Yes, the premise is that everyone dies (become undead spawn) under the Lord Astarion. I feel they have made that very clear. They do not need to push this (uncalled for) abuse in our faces to make it obvious it is an evil ending.
I heard a funny point about that. "sound like a puritanical book burner trying to protect the “weak and impressionable" female brain" Astarion has a more female audience, after all and this situation... "see how it goes, bad, don't choose evil, don't choose vice, don't choose vampires (?)"
Tav - the golden cage - angst, yeah, that doesn't make sense. I can guess how that would make sense. But one of Astarion's lines of inaction "Let's harm someone".
