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Today on Tallin’s escapades we blew up the steel watch!

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Honey don’t feed me I will come back

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dramatically and violently turns into a werewolf and then continues doing the same thing I was doing before

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astarion deserves many things but we're gonna start with a factory reset

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So I preordered the Astarion funko pop bc of course I did. He was supposed to arrive today. But now…

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Working on a bloodweave fic that’s based on this song where it’s Astarion who lied about his identity their whole relationship but I swear it has a happy ending.

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I'm so much more than what you made me.

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Hey guys. Friends. Northern hemisphere pals. Only like 10 days until the days start getting longer again.

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Mmkay Harleep is dead. Yes Tallin kissed the wizard in the pool. (If you see a Harleep corpse in the background no you didnt)

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So I am playing Tallin and we’re in the house of hope. Harleep told her to take off her clothes and Gale IMMEDIATELY crossed his arms and started looking grumpy.

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astarion’s character development is incredible to me because of the sheer amount of detail and accuracy. he doesn’t change entirely as a person after he kills cazador— he mentions himself that he keeps thinking about it, even though it’s all over. which makes sense, since 200+ years of trauma isn’t going to go away after a night.

but after killing cazador, and giving up ascension, he’s so much lighter. the usual harshness he has in his tone of voice is dulled, if not entirely absent in certain dialogues. he still has a long way to go in terms of healing, but he’s finally secure enough to start that process. he’s still him, but a weight has been taken off his shoulders, so he’s finally able to live without constant hyper-vigilance, looking over his shoulder for danger.

even the way that he refers to cazador changes: in almost every instance prior to completing his personal quest, he speaks cazador’s name with hatred. viciously. afterwards, he says his name like it’s just that. a name. someone that’s gone, and inconsequential, who can’t hurt him anymore.

i think my favorite callback is that, in the conversation you have with him after long resting, whether you romanced him or not, he thanks you for talking him out of it. now that he’s out of that hell, he’s able to see just how much continuing down that pattern of abuse would have changed and ruined him. specifically, the last line he says is “this is a gift, you know. thank you - i won’t forget it.” which is the exact same line he says after you allow him to drink your blood way back in act one.

as someone with ptsd and some pretty specific trauma, astarion means quite a lot to me as a character, so i’ll always admire just how much love was put into the way he grows over the course of the game. and, of course, this is a huge reason i can never bring myself to ascend him. he’s easily earned a spot amongst my favorite fictional characters ever and i cannot stress enough how glad i am that a story like his exists.

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I SEETHE LIGHT!!! IVE BEEN PRAYING FOR THIS DAY

The Old Guard 2 Update Is HERE!!!! A placeholder page!! YESSS!

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Your gift from Gale is on the way!

Galemancers, your Midwinter gift is arriving via Tressym delivery in less than a tenday! Starting on December 20th, you’ll be able to choose ONE gift from Gale from the provided options. There’s no rush, you’ll have until the 24th to pick (though you might need to use that time to decide which gift you want, because Gale is giving you a lot of good options!)

But remember—while Gale might approve of shenanigans, Tara does not, and she will be watching closely to make sure you only get one gift! So be sure you’ve thought it over thoroughly before you commit to a choice.

If you would like to post your gift after you receive it, Tara does ask that you tag it #gale gift so others may filter that tag to keep their surprise from being spoiled. (This is also your notice that you should probably add a filter for #gale gift as soon as you’re done reading this!)

And worry not: If patience isn’t your domain, all gifts will be revealed after the 24th for all to see, but they will no longer be available to you—so get one while you can!

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not to gush too much abt neil newbon's performance as astarion (and stephen rooney's writing for him) but like. he's discussed on streams before how conscious the decision to make him feel like he's constantly performing is (regardless of outcome; theatrical spawn astarion & operatic ascended astarion), and how stephen rooney leaned more into the whimsy and fun of the character based on things he saw in his portrayal (hence astarion progressively getting funnier and more charismatic through game development). but the thing that drives me absolutely mad tbh is the moments where all of it drops and he's suddenly so sincere, because it hits you like a truck to the face.

his voice going all soft and quiet and brittle when he describes cazador instructing his spawn to torture themselves. his mannerisms shifting from seductive and playful to a little more nervous. but the one that always gets me is in the graveyard romance scene, talking about what cazador has taken from him, how it was taken by force; "but he did take it," in this voice that's so full of sorrow that it almost sounds hollow, muffled by none of his usual pomp and theatricality, when even in cazador's palace his admissions of upset were sandwiched between attempts to brush it all off. dear god.