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

How ironic that would be lol

Yet completely fitting.

Throughout the game it's been hinted at that relationships and anything casual is actually looked down upon by Shar because it means you're not doing her bidding. They needed to find excuses or do it secretly. The only time this narrative is flipped upside down is when you cheat on Mizora, where the writing is inconsistent with the rest of the dialogue in the game.

This is why she doesn't do jack in act 1 and act 2. She knows Shar wouldn't approve. But she herself wants it, that's why she's conflicted between choosing you and Shar, and unhappy when you do anything with another companion.

Then you get the Nightsong choice. In act 3, you have Sharran or Selunite Shadowheart.

Both want you for themselves, so neither should want to share you whatsoever; not with Halsin, not with the drows and not with Mizora. The only difference is that the Sharran version needs to find an excuse to get down with you because she doesn't want to piss off Shar (hence she calls it an exception), whereas the Selunite version will devote her everything to you (move in together, start a family) because that's what she personally wanted all along and now Shar's not there to stop her.

The only thing that strays from his own writing here is Halsin, the drows and Mizora. Three completely avoidable and short dialogues.

Damn dude that makes a lot of sense. Her response with Mizora, Halsin, etc is directly contradictory to everything else, so no wonder it's so damn confusing and OOC.

They tried to make sense of the casual sex by going against everything stated before.. that basically confirms it's just there as porn and nothing to be taken seriously/as canon.

That makes sense. 1 of her first dialogues after shadowfell is that she wants to be with your Tav now and always.

And Halsin is not fully avoidable, some ppl take him as a party member and his banter will play regardless.

Hmmm, I've never done her Shar route so I've been ignorantly saying that this sharing thing should be Shar route exclusive but after reading this you're right her willingness to share makes literally no sense regardless of what route you go with her. The whole thing SHOULD be removed but I'm sure even if a definitive edition happens they'll still keep it for inclusiveness.

Or they just could fix Halsin situation because it's out of player's agency. So both poly and mono players will be happy. Literally nothing changes for those who want to do double romance, but those who want only Shadowheart wont get this stupid banter and drow conversation. Mizora still can be interpreted as "acceptance", remember that even in her endings she says that she will be easy to find if Tav changes their mind and she is ALWAYS soft with your Tav, so thats ok.

Oh for sure that stuff definitely needs to be fixed. There's no reason the porn stuff should be ruining the rest of our experience.

It's very clear though, based on everything stated earlier in the game, that Mizora, Halsin, and the drow twins are not actually something SH would agree to. I don't have a problem with them keeping this in, but let's not pretend like this isn't simply porn for the sake of it and OOC for her.

If it were realistic, you would get a huge hit of disapproval for cheating on her with Mizora. I know SH is vulnerable but she can still have a backbone, yet stay with Tav.

I would prefer at least some disapproval yes, from -3 to -5 couldve been nice. But considering how even -1 for Halsin rejection at drows conversation pisses me off idk how other players would react to this.

I mean SH in character would do this. OOC SH, like the one in the scene as it is, has no backbone. They came up with a way to justify her not caring as much as she should have, by adding all that crap about sharrans and casual sex. It contradicts the earlier stuff.

So they won't change it, because they don't want to punish the player for having sex, with disapproval... though they do punish you if refuse to have sex with Halsin. But these scenes don't really matter I suppose, because once engaged in them you are no longer following reason anyway. It's just porn.

I do think that ending scene where you're mean to her should be altered though. This is in character SH and should reflect that. Like she could say, "I'm hurt that after all the times you said you wanted me, loved me, you chose to do this. But if you change your mind, it will be easy to find me."

I can't imagine why anyone would want to break up with her though.

Can I ask folk to seriously consider whether they're adding to the debate or just repeating themselves? That's something I'd strongly discourage, especially when using potentially emotive language like describing certain scenarios as porn.

They should change her endings a little bit, ppl already pointed this out
Again this situation with fivesome is strange, even bullied Gale in fivesome disapproves if you reject Halsin I think. But noone disapproves Mizora cheat except for Wyll? Some just instantly break up. Correct me if im wrong.

Yeah someone posted about that on discord feedback so hopefully that gets fixed. Like where is Tav going, why are they not joining their spouse? So confusing lol

I'm not too sure how all of them react in the scenarios with Mizora or Halsin. It doesn't seem like their characters would be into it though, based on what we know about them.

At first I thought that Halsin offers to join in drow scene even if you reject him because of some missing flag, game not recognising that you are not in relationship with him, it would be pretty common for act 3, for example I would get Gale talking about deal with Raphael before even meeting him in Sharess' Caress. So I did a little research (I promise it was for science) and watched on youtube every companion reaction to poly and then their reactions to drow offer. And guess what? There is no way to be in relation with both Gale and Halsin, because Gale refuses to do poly, but Halsin will still ask to join in drow scene. So him asking to join with PC and Shadowheart even after you reject him is almost for sure intended and not bugged, he just cannot stop himself when he see those twins. So I don't know about you guys, but for me SH/Halsin is canon

Oh yes a single piece of optional content that you have to go so far out of your way to even trigger and that 90% of people romancing Shadowheart will never see makes them canon. What an absolutely asinine thing to say.

I consider it non-canon, because it's just so OoC. And trying to say it is, will just get ignored.

