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

Don't worry, even when Halsin's rotting in the goblin cells she won't go after anyone else (not that she actively does anyway, mind, since you're always part of it, and lets hope it stays that way). Your Tav suits her just fine!

You know, I hate that from a perspective of making money they probably made a good choice in releasing it early. But now that the rose tinted glasses are off, problems like this are just becoming more apparent. Honestly, I personally wouldn't have included poly relationships in the game at all because they are way too complicated. I get that they want to be inclusive, but still with the way this is written right now makes most people who find out about this while they have exclusively romanced Shadowheart feel inadequate.

There's certainly a case for "do it well or don't do it at all" for sure. I try to remember when I'm playing that SH wanting anyone else besides my Tav makes no sense, so it makes me a feel a bit better. The only one that can come between Tav and SH is Shar.

I still can't have Halsin in my party though, because he makes everything way too uncomfortable.

And it's not just with SH (where he proposes to sleep with Tav and her as a porpoise). His banter about sex with a chimera is also odd. Like wildshape sex is apparently his whole character in act 3 and I don't want anything to do with it.

Luckily I didn’t get any banter like that in my playthrough! His banter with Gale that I got was fine.

Yeah the banter doesn't always trigger. You have to have the person he's meant to banter with (lae'zel in this case), in your party too. But even then the banters don't always trigger for various reasons, like if you're constantly busy, talking to npcs etc. Still, I'd rather keep him out of party, as he messes with my teams equilibrium lol

And, of course, I'd rather not risk him coming onto my lover.

You won't trigger it at least in current patch. Even though chimera banter is voiced and present in game files it is not programed to be triggered. But it reveals the themes writers were pursuing with Halsin.

So is this a bug in itself, if they forgot/didn't have time to code it to trigger? Or did they purposely cut it I wonder?

Gives me hope that they actually can just cut off halsin/sh banter

I suppose so. But it also has the implication that they may have purposely cut the chimera banter and yet purposely left the SH one in. Yet both are weird banter that should have been cut.

But you're right, hopefully they'll just get rid of it soon.

I have to ask; am I the only one who gets sick to my stomach whenever I see some new sexualised Halsin content?

Something as small as the VA publishing a playlist on Spotify with songs appealing almost only to his sexuality and then the journalist going "I told you Halsin was horny".

I can't even play act three or enjoy the game anymore because of how the amount of disturbing content is brushed in there.

I asked for Halsin for three years, and now the best thing they could do for me is remove him from the game.

I kinda feel the same too. I havent experienced the content yet but knowing its there...I almost cant play. Im heartbroken. Im grieving.

I wasnt there for EA, so I cant have an opinion on that. But in acts 1 and 2 I did fall hard for this character.

I feel like they deeply hurt someone I really care about. Im angry.

I know hes just a game character so all this is kind of silly. But there was a real humaness to him. Theres a REASON everyone liked him im EA. Theres a reason we all fall for him the second he tells us he likes ducks.

Though I fell for him when he mentioned the whole people in positions of power thing. Ive said in my real life to people before "People who run for public office usually dont have the publics best interest in mind" and to hear Halsin say something so similar made me feel a real connection to him, like we shared a deep value or belief.

My poor darling Halsin was used, abused, exploited and thrown away like garbage by Larion, their quality team, and his writer.

Wait, this one? It doesn't look too terrible. In fact I see a couple of my favorites... Halsin, how are you so amazing and so disappointing at the same time...

Yes, it was the same point for me.... 3 years ago during EA and I asked repeatedly for them so make him a romance. I sincerely wish I never had.

I dont mind Halsin having flaws. I want to be there for him and his problems the way he promises to be there for us and be by our side.

I dont want him to be the big joke they made him into.

I keep seeing lovey dovey fanarts of him and other peoples Tavs and all I can think is "Oh you guys havent seen it all yet" or that they havent reached his ending yet. I dont want all of this to be considered okay.

For what it's worth, they at least listened. They implemented it the wrong way, but at least they did.

I've played a lot of games from a lot of different companies over the years. I'm quite used to having my feedback blatantly ignored. It's the norm, especially these days. Having feedback acknowledged is.. rare, to say the least. But seeing feedback used against the community? That'd be a new one to me, so I'll still believe it was unintended. For now, it still falls under the 'rare acknowledgement' section, I think.

Not that I want to get your hopes up too much just to have them be crashed down of course.

Unholy... my father left my mother on Christmas eve after sleeping with her and then telling her he had an affair for a year. He then proceeded to not see or talk to my brother and I more than once a year, where he would pop up out of the blue.

Another trigger to the collection curtosy of Halsin. At some point I should start to wonder if this is targeted at me specifically XD

See, this is why I treat such playlists as suggestions of things I might like to add to my own personal compilation (like so). I think only 1/10 of Neil Newbon's picks made it to my own list. Still fun to discover new music, though.

That Halsin wasn't pigeonholed into heteronormative standards was refreshing *shrug.*

That's not the issue.

The issue is that he is represented as polyamorous, which he actually isn't when you actually look at it.

He also isn't a fair representation of RA either.

What he is, however, is a man who forces his own desires on you with a toxic ultimatum of friends with benefits, where he withholds affection he has nutured for some time. He argues if you truly know your own feelings if you reject him. And if you reject him, and you romance Shadowheart, he will try to get into a threesome with you both through her, though you rejected him.

He will also try to force him into a orgy with you as soon as you talk to the drows at the brothel.


I would have been good with a healthy representation of Polyamory and relationship anarchy, but that is not what Halsin is.


When you look closely, he is a entitled "nice guy" who struggles with consent, despite claiming the opposite, and who is unwilling to commit to the dedication required for a healthy polyamorous and RA attachment.

In a way, I will claim that Halsin is actually extremely heteronormative in the absolute worst sense, while making a mockery of the consideration, respect and compromise real polyamorous relationships requires.

Very well said, thank you. One should not feed the trolls, but in this case I think perhaps you buried it.