EA's Backstory: Blinking Red On The Back.The Character's Own Image Is As Dark As Egypt.I've Been In The

EA's backstory: blinking red on the back. The character's own image is as dark as Egypt. I've been in the vampire theme for years too - and I've stopped being surprised by their cruelty and possessiveness. I always try to evaluate characters in a philosophical way, not psychological. Especially I rarely evaluate vampires in psychological terms. Because they are fantastic creatures they have their own rules. It gives you the freedom to think outside the limits of human consciousness and morality.

It's not clear how much DnD5 and vampirism warping work for spawns in BG3. Astarion makes zero effort to fight it anyways. Well, or for Tav's sake, yeah, he's starting to, he's got a "redemption" arc, after all. It has enough "Monster" in it from the beginning. He's not so Louis. Just look at this

Astarion was thinking less liberate, more dominate.

To the Ascended, it shows everything openly, more powerfully. The volcano is awake. Every time someone calls Astarion a monster:

You're not a monster,' I said. But I lied. What I really wanted to say was that a monster is not such a terrible thing to be. From the Latin root monstrum, a divine messenger of catastrophe, then adapted by the Old French to mean an animal of myriad origins: centaur, griffin, satyr. To be a monster is to be a hybrid signal, a lighthouse: both shelter and warning at once.

― Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Thinking about how Astarion constantly blames Cazador for taking things away (the eye color he forgot, the reflection he doesn't have, for turning him into a vampire) but it's like... it was his own choice to become a spawn. He makes it out to be as if he was given no choice - not true. Vampire lore is known in Baldur's Gate and I will assume here (and build on this) that it was known 200 years ago as well. With that logic - Astarion knew perfectly well what becoming a vampire will entail if not what will being a spawn to a vampire lord will.

So no, Cazador didn't take things from Astarion, he gave them up willingly for immortality and then didn't like that Cazador didn't pamper him like a spoiled brat. Vampires are evil aligned in dnd, it's a fact, Astarion must've known that it's not going to be wine and roses if he signs up and yet he still did. What that says about who he was before becoming a spawn? Quite a bit but that's not what I'm talking about here.

Point is - Astarion rarely takes any accountability for being a vampire, for choosing to be a vampire and blames everyone and everything for his own choices. Cazador didn't take away things, Astarion surrendered them. How Astarion is presented to Tav is through a very human lens and that's why he succeeds making people hate Cazador. But I have been fan of vampires since I was a little kid, my perspective is simply this - he is pathetic as a spawn, he rebels after he doesn't like what he himself signed up for and when he gets punished for it he again blames Cazador for doing what a vampire lord just... simply does - manages his spawn to keep them in toe. Yes, Cazador is awful even by vampiric standards but it just shows that he's not a great leader of his coven lol. Maybe he's only this much sadistic because he has no other way to control the spawn. But I digress.

My point is - whole sob story Astarion presents and that so many fans eat right out of his palm is him refusing to take accountability for his own choices. And that's why ascension is something he desires and will achieve if not talked out of by Tav (with a dice roll when helping him right away requires none of that iirc). He wants power and he wants freedom and again, by vampire standards he's just getting what every vampire desires, there's no amorality involved because morals are already shady at best for vampires as a whole. The whole discourse about Astarion ascending or not literally only comes from human houlier-than-thou attitudes and ignoring that yes, Astarion is an awful person from the very beginning. I mean who attacks you with a fucking knife when you have your back turned? Even Lae'zel faces you upfront. Who attacks you in the night for blood instead of talking? His excuse is lame too "oh you would've staked me" and finding him bent over tav's sleeping form with horrible intentions would not lead to that? You even have an option to stake him several times during the whole scene. He's deceptive, manipulative and he will weasel and lie in every interaction to protect himself. He's not your little meow meow or whatever, he's a vampire. And Astarion himself says that he would trust a devil over a vampire any day.

So all the girlies who think Astarion is this cuddly prince that suddenly becomes a monster the moment he's allowed to become who he always was meant to be just get a reality check. He isn't changed, he's just showing his true colors and finally coming into power that he craved for so long (not ascension per se, just power in general and ascension gives him ultimate power). Does he deserve it - that's another matter. But he craves it and needs it. To quote Astarion himself: "Because those with power can do whatever the Hells they want."

