Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion All the things we want to chatter about Astarion & other stuff, without hijacking another thread :)

lmaoooo, I was going to use my usual photo of Astarion and my OC, Eris kissing but for some reason I can't so I picked the next best thing.


Oh wow! Those videos are funny lol. Ugh, I wish they kept those EA romance greetings for Astarion.

In my personal headcannon and what I've written in my fanfic is that Astarion is actually a very jealous person. He probably never knew that about himself until he met my OC/Durge Eris. Basically he got extremely jealous every time one of the companions flirted with her. It wasn't until Eris & Astarion got together at the tiefling party was when everyone sort of stopped trying to bang Eris lmao except for Gale. He would keep flirting with her, mainly because he never really got the hint that Eris and Astarion were basically together. Mainly because they would hide their kisses from everyone and although Astarion pretty much ends up living in her tent after the tiefling party he would leave her tent early in the morning bc Eris didn't want to upset Gale and his explosive in his chest lmfao. But that's basically why I can see my Astarion hating on Gale every chance he gets.

Sorry for my little tangent about Eris and Astarion they low-key live rent free in my head.

Since Sceleritas likes to do photobombing, this is very appropriate. He likes to sneak into the paintings in the family gallery. If Astarion throws the paintings to the mirrors in the sewers, Sceleritas will retrieve them and hang them right back on the wall. He often secretly paints himself next to the Durge, he also trying to retouch Astarion out of the pictures.


Sceleritas doesn't like Astarion and is jealous, he would like to get rid of him. Therefore we can write wonderful little stories about them both. Lord Astarion and Sceleritas, who has nothing better to do than constantly annoy Astarion. He overdid it when he taught Astarion's son when asked "Who is your father?" to answer with "Gortash".

"Sceleritas is always watching." When they moved into the palace, Sceleritas put his fruit crate bed next to my Durgie and Astarion's bed, put his jars full of bugs on the shelves, threw Astarion's clothes out of the closet and hung his spare servant suits in there. Astarion did not agree with this and Sceleritas still complains about this rude behavior.

We don't write anything really serious here, as Marielle said, we mostly let our thoughts run wild or test situations in the game etc.

So let your thoughts run wild, everyone looks at their character differently and has their own story. So feel free to join in with our nonsense.

Thank you Ametris for these beautiful videos. Marielle also found the best quote extremely accurately.

Astarion is definitely the most savage when talking about romanced Gale, the utter contempt in his voice when he pronounces Gale's name and calls him a limp passion is particularly memorable. When he's involved in a love triangle with every other companion he's somewhat understanding and can see then appeal, but with Gale there is nothing but pure disdain.


I agree that he's in fact a very jealous person. I don't think it's a coincidence that there are multiple options in the game to question him about that. He just loves the attention and doesn't like being someone's second best, there's also the matter of his insecurity and being new to experiencing love himself. In the dialogue where you ask him about Halsin and say you're surprised about Halsin's proposition, Astarion admits to have seen the druid being horny for Tav since the grove itself, and therefore low-key having agonised over the fact that the offer was bound to be brought up eventually.
I also really like him being so proud and triumphant during the epilogue party when he says that it's good the others (including potential previous lovers) are seeing him and Tav together side by side.

It's a real shame they removed the option where Gale tries to steal Tav. This and Larian moving Gale's romance scene to act 2 makes him pretty blind to the affair, while everyone else can clearly see there's something going on. In my playthrough during the grove party, Lae'zel was salty my Tav's bedroll was already occupied, and Karlach wanted to gossip about her and Astarion. SH can also have lines where she clearly notices the romance. Then Gale pronounced his love in act 2, completely ignoring the fact my Tav was with Astarion. Then at the dock, he also invited her to the heavens to be with him (ignoring her vampiric marriage), and in the epilogue told her she could still ascend and perhaps wield the new type of magic of his eventually. He also acknowledged Tav's immortality, saying they have an eternity to chat (and making Astarion even more jealous).

