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

As person who romances Halsin solo, same here. "Yeah, I want only you, but no, rElAtIoNsHiPs is not my thing, we have something more fluid. So if you want to have +1 lover, I'm ok with this, I would like people to know happiness with you". (Oh how I don't like this phrase, gods help me).

I haven't seen any cringy dialogues between him and other companions in Act 3, SH has no interest in him. The drow scene, well, it exists anyway, but only if youwant this scene and only him is interested (if Halsin is with you during talk with twins. Astarion and SH has no opinion on that). He says "It remimds me of my youth. If you are interested than I am also ok" (well, you may already know), so he wants to know what the player wants. And afterwards (if you have sex with twins (although they act more like spectators, while you do things with Halsin) you have the dialogue about him being drow slave.
So during solo romance Halsin has zero interest in anybody but Tav.

I mentioned him once as a relevant part of the point and then once as a disclaimer in the end, and I added some clarifications where needed to ensure that readers understood that I am not ok with or supporting how he is written to intrude in an exclusive relationship between Tav and Shadowheart univnited. This is because people can often misunderstand the whole thing and get very worked up if that isn't made very clear. The rest of my "essay" was exclusively about Shadowheart.

I am not trying to convince you that it isn't inconsistent. I don't overthink it too much, Halsin was added late and changed a lot when converted from a camp follower to full companion. That caused a bunch of inconsistencies. To me the case is pretty much wrapped up and closed on this one.

And because Halsin was added late and they needed a couple companions to do "poly" with him that caused inconsistencies with SH. You're making it out to be about Halsin only and I just don't think that's the case.

There, now you are also not overthinking it. Why don't you settle for that interpretation? Perhaps you will need to re-think it if new information comes to light, but honestly, is that very likely after 100+ pages of discussions in these threads?

I've already stated this in I think both threads, so it's nothing new. They forced SH into poly despite everything pointing to the contrary in act 1/2. Just like Halsin also acts differently in act 3. So they're both inconsistent. Glad we can agree.

I hate that the option literally just stays there the whole time and he says the same thing every time. Like the game is teasing you into thinking you can develop the "relationship".


Also, as an avid druid player, I hate the whole nature excuse. It's such a cheap copout. You are not a bear, sir. You are a MAN.

((And most bear species are monogamous, or at very least serially monogamous, so the 'nature' card is double stupid in his case))

and
Here's the interesting part. The scene between Halsin and Astarion is played out as origin playthrough Astarion. It isn't related to him being an open/poly relationship character, because Astarion is the PC here, not the other romance companion. He actually doesn't ever have a threesome with the PC and their other romance companion. He has sex with the PC, once, and nothing more. The only exception is the scenario where he will insert himself into the drow twins conversation if the PC romances someone else, but here's the kicker - he does that even if you show no interest in him anyway, so again it isn't related to him being open/poly but just related to him.. existing and wanting sex. And it's the only time the game implies, at all, that he will have sex with more than just the PC.

So as it stands, he's just another romance companion that you just happen to be able to romance while romancing some others, but those together don't even do anything. And he, for some inexplicable reason, doesn't believe in relationships, even though he does in act 1/act 2. And despite the fact that he was meant to be poly, which is a form of relationship. So you are entirely correct.

It's mind baffling how much contradiction is going on with his entire romance. It's like there's nothing actually correct about it. That is quite the accomplishment, really.

Me too. With the others, as it changes throughout the game, it's a lovely way to see how you're becoming closer. Such a nice touch. And then Halsin comes along to just make it sad.


I'm a big time druid player myself. It's one of the reasons I was looking forward to Halsin so much. Only for my druid to just stand there while he lectured her about how her idea of a re-la-tion-ship was not in accordance with Nature.


Ah, well... he does very much imply that he'd be willing to hit up Astarion, if/when Astarion decides he's up for that. Not sure if there's a similar line for Shadowheart.

He says he wants sex with you and one day she can be part of it too. But nothing beyond the implication of such threesome happens, and there's not exactly a lot of time left before the end of the game, where he leaves you instead.

Unless you talk to a certain pair of drow. Though I'm not actually sure how much Halsin and Astarion interact during that... encounter. Not about to find out either!

Im asking again

How the frick did they screw this up so badly

Was this too much to ask for

If I squint, I think I see what they were going for. And I don't think they were too far off from achieving it. But a couple of really baffling choices make me wonder if they ran out of time, or some memo didn't get passed around, or (as I've said elsewhere) in Act III they just generally started slipping from writing people into writing video game characters. One of those is much harder to do than the other and many, many players will be satisfied with the easier one.

Normally yeah but other than the general thirst for who he is prior to Act 3, Halsin has fumbled that kind of lowest common denominator satisfaction harder than any other example I know of in videogames. You'd have to go get actual american football clips of the worst fumbles in history to compare.

I know, but that part I already covered in the post you replied to. I'll quote it:

I suppose you can read what I said at the end of that as wrong, because it is technically implied at the start of the relationship like you said (even if it doesn't really work in the timeframe presented before he just leaves you, plus we see nothing more than the implication that one time), but the rest of it remains correct.

I also don't know how they interact, but you probably don't want to know indeed. Just keep it at knowing that they do.

It's a shame. Looks like a lot of potential has simply gone to waste.

... still gonna romance him again though, now that I know what not to do. He's so great in the first two acts! And that voice! I can't stop simping, someone send help...


Hmm. I don't know if I should open this can of worms, but... if you're romancing Halsin + Astarion and you kiss Astarion out in the "open world" with Halsin in your party, Halsin makes a comment. Unfortunately I can't remember what the comment was. I wonder how, uh, voyeuristic it sounded, and if he has a similar thing reacting to Shadowheart/Tav. (Astarion will also react to you kissing Halsin; and Gale will react if you'd been romancing him earlier in the game, then broke up! I couldn't believe it...).

Ah, fair enough on that then. In that case I had been misinformed, I admit I've never actually tried that myself but everything I've read says that companions never react to you kissing your romance partner. This is obviously a more unique scenario, though, so I probably should've considered that. Still, I do think a single interaction like that is pretty small in the grander scheme of things, and doesn't really properly establish him as being in an open relationship on its own, especially considering people have already asked for similar interactions from non-romance companions. After all, who's going to be kissing, bloodied and all, in the middle of a battlefield.

But it's definitely more than nothing.

I think most, if not all, of your companions have a reaction to you kissing Halsin and he is the only one they react to like that. Just more proof that he was written as a blatant self-insert for the writer.

Not sure where I read about that but someone said that Halsin and SH had a rather bad connection in act 2 - something like Halsin trying to teach SH something? Anyone care to explain in detail?