And he's right.

Twat-Soul my beloved <3 Nere things

Please, people, Astarion wasn't even written as a complete victim. Digital Artbook As far as I know it's " inactual", but it's go with the xbox in physical form. And I want to reason in a different vector. Astarion Decadent and Dangerous Two hundred years ago, Astarion was a corrupt elite of Baldur’s Gate with a taste for power and a hunger for eternal life.

Swen said 3 years ago about Astarion: „A disgraced nobleman who used his position as a local magistrate to serve a vampire clan by feeding them prisoners, he was eventually too corrupt even for them and was effectively sent to serve as the personal slave of a powerful vampire.” Let's omit it, because there's not much about it. But it happened once Artbook only. When a character you have a taste for eternal life - it's already a signal that he's not very heroic. Eternal life - more often than not has a big cost. Astarion was no fool not to realize that. And since he was corrupted - I'm sure he understood it perfectly well. That's why he contacted the vampire clan. And fell very painfully. The game is silent about his past now. (Maybe because Astarion as a magistrate couldn't get realized in the game without the Upper City) But if you start questioning the little vampire you suddenly become… "victim blaming" Heavens, no, not this again. The man is literally immoral, which is what Neil was talking about, too. He sold prisoners in the middle ages of fantasy, they either rotted in prison or awaited execution. But this act is not the kindest thing in the world. It's a dark gray character. You act like a bastard, but there's an even bigger bastard on top of you. And you either 1 - learn the "morally correct" lesson, or 2 - you seek to gain even more power, reinforcing your beliefs that power and strength will allow you to do whatever you want, and no one will dare to make a peep in your way. And 2 does make sense, because to me that's literally the meaning of Dark Fantasy - the dangerous world, the genre itself: an atmosphere of horror and dread. I guess you must to swear on blood that you are considering a character with this information - to say anything other than dogma. If the player wants his castle and power - Astarion approves this in Act 3 successfully too. He's a fictional vampire, you can say about him however you want and from whatever point of view you want.

Astarion was well aware always that power was a fun tool to have. That's why he was a Magistrate, it's still in the game.

We must have ONE evil male character for the "evil path" in this game, who is truly "Evil" in himself (among other things), deep inside, meaning he wants to take power, pleasure and kill on his own. That's Astarion.

Thinking about how Astarion constantly blames Cazador for taking things away (the eye color he forgot, the reflection he doesn't have, for turning him into a vampire) but it's like... it was his own choice to become a spawn. He makes it out to be as if he was given no choice - not true. Vampire lore is known in Baldur's Gate and I will assume here (and build on this) that it was known 200 years ago as well. With that logic - Astarion knew perfectly well what becoming a vampire will entail if not what will being a spawn to a vampire lord will.

So no, Cazador didn't take things from Astarion, he gave them up willingly for immortality and then didn't like that Cazador didn't pamper him like a spoiled brat. Vampires are evil aligned in dnd, it's a fact, Astarion must've known that it's not going to be wine and roses if he signs up and yet he still did. What that says about who he was before becoming a spawn? Quite a bit but that's not what I'm talking about here.

Point is - Astarion rarely takes any accountability for being a vampire, for choosing to be a vampire and blames everyone and everything for his own choices. Cazador didn't take away things, Astarion surrendered them. How Astarion is presented to Tav is through a very human lens and that's why he succeeds making people hate Cazador. But I have been fan of vampires since I was a little kid, my perspective is simply this - he is pathetic as a spawn, he rebels after he doesn't like what he himself signed up for and when he gets punished for it he again blames Cazador for doing what a vampire lord just... simply does - manages his spawn to keep them in toe. Yes, Cazador is awful even by vampiric standards but it just shows that he's not a great leader of his coven lol. Maybe he's only this much sadistic because he has no other way to control the spawn. But I digress.

