It seems like he loses some of his sense of humour and becomes more melancholic. I mean, I still love him no matter what happens to him, but I simply feel sad when I watch vids with non-ascended Astarion. He sounds mournful, misses that mischievous look in his eyes, looks rather depressed. At least he gets a bit better in the new epilogue.
This video makes interesting comparisons between him in act 2 and 3, where you can clearly see how he's more reserved and less joyful.
This!
No matter which route you choose, Astarion changes in both routes. Astarion is manipulative, seductive, selfish, bloodthirsty, powerhungry, sarcastic (special sense of humour) and has narcissistic, even cruel and sadistic traits in Acts 1 and 2 and in the main plot partially until Act 3. Also he is a notorious liar. Everyone who romances him (in Act 1) has come to know and love this narcissistic impostor for who he is, or apparently not?
Because most people suddenly hate Astarion for being evil when he ascends (did they forget that he always was evil?) or some people say Astarion "suddenly" becomes as manipulativ, sarcastic and narcissistic as he was when they started the Romance in act 1. Eh, yes? That's Astarion. That’s exactly who I liked. That's exactly why I started a romance with him and not with the nicer guys like Wyll.
Astarion was always evil. And I would not want him to lose this dark side, his sarcastic, playful character just to become this more serious, regretful, insecure boy that suddenly I have to protect. His divine sarcasm, his extroversion, his dominant narcissism - all gone in the (romance) scenes when you choose the good route. For me, that’s like a cheap novel happy end. Only the dock scene brings some dramatic in all of this, because now, not Astarion is mocking and saying sarcastic things about other people (like he always did before), but the others are mocking him, like poetic justice! (No, I don’t like this scene! But maybe that’s the reason why the scene was written like this)
The evil route is much better written and more in line with the Astarion I've come to know and love. It also gives him the power he always wanted to have. (He even says: "Of course I envy him, why wouldn't I? The problem Cazador did is, that he did it to me." - What a dark side it reveals!) Yes, I agree, he pulls you to the dark side.
Why do so many people feel awkward when they are asked to kneel before Astarion? Quite the opposite! Yes sir, please. He is great to be so dominant! THANK YOU LARIAN for his divine romance scene.
"I would, thank God, watch the universe perish without shedding a tear."
