Agreed. Shadow just really goes that extra unnecessary mile of insult, abuse and belittlement... What about her do you like, if I might ask? Sell me on a good reason why I should voluntarily subject myself to several hours and multiple conversations filled with nothing but abuse, condescension, belittlement and insults; that's not something I enjoy, personally, so sell it to me: what is it about her that makes that a rewarding, enjoyable experience for you? (I am, in all honesty, curious here, with no ill intention or raised ire)
Okay, mostly I like Shadowheart because she reminds me a lot of real people that I have been friends with and dated. She comes across to me as a wounded, damaged person who is trying to cover up her pain and uncertainty with a brittle outer shell of standoffishness and lies. I have a iot of sympathy for people like that, because underneath their rudeness and duplicity is just another vulnerable human being who wants to feel safe. I think she's a subtle, layered character. To me, it seems clear that she is performing her "evilness", that it makes her uncomfortable, that really she just loves animals and wants to belong somewhere. Have you done the scene with her after the party where you share a bottle of wine and she opens up some? She seems so lonely, because she's been recruited into this deeply evil cult who demand that their members give up everything about themselves, all of their hopes and dreams. They wiped her memory, so she doesn't even know who she was before, and I feel like she's torn between having to PERFORM as a "cleric of Shar" and be cold and tough and devious, and feeling empty and heartbroken and unsure inside, because she knows she's lost something, she's lost herself, and she doesn't know if it was worth it.
Now, she doesn't outright say all of these things. A lot of that is me reading between the lines, and some of it could be projection on my part. But the fact that the character is written and performed well enough to even make me think those things is pretty compelling, even if I'm not right about everything. But if you haven't seen the post-party "romance" scene with her (it doesn't have to be romantic per se, it could just be friend bonding), you should try to check that out, because it definitely makes her a more sympathetic character.
Astarion and Lae'zel are also very amoral, often rude and hostile, so I can see how people might dislike one or both of them. One guy who was watching my stream said that he HATED Astarion, just based on observing a few interactions. I've seen plenty of people online complain about how terrible Lae'zel is, with no redeeming qualities according to many. But to me, I think they're quite appropriate, given what they've been through. They're both victims, too.
Lae'zel is classic Githyanki, raised in an almost unimaginably awful and twisted culture that literally worships a lich queen who consumes their souls. She has never had a chance to find out how "normal" people behave until now, never been exposed to genuine human decency and kindness. She was raised to project absolute, unflinching, brutal strength at all times. To survive her upbringing, she HAD to become like this. I think, given time around better people, she can come to see how fucked up her culture is, and can begin to make her own choices about who she wishes to be in this world. I'm willing to give her time to do that.
Astarion might have been a dick even before becoming a vampire, there are hints that he was. So maybe of all of them, he could be the most insufferable and irredeemable. But even so, there is room for sympathy here. He was abducted and enslaved against his will, turned into a literal monster, and had his whole life and identity stolen from him. For apparently hundreds of years, he's been living as a slave, under the harsh, cruel thumb of his vampire master. That would twist anyone. From where would he find inspiration to be kind, to value human life, in such circumstances? Now that he's (temporarily) free, he doesn't know what to do with himself. More than any of the others, he is a lost soul, and I think he very much knows this. He hates himself and what he has become, and he is terrified of being taken back to his master and forced into that sinister blood-fueled slavery once again. How long has it been since he had any kind of positive human relationship with anyone? Centuries, perhaps? He clearly just doesn't know HOW to behave at this point. But I think that he, too, can be swayed by a kind influence.
That's my take on the evil companions, anyway.
