Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Shadowheart Romance and the Hidden Fetish - (Spoilers inside)

If she was truly poly, she would agree on poly proposal in act2. That's the itchy part(In Gale dialogue Tav even asks her: "Why let monogamy get in our way" but she prefers that it does get in our way in the end, because she refuses.).
Too much headcanon about "nesting partner" here to justify her answer. Mizora and Drows have nothing to do with being poly too. Halsin is the only question and, shockingly, thats the main reason why this topic was created in the first place(friendly reminder that Karlach and Astarion also let you do your thing with Halsin, but you can't have any poly relationship between those(SH,Astarion,Karlach), hence it supports idea that Halsin is just a fling).
But hey, if you prefer to read it your way - do it.

Would it be better if the orgy was followed up by a conversation about relationship boundaries? Absolutely. Do I think it's OCC? I really don't.


If you speak to the dryad in the circus it makes it clear the core of SH's character is that she doesn't know what she wants. Now you are right that this is narrative support for game logic - "what am I to do?" She, like the other characters, change according to Tav's wishes. But what's happening in the this thread is that people want to remove the possibility from the game. And do so despite the fact that it's pretty easy to avoid the "offensive" conversations. For Bhaal's sake you have to hire sex workers to be offended. Don't hire sex workers and you won't end up in an orgy!

Your point about the lore is good one. Shar lost the portfolio of seduction to Sharess and while seduction was part of the lore at one point it no longer is the case. That could be repaired - although the I think the contradiction between the Dror Ragzlin mindflayer is a bigger issue. Depending on when you talk to the corpse you either identify it as the one that infected you or conclude that some other mind flayer infected you.



Correct And I think the people who see SH as mono are reaching because they see mono as the natural end point of a loving relationship whereas I see poly as the best option in a loving relationship.

Act 1. Shadowheart is attracted to your Tav(You can read her thoughts at some points), but is not in love yet and doesn't really know what she wants. Flirts with other companions, shows some interest in Karlach. Doesn't act on anything though, doesn't sleep with others if not romanced. Invites Tav at Tiefling party to romantic evening(Option to get her say not today if ask her about shared arrangment. You can read it differently, sure. I read it more as she points that she wants to spend actually not in friend's company, but romantic one with Tav. Tav is playing dumb obviously. Also it does not end up in sex or anything.).
Act 2. She actually falls in love but is hindered by her faith and duty(Thats the key here). Denies any poly proposal at this point(Even with her conflict between faith/love. Isn't it a bit selfish or hypocritical if she was actually poly all this time?), she wants Tav all for herself. Post Shadowfell she actually goes on confession about this and tells Tav first time in the game that she wants to be with Tav now and always.
Act 3. She actually is ok with open relationship if Tav is. She is ok at "having fun" with drows, she is ok with Halsin fling(Again, I consider this as fling, because of her absolute 180 turn with act 2 behaviour), ok with Mizora. Never asks Tav about opening relationship herself and stays faithful till the end(So its only on Tav to "not be faithful").
She is monogamous, but ok with opening relationship(Which makes sense considering how she was raised and lived her life pre Tav).
Thats how I read it.

Then we only disagree on the type of poly we see. Please the read the article I posted - you just described 'mongomish' which is a type of ENM

I've checked your article, dont worry. She falls under "monogomish" descripion yes, only if you consider Halsin as not a fling. If you do however, she is basically "open monogamy".
And sorry, I haven't intented to be mean or anything btw.

Thanks for saying that. We're good Online discussion get heated sometimes.

Most people playing with her romance in mind will never think: "Hmm, Shadowheart must be poly" with everything she does and says outside of interactions with Halsin. Why? Because most people tend to play as monogamous. Besides, even if she were secretly poly it still isn't a good thing at all. I'd 100% like to know if she's into that kind of thing before so I don't get emotionally invested in her and feel stupid later.

At worst poly ppl can have relationship with mono ppl, I see no reason why wouldn't she agree to be mono with Tav, if Tav wishes so. Considering how faithful she stays and cares about Tav.
Nothing points at her being poly anyway, it's only Halsin inconsistency(Fling or not).

She only mentions it if you encourage her to do so. I don't like the idea that variant SH pours the blood of the nightsong on the statue of Selune. But I never have to see that in my game even as I know she has that potential. Is potential for poly any worse than potential for true evil?

Let other have their fun in the way they choose to do so - my choices shouldn't ruin your fun.

That at least makes sense for her story though as we know she is written as being on the fence about Shar and Selune. Several points in the story show her heretical side, so it's not a surprise for the player if she were to go the Shar route if you don't have enough approval etc. But on the other hand, she expresses doubts on several occasions. That is proper foreshadowing. We as the player are not confused by this because it's handled properly and there isn't anything open to interpretation.

