I apologize, I read a previous thread, that discussed the lore of vampire brides, and this one has the same thing. I'd like to add a few words
As far as I know, Larian don't have the rights to use Ravenloftsetting material in Baldur's Gate 3. The
only thing from Ravenloftin the game are references to Strad, he's spoken by Astarion himself.
The bride really can't transform into a true vampire.
Larian also never said AA lost his soul or became someone else, quite the contrary. Larian can't officially confirm, but there are enough moments in the game that indirectly support the Tav-bride theory.
Obviously, you need to DRINK from a vampire to become yourself a full vampire, one drop is not enough at all.
You don't need any blood at all to create spawns. Not even a drop. One drop is already too much to create a spawn. Not to mention that Tav's transformation process is completely different from how Astarion himself was transformed. Pleasure instead of pain is not about creating spawn.
Even with Tav's happy expressions, AA's actions are still the same, Larian didn't change his behaviour.
Actions echoing Tav's transformation scene, where everything was described as a voluntary dynamic.
That's how it should stay. Otherwise AA better bring back the tender kisses of patch 5.
Since when can't an Ascended Astarion be gentle?
Ascended Astarion has been gently interacting with Tav since the game's release.
For example, his bed scene after the ritual is very tender, he gently kisses Tav's back. Or gently places his hand under Tav's
head during a kiss, which can be seen using the free camera. He is also gentle when Tav asks him to. "Astarion reaches down, takes Player's left hand with his right hand. He brought the hand up to his lips. He kisses it gently, tenderly."
He also had a tender kiss for 6 months before patch 6 and no one was embarrassed by it.
The gentle dynamic with Ascended Astarion is absolute canon and has been in the game from its inception until now, as it is in the bed scene and Tav's transformation scene. So on what principle should the addition of tender kisses somehow change or ruin a character?
Ah, I've also remembered another interaction at the Elfsong- you can ask him "And you promise me you'll make me a full vampire soon?" and he will reply "My darling, of course! I want nothing more." with the devnote specifying "Overly sincere. He doesn't really mean it."
This actually fits perfectly with the bride theory, exactly like the new dialog from patch 7 where he says he could have ordered Tav to come back to him, but didn't. What prevented him from doing so, I wonder?
I'm sure if Larian wanted to show the cycle of abuse in the game, they could have used all of these techniques. It would have been very effective if in the epilogue, after the words about freedom, Tav's eyes lit up red and everything became crystal clear. Maybe they should have added a hint of torture? But they didn't.