oathbreakerapologist

[oathbreakerapologist]

in a universe where ghost never betrayed everyone and went to orin their relationship with astarion seems like it'd be deeply fraught (the fact astarion possesses certain qualities ghost finds unattractive coming to mind). am i right in assuming it would not survive after the events of bg3?

This is a really good insight! Their relationship would certainly be fraught, though I'm not sure that it wouldn't survive, for reasons that mostly have to do with Ghost being incredibly loyal.

To some extent, any relationship involving Ghost is doomed to be unhealthy, simply because of who and what he is. He is violent, impulsive, superstitious, and codependent; he is a serial murderer who does not see himself as a person, let alone a person like his victims; and none of this bothers him in the least. There is no happily-ever-after with him, no matter who else is involved.

But you're absolutely right that the relationship between Ghost and Astarion has some notable pain points. Astarion defaults to a rather pompous, detached persona whenever he's trying to conceal his own thoughts and feelings, and the airs of condescension grate on Ghost. The things Ghost admires about Astarion are also things that Astarion himself has mixed feelings about: the characteristics associated with his vampirism, the skillful charisma he cultivated while luring victims back to Cazador, and the lethal skills he honed in the aftermath of the tadpoling.

At least on Ghost's side, issues of personality became, for the most part, forgivable once he had begun to bond with Astarion. While Astarion's cockiness and pretentiousness were irritating to Ghost early on, Astarion dropped the mask (so to speak) fairly early in the campaign, and Ghost generally interprets those traits as a manipulative pretense, but one that's not intended to manipulate Ghost specifically. It's kind of a "I know that he knows that I know that he's not really like this" situation, which doesn't bother Ghost anywhere near as much as manipulativeness targeting him.

Ultimately, Ghost's got some serious selective ignorance when it comes to noticing qualities he dislikes in the people he's attached to. He can internally justify his way out of caring about traits he finds unforgivable in others when those traits manifest in someone he wants to stick around. By the time he was truly, fully dedicated to Astarion as a partner, it would take an egregious degree of condescension or manipulation to even register to Ghost as something he dislikes, because he's simply so willing to accept the actions of the person to whom he's loyal (but as soon as it did register, the reaction would be intense).

So, in terms of whatever future relationship conflicts that will arise, Ghost is not a quitter. As for Astarion? In their relationship, Ghost cedes complete authority and trust to Astarion. For a man who's spent two centuries being horrifically tormented, systematically torn down, and used for atrocities, I imagine that the sort of worshipful devotion offered by Ghost would be intoxicating. But at times, I suspect it would also be suffocating.

There is also the moral weight of leaving Ghost: after the campaign, it is ultimately Astarion keeping Ghost busy enough that Ghost won't go out and kill for fun. If Astarion were to leave the relationship, he could be fairly certain that Ghost would return to being an absolute menace to the population of Baldur's Gate and the Sword Coast at large. The act of leaving Ghost has an associated death toll. Of course, from an outside perspective, those deaths would not be Astarion's fault. But that death toll would almost certainly weigh on him.

All that to say, I think they would actually manage to stay together for a significant amount of time. Their relationship would often be happy. But it would also be deeply codependent and otherwise unhealthy.

[oathbreakerapologist]

did you ever get into the weeds of what ghost's tastes even particularly are? what does this he find attractive about other people what does he gravitate towards?

I'm not sure I've ever talked about this before! The gist of it is that he's drawn to people with particularly uncommon, outlandish, or otherwise distinctive features. The people he finds most physically attractive are those who look like no one else he's ever seen. He's not terribly discriminating when it comes to what those features are—unusually light, dark, or colorful complexions; very long or intricately styled hair; obvious scars, markings, tattoos, piercings, or other body modifications; and eccentric clothing styles are all compelling traits to him.