Its just not the case with her being into polyamory. If they wanted her to be that way they should have been more clear and had more foreshadowing. As it stands, it's written very poorly and looks shoehorned in. Writers cannot just plop something randomly in act 3 like that, that's not how proper writing is done.

To repeat: it was clear from act 1, wine conversation, she was open to 'sharing' I've been expecting this for 3 years

No it wasn't clear. Most people don't think it was anything more than her wanting you all to herself. She didn't want to bring the rest of the group along because why would she when its meant to be a date??? Are you suggesting on another night she would wanna date with all of the group or another party member?

Sharing the wine!!!! Not a relationship wtf lol

The entire discussion has probably run its course if this implication is going start becoming a pattern from people that won't even consider the idea of individual interpretation to be a valid experience while playing a videogame wherein the character is written for non-monogamy to be a possibility that can actively be explored and established in the romance. It's probably more worthwhile to focus on writing quibbles instead of going this direction which based on prior personal experience in this thread I am interpreting as a certain kind of accusation about the real people posting here.

I mean if you want proper foreshadowing it was brought up recently: why does a Shadowheart that you've encouraged to lean deeper into her Shar worship time and time again randomly decide NOT to in Act 2 if the choice is left to her? Cuz the doubt is almost non-existent on that route. The answer is obviously a mechanical issue with it being based on approval rather than anything about the writing or your choices to that point, but it's a far more blatant inconsistency where you aren't just reading lines differently than other players interpret them, the game has actively gone against everything it's presented to you and that you've chosen to that point. With her romance opening up, a player who has made choices in pursuit of that will likely have come across dialogue that such a player can rather easily read as supporting the possibility of it, and then sure enough the game does allow it to happen. I personally think this is consistent writing. The writing is open to the interpretation of the player, and the game's own design tells us that BOTH interpretations are correct, it just depends on what you choose in this extremely choice-heavy game.

Again, most people don't think like that. If they did, every conversation ever had by any person ever would be psychoanalyzed to death to find meaning in nothing. In fact, with that kind of thinking you can justify two people who are a couple inviting others out to lunch as being an invitation of polyamory. Please understand that most believe that kind of thinking is pretty bizarre, exactly like "Literature Teacher" memes levels of bizarre.

You and Backinstyle keep on leaning on this "most people are monogamous" reasoning for why people won't read a line a certain way. This is getting EXTREMELY uncomfortable to see you keep saying because what you're doing by projecting that into the argument is saying it's not valid to be non-monogamous as a person. It's getting extremely uncomfortable.

I don't want to get involved in this topic again but I'll just say this...

I think both of you, people that see a mono SH & people that see a poly SH, are right. This is a roleplay game, meaning that you gonna read the game in the way you see things.

I think there should be a conversation in the game exploring the possibility of her beign poly. And if you answer negatively to said conversation, it should lock you out of the poly path. That conversations should be in act 1. That way everyone is happy.

Halsin needs to stop flirting/self inserting in your character's relationship, the only way that would be acceptable is IF your Tav opens his relationship with him. Also, I don't know why the only (true) poly character they make was a male, where's my poly female character?

And if they wanted to implement poly, they should've made it VERY CLEAR that certain characters are going to be that way. Leave no room to speculation, this, after all, are sensitive topics that not everyone agrees on (and that's ok).

It's isn't clear if it just based on approval as I've seen ppl in other forums/apps say they had high approval and she chose Shar. So I have no idea what decides this.

Still, we know she's capable of choosing one or the other because it's explained clearly. There's no guesswork here. Nobody has a thread open to dispute this. We all understand this is what her story was leading to. There is no such thing with the polyamory stuff, it just simply doesn't exist prior to act 3. If she was polyamorous they should have stated it right away, so players know what to expect and quite simply that this is who she is. But there's none of that.

The problem I'm seeing here is that some don't seem to grasp story structure/techniques and how they shape a proper story. Writing isn't like real life. We do things out of the blue IRL but that doesn't often work in writing because the audience can get confused and doesn't believe it. This is just standard writing practice.

No, they should treat SH the way she is treated during a solo Halsin romance, where they show no interest in one another. It makes no sense that she suddenly would be interested if you try to romance her.

If she's one way when you romance him solo, she should be the same way she is when you romance her solo.

I agree on this.
She is right now though(based on her actions in act 2) "monogamish" or "open monogamy". There are no true "poly" companion outside of Halsin. Karlach and Astarion I wouldn't call poly aswell, but they agree on Halsin proposal for Tav.

I say again …


And, for clarity, respecting others’ rights to hold and express other views means not accusing those others of failing to appreciate or understand storytelling and not continuing to insist your own interpretation is the only right one when you’ve already said that multiple times. I really think there are some posters here who should seriously consider taking a break from this thread, or at the very least cutting down on the number of posts they add here each day.