I also think Astarion is not hiding the romance from the others, after all he gloats over the fact the rest must have heard them the morning after the first night together and never shows any hint of embarrassment when flirting with Tav in public. They also finally debugged these banters:



I HC'd Gale knowing about Tav and Astarion, but naively thinking he could ignore it and downplay it as something not serious and that Tav would still choose him. Then he got a bit more confident at the end of the game and wouldn't mind annoying Astarion from time to time, especially if Tav decided to pray to him. Heck, he could even make Tav his Chosen if they were particularly close.

If Tav got killed one day, I believe he'd want to snatch their soul before any devil could (because I'm sure after seeing Astarion's hellish interests, he and Tav would get an offer from one of them). All in all, God Gale gives a lot of interesting prospects for the future.

I love that you can set up a love triangle and the game recognizes it.

Got this banter between Gale and Astarion last night:

Gale: I see you waste no time pursuing your quarry, Astarion.
Gale: Tell me, do you always woo your lovers with such patient attention?
Astarion: I rather though I was a little slow this time. Usually they are begging me to drain them on the first night.

There was no mistaking the jealous distain in Gales voice.


That sounds interesting, would have been a fun way to expand the triangle story.

It's the first banter you can hear in the video I just linked. These two are the much tamer equivalent of Lae'zel vs SH's relation.

There is one beautifully edited video I adore that nicely depicts this love triangle with an extra dramatic flair.

I think I should take Gale with me again That sounds exciting and needs to be tested to see where you can take it. Kidnapping Tav would be quite exciting.

Astarion is already jealous, but my Durgie actually isn't very interested in romances, she also turns Astarion down until the Tiefling party and rejects Mizora, Halsin and Haarlep.

The Drow Man has very funny lyrics though and you can dirty the carpet in their room, which always makes me laugh a lot. So it's hard for me to get past Sharess Caress and I always go there for "tea". It has great entertainment potential there.

Darlings, I put together our little “Prissy” in Photoshop from various AI-generated images. Unfortunately, I'm bad at drawing (and singing^^). Hope you like her as much as I do.





Anyone who does creative things has no time for bad things. I also make my short Chromakey video available to you here, feel free to use it, you can incorporate Astarion into your holiday videos or whatever. Show us. You need a video editor that can use Chromakey.



Have fun

this is so cute I love how nicely the dark colors work together and how the flowers pop out against the rest of the pic.



I adore this! I can imagine it so well
I find the AA vs. God Gale thing so fun and intriguing to think about what sorts of things could still happen after the epilogue ends. ;D

The avatar requires a certain image format, I too agonized over my first avatar for a long time when I first registered here. I really liked using Imgur (https://imgur.com/) to store pictures and avatars for the forum. It magically made it easy for me to change avatars in one click, maybe it helps to set the right format, I don't know the exact reason, but it works for me (maybe it will help you too?).


I actually always wanted Astarion to express his jealousy more openly. I think it would suit him just fine. I was very careful in BG3 the first time through. Much more cautious than usual. An acquaintance of mine who also played BG3, had more time to play, and went further than me, even warned me to be careful! He managed to offer Wyll a dance at a party to cheer him up, and Wyll treated him like a “wife” afterward (can't remember which patch this was in, maybe he got into it before patch 1, then they seemed to fix it). The romance with Shadowheart went down the drain, there was no way to explain anything to Wyll, all in all, trouble... I was downright wary of this incident. Gale had offered to “show magic” at the party and the conversation was cut short by the fact that he will come at night. I immediately ran to Astarion after that to “activate” his offer, and replayed the dialog three more times at the end of the party to guarantee it. Then Gale, in Act 2, offered his “magic” again. I immediately suspected him, my thoughts were, “Yeah, you've got ‘magic’ in your pants, found a fool...” Now I know, Gale does show magic, and Tav themselves should take the initiative on their part, but... I suspected each and every one of them. I didn't hug Karlach, even though I still treated her well at the time, just to be on the safe side so there was no hint of romance. I didn't ask Halsin about his former lovers, just in case, but Halsin was sure I had asked him... And somehow in my head I thought that Astarion might get jealous and react badly if God forbid I got into something with these companions, that the relationships were hidden because he was sort of watching, distrusting and checking. Got my own imaginary “‘achievement’” by avoiding anything that just looks like cheating. And Astarion doesn't actually react to such endeavors in any way, acting like he doesn't care at all, lol. I think if Astarion was more jealous and reacted not only to the actual cheating, but to the very fact that someone is trying to court Tav, that would be really great! Sometimes I fantasize that Astarion is the first to pull out his weapon and brutally massacre Haarlep, right after saying, “ Take off your clothes” and Tav doesn't even have time to fully join the fight, that he would want to protect her and wash away the insult he wanted to inflict on Astarion's favorite woman with the blood of the scoundrel incubus.


