Nomination was also a public vote, then the panel made a shortlist and the public voted from the candidates in the shortlist.
I am assuming the panel made some consideration on the amount of nominations from the public vote as well when selecting their shortlist. Surely Astarion was also among the nominations, but if I was on the panel I would choose Shadowheart over Astarion, because Astarion has already gotten so much attention and is also a more stereotypical sexualized LGBTQ character.
Oh, that makes sense then. Like, I still don't think it's a good nomination for what the award is. But I understand if that's how they decided it. She also placed #9 in the "Most Iconic Videogame Characters of All Time" thing even though that's a crazy placement for a character from such a recent game.
I will agree that Shadowheart's actress definitely deserves her roses at awards too because she's great. That one moment with DJ SH where she goes "I still remember..." is extremely good. I'm glad she's gotten an award recognising that work, at least.
Buuuut... if they also had Astarion, that was undoubtedly a better pick (other than you know, Aylin) for a nomination. Even if you say he's playersexual in his inclination towards women (which I disagree with) he's still undoubtedly LGBT in the game (unlike SH, imo), in a way that doesn't draw attention to that fact in the less subtle ways someone might imagine. He just happened to have seduced two men, and that's that (plus whatever other flirty comments he makes throughout the game). And the two main scenes where that's remarked are pretty good. I don't think him being sexualized by the fanbase should be a factor, tbh. How he feels about being sexualized is fleshed out p well throughout the game. But it is known I am an Astarion shill, and I don't want to derail this thread to promote him as always, so I'll move on from that opinion on here :P
EDIT: @Tuco @fylimar I believe the intent for why the characters initiate romances is that they wanted to make them feel like they had an agency. I do get what they mean by that, I remember the DA games and it felt artificial that that's how it worked (except for Anders, for some reason...). But I also guess everyone has their preferences but I honestly didn't have issues other than with Gale (before they fixed him) and Halsin.
