While I appreciate the care you took to make this reply, I'm going to have to disagree on a lot of the points here unfortunately. The first of which is that it explains so much about him and his choices. I genuinely do not get the impression that Halsin was ever written this way until the push to make him a companion and the de-evolution of his character into a horny caricature in Act III. At no point does it feel like this backstory is even relevant to the rest of the character. I've heard the suggestion that he doesn't care because he's hundreds of years old before and it was a short time a long time ago. I was there when a man who must have been in his 60s called a hotline because of the Pennsylvania Catholic Church SA thing a few years ago and listened to him describe how it stayed with him all these years later. I have read plenty of books on SA, Human Trafficking, and United States Slave Narratives where SA was a topic. I'm struggling here to even put into words the ways the Halsin scene is so horribly different.
Larian did a great job with different characters showing the complexities of trauma. Karlach's internal struggle with the use of soul coins because she needs to believe it's okay as a coping mechanism. All of the cult indoctrination from both Lae'zel and Shadowheart. Astarion's whole deal. This particular one is the outlier. Part of it does have to do with the absolutely abysmal timing of the scene. A presumably emotionally intelligent, wise, centuries-old druid wouldn't choose such a bad time to discuss this.
I understand that you don't read it as being dismissive or jokey. As a male victim of SA, I am extremely tuned into the subtle and not-so-subtle ways people mock male victims. In the same way a guy may fail to notice misogynistic undertones to conversations because has not learned to listen for it, I feel like there are 'dogwhistles' for lack of a better term in this scene that some people might not be picking up on. It's frustrating because I don't feel like I have adequate tools to describe my point right now. I don't want to come off as harsh or combative or anything like that. I just want to be able to be understood.
Last edited by Lyricus; 17/10/23 02:15 AM.