Well, I was kinda joking with it being canon, forgot that you need to use /s on the internet, before baldurs gate 4 (if it ever happens) we won't know what is and what isn't canon. It is just funny how unstoppable Halsin is written to be

I read through pretty much the whole thread and I disagree pretty much entirely with the title itself. The real problem is just that however the dialogue is coded, the portrayals of Halsin and Shadowheart BOTH suffer tremendously for Halsin's forced involvement in a Shadowheart romance if he has explicitly been rejected. That should be changed. The rest I look back to papercut's post on page 7, Shadowheart's writing is otherwise totally fine (though I do miss the barbs from Early Access). It adjusts slightly pending the choices of the individual (as does the contextual reading of certain interactions), and there's nothing wrong or unrealistic about that.

I don't see a reason anything needs to change (on Shadowheart's end) except the rejected Halsin interactions. It all checks out to me otherwise.

Pretty much everyone agrees that at the very least the interactions after declining Halsin needs to go. The rest are thankfully avoidable. However, saying the rest checks out is just insulting to the overall writing of the game. Indulge me as to how the following makes sense to you.

Shadowheart: Hits on Karlach throughout act 1, regardless of Tav's romance, but isn't interested in a poly relationship with Karlach and Tav and will therefore break up with Tav even if asked for, while during act 1 it is heavily hinted at that Karlach would be fine with it. Not interested in a poly relationship with any other origin companion either.
Also Shadowheart: Has a neutral relationship with Halsin in act 1 and act 2, turned antagonistic during the Gauntlet of Shar, and will never comment about any kind of interest in Halsin if Tav does not romance her. Yet is not just willing but actively encourages a poly relationship with Halsin. Somehow instantly knows Tav is talking about Halsin the second exclusivity of the relationship is mentioned and even trying to back out makes her encourage it instead.

Shadowheart: Claims that relationships, casual sex and the like are discouraged under Shar because they distract from worship, and claims they had to do it in secret or find an excuse just to have an intimate moment together in the cloister. Therefore, she (Sharran version) needs to find excuses to have intimate moments with Tav, and calls them exceptions, despite still loving Tav. Ultimately calls it off because she knows it's not sustainable.
Also Shadowheart: Says casual sex was encouraged under Shar after Tav cheats with Mizora, as an excuse for her being okay with it.

Shadowheart: Claims multiple times that she wants to spend the rest of her life with Tav. Wants children with Tav. Fully devotes herself to Tav.
Also Shadowheart: When cheated on, apparently never expected that love to be reciprocated, claiming that she expected it to happen because Tav is 'not a swan'.

Maybe I should clarify more, I was saying nothing else needs to be changed in the sense of the people asking for more than rejected Halsin's interactions to be removed like the demands for the dialogue with the Twins to be inaccessible if you somehow tell the game you're pure monogamous. The greater discussion about polyamory, which is another thread entirely, yes, that content could use a LOT more work to improve. But I figure this thread isn't generally about that.

Hello and good day to everyone as someone who spent her 550 hours to game and mostly romanced shadowheart during that i wanted to share what im thinking about this subject.
First of all ive read lots of frustration here comes from how players are attracted to her. I hope what im going to say will help.

1- If you are really following monogamus route, you wont hear or know about the fetishes of Shadowheart. Ive played many times, didnt get Goblin kiss my foot, shoo others who tried to come close to me. By never upping Halsins relationship with me ( basically never talked to him except he came to camp and finding thaniel) ,he never talked about how he likes me etc. In Act 2 i brought him with me and he was even mean to Shadowheart. (Animal noises banter). I will talk about drow scene after that.

2- I write this because mostly monogamus players critisized the choice here. Excuse me, what are you doing in brothel with your love interest if you are monogamus? You only go there to complete quests. Drows are not meant for you. You saw the opportunity and got punished by Halsin scene and now your feelings hurt? Again im telling this for monogamus users.

3-Youll know about Shadowhearts dream and fantasies when you share her with drows, youll learn who actually saw in her dream if you do it with Halsin. Ive played a tiefling lady, shadowheart actually let me have halsin first by her kindness. So i awarded her genereousity by letting her use my boytoy in brothel while i watch. That beach banter of Halsin made me smile even since we both enjoyed our times with him. Even though he likes me more and SH is not happy hes kisisng me like that xD

4- Halsin is not a threat to both kind of relationship. Going to drows will open poly way. So Halsins ai thinks its a Poly way with him because only poly relationship in the game with Shadowheart or Astarion.

5- Halsins beach banter with monogamus run should be a bug just like followers talk to wyll about being devil before he actually turns one. Or Gale talking about what to do in baldurs gate while in act 3 (It should happen in act 1). If not thats just another banter i wouldnt take it serious. That guy couldnt defend his grove and got caught by Goblins. It was me who saved them. He needs to be jelaous of me not other way arround.

6- About you get 2 disapproval from them is about how game thinks you are on poly way so it triggered Halsin into it. By that scene youre basically leading them on. And by refusing it turning them cold at the last moment. Ofc theyd disapprove :p

7- And lastly youll know mildly about Shadowhearts desires on good route. She showed interest to larger people like Karlach and Halsin, she says she has weakness for confident people but they usually disappoint her at the end. She also likes witty people. On monogamus you wont even know about her dreams as it should be. She wont talk to you about what she she in her dreams etc. Let the girl dream. We could be seeing a dream about riding Karlach to sunset and wake up and contunie our romance with Shadowheart.
Thats what im going to say. No need to be upset about anything.