Originally Posted by Sai the Elf
Originally Posted by Rosa
There's no way Astarion was a good person before he was turned. From what little we know of it. But given he doesn't even remember what colour his eyes were before he was turned ... it makes me wonder how much he really remembers and how much he just made up.
It could be blue, violet or green with gold specks, since those eye colors are only ones available to high elves in the lore.

Would like to see some photo editing to see which eye color looks best and go from there.

That would be hard cause he also states that his hair turned white. So it's more then likely he also had a different hair color.

His skin also would of Paled as well. It's quite possible Astarion as an High Elf looked very different from Astarion as a Vampire Spawn.


Originally Posted by LiryFire
Originally Posted by Ametris
Precisely! There's so much more to him than just his survivor and victim story. The expanded magistrate background would have nicely fleshed him out. He had a life and desires before becoming a slave, but somehow some people only see him through the lense of trauma and treat him like a lost, sad little kitten cinammon roll who needs a motherly/fatherly protector Tav that can be magically "saved" and "fixed" merely through the power of their love and that it's all he needs and wants in life.

Yes, Astarion was always intended to be a complex, and beautiful, and terrible character.
Astarion as a character who spins the moral compass.

"Newbon and Larian Studios writer Stephen Rooney didn't want Astarion to be interpreted as simply the 'traumatized' character, Newbon said. They wanted him to be as complex and layered as a real person. Trauma was simply one part of his story, yet it informed many of his behaviors" Link

Stephen Rooney is a very neutral, and even modest Maestro.

Some see themselves in Astarion and his story.
Some twist it quite a bit.
What's happening now? 1- A person will enter a fandom. 2 - He will be told: Astarion is a traumatized character and that's why he's like this, he needs to be fixed.

He's not broken, he's layered.

Neil is a public person, he gets a lot of attention, he tries to remain correct and supportive.

The fact will never change is the Stephen Rooney character. His words above all others.

Considering how much noise there is about the trauma topic right now... I just hope it will at least end at some point. And doesn't affect the author...
And Stephen can speak openly, more loudly and without looking at public opinion.
Will bring back Astarion-onion, which is a neutral-evil onion trickster.

I agree with everything you say here. Astarion isn't a broken person needing someone to fix him.
Did what happen to him shape him? Yes.
Has it cause trauma? Yes, but Astarion himself can see that and he wants Vengeance.
He wants Power so no one else can ever do what Cazador did to him and he doesn't care how he gets it.
He even tells Tav as much and Tav has the power to stop him from becoming Cazador or let him become Cazador.

Last edited by Rosa; 11/11/23 11:53 AM.