Given that that's his taste in people, it's obvious why he finds Orin so attractive. Of the companions, he immediately found Lae'zel's alien appearance, clothes, and mannerisms alluring; when later they encountered the rest of the gith crèche, the novelty of gith features wore off somewhat, but as she was the first gith he'd ever seen, he retained the opinion that Lae'zel was quite attractive. Karlach's powerful physique, vivid coloration, and visible tattoos and body modifications are more than enough to make him think she's sexy as well. He considers Shadowheart and Gale to be plain, though Shadowheart's strikingly long hair is pleasant to look at, and the mark from the Netherese orb is no disservice to Gale, from Ghost's perspective. Ghost is also of the opinion that Wyll's looks were significantly improved by his devil-ification.

Ghost finds Astarion's pale complexion, red eyes, fangs, and scars to be particularly beautiful. The fact that the traits Ghost finds most attractive are also the traits associated with vampirism is a source of mild but recurring strife in their relationship; rationally, Astarion understands that Ghost would find those traits attractive whether or not they had anything to do with vampirism, but he is at times repulsed by the feeling that the features that make him most appealing to Ghost are a direct result of his suffering at the hands of Cazador.

In no particular order, some of the campaign NPCs that Ghost found particularly attractive are Abdirak, Dammon, He Who Was, Kar'niss, Orpheus, Sarth Baretha, and Z'rell.

While unusual looks are sufficient to draw Ghost in, he is quickly repelled by the presence of certain personality traits. If Ghost detects pretentiousness, moral certitude, manipulativeness, or condescension in another person, any attraction he has to that particular individual tends to fall away. By contrast, he finds quick-wittedness, confidence, and assertiveness to be attractive traits.

[oathbreakerapologist]

so in the game ik ghost like fucked astarion but was there anyone else he hooked up with post-worming?

Of the companions, Astarion was the only one with whom he hooked up, at least canonically. I imagine he had some sexually-charged interactions with Lae'zel; he liked her and found her attractive, but she came on with a degree of dominance that didn't fly with him in a casual-sex context.

Outside of what occurred in the game, I think that he indulged in several excursions throughout the duration of the campaign. In each of those excursions, he quietly left camp at night and hooked up with someone (or sometimes multiple someones) of no particular significance to the campaign, attractive strangers he met on the road, at Moonrise, at a tavern, or elsewhere. These encounters almost always intensified into violence and, when they did, ended in murder.

Astarion, as the other individual in camp prone to sneaking out under the cover of darkness, knew about this habit of Ghost's from the beginning, long before those two began their relationship. Ghost made no particular effort to hide it at first, at least until it became clear that he was garnering the disapproval of quite a few of his companions. So he became more discreet, and Astarion kept quiet about it.

So aside from Astarion, Ghost fucked a handful of people during that time, none of whom he thought of as more than toys. No other companions, though. He's got some pretty particular tastes in other people, and most of them just weren't doing it for him.

[oathbreakerapologist]

What a handsome ox, I wish someone had milked him, haha 🐮

it's never too late for someone to try!

[oathbreakerapologist]

I drew this for discord server sillies but then I thought, well, on the blog it goes

[oathbreakerapologist]

In the late hour

(reference)

[oathbreakerapologist]

In the late hour

(reference)

[oathbreakerapologist]

ohhh yeahhh it’s all coming together

[oathbreakerapologist]

got something cooking (and by “cooking” I mean in the ROUGH rough sketch stage lol) that may appeal to the Relaxed Eyes Ghost enjoyer(s) out there

Ghost’s eyes are always so wide open and his irises are always tiny; he looks like he’s 2 seconds away from snapping like a rabid dog at all times

What if - and just hear me out - what if we had a Ghost who was relaxed… with half-lidded eyes… or EVEN… eyes CLOSED… think about that (bonus points if it includes him with his Full Lash Power but I understand if more than one of these things happening at once is impossible)

oh I’m hearin you out alright

This is quite possibly the most relaxed he’s capable of looking. Also you’re so right about the rabid dog thing and I loved hearing that expressed in those terms. He DOES have a rabid dog thing going on.