Yes, it's really telling! I've been watching videos of the other companions, and Astarion speaks more softly of the others. “Limp passion” is a brilliant characterization.


Too bad there is no way to reject Halsin immediately and still talk to Astarion about it to find out. The dialog, with slight modifications, also needed to be made available to those Tavs who do not wish to see anyone but Astarion near them. After all, Astarion's thoughts were the same, he had also worried about Halsin before. But, if you reject all companions at once and without talking, it would look like Astarion doesn't care.


Yeah, me too! <3 He seems proud of me, and of us being together. And he'd like everyone to see us together.


Wyll also ignores the fact that Tav is with Astarion and tries to ask Tav to dance. Though, this was before the confession scene in Act 2, so was Gale's second offer of “magic”. The night before the “danger of explosion” I stayed with Gale to support and discourage exploding, and he behaved decently, mentioning that he wished someone else was there with him right now in my place. Perhaps Gale's behavior in this scene depends on whether or not you agreed to “watch the magic”.


The first act doesn't have enough roleplay in the romance, there is no way to emphasize Tav's connection to Astarion. I think it would have been worth adding lines to reject the other companions, in which Tav says their heart is busy and they are in love with/meeting Astarion, to avoid ambiguity. Because of this inability to show feelings, it creates a false confidence on first playthrough that Astarion wants to hide the relationship and is unwilling to openly announce it. I had a hard time initially finding another explanation for the fact that everyone around me is eager for Tav, only the attentive Shadowheart notices our relationship, and my character has no words for it.

Thanks for the video, it's very interesting ( also nice that Wyll got what he deserved in the final part of the video). I'm glad they added new lines to the game, can't wait to hear them in my playthrough! Lae'zel's line makes me want to turn around and show her the tip of a blade or fire spell in hand with the words, “Because...” But still only show her... Wyll in my playthrough also definitely will get what he deserves. Harsher than in the video. What he said to Astarion... Maybe our “moral hero” should learn to fly off a cliff? Or can someone offer me more fun evil ideas? Wyll is making me more and more disgusted...


But this way your Durgie misses out on a whole night with Astarion (yes, there's no more video at the party if there's already an romance, just a black screen, but still...) And a lovely separate dialog with Astarion at the party. Though any of my characters a priori don't see the dialog that would be there if you procrastinate starting the romance before the party... So either way, something is missing. Is it different in different playthroughs? (though no, I cannot possibly force myself to say no to Astarion before the party even once, it's too hard, you need a steady nervous system! :)).


Oh what a cutie! <3 Thanks, I'll keep this cutie as a memento...

Thank you Darling



Don't worry sweetie... I'm not missing out anything, I'm just declining the first request because I want to hear his reaction when I tell him I'd rather kiss a toad. At the party he also says so beautifully "Please" when he asks again for a night together . I think it's very sweet when you plan the scenes and dialogues so that they disagree a little about the status of their relationship to each other. My Durgie also feels very insecure in her current surroundings and the current situation. Instinctively, she usually doesn't ask for long when Tieflings threaten her with the sword, then she gets irritated very quickly, so the vampire has to wait a bit longer. Until she calms down a bit and can deal with the situation better




Thank you. You're welcome.

Oh my god, “kiss a toad”, I don't even remember that line (I guess I should pick something more “rejectionist” than I usually am somewhere before that), lol. It's funny, closer to a romantic comedy (“black comedy” given the characters, hehe... :)) when the characters bicker at first, or have some funny misunderstandings between them.

Feel free to be a little negative towards him, he takes it with humor. He also says things like "I couldn't take or leave your chin" to tease you. As long as you don't act against his interests, his reactions are calmly funny. You might think he finds it sexy that you reject him and don't fall for his manipulation. Then let him drink you dry and you can blame him several times for it and I think he's really sorry that he lost control. :)I prefer this way and it's funny when he's almost at 100 approval and you're still teasing him. I think he'll be happy when you finally agree to his offer at the party.

