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

Makes perfect sense doesn't it? Fact is her reply to you asking her for an open relationship in act 3 (you don't have to say it's with Halsin, she magically knows) is out of character. It's inconsistent with her replies to other such requests in act 2, where it's blatantly obvious she wants mono. This can be avoided by simply declining Halsin in the first place, leading to the chat never taking place. If she were the one to approach you with this request, she would still be acting out of character. It would still be inconsistent with how she reacted to you bringing it up regarding other companions in act 2. But then it's not avoidable.

It's the same reason the flirting dialogue is a problem. Her reply is out of character, and it's creepy a.f. for him to ask it if you declined him. But at least again, that is avoidable for those that do not wish to bring Halsin along. However, for those that do want to bring him along, it's a problem. Therefore it's a priority to have this changed. Now imagine you declined him, and he asks Shadowheart if he can join her on her next skinny dipping scene without mentioning you and she would still act out of character and accept. That'd be so, so much worse than it already is, because that's her cheating on you.

I don't agree that it's automatically cheating, given how things are currently implemented in the game, but that's probably a topic entirely unsuited for this thread.

Considering it's a video game the very indication of that potentially happening is enough to imply cheating unless you get to talk to her about it. But it's act 3, and everything is undeveloped in act 3, most of all poor Halsin which is part of why this thread exists in the first place, so you wouldn't be able to talk to her or him about it (just like you can't with the current scenario). Therefore I just call it cheating without it really happening on screen.

And to be fair, even if you got to talk to her about it, I don't see that chat ending well.

Yes. The lack of opportunity to just frickin' talk to people about these things is incredibly frustrating.


Given who is writing her... probably not.

Can always ask Bhaal if he'll still accept the sacrifice.

Jokes aside, if things do get changed in such a direction, I don't see Halsin surviving it past act 2 if I romance her again. Which is a shame, really, he has so much potential that can still be salvaged. And it means that these two long threads were not just overlooked, but used as a way to implement the opposite of what's asked for.

I already sort of feel like I wished on a monkey's paw. Fortunately I have the magic of headcanon! And potentially the dark arts of fanfic...

overall it's a very questionable portrayal of polyamory in a time where there's little if any representation in media

Agreed. I would love the representation, but it is so poorly done that all it does is harm the community instead. This version of "polyamory" plays right into all the most hurtful og stigma.

Representation at any cost is not desirable for any community. Then it is better that it is left out.

Exactly. This game makes you experience negative emotions towards poly relationships in principle. Just imagine a conversation about a relationship in real life, where after sex they tell you that it doesn't mean anything. This is how phobias grow. Polyamory? Oh thank you, Larian has already been told that these are irresponsible egoists. You don't like it, so something is wrong with you. No, there is something wrong with the author. Romance is not only about getting laid in the bushes.

Absolutely, I'd rather stick with what we have right now than have this. That would be completely stupid. Event sequence at this point is like this:
1. Buildup in act 1-2 with her.
2. Act 2 where she denies any poly proposal and straight up says that she doesn't want to share.
3. Shadowfell after which she basically says that she wants to be with MC now and always(Not to mention that she throws spear basically for your character, it is confirmed in her dialogue options with Selune clerics or durge long rest scene after).
4. You "officially" start your serious relationship after 2 acts.
5. Usually Halsin asks MC around this time, before her skinny dip scene. Can you imagine if she asked it here? "Yo, you are cool and all, but Halsin wants to get some aswell, can I?"
6. Skinny dip scene.
So yes, it would be horrible imo. It would be completely out of character. She doesn't do anything when you don't romance her, she doesn't sleep with others like Astarion/Laezel and she is not interested in Halsin when not romanced(Halsin is not interested in her too).

Im still trying to fathom how this happened.

How did we go from "Oh man this Halsin guy is awesome, we would like to have him as a playble character and a romance option"

To them going "Oh, they want to have deviant sex with a degenerate bear man"

How they so brutally desecrated a character like this is mind boggling

Im almost in grief over this because I was so excited about Halsin once I started talking to him in my playthrough

I would love to hear explanation from the writer himself. I have only theories: from "since Halsin is a wood elf let's make him more lore accurate" (which was f*ed up) to "well, having an ultimate good guy who has only pros is boring, let's add some "fire".
I fully understand you.

Thing is he even wrote the foundation for Halsin's cons in act 3. He's starting to wonder if the shadow druids were right the longer he is in the city. Shows that he seems to really dislike the 'civilized' world and can be quite easily swayed himself if given the chance. The PC could then work on having him accept it or deny it entirely. Boom, act 3 story for Halsin. But that's all you get, a foundation (unless there's more to it when you romance him?).

Ive also talked about some of what they could have done in this thread based on conversations I had with Halsin. The whole leadership stuff that ive mentioned. Plus after the curse is lifted he basically has...nothing. Perhaps he has an existential crisis now that his only real goal that was 100ish years in the making is accomplished and leaves him feeling lost and useless. There was a LOT of potential for this character.

Like, why ignore everything that was already there. Why make new stuff up from scratch when you already have things to expand on.

Well, it's out of character and inconsistent either way, but you said you would like it less if Halsin respected the protagonist's boundaries more. I was just asking why. (And I was proposing the scene above as a replacement for the flirtation scene, i.e. it would take place after you're together with SH.)


Those were my theories too. Also, perhaps the writer just firmly believes in free and open relationships being equally as valid as monogamy, and wanted to challenge expectations and assumptions along those lines. Obviously we've found the execution leaves something to be desired.

Exactly! Many people here don't need something completely new: just some slight changes here and there, expansions, maybe moving some dialigues from one act to another. It won't be too resource consuming and won't bring drastic changes. We don't need Halsin to be completely rewritten since he is perfect in Acts 1 and 2.

Because its the opposite what team SH wants. Don't get me wrong, its still shitty that he acts like this. We just want this "out of character" interaction to be removed, not expanded or have more control with this situation(As stated before - let it play only if MC in active romance with both of them).
We don't want SH suddenly to flirt with Halsin, it is out of her character. We just want this interaction to be removed for those who solo romace her, literally nothing changes for those who romance both and this banter makes sense in duo romance situation. It's way easier to fix just by putting extra flags for this banter to be played(at least in my eyes).

I wouldnt say perfect, but it was workable at the very least. I liked the anticipation but I dont think it was intentional and it wasnt really aknowledged by Halsin until into act 2. We really do need something before reaching the shadow cursed lands. But even then it shouldnt take too many resources to do so. Im sure Halsin's VA would be happy to record new lines if he was asked.

This is how dialog worked in DA2 and DAI. Companions would flirt with each other or even more only if they were not romanced by a player. This is not a new thing but somehow bg3 doesn't have it properly implemented.