#kevin vanord

[emahriel]

Minthara (Emma Gregory)

BG3 CAST'S PLAYLISTS (so far) Karlach (Samantha Béart)

Astarion (Neil Newbon)

Gale (Tim Downie)

Halsin (Dave Jones)

I made a spotify version of Halsin's playlist here:

Dammon (Frazer Blaxland) (thank you @dravenxivuk!)

The Emperor (Scott Joseph)

Shadowheart (Jennifer English) (thank you @silesianna!)

Jaheira (Tracy Wiles)

Lae'zel (Recommended by Devora Wilde, but playlist made by Kevin VanOrd who wrote Lae'zel)

Wyll (I don't know if Theo Solomon will ever make one, but Kevin VanOrd - who wrote Wyll - made one for him!)

[fallen-goldfishcracker]

If Wyll Ravengard has a million fans I am one of them. If Wyll has fifty fans I am one of them. If Wyll has one fan, I am dead and it's Theo Solomon left holding down the fort.

[morelikebaldursgay]

Wyll looks FANTASTIC in padded leather armor +2

[toskarin]

I don't really go out of my way to familiarise myself with the "canon" sexualities writers might have had in mind while writing romanceable companions, but someone told me kevin vanord said shadowheart was "straight but a little bicurious" during a stream and I don't need to factcheck that. I don't care whether the writers said this. I already knew this to be true.

[galedekarios]

Sorry to bother you. You're the most information-gathering blogger I know, and also a true lover of Gale. So, even though I can only use a translator, I still want to join the discussion. Tim did use 'she' to refer to the writer. A Twitter user claims to have seen the writer of Orin and Gale, and I found a writer who seems to fit all these clues. Her profile is:[@sulkymoanyface Murder mommy, wizard wrangler, pigeon fancier. She/Her.] So, perhaps Gale has two writers?

thank you for your message! 🖤

that's very interesting and it might as well be true. from what little we know of the writing process, we do know that some of larian's writers were moved to different parts / characters and/or worked on multiple parts of the story / characters.

what i was able to find as far as writers go was this:

"sarah baylus was at first assumed to be gale’s writer since because she touched on some of the characters more in-depth in this pre-release videos.

she was asked on twitter if she wrote for gale, and she said that she does not and also clarified who gale’s writer is:

“Jan Van Dosselaer. He isn’t on social media, too busy doing wizard things.”

i sadly can’t find the tweet to provide a screenshot for you since her account appears to have been deleted since then. the most i could find is this reddit thread now.

edit:

the other writers are so far as we know may be:

Naaber - Chrystal Ding The Dark Urge - Baudelaire Welch Halsin and Shadowheart - John Corcoran Karlach - Sarah Baylus Minthara - Adam Smith Astarion - Stephen Rooney Wyll, Laezel and Kagha - Kevin VanOrd Gale - Jan Van Dosselaer Alfira and Auntie Ethel - Rachel Quirke"

[adharaphoenix]

Kevin VanOrd (Lae'zel's writer) commented on the Shadowzel sketch in bsky and I will never be able to tell most people in my life because they would ask to see the drawing and this is going to eat me alive for the rest of my years and possibly some reincarnations

[jynxeddraca]

Thoughts on Where Astarion is From

Going to be a long post. Because there are definitely spoilers for the game in general and probably for Astarion's quest, I'm putting this under a read more.

I've seen in several places now that Astarion is commonly headcanon'd to not be from Baldur's Gate originally. Personally, I really think this makes sense since he's an elf, his parents in theory would still be alive, and - if you stick to the idea he originally was noble/patriar born - he would be recognizable to a lot of people even after being turned. Not only in the city in general but I imagine he helped 'entertain' at Cazador's palace since Cazador did host parties.

An aside, I think this holds true for all of Cazador's 'house' spawn. I know Dalyria formerly was the Physician General to the Parliament of Baldur's Gate but I have a feeling she - like Astarion - probably wasn't in that position terribly long before getting turned so may not have been around long enough for people to really recall her face.

But back to my actual thought: The common thing I see when people headcanon about Astarion's origins before he lived in Baldur's Gate is that he is from Waterdeep, or the surrounding area, because the area used to be home to most of the elves in Faerûn. Just as a note for anyone unfamiliar with where cities are: Waterdeep is 750 miles North of Baldur's Gate, Elturel is officially 200 miles East of Baldur's Gate.

I have an alternate theory: Astarion is from somewhere East of Baldur's Gate. Possibly along the Chionthar.

Why?

Because sometime before the story, at least 100 years ago - and honestly, I think it'd be before he was turned so 200+ years ago - he was in Reithwin Town (the town in Act 2) - and got banned from The Waning Moon.

