Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Halsin Romance, Expectations and Obligatory Poly

I still regret not having the option to grin at him and say "Does one rule out the other?"

I feel like there should have been a ranger option.

So much squandered potential I cant. My heart is breaking all over again. I just want my silly bear back...

That is gold. Unfortunately his sense of humor seems to sort of disappear in Act III.

Man imagine Halsin having a family with the Tav. Imagine how well a garden could like if you have your very own Archdruid to take care of the flowers and trees. He could have had all of that in another ending...

"Let us dwell in fair Reithwin, and there make a garden. All things will grow with joy there if Halsin and Tav come." - JRR Tolkien, sort of

Halsin is the only one I can actually imagine having a family with. I havent finished Act3 yet but I imagine Halsin, a tween/teen Yenna, a small gith child hatched from the egg, and a pregnant Tav running an apothecary/clinic in the now healed Shadow Cursed Lands.

This pretty much sums up what I wished for him to get in the end. And if Larian does find time to give me that for SH too, I wouldnt mind it

Okay, I need to add this.

Tell me about your Tav and your dream for them before the game release.

Zalia, tiefling ranger, is a widow, who killed her husband because he was violent. She has two children by the start of the game. Merius 6 and Natalia 2. They were supposed to make a family with Thaniel and Oliver, and Zalia wanted to rebuild the house where they found Oliver - giving him the family Olive wished for: The worlds strongest dad (Halsin), The worlds best mom (Zalia), the three friends he summoned (Thaniel, Merius and Natalia) and the dog, Scratch.

Zalia was created before EA and I had no idea about Halsin, so all these things just magically worked out to fit so perfectly well. So when I met Oliver I was so stoked how everything was coming together. Zalia was supposed to have romanced Astarion, but during EA she was such a good fit for Halsin, which happened organically. And then Oliver and Thaniel looked like they could be Halsin and Zalia's children!



Picture spam!

Zalia and Halsin
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attach...4235e&=&width=589&height=589[/img]

Halsin and Thaniel
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attach...7a55c&=&width=589&height=589[/img]

Halsin and Merius
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attach...ff7e5&=&width=589&height=589[/img]

Halsin and Natalia
https://media.discordapp.net/attach...01551&=&width=589&height=589

Zalia and Oliver
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attach...9ee5a&=&width=589&height=589[/img]

Halsin and Zalia's twins, Jasper and Jasmine (which will now never exist)
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attach...a0e7a&=&width=589&height=589[/img]
[img]https://media.discordapp.net/attach...e172f&=&width=589&height=589[/img]

Zalia is very independent, and would not have an issue with the polyamoury (though she herself is not), but the way Halsin is written otherwise... /Sighs... it was nice while it lasted.

I'd be happy to contribute, but maybe start a separate thread? We're straying very off topic for this one.

I wouldn't say we are, as this thread is about what our expectations were, and the fact that these things are not possible because of the toxic nature. But we can start a new one

Wether or not there will be a new thread, Im tottaly down for discussing expectations. I kind of already did but it was based on what I remembered him saying. It would be fun to go read his act 1 and 2 dialogues and discuss my thoughts while quoting him directly. But thats gonna take me a hot minute.

Hey guys if you haven't already checked this out, there's this reddit post about some of the issues with Halsin in act 3.

https://reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/pcsj01LkvV

To be clear: I don't dislike Halsin, per se - and I do recall quite enjoying his character, back when I first met him during EA a couple years ago. He came off as this very responsible, protective, but good-natured father-figure type who could crack a joke here and there when the mood struck him. I can easily see how he became popular for some folks, for certain - and it wasn't just because he is quite a handsome (and burly) elf.

That said, I didn't progress much past the goblin camp/afterparty during EA - so I had assumed, with Halsin staying at camp, that even before being made into a companion, he might have some interesting talks with you and branching dialogue trees... but, well. The morning after, after exhausting all he had about Moonrise and the like (and bringing up the "sorry if I was too forward" thing, which... feels weird to say, if you didn't flirt with him? but w/e), I'd expected as we continued our journey towards Moonrise, that he would have more to say or add as we went. But from the afterparty up until meeting the guy talking about Thaniel in Act 2, he just sort of. Stood around camp. With only the same prompt each time I talked to him, and almost no remarks about what we'd done or where we were at the time.

I don't know if it was always like that. If so... disappointing, tbh. But if it's only like that specifically when you don't flirt with or try to "romance" him, that's even worse to me.


Perhaps I didn't go through the proper dialogue trees, but I don't really recall much in the way of him not feeling fulfilled as the Archdruid, nor wanting to get back into nature again or too many people to manage? He just said he had unfinished business with Moonrise, and that the grove needed a fresh perspective in the form of a distant archdruid, or some such.

