I assume various things when I think of Astarion. He may have been evil, but vulgar, empty, cheap - no. And yes, Tav is special. Even if he dominates Tav, even he will be sadistic - he gets pleasure when Tav is into it. A kiss implies consent. Tav into it. What happened to the face...? Tav came up. Logical fallacy.
"You're mine, you're a treasure, there's nothing wrong with you, ask for anything I'll do" is a delicate gentle-dark dynamic. When Astarion can literally ask to be gentle and he will. The abusiveness of such a kiss depends on Tav, and we've already discussed how much the victim-Tav line is just lame. Tav choose the romance themselves and give up their autonomy a few times - make them a victim and "look how stupid you are, wrong" - trigger. I don't think guys have any intention of fantasies. "Evil cannot love tenderly" - I think this their point. Big misconception, and flat.Their "high horse" point doesn't make sense as long as they kiss Mintara with a satisfied face. And to the drow, men are literally "things". Astarion isn't Mintara - but he's not a sphere of evil either.
When we think of a character who does evil things for something, but can do something good - we usually say a gray character. But he could just be a complex evil.
"The essence of his character comes down to the value of violence and the dark side of humanity, as well as his extraordinary charm and allure. This balance is crucial, because a shift to either side would make Astarion extremely unattractive or too one-dimensional and empty a character" - acquaintance's opinion. Gunsumber, you felt something was... sloppy. Yes, many of us. The biggest problem is the Tav face, I assure you. Some people just ignore Tav's face, Astarion's animations aren't bad. (but ruined by Tav's face at 0) True, gentle dynamics for that balanc like the night of the turn are necessary.
Yeah, that's so true, AA fans have a big cartload of trauma and just general shit in their lives too.
