Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Problems with Halsin's character, advances, LI and general character interactions, etc.

I don't really know, but it seems like there are 4 mixed Shadowhearts in Act 3, there's the Shadowheart who doesn't love you, there's the Selunite Shadowheart who talks sweetly and projects with you, living on a farm by your side, there's the perverted Shadowheart who wants to sleep with Halsin, there's the monogamous, love-struck, domestic Shadowheart who lives with you (she even changes her voice), pff, Shadowheart is like the guy from the movie 'Split'. PS: I hope that if one day Larian makes a DLC about a journey to Avernus with Karlach, they bring me the Shadowheart from the epilogue, please, not the w**e, because if that's the case, I'm not interested XD.

There are a number of us Halsin lovers that dont care for his behaviour, thats what the other thread was all about. But since we got a decent enough epilogue it kinda got dropped, I feel like the concensus was this is the best were gonna get as far as a "fix" for him. Plus, at least for me, we diddnt want the thread to get locked by retreading the same points. Which is partly why I was surprised to see this thead and how many pages it had.

Split-Shadowheart bascially xD, but I agree. Separate Shar and Selunite SH please Larian.

P.S. There is even "hidden" dialogue with romanced Selunite SH with an idea of having kids in act3. You have that, her "future plans" talk, her epilogue and then there are interactions that just scream "THAT IS FOR DJ SHADOWHEART"(at least to me).

Ha, I saw that dialogue about children, 'if you manage to awaken my familiar spirit' (or something like that, I don't remember). I imagine that line only activates if you're in a romance with her, it was super hidden.

The Shadowheart that practically begs for Halsin to be included doesn't deserve the 51% of people romancing her at all. It's incredibly jarring that this was even a thing that was greenlit in the first place. Larian said they hired intimacy counselors or something, was their input even used here at all? Same thing for Gale btw, but that's for another thread.

The intimacy counselors were for the actors performing the sex scenes. They certainly could have used them for the script, too.


If the ultimatum was tied to lifting the shadow curse, it could create a stronger narrative choice. No Minthara, she becomes a thrall again. No Halsin, the shadowcurse doesn't lift.

yes, obviously only with romance active with her.

Wasn't it the main point? I mean, you can technically "rush" Halsin's quest in act 2 and then go to moonrise, no?

I'm fine with the choice of the ultimatum affecting the Shadow Curse Lands or not. As long as I get to be rid of Halsin. He can go wander off and get caught in a cage again for trying to harass someone else.

... and so we meet him again as an unwilling member of the circus in Act3, once more faced with the decision to set him free or not. "We really have to stop meeting like this."

It's still so wild that they hid so much unique dialogue from Shadowheart behind a prompt that's no longer available after the first time you click it, and even weirder that they just replace it with a nearly identical option that still opens up into more prompts every time after. Like WHY?

Wouldn't be surprised if thats just a bug. But ye, her dialogue changes throughout the game(which ppl click instantly on the beach and it's gone for the rest of playthrough) and to various factors like dj/selunite romanced/unromanced etc.

So, if that dialogue only activates if you're in a romance with SH, then it means that SH does want to have children :0 I wish they would give us the option to adopt Yenna in the epilogue like you do with the owl bear (because I think Yeena is not even mentioned in the epilogue or in the letters, what happened to her? they never tell you). That would be the perfect solution in case you're in a homosexual romance with any character since you obviously couldn't have children, so it would be beautiful if they gave us that option to adopt her, not just with SH but with all the companions :c It would be beautiful to see SH become a mother and give her daughter the childhood that was stolen from her because of Shar.

Intimacy counselors? Seriously? Because for me, Haarlep's sex scene doesn't make sense whether Haarlep is a man and Tav is a woman or a man, LOL. There are so many things in this game that make no sense that honestly, nothing surprises me anymore. I mean, I don't need to be an intimacy expert to realize that some dialogues seem like they were written by someone who is obsessed with sex 24/7. It's funny because you can tell SH 'he wants me, and I want him, I'm not sure if there's space for you and I', which literally means you're choosing Halsin over her, and instead of feeling threatened like with other origin characters, she says 'are you sure? He's large, granted, but I can squeeze in any number of places' LMAO. This makes me laugh, but not in a good way, it's more like it's so cringeworthy that it's embarrassing LOL.

