Not sure if you guys have seen or brought up the vampire bride / groom theory for the ascended route, but I actually find it incredibly convincing. It answers basically all the open questions I still had about Astarion’s behavior immediately post ascension and after making the PC into a “spawn”.
It even creates a fitting justification for why the spawn PC does not burn up in the dock cutscene even if you kill Astarion, and it also justifies why Astarion would let spawn DUrge kill themselves on the dock in front of him after betraying Bhaal as his prophet. They’re not a spawn, but a bride / groom which are only bound to Astarion by a link that ensures they can’t actually injure one another without injuring themselves. They can’t actually be compelled.
