Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Shadowheart Romance and the Hidden Fetish - (Spoilers inside)

The last two posts, jesus.
I mean I don't like that she agrees to it either and I'd like it to be rewritten but at the same time this is optional. I went to the brothel, talked to the Drow twins, told them no thanks, and that was the end of it, Shadowheart didn't say a word. If an exclusive relationship is what you were looking for I don't know why you're trying to sleep with the Drow twins in the first place. My take on it is it's something she'll agree to because it's what her significant other wants but not something she's looking for since she never asks you to do it herself and if you want to have an exclusive, monogamous relationship together she's happy to do that.

Like I wrote earlier. Imagine your partner taking you to a sex club and initiating an exchange of sexual favours with some sex workers and asking if you want to join. So you agree that if that's what they really want, you are down with getting a bit freaky and exploring some fantasies with other people (and before someone chimes in that this happens out of the blue, do note that this takes several conscious and very clear choices in a dialogue tree to get to). Then they turn that against you, judging you and giving you a guilt trip of shame about it. They are obviously the problem if they pull this sort of emotional entrapment stunt on you, not you!

Now I have personal boundaries around anything that relates to traficking, and for that reason I won't ever make the choice in a game to buy sexual favours. I know this is a trigger for me, so as soon as the option appeared I declined and moved on (I don't have any issues that it exists in a setting, but engaging with it feels very wrong to me). I didn't continue exploring it, out of curiosity or some other strange psychological compulsion, just so I could get triggered and plunge myself into some deep black hole of horrible feelings.

100% agree on your take with how shadowheart reacts, also bolstered by the fact she doesnt say anything until you explicitly agree to the foursome, i rejected the idea from the onset and she never says a word nor does she approve or disapprove. Hell the most I did with the drow twins is ask them about their background and shit (and slept with the sister out of curiosity but f8'd after). The only problem bit is the halsin related stuff, but i assume the dialogue especially the party banter (which i never got cause Halsin never left camp after act 2) is bugged and meant for if you have entered a shared relationship with the 2 beforehand. Honestly might be worth a bug report to save me the trauma in future playthroughs.

My fault, I wrote 'I didn't want him in my party', I meant camp. And yes, to me Halsin is forced, in the same way that Withers is forced, basically if we dont get to choose them (like every other companion), they are forced. Since we can't kick any of them out...

About 'killing him and the game works fine', you're right; I think you can also kill every NPC and the game will works just fine as well, though I'll probably wouldn't do it (maybe if I'm evil Dark Urge?). And that takes me to my point:

This is a ROLEPLAY game. Everything from dialogue, fight, your character, and probably more stuff; are rooted in a roleplay system. Interactions, not trigger by the Main Character, are bad for a ROLEPLAY game.

That's where everything breaks apart to me. I didn't delete my saved file, with all my hours, because I was simping SH (which I wasn't doing); I deleted it because the story I was building with her (with rules and plot established by the game) were broken by her being in love with Halsin.

The Shadowheart that was surviving with my Tav (good Dark Urge) was not what was portrayed by OP post, I didn't even care if she's poly or not, she's not real. But the roleplay
factor was gone to me.

Why will the Shadowheart that my Tav was struggling so hard to survive with (I was playing Tactician, with only 2 characters) and that loved him/her so much will want to share him/her when her quest is over? For this to be acceptable, in a roleplay view, Tav should have tried to or already being in a relationship with the other lover.

To be fair, those are my stupid rules. And I know not a lot of people roleplay these games. But to me, that's where the fun is. I could have ignored it and keep playing but as I said, this are the only games that I roleplay. I want to life my little fantasy without a bear trying to bang my partner. lol

But I think we all can agreed that the dialogue lines OP was complaining about are totally OUT OF HER CHARACTER (at least what was shown to us through her conversations).

She's like: 'Halsin, bang me! Tav heals my heart and you dirty my p***y'. That's just wrong.

Disclaimer: I haven't played any of this myself, I've seeing couple of post about it and have generally of how to trigger it but I myself haven't played it.

PS: this is the nerdiest post I've wrote in my life.

Edit: forgot to mention that if MC hasn't shown interest in another lover, and you ended up talking with the drow at the brothel (because you know, videogames), ideally not just Shadowheart but any other partner, that already 'loves you', shouldn't be open to share you. Or at least, show some kind of selfcontrol (to respect of Tav relationship) if they themselves are into polygamy. But anyone, we're talking and only developers know how hard has to be trying to implement any of these stuff. They should hate us. lol

ignoring the halsin stuff ( the one party banter line and what she says in the 5some) which is obviously some writers pet shit and completely out of character assuming she is romanced, nothing is said by the party member about sharing when talking to the drow unless you actually accept the proposal brought up by the drow twins, only after that does anyone including halsin speak.

