#they're just. protecting each other yknow. nbd.

[invinciblerodent]

okay I'm going through my endgame screenshots, and I remember, while playing I caught only the tail end of this voice line, and I made sure to screencap it so I'll remember to get into my feelings about it later, but then the rest of the endgame happened, and I totally forgot.

so here I am now, finally getting unnecessarily into my feelings about it.

(yes, I know most characters probably have a similar cry here. work with me, okay. let me have this.)

just.

"You need to go- I can hold them here".

and that sudden, weird burst of self-sacrifice made my ears perk up for a moment, but it's not even the first time, because even though I hadn't expected it from him after my first playthrough (when I wasn't paying as much attention to him), it's actually not even that unusual for him, the guy driven mainly by self-preservation, to be naturally putting himself in harm's way.

It's kind of subtle, but in these throwaway lines, it's really kind of sweet, how almost-uncharacteristically protective Astarion can be of the player? Especially for someone whose entire relationship with them starts off with him seeking protection (regardless of whether it's successful or not), and whose storyline is in part about overcoming self-interest in favor of self-realization.

Like, it's definitely not as overt as it is for some of the other characters, but the "your savior is here"-type barks he has for aiding a high-approval/romanced character, the "I don't want to see you hurt" and "I want to be able to protect you, too" lines...

Hearing it for the first time, I felt like it sounded maybe a touch out of place, a little bit uncharacteristically sincere, that he'd say "I'll always be here, my love" in the epilogue...

But you know what, yeah. I get it. He will always be there.

no im fine, ill get over this asshole soon enough, you just wait