[oathbreakerapologist]

*Forcibly glues eyelashes back onto Ghost’s lids* either the freak learns a better coping mechanism or I’m giving him the biggest pair of fake lashes one could find in Faerûn

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

He is working on it. Well, half the time he's working on not touching his eyelashes, and the rest of the time he's working on ripping them right on out.

[oathbreakerapologist]

Ghost flavored version of this one scene from IWTV that made an impact on me

[oathbreakerapologist]

Hi!!! Maybe you’ll find something of this interesting for yourself!

For Ghost:

https://ibb.co/XzGK7F4

https://ibb.co/yXkvkTp

https://ibb.co/Gxwpryv

For Orin:

https://ibb.co/f21gN7S

https://ibb.co/02BXDHR

https://ibb.co/wKQH54J

For both of them:

https://ibb.co/6D8wzWx

https://ibb.co/y0RG6f5

https://ibb.co/JyCKZ22

https://ibb.co/jRNqTc2

https://ibb.co/J7jh6gM

https://ibb.co/ZmCZH4G

https://ibb.co/BLGXvs0

https://ibb.co/KjzQQt1

https://ibb.co/MNRfwD9

https://ibb.co/1KpqZfd

https://ibb.co/qBMn6ZZ

https://ibb.co/QbGBxbJ

https://ibb.co/fMnq4Sj

https://ibb.co/DQn9XMt

https://ibb.co/txTzFkm

For any of them:

https://ibb.co/ZT8NJLh

https://ibb.co/tcG4VTJ

https://ibb.co/8cMNv1H

https://ibb.co/1KpqZfd

https://ibb.co/3vcWcD3

WOWOWOWWOWWWW THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE GOLD MINE THANK YOU!!!! I was gonna wait to respond to this until I had some art to show for it but I'm too excited about this and just wanted to say thanks as soon as I could LOL

But there 100% will be art inspired by at least a handful of these coming in the next several days/weeks. I'll tag anything I draw referencing any of these with "#pose inspiration anon ask", just to try to keep everything that arises from this all in one place.

This is such an excellent set of references for the two of them. Thank you again for all these gorgeous images!!! <3 <3 <3

[oathbreakerapologist]

I'm feeling like I want a break from the drawings I've got in the works at the moment. If anybody wants to see Ghost or Orin in any particularly compromising positions or something like that, today's a great day to drop into my inbox with suggestions.

(of course in practice y'all are always welcome to do that, but today I'd particularly love to hear some ideas)

[oathbreakerapologist]

How dare you do such beautiful things?! It’s really hard to be obsessed with you 💔

This is very sweet. Thanks for all the love, and I'm glad to have you around <3

[oathbreakerapologist]

there’s three (and maybe more to come) pages of this, none of which I can post on here, on oathbreakerapologist.neocities.org

barbed wire

[oathbreakerapologist]

It's been crazy to see this post hit 5000 notes. When I posted it a few days, it quickly became my first art post to hit 300 notes, and then it was my first art post to hit 500, then 1000, and now 5000.

I'm honored and grateful that this resonated with so many people. I've really enjoyed seeing everybody's tags and comments.

Thanks for all the love on this one. It means a lot to me.

GUIDED BY ANGELS

BUT THEY’RE NOT HEAVENLY

THEY’RE IN MY BODY

AND THEY GUIDE ME

[oathbreakerapologist]

Hi, everything is clear with the ghost, but how tall is Orin?

As far as I'm aware, she doesn't have a canon height, so all that follows is pure speculation.

Orin looks tiny relative to the largest body model (body type 4, IIRC). I don't have a save file with easy access to Orin to pull up for some direct Ghost/Orin size reference screenshots, but these screenshots by meanbossart are just as good an example.

Based on the way she appears to be mid-chest- to shoulder-height on that body, I've decided that in my canon, she's about 5'4/163 cm in the changeling appearance we see her wearing in-game.

But I also think even that standard look is quite mutable, for after all, if she can alter her appearance enough to duplicate the appearance of another person, she can certainly do subtle alterations to her standard look. All that to say I think she's sometimes taller or shorter than her usual height.