#there are technically gaps like that for astarion too but only because hes a character with a longer lifespan

[corokoro]

im about to make a statement that might get me bonked on the head by two different fandoms

kaito and astarion have a similar core desire for power, in that they came to desire it because of trauma and basically want these potentially dangerous powers so they can never be hurt like that again, when in reality that power is unnecessary when trying to protect themselves and it's not worth the corruption

but astarion (and everything else in baldur's gate 3) is written with so much more nuance and was carefully crafted with proper impact, you can tell how much care was put into it...while kaito is unfortunately not written that well, like he has potential which is why i love him, but from an objective standpoint, he's not written well, and part of it is just because the writers have him say the same things over and over and he kinda stays static almost, he has moments of development but they don't really change him, and while character development can be "this character does not learn the lesson they should learn and suffer the consequences", even that feels poorly written. kaito becomes the final villain in gaim at the last minute, when hes been on the good side for the entire story up to that point, and then they threw in some random misogyny for kicks even though he was genuinely connected with mai?? like kaito's a jerk but he's the same guy who helped shapool even after the dude literally drugged him with knockout spray and put him in trouble because of it. there was always going to be a clash of ideals between kouta and kaito, but it felt like it only went deadly just so they can live up to the fight they promised through the entire season, especially when you remember all the scenes where kaito helps the rest of the main cast despite him fundamentally disagreeing with how power works, how many times he works well with kouta in situations they both get into

the promised fight between kouta and kaito didn't work in the end because it felt like the fates were forcing it to happen, changing characterization so suddenly just to keep up with promises, a fight between two people who were on the same side just only days ago. the promised fight with cazador works because the fates wove together naturally, pushing the party to destroy a man who had a calculated horrific plan in the making for 200 years, something that astarion was always going to try and stop no matter what - he didn't need to have his nature forcibly changed for the fight to make sense.