the best thing about this romance ending is when he says he's going to share it all with you as a partner & equal. polar opposite to the psycho vamp lord.
It didn't take long for me to realize Astarion isn't evil, he's just in an insanely strong trauma response. Anybody who had been through what he had could resort to doing far worse things out of self-preservation alone. The fact that he's still capable of growth and rising above such fears to accept himself as he is and embrace a new life - and remain (somewhat) vulnerable - is a remarkable feat. I pity his past, but he himself is anything but pitiful. He is a strong, complex character.
Astarion may have been a corrupt bastard when he was alive, but whatever debts he had to society didn't rate 200 years of torture and abuse. I'm so glad we have a chance to free him from Cazador and for him to move on. Now we just need to find him a good therapist.
Is him being corrupt and in league with Cazador as a magistrate still canon? I heard someone mention it was during EA, but it seems they have changed quite a lot about his character
@@afairyist9981 I don't know about him being in league with Cazador yet, since I haven't finished Act 3, but Astarion does still say that he was a magistrate in Act 1
@@molliethomas2585 Yeah I don't even know how canon it was to begin with, it sounded more like something thrown out there. I'm still in act 1, does he or someone else talk about him being corrupt?
@@afairyist9981 Not that I've found. He does admit that he doesn't remember much of his life before being turned, so it might be bullshit that Cazador fed him early on. Cazador checks all the boxes of a mental abuser (along with all the other types of abuse), and gaslighting his victim into thinking that on some level he deserves what is happening to him is a classic move.
@@molliethomas2585 Alright! Oh yeah that's very much a possibility with how well written and realistic the trauma and abuse has been from what I've seen
My god... I keep ruining these scenes for myself because I just can't resist this man! My god the change in him!!!! He was a sad, untrusting, power hungry vampire spawn with a ton of trauma. Now he's on his way to healing and a long life with love and friendship. My heart!!!!!
I'm not ashamed of it - I cried during these scene. Such development from all sassy and flirty-one-night-fun bastard to really caring and loving person. That's just too much. God damn those pixel bastards 😅 And thanks to Larian Studios for such a journey (and emotional swings, of course).
I literally purred hearing being called "partner and his equal" I pretty much vomited watching his vampire lord route. So THIS is what I so desperately needed. Plus him teasing you on how he feels about you. "What a dumb question, yes I care about you, how could I not" attitude lmao.
cute! love how he explicitly refers to the pc as a partner and equal here-the polar opposite of his 'ascended' ending. on that note, I think it's kinda funny that some ppl are upset he doesn't turn you into a full vampire on the evil path. like,,,,what did you expect?? to even get that outcome you have to enable and encourage his most sinister tendancies lol. you never challenge him or push him to be better than cazador, so why are you shocked to see him, y'know, ACTING like cazador?? 😭 to see him desiring power and control above all else-yourself included??? and sure he still "loves" you and promises you all these things, but that's only under the condition that you know your place and continue to go along with whatever he says, otherwise he has no interest in you. you're not his equal, you're his possession. like idk that’s just what you get for being a yes-man lol
How can you be his equal in the "good ending" when he stays an immortal and has to eventually see you age and die? I don't know if the game even tells you at some point you have options too to become immortal/stop ageing.
@@FeuerblutRM??? girl what. when i say “equal” i’m talking about power dynamics and how he himself views the pc here lol, having a shorter lifespan than him has nothing to do w/ that. also you can keep being a defeatist over the immortal thing all you want, I personally would’ve preferred a canonical way to cure him, but there is literally *nothing* stopping you from headcanoning that you find one for him post-game. it’s left deliberately open-ended for a reason. not like dnd is any stranger to weird ass magic and deus ex machinas anyway lol, just use your imagination
I know right?! He literally tells player as soon as you discover his secret that the biggest threat to a vampire is another vampire. That's the first tell that he's not going to be so keen on creating competition once ascended. On top of that, it's not like becoming a true vampire is his main goal, he literally says "I'd be happy just k*lling the b*stard", becoming more powerful is just a nice bonus before he learns that he can't keep the tadpole and control it. That's even without going into nuances of his character theme of being an abuse survivor and overcompensation and narcissism as coping mechanisms.