My point is - whole sob story Astarion presents and that so many fans eat right out of his palm is him refusing to take accountability for his own choices. And that's why ascension is something he desires and will achieve if not talked out of by Tav (with a dice roll when helping him right away requires none of that iirc). He wants power and he wants freedom and again, by vampire standards he's just getting what every vampire desires, there's no amorality involved because morals are already shady at best for vampires as a whole. The whole discourse about Astarion ascending or not literally only comes from human houlier-than-thou attitudes and ignoring that yes, Astarion is an awful person from the very beginning. I mean who attacks you with a fucking knife when you have your back turned? Even Lae'zel faces you upfront. Who attacks you in the night for blood instead of talking? His excuse is lame too "oh you would've staked me" and finding him bent over tav's sleeping form with horrible intentions would not lead to that? You even have an option to stake him several times during the whole scene. He's deceptive, manipulative and he will weasel and lie in every interaction to protect himself. He's not your little meow meow or whatever, he's a vampire. And Astarion himself says that he would trust a devil over a vampire any day.

So all the girlies who think Astarion is this cuddly prince that suddenly becomes a monster the moment he's allowed to become who he always was meant to be just get a reality check. He isn't changed, he's just showing his true colors and finally coming into power that he craved for so long (not ascension per se, just power in general and ascension gives him ultimate power). Does he deserve it - that's another matter. But he craves it and needs it. To quote Astarion himself: "Because those with power can do whatever the Hells they want."

And he's right.

I agree, I love the dark side of all Astarions so much. Asc Astarion is good. I'll say this. Asc A is one of the best characters I've seen. Asc is not an evil-sphere. He can even do something good. Because it was like that from Act 1.

Already the writers have said that his evil side has intensified, and it always has. Reinforced why? 1 - Devil magic voodoo-hoodoo. 2 - The rules of a true vampire (how it works with Ascension?) 3 - Astarion got what he wanted and doesn't hold back at all. Probably playing the Lord and Master he wanted to be and how he saw himself. Honestly, that's the way noble behaves, many of them.

If it's 2. He's a true vampire - a horrible monster with no feelings, no soul. That's how Faerun sees all spawn. Need I say what a romance with a vampire is and why people are interested in it. Because it's never pure, it's dangerous and it's always complicated. And the fact that he was a magistrate. (probably not the best in BG) He ruled as he wished and now the world is judging him for his vampirism. So, in the ascension, he (we) chose "evil power". The way the fandom reacts furiously to this…. When they were already with him. Character can only be a "gooder" but if you don't fix yourself we'll kill you at the party and laugh. Ironic. Some people don't want to see something complicated just that they failed to fix. Who sees is delulu, of course. And if someone don't die and get the "evil power" they suffer endlessly, will be miserable and eventually the lightning of justice will kill them. Purity culture. Mikimaus' ears in the moon spots. Honestly for me Dark Fantasy is where evil can take triumph. For me, the whole point of the character is "evil" can also be complex, just like "good".

If you attack ascended Astarion at the epilogue party as a mindflayer, all the rest of the companions will join in the attack with you. Which doesn't make a ton of sense from my perspective because frankly, they should all be just as scared of mindflayer Tav as they are of ascended Astarion, if not even more so. Let's just be real and admit that Astarion, as "mean" as he is when he breaks up with mindflayer Tav, is 100% correct. Tav is not Tav anymore. Ilithids don't have souls. They're not a person anymore. And Tav can prove it by attacking him out of the blue at a peaceful-ass gathering. Even Astarion with how cruel and egotistical he becomes when ascended is still more "human" than a mindflayer because he at least retains his soul and personality, as warped as it becomes. That's all besides the point, though.

My main point it I just find it weird how so many so-called Astarion "fans" revile in this scene and find it so funny how Astarion "gets his comeuppance" in this scene or whatever. And I don't know about anyone else, but I find this scene incredibly sad and tragic. Both Astarion and Tav have lost themselves completely (Tav even more so than Astarion, I would argue). And it kinda baffles me how so few fans of Astarion can see how much he's clearly hurting here as well?

He claims he hasn't thought about Tav in the past 6 months, and he delivers the line in a way that is clearly meant to sting as much as possible. People point to that moment as a "gotcha" moment that Astarion genuinely doesn't miss Tav. But he then immediately contradicts this a few sentences later when he says thinks all the time about what could have been if they had stayed his consort and never became a mindflayer. And that all his power is nothing without Tav by his side (paraphrasing).

