Appreciate so much how fatherhood is a core journey for this character. And it doesn't rely on the player character having kids. There doesn't have to be conversations or rp of a pregnancy. He doesn't need to ask the player character how they feel about him adopting kids. How his character is handled, in every way, it's cleverly dodging the issue of a partner providing kids for him to have a family again.
In his recruitment his bear form is immediately shown to be out of control and dangerous to the goblin kids: he will slaughter the whole place to protect his druid grove in papa bear mode. He begs player character to stop the kids from throwing rocks, his blood is murderous.
That thread is picked up again if he's
there's a callback to this theme: Orin acts out the monstrous version of him as a
killer bear trapped with children in a cage, murdering them.
His healing parallel with Thaniel and nature.
And his end with wagon full of orphans! Since he himself has been orphaned in his old age, having no living family and being the last of his line, him rebuilding this home for refugees is wonderful. Going with these kids to try out his new confidence in his leadership (after seeing the hellhole of how Baldur's Gate is run) is an amazing arc for him from having shaky confidence, being distracted and desperate to heal, being buried under the weight of responsibility, to him grasping for this responsibility to community. HE'S JUST SOOOO *shaking him in my teeth*
I really appreciate having a guy in his midlife who's always wanted a family, but who has always been forced to have work come first, get his family. He gets his kiddos, he gets his home back, he gets his best friend. And he steps into a midlife of fatherhood without me the player having to choose a specific biology for my character to tell this story. I can't gush enough about how much I appreciate that choice on the writers' part.
ALSO I feel SO LUCKY to be in Halsin fandom because WE HAVE DAVE JONES!!! Every time he clocks into social media to give us more Halsin, it's S-tier content. It's a delicious meal he serves up that rewards Halsin lovers for the fan creations. I love the extra clips of Dave giving us more Halsin voice! I'm so grateful. Dave is confident in delivering the goods of this character for those of us who adore and want more of him. He's the number one Halsin lover, he loves the character so much, it's a million warm cozy feelings to see Halsin's character get such celebratory attention from his va. Treasuring him
