#astarion speaks

[sanguineserrations]

I'm going to spend the morning staring directly into the sun

Just because I can

Anyone care to join me?

[je-suis-problematique]

– Astarion

[sanguineserrations]

This is a boss fight.

And I'm the boss.

how it should have happened...

Fuck cazaldor.💀

[kenobihater]

tragedy enjoyers when a character perpetuates the cycle of violence they themselves were a victim of

[utterdrip]

few clips ive gathered of astarion being worried/protective

[sanguineserrations]

"If you want my gossip I maaaay be willing to swap."

'I know something, you don't knooww~'

[heph]

Elvish

[phyronia]

something i appreciate very much about baldur's gate 3 is the way it doesn't try to sand down its characters edges to make them fit into their roles as victims of their past better. it doesn't make them soft and sad and scared at the expense of their other, sometimes less palatable traits. even though the things people have done to them have molded them, they're still full people beyond that, warts and all.

karlach, for example, was an unwilling soldier for ten years. but she still loves fighting. smashing heads is often her first answer to any problem, because it's what she knows, and she's not ashamed of that. she's good at killing, and she's proud of it. ask her about killing devils! she gets so into the details that she forgets what you were even talking about.

astarion's been through two hundred years of hell and barely even knows who he is any more, and he's so terrified of losing his freedom that he's willing to hurt anyone (including himself) to try to protect it, but he's also just genuinely a huge bitch. not even in a 'pushing people away so they can't get close' way, he's just kind of a dick! and that's wonderful.

and gale's the last one i'll talk about for now because this is getting long. he was groomed by the literal goddess of magic and cast out for trying to prove himself to her by helping her, left to slowly and painfully die and endanger all those around him, then told to kill himself for redemption in her eyes, and he was down enough on himself to believe this was fair! but also! he is hubristic and arrogant and absolutely thinks that yeah 'rip to everyone else who reached too far for godhood and doomed themselves and others in the process but i'm different'. he's a disaster.

i'm just go glad larian gave us these characters that aren't just poor little snookumses. they have the range

[spinaholi]

peak elf design

[sanguineserrations]

Gale being a Simp

Gale, please, stop simping for Mystra. It's embarrassing. I am embarrassed for you. Karlach and I can't stand to hear any more about her.

-Karlach in background pantomimes hanging herself with a noose- -Gives a thumbs up and a grin when she realizes she's being watched-

[je-suis-problematique]

I wonder how Cahir feels about being the most sought-after man in Faerûn because he has the Elder Brain, Raphael, Lae'zel, and two whole Gods (the Outsider AND Bhaal) yanking him in different direction by each limb and probably also his hair. The poor man just wants to eat roasted dwarf in peace but a bunch of people are fighting over his attention.

– Astarion

[sluttyquarantinetheory]

By the time you actually reach Baldur's Gate it feels like you've domesticated most of your companions. Except Astarion who is much like a feral chihuahua you found in a field and he'll bite your shins if you forget to give him a treat. And then you enter a magic shop and as you're leaving you suddenly learn your wizard has been picking up bad habits from the chihuahua this entire time.

[simplysolo]

am i right or am i right

[vio-lenceee]

Day 6 of Bloodweave Week: Reunion

a tight embrace after the battle it's so unfair that astarion just runs from the sunlight when tadpoles get destroyed and no one comes to comfort him in the shade. gale would never do that to his lover. especially after they both survived the netherbrain attack @bloodweaveweek

[wolfywolfy]

I love how Astarion quotes The Tell-Tale Heart every once in a while. It's a rarer line, and initially I thought it was out of place (Neil is very well versed in theater, so I assumed it was a riff from him), but since reading an analysis of the work I think it was pretty purposeful.

The piece is all about fear and paranoia, things we know Astarion is plagued by despite how he might act. Similarly, the narrator of the story also tries to convince the reader that they are not as troubled as they seem. In the end, the narrator is consumed by the beating of the heart of the old man he killed and dismembered, the sound growing louder and louder until in a fit of rage he reveals the body to the police to absolve himself from the persistent beating.

Except the police never heard the heart beat, because it wasn't the old man's heart at all. The narrator was consumed by the sound of his own heart beating more and more rapidly in his chest from fear. He was the owner of the thing that forced him to reveal his true nature, he is the owner of the tell-tale heart.

And what happens with Astarion after you romance him? He realizes over time that, while he tried to deny his feelings and was initially only interested in manipulating you for his own means, he actually has grown to care for you. You have done something to his heart that hasn't happened in centuries, you have made it feel as if it has started beating again.

Therefore, his tell-tale heart leads him to admit his transgressions, which were committed out of fear and paranoia for his safety.

So the line is actually very, very apt. His confession during Act 2 is his own version of "Villains! Dissemble no more! I admit the deed! Tear up the planks! Here, here! It is the beating of his hideous heart!" Except, of course, it is his own heart that he is unearthing for us (and it's not so hideous, after all).

[shadowstarion]

i cannot believe i saw the take “it’s weird for straight women to be attracted to bisexual men who act openly queer” in reference to astarion sexuality discourse

straight women can date bi men and vice versa…? the qualities we associate with queerness in men can be attractive to women…? are we saying straight women should dislike their bi male partners’ queerness and discourage them from displaying those qualities…?