Which, don't get me wrong - still a nice convo! But either you read far more into all of what he said than I did, or I went through a different dialogue chain!


Again, there really wasn't much there during that convo when I went through it. But, I wasn't flirting with or trying to bed him; I think I chose the dialogue about him getting out and enjoying the party some too, but that was it. I wasn't planning to romance him, and I tend to keep to the roleplay of whatever character I'm playing (which, for this first playthrough, is a redeemed Durge chaotic neutral drow).

Which, while I enjoyed what I did have from him during the party, this brings back up the issue of Halsin seemingly being just sort of... there, if you aren't trying to flirt with or romance him. And I just don't think that's really good handling of any character, for them to only have a lot to say if you pursue a relationship or sex with them.


Which is incredibly gross and tone-deaf if it truly was intentional. I expect better from Larian and their writers, and both Halsin and his fanbase deserved better than this mess.

So... He treats you as if you were an NPC getting in the way of his chosen romance arc...?

My only qualm with how the romancing has played out is that Gale (SO at the time) was taking freaking notes about my char "rutting" with Halsin at the twins' room, but there's no viable option to do that in a more "mature" way if I later ask him about Halsin. I had not seen EA gameplay (started playing at PS5 launch), I naturally play on the Good spectrum (leaning to N or C, my PLDs tend to get punished) so Gale was head over heels early on; and Halsin I think also leans towards the same with some darker/neutral streaks (he's rather vindictive).

But thanks to the alerts in this and other threads, I don't think I'll be changing Gale for Halsin (which is also cruel to NPCs lol) they all seem so love-deprived that just being an open and caring supporter makes them fall in love easily. I was expecting more from a Halsin whose first interactions were "I sing or kiss when drunk..." and with whom I could flirt like adults, without getting a clingy puppy (which are the vybes I get from SH, Karlach and Astarion).

I might keep a savegame to see if Halsin does get additional lines/endings though

This may be the big difference. I immediately asked Halsin if hed drink with me because I wanted to try to get to kmow him more (not necesarily flirt, but the exchange was great either way) especially since he had told me in the goblin camp when I rescued him he intended to come with us. So when I moved on to other areas, I talked to him a lot to see if he had anything new to say, which I do frequently for all the characters anyway. Thats where I got the options to ask him if hes gonna miss being archdruid etc etc. Maybe all that got closed off when you diddnt "flirt" with him. I dont know why asking someone to have a drink with you, at a party where people are drinking, is considered flirting but ok. Maybe I picked the sex option too after he turned down the drink I dont remember at this point.

The more I read this topic, the sadder I feel. I just can't believe that something will change for the better. Perhaps they will rescheduled the conversation about his capture by the drow. And they will make a message in Act 1 about his preferences and what awaits us in Act 3.
I just can't believe that the person (author) who made such an evil joke under fans will meet us halfway in at least something. Although, perhaps, autumn and cold are to blame for my pessimism.

Yeah, I think depending on dialogue tree choices at the party, you may get closed off from any further talks with Halsin beyond the Moonrise stuff and asking if he's enjoying camp - at least, up until Thaniel stuff in Act 2. Because I got absolutely none of that extra information out of him that you spoke of, and the only thing I can think of is that I went through different dialogue trees that never once expressed interest (and even the oddly-placed "sorry if I came on too strong" option the day after the party, I said "let's just forget about it" or something).

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact you cannot recruit Minthara without committing genocide against the grove, I'd trade her out for Halsin in my games going forward - because it's very icky to me, that he only really talks more about himself if you try to romance or bed him. I don't know who made that decision, but it's just yet another mark against what was - in EA - a really interesting character who I wanted to see more of the story of.


I can hope it may get better in some regards, but I'm just writing Halsin off until that happens, at this point. Same way I did Octavia and Regongar in Kingmaker, due to their equally problematic and gross handling when it came to romance with the avatar. It never got fixed or changed either, and I'm sure there was a decent amount of annoyance over it to justify some adjustments.

Tbh when they announced that there will be some characters that are open to being in a poly relationship, I would never have imagined that Halsin will be one of them. Did he imply anything of sorts in the EA? It could also be we didn't know much about him in EA as well so I don't know.

He didn’t say anything about relationships in EA that I remember. He was a serious guy in EA, though, and didn’t seem like the type to only like casual sex and hate relationships! Usually if there is a character like that, the character is flirting with everyone.

This is where I think there was severe false advertising for Halsins character. When the bear/Astarion scene articles were making their way around I diddnt think much of it or look into it really because I diddnt care that much. Oh you can bang more than one person if you wanted? Cool.

Open to being poly is different than what we got. If Halsin was just open to poly it wouldnt hurt so much. But strictly being a promiscuous poly borderline predator who is not commital inspite of what he himself implies in acts 1 and 2 seems to have become his entire act 3 character it seems and THATS the problem.