Okay, so are you okay with Halsin's behavior in the game? Do you endorse it? Do you think the polyamorous proposal he makes to the player is well written, or that you can only talk about his past with the drow if you engage in an orgy with him? What improvements would you suggest for Halsin currently?
It seems there's a unanimous opinion among Halsin's fans, where the majority seems to prefer his Early Access version - that of a wise, responsible, and mature druid, which eventually got ruined in Act 3.
I'm asking because so far, I've only read comments from Halsin's detractors, and it would be good to hear from someone who likes the character.
It's not that I hate Halsin, I hate the immature and superficial way polyamorous or open relationships (I'm not even sure what to call them) were handled, as it partly ruins some otherwise beautiful and mature romances.

Personally, if I didn't know about Halsin being a creep I'd still resent his inclusion as a companion in the game for the fact that time and resources spent on him could've been spent elsewhere. We could've had epilogues at the launch of the game or at least much earlier than we did. Or we could have had some of the things on the list of cut content. Who knows what could've been.

Well, it would be weird if she said to Tav when unromanced. You can have children with the help of magic in Faerun, no? There were discussion in old Halsin thread(I think) about it and someone said that you can, in fact.
I mean if he had actual act 3 content instead of his current act 3 content, would you still resent?

Depends on the content, we could have had some real cool shit.

I'm not the person you were replying to, but going in order:
1. "are you okay with Halsin's behavior in the game?" Yes
2. "Do you endorse it?" Yes
3. "Do you think the polyamorous proposal he makes to the player is well written" Yes
4. "or that you can only talk about his past with the drow if you engage in an orgy with him?" Could be better
5. "What improvements would you suggest for Halsin currently?" Let us talk more about his past, let us see him be more interactive in act 3 (I.E. the Dragonborn Druid). Hell, give us tadpoled Halsin, why not? Ketheric Thorm specifically sent the Shadow Druids to the Emerald Grove as a psyop so they couldn't fight back against him; why not have him decide instead that tadpoling their leader and bending him to the Absolute is more effective? (I like it as it is too- I like that Halsin isn't traveling with the team only to save his own skin, like you can say for most of the others- but a variation with tadpoled Origin Halsin would be pretty interesting in the definitive edition, honestly.) Give us Halsin shifting to Daddy Halsin- give us scenes of him comforting the city's orphans (especially Yenna) in between battles, running himself a bit ragged trying to help everyone, and realizing he just can't, to his distress. Or if it needs to be connected to the main plot and can't involve a tadpole, well, remember that dropped thread from act 1 that the Shadow Druids were heading to the city? We could either get that oft-discussed "Halsin the ecoterrorist" plot, or maybe the Shadow Druids attempting revenge against him for denying them the Emerald Grove. There's a million directions you could go here honestly.
And keep him as the wonderful, poly, sex-positive person he is, because this thread demonstrates exactly why we need to normalize open discussion of sexuality. If absolutely necessary to appease people, sure, tweak some of the triggers so that the Shadowheart party banter only triggers if they're in a poly relationship and so that Halsin doesn't invite himself into the orgy (only Astarion, because it's adorable when he does it, but terrible when Halsin does, see.)

I don't think poly proposal is well written simply because: 1. He accuses the player that they treated him as a lover, not a host. 2. There are not enough dialogue options imo.
Also His behaviour that ppl are not ok with is simply what you described later in your post. Self-invitation to drow orgy + SH banter. Also, honestly, his line about smelling your partner on your skin is a bit off.

I would like personally if Halsin got some content in act3, like that druid with a tree or Jaheira's house, something with shadow-druids(as you mentioned) would be cool. But thats dlc worthy stuff.

To me, it just sounds like he was confused and said "oh, I thought this happened, guess I was wrong." I think people are reading way too much into it.

Lae'zel has a line in act 1 that is FAR worse, saying that your scent arouses her- yet everyone is okay with that. Literally everything Halsin does (besides being poly, I guess) that people object to has been said/done by another character with no objections.