Well, it's not that I'm shy, rather, I just really hate to pick anything negative towards Astarion. I love verbal duels, banter and jokes, but for me it's always been an “arsenal” for “outsiders”. When someone becomes close or engaging, or I strongly sympathize with them, then... I don't want to maintain that style of communication at all. Here if it was possible, as in BG2, to take part in dialogs between companions, when they start a dialog on the map among themselves, but it does not happen in the form of lines overhead, and the form of a full text dialog, in which you can intervene, take sides, etc.., and you could, at the moment when one of the companions says some barb to Astarion, then, after Astarion's answer, turn around, intervene in the dialog and prick this other companion so that they would jump out of their pants and Astarion would bend from laughter - oh yes, that would be pure joy! But in BG3 for some reason we don't have any joint group dialogs at all, on the map we act as passive listeners, and the dialogs are mostly one-on-one (except the conflict scene between Shadowheart and Lae'zel is a nice exception). Although, about the concerns, I was really exaggerating before, lol. I didn't bother to say the “You don't own me yet” line to Astarion during the first night, afraid it would sound like rejection, and opted to go straight to kissing him quickly, passionately, and clearly so he'd have no chance to run away from me. And there's such a beautiful flirtation there actually... I enjoyed that scene even more now, as well as the better, more extended dialog during the party (with the “I love you” when his facial expression changes so much for a second <3), and I also missed it before because of agreeing too quickly, like, “You don't have to ask me twice” and that's it. It's worth asking him for more compliments to hear that “I love you” (this goes for party dialog if you're already having an affair with him). And when he drank me dry, well, he's already worried about it, I want to on the contrary cheer him up and calm the bitey sunshine, especially since I didn't purposely pass any checks myself. But I guess a line like, “Don't worry, darling (especially since he wasn't ‘darling’ at that point), it's nothing! One more time, one less, what the hell difference does it make! I regularly die in combat anyway...” would be too crazy to have something like that in the game, lol. Although I'd love the roleplay of such a crazy-ass character!

In my game Gale offered a magic lesson during one of the long rests before the party (when I caught him looking at the image of Mystra). So I could totally imagine Astarion standing in the corner, watching and being jealous, especially since it happened after the first bite. Astarion offered to spend the night together shortly afterwards. During the party Gale was acting like there was something going on between us (I chose the option to hold hands in the Weave) despite me selecting only neutral and friendly options during that conversation. He talked about his orb being too unstable and that he shouldn't get excited, then said something about having to wait for better times. I had an option to think about him during the party night but it led nowhere when I tested it. Then he kept ignoring Astarion romance until the starry night date and I could only reciprocate his feelings, kiss him or say I didn't love him. There was no way to say you were into Astarion, Gale behaves like he doesn't exist. He only has something to say about him in the morning if you followed him into the illusion. It doesn't matter if you slept with him or not, he acts as if you had sex, which is the same inconsistency during Halsin's proposal.

Oh yes, I always imagined Astarion pulling out his knife too! It was strange that he initially had no reaction to Haarlep, especially given his past. I still think he's too calm, but I doubt anything will be changed in there.


It's bad. I also wish for an option to tell Halsin to shove it after you're done gossiping with Astarion. I would have liked to make fun of Halsin with my LI too.


I could only trigger Wyll's dance if I kissed Gale. Otherwise he seems to think you're loyal to Astarion and doesn't bother. All in all, Gale is the only one who's clueless (or determined) enough to push the romance.


Not counting the newly debugged banters, only the women notice the romance, the men act like nothing's going on until you get on with them and they ask you to choose one of them. It's strange.


He admits himself during the epilogue party, if you're not in the relationship and are rude to him, that he liked the fact you were challenging him, so he definitely doesn't mind if you make him work for your affection a little more and tease him. ^^ In the post-Araj confession he still makes fun of you for being an easy conquest, despite all the obstacles you'd put in front of him.

