That's how I view things as well. Well put (although, I wouldn't compare people to animals but at the end of the day, the comparison works 😅).
I do like to have my Tavs being inspired by Astarion, for the reasons that you've pointed out. You can even find an agreement with him after the infamous bite scene. So, he's not without reason. After that, he stays on his best behavior (unless the player controls him to not to do that, of course). That, and, I find him fun to have around. I really like this type of eccentric characters ^^
Plus, DAO and DA2 taught me to give a pass or two to murderous elf boys. Their stories are worth it 😅 (I guess the same could be said about Sebille in DOS2 but I haven't finished the game yet).
Same for Laez'el. Her beliefs are rooted in her culture but she's not that monochrome either. I wholeheartedly love how she's perplexed/confused when she finds herself agreeing with us. And I will always respect honest/truthful characters. Evil or not, at the end of the day, you know what's she's thinking and where she stands because she's very blunt about it.
Actually the comparison to animals is quite important when it comes to Astarion as the whole point of what Cazador was doing to him was to dehumanize him. By treating him like he's a chained savage beast that needs to be beat down through physical and mental torture, starvation and isolation, while obeying orders which he cannot refuse. He talks about this a lot in the game and his tone completely shifts when he does, especially when talking about the way he was treated daily which is quite important to his essence as a character.
Which is why I felt important to compare him to a mistreated dog who bares its fangs, because that is pretty much the essence of who Astarion is now until his emotional wounds heal. He is extremely damaged, uneasy, fearful and jumpy along with extreme emotional outbursts. One scene I really love with him that shows this beautifully is the one where you can persuade him to talk in detail about his dreams. And if you succeed, you can offer to comfort him about it, which will cause him to burst in anger towards you, which is simply his defensive mechanism born out of what Cazador did to him. I personally really like his complex character since he is not so simple
black and white as other people deem him to be. He has layers upon layers of mental and emotional issues as a result of Cazador's torture, that it is a miracle he is who he is.
And just like you said, he is actually quite reasonable as a person and not even bad because he does nothing bad in my playthroughs. He himself says that he won't feed on any innocents and begs us to at least let him feed on enemies, but respects our choice on the matter if we tell him not to feed on humanoids. Even when he is starving for blood, he respects our wishes if we don't let him bite us (I do let him bite me though, feel sorry for him
). That does not sound to me like an evil douchebag devoid of any morals as people try to portray him.
My expectation of Astarion is that he will grow more trusting along the way throughout the game and show us a charming noble that he was prior to meeting Cazador, eventually becoming a character that plenty of people will love and enjoy having in the party. And I believe Astarion will either be freed as a vampire in the end of the game or become a true vampire thus create his own covenant and rule it with compassion and restriction that we taught him. And I expect him to make jokes about it along the way as he has been so far
Such a brilliant character really and Neil Newbown did an amazing job with him. Also liked his work in Resident Evil 3 Remake.
