But yes, if I would think of being soulless, I would think of zombies, a husk, which would act on instinct or command. I read, that soulless creatures cannot feel emotions. So, with that explanation in mind, I don't think anyone actually believes that Astarion can "lose" his soul. Metaphorically, perhaps, but most likely it should serve as a pure insult to Astarion and his lovers.
Absolutely right. A soulless shell can act only on command, even what can be called instinctive actions are more like “body memory” and a given “program of actions” of the one who gave the command. This creature can't feel anything at all. If you lift up old bones with necromancy and command a skeleton to stand guard, the skeleton will carry out the program you have given it, but the real person (soul) - the one to whom this body once belonged - is at that moment in the domain of their deity, living their afterlife there and they are not affected at all. If you use magic to steal a soul, to rip it out of a living body, the body will fall, it will not function, the personality is the soul you have captured, and in this case it will turn out that the one whose soul you have stolen has lost their body.
Sini mentioned about Withers' line about mindflyers not having a soul. From what he said, it appears that there is no soul, but we have Omeluum and the Emperor. Is the Omeluum really a “soulless being” (even if metaphorically speaking)? The Emperor is perfectly rational, remembers his past, is aware of himself, has feelings (love for Stelmane), his feelings are somewhat different from the human feelings we are used to, but they are there. The change of personality after turning into an illithid can be explained purely physiologically - there is a transformation, it is already another organism, neural connections are arranged differently, the hormonal system works differently, it affects the character and behavior of the creature. The body has changed - the soul remains. At the same time, the character still does not turn 180 degrees - Karlach after ceremorphosis does not start eating brains from everyone in a row, but euthanizes the hopelessly sick and dying. When Tav sacrifices themselves and becomes illithid - Tav is a hero and well done, why doesn't anyone say that Tav “loses their soul” in this case? Withers has a whole line about that! And a much more specific and unambiguous rejoinder than in the case of Astarion. It's disadvantageous to the “idea of goodness and self-sacrifice”?
If one has lost their soul, they cannot be resurrected. And how can one resurrect a “soulless” person, if the resurrection process itself is the return of the soul into the body? By the way, Ascended Astarion has no problems with resurrection.
As for the metaphorical meaning, as in reality, when someone calls someone a “soulless psychopath” we always need context in this case. The persona of the name-caller themselves, the reason why they are calling that person names, and so on. What purpose do they have with this insult? What do we know about the person they are trying to label? Any ultimatum statement can look like fact, can be misleading in that it is uttered with confidence as if it were actually based on fact. But a fact always has an evidentiary basis; a statement may not have one. If a statement has sufficient evidence, it becomes a fact; if there is no evidence, it remains unsubstantiated.
Perhaps Astarion is “losing his soul” in someone else's fanfics. This is an assumption I can't call fact, as it would take too much time and patience to research this material. But fanfics can be written based on an already formed and widespread headcanon, so this material is unlikely to have any particular practical value. But hopefully, for those who were doubtful and worried about what happens to Astarion's soul after the Ascension ritual, we were able to clarify the matter a bit. I myself was terrified of this at one time, and I'm very happy to know that the soul of the adorable bitey sunshine is perfectly fine. And metaphorically speaking - his soul has opened up, he is free and expressing himself as he is.
Originally Posted by Zayir
The best dark romances are in our heads. No one can write stories as well as my imagination. Thank you brain. You complete my gaming experience.
That's right! That's the way it is. The story doesn't have to be “perfect”, the imagination will finish whatever it needs to. The main thing is that the story should “add up” with the imagination, not try to kill it with the knife of other people's headcanons. To be possible to fantasize and dream.
Originally Posted by KiraMira
Right, like The beauty and the Beast story. That is true, but abusive behavior in such a romance story is often very light and stops completely when the captor realizes their love for whom they have taken. And I think it needs to be light in order to be believable. In a game you would need to make the player also sympathise with the captor for them to develop the romance. Abusive behaviour like in the recent patch 6, pushed players to leave the romance. To make players stay you would make them believe in the romance as much as a character would. And I'm not wanting that kind of story for this romance either, my headcannon is a dark romance.
Yeah, I don't need that kind of story for this romance either. Astarion and Tav have already been through a lot together, there was already love between them, and the fact that Astarion gets powers can't turn the romance into something like that. After those kisses appeared, I thought - under what circumstances is that even possible? Only if this is the beginning of a story about Tav being picked up and turned by a certain Vampire Lord. But even then, the behavior is too offensive for the story to continue in any way, sympathy for the kidnapper and all that. You're right, in romance stories like this, such a beginning would also be a clear failure. Few people would play it that way. The player has to believe in what's going on, not watch a video prelude to content for people who like to watch pain. There are special sites for them and can have their own games.