And this isn't just me making an assumption or coming up with a headcanon. Now, I was too lazy to go find the in-game screenshot that I took and it's on my gaming computer, so this is from the BG3 Wiki - Here's the text when you read the BAN LIST at The Waning Moon:

The text (bold emphasis mine) reads as:

BARRED FROM ENTRY The following EX-customers are UNWELCOME. Do not let them in, even should they beg. ESPECIALLY should they beg. Martin Doughty - human? - chug-and-run Adam Smythe - lascivious behaviour, also known as 'The Pickle Incident' Gerringothe Thorm - SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE DID Kavin Ort - tall dwarf - exceedingly boring Syrah Bee - short half-elf - vomited on the waiter (purposefully) Unknown elf - pale skin, snide mouth - referring to master distiller as 'the porcine publican' Rochelle Kwark - halfling - groin-punching Yon Von Don (suspected alias) - grotesquely tall human - underpants on head

End screenshot text.

And a second screenshot where the wiki states that the pale elf is Astarion with a link to the source of Kevin VanOrd's twitter. Granted, I do not have an account on twitter so I can't see any posts on twitter and can't confirm the tweet, but I'll post the plain text (no hyperlink) links down below because Tumblr is picky about stuff.

Screenshot Text:

The names on BAN LIST are the writers of Baldur's Gate 3 poking fun at themselves, as confirmed by writer Kevin VanOrd[1]:

'Martin Doughty' (Martin Docherty)

'Adam Smythe' (Adam Smith)

'Kavin Ort' (Kevin VanOrd)

'Syrah Bee' (Sarah Baylus)

'Unknown elf' - Astarion[2]

'Rochelle Kwark' (Rachel Quirke)

'Yon Von Don' (Jan Van Dosselaer)

[1] VanOrd, Kevin. 2023. "As the book's writer I can confirm it was a juicy act indeed. All the names (aside from Gerringothe's, of course) are based on Larian writers. I can literally tag myself as Kavin Ort, the boring dwarf!" [@fiddlecub, Twitter]. 14 Oct 2023. Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20240329212133/https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/1713103283026383083

[2] VanOrd, Kevin. 2023. "And yes the unknown elf is who you think it is." [@fiddlecub, Twitter]. 14 Oct 2023. Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20231017062203/https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/1713103448516812817

End of screenshot text.

Supporting screenshots out of the way, here are my assumptions so far:

He probably did not have lots of time to dedicate for traveling pre-vampirism days just because law school then actually being a magistrate (yes, I am assuming that law school is a thing in Faerûn).

If he was a noble pre-magistrate days, Reithwin wouldn't be a normal destination choice since nothing in the game makes me think it really was anything more than a normal town that just happened to have fallen to horrific events.

Related to first two bullets: my personal thought is that he was probably sub-30 when this ban at The Waning Moon happened.

Cazador didn't/doesn't travel much himself (Astarion calls him 'reclusive' at some point).

I really doubt Cazador lets any of his spawn travel on their own.

What makes most sense to me personally is that he was traveling from home - wherever that is - to Baldur's Gate. Unfortunately the 5e map of Faerûn only list 4 cities along the Chionthar: Baldur's Gate, Fort Morninglord, Elturel, and Scornubel. It shows none of the towns/settlements shown in Act 1 or Act 2 in BG3. Just for reference:

Which probably is just so there is some vagueness for D&D players to add in their own towns since D&D is a giant sandbox. So that's kind of what I'm doing here. Somewhere between Reithwin and The Reaching Woods is a town that Astarion once called home.

[carryoncastiel]

Same anon who sent the ask about Wyll and Lae’zel’s writer and yes that is the same guy who reposted the Hard Drive article, Kevin VanOrd. He also constantly posts about Lae’zel and reposts content about her but there’s next to nothing about Wyll on his account except for his bio which mentions that he is his writer. There is definitely some bias going on here and it shows both in the game and outside of it.

Ah, yeah that explains a lot...

[darkjusticiar]

Ohhh you say you have the perfect excuse on why you don't like Wyll? Should we throw a party? Should we invite Kevin Vanord?

[lavnderkiwi]

Fuck that hard drive article, fuck anyone who got a giggle out of it (yea including that Kevin VanOrd dude) and fuck anyone who downplays the abuse any of the characters have gone through.

Edit: i also want to say i don't care if the website is supposed to be satirical or that some people might not find it that serious. The way y'all behave with a lot of the characters and their trauma's...its weird.

[deletarius-draws]

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Finally finished this piece, took longer than I originally had planned but I started adding little things here and there after seeing all the other amazing Bg3 fanart illustrations. I’ve already spent so many hours in this game and even still I’m discovering new things as I continue to play and discuss unique experiences with friends. My favorite and most memorable play through is my first I won’t lie lol. I’ve grown attached to the characters and this variant of my Tav (Solus Aximand), going as far and writing a rough draft of his background to best compliment Lae’zel as a character. Lae’zel is definitely a top fave of mine, especially her character arcs and the directions her story could go. Bg 3 woke something up in me that’s been dormant for a while. I appreciate and am inspired by the amount of work, world building, writing and animation put into this game. I’ll continue immersing myself in the richness of Faerûne. Much thanks for all who read this far, apologies for the hefty read and wish you all the best… I rest now.