Yeees no dominating abusing bastard but a wholesome guy who ready to live and accept love and give it in return. We're equal, we're partner. That's so lovely
if he was not changing that much in that vampire lord outcome, I was ready to burn the world for him :D but him staying as himself is more important than any power we would obtain.
He's grown so much 😭 Trauma unfortunately takes a lot of time, they wrote him soooo perfectly 😭 I also broke free from a situation where I felt like I was in jail, they had too strong control over me emotionally and now I have PTSD, I am much better now but I remember, being suddenly free after so many years is all the things that he said
I finally beat Cazador and triggered his after scenes and I have never been more fed in my life. Thank you Larian for giving him a proper good ending, I knew I could fix him. I unironically love him sm.
Love this so much. I checked both endings, this one is a perfect one for him (although i still hope for a cure for vampirism, please Larian make dlc about our companions' futures). Him finally confessing his love, believing that someone really cares about him and finally him understanding that being a ''decent'' person is not so bad made me cry. Mind you my fight with Cazador was buggy, had to do it like 4 times till the cutscene finally triggered xD. The other ending simply horrified me. We were talking not so long ago in one of your comments sections, about Astarion becoming the ''next Cazador'' and it literally looks like it. Was hoping that in his case it won't be ''well he is a fully blooded vampire now so he has to be evil''. Also i at least hoped that he is going to turn us into a proper vampire, he knows how it feels to be a spawn, yet decides to give us the same fate? Also i did check what happens if you refuse to obey him SPOILER FOR ANYONE WHO DID NOT CHECK He refuses to turn you, you can tell him that he is no longer the man you love and he gets mad, telling you that this will be the thing that you are going to regret the most in your life (literally sounded like a threat). After that he ends the relationship. That one is a literal punch in the face. Loved the difference between him confessing his feelings as a vampire spawn and full vampire. Spawn Astarion actually loves you and he says that, what about full vampire Astarion tho? He won't shut up about ruling together, the main character being his ''consort'' (yeah sure, by keeping us as his spawn). I wonder, if we would be able to convince him to actually turn us into a proper vampire. In the end he does not even tell us that he loves us, been waiting for the past 3 years for him to tell us that he loves us, our boy is gonna remain a spawn because i need more affection from him 😂 sorry for such a long comment, i got emotional.
Astarion has wormed his way into my heart right next to Alistair, Fenris, Cullen, Garrus and Thane. At this point, I'm gonna be single forever with the standards I've developed.😂😂😂😂❤ Edit: I forgot Zevran, Dread Wolf take me now🤧🤧. I would add Solas but he left with all my good armor... the bitch😐 broke my heart, stripped my face and left with all my stuff.
Those are defininitly all my men I love and adore! Astarion is definitely on that list now ugh it's going to be so hard not romance anyone else. This romance is just soooo fulfilling.
Oh no. This is so cute. Now I’m going to have to decide if my Dark Urge is going to make him a crazed maniac or a soft sweet boy. I know, theoretically, that crazed maniac would make more sense for this semi-villain playthough, but. He could be so sweet and soft 😢
*internal screaming - I don't know why, maybe I have a weakness for such characters, but really - I love his whole story and behaviour and character development so much (the others are not bad either, but really, him??) - damn ;A; and I am still in act1 only :'D hahaha *playing two sessions with husband + one myself (astarion rescue ofc)
i'm sad he hated me throughout my playthrough so i'm living through you 😂 (for anyone else in my predicament, just finish his quest line through and it will get his approval rating high -- not high enough to romance, but high enough to get certain scenes)
He's so sweet. Now we just need a DLC where we travel around together for a while, find a cure for him or at least a way for him to walk in the sun, then we find a perfect house somewhere beautiful, get married and have lots of silver haired babies who are pretty just like him and they send him mad with their antics and he constantly quips at them like he used to do to us, but you know he loves them more than life. Damn.. someone give me this fan fic 😂
It sounds so strange, don't you think? First, you are doing Vampire lord ending, looking at him and thinking "he became a monster, he just replaced Cazador". And now he admits that he saw a temptation. Funny. But his voice is a bit sad. Like he regrets he resisted his temptation before.
