Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Halsin Romance, Expectations and Obligatory Poly

Maybe it's because of the dialogue options or the type of drow? When I arrive with semi drow, if they have the same thing, I will tell you step by step so you can see it. Or if it has something different that would be my secret dream too


Larian, me vas a obligar a sacar el látigo y las botas de cuero. Arregla el oso Larian!!! Chasquido de látigo. Y lamele las botas al gran oso Larian!!! Chasquido de Látigo. Y sin este fetiche Larian!!!! No Larian, no tomes notas , mizora no necesita eso con Halsin!!!. Primer aviso

The issue with Mizora and later Halsin scenes with Shadowheart and Astarion is that they feel rather tacked on. So any argument that I see around it kinda falls flat.

Both characters throughout their romances (especially near the end) establish that they are only interested in the player character. (rejecting any attempt to open the relationship/breaking up because of it ect.) They both have a past of casual sex and abuse that is masked by flirty/joking behavior but that mask drops as soon as those relationships become serious.

All I see is a hasty decision on the developers part where they felt like giving more 'options/choices' was the goal no matter if it made sense. They picked two companions at random and then just added the Mizora scene as an attempt to justify that decision. (regardless if it ended up contradicting what was said before)

Shadowheart goes from 'I don't wanna share/I'm ending the relationship because you are pursuing someone else' to 'I never wanted a pure swan/I don't care that you are sleeping with someone' out of nowhere.
And with Astarion everything outside of a committed relationship just feels like coercion since he's in a vulnerable state.

In all honesty like the rest of the game, romances feel unfinished/patched together.

It is true that polyamory is a thing in the Wood Elf culture but so is bonding with your partner, especially if that partner is of a short lived race. If they focused on actually developing Halsin as a full companion they might've even succeeded in making something good (poly and mono versions of his character) but to me the way he is now just comes of as a kink fulfillment without any depth. And to add to that, that kink ended up affection other characters in a bad way.

@EMar, thank you for sharing how the story went for you! This is exactly what I needed to compare my experience with yours, so thank you for going through the effort. Because after all, his storyline consists only on the dialogue lines (whereas at least most of the other companions have actual gameplay to clarify the meaning of the camp dialogue) and the experience can change drastically depending on what was said in what order, what options were not chosen and what was happening with other storylines at the same time. And given this sensitive topic, if the writer wasn't able to express what he meant, the character can end up giving out very weird and disturbing vibes. And let's not forget the bugs that might be in play (eg. at least earlier if you told Halsin that you aren't interested, he still continued to make advances to your character, which is very creepy, and clearly a bug). And yeah, someone pointed out that my experience probably was very different, because I also played another romance story on the side, and that's 100% true. The lines that I happened to pick and the answers he gave happened to make a very coherent and endearing story, so I appreciate EMar's example from their playthrough.

If the writers were to compare our summaries side by side, they'd probably see where the writing could be improved. If you look at them, you can clearly see when the same discussion worked well for my story and felt intimidating on yours. Eg. in my summary Tav gives an informed consent, so it makes sense that after that there is a shared baseline: they are in a mutually accepted open relationship. In your summary (if I read it right) Tav doesn't actually know what he agrees to, more so as goes along since it seems like the only way forward, and they end up in a situation where Tav actually isn't alright with this direction, but Halsin acts as if everything was decided and great. Not a healthy start, for sure!

I think they should add some content if they didn't mean the relationship to go down that way:
- Information on Halsin being non-mono from the start. It's hinted (he says such lines already in the party in Act 1), but I think it should be made clear as day, so the players would know what they can and cannot have with this character.
- Clarifying discussions about the matter early on. Since he isn't main stream, I think players should be given more info to understand him and to help them to decide what they want to do. Eg. we wouldn't have to interpret the level of his commitment or the type of relationship if it was better communicated.
- Either truly process his traumatic past or not implement it at all. I think it's a way too heavy subject to be just a mention.
- Just more. As it is, he simply doesn't have a romantic storyline. You can start a relationship, but there is nothing to it. It doesn't evolve.
- Better ending options. As goes with all of them, I think the end dialogues are blunt and don't reflect the impact of the relationship at all. The Tav absolutely should be given the option to go with him immediately and not just in the future (I didn't notice absense of this on my playthrough).

