I think it’s really interesting how the lead writer confirms that Ascendant Astarion is still Astarion at the end of the day. he doesn’t completely ‘change’ after the ritual. he just becomes the worst possible version of himself. but that part of him was always there.
Baldur's Gate 3's developers talked to us about the game's controversial endings, beloved characters, and making the best RPG of 2023 (
@LarAtLarian
).
correct me if I’m wrong but it’s never explicitly stated when Astarion starts to fall for Tav. it’s really up to interpretation and headcanon for players to fill in those blanks and I think that’s really nice. just another added layer of how everyone’s story can play differently.
Neil’s thoughts on Ascended vs Spawn Astarion. I wish more people in this fandom had the same view and respect he does for how people interpret Astarion’s character and play his story throughout the game.
let’s fucking goooo!! tav won’t look terrified during the ascended kisses anymore AND companions will actually give a shit when he starts burning up in the sun.
imagine saying Astarion would never sex a woman when his actor has always been super vocal on how the character is pansexual and likes people regardless of gender, as well as the fact that he is playing a woman in his current bg3 playthrough and romancing Astarion with her
astarion basking in the sun with a goblet in his hand and blood dribbling down his chin. a shattered mirror separates him from his past self cowering in pain and fear, his scars bloody and fresh, horrifying faces screaming beside him. and on the opposite disk side is a mirror…
@gaydotgov
I’m not sure if this banter is in the full game or if it’s just in the files but he does seem to enjoy PDA 🤭 I can definitely see him being a hypocrite when other people do it though lol
god I WISH astarion could get this angry in the full release of the game! the way he says “DISRESPECT ME AGAIN” like I would not wanna be on the receiving end of that… the implications here are really fucked up as well
@Pani_Artz
yeah the Menzoberranzan line is a reference to a Johnny Cash song 🤭 I find it funny though cause he’s saying he killed a svirfneblin (which is a kind of deep gnome) so he’s being racist AGAIN lmao
IT HAS BEEN FOUND!! this is the outcome if you force him to bite Araj before getting his high approval confession.
“I’ll sleep alone” just breaks my heart 😭
there’s a line of dialogue that implies that Tav and Astarion start to sleep together after making their relationship official. it’s somewhere in Act 2 or 3. something about spending their nights together or something but I can’t remember it to save my life 😩
my friends and I went into the game awards hoping for two things: bg3 sweep and pikmin 4 getting a win. needless to say, we were all pretty pleased 🤭 huge congratulations to
@NeilNewbon
for winning best performance!! and many thanks to my dear Mona for this lovely art 🌸🩸
@skarsghardy
this line gets me!!! like the other companions being able to smell astarion on tav, as well as tav on astarion… everybody knows how close they are, how they cuddle and sleep together, how much time they spend with each other. IT MAKES MY HEART BURST
all Astarion ever wanted in his life was freedom, the one thing he desperately craved as a spawn under Cazador. and if he ascends and makes Tav his own spawn, he completely controls them. if they express any desire to be free, he gets upset. that development is so well done…
people have every right to dislike noncon. as an SA survivor, it also makes me uncomfortable. but can we not put people on blast and harass them for drawing it? all you’re doing is bringing more attention to it and exposing it to people who don’t wanna see it.
I told myself I wasn’t gonna make a thread about this but seeing people say that Astarion’s relationship with Tav in Act 1 was completely transactional and that he hated having sex with them is driving me insane. his feelings are much more complicated and nuanced than that.
// bg3 ending spoilers
all the Karlach and Astarion posts I’ve seen lately reminded me of this clip I took at the end of my first playthrough. Astarion calling her indomitable is so sweet 😭
the only thing I dislike about the ascended astarion kisses is how terrified tav looks at some points. like bitch you enabled this. stop acting scared and let that man choke you.
people getting upset about the ascended astarion kiss when they won’t even see it in their game. it makes no sense for an evil tav to be scared of him. does tav look terrified when they kiss dark justiciar shadowheart or god gale? let it go bro you’re not even romancing AA
@AstarionsWifey
I had no idea that you could free him during the fight so I thought you only had those three turns to do it and I would speedrun to knock Cazador’s ass off the platform before Astarion exploded 😭 I know better now lol 🧍
alright before I scurry off twitter once again, I wanted to say that I finally received my Astarion candle!! my unofficial thoughts are if I ever met a man that smelled like this, I would suck him off at every opportunity. but my formal review is that it smells amazing!
YALL THE VOICE OF TAV 1 ALSO RECORDED ALL THE INTIMACY SCENES!! HE GAVE US THE INFAMOUS LEG HOOK AND THOSE SWEET THRUSTS FROM THE ASCENDED ASTARION ENDING
Josh, you are a fucking real one 😤😤
for those who are new to my account or haven’t read any of my fics, I’ll be pinning this post so that you have easy access to all my bg3 works on ao3! it’s a LOT of Astarion.
