Actual, canon information:
"Two hundred years ago, Astarion was a corrupt elite of Baldur’s Gate with a taste for power and a hunger for eternal life. It wasn’t long before these desires became a nightmarish reality. "
Baldurs Gate 3
Digital Deluxe Artbook
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He was definitely a magistrate once upon a time.
It's not much, but it's there! Remember this, too. That little drop that's so tempting.
The digital artbook already has several other blatant, outdated errors in it (such as his background being a courtesan instead of a charlatan) so we can't take that as canonical because it's not a reliable source, unfortunately.
Him becoming a horrible person because of 200 years of abuse and slavery is a lot more interesting than just being a monster from the start already. Him being a slaver who became a slave turns his story into one of punishment rather than tragedy.
I disagree. An abuser who became a victim and his worldview crushed (probably mostly thanks to Tav) is much more interesting to me. How to treat such person? Give him the second chance of punish him? It's fascinating and ambiguous. The abuse cycle is common trope and more black-and-white, a victim who was an abuser - not so much. I'd love to see this version of Astarion's story - it was the reason why I bought this game 3 years ago. Joke's on me I guess.
We'll just have to agree to disagree, then. The "evil person has their role switched and has their entire worldview changed" is an even more common trope, to the point where it's the plot of several animated children's movies. And originality aside, I just don't find it very interesting anymore.
I'm sorry his story didn't turn out the way you'd hoped. This is also why I don't like to play the EA of any game...there's a chance I'll become attached to something that gets completely changed, and if it isn't to my taste I'd end up pretty disappointed. I think it would be hard to stop myself from playing a hypothetical BG4 EA though, I'll admit. I'm desperate for more of anything by Larian.
He does have a conscience but he will still choose himself over helping others. That lesson from Cazador was the last straw for him. When he sees Sebastian he tells him he'd save him but as soon as Tav pulls him to the side he talks about wanting to sacrifice him. He's just lying to the captives. He previously demonstrates what a great liar he can be when he smoothly promises his brethren salvation when they try to obduct him.
Yes,
current day Astarion is ready and willing to sacrifice Sebastian, or at least he's trying to convince himself that he is (if you don't do the ritual but still kill the spawn, he expresses deep regret over their deaths). But it's very plainly clear that Astarion from the past, when he hadn't been turned for long, felt horrible about bringing Sebastian to Cazador. He also outright defied Cazador at one point by refusing to bring him the "sweet boy" he talks about. I don't think Astarion was a
good person by any means in his magistrate days, I personally believe he was most likely power hungry, selfish, arrogant, corrupt, and racist. He mentions that he's never had a person he truly cared for before in his life, not even a real friend, and that usually isn't the case for anyone who isn't unpleasant at
best. But that's still a far cry from someone who is so morally bankrupt and evil that he is willing to sell people into slavery to a vampire lord, and several things in the game make it pretty clear that that
particular element of his backstory was cut/rewritten. Considering that his past is barely brought up, I'm doubtful that the writers at Larian even bothered to flesh it out much after they dropped that part of it. I think our only chance of finding out more of his former life is if we get some kind of Definitive Edition with extra content down the road. Personally, I'm curious about where he was born and grew up. Was he always from Baldur's Gate, surrounded by humans and human culture, or was he raised among elves and decided to leave for whatever reason? It seems as though being an elf has almost no relevance to him, to the point where you could change his race and it would affect pretty much nothing but a tiny handful of dialogue lines and his sleeping animation.
Yes, power is and always was his main goal. He wants to be able to do whatever he desires, that's what being free means to him and power is the means to having it all. The ritual gives him exactly what he wants - independence, protection from the sun, loss of blood hunger, power much greater than what Cazador had. He takes everything from him like he did to him (his life's work, his palace, information on important citizens, etc.) and never has to feel like a slave to anyone and doesn't have to rely on anyone to be safe. During the ritual, if refused or stopped in the middle, he shows just how important this is to him. He immediately stops caring about Tav and wishes them a painful death or outright attacks them. Out of 4 possible outcomes when he's facing Cazador, there is only 1 where he remains a spawn and stays on good terms with Tav, and even then I don't believe he will be over it entirely. The whole game he talks about wanting power, loves the abilities the worm gives him, threatens you if you deny him the second worm, talks about controlling the cult, world domination, being a king and master, etc. Then suddenly when he can claim it all, 1 persuasion check from Tav comes up, and he's instantly "fixed" afterwards. I really don't buy his 'I'm a good guy now behaviour'. He claims he doesn't regret it after the Cazador encounter but the moment Tav dumps him, he rubs his sacrifice in their face, gives them a death threat and talks about commanding his army of spawn. I think he will stay power-hungry no matter what, it's his inherent trait, his personal drive. Spawn path with continued romance might just be delaying the inevitable.
Some people say he changes so much after the ritual - I see it as him actually feeling free enough to be who he always was deep down and wanted to be and he immediately starts acting it out. He doesn't have to pretend anymore, he shows Tav the extent of his darkness, he's comfortable with it and wants to share everything with Tav who he sees as his accomplice and right hand. Then it's up to Tav to decide if he's too much for them to handle or if they do like that side of him.
Power as a magistrate is very different from the kind of power that Astarion is currently seeking. Moving up the ranks may or may not have been his main goal in his past life, but at the point the game starts his main goal is simply just freedom, and he needs power in order to
achieve that specifically. That's...basically the entire crux of his character, that he is motivated entirely by fear and is willing to do whatever it takes to not feel vulnerable and afraid anymore. You can either feed into that in his ascension ending or challenge that worldview in his spawn ending. He isn't instantly "fixed" in his spawn ending, he doesn't become an angel, it's simply his first step of going into a completely different direction in his life (he also doesn't give Tav a death threat if they break up with him in the epilogue, lmao, that's such a wild way to interpret that dialogue). Neither choice is right or wrong, it's up to the individual player, but it's been made explicitly clear by both the game itself and the writers that Astarion's number one motivation is fear and not power just for the sake of power itself. We can choose to interpret things differently if we wish, but at the end of the day anything that isn't concretely presented to us in the game is nothing more than headcanon.
I don't believe there is really anything more to discuss on this topic, so I'm out, but thanks everyone for being so civil!
