So I stumbled across this thread while googling Halsins romance, and read all of it in one go yesterday. Made an account just to respond to this thread. I havent romanced him, I turned him down because I already romanced Astarion, and I wanted Halsins romance to be a surprise for my next playthrough as my mental narrative was going CRAZY with excitement and anticipation. I was only googling his romance because I was hoping you could sleep with him in his true form, wasnt too keen on being forced to have sex with a litteral bear. And I legit thought the threesome with Astarion that was blowing up was just a fun joke thing you could do in game, fans went with it. Ive seen fanarts of the Astarion/Halsin/MC threeple going around just thinking it was just fanart. When Halsin confessed to me in act 3, I got the vibes still that HE was mono but he wanted Tav/Durge to go be "poly" if that was their thing. Which in a way makes sense, you get him so late in the game that most players would already have invested in another character romantically and who would want to throw that away for Halsin, who we barely know and have had no real intimate moments with? It felt like he wasnt really poly, and wasnt designed to be that way at first but he was decalred the default poly option because if the free love hippie stereotype and bear sex meme hype. The whole wood elves are non managamous and the fact hes okay with being in a threeple seems like a convinient way to shrug off limited development time, bad writing and poor planing.

I am woefully dissappinted in what Ive read, and I almost dont even want to play the game anymore. If what I read about his romance is true...it is definitely NOT what was being advertised by his language in acts 1 and 2, to beat a dead horse. Me being on the Demi side of things, my love language being words of affirmation, and having an energetic erotic blueprint the idea of his romance was DRIVING ME INSANE. I was SO looking forward to it. I wanted to have a real connection with him.

Im absolutely heartbroken about how badly this was handled. I feel like in game Halsin is completely ruined and there is no going back. I was SO excited, I was so madly in love with him after talking to him just a little bit at the party and in the mountain pass. Not having ANY new dialogue until you recruit him, I came up with all kinds of ideas for him in my mental narrative. When he talked about how people who persue positions of power probably arent the ones who should be in them, how being a leader wasnt all it was cracked up to be. That was a great moment of characterislzation for him, especially when it was followed up by news of the grove doing well, and him wondering if he was ever a good leader at all, doubting himself. Oh, wonderful! Maybe we get a chance to discuss with him the nuances of what being a leader actually means, supporting him and telkkmg him inspite of his insecurities we think hes awesome. Him being happy to enjoy all of oak fathers creation was something that my Ranger MC could have bonded with him over, both classes being nature lovers and all. Maybe MC shows appreciation for animals most people find unappealing, and Halsin admires that they care about unloved creatures. But they also could have had philosophical disagreements too. When Halsin was talking about how he sees the city, I wanted to tell him something along the lines of "Nature and Civilization arent as different as they seem to be a lot of the time. Everyone is just trying to survive." That would have made for an interesting conversation with him. I was imagining how this romance could go, especially since I was playing a Ranger, and how much in common our characters would have. I imagined him in act 3 being MCs rock, as he one of the only conpanions at that point without baggage. His stuff is done, and as HE HIMSELF told the MC, he is there for THEM now that he is free to do so because his goals have been accomplished. He left his whole circle, uprooted his whole life because he made a promise to help the MC with their tadpole(a wierdly commital thing to do for a single person, for someone who ends up wanting to be non commital one person)and for mildly selfish reasons as he also wants to break the curse. I play as a chaotic good character so in my head I had this idea that, the MC has taken on everyones burdens as their own, trying desperately to help all the companions with their problems. And maybe MC had a vulnerable moment. Maybe going of into the woods when everyone is asleep to lament and have a cry, being overwhelmed with everything thats happening (a feeling I legit felt at times in the game) not wanting to show weakness or burden the others with their feelings. Halsin notices or Scratch gets worried and tells him, he finds MC and gives them comfort and support, tells them he is grateful for all theyve done and that he wants to return the favor, or that he has been so inspired by everything thats happened or whatever. That would have been a nice scene. He also gives off vibes of being gentle and fun, like hes the kind of guy who would play with you; like idk pick you up and throw you in the river laughing his ass off or something.

I just wanted to live in the woods or travel with him happily ever after, maybe some babies too. But no. That isnt what Im going to get? After telling me he wants to be by my side and basically turning his entire life upside down for me when he diddnt have to, just for him to be like "Nah I dont do exclusivity" and to just fuck off into the horizon?

Maybe I let my imagination run too wild with his potential. I KNEW his romance wasnt gonna be like I was imagining. Duh, of course. I knew that. But it doesnt change just how much of this had just gone down the toilet. Its like they started him off as a legit love interest but someone somewhere was like "Nope Astarion bear threesome" and that became his whole character.