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

But adding content to the game to show that she's poly earlier is making her more poly and in turn makes you wrong for wanting a monogamous relationship with her. Again, that is not what I want and not what 99% of the people that romanced her would want. Just change in game flags so she doesn't do a complete 180 in her personality the second you decide to add Halsin to your party in act 3, that's it.

Well, I simply gave an example, I also said that the 'confection' should be later on (for the same reason you're commenting).

And also, having lots of sexual experience doesn't make anyone poly. Which is what I was trying to say in that example.

Edit: Typos

I'm just going to casually quote my post from a couple pages ago that lays down the biggest problem with the interactions, because it seems to have been forgotten. The TL:DR is that you can show no interest in Halsin, you can show no interest in the drow twins (other than their backstory) and yet it can lead to the scenario where Halsin and Shadowheart flirt together and then want to have a 5-some and disapprove if you say no.

Inconsistent writing be damned (I still think Selune Shadowheart should be very upset if you want to open up the relationship with Halsin, the drows, or Mizora, based on how she's written otherwise), this interaction needs to be removed entirely. If you decline Halsin, I never want to hear from him again in a sexual way toward me or my romance companion, but instead of that not happening, it happens in such a toxic way that it would lead to divorce in real life.

@Michieltjuhh



Agreed. But I don't think they'll remove that interaction. Because either we like or not, SH is poly (well, not poly but is attracted to Halsin). She and Astarion are Halsin's potential poly partners, and I don't think they'll change that. I think those interactions should be there for people that want them, but there should be a way to avoid them for the rest of us that don't.

That's why I was trying to 'make sense/giving a backstory' to those scenarios with SH.

What I think is a MUST is them checking out the banter/flirting dialogues between companions. In my humble opinion, after you unlocked the 2nd romance scene they should completely stop. And of course, if you decline Halsin, he MUST stop right there and then.

I think they adding poly was a mistake, but that's just my opinion.

Edit: I'm not in favor of the twins scene. I think it should be there, but the whole scene should be tweaked in a way that doesn't portray SH being more attracted to Halsin than Tav.

It doesn't matter if she's poly or not. If it were up to me, she'd be written to be disappointed and threaten to break up with you in the Halsin/drows (even without Halsin there)/Mizora situations. Because that's how she's been written otherwise.

However, player choice should matter. If you decide to not open up poly, she shouldn't do it for you. The interaction is free to stay if you accept Halsin and they don't change her reaction, in fact it'd be unfair if it didn't happen. But it should, like you said, never trigger if you decline Halsin. That's what I want removed first and foremost.

As it stands, she's not only inconsistently written to be okay with poly, but she is, if you bring Halsin along, also the one that actively initiates it even if you declined Halsin beforehand.

Dreams no. That's just life. get upset with you that you won't have an orgy, when you have stated that you don't want your partner touching anyone else? I don't know if it's strange, but I am RA and I would consider that a serious breach that needed to be discussed - at length!

I think calling it upset may be stretching it. It's not like she throws a fit, I'd say disappointment maybe more accurately describes it.

But I'd backtrack a bit further to where they start talking about this like I am not even there and are like halfway through foreplay before I even get a chance to say how I feel about it. There would be words and someone would be getting the ice queen treatment and sleeping on their own until it was resolved.

Damn, I just created the account because I couldn’t stand inconsistencies in game and reading this full thread was super interesting.
First, Halsin is super creepy, but I didn’t know to what extent before reading all of it here. My Tav was a girl and suddenly this guy I hardly kept in party hits on me, even though through the whole game I was mono with SH. I explored his dialogue and his “your skin smells if her” is not okay, like what the hell, were you sniffing me?? He’s like this weird creepy guy who when sees two girls thinks about threesome.
Reading here more about the banter broke character for me even more.

So Shadowheart - I read her as not polyamorous (hence no possibility of romancig two companions with her), but okay with opening relationship only, and only sexually. And it’s okay, that’s her, as long as the main romantic attachment is safe and good. Her upbringing/training would explain that, but again - only if main romantic partner is trustworthy. And here comes inconsistency - from dialogues with her it shows that she’s not so sure about relationship with Tav (asking three times if you want to spent life together during different occasions). Lack of conversation about the relationship (whether it’s open, poly etc) makes Halsin interactions so weird and creepy. And she is only little bit angry at Mizora fling or even (another very weird interaction) makes no comment about Harleep if Tav decides to pursue it. Like, no, that’s not okay, if the player goes this way (and there’s no reaction from her) it makes whole Shadowheart a weird fetish story about “broken sad girl in pain”, not a fully grown, troubled person with bright future she could be.
Is Halsin just a sexual fascination or is there more going on? That puts the player in a very weird and uncomfortable position, and as I’ve read, could be trigerring (although lots of things can, but that’s a different topic).