Thank you Larian Studios, Thank you Devora Wilde & Thank You Kevin Vanord for your magnificent, impressionable, memorable and inspiring creations. 💙💚

[pricemarshfield]

people i want to know better

i was tagged by @wetcatspellcaster, ty for the tag!! :)

1. Favorite Ships

tav/raphael (BG3) (they can make each other worse)

tav/astarion (BG3) (i genuinely am just so soft for them)

fig/ayda (D20: Fantasy High) (my all-time beloveds, ayda is everything to me)

caitlyn/jinx (arcane/league of legends) (narrative foils on opposite sides of a fight Always get to me, and also they can make each other worse)

lae'zel/wyll (BG3) (one day i will finish one of my wips for them, because they truly are SO good. dragon age au for them especially has me climbing the walls lately, not that i've been able to move my brain from raphtav to work on it lmao)

2. First Ship

i've been in fandom in some capacity since i was like. 8. so i honestly don't remember. realistically speaking it was something from sonny with a chance or some other disney channel show, but the first pairing i actually remember being driven to Create for in some capacity was azula/katara, not that i posted that anywhere or still have it. i support women's wrongs!

3. Last Song

hyperprism by edgard varèse, which i believeee i found on kevin vanord's lae'zel playlist? i like it a lot, it's on my current favorites mix

4. Last Movie

fly me to the moon! i'd had a rough day at work the other week and wanted to see Anything, Literally Anything in theaters and this one had anna garcia of make some noise fame on it. it was cute! i liked it

5. Currently Reading

i impulse-bought the dragon age novels last month and have been ever-so-slowly making my way through them! imo the masked empire has been the best so far, but i'm enjoying what i've read of last flight!

6. Currently Watching

i've been trying to catch up to a variety of dropout shows, mainly make some noise (where i'm only a couple episodes back) and dimension 20 (on which i am So far behind). i also started total forgiveness last night, which i haven't seen before!

7. Currently Craving

if my kitchen wasn't so tiny and bad, nothing in the world could stop me from making chocolate chip cookies right now. they sound So good. i've been thinking about it all morning and afternoon </3

tagging @wretcheddthing, @elliewilliams, @atrueneutral, @pouralaura, @goldfyshie927, @prettyaveragewhiteshark , @butchboromir , @bravestworriers , and anyone else who'd like to :)

[fallen-goldfishcracker]

Love reminding myself of how actually pathetic Mizora was. You are a millennium old devil- a literal devil- and your greatest pride and joy and the highlight of your day in your 9-5 hellish grind is bullying a 24 year old with one eye and a 2010 YouTuber complex. Could you be any pettier?

[bitchesgate3]

Second reason is because she is also written by Kevin VanOrd. Who also wrote Lae'zel, Wyll, and Nere.

[siphonophorus]

i remember when kevin vanord tweeted "oh im disappointed we didnt win best narrative at the game awards" and all i could think was that the games writings not that good. im sorry but its just not the best. against your competitors.

[galedekarios]

Hello hello! First off, I love your blog and I'm always happy to see you defending the best boy 💜 But something caught my attention recently. I know you and a lot of others have said Gales writer is Jan Van Dosselaer, and that's what I thought too, but in a recentish interview with Tim Downie, he talked about meeting Gales writer for the first time and referred to them as a woman?? So now I'm really confused. Is there anywhere to check if all of the writers for each character have been stated, if you know?

I hope you have a really good day 💜

you're very kind! thank you for your message.

i don't know which interview with tim downie you are referring to, do you have a quote? i'd be interested.

sarah baylus was at first assumed to be gale's writer since because she touched on some of the characters more in-depth in this pre-release videos.

she was asked on twitter if she wrote for gale, and she said that she does not and also clarified who gale's writer is:

"Jan Van Dosselaer. He isn’t on social media, too busy doing wizard things."

i sadly can't find the tweet to provide a screenshot for you since her account appears to have been deleted since then. the most i could find is this reddit thread now.

edit:

the other writers are so far as we know may be:

Naaber - Chrystal Ding The Dark Urge - Baudelaire Welch Halsin and Shadowheart - John Corcoran Karlach - Sarah Baylus Minthara - Adam Smith Astarion - Stephen Rooney Wyll, Laezel and Kagha - Kevin VanOrd Gale - Jan Van Dosselaer Alfira and Auntie Ethel - Rachel Quirke