If someone is willing to offer me spoiler advice for specific actions on his personal quest to achieve this ending - PLEASE do 😢😢 I definitely missed something
you can also not rescue them, for me this ending happend as weel, but i choose the option to abandon other spawns 😅But, thuth be told, DO NOT try to directly push Astarion not doing ritual = rejecting to help him. He'll then only kill Cazador and then leaves your camp forever. You need to be patient and talk to him)
@madaonyan692 So... do we just suggest that it the ritual might be a bad idea in camp, and then when the ritual happens, tell him, no? And scum save til you pass the check? 😅
@@Call-me-Creeds idk about the camp, but saying directly "no, i'm not gonna help you" will lead to terrible outcome - he leaves us forever 🥲 so patince is the key (and savescumming 😅)
So after stopping the ritual, I immediately need to go to camp and do a long rest to get the graveyard scene? Then, speak to him the next morning and I'll get this one? And btw, thank goodness for your channel I would have missed so many things without your videos 💕😂
SPOILERS AHEAD Letting him do the ritual is so much better in my opinion, he confesses his love to you, turns you into a vampire with him, and wants to rule the world together and be lovers for eternity. Delicious! He mentions that you will drink his blood and also become an ascendant vampire and he will not control you. It was such a great scene.
He also calls you his consort and pet and if you try to break up with him he laughs in your face and tells you you can't leave, that you are his. He becomes incredibly controlling, abusive. If you read his mind you find out he sees you as less than him. You will never be equals in the relationship. He becomes what he hated the most, he behaves just like Cazador. He isn't actually free, he's obsessed with power. Instead of healing and breaking the cycle he becomes the abuser. I am very confused by people considering this the better ending for him.
@@afairyist9981 you completely misinterpreted the line when you read his mind. “He will always see YOU as Degrading YOURSELF if you continue to be with him” now think long and hard about what that could mean. Clearly he feels you could do better than him and by being with him you’re lowering yourself. This is confirmed if you play the game in german, the line is word for word translated to “he will always feel he is beneath you if you continue being with him.” So yeah, you misinterpreted.
@@LiminalRose Oh alright, I was wrong about that then. Still the rest of the points stand, it's not a happy ending for him, he is abusive. Abusive people aren't usually very happy. As he is in that ending he is doomed to an eternity of loneliness, without any real connections with people. Obsessed with power. Having the guilt of killing thousands of people, and not facing it. Becoming the next Cazador. He will be "nice" to you when you say and do things that please him, but becomes very threatening as soon as you don’t. He might not actually feel superior to you, however it's an insecurity that now gets expressed through him putting you down. Also the DnD lore about full vampires
@@afairyist9981 he’s not a full vampire he is a vampire ascendent, there is zero d&d lore about ascended vampires. Raphael explains it’s a new kind of living vampire who has all the strengths of a vampire with their human elements restored as well as the ability to walk in sunlight. I don’t find his ascended personality abusive at all, he is dominant yes but he is constantly reassuring the player they are doing this together, we, us, ours, etc. he idealizes tav and himself as sovereigns reigning together in darkness. I understand if players want a “good” playthrough they aren’t going to want to ascend astarion as he is very much on the dark side there, but he loves tav and has no ill intentions toward them. The ascended epilogue was enough to show me he chilled WAY out since the ascension night, he himself said on that night he needs time to adjust to the swirling massive power and it’s making him feel all out of sorts. Possible spoilers, but when you are making the choice to either kill or dominate the brain, ascended astarion encourages you to dominate it knowing full well once you do he will never lose his tadpole and you will have complete control of his mind afterwards. Doesn’t sound like someone desperate to control tav to me.