When it comes to the mono/poly/whatnot part of the discussion, I personally think that they made a design decision when they gave every character an orientation on this matter. I don't know if it was good or not, but they made it. The alternative to me would be that none of them had orientation, meaning that any one of them would be available to closed or open relationship. As it is now, I don't feel that Halsin needs to be "fixed" since having an orientation isn't a bug.

However, I do feel sorry for all the fans who wished Halsin to be romancable only to be given the orientation that they themselves can't relate to. That must feel horrible! I'd be angry and sad, too.

My 10, although I go further: in a hurry and looking for the press release.


The topic of sex with bears and polyamory can be scandalous and will give you some press releases, now that will be a short-lived effect. In the medium and long term what remains is that you have made an incongruous, unfinished character, which leaves the player no option to decide and influence anything, without depth and with a lousy ending. When in all your other characters you haven't acted like that.

I have seen videos of Shadowheart and I find it quite unfortunate, the polyamorous thing is forced in and the dialogues suffer from the same thing as Halsin: incoherence in addition to being independent of what Shadowheart and Tav said about their relationship. The third act is the weak point of the game, it does not have the quality that one might expect or desire at all. I don't know if they had released the game on the planned release date everything would have been solved, but I estimate that part of it would have been solved. In fact, it does not comply with Larian's expectations, which already tells you that many hours have been missed there. This being the case, it is understood why Halsin and everything related to her romance is poorly done, and that is why we players should protest. A child who does not cry is not breastfed

Bad Astarion has a healthier romance written all over him than Halsin, and he's a ridiculously evil Astarion. You can't abandon it, of course, but you can decide about and influence your common future. I don't think that Halsin's romance is like that on purpose, nor that it is on purpose that it has so little content and depth: it's the rush. But that being the case, they should sit down and do a complete review.

Also to say: if the polyamory decision had been more thoughtful, probably yes, there would be a mono option, and they would probably have corrected unwanted effects on the other characters.


I know there are deleted scenes of the character, perhaps by watching them we would get an idea of where they wanted to go.

Larian fixes Halsi.n. And no more memes, no one wants to have sex with a L arian furro. No, I told you it's not sexy. !! Larian no, leave that drawing of the care bear alone!!! My eyes!!! because you had to teach me that Larian!! Internet is prohibited in the office. First notification

Well, to be very techincal about it;

if you create a product at the request of a 100 users, but then you only manage to provide a satisfactory experience for 5/100 users.

That means that your success rate for your product is only 5%, despite you aiming and promoting this product as extraordinary customer service to all 100.

A product with a customer successrate of 5% is a failed product.

I am sorry to say this, but the Halsin romance is a failed product no matter how it is justified.

So I was checking his romance dialog again and when you ask him about relationship there are two things that bother me:

"You know what we share is more fluid, more founded in the principles of nature" -> totally ignoring that nature knows monogamous relationships as well


"You should feel free to roam as your heart desires. You are all I want but I will not hoard you to myself. Let others know the happiness of being with you."

-> I don't read it as such but I can see why others might think it sounds a little pushy from him, like he wants Tav to have other lovers (maybe so he feels better when he takes someone else too?). I mean, why even let Tav know? If you are already in a relationship before the romance scene with Halsin, he will know and ask you to get the approval from your lover first. And if Tav is not with someone, Halsin already explained before the romance scene that he doesn't like monogamy. It is like rubbing it in Tavs face again after the romance scene.

