THIS.Lol, It's Literally True.

THIS. Lol, it's literally true.

i'm just gonna say it.

a lot of the criticism of ascended astarion fans absolutely reeks of misogyny.

it's giving "women are too stupid to understand that abuse is bad" and it makes me want to wring necks.

"you can't romanticise AA's behavior because that can lead to harmful ideas in the real world!!!"

a few hundred women finding AA's abusive behaviour sexy isn't why men are abusive, and adult women are intelligent enough to understand the difference between fiction and reality. ironically, this demonstrates that you don't understand the difference between fiction and reality.

where is that tweet that says "stanning reylo is misogynistic, but what do you expect from stupid fucking women" because that's what you lot sound like.

New kiss thoughts Lord Astarion is himself. It says so in the interview. And Mask-take from Neil that I agree with, he shows his evils honestly and openly. I also wrote that Astarion does tend to have a power dynamic in the romance. His evil romance is given little attention (which I consider Larian's omission), it's all post-ritual, and since Lord Astarion is himself -… He?... Is this pie really that brutal? Then Astarion thought, could he have plotted such edgy things with Tav before? Like, we need a big, huge Lovitar temple in Act 3 to understand and explore this. Since Lord Astarion himself… this could be before the ritual. The scenes with the knees on randoms in the kiss are just too m-m abrupt and fanservicely.

(my Tav's face when Astarion was a red flag from the beginning is exactly like that (no) when he became… oh, when he continued to be)

Is a pacifier better than a blood bag?

Patch 6 has me feeling things. these are just my opinions and random thoughts.

Consort is just Ascended Astarion’s pacifier: an object he uses to feel safe, loved, to comfort him when he needs it. I don’t think Astarion, in his evil route, would likely ever open himself up to anyone again.

He loves Tav, he tells you as much during his Act 2 confession. That he’s fallen for you. A!A will also tell you “You’re the one I want, the one that I love.” (this is different than his “I love you, that’s what you’ve been waiting to hear? that’s what you want?”) And idk i just think it’s interesting he will say that to you.

Also - Astarion tells you that he going to do the ritual so that you’ll both be safe- forever, for good. (He tells you this right after his siblings attack) You can’t tell me that man wasn’t already planning on eternity with Tav at that point. I think it’s very likely he’s already thinking he will make Tav a vampire if he can.

I think it’s interesting how Larian just added to Astarion’s objectification of Tav, and now it’s very obvious WHY Astarion won’t let you go if you break up with him post tadpole.

If Tav leaves him, his ending is essentially the same in the epilogue, so he doesn’t need Tav for protection or help planning or anything like that.

Tav is his pacifier!!!

Tired Jokes Astarion, harsh and fun in character.

Disclaimer: I don't separate Astarion "before" and "after" the ritual - Asc it's still him, canonically confirmed. I sure that Astarion's personality is not dictated by anything other than Astarion, himself.

I thought about Neil's Mask-talk - Lord Astarion, and how Astarion had lost some of the fun, which was a "distraction anyway". I agree, that's exactly what I thought and felt. Then I remembered what Cazador said, "your tired jokes". Cazador Szarr: No, you always had a gift for words. Cazador Szarr: I fondly remember your empty boasting, your tired jokes, your endless prattle...

Casador didn't finish, by the way, Astarion interrupted him. Cazador surprisingly let him prattle on. Astarion reacts very sharply - he doesn't like to remember it. He's sick of the way he acted as a slave. (it dawned on me that perhaps "empty boasting" refers to his past before slavery - "always had" "always had" "always had" I don't let myself think about it yet, this game is still being worked on I'm talking about the time of slavery here) I don't think Astarion doesn't like, on the whole, to joke and lie about it. No, he loves it. Just not the way he did when he was a slave. But after all, he was a Magistrate (I'm sure he remembers that until Larian told otherwise) this is a man of power, and he had to be able to be formidable when required. I think he liked to be formidable early on. Narcissus (yes, always), racist (quite), from the Upper City, a Magistrate with power, harsh, given what he said about criminals, merciless. Lord hints at this a bit what a Magistrate he was. When he became Cazador's slave, he couldn't afford to be powerful, not in any way at all. He had to be mindful of his status as a slave. And all he could afford was to joke-prattle around, like a jester. Being a jester is the only way to express yourself without "subordinate status", jokes blurred that Master-slave distinction a bit.

When he became Master, he doesn't need jokes anymore. However, there's still a fun in him by his personality. That's why he's been talking so loudly since gaining Lord status, he was only allowed to jump around like a buffoon before. He wasn't taken seriously. Astarion revels in his voice, which is finally not slavish. The voice of the Lord and I think the voice of the Magistrate. Now having paid the price, he can do what the hell he wants. Speaking of romance that's why: it's time to dominate Tav\Dark Urge. He can allow himself to do that, finally, openly. (Unless of course it's a bdsm-s\d-fanservice dropped from the sky, yes, patch 6?) In my humble opinion, given that his self-esteem has been humiliated for 200 years, someone who obeys him willingly, with trust and respect, will be very precious and loved, but he would clutch a person like a dragon in his clutches.

I have some thoughts on the evil one. I can say Astarion is an Evil character. That doesn't mean he's uncomplicated. Usually when a character is capable of doing something good, neutral, but also does something evil, people call him a gray character. This character, though, can be a complex evil. As Minthara, she's evil in many ways, but she has her own morals and personality that give her complexity. I was led by DnD to this thought actually. For example a creature is written as "Chaotic Evil/Good" but in its "Characteristics" like that there are traits with different morals, a good one can have evil traits, or without g\e such as "lawful". He can't be "just" evil, but he can be complex evil. So if your friend is reasoning along those lines, then yes. Really, um, I don't think Astarion's evil is sufficiently revealed in Act 3 before the ritual.

Something some people don't seem to get about Astarion is that he pretends not to care as a coping mechanism for guilt. He pretty much lies not only to us but also to himself. Probably hoping that if he says he doesn't care enough that the guilt will just vanish.

I honestly feel like these toxic coping habits also get turned up to eleven when he's ascended. So when you reject his offer to make you his spawn he deals with the pain by convincing himself that he didn't believe in love anyway.

Tav turns into a mind flayer and he can no longer bring himself to want to be with them. "Oh well they're disgusting so I don't care."

(I'd recently found out that if mind Flayer Tav peeks into A!Astarion's brain they find out he apparently still feels love so I guess he actually does feel the same way Spawn Astarion does about the situation. But of course AA is an ass about it.)

He can't turn Karlach so now he can't keep her with him forever. "It's not my fault it's yours!" *Proceeds to throw tantrum like a spoiled brat.*

Spawn Ending Astarion however learns to let himself be vulnerable and let it out since Tav actually makes him feel safe enough to do so.

So basically what I'm saying is Astarion is tsundere about his feelings if that makes sense. He keeps how he really feels guarded and insists he doesn't care when in actuality he does. And as THE VAMPIRE ASCENDANT these habits become even worse since he's done with the idea of being a good person entirely and just embraces his darkest impulses, but I doubt he can snuff out his humanity completely. He still comforts Tav if they end up bound to the incubus, he doesn't want Karlach to die and actually puts off his world-domination plans for her.

Anyway I think I made my point. I started this mostly because one of my guy friends who is also playing BG3 is convinced Astarion is 100% evil which isn't true. He definitely does evil things and is a selfish bastard but saying he's just evil isn't entirely accurate. (Granted this friend has yet to do an Astarion romance run so perhaps he's missing context.) Sorry if I might have got off topic or worded something strangely, but if you have anything to add to this comment below. 👇