@@LiminalRose Ah yep you're right about that too! Sorry I haven't been sleeping pretty much at all the last while, that goes for taking so long to reply too. It's not just him being dominant. He refuses to allow you to leave him, that's dangerous. I know we're talking about a fictional character so saying it's dangerous sounds silly, but in a relationship it is incredibly serious. Also calling you his pet is also a bit beyond just being dominant, unless it's something you've expressed you'd enjoy. But I am going at this from the angle that this isn't a mutually agreed to and completely fine sub/dom situation. When he talks about you being the most powerful people in the world and ruling it together it's not from a "with our combined powers" kind of way. He has all the power, you're only powerful because you are his consort. And he straight up says "How lucky you are that I chose you as my consort. Chose you to help me take Baldur's Gate, then sit by my side as I rule it". He doesn't want to rule together with you, he has all the power, you just need to sit there and look pretty. He might on the surface talk about "us" and "together" but he still wants to hold all the power and have all the control, and as soon as there's a strong enough disagreement between you that shines through. Abusive relationships rarely start with "Hey I am going to, control you, hurt you and break you down until you obey my every command without question. You will be mine and I won't let you leave. Care for a drink?". It typically starts fairly mild often a whole lot of sweet words, builds up slowly and escalates when the abuser feels secure enough in that the victim won't be able to leave. But it's also a cycle where there are "good" periods and bad ones. It's common for the good periods to have a lot of loving words and actions in them. When he asks what you want it's not from a "lets figure out how we want our life to be going forward", it's more that you say what you want and he decides if he's going to "let" you have it. He is gifting it to you, it's not something you're doing together. And I don't doubt he truly loves and cares about Tav, but love doesn't take away the abusive behaviour. His reaction to your apperance changing drastically (related to an ending) is also very telling. He immeadiatly ends the romance between you and only wants to keep you around to use your powers. I don't disagree with there being an evil romance character, I think it's very important, even if I myself don't think I'll use it. I am very boring and can't seem to manage to make choices that hurt the fictional pixel people. But I know there are so many other people who prefer evil playthroughs and they should have good options too! I don't know much about the other options for evil romances but from the little I do know it sounds like it would have been good to have more of them. My only objection is to calling it a happy ending for Astarion, happier than the spawn one. Which there have been a surprising amount of people doing. To me he just seems desperate for control, power hungry and paranoid. For good reason considering the trauma he's been through, but he isn't getting the chance to heal and actually feel safe. He's just running from it, trying to ignore it and repeating the cycle and doing what Cazador did. Putting other people through the same trauma he suffered. Maybe he'll be a little bit nicer, but that doesn't really remidy forcing people to obey you. Having that power probably makes him feel better, but it isn't actually healing the cause. Which is going to make things worse in the long run. That's quite interesting, I haven't seen that yet. I'll look it up. I am curious if it's different for spawn Astarion or not. I still think him refusing to allow you to leave him is serious enough in itself. Everything else just piles ontop. That unhealthy of a relationship won't bring him happiness. But the fact that we can discuss this so much shows he's a very well written character. Oh and I haven't been able to find the reading his mind scene again, do you know the name or creator of it (or one of them if there's multiple)?
"This is a gift. I won't forget it" - Full circle back to the first piece of freedom, drinking blood from PC. I love this game's storytelling
I thought that so beautiful💕
the best thing about this romance ending is when he says he's going to share it all with you as a partner & equal. polar opposite to the psycho vamp lord.
It didn't take long for me to realize Astarion isn't evil, he's just in an insanely strong trauma response. Anybody who had been through what he had could resort to doing far worse things out of self-preservation alone. The fact that he's still capable of growth and rising above such fears to accept himself as he is and embrace a new life - and remain (somewhat) vulnerable - is a remarkable feat. I pity his past, but he himself is anything but pitiful. He is a strong, complex character.
- What are we, to you?
- Nothing special, of course /s. You’re only the first person who I truly care for.
Astarion may have been a corrupt bastard when he was alive, but whatever debts he had to society didn't rate 200 years of torture and abuse. I'm so glad we have a chance to free him from Cazador and for him to move on. Now we just need to find him a good therapist.
