Astarion did not like bringing people back to Cazador, he makes that clear in a few places, but he couldn't do anything against it. The one time he tried to save someone backfired horribly for him. Still he feels somehow guilty for it but it's the past and it can't be helped. When we learn about the real price of the ritual and what actually happened to all the people he brought back to Cazador, this changes, he now can do something about it. It's a good, clear-cut moral dilemma: Does he take back everything that was taken from him (food, reflection, the sun ...) no matter the cost, or does he think that other victims have the same rights that he has? It's also the only revelation that makes him question his plans. I think it has been called choosing the vampiric or the "human" side in this thread. It's also a pretty good dilemma for someone who was a magistrate and it foreshadows how the game defines freedom - it's not just being free from control but also responsibility for one's actions.
It's a great dilemma indeed, but I find the psychological aspect even more fascinating. As remorseful as he feels about his unwilling actions, it seems to me that he's still more worried about what it means for him personally, and how it all makes him remember his years of anguish. He says looking at the spawn reminds him of his own pitiful state and he loathes that feeling of powerlessness. He desperately wants to leave his past behind. For the first time he has the freedom to do something about it. If he doesn't help the spawn, then he becomes complicit in Cazador's cruelty and can be likened to him. He hates him, but also doesn't want to be compared to him. It's a moment of realisation of his own darkness and capabilities. Does he accept or reject this side of himself? If he ascends and you call him a tyrant after becoming his spawn, he will agree ('Precisely!') and tell Tav that he's not ashamed. I remember hearing a line somewhere that to truly know oneself is to suffer pain from someone but to also inflict it on another. Also, that to truly love oneself and become whole is to embrace everything within, including the ugliest parts, which requires delving into one's deepest darkness first. It's a process of integrating the shadow self. Notice how when you approach Cazador, he calls Astarion imperfect. When you become a MF and AA breaks up with you, he will admit that you'd helped him achieve perfection.
Originally Posted by Anska
It would be funny if by killing all the spawn in the cells, you killed all the spawn linked to the ritual - Astarion included. ^^ I mean, if you want to be morally righteous, be completely morally righteous, no?
I can only imagine the gargantuan mountain of salt this would create. xD
Originally Posted by Anska
I don't know, it might be approval but it might also be linked to the scene. A lot of people seem to get his proposition after the Gandrel incident, I got mine at the party.
It's approval based. You need to reach 40 for him to proposition you.
Originally Posted by Anska
Oh! I was wondering if that was exclusive to Gale.
I checked my savegame to be 100% sure and I didn't have that option, so it must be unique to Gale's origin.
