I think you're entirely right LiryFire, and ultimately it's Larian's approach to making a player character that left me so utterly frustrated and unatisfied. You're right that as far as story logic goes, a Tav who has reached that point shouldn't be reacting like that to Astarion's kiss, at leastnot at this point. But Larian isn't thinking of Tav as a character. As far as they're concerned the Tav that ends the game is every bit s empty and blank as the Tav that starts the game. You can work around what they provide to create an arc or a unique character, but only because of headcanons and the fact they give multiple choices so you can get multiple outcomes and reactions. But Tav doesn't change and develop unless you in your mind think that they do. Hence the kiss animation. It's not really about showing Tav's relationship from their perspective. It's about showing who Astarion is as a character. Someone cruel and intimidating and abusive, someone to be feared, not admired. It doesn't make sense for Tav's story because to Larian, Tav doesn't have a story. They're there to experience the other stories that exist. And to be clear, I think this is the wrong way to approach this. It's resulted in this scene which not only is harmful to people but doesn't make sense narratively.