Is him being corrupt and in league with Cazador as a magistrate still canon? I heard someone mention it was during EA, but it seems they have changed quite a lot about his character
@@afairyist9981 I don't know about him being in league with Cazador yet, since I haven't finished Act 3, but Astarion does still say that he was a magistrate in Act 1
@@molliethomas2585 Yeah I don't even know how canon it was to begin with, it sounded more like something thrown out there. I'm still in act 1, does he or someone else talk about him being corrupt?
@@afairyist9981 Not that I've found. He does admit that he doesn't remember much of his life before being turned, so it might be bullshit that Cazador fed him early on. Cazador checks all the boxes of a mental abuser (along with all the other types of abuse), and gaslighting his victim into thinking that on some level he deserves what is happening to him is a classic move.
@@molliethomas2585 Alright! Oh yeah that's very much a possibility with how well written and realistic the trauma and abuse has been from what I've seen
My god... I keep ruining these scenes for myself because I just can't resist this man! My god the change in him!!!! He was a sad, untrusting, power hungry vampire spawn with a ton of trauma. Now he's on his way to healing and a long life with love and friendship. My heart!!!!!
He has come so far and developed so much
I'm not ashamed of it - I cried during these scene. Such development from all sassy and flirty-one-night-fun bastard to really caring and loving person. That's just too much. God damn those pixel bastards 😅 And thanks to Larian Studios for such a journey (and emotional swings, of course).
"This is a gift, you know. Thank you. I won't forget it" I'm crying help
I literally purred hearing being called "partner and his equal" I pretty much vomited watching his vampire lord route. So THIS is what I so desperately needed. Plus him teasing you on how he feels about you. "What a dumb question, yes I care about you, how could I not" attitude lmao.
Same 😂 I loathe his vampire lord version.
Poor baby. He's not used to keep being free.
cute! love how he explicitly refers to the pc as a partner and equal here-the polar opposite of his 'ascended' ending.
on that note, I think it's kinda funny that some ppl are upset he doesn't turn you into a full vampire on the evil path. like,,,,what did you expect?? to even get that outcome you have to enable and encourage his most sinister tendancies lol. you never challenge him or push him to be better than cazador, so why are you shocked to see him, y'know, ACTING like cazador?? 😭 to see him desiring power and control above all else-yourself included??? and sure he still "loves" you and promises you all these things, but that's only under the condition that you know your place and continue to go along with whatever he says, otherwise he has no interest in you. you're not his equal, you're his possession. like idk that’s just what you get for being a yes-man lol
How can you be his equal in the "good ending" when he stays an immortal and has to eventually see you age and die?
I don't know if the game even tells you at some point you have options too to become immortal/stop ageing.
@@FeuerblutRM??? girl what. when i say “equal” i’m talking about power dynamics and how he himself views the pc here lol, having a shorter lifespan than him has nothing to do w/ that. also you can keep being a defeatist over the immortal thing all you want, I personally would’ve preferred a canonical way to cure him, but there is literally *nothing* stopping you from headcanoning that you find one for him post-game. it’s left deliberately open-ended for a reason. not like dnd is any stranger to weird ass magic and deus ex machinas anyway lol, just use your imagination
Exactly you get it 😂 people that want that “full vampire” ending are missing the point so badly
@@FeuerblutRMlmao this is D&D there are actually many ways to become immortal or even a cure for him. Use your imagination
I know right?! He literally tells player as soon as you discover his secret that the biggest threat to a vampire is another vampire. That's the first tell that he's not going to be so keen on creating competition once ascended.
On top of that, it's not like becoming a true vampire is his main goal, he literally says "I'd be happy just k*lling the b*stard", becoming more powerful is just a nice bonus before he learns that he can't keep the tadpole and control it.
That's even without going into nuances of his character theme of being an abuse survivor and overcompensation and narcissism as coping mechanisms.
Yeees no dominating abusing bastard but a wholesome guy who ready to live and accept love and give it in return. We're equal, we're partner. That's so lovely
if he was not changing that much in that vampire lord outcome, I was ready to burn the world for him :D but him staying as himself is more important than any power we would obtain.