It really bothers me that so many people are completely against AI when it comes to visual art but when it comes to writing, they have no problems with it. they’ll happily use character AI or Chat GPT even though writers are fighting for their livelihoods just like artists are.
there’s a line of dialogue that implies that Tav and Astarion start to sleep together after making their relationship official. it’s somewhere in Act 2 or 3. something about spending their nights together or something but I can’t remember it to save my life 😩
turn your face towards the sun
let the shadows fall behind you
don’t look back, just carry on
and the shadows will never find you
thank you
@Nanas_samaa
for this beautiful comic of Lia and Astarion with their daughter, Eliana 💛
‘let me lie with you as nature intended’
some sweet owlbear cuddles from the amazing
@xrequiemm
Lia likes sleeping in her owlbear form sometimes, so Astarion loves to cuddle and fall asleep in her soft feathers 🤍🪶
@skarsghardy
jesus christ I see more people bitching about ascended astarion fans than I see actual posts about him. it’s starting to really piss me off
@astarionsrose
someone in the bg3 fandom actually called me that once, blocked me, and then threatened to make a call out post about me 😭 I was like bro I just want to post about Astarion in peace
Lia may have lost her arm during the quest to cure Astarion of his vampirism, but she didn’t let that stop her from becoming one of the most powerful druids in the Circle of Spores.
thank you
@xrequiemm
for this gorgeous art of my girl years after the events of bg3
I love this! it really demonstrates that Astarion is NOT a good person and he’s capable of extreme cruelty and evil. choosing to ascend him is essentially embracing the worst parts of himself while remaining a spawn is him striving for the good and kindness he’s also capable of!
// lactation kink
Astarion may be mortal now but that doesn’t mean he can’t still drink from Lia 🍼
thank you
@CapriFawn
for indulging my kinky request! this turned out beyond beautiful
I’m so happy that they confirmed this in the full release of the game with the epilogue party! Spawn Astarion canonically burns down Cazador’s palace and I love that for him 😩 I really need to write a fic of the night he and Lia razed the place to the ground now 🔥
Astarion’s reaction to telling him he can only feed on animals 😭 you have to be a druid with the Speak With Animals spell active to trigger this dialogue.
also not him suggesting GNOMES??? ASTARION FOR FUCKS SAKE
@fictionalsage
yeah I’ve noticed a lot of people saying that he undergoes a complete transformation after the ritual and he’s nothing like he used to be (which I admittedly agreed with at first) but it’s clear there’s a lot more nuance to it and it’s still Astarion (just the worst parts of him)
and it’s so intriguing to me and I like when people explore that version of their relationship cause it’s soul crushing and awful but narratively it’s so fucking good. the drama, the angst, the hurt… Tav has to love him. they no longer have a choice.
seeing someone say they don’t feel safe around AA fans is insane to me when somebody else was just making racist remarks towards a black woman, refused to apologize to her, and only apologized to those who saw the racist remarks… and people still support/interact with him 🧍
just wanna make it clear that I am anti harassment so if you go around getting upset with people over fictional characters, ships, or whether its morally correct to sexualize this or romanticize that… my account is not for you.
it’s completely heartbreaking for the Tavs that thought ascending him would be what was best and now they have to live under his control whether they like it or not. but it’s incredibly well written and the complete flip is just so interesting to me. I love it.
I have many thoughts on this but all I’m gonna say is that Astarion literally tells Tav he wants to start living again with everything that life has to offer so if you hc that they have kids or get married or go on adventures or whatever the hell you want, you are 100% valid!!
I’m genuinely really glad he doesn’t let stuff like this bother him. while there are lots of really cool people in the bg3 fandom, there’s also lots of really negative people too. I wish I could approach all that negativity with this same attitude.
Astarion’s writer, Stephen and Neil talking about the climax of Astarion’s good ending makes me so happy 🥹 you can tell how much they care about his character and I’m so grateful for all the love and hard work they put into him.
just had to pop back in and say that I’m so disappointed with the game awards this year. only giving winners like 30 seconds to give a speech, shooing them off the stage, showing nonstop commercials while blasting through multiple award categories. fuck this shit lmao
Astarion telling you how the past 6 months have meant so much to him and have made up for the 200 years of torture he suffered is making my heart explode
the dynamic in that kind of relationship is just like the one of an abusive partner and their victim. he holds everything over their head. they should be grateful for him. they should be THANKING him. their life as a spawn is nothing like his was. it’s BETTER.
I really wish Astarion bared his fangs more often… I feel like he only does it in this one scene you find out he’s a vampire and that’s it. I would like to see his angry teeth.
people already talking shit about astarion’s new kiss and the ‘ascended girlies’ can yall shut the fuck up for a single minute and let people enjoy things i’m so serious
like can he not see himself in Tav’s eyes? does he really feel better about being their master because he treats them to luxury and wealth and sex and anything they could possibly want? does he feel superior because his spawn isn’t having to go through what he went through?