Forget Karlach and Shadowheart, my new favourite Baldur's Gate 3 pairing is this delusional fan romance with zero supporting evidence

pcgamer.com:

«We were robbed,» boldly states a post on the Baldur's Gate 3 subreddit, one that inexplicably has over 13,000 upvotes. «We were cheated,» cries its sister. Both show Withers, everyone's favourite respec zombie, hastily added into a fancam-style montage with Raphael, a devilish antagonist.

Despite Tinkerpopp's insistence that you can get this 'ending' with «high enough deception to convince Withers that Raphael wants sloppy toppy» (I read that, so you have to as well), this is obviously achieved with mods. I recognise Wyll's ballroom dancing cutscene in there, among a few others—pieced together like the world's worst ransom letter.

The edits themselves really are something. Styling themselves in the vein of dramatic tic-tocs made by pining fans with big dreams of their favourite character's hidden love-lives, they show Raphael and Withers dancing around each other as lovers entwining, kissing under the moonlight, and resting beneath the stars. Don't think about what's implied about the end of the video below. That way lies madness.

Something got into the water over the weekend, clearly. This most unexpected of Baldur's Gate 3 ships comes from user Tinkerpopp, whose hobby seems to be making fun Baldur's Gate 3 edits like this one of Karlach dunking on Gortash, Smash Bros style.

I'm aware that trying to rationalise this thing is like trying to understand fifth-dimensional space, the concept of infinity, or Cyberpunk 2077's vehicle physics. I doubt I'll reach a conclusion that makes any kind of sense, but I can at least give you a better understanding of why this pairing is so thoroughly out of left field by delving into these unlikely star-crossed lovers' lore. Spoilers for Raphael and Withers' character arcs abound below.