#hell even shadowheart

[rawrsatthetree]

I love both versions of his story and it kinda rubs me the wrong way how Spawn Astarion purists will harass and judge people who enjoy Ascended Astarion while also picking and choosing traits they like from Ascended Astarion (and Wyll but that’s another discussion) to give to Spawn Astarion.

Batstarion? That’s a power only A!Astarion has. Spawn don’t have powers like that.

Dadstarion? A!Astarion actually mentions wanting children. S!Astarion doesn’t want to settle down.

Married Domestic Astarion? A!Astarion is actually happy to settle down in Baldur’s Gate. S!Astarion wants to travel and adventure, he even says settling down sounds boring.

You don’t want either Astarion, you want this guy:

[hijackalx]

i feel like we as a fandom sleep on the fact that a majority of bg3 is a bunch of city people and foreigners being thrown into an unfamiliar environment and having to live there/navigate it for like a month LMAO

long treks through rain, wind, heavy sun

biting bugs

baths in freezing cold creek water

boots getting stuck in the mud

someone waking up with a snake in their tent

failed attempts at learning to hunt or locate food and everyone getting hangry

accidentally eating poisonous plants

slipping/tripping/falling over various terrains

walking through spider webs

being sticky and sweaty from the humidity

aching backs and feet

taking a wrong turn and getting lost

scary animal noises in the middle of the night

everyone smelling like mildew, B.O, and dirt (a.k.a ten cans of BOUNCE THAT ASS)

i just feel like there’s some potential here

[shirojikimattari]

You're not really helping the apparent nun kink that Shadowheart has made me develop 😭🖤

You will be so pissed if you knew the amount of Sister J content we have :((((

[fellhellion]

So glad I backtracked to do the creche quest. I hadn’t thought a lot about Lae’zel beyond my impression that she was a bit of a cruel tool (in both senses of the word) held together by a rigid adherence to her religious code (which would’ve been fine if not extremely compelling to me, evil women rights etc etc) but then you get to the creche and it’s like oh. I understand you now.

Being taught to slaughter the siblings you grew up with, being told weakness was an offence to your goddess, service to your goddess being the first teaching you ever learn. It’s so damn good.

The way she desperately clings to this idea that it’s all simply a test, but she spills the blood of her kin to protect you like ough. Deep down she already chose, she believed you, before she even knew it herself.

[waterdeepthroat]

I am actually having so many thoughts about bg3 characters when it comes to body image bc themes of bodily autonomy are just so present in this game

[wizardsimper]

Shadowheart's incurable wound is so catholic guilt coded

Having flashes of pain and trauma anytime you do something that goes against your god/religion? Yeah

[constantvariations]

I get why people say Wyll/Karlach is enemies-to-lovers but it's missing too many of its signatures for me to agree

By nature, E-t-L's are slow burn. A good chunk of the story waits for one party to discover they're on the wrong side/both parties to realize they have more in common with each other than their factions, then a whole other chunk is dedicated to them learning how to trust each other. The higher the stakes in the story, the slower the burn

Yet everything between Wyll and Karlach is revealed and resolved in a single conversation. There are no lasting consequences of that initial animosity. Both are too good to hold grudges and all the fault lies firmly in hands not their own. Karlach trusts Wyll instantly and he her. Their friendship is so immediate that it's easy to forget that we met Karlach with the intent to kill her

And then there's the source of their quarrel. Wyll was led to believe Karlach's a devil seeking destruction and Karlach was just trying to go home. The thing that sets them against each other isn't their own beliefs or loyalties or anything deep seated and personal, it's the chain of command, something they're both eager to be rid of by the time we meet them. While it gives them something in common, it leaves them with nothing to unpack or overcome together

Compare that to the king of E-t-L's, Zutara of Avatar the Last Airbender. Zuko spent most of the show's runtime trying to capture the Avatar to guarantee the Fire Nation's total conquest, something Katara wants to prevent at all costs. When the two are stuck together by happenstance, they lash out at each other only to bond over their lost mothers. Then Zuko betrays her, something Katara does not forget and does not forgive until he proves himself much, much later. Afterwards, they support each other, watch over the others together, and make a damn good team against Azula. Perfect, should have been canon, fuck Bryke

Honestly, I think Wyllach is just Faerûn's version of a meet-cute

[rexcaliburechoes]

looks at the fandom.

looks at gale/astarion.

looks at this video by sideways about the musical identity of avatar the last airbender and how that related to zuko and aang's dichotomy of their internal/external wants/needs.

puts on my writing hat.

you guys it's the same exact principle just expanded upon in when you play either as origin. gale has an external want of being validated but an internal need to validate himself and his skill outside of mystra, and astarion has an internal want of revenge go prove himself but an external need for others to see him for himself.

zuko and aang do literally the same thing. zuko and aang are literally made for each other in a meta/technical writing sense. same with gale and astarion.

lae'zel and shadowheart are foils made for each other. karlach and wyll are foils made for each other. astarion and gale are foils made for each other. all of this is in a technical writing sense. good writing makes effective use of foils and mirrors to explore characters. it's simply Good Writing TM.

[nebulousfishgills]

As much as I love playing embrace Dark Urge runs (discussion in therapy pending), there's something so narratively satisfying about how a Resist Durge playthrough can go once you get to the Bhaal Temple. Your character steps into the ring with Orin, it's intended to be a duel, but odds are you're getting eviscerated pretty quickly. You then switch to one of your other characters in your party and throw an attack, effectively breaking the duel and setting the whole temple upon you.

