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

My way to have him never annoy me. Do Thaniel's quest WITHOUT having him in the party, done, saved the boy good Act 2 ending. And yes, without Halsin, no saving the kid. Then Ignore his existence, never even talk to him, imagine him just as what he really is, a forced NPC you must have in camp to have a certain quest done. I did it, and boom, all my problems were solved.
Still annoys me having to avoid any npc, but honestly, I didn't miss a thing not interacting with the unpleasant horny weirdo dude.

My way to have him never annoy me. Do Thaniel's quest WITHOUT having him in the party, done, saved the boy good Act 2 ending. And yes, without Halsin, no saving the kid. Then Ignore his existence, never even talk to him, imagine him just as what he really is, a forced NPC you must have in camp to have a certain quest done. I did it, and boom, all my problems were solved.
Still annoys me having to avoid any npc, but honestly, I didn't miss a thing not interacting with the unpleasant horny weirdo dude.

Also, while in the poly thing, isn't that unfair that they gave (forced) a dude option, but didn't have a female option for those who want poly but not a man?

It's kinda sad cause, honestly, I like his design but hate the rest of him. lol. He's destined to die at the goblin camp in all my playthroughs.



Wait so there's not a poly female option? I thought Minthara was Poly.

Even if there's a severe lack of commitment to the relationship as shown by the mediocre epilogue despite multiple heart to heart moments. Now we know why.

I don't agree with that. In the Selune ending at least whether you save her parents or not she makes it clear she wants to continue the relationship and she'll even stay with you if you become a mind flayer. I do think it's weird that she says "seek me out when you have time" if she saves her parents but if she lets her parents go you will continue traveling together immediately after the events of the game. The discrepancy between saving and letting the parents ending go makes no sense to me but there's no lack of commitment as your character will go to her after some undetermined amount of time.

It's the third time throughout the playthrough that you have to confirm it to her. First time I'll give a pass because it's just after the Nightsong stuff so she's emotional. Second time however is basically a marriage proposal a long rest after the beach scene. Yet she's still doubtful and needs confirmation again at the end of the game. And yeah, the parents ending is weird in that regard. Even the parents are completely cool with you. I did like that touch (need to talk to the dad before long resting after saving em). But then it's ruined in the ending again.

I really have no idea what you're on about. Where is the non commitment here? She literally says she wants to continue the relationship.

Commitment might've been the wrong word. Lack of faith in it instead then. Like I said it's the third time you have to say yes to that question. Why's it have to keep being asked?

First of all it only happens twice, after the Nightsong decision and in the epilogue. Secondly she's obviously insecure after everything that's happened. She has multiple lines talking about how she's undeserving of happiness, her family, her real name, and even says she's not sure how she tricked the player into thinking she's deserving of them.

At the end of the day nothing is going to get changed anyway.

They probably don't even read this board since it's not the feedback board, you don't see people discussing this stuff and getting up in arms on it on twitter/discord/reddit like you do with Karlach or Minthara so as far as Larian is concerned it's not even a problem. Hell, nobody has even made anything about it on their feedback forum on their Discord. I would but I'm not articulate enough to make a big write up on how shitty this being in the game is.

So either you decide this has ruined Shadowheart's character for you or you treat it as some optional fetish fuel some degenerate writer put him the game for himself and ignore it since you can go the entire game without her even mentioning Halsin even once.

They probably don't even read this board since it's not the feedback board, you don't see people discussing this stuff and getting up in arms on it on twitter/discord/reddit like you do with Karlach or Minthara so as far as Larian is concerned it's not even a problem. Hell, nobody has even made anything about it on their feedback forum on their Discord. I would but I'm not articulate enough to make a big write up on how shitty this being in the game is.

I am going to attempt a helpful and considerate response for everyone involved in this discussion. If it seems inconsistent with things I have written earlier, well thoughts and perceptions develop over time so there are aspects where my standpoints can shift.

First of all to address the emotional aspect involved which cannot be disregarded. If you develop an emotional attachment to the character Shadowheart in the game, the attachment is going to carry over to your real emotions and you can't help but react to things that you experience. To validate everyone's feelings involved, Jennifer English, the VA of Shadowheart expresses these things on a deep emotional level in an interview
here
Go to the timestamp for "emotional scene" and a word of caution that this can hit too close to home for some.

Now with validation of feelings and emotions involved, let's also make it clear that feelings are not facts! This doesn't mean that I dismiss your feelings for anything but real, just that they aren't the same as facts.

The fact is that if you are playing a monogamous romantic storyline with Shadowheart, that scene is not intended for you. That is intended for a different audience. The companions are dynamic NPC's, which means that there are different versions of Shadowheart for different audiences. The player has a degree of control over which version of the dynamic NPC they want so that the story can cater to different audiences. In comparison to the Kagha storyline that OP mentions a few times, Kagha is not a dynamic NPC, all audiences get the same Kagha.

Different versions of Shadowheart for different audiences does not necessarily need to be consistent with one another, but of course, if some key parts of her character background is suddenly completely disregarded it becomes jarring and the writing that has been done to adapt the character to the audience isn't very good.

Those who follow a classic romantic storyline between two people involving Tav and Shadowheart get a very consistent experience, with the exception of the banter between Shadowheart and Halsin, which I must honestly believe is a script error that shouldn't be there unless you are pursuing the polyromance arc, it makes no sense otherwise. I know I played that down in my earlier responses based on my personal feelings about the whole thing, but again feelings aren't facts, so how I personally feel doesn't matter. It carries gravity no matter how I feel about it.

For my experience playing through the game with a romance arc that involved only Tav and Shadowheart where Halsin wasn't even around in act 3, the delivery was very consistent and satisfying. And that's my greatest advice for everyone to take away from here, the other versions of Shadowheart that aren't intended for you doesn't matter! It is the audience that want the Shadowheart that indulges in casual sex together with Tav and others that gets the inconsistent experience, but I doubt that audience cares that deeply about consistency because they just wanted to feel some stirring in their pants. The existence of an inconsistent Shadowheart for a different audience should be their problem, don't make it into yours.

I do not know if I am understanding this correctly, but is Jennifer English in the interview saying she is affected by that poly/orgy scene as well? Is she pointing to that scene or is she talking about something else? She said that there were alot of tears for her that day and that she needed a day off, to recover from it... Because man knowing that even she is affected by this 'emotional' scene gives me such relief, coming from her.

I created a thread in their feedback channel on their discord, in case you guys want to reinforce it, it's called "Shadowheart Romance Inconsistencies" (yeah, I know, not the best title, I'm not perfect with words, but hope that will be enough). I didn't go as deep as we did here, but you could keep commenting things there, and hope for Larian to see it.