I like that he's not just a simple fanservice product, but a fully realized character with his own desires and I hope Larian does not change him to be playersexual, but retains his polysexuality as-written.

I wish I could be more surprised that this discussion of what is or isn't toxic poly rep is repeatedly being made about people with monogamous player character headcanons demanding that the one free love guy in the game be open to mono/poly. Such a familiar conversation happening every day in this world where the majority of mono people want the smaller population of poly people to compromise and accept an uneven arrangement. And in real person relationships, in the actual world, sometimes a mono person falls in love with a poly person and vice versa, and that bond does result in an uneven arrangement, where one person is single-heartedly devoted and the other sluts it out, forms other bonds, does their thing like the mono/poly request for Halsin being proposed here. Plenty of real life people do mono/poly and some manage it longterm. So, it's not unimaginable that Halsin could do it, and I imagine I'll get to read lots of awesome fanfic about it in the years to come -- but it's also, to me, not a compelling storyline for this character in canon.

In my fantasy video game, I'm happy to leave behind the negotiations and discussions about envy, anxiety, longterm plans about cohabitation and babies for the mono person to meet their life goals, the poly person having or hiding hookups in front of the mono person or asking the mono person permission to have sex with new people (like Halsin has the player character do in the swinging scenarios). It's a poly fantasy with Halsin, and the whole thing of mono/poly, isn't represented. I'm okay with mono player characters already having the majority of romances in the game catered to that RP choice.

It's wild that this interpretation of fluid is being used to say that he needs to compromise his romantic values to live up to his role as a fanservice product adequately. That is not what fluid means.

I respect Halsin as someone's OC because all NPCs are someone's OCs, that's how writing works lol. He was written to be a certain kind of guy. I love this guy, I know this guy. This guy is cruising in the park. This guy is in the bathhouse. He is in the club bathroom, he is 200 ft away lol I love this dude. Sometimes in actual life, it's true that people who are suffering acute trauma cruise to cope, but Halsin does not choose that, he holds off on being lovers until after his acute trauma quest is resolved. I hope the story doesn't feel the need to craft a reason for him to be poly, since mono characters are never called on to justify their monogamy as a trauma response. There is no one reason traceable to trauma that people are free love sluts; sex feels good. With his background, people can make headcanons, and that's enough. Sometimes addressing trauma leads to a person disengaging from risky/nontraditional sex, sometimes addressing trauma and healing leads to no change in sex-seeking behavior. And fetishizing past trauma in safe and consenting kink scenes is perfectly healthy, and can be fun and healing, although I understand the request from players for more aftercare. He's an old bi free love bear and I think he's neat.

The guy says a bunch of times he is going to need player character to be alike to him for the two of you to be meant to be. He's written to say, I don't treat my relationships like a walled garden, others do and it's not for me. He says, monogamous? That's not for me. He says: that's not for me and I don't want it. When your player character is monogamous, he says, that life is not for me, it's not my life. He doesn't want to share in that walled garden life. It's not a proposition that appeals.

And so, we RP as a Tav, Durge, or origin character who says, "our hearts are free, I agree." We're RPing someone he would want. Or RPing a character who respects what he says and answers, oh yeah that's not my speed at all and this isn't meant to be, and for players who pick that I really hope we get more content for his friendship track.

This is what is not toxic: Halsinmance is an on/off switch with no mono/poly track.

This poly romance isn't bending over backwards to represent mono/poly romances. I hope no dev time is put into mono/poly Halsinmance going forward. I wouldn't be surprised if a Halsin ending was activated in a later patch where we go with him, I wouldn't be surprised if mono people get the rep being asked for in this and other threads, especially when such intense wording is being thrown around (toxic, manipulative, references to real abusers Weinstein and Kelly who tortured their victims), especially when we live in a world that is catered in every way, legally and culturally, to mono people. I wouldn't be surprised at all, I'll be interested to see how it's handled. How would he answer the mono/poly proposition? If we get any more dev time for him, and if his dev time gets set to this task of repping mono people even more, I hope it at least gives us more voiced lines.

I would like his dev time to go towards more voiced lines with the origin characters, especially Astarion (like, he is a Druid, does he have healing to impart to the guy in the party who was so recently a prisoner?), in over-world dialogue.