(Adding a cut because this ended up being longer than I thought)

But, I think it's a very satisfying way to play. Your party members have grown fond of your Durge, seeing them as a friend, a family member, even a lover. They've watched you and your pain over your Urge and what it makes you do or want to do. Maybe you've slipped up once or twice, but you've been trying so hard to be the hero they know you can be, that Faerûn needs. So, when it comes time to finally face your demons and you're getting so horribly hurt in the process, they can't help but rush to your defense. It'll put all of them in danger, but it doesn't matter because they want and need to help you, their ally and companion.

Bonus points if you select your character's romanced companion as the savior/duel interruptor to make it extra delicious. They've fallen in love with you, stayed with you when your Urge craved their blood the most, maybe by this point in the game you've helped put their demons down as well. They see you in pain, a final valiant effort to overcome your Urge against the power of Orin, a whole cult, a god of murder himself. They want to protect you, save you as you saved them.

I'm also fond of the extra beauty of Astarion being your Resist Durge romance since it puts the two of you in very similar situations. Fighting against the will of your masters, finally defeating your demons with your newfound companions' help and being offered the greatest power you could ever fathom... only to deny it, ignore power in favor of your party and your love.

This isn't even mentioning just how goddamn good the Withers resurrecting you cutscene is. This skeleton in your camp with unknown and unfathomable power (also apparently supposed to be Jergal himself if I've done my research properly?) is able to bring you back to life, free of your Urge. The line along the lines of "Bhaal could only destroy what of you that he knew, but because you've grown past your Urge and become your own person, he couldn't destroy that new growth" is just so weirdly powerful narratively. Tav may be a default character for you to create upon making a new save file, but Durge is the canon protagonist and I think that entire scene shows it the best. It's a beautiful secondary climax of the narrative (primary being battling the Netherbrain of course).

And, perhaps it's just an oversight on Larian's part or something that'd be a bit difficult to work into the cutscenes mechanically, but I think that it could only get more impactful if your companions could comfort each other during these moments. Everyone and their mother wishes you could hug Astarion after he kills Cazador, but also imagine your romanced companion cradling your body after Bhaal kills you. It seems just a little odd that they all (meaning your party) kinda just stand around staring at your corpse, especially with how close y'all have gotten.

Idk, I have a lot of thoughts about this section of the game in this particular type of playthrough and some of them are hard to articulate into words. It's just such a damn good narrative peak and can really make you feel things.

I've completed I think two resist Durge runs and just hit this point on my third and it really stuck out to me this time (then again my new antidepressants are kinda fucking with me so that might be playing a role). I left it as my last mission before dealing with the Netherbrain and I think it helped build the anticipation of that moment. Everyone else has been helped by you, and now it's your turn to come into your own. I really felt so connected to my character walking into the temple, feeling like everything has been building to this, that regardless of what happens our suffering will finally end. And you have your party there to help you in your time of greatest need as you've done for them.

There's a reason this game was Game of the Year, the narrative is just so powerful and the replay-ability is just insane. I've beaten this game ten times, heading for my eleventh and it truly just never gets old and never fails to make me feel so many things so strongly.

[mactiir]

forget online personality tests, what would your character select soundbites be if you were a character in a CRPG

[deadrlngers]

i wish we lived in a world where each bg3 companion had a specific physique and height. i can't pretend thinking that all the guys are ripped and all the girls are skinny isn't doing mental damage to me

[deer-with-a-stick]

I think someone should just throw all of the BG3 companions into Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Just take the post-canon generally considered "good" endings and throw em in there.

Why? Because it would be hilarious to me and also that's like the one official module that goes up to level 20.

I won't lie and say the only thing I can think of is the team trying to kill an angry mechanical purple worm while screeching at Gale because "what do you mean we're in Waterdeep and you know the bastard who owns this death trap?? I was perfectly alright in the damn Underdark thank you very much I did not sign up for this"

[lyonface]

My boyfriend and I were chatting about BG3 last night and we agreed on the least realistic interpersonal aspect in the game so far: your companions are WAY too functional specifically when it comes to respecting the romantic boundaries of others and are WAY too nice if Tav chooses someone over them. I was in between Shadowheart and Astarion, and ended up doing certain quests in one order and, realizing I didn't like that order for side-quest reasons, loaded an old save to reverse them. In the first order, the dialogue to solidify Shadowheart's romance came up first, in the second Astarion's came up first. If you agree to the romance and talk to the other in both instances, they are supportive of you (to varying extents) and, if you ask why you can't court both of them, they site the emotional experience/tolerance of the other as why Tav shouldn't do it and why they're not interested in getting involved regardless of they're own feelings.

Larean Studios really said no romantically messy queers /j

[lixbf]

it rly makes me go ??? when ppl say shit abt astarion being evil or how you have to be rly evil to get w him like. no? hes not a wyll-level good person by any means but hes not just evil either. and rly just like w all the other companions all you rly gotta do to get on his good side is yknow support him as a person, accept his boundaries and let him do some kinda maybe not perfectly moral stuff thats important to him like letting him kill gandrel or letting him drink your blood or letting him take that necromancy book

[stinkrascal]

OH also me and bf are going to ren fest this weekend! and we bought our tickets in advance so we'll DEFINITELY be able to go and we won't get turned away at the door like last time ha. and we're still doing our low effort bg3 cosplays so im very excited about that :3

[sun-marie]

I recently learned that the companions in BG3 can get Volo's eye, so now I've acquired the task of determining

a) who would look coolest with the eye

and

b) who is dumb enough and desperate enough to actually sit through the extraction