I think a dialog option to discuss the future together would habe been better. Especially since he is a druid and Tav might not be a druid. Would he try to live in the city for Tav? Or does he hope they would return to Thaniels land? He does say that but it is before the romance. Or if Tav is a druid - could they both be in the same circle (not sure if this is allowed if both are married or in a romantic relationship or maybe that is the reason why he comes up with this "no, no, this is not a relationship" because this is how the druids in the circle can be together...) or is it ok for a druid to not be inside a circle...

In EA there was a dialog line where you could ask him if he misses being first druid - I have not seen this dialog line in the full game - does anyone else has? I can't imagine they would cut it, seems unnecessary. Or does it come up later? I am at the beginning of act 3 but in EA it was the first talk after the party where you could ask him that. Or maybe just a bug and it isn't firing. Who knows? Maybe there is more dialog with him and it is just bugged.

Yes, I've always had that line (as far as I can remember), but only in Act I and II. It's not available in his dialogue tree in Act III.

I'm one of those people who interpret the above dialogue as being quite pushy considering he only wants Tav (at this moment at least), but doesn't want them to just stick to him. The reason it mostly feels pushy and more like some weird kink of his that he wants Tav to be with others is because the player doesn't get any say in the matter. Had there been a discussion about it, an option to say "Thanks for being so open to sharing" or "I don't want anyone but you either" or something in between, it would have felt at lot better. Without the ability to say anything it's just weird to me how he tells you to be with others without even wanting to know if that's something you want. He just assumes at this point, which fels wrong.

I feel like the problem to this particular dialogue starts before the scene in the woods. Because when he presents his "nicely worded ultimatum" to sleep with you, he says something in the lines of "either you are like me, or perhaps you're not." A statement to which you cannot answer properly either. You can say something like "I want this" or "no, this ends here". Which sort of implies that if you agree to the sex, you agree to the whole "either you are like me..." which then means that by agreeing to sex you are telling him that you are like him, that your heart roams free too. Which then sort of fits with the his: "Let other's know the happiness of being with you"-issue.

There should have been more discussion at this point too and a way to tell him "I only care for you and even though I don't want to share my heart with others, I accept that you do," or whatever. As of now, the game forces you to agree to be like him.

And as far as I can remember there's still a dialogue somewhere where you can ask him if he misses being first druid, not sure when it appeared, but my Tav had a discussion with him about it and he said something about not missing it at all and saying maybe be should have left a long time ago. Think it might be in ACT3 somewhere, but I can't remember.

I don't know if I should share here, or I should remove it, but I am slowly trying to see if I can adress this in a respectful way:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/50150206/chapters/126650995

So much about druids here. But in hype video, a druid has sex with a vampire. A vampire! Aren't druids supposed to destroy the undead wherever they see them. Moreover, Halsin is an archdruid. Undead vampires upset the balance. But okay, you can do everything for advertising. Just don't say anything about circles / traditions of elves and so on. If you observe them in one, but not in the other.

I completely agree with the dissatisfied. It was a very very wicked joker. After the scene in act 3, I had to postpone the game for a couple of days, I was so disappointed. There are a couple of people here who like such a relationship, congratulations. But what, I don't have Halsen in a relationship. Save him, save Tariel, remove the curse, kill the avatar of god, not enough to consider this guy your boyfriend.

This sums up what most of us are feeling lol. It's like we went through all the troubles to romance him and in the end he was just like "come visit when you can". This is such an insult to our poor Tav.

Exactly this.

Also, can we talk about this piece of dialogue:

Tav: "If you had so many lovers, perhaps your heart stirs more lightly than you think."

Halsin: "talks about menu maidens he has lain with and in detail about one pirate."

Me as a player: Ehm.... I think you just tried to avoid the implication of that statement.


It might just be me, but I thought I was asking about how often he has emotional attraction, not which type of lovers her has had.

The implication might be that he has had varied experiences and they didn't mean anything to him, but that is a very very understated way of saying it - that confirms nothing.