As for why shadowheart would agree, potionbeans interpretation works best and very much is in line with her character, also she spent her whole life trying to appease shar and mother superior she will do the same for tav, its why she doesnt dump your ass for cheating but says to ask her in advance and mentions past experiences(to make it even and possiblly stir you up) or declares her non jealousy(she is) all in a disapproving tone while putting on a strong front. Though, reading reddit it seems people actually think she was fine with you sleeping with mizora and cant read tones, lots of annoyed gfs if they have any... You are possibly the only loved one in her life, she would rather share you than face the possibility of losing you over a fling or foursome(ok she was kinda enthusiastic about this one but girls can have fantasies as well, but its up to you if it stays one and its not like we wouldnt jump on a ffm threesome/ fffm foursome if she propositioned us about one).

She will gladly break up with you though before nightsong cause she is still split between you and shar.

Yes, she is emotionally traumatised. After a certain point in the relationship she would let Tav stomp on her face as long as it made them happy. She will agree to every whim that strikes Tav as long as she gets to keep them close. She is the cuckold in the standard Tav-Halsin-Shadowheart poly romance where she urges Tav to sleep with him and then tell her about it. She has all the red flags of someone who could end up in a really bad abusive relationship and the type of bff that I would keep a very close eye on and try to protect from getting involved in a destructive relationship.

And how someone would come to the conclusion that she has a stronger attraction to Halsin based of three lines of banter out of some cheesy harlequin novel, compared to the hundreds of lines of dialogue where she throws herself at Tav seems a tad bit...insecure...

It's kinda big to ignore 'the Halsin stuff, I think they should do something with that wild bear, I've seeing others people post about him.

I low-key think Shadowheart "canonically" is a bit of a w**re. It would honestly fit her too well, she constantly says Tav that someone could take advantage of our kindness, trickery domain cleric, and the "bugged" most explicit flirting I've seeing in this game AFTER having sex with Tav (as far as I know, haven't done it myself).

I think she manipulated us till the end.

What game have you been playing where that is the most explicit flirting you have encountered? I think even Withers comes off as more explicitly flirty to me than that at times.

But maybe that is just because as you may now know me as the happy $lut gamer by now, I've probably clicked all the naughty options

Look at OP post, something about a bear (again) wanting to have fun (if your lover wants, of course), water, and someone getting over her head about a buoyant bear.

lil bro needs to lay off the ntr doujins.....

Dude women fantasize as well, she meets Halsin before the romance really starts its not weird that she might have fantasized about a tall hunky literal sex icon character before devoting to tav( hell she has some dialogue thirsting about karlach when you first meet her as well) in the same way I as the player am tempted to try a tour of the hells with mizora or see what the female drow has to offer, the difference like in real life is if they act on it or feel more strongly about it than their thoughts about you.. As papercut ninja says, it's a bit insecure to throw the whole relationship away over it, as much as that post swim party banter pisses me off as well.

And yeah the w**re part, well she does mention lots of casual sharran brand socialization if you cheat on her with mizora which would have bothered me like morrigans mentioning her having sex with men casually in DOA did back in the day, but like her they are very much devoted to you when you romance them, hell shadowheart is even more so if she turns away from shar and she was mind wiped with only fragments of those memories so its not really the same considering she was very much manipulated and mind fucked most of her life.

"Depends, are you buoyant? I may need a life preserver if I get in over my head."

That right there is THE most explicit flirting in the entire game?

Did you play some celibate background that changes all of the first two acts that I don't know about?

I never even implied women don't fantasize, I complain about the flirting because supposedly happens after she's devoted to Tav.

And I just pointed out, that it could be very posible "canonically" that she'll be that way (without Tav influence). Doesn't mean she is (that' why I said I think).

I'm not gonna argue with you, that's your opinion. I respect it.

Well that was an interesting read lol.

I think there are two issues here.

1.
As much as I understand the dislike towards Shadowhearts behavior towards Halsin and trust me I hate it too (I mean I wrote the damn post), don't let it affect your real life. Criticize it, hate on it, let the developers know that you don't want that shit in your games but do remember that its still a game. (Your emotional well being should come first, becoming depressed because of someone's bad fan-fic should never happen.)

2.
Now for the fun part. Some people seem to be missing the point it seems. All of these ideas of killing Halsin, keeping him in the camp etc. don't mean shit I'm sorry to say this but the writer made sure that her interest in him is a sure thing no matter what after you complete her romance. Yeah you might say 'I didn't see it, so it didn't happen' but you could also not recruit Wyll or not talk to him and then say 'He's a bard from Neverwinter that has no devil patron'.

Not seeing something doesn't change what was tacked on after her romance. (And it was tacked on. Now the question is whether it was malicious or just a victim of a rushed release/rewrites) She still flirts with him after establishing a relationship with the MC (explicit or not, doesn't matter how you want to call it she does it while in a relationship) and the now infamous brothel scene.

Indeed you need to initiate it but what people like to ignore isn't the fact that the player is the one that pushes it all into motion but Shadowhearts reaction to it.
Every single companion is either against it or apprehensive while Shadoheart is the only one bursting with enthusiasm at the opportunity to sleep with Halsin. Rejecting that opportunity leads to her showing dislike towards it and if you do decide to take the plunge the whole scene revolves around the two having sex while the MC takes a step back.