"OH he's just manipulating Tav" why would he say anything that would make him look weak or vulnerable? If anything, he should be bragging about how GREAT he's doing without Tav. How awesome his life as a vampire lord is without them. And at first he does just that, the first half of the conversation is all bragging. But the longer he talks to them, the more the little hurtful truths slip out behind the hateful words. Like for as much as fans claim to understand that Astarion will often say one thing but mean another some of them sure are shit at being able to tell when he's clearly covering up his hurt with vitriol.

And again there's something weird about cheering on mindflayer Tav when their turn can be considered just as tragic as Astarion ascending. Like don't get me wrong I enjoy letting a monster do their thing. But it's like this weird double standard where mindflayer Tav's monstrosity is good and cool to idolize and joke about them wanting to eat the brains of their friends but the second someone has fantasies about being Astarion's consort they need to be psychoanalyzed.

And it's also ridiculous that if you even so much as suggest that hey, maybe there's more going on with ascended Astarion than meets the eye, maybe he actually is suffering in his isolation, ect. you get called a delusional idiot because people just really want to believe Astarion is truly a 100% different person from his ascended self when that's simply. not. true. Again the writers have confirmed the ritual didn't consume his soul. The ritual amplified all his worst personality traits that he already had.

I'm not saying you need to love ascended Astarion BUT if you love his character for what he is you should be able to at least appreciate him. You should be able to at least find him tragic and compelling. Kinda annoyed that many fans, who are seemingly uncomfortable with being confronted with this side of him, would rather turn him into a big joke or reduce his full spectrum of emotion to just "smug apathy."

Great Points! Astarion only follows the rules of Astarion. How Ascended Astarion "taken" autonomy away from Tav when my Tav pressed "Yes" with all her might to "Be His Forever". It was pretty clear. He was given everything. Their dynamic is completely different - true. Even if playing drama-angst-Tav their dynamic is different. And there are answers for Tav "power couple villains"

Vellioth left Cazador impaled for eleven years. I bet Cazador felt he was being very kind by only leaving Astarion in the tomb for one year. and I bet Ascended Astarion believes he’s being very kind, giving Tav everything and letting them sit by his side, even if he’s taken away their autonomy.

That's why fanon paints Lord Astarion only in angst colors. Forgetting that it's still Astarion, it's confirmed. So he's still chaotic cute and fun. And he's possessive now. I'm sure a little fun with Halsin wouldn't be too much trouble. Tav is his. The fact that Astarion is so intensely interested in Tav only makes it more interesting to me. It's flirting lol, vampire flirting. I'd like more answers for Tav where they can say "Astarion, you were right nothing and no one can change that". He'll purr like a cat, I think.

If Astarion didn't allow Tav to do these things with someone - it would make sense...

Astarion had orgies, in the unrealized epilogues. The patch 5 epilogues also have decadence hedonistic parties (which is probably it) It's not that he's against it still. Astarion is quite a horny.

Yes, his bond with Tav is dot the i's and cross the t's. He'll start sulking if it becomes something really serious, I guess. Then he'll start hissing.

In all my play throughs that I’ve romanced Astarion, I’ve never ascended him. I had a thought- does letting him ascend have any effect on you dating Halsin as well? Like does he still allow you to have Halsin on the side or as an ascended Vampire does he no longer allow it?

(I realize there’s a separate conversation that could be had about whether Astarion was ever truly comfortable with you being with Halsin too- not dismissing that, but that could be a conversation for another post.)

All this to say, I have a head canon in my brain hole, where once the epilogue comes around, Tav isn’t allowed to even talk to Halsin, because they “belong” to Astarion.

Knowing what I know about ascended Astarion, and how possessive he can be/is over Tav- I’d be surprised if after ascending he isn’t just like “That thing with Halsin? I forbid it!”

Idk- just something i was thinking about this morning. Would love to hear people’s thoughts- I’ve been toying around with an idea for a one shot based on this, and while i already have my ideas for it, I was wondering how it went in-game.