Originally Posted by Icelyn
For me there were a lot of reasons as well as him being attractive why I wanted him as a companion! In EA he was a good and kind character, and for me there is a lack of good companions. I love environmental themes so him being a Druid is great, and I thought they might give him quests related to that. I also love elves, so the more elves the better! I like to do romance subplots, but none of the male companions worked for me (Astarion was too evil to start, and I disliked Gale�s romance in EA).
I am one of people who played EA only a little and I met Halsin righ after saving the Grove from goblins (I did not find him in their camp and since Minthara got a chance to learn where the Grove is located I just ran there to fight). I remember funny moment: during attack I summoned trolls, the last minutes of fight took place within gates and when it was all over Halsin appeared and killed trolls. I was just: "Welp, let's loot! =D " So basically, I had only couple of minutes of conversation with him.
I learned about his romance after famous stream with bear and was curious if it is possible to have this scene with him in his "human" form.
Yeah, same here, I didn't like Astarion as LI for my first character (half drow woman) becausse of the same reason and I was thinking about Gale (since, as I said earlier, he reminded me of Alistair and Anders from DAO and DAA), but I decided I need to wait.

Originally Posted by EMar
I think a lot of it has to do with his voice actor too, because there's just something so calming about that voice. He makes you feel safe. And I think paired with the fact that he's the leader of the druids, he's old and mature and seems to be kind and wise and how he cares for nature and balance and animals and so on. And, I mean, add to that how he's not exactly bad to look at either.
Yeah, Dave Jones did an amazing job, the voice is so warm, when you hear him you just feel so peaceful, you want to trust Halsin, especially when he shows his care towards people in need, etc. An ultimate good guy.

Plus, Halsin is non typical elf: we remember elves from LOTR, who are tall, slim and misterious, we know other elves, who are not so tall, but can be slim or physically fit, but not too muscular. And Halsin is HUGE - both tall and bulky, which is kind of breaks the stereotype and makes him interesting.