So no, its not entirely up to the player whether Shadowheart is thinking of Halsin and fantasizing, what's up to the player is the choice whether you want to know about it or not. So again I ask a question, why would I or anyone else want to go through a romance that establishes one thing only for that thing to be thrown out of the window so that some writers fan-fic could be slapped on at the end.

A lot of people playing games and in real life tend to take issues with their partner obsessing over someone else/flirting with someone else, it has nothing to do with insecurity but everything with self respect.


-To the Red Queen I'm not using this to insult anyone, just pointing out the mentality of the writers and how that might have influenced the writing-

https://twitter.com/fiddlecub/status/941676162534772736?ref_url=

There are other examples but this one is a funny one.


ps. Take some time to enjoy yourself, don't get too upset and hope that they do rewrite it where a character you are romancing doesn't end up being more interested in someone else compared to the MC.

^make sure you guys are putting in a ticket in regards to this -> https://larian.com/support/baldur-s-gate-3#modal

I mean, who doesn't burst with enthusiasm at the opportunity to sleep with Halsin..ahem, no, ehh...back to the point, LOL. As a fan of Halsin, or rather the idea of him (his journey from what appears to be a strong steady mature man to horny "stick-my-thing-into-everyone-and-then-some"-guy is just wrong, but that's another discussion entirely), I just find that there's a bit of the same problem here as it is with Halsin himself. There has to be options and player choice here.

If you're in a monogamous relationship with a companion, in this case Shadowheart, it's just weird that the writers decide to make her disappointed when denied the option to sleep with someone else. That's just wrong. There are certainly instances where such a reaction might be valid and for some players it might fit, but that should sort of still be the players choice. And SH should for sure not thirst for Halsin AFTER having committed themselves to the player char.

It should be a rather easy fix, and one I hope Larian makes. And to be fair, like I said, Halsin himself deserves a proper fix too, writer did him dirty. So don't kill him just because SH can't keep her eyes away from those pecks, LOL, it's not his fault the writer was lost in his own fantasies when writing these scenes.

You might say it's all...unbearable. Shadowheart has the right to bear arms and expects you to grin and bear it

is it that weird really? You engage your partner in a sex fantasy involving some drow that make you excited. Then when it is suggested that she can have some fantasy fullfilled as well, you deny her. That's a bit selfish. It should work both ways, you get your dirty fantasies and she gets hers. Why is your enjoyment the only one that matters when you decide to bring this experimenting into your relationship? I can see why that gets you a disapproval, though she still goes through with denying herself and doing things your way anyway.

At the point where you take this relationship to a pair of sex workers and suggest sexual experimenting with other people, you are not proposing a monogamous relationship any more. Your actions are your responsibility, the rules of monogamy apply the same to you as to everyone else.

That's kind of my point when I say that it should be player choice. If player wants their character to engage in this drow encounter, then I feel like it should be okay for SH to also enjoy the moment, clearly. She's entitled to her fantasies and if PC is living out theirs, then SH should be able to do so too. What I'm saying is that if player character does NOT want this, and they ultimately say no to the drows because PC feels like they're in a committed relationship with SH and does not want to jeopardize this, then it just feels weird to have Shadowheart disapprove. PC did NOT engage partner in a sex fantasy, they rejected the idea of it because it didn't suit them, and partner gets upset. That's what I mean here.

Having one part in a relationship thirst for someone else and get disappointed that they're not allowed to fulfill their fantasy is grounds for breaking up in my opinion. Fantasies are fine, but not the disapproval.

She can approve of the drow meeting if player engages in it, but I don't think she should disapprove if player doesn't go through with the encounter. A disapproval on the other hand would be valid should the player engage in said encounter without Shadowheart.

- Person you are with is actively flirting with someone else while in a mono relationship - not broaching the topic of sharing/prostitutes.

- Person you are with shows interest in sleeping with someone else before even fully committing to the prostitutes offer and disagrees if you don't go with it.

- Person you are with reveals that while in a relationship they've been constantly salivating and dreaming about someone else.

- Person you are with that tells you they are interested in spicing up their relationship but as long as you are the one they are doing it with proceeds to focus on someone else.

- Person you are with proceeds to ignore you while mainly focusing on having sex with someone else. (the scene the player initiates doesn't end up being a fivesome but a sex scene between Halsin and Shadowheart where the drow twins and the MC are supporting characters)

- Person you are with that said they are not interested in sharing and always wanting more of you suddenly change their mind for someone else they've been fantasizing about.

Damn! I do wonder why people don't like it lol.

Like I said, most of these things (minus the banter - this is hardcoded and will happen as soon as you have both in your party) are up to the player to reveal. But that's it, reveal, not change. She might not sleep with Halsin unless you make it so but no one wants a romance where the partner is just waiting for the opportunity to jump into someone else's arms.

Seeing how both Halsin/Shadowheart share the same writer it is not surprising that he went overboard and overindulged in what he thought might be hot. (Bear memes, zoophilia, polyamory, cheating, Halsin being an overall sex pest after act 1 that hits on everything 'Can I join?' etc. take your pick)