Yes, Gale was looking at the image of Mystra, but in my playthrough this scene happened much later - after the party, and at the party Gale offered a magic lesson just like that, without talking about Mystra. The party is where relationships begin, and even though I was already in a relationship with Astarion at that point, the abrupt breaking off of the dialog, with no way to refuse Gale, made me paranoid. I later read that Gale could ruin the romance with Astarion at the party and it was advised not to approach Gale at all, but as you can see from my experience, that won't happen if you just approach Astarion again (the dialog with him will restart). By the way, I made an approach to Astarion three more times for prevention, and each time the dialog starts again, so you can see different variants of dialog with him without having to reload. To imagine something adequate, of course, with this sort of thing is not easy, it's something like:


This is pretty funny. Maybe if the scene with Gale had happened before the party, I wouldn't have thought anything of it and would have agreed to the magic lesson because it sounds interesting on its own and doesn't even seem like flirting. I guess it depends on Gale's approval level, or I just had too little rest in the first act. I decided to turn him down in the second playthrough as well, and I see I did the right thing since he acts like you had sex. This is an extremely odd inconsistency in romance, the player's decision is ignored, the companion acts like the other doesn't exist. I managed to avoid this unrealistic behavior with Gale, except for that funny incident at the party when Gale “doesn't take no for an answer”. In your case, Gale comes off as a very brash, narcissistic, and self-righteous suitor who seems to ignore Astarion's existence or considers him a “temporary distraction” and himself the center of the world and the God of Magic (in advance).

Unlikely to change, it seems like the game is more important that all players have the opportunity to accept Haarlep's offer.


Oh yeah, that would be fun! In general, Halsin doesn't represent polyamorous relationships very well in my opinion. A polite person should first ask how the couple they want to join feels about polyamorous relationships. And only make such an offer to them if they respond positively. Behavior like Halsin's, where he simply ignores the fact that Tav has a couple, and except to “graciously” allow: “Well, you ask him for his consent, I can hook him up too, it's a bear thing to do...” causes a negative attitude towards Halsin's character and a feeling that they are literally trying to impose polyamory on you. There were plenty of opportunities for polyamory in DAO and Pathfinder too, but it was seen purely in a positive way, as good opportunities for other players, without any negativity towards it. Halsin himself is not a bad character, I ran with him for interest in Act 3, and he has normal lines (as a companion, he's nicer than Wyll and even the aforementioned Gale). All it would take would be to make Halsin's behavior less intrusive and defiant, so as not to form a preconceived notion of the character, and he wouldn't be seen as a “rattle for Orin”. I've changed my attitude towards Halsin, but his romantic scenario clearly leaves a lot to be desired.


I haven't kissed Gale once, but Wyll doesn't mind. He asked me to dance right after we freed Mizora and I managed to get her to promise to get Wyll out of his contract. He makes those unhappy puppy dog eyes after you say no, why? It's just ridiculous. Astarion's confession happened exactly the next night.


Absolutely right. Men act like males who don't notice the competition. Women are much more calm. Lae'zel is an exception, but she always manages to propose before Astarion, I'm not in a relationship at this point, so it's normal. At the party she talks about what I'm losing, but that's in the past tense. Shadowheart sees our relationship with Astarion, and Karlach doesn't say anything about our relationship, but also doesn't try to get hooked up with Tav in any way. At the party, she says she'd like a “hot guy.” Although I know she has a scene where she tries to seduce Tav after dealing with her inability to touch, but I didn't have that scene.


Interesting. So “easy conquest” doesn't change. For such a seducer, it seems any conquest is “easy”. I love that line. It's especially fun to hear it when Tav herself has hunted Astarion before, and “ lured” this seemingly untouchable biter. Teasing during a night under the stars, hey, take the book, Astarion, look how much HP I took down off Gandrel, Astarion... “What do you mean, ‘shit’, Astarion? You haven't even tasted it and you're already criticizing it...” (just kidding, of course, but I wouldn't mind such a fun line for a bite scene). And finding myself an “easy conquest” afterward. A little while later Astarion woke up as an Ascended and a married man without noticing the catch, absolutely voluntarily, he wanted it himself and sincerely considers himself to be in charge of the family. I can roleplay a pretty sweet “gotcha who bites” romance story with that “easy conquest” of his. Astarion is a very reactive and versatile character, he is great at building relationships with different characters, he loves a challenge and a game, but he also appreciates just a good treatment, he can fall in love with both the bright and bold and the inexperienced in love science Tav. In the case of choosing only the most positive of possible lines, some of his incredulity is evident at first, like the line “So cute...” said in a decidedly ironic and incredulous way in response to the promise that we will definitely know the meaning of his scars. Maybe teasing is something even more familiar to him, he's pretty sharp with his tongue himself, and in this case Astarion is kind of unsure how to respond, or thinks this behavior is possible manipulation and doesn't believe in Tav's sincerity until Tav can prove it with deeds.