He's grown so much 😭 Trauma unfortunately takes a lot of time, they wrote him soooo perfectly 😭 I also broke free from a situation where I felt like I was in jail, they had too strong control over me emotionally and now I have PTSD, I am much better now but I remember, being suddenly free after so many years is all the things that he said
“Nothing special. You’re just the first person I’ve truly cared for” 🤣🤣 Gotta love him
I finally beat Cazador and triggered his after scenes and I have never been more fed in my life. Thank you Larian for giving him a proper good ending, I knew I could fix him. I unironically love him sm.
Love this so much. I checked both endings, this one is a perfect one for him (although i still hope for a cure for vampirism, please Larian make dlc about our companions' futures). Him finally confessing his love, believing that someone really cares about him and finally him understanding that being a ''decent'' person is not so bad made me cry. Mind you my fight with Cazador was buggy, had to do it like 4 times till the cutscene finally triggered xD. The other ending simply horrified me. We were talking not so long ago in one of your comments sections, about Astarion becoming the ''next Cazador'' and it literally looks like it. Was hoping that in his case it won't be ''well he is a fully blooded vampire now so he has to be evil''. Also i at least hoped that he is going to turn us into a proper vampire, he knows how it feels to be a spawn, yet decides to give us the same fate? Also i did check what happens if you refuse to obey him SPOILER FOR ANYONE WHO DID NOT CHECK
He refuses to turn you, you can tell him that he is no longer the man you love and he gets mad, telling you that this will be the thing that you are going to regret the most in your life (literally sounded like a threat). After that he ends the relationship. That one is a literal punch in the face. Loved the difference between him confessing his feelings as a vampire spawn and full vampire. Spawn Astarion actually loves you and he says that, what about full vampire Astarion tho? He won't shut up about ruling together, the main character being his ''consort'' (yeah sure, by keeping us as his spawn). I wonder, if we would be able to convince him to actually turn us into a proper vampire. In the end he does not even tell us that he loves us, been waiting for the past 3 years for him to tell us that he loves us, our boy is gonna remain a spawn because i need more affection from him 😂 sorry for such a long comment, i got emotional.
As hot was evil Astarion was, I prefer this one instead.
Same
Same
This is everything. Thank you for sharing, I can't wait to complete his quest. The man he becomes at the end makes me so proud, it's all worth it tbh.
Now all we need is a proposal. Although I doubt it will happen but how amazing would that be ❤
Astarion has wormed his way into my heart right next to Alistair, Fenris, Cullen, Garrus and Thane. At this point, I'm gonna be single forever with the standards I've developed.😂😂😂😂❤
Edit:
I forgot Zevran, Dread Wolf take me now🤧🤧. I would add Solas but he left with all my good armor... the bitch😐 broke my heart, stripped my face and left with all my stuff.
Top tier taste right here, 1000% agree
Omg yes!
A-freakin’-men!!! I feel that on a spiritual level! Lol
you literally named all the men i loved in bioware games too & you're absolutely right 😆
Those are defininitly all my men I love and adore! Astarion is definitely on that list now ugh it's going to be so hard not romance anyone else. This romance is just soooo fulfilling.
this was so cathartic for me.
bro im sobbing lol
Screaming. Crying. Throwing up. Eeeee What a sweet boy can't wait to get to this scene in my character.
Thx for naming the trigger point. I dont want to miss anything with him ❤
And now i am torn which romance road to go down on my evil character… thanks alot!! Lol
He''s happy, he's still got his freedom. Which the power almost took from him. ❤❤ And we save him.
