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.
Rosa, I see you agree with me on some things.
You see, I'm in favor of the Ascension.
Let's find out why, if you're interested.
The rhetoric of "becoming a Cazador" is not my thing at all. Why?
What's more interesting to the author - cloning another character or revealing his own character's dark side? If Astarion was good all the time and then he ascended and puf-f-f magic he's a big bad vampire. Astarion is destructive from the start, I think Ascension is the apotheosis of His Dark Desires.
Logical - Evil ending - Evil character revelation
Good ending - Neutral (because he's still a vampire, he can't be kind except to Tav)
By dataminer stuff, the upper city is carved out and Cazador is carved out as a potential ally. Like… we can make a deal with the spiders, but with Cazador, no way. Cazador is so shitty revealed that to compare Astarion to it..... It's just... why?
Because Tav says so in one of the options, well Tav can cut off an arm too.
We need to look a deeper.
It's more of a philosophical topic about power here. Which is very interesting too. Power can corrupt. Someone wants to be the King no matter what - that's very much in Astarion's character. He wanted to be on top always.
Faerun is a dangerous world. You either eat or you get eaten. Like I said, this is not a fairy tale. It's a huge kaleidoscope of violence.
7k spawns - well, like, they're dangerous npcs. And Astarion was willing to pay that cost.
In The Witcher, spoiler: I choose the Baron over the child-npcs. If they were vampires, it would be easier.
But since this is a roleplaying game, we can go the neutral route and not take the power.
It's a good, paladin playstyle.
In general, goodness is the relinquishment of power. Goodness is altruistic.
Astarion is altruistic? Not at all. Never will – I think. Asatrion is not Will and it's not Karlach. Giving power to a man who craves it is risky, to say the least. Evil. But my Tav wants to take over the world and want Astarion to have it all, so he will.
About slaves, well.
Astarion became my Master from the moment I saw him.
If the Master loves you, it's all right.
You see, the power dynamic between a medieval, vampire elf, especially when it's Astarion isn't everyone's cup of tea.
It's a very dark, aggressive love-obsession.
I never chose Astarion for a healthy relationship.
Astarion's character is inspired by: "by 18th-century libertines" (artbook)
It's a whole term. Libertinism (libertines) is described as an extreme form of hedonism. A libertine is a person devoid of most moral principles, sense of responsibility, or sexual restraints. Among whom Mariquise de Sade stood out.
Astarion description in the artbook is literal: Dangerous and Decadent.
Decadent - having or showing low standards, especially moral ones, and an interest only in pleasure and enjoyment rather than serious things.
The pure and sacrificial love of Agnus - I don't think so. That man is a mess.
Like I said the idea is wild and bold.
"Ascended Astarion is scary, yes, but some people might actually like that ending for this character" - Neil.
Some even cut that quote off, after the word "but".
There's also a theory about the bride. By book Van Richten's Guide to Vampires - Relations between Vampires
BG3 was written according to the rules of DnD 5th edition. The book is DnD 3.5.
Some rules in gameplay are changed. But global lore and descriptions of creatures remained, for example, neutral-evil alignment of vampire spawns.
It's unconfirmed, but it's still great reading on vampires and how they feel.
And the only thing we know about Ascension is from the game, "all the pleasures of mortals are available."
I'll allow myself to quote a youtube
comment by Wyltedleaves, that's why it's so good:
«Act 1 with Abdirak, it was clear Astarion was dom material. Ascended Astarion is just full on capital D Dom. I notice a lot of uwu fans only ever read the worst into AA's lines, and when anything positive, showing his love or care for you, or anything that runs counterpoint to 'AA = Objectively Bad Ending' narrative shows up it's either ignored or assumed to just be lies.
He's the goddamn Vampire Ascendant and loads more powerful than you, why would he need or want to lie to you anymore? If you break up with him he misses YOU, for pete's sake. His love is all consuming and obsessive, but becoming a Vampire Lord has just turned him to 11, so to speak».
I'm a The Dungeon Master is here too, if you can keep the vampire spawn on a good path. I'll be able to enjoy the love-obsession of being a Vampire.
I've been watching this fandom for 12 days and here's what I have to say:
Not one single word from the Ascended Astarion (not at the end with Karlach, not at the end with the tentacle) has ever hurt me. It's only the aggressive-spawn-fans with their over-the-top morals that have done that. It's like they want to fix not only Astarion, but me as well.
If you hate some people, maybe it's better to do it in silence?