To me it felt like this:

"Are you sure you don't experience this sort of attraction more often?/I think you're exaggerating/So you don't require any sort of emotional connection for physical intimacy?"

Halsin: Starts to brag about his former lovers.

Sorry... what now?

Theoretically, this seems like the easiest thing to fix. Just tweak one non-voiced protagonist line: go from "Maybe I'll visit you one day" to "Sounds great! I've got a few things to take care of here, but I'll join you as soon as I can". Halsin gives the same response and now it sounds like he's eagerly waiting to continue their life together instead of for a booty call.

I just feel like a massive idiot for asking for this romance for 3 years, then being excited that the listened to the request, and in the end being served this botched Halsin romance.

Strange, I was waiting and looking for it but never saw it... I guess I have to re-check my saves and see if it was hidden somehwere under a different dialog branch... but thank you for letting me know.



Yes fixing the end dialog would already help a lot and wouldn't require too much effort. I am not too optimistic about them rewriting or changing a lot of dialog for him.



Yes that is bothering me too.

I think they wanted to express that due to his experience and his many lovers (I mean he is 350 years old it is understandable that he had several, also if he says "many" I wonder if it is a lot even for a elf/druid his age or if he means many in a way that is more than usual compared to humans or other not very long living races) that he knows when he is really in love or if he is just excited or horny or attracted to someone.

With a lot of lovers he might have already experienced a wide range from emotions and what he feels for Tav is more then what he usually feels for his lovers.

But still, it is even more strange that he doesn't just talk about his lovers but then continues with "and I have been to the underdark. Many times." -> Especially if you later find out that he was kept prisoner there... I mean, really? I guess it means underdark = dangerous place -> he keeps calm even in dangerous surroundings and not even in danger his heart is stirring as it is now, for Tav. I mean, that isn't really true - he can't even control himself when he is in bear shape and even warns you about it in the goblin camp. That is the opposite of staying calm in danger. But maybe he was trying to be romantic but if you need to think too hard on it I guess it means it didn't work.

That's a great idea! I like your thinking there. You also point out something that may be true in many of his dialogue options: Halsin says a lot of things at once, but Tav has limited answers and has to answer to all of that at once. Maybe the conversation should have been written in smaller parts: Halsin says one thing, Tav can answer to that, then Halsin goes to the next thing.

Agreed. I think most of the time we can agree what Halsin's intent is and it isn't what is actually portrayed in the game. He seems like a very confused victim of C-PTSD (which makes sense), and he is stuck in this place where he really can't tell what he wants. And then it comes out like this clumsy dialogue, where he is actually a little in conflict with himself. At least that is my headcannon now to make him make sense.

Esepcially because "I am very fluid. Unless it's commitment romantically. Then I am very rigid, inflexable and uncompromising".

If he is suppose to be RA, then this is where it short circuts for me:

Healthy RA:
Consent and Communication: Open and honest communication is fundamental to RA. Consent is continually sought, boundaries are respected, and ongoing dialogue is encouraged to ensure that all parties involved are comfortable and have their needs met.

This is were Halsin fails massively and ends in this catagory for me:

Unhealthy RA (emotional blackmail):
Some individuals might claim that their rejection of traditional relationship hierarchies gives them the right to engage in intimate or romantic relationships without obtaining clear and informed consent from all parties involved. This can lead to situations where one person feels pressured or coerced into a relationship.

He also needs to be more flexible. The irony of him calling himself fluid, while being entirely rigid in this specific area (especially when you take his sense of responsibility and willingness to commit in literally every other part of his life) is a bit absurd.

I'm very confused by that line too. My first character happened to be a drow and I assumed this was drow-specific dialogue, implying he was familiar with the sexual politics and practices of her old society. Which was sort of nice, actually, given the way I'd imagined her. But in fact he says it to everyone, with no hint that his actual history is quite different from the impression you might get. I don't understand.