Speaking of Gale, I didn't know he could react like that. My Drow Dark Urge was poisoned by Nettie and killed her for it. Gale reacts like this, he surprised me







I always knew Astarion liked being teased.:) I think it's his sense of humor to tease each other. Someone like Astarion certainly prefers people with a similar sense of humor and if you are a challenge for him. Even if he of course claims that you were an easy target... blah blah Mr. Asstarion. Any other claim wouldn't suit him, others make mistakes, not him.

I love this Video, this is what I would have wished for an evil ending. Thank you to DarkUrgeDairies

Good for Gale! In general, you won't understand now what his alignment is, because if you save Sazza after a while, he will admire you, showing himself as a very kind person. Maybe Gale just really wants to live... But can also let the player force him to explode in the finale. Generally speaking, yes, he's quite a complex and contradictory personality.


Yes! This is what true romance should look like for DU and Astarion! A feast of passion and blood. Love, biting, killing, “evil and fun” as Stephen Rooney used to say! <3 Maybe the modders will someday fix the “”reject Bhaal or it'll be bad/ don't play our games without spoilers or you'll get into something that will definitely make you feel really, really bad” style ending, and it will be possible to accept Bhaal again and play the evil DU in BG3. In my headcanon, this story will always be like that, as DarkUrgeDairies has shown. It makes no sense for Bhaal to demand the murder of a beloved of the DU when the two of them can also plunge the world into chaos just fine. Bhaal himself has no problem with sexuality, given the way he procreated his children. Just as there's no problem with teaming up with someone (Bhaal teamed up with Bane and Mirkul when the whole trio were human). In the evil ending for the DU proposed in the game, it's never entirely clear to me what is even meant - whether Bhaal takes away the DU's mind and takes control of them (again, the question of “why”?), or whether we see a “novel” instead of an RPG, with a separately prescribed DU for that purpose (with the player excluded from the story) when the DU makes such a sacrifice to his father voluntarily. But in this case all our choices, all our lines in dialogs with Astarion, all our roleplay and our idea of our character are annihilated and deprived of any meaning.

That video is freaking awesome! Especially at the end when both their endings got merged together so she becomes the Absolute while he becomes the Sun Lord, ending with matching eyes, that was so good! Very well made and the shovel bits were hilarious

That's pretty much what a Dark Urge ending should be. Morbidly sinister yet poetically romantic, sharing together in the madness with their love interest... a deranged power couple like the Joker and Harley Quinn, Bonnie and Clyde... if only Larian cared even 1% about telling an intricate evil story with some satisfying nuance.

She did a wonderful job on the video. I also applaud her for how humorously and lovingly she portrays them both. Because Astarion didn't suddenly lose his sense of humor. Yes, they also share the work of digging graves. If Sceleritas had been there, they would have let him do it and smooched in the background. Praise the Sun Lord ... nothing more to say ...



Oh yes, you are so right. I've played through the game a few times now and I still love playing it that way. Of course I was also redeemed with romanced Spawn Astarion, yes, it was cute, but not my style of playing the game. I love to be the super villian couple.



I was expecting him to be angry with me, but I really like "little miss poison ivy".



This is how I see my dark romance with Astarion, they walk the path of power together and destroy the world. Both of them have fallen into madness and will surrender to the night together as a final sacrifice, even if the prophecy was inaccurate and the Durge is the end of days. Father would be proud ... but I've to betray him ... no Bhaal ending for my Durgie. I really hope that the modders will have a heart for our super villians couples. AA has so many creative fans, I'm hoping for a little knowledge transfer, especially when it comes to editing complete scenes, I'm still at the beginning. Would be great to share the work at such large project. To make new animations will be a lot of work.