This is a very interesting topic! Jinetemoranco, thank you for taking the time to provide so much interesting information!
His backstory in EA is pretty much what you see in full release's act 1. Nothing changed, really. I think they changed a couple lines surrounding Gandrel? The thing is that it's always been implied there was some shady business going on with the ruling he handed down for the Gur (mostly, that he did something extremely bigoted) and that Cazador being there was sketchy, also almost implying they knew each other. But because of the game not really tackling either of these things despite leaving them in, it almost feels like it's a dropped storyline. They also left in comments about Cazador's extensive family and Astarion having to obey them, despite that not being very present in full release. His family was more or less datamined, unlike any mention of Astarion's previous storyline.
In Act 1 Astarion talks about the “Szarr family”, pronouncing it “they”, I had full confidence on first playthrough that we were going to encounter a vampire clan. Subsequently, in Act 2, Astarion says that Cazador referred to his enslaved spawns as “family”, which brings up associations with a psychopathic maniac who keeps his victims in his basement while referring to them as “family”. But in Act 1, Astarion said that he would no longer be subject to “them,” and this is confusing. We only find the diaries of Cazador's niece (Lady Incognita), a vampire who didn't want to accept being a vampire, and apparently died, though I couldn't find information in the game about what exactly happened to her.
As much as it pains me because I find kind of nonsensical, I wouldn't call Astarion being 39 (or, well, 239) a headcanon, as it's what's in the game. I'm not sure if him being that young for an elf is headcanon or not though, since I can't be sure what the intent truly was even if I have my opinions about it. I suppose it's accidentally or not canon since it's set in the dnd universe, so all we can conclude is that he was for some reason that young, as much as we can think it was a mistake. I know some people have tried to explain it by saying that "he lived in a mostly human society, and thus considered an adult in Baldur's Gate" but I still find that flawed both because of the clues from his personality and his looks. Others have said that the trauma or undeath has significantly aged him, which I find clashes with how we conceive most vampires to be, frozen at the time of their death if only looking a bit deader. But people have grown attached to those ideas, and that's okay.
What I prefer thinking is that he's whatever the elf equivalent of human 39 is. (Given that Minthara is ~250? and Halsin is 350, Astarion looks somewhere inbetween that range)
I agree. A 39 year old elf would look like a very young boy, it doesn't fit with DnD lore in any way.
Unfortunately I have to give credence to the fact that Astarion's personality hardly feels like that of someone who has the lived experience of centuries, unlike someone like Halsin or Minthara. That can be due to the regressing experience of going through all that trauma, I suppose, but when I see him it's hard to think "Oh, this guy was 300 before he died." It's much easier to picture him being literally 39. Which is a problem, given that he's an elf, as little as that's acknowledged.
I also suppose writing centuries-old elves in DND is hard since they're bound to be somewhat human-like because of the universe they're set in, where anyone can play as anything and be whichever way they like, plus conveying the almost alien experience of someone having lived that long is probably difficult, and I think brushed off for most DND elves if possible.
Astarion remembers almost nothing about his past, he tells us that he remembers almost nothing, perhaps his previous experience has been largely erased by the horrors of 200 years of slavery and torture. It seemed to me that in the course of the game he kind of starts to live again, gradually reveals himself, so for me, in general, it is normal to accept that he was 150 or even 350 years old before the moment of his conversion. Especially since it's still, indeed, as you correctly point out, impossible to accurately convey the character of a character with centuries of experience. The only example from the games in which I think the authors have best managed to convey this is the image of the blind Storyteller from Pathfinder. Something like that really feels right there, but that kind of character is completely unsuitable for any kind of romantic line, not even for any kind of deep friendship. Not even as a mentor, but only as a kind of really almost alien being that you can talk to, you can listen to his stories, reflect on them, but you and he will always be, if I may say so, on different levels.
