#man the girlies weren't wrong when they said that middle aged men going through it and being covered in blood is hot af

[inexpressiblybeatiful]

Istg that Tumblr would LOVE this man. And HATE him but also love him.

[absolutehomosexuals]

"So is BG4 going to be a thing? As far as we were aware, the creator stated they weren't going to develop a sequel, but it'd be amazing if they changed their mind 🙏🏻"

I should've been clear, I'm sorry! Yes, you are right! Larian said they are not going to make a BG4 nor will they change their minds. Whether or not BG4 will be a thing is up for WOTC to decide but frankly, given the success of BG3 I imagine they are going to cash in on the opportunity eventually. It's just that it will be made by another company instead of Larian...which is not very reassuring. Whatever happens I hope at the very least for a mention of Astarion being in a relationship with some guy, in the event he is mentioned at all. Can you imagine the tears from the girlies?

"We had no clue Astarion's female fanbase were called Astarionwives, but I (- mod orinthara) don't see how that would be misogynistic tbh! Vampire lords having multiple wives is a popular trope, and it's typically not represented as a degrading position to be in, even though that could be discussed."

Frankly, they would've probably embraced the moniker had it referred to the vampire lords having multiple wives trope, but it's obvious they are pissed because of the reference to the Snapewives, which is not something positive or to be proud of. The Snapewives were a bunch of mostly middle aged women in the Harry Potter fandom who genuinely believed they were in a romantic relationship with Snape and were meeting him on the astral plane, plus other unhinged shit including creating a religion around his persona.

I believe they began calling it misogyny mostly because it's a gendered term ("wives") that's unfairly singling out women. Yes, it is wrong to refer to all Astarion fans as Astarionwives (some of them are gay men) but most people who use it only do so when referring to the most unhinged part of his fanbase, which coincidentally enough consists of like ~99% women, most of whom only care about fucking the guy.

(in case you were wondering, yes, there are a few Astarion girlies out there who ship him with...themselves and pretend to be in a relationship with him)

"All of the fans who went insane about Astarion picking a man in this ending are homophobic, point blank, lmao. It's all "he's pansexual actually!!" "

One interesting thing about this ending is that in the devnotes they mention the man he picked is a noble. Now what I'm going to say further is my own interpretation but to me it looks like he does have a thing for noble men?

There is a party banter where Shadowheart asks him what type of blood he prefers and he answers with "young noble". In another party banter with again, Shadowheart, she ask him who would he bite out of everyone in the party and he answers with Wyll, who is of noble blood after all. Speaking of Wyll, he has several other remarks about him which may indicate some attraction.

As for the rest of the male party members, I don't remember him saying anything that stands out with Gale (they have a flirty banter in act 1 though) but what's funny is how he's one of the few who doesn't seem to be attracted to Halsin when even Wyll comments on his physique. I guess he's just not his type unlike others. Maybe I am biased here since I don't see the appeal of his ship with Halsin, they seem incompatible to me.

Now we don't know about the darling boy but Sebastian, given his rather fancy clothing, I wouldn't be surprised if he was of noble blood either.

If I may offer a suggestion, could you perhaps consider making a pinned post with a link to each of your most important analysis? It would help a lot and it would be easier to access an older post compared with going through the archive.

Since BG3 has so many different endings, I imagine there wouldn't be clear mentions of how the origin characters ended up, if BG4 became a thing: we'd probably get different companions as well, considering the previous game's endings were very divisive too.

But yeah, wouldn't that be objectively hilarious? 🫢

Jesus, people's obsession with the "shifting" trend is very concerning, especially because it seems like it mainly brainwashes young girls... or at least that's what I imagine the so-called Snapewives were doing. I wouldn't be surprised if some Astarion fans believed in that stuff as well, it seems to have resurfaced from the depths of 2020 tiktok lmao.

Oo absolutely, I've always seen Astarion as someone who fancies charismatic noblemen, and it's probably canon at this point.

He seems to dislike Halsin in my opinion as well, Astarion probably saw him as a glorified hippie when they first met. "enjOyinG thE fReedOm of NatURE's gIftS" 😭 – though I like when fanfictions explore a potential friendship between them, especially since they share similar trauma. If I recall correctly, Halsin was kidnapped and sexually enslaved by a couple of Drows before the game began?

Of course we can! We were already thinking of making a masterpost with links to our previous essays, we just never got around to it. It'll be done soon 🙏🏻

- mod Orinthara