So we are getting him free from Cazador, that's the thing I wanted the most in this game and it's perfect ❤️❤️❤️ everything is perfect I can't
Ooo another scene!! Thank you for this 😭💖💖💖
Oh no. This is so cute. Now I’m going to have to decide if my Dark Urge is going to make him a crazed maniac or a soft sweet boy. I know, theoretically, that crazed maniac would make more sense for this semi-villain playthough, but. He could be so sweet and soft 😢
*internal screaming - I don't know why, maybe I have a weakness for such characters, but really - I love his whole story and behaviour and character development so much (the others are not bad either, but really, him??) - damn ;A; and I am still in act1 only :'D hahaha *playing two sessions with husband + one myself (astarion rescue ofc)
i'm sad he hated me throughout my playthrough so i'm living through you 😂
(for anyone else in my predicament, just finish his quest line through and it will get his approval rating high -- not high enough to romance, but high enough to get certain scenes)
Much kinder fate for him
He's so sweet. Now we just need a DLC where we travel around together for a while, find a cure for him or at least a way for him to walk in the sun, then we find a perfect house somewhere beautiful, get married and have lots of silver haired babies who are pretty just like him and they send him mad with their antics and he constantly quips at them like he used to do to us, but you know he loves them more than life. Damn.. someone give me this fan fic 😂
That's all I want too ❤️🥰
It sounds so strange, don't you think? First, you are doing Vampire lord ending, looking at him and thinking "he became a monster, he just replaced Cazador". And now he admits that he saw a temptation. Funny. But his voice is a bit sad. Like he regrets he resisted his temptation before.
If someone is willing to offer me spoiler advice for specific actions on his personal quest to achieve this ending - PLEASE do 😢😢 I definitely missed something
To get this scene you have to convince him not to do Cazador's ritual & free the other spawns. You need to pass a persuasion skill check of 18
you can also not rescue them, for me this ending happend as weel, but i choose the option to abandon other spawns 😅But, thuth be told, DO NOT try to directly push Astarion not doing ritual = rejecting to help him. He'll then only kill Cazador and then leaves your camp forever. You need to be patient and talk to him)
@madaonyan692 So... do we just suggest that it the ritual might be a bad idea in camp, and then when the ritual happens, tell him, no? And scum save til you pass the check? 😅
@@Call-me-Creeds idk about the camp, but saying directly "no, i'm not gonna help you" will lead to terrible outcome - he leaves us forever 🥲 so patince is the key (and savescumming 😅)
My heart 😭
Also getting paid tomorrow you know what that means? ;) Can finally get this game
MY BOOOOOOYYYYYYY
So after stopping the ritual, I immediately need to go to camp and do a long rest to get the graveyard scene? Then, speak to him the next morning and I'll get this one?
And btw, thank goodness for your channel I would have missed so many things without your videos 💕😂
Yes ,long rest after that,then this scene will trigger.
Awww Thank You 💜😊
As much as I prefer this version... Sorry sweetie, I had to stay in character.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Letting him do the ritual is so much better in my opinion, he confesses his love to you, turns you into a vampire with him, and wants to rule the world together and be lovers for eternity. Delicious! He mentions that you will drink his blood and also become an ascendant vampire and he will not control you. It was such a great scene.
He also calls you his consort and pet and if you try to break up with him he laughs in your face and tells you you can't leave, that you are his. He becomes incredibly controlling, abusive. If you read his mind you find out he sees you as less than him. You will never be equals in the relationship. He becomes what he hated the most, he behaves just like Cazador. He isn't actually free, he's obsessed with power. Instead of healing and breaking the cycle he becomes the abuser. I am very confused by people considering this the better ending for him.
@@afairyist9981 you completely misinterpreted the line when you read his mind. “He will always see YOU as Degrading YOURSELF if you continue to be with him” now think long and hard about what that could mean. Clearly he feels you could do better than him and by being with him you’re lowering yourself. This is confirmed if you play the game in german, the line is word for word translated to “he will always feel he is beneath you if you continue being with him.” So yeah, you misinterpreted.
@@LiminalRose Oh alright, I was wrong about that then. Still the rest of the points stand, it's not a happy ending for him, he is abusive. Abusive people aren't usually very happy.
As he is in that ending he is doomed to an eternity of loneliness, without any real connections with people. Obsessed with power. Having the guilt of killing thousands of people, and not facing it. Becoming the next Cazador.
He will be "nice" to you when you say and do things that please him, but becomes very threatening as soon as you don’t. He might not actually feel superior to you, however it's an insecurity that now gets expressed through him putting you down.