Anyway, either make Halsin mute or give SH a line describing or asking about the nature of relationship she has with Tav, it should all be consented.

I think you're very much misinterpreting this. It's not that she's unsure about the relationship but she has some serious self-esteem issues based on a lot of her dialogue in act 3. So she asks you to confirm it so many times because she's worried about you changing your mind about wanting to be with her not that she doesn't want to be with you.

I see you going for the mistake that all of us have already done and try to make it cohesive and consistent somehow.

Save yourself the trouble, it's simply bad writing and scripting as a result of this being shoehorned in as an afterthought because they decided to include poly and swinger sex. It's just as inconsistent with Astarion and Gale. It was written as fan service for people who wanted to have a thing with Shadowheart and Halsin together (evident through the complete lack of foreshadowing in act 1 and 2 when everything else in her story is clearly signalled in previous events and the fact that non-romance Shadowheart and Halsin show literally no interest in each other) and they are the ones who will just have to suspend their belief to ignore all the inconsistencies when playing through it.

Agree with everything you wrote, but you misinterpreted this:


She asks that not because she doesn't like/love Tav, but because she doesn't think she is good enough for Tav, she even says "I don't know what i did to trick you into thinking i was worthy of you, but i'm glad it worked."

She is insecure, almost broken after everything that happens to her, so her agreeing to orgies and swinging sex is even more weird and creepy, don't know what the writer thought.

I agree mostly, except her not being so sure about relationship with Tav. She says first that she wants to be with your Tav and then asks if you wish the same(Post nightfell she straight up says that she thought that her faith is the most important thing in her life and she couldnt be more wrong and she wants to be with Tav now and always and then asks if you wish the same. Lower city dream she again first says that she wants to share her "life" with your Tav), she also calls your Tav her true love. At the end she says that she doesnt even deserve you(or at least thats what she thinks).I guess it all makes sense in that case?
I really like her story and romance, except for that Halsin thing and I guess lack of option to hug/comfort her after house of grief.

That’s exactly what I meant but maybe worded it badly - my point is, her self esteem is low, she feels she is undeserving this relation, and then she’s okay with opening relationship? That’s inconsistent, if she wants to open it, it should be when she is secure, not when still being so unsure and lost.

Ninja, you are right, I’m just kind of sad after witnessing great game with amazing characters and heartfelt scenes, acted very well and then comes Halsin and weird stuff..

Yeah, I felt so bad without option to hug her. Again, I meant that she expresses feelings toward Tav, but it feels like she’s still not sure what Tav thinks about her or if they love her. I understand second time, the one with dream home, but asking again during epilogue? Like girl, we just saved the whole city, you were there with me and you’re still not sure if we are a thing (selune good ending option). That for me means that she really doesn’t feel secure in relationship with Tav and make swing/poly things even weirder.

She could've been more secure in the ending sure, but she is still lost and broken after things that happened during house of grief encounter so it is somewhat understandable to me(She expresses herself better if she releases parents imo, you can see how much "happier" she becomes if you say that you stay with her).

“I will the save spot for you” is a really weird sentence for the last thing in game lol. But seriously, I’m okay with her being still broken and in the midst of healing, it takes time etc, but all of her experiences, that are really hard are in total juxtaposition (for me) with Halsin stuff. There’s a tone and character change and it just doesn’t make sense to me.

Yeah I HATE the discrepancy between the endings of saving her parents and letting them go. What do you mean when I have time? What could my character possibly need to do that's more important than immediately leaving with the person you've told 3 separate times that you want to spend your life with them? Weirder still her father also comments about you being her lover and that when the three of them settle down he expects it to be with you at her side. And then you compare it to the endings where her parents die you can immediately continue being with her none of this seek me out when you have time nonsense and even in the ending when you become a mind flayer and her parents are alive you immediately move in with her with her saying she'll convince her parents that it's okay. It makes absolutely zero sense.

Ye her reaction in the ending where parents are alive is weird tbh. Halsin stuff is supposed to be before entering lower city and house of grief anyway I think, doesnt change the fact that they are extremely frustrating(at least for majority in this thread) or questionable.

You know what, I just realised it could be worse. Imagine coming to their home (with dog and owlbear and unhatched gith egg I swore that I’ll raise as my heir) and then seeing Halsin there being first lol. That would be the ultimate worst ending.

Well that's just a stupid way to look at it if you ask me. You can go the entire game without her saying anything about Halsin and you're worried he'd be there when your character shows up? I want this shit changed as much as anybody but people implying that she cares more about Halsin than your character really irritates me when it could not be further from the truth.