This is why it's too bad to hear Astarion is so obviously evil.
that is an opinion that is not shared by everyone. if you dig deeper into astarion there is a justification for a lot of his behavior. a lot of people confuse self-serving with evil, but as i said, once you dig deep enough, you understand all the motivations behind a lot of what he does or says, & he is by far the best romance option & the only one that even acts like a romance even happened after the fact. with the right options, there are chances to read his mind, dig much deeper, see how truly damaged, regretful & pained & just plain sad he really is, & to have him open up to you about the horrific things he has been through, had to do, or had done to him. he has many, many, many layers & definitely puts up a wall & acts a certain way to hide what is behind it all... & of course, he is hands down, the funniest character, with the best dialogue & an amazing voice, which easily makes him the most interesting companion & the one i sympathise/empathise with the most... so there's that lol (in other words, not everyone believes he is the most evil, & again, there's a difference between being evil & being more interested in your own freedom & survival than any other concerns).
Well, that's probably because he's manipulative and hot. Or because you turn a blind eye to things he approves. He may be damaged, but I've never seen him regret what he did. Any hero act causes him to vomit. In addition, it says a lot that Astarion's "evil" and "selfishness" do not come from his vampirism, at least the fact that he is an obvious xenophobe.
Many people have a strange idea of "evil", like from Marvel movies, as if evil is necessarily something that needs to be defeated. Astarion is not sorry, he IS AFRAID! This is a different feeling, fear is driven by selfishness. He feels sorry only for himself and his ego. He's a terrible coward.
Of course, I understand that this may change. We have too little information and I try not to read date spoilers. But I still don't understand those who try to make Astarion a "Fallen Angel" because we have 1-2 cutscenes we're he's looks 'damaged'.
We don't have any good characters in early access (that's what Swen said). Thats mean, Lae and Astarion are evil characters, only they fully approve of the destruction of the grove. I believe that both can be won over to "neutral" side, but I do not believe that either of them was originally "good/kind".
The logic you quoted is just a variant of the same people who say murderers and psychopaths are just misunderstood survivors with troubled pasts.
I don't give a rat's ass what troubled past you have, it gives you no right to be callous towards others.
Countless immigrants, victims, people of low socioeconomic means who don't go through life trying to excuse destructive, petty, selfish behavior with their origins. They just do the right thing because they don't wish on others what they themselves have gone through.
This constant apologia for awful cynical assholes gets tiring.
