a lesson in 'what do we do when it's unfair' [and] who are we," Béart replies when I ask them what they would tell the Baldur's Gate 3 community now. "The reason Karlach is such a great character is because it's asking what you will do with your life. That's her character for me.

"Karlach has nothing and she has decided to react in the way she is reacting, and that's the centre of stoicism, it's the centre of modern therapy. You know, change the things you can change and don't worry about the things you can't.

"And that really was so at the heart of that character."