Recently I've seen people say that rather than the writing being improved, Halsin's Drow backstory should be removed entirely. This upsets me for two reasons: 1. I worry that Larian will actually do it, and 2. The reasons they give are often awful, saying that Halsin is "too respectable a character" to have had something "scandalous" like rape in his backstory (I shouldn't have to explain why that's awful) and very similar sentiments, "a wise Druid shouldn't have that in his story, it's OOC" as though rape is characterization and not an event that can happen to ANYONE. I like what Halsin represents- the idea of a survivor victim-blaming themself, a survivor who still happily enjoys sex (to counter the narrative that the only "good" rape victim swears off sex forever), a strong male survivor who was raped by women (and not being a South Park esque "nice" joke.) I want the scene to be adjusted to be more sensitive, yes, but i would be absolutely devastated if Halsin was removed as representation for survivors.
All the more so because when I bring that up, people say "you already have Astarion", but Halsin's story showed so many things that don't get shown in hardly any stories, let alone Astarion's. It is so rare to see a hypersexual survivor depicted in media without them being intensely slut shamed by the narrative- Halsin has been such a unique approach. I hope Larian fixes the scene instead of removing it. Like I said, I would be absolutely gutted if they did so.