Also the DnD lore about full vampires
@@afairyist9981 he’s not a full vampire he is a vampire ascendent, there is zero d&d lore about ascended vampires. Raphael explains it’s a new kind of living vampire who has all the strengths of a vampire with their human elements restored as well as the ability to walk in sunlight. I don’t find his ascended personality abusive at all, he is dominant yes but he is constantly reassuring the player they are doing this together, we, us, ours, etc. he idealizes tav and himself as sovereigns reigning together in darkness. I understand if players want a “good” playthrough they aren’t going to want to ascend astarion as he is very much on the dark side there, but he loves tav and has no ill intentions toward them. The ascended epilogue was enough to show me he chilled WAY out since the ascension night, he himself said on that night he needs time to adjust to the swirling massive power and it’s making him feel all out of sorts.
Possible spoilers, but when you are making the choice to either kill or dominate the brain, ascended astarion encourages you to dominate it knowing full well once you do he will never lose his tadpole and you will have complete control of his mind afterwards. Doesn’t sound like someone desperate to control tav to me.
@@LiminalRose
Ah yep you're right about that too! Sorry I haven't been sleeping pretty much at all the last while, that goes for taking so long to reply too.
It's not just him being dominant. He refuses to allow you to leave him, that's dangerous. I know we're talking about a fictional character so saying it's dangerous sounds silly, but in a relationship it is incredibly serious. Also calling you his pet is also a bit beyond just being dominant, unless it's something you've expressed you'd enjoy. But I am going at this from the angle that this isn't a mutually agreed to and completely fine sub/dom situation.
When he talks about you being the most powerful people in the world and ruling it together it's not from a "with our combined powers" kind of way. He has all the power, you're only powerful because you are his consort. And he straight up says "How lucky you are that I chose you as my consort. Chose you to help me take Baldur's Gate, then sit by my side as I rule it". He doesn't want to rule together with you, he has all the power, you just need to sit there and look pretty. He might on the surface talk about "us" and "together" but he still wants to hold all the power and have all the control, and as soon as there's a strong enough disagreement between you that shines through.
Abusive relationships rarely start with "Hey I am going to, control you, hurt you and break you down until you obey my every command without question. You will be mine and I won't let you leave. Care for a drink?". It typically starts fairly mild often a whole lot of sweet words, builds up slowly and escalates when the abuser feels secure enough in that the victim won't be able to leave. But it's also a cycle where there are "good" periods and bad ones. It's common for the good periods to have a lot of loving words and actions in them. When he asks what you want it's not from a "lets figure out how we want our life to be going forward", it's more that you say what you want and he decides if he's going to "let" you have it. He is gifting it to you, it's not something you're doing together. And I don't doubt he truly loves and cares about Tav, but love doesn't take away the abusive behaviour.
His reaction to your apperance changing drastically (related to an ending) is also very telling. He immeadiatly ends the romance between you and only wants to keep you around to use your powers.
I don't disagree with there being an evil romance character, I think it's very important, even if I myself don't think I'll use it. I am very boring and can't seem to manage to make choices that hurt the fictional pixel people. But I know there are so many other people who prefer evil playthroughs and they should have good options too! I don't know much about the other options for evil romances but from the little I do know it sounds like it would have been good to have more of them.
My only objection is to calling it a happy ending for Astarion, happier than the spawn one. Which there have been a surprising amount of people doing. To me he just seems desperate for control, power hungry and paranoid. For good reason considering the trauma he's been through, but he isn't getting the chance to heal and actually feel safe. He's just running from it, trying to ignore it and repeating the cycle and doing what Cazador did. Putting other people through the same trauma he suffered. Maybe he'll be a little bit nicer, but that doesn't really remidy forcing people to obey you. Having that power probably makes him feel better, but it isn't actually healing the cause. Which is going to make things worse in the long run.
That's quite interesting, I haven't seen that yet. I'll look it up. I am curious if it's different for spawn Astarion or not. I still think him refusing to allow you to leave him is serious enough in itself. Everything else just piles ontop. That unhealthy of a relationship won't bring him happiness. But the fact that we can discuss this so much shows he's a very well written character. Oh and I haven't been able to find the reading his mind scene again, do you know the name or creator of it (or one of them if there's multiple)?