Thank You For This, I Have Been Arguing With Too Many People Who Insisted That The Ritual Ruined Their

Thank you for this, I have been arguing with too many people who insisted that the ritual ruined their 'pure uwu misunderstood baby' for far too long, what do you mean he's just traumatized and ALL of his dastardly evil deeds are cazador's fault?

Astarion ALWAYS been evil since DAY ONE, even before he was a vampire this man is a corrupt judge. He's the wealthy 1 percenter that tumblrina will hate if they meet him also he's racist af

If BG3 is dragon age astarion, yes even spawn astarion WILL NOT survive the discourse...

I love him but come on, if you want a good man, please romance Wyll

I might get some hate for this but I think people give the rite of profane ascension a little too much credit. All it did was amplify that which was already there. All the possessiveness, the theatric demeanor, the strange coping mechanisms, that's all Astarion. He had those traits already. The rite didn't have a personality baked in that possessed Astarion once it was completed. If you had finished the rite instead, it would act differently.

Astarion, after getting unfathomable power is going to do the one thing he knows he can. Be the biggest prick on the sword coast lol. He thinks himself untouchable now so he's going to rub it in the face of anyone in the vicinity.

Something else I find really interesting. When not romancing Astarion it is MUCH easier to talk him down from going through with it. Alot of his desire to complete the ritual comes from fear of losing the one person he cares for. So the ritual corrupts that too and turns it into possessiveness. It was already there. He's so afraid of losing you that he does the vampiric equivalent of a marriage and now you both have a mind link along with the one from the tadpole. (Lots of interesting stuff about vampiric spouses in DnD lore that explains alot of what happens and what Astarion views the relationship as) The vampiric spouses happiness becomes everything. He dotes on them.

"Ask me anything, and it will be yours".

But he also establishes a clear dom/sub type dynamic. I think because it's what he has known the most and is also maybe a liiiiiitle drunk off the power still. Which isn't everyone's cup of tea. So post ritual Astarion can quickly become very uncomfortable for people. But it's not necessarily "new" or Cazadors personality baked into the ritual. He has always had the potential to be like this. Even without killing over 7000 people. That's what makes his character analysis so fascinating. A!A and spawn Astarion are so detailed and well written and analysing them both just makes me realise how much work was put into these companions.

One more thing I'd like to mention. Aside from the occasional difference in wording or his greetings, most of his voice lines are exactly the same. It's still Astarion. And of course this is due to resource management but I also think it works as being intentional as well. He's still in there. He's just really lost in the power sauce at the moment.

Is ascended Astarion the "better" ending? Objectively, no. I think almost every companion has an arc where lust for power or blind devotion becomes their downfall. Even Durge! It's what makes them such compelling characters.

"For one, DnD vampires completely lose their humanity and themselves."

SPAWN ARE VAMPIRES. You cannot use the classic dnd rule of all vampires have no humanity for bg3 because otherwise spawn astarion wll be a heartless monster too, i feel like people who insist that spawns are not vampires are the people who cannot admit they like a bastard out of fear fandom might judge their moral

I don't care if you prefer ascended Astarion but to say that's his happy ending is ridiculous!

For one, DnD vampires completely lose their humanity and themselves. The thing they desired in life (or even as a spawn) will always become an unhealthy obsession that they can never satisfy. Astarion desired safety over anything else, if he ascends he will chase after safety for the rest of his existence and nothing he does will ever actually make him feel safe. He's also genuinely incapable of love.

Also, the game makes it so painfully clear that it's his bad ending when he's actually ascended:

You can READ HIS MIND and hear that he thinks tav is desperate and stupid for loving him because he will never return that love; he sees them as a possession

He is constantly talking about owning tav and showing them off in ways that are, quite frankly, really creepy and gross

He also talks about how he wants tav to be completely obedient to him

THERE WAS A WHOLE UPDATE WITH NEW KISSES ADDED TO SHOW THE WEIRD POWER DYNAMIC HE CREATES, HE'S ABUSIVE AND POSSESSIVE AF

If you don't ascend him he thanks you for not letting him go through with it because he was just caught up in the moment and that is not what he actually wants

Of course, play the game however you want and enjoy what you enjoy. But if you think for a single minute that ascending Astarion is his ideal ending and he won't just become the next Cazador and tav the next Astarion, you're missing the entire point of his story. If you're going to play a tragedy, enjoy it for being tragic instead of pretending its a quirky dArK rOmAnCe story. Romanticizing abuse ain't cute

Thank you so much @thanomluk for this piece! I LOVE IT <3

What I see when I look at Ascended Astarion:

What other people see when they look at ascended Astarion:

What I see when I look at ascended Astarion:

Ascended Astarion holding his Consort's cute face! :3

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1855819

My favorite canon detail about batstarion is that in the epilogue, when he's in that form and comes out of it, he does so very gracefully with a twirl. But if you just click on him to talk to him in bat form, he has the same animation you get as a druid getting out of wild shape. That lumbery, sort of clumsy transformation back into humanoid form.

Like he was caught off guard and didn't have time to transform back in the graceful way he likes. I could see him fussing and pouting over it. "Don't distract me in bat form! >:C"

idk I just think that's really funny and cute.