EDIT: Re: Spencer the monster hunter, I wanted to say I looked for my source because it was an interesting thing but the tumblr who datamined all that recently deactivated. That's such a shame because they datamined a lot of stuff that most people don't know about. The only other mention I've found online of that guy's existence is this VK post, although there's some issues with what seems to be the automatic translation?
https://m.vk.com/wall-178381386_183365?lang=en.There are so many interesting things in the VK post. It's such a pity it wasn't implemented. And it's unclear why Astarion's dream after release is only available for Astarion Origins, even though in EA there was a scene about it and we could talk to him about his dream. I also thought it was interesting that the night hag, Ethel's sister, was supposed to be hiding under the guise of the leader of Gur. And Ulma does indeed look like a hag. Literally the same face as Ethel. And a letter from “M” stating that she's looking for someone, but that information is not realized in any way in the game. Perhaps she was looking for Astarion? This story would be great to spruce up the Gur plot.
Found this other video from EA, with some very vivid reactions and lines from Astarion where he's scared and angry.
Honestly, back in EA everyone seemed to conceive Astarion and Cazador's relationship not like that of an abusive father and his son, but of like, an extremely abusive """romantic""" relationship.
In this case, on the contrary, I'm very glad it wasn't implemented. It would have been too awful. I never really saw the relationship between Astarion and Cazador as a father-son relationship, but rather as that of a psychopathic maniac and his prisoner, whom he tried to break but never could. But this story allows for different readings, because such a “father” is, in general, in any case at the same time a psychopathic maniac. Just as one can think of examples from history where slave owners called themselves “fathers” of their slaves, and considered themselves to be “mentoring” their slaves. “Father” in this case can be understood as a kind of overwhelming oppressive image, whom the hero must destroy in order to free himself from his power.
Hmm, I'm wondering too if that's why they kind of leaned away from pushing the backstory that he was a corrupt member of the elite in the past who had a hunger for eternal life and so on, in favor of him being a more sympathetic character to most players, perhaps. But like you said, it could have been interesting story-wise if Astarion himself had done evil things before, and then having it all be turned around on him when he becomes a slave to Cazador. Things like that could have added more layers to his story and yes it could have been interesting for him to look back and address his past in regards to that. I was personally interested in knowing if he had family before he became a spawn and what kind of relationship he had with them. As far as I know, throughout the game we don't meet any relatives of his or anyone who knew him before he got bitten. Although if he can't remember things like his old eye color, maybe previous family ties or his old life are fuzzy to him.
It seems to me that this story was removed for the sake of a mass audience. This image is impressive to connoisseurs, but not really suitable for mass perception. On the one hand, maybe that's not a bad thing, otherwise there would have been a lot more toxic “morality”. On the other hand, of course, Astarion's plot would have been more interesting and complete. I honestly feel more sorry for the softening and because of that somewhat simplification of his character, compared to what was in EA, than the removal of the corrupt judge's story directly. I still wouldn't have gotten him to some of those shiver-inducing lines in my game, of course, because that would require pissing him off, and I would have watched it on video as well, but surely the romantic interaction might have been a little different. His trust would have been harder to earn, and as it is, in the first playthrough at the beginning of the game there's an illusion that he's a difficult problematic character, and in fact Astarion is very easy for the player. He was a seducer in EA as well, so the early onset of the romance could have been there as well, but the transition to the next level of the relationship when Astarion opens up and starts to trust should have been worth more effort given Astarion's backstory and how he perceives the world around him as hostile.Especially the confession scene after Oblodra cheapens this (I went through the scene after Yurgir and felt the difference). If in the case of Yurgir everything is more logical, especially when you attack Yurgir without talking, immediately engaging him in battle, you can understand Astarion's desire to open up and trust - his lover took a risk for him, organized a combat operation without questions and without talking, attacked from a disadvantageous position, complying with Raphael's demand not to talk to Yurgir, because finding out about Astarion's scars is much more important than the details of the devils' history or the possibility to facilitate the confrontation with the enemy. Astarion might be willing to open up to someone like that, who has proven by deed that she is always on his side. And in the case of Oblodra, I did... Nothing. Just confirmed Astarion's refusal to bite her. Oblodra can't even be punished for humiliating Astarion. I mean, nothing at all. Didn't take advantage of Astarion's vulnerability and his PTSD for some miserable potion - well yeah, showed I'm not the last ***, but nothing more. As one of the situations that combine to earn Astarion's trust - that would be fine, but not as the main reason to get recognition. I wonder why there are two options for getting recognition in the game, and they are not connected to each other (if they were connected and you had to pass both scenes and get recognition after passing the last of them, as if for both deeds, it would be understandable)? Is the Yurgir variant an earlier version?
