fundamentally Astarion is the two faces of the same coin and with his particular story and attitude being mainly chaotic neutral his story line shouldn't be treated as two separate characters.
We know Ascended isn't the best version of himself his worst traits are amplified but as a new power I doubt he'd throw everything out with his treatment of Tav especially as his triggers still in ascended form is anything Cazador related I do not believe he'd switch that quickly even with the sacrifice of 7000 souls especially as we already murdered half the plot with him as a spawn which is easily a few hundred (grove,camp,last light,moonrise,baldurs gate)
Yes he manipulated us at the start but I don't believe that voice breaking conversation he has in act 2 is meaningless even if he becomes high on power, Yes he will manipulate us as ascended the whole spawn and you can't leave story . (the Vampire Bride thing that has been spoken about in earlier replies is likely that you are not a slave.) Indeed he will ride that power high for a bit it's new to him and he very much enjoys you kneeling for him or sitting on his lap perhaps naked.
My issue is as previously stated Tav's face *fix it * we are not the victim at any point in our story not yet at the very least from what I gathered if you break up with him you can tell he regrets it with faking how happy he is Neils voice acting is the best way to tell the story(animate) compared to fan service.
the more aggressive kisses I'm fine with I like both the faces of Astarion until the sad tav faces now I can't face my Durge run it's been blown out the water especially as he can no longer be a thrall which could of been my revenge plot. Can't exactly dump him I don't have another option in act 3 to rule the world with.
