ive done a couple campaigns where ive romanced him but ill stick to my durge, nephiros, for this. for context, my bg1/2 hero, alorin, is still alive and was invited to the epilogue party to meet nephy and help guide him in his post-bg3 depression

alorin doesnt like or trust vampires. during the events of bg2, a vampire named bodhi benefitted from his brutal torture and toyed with him. she was a power hungry bitch. he starts out wary of astarion but the party convinces him hes not as power hungry as others are and even turned down immense power and listened to the party. wyll, jaheira, minsc, and boo in particular swayed alorins opinion. the rest of the party generally says that while astarion can be an annoying little mosquito at times hes on the path of doing good instead of selfishly hoarding power

during alorins adventures in bg2 he discovered a cure for vampire spawns. he was gonna rush in and get some sweet, sweet revenge against bodhi but jaheira demanded he find another way around to prevent the party from being killed. he shares this knowledge with astarion so he can make the choice as to whether or not he wants to remain as a spawn.

eventually astarion wants to cure himself. he could walk in the sun again, not have to hide his fangs or his cold skin or his corpse smell anymore, he wouldnt have to rely on blood; he could just be normal again. i havent reached that point in bg2 yet myself so idk what the cure entails yet but astarion has nephy and the rest of the party to help him out. its mostly him and nephy who create the cure

as he approaches the end of the process he starts thinking of what this cure would mean to his friends and, most importantly, to himself. its not impossible for a vampire to find ways to walk in the sun and he no longer has the threat of cazador looming over him. with the cure astarion would be mortal again, hed grow old and die; nephiros, as the durge, is a low tier god called a titan and is immortal. he starts really thinking about what its like being a vampire now after bg3 without cazador and with caring friends

the cure is complete but astarion doesnt immediately take it. he spends one last moment thinking to himself, thoroughly weighing the pros and cons of his vampirism and his cure. its only him and nephy rn so he feels like he can be open and honest with his thoughts and decisions. he declines the cure. part of why he hated his vampirism so much is bc he never had much of a choice in the first place; it was either bleed to death in the streets or become immortal. cazador made his life a living hell and hurt thousands of others too but hes dead now. he has friends who care about him and will vouch for him. with nephiros by his side he only has to ask for help and hell get what he needs bc they love each other. he no longer feels scared, alone, small, and in pain now after hes found love through friendship and romance and hes allowed himself to grow his own love. to him, vampirism isnt all that bad anymore; vampirism itself is no longer so much of a prison as it used to be. nephiros is proud of astarion for thinking through this decision and accepts astarion as a spawn

i think people should be able to do what they want with astarion in their headcanons and stuff but personally i would want to keep him as a spawn. i feel like in terms of narrative themes he shouldnt be cured. vampirism is part of his story in regards to trauma. speaking as someone whos been through trauma its not just something you can do undo, once youre traumatized youre always gonna be traumatized. you can learn how to live with it and work through it to at least some extent but youre never really gonna be able to erase those memories. its just something in your life now and you have to find a way around it if you want to continue living. my decision to write astarion as someone who would turn down the cure comes from my own hope that i can also grow beyond my own trauma to the point where it feels small in comparison

Astarion and his Vampirism

Okay genuine question, how do people take on the idea of Astarion's vampirism post-BG3?

It can be for like his Origin path or as friendship, but I'm more wondering specifically if you romance him as Tav/Durge.

I've seen now people either being on the side of having his vampirism be cured or he accepts it as is.

For accepting, I can seeing that make sense. A lot of his dialogue is about accepting himself for who he is, for what he's lost and gained. Even dialogue for Tav/Durge towards the end and epilogue are about finding a way for Astarion to walk in sunlight but not necessarily to cure his vampirism. It also goes back to this idea that Astarion's vampirism is helpful for him since he has a way to protect Tav/Durge so I could understand why he'd be fine with it if that was the price.

On the other hand, curing his vampirism would be able to give him the ability to be the person he lost before Cazador. To enjoy things again, to not have to rely on blood. While he does lose vampire powers, we technically don't get to see too much of that because of the tadpole, so in a way, how we see him throughout BG3 is mostly his own skill.

I'm just curious since for me, I'm not sure how it'd play out since I romance him with a draconic sorceress half-elf so yes, there's an issue of her mortality for either option but she could potentially find a way to make herself live longer and all that kinda stuff.

So it's just about what Astarion would probably want I guess. What do you guys think?

what the point of mmf threesomes if the dudes don’t fag out a lil

BORN TO FORGET

WORLD IS A BLUR

I Am Memory Issues Man

410,757,864,530 FORGOTTEN PRECIOUS MEMORIES

“why’s he always covered in blood” he needs enrichment. What’s not clicking

unless you literally want to crack open your rib cage and have me crawl inside do NOT flirt with me.

they should invent a brain that doesn’t whisper bad things to you

you masc and moaning like that when he drinks your blood…..? :\

torture the bisexual brunette man some more

Yes, your worldbuilding is thorough, your geography meticulous, your plotting elaborate, and your characterisation nuanced, but answer me this: is there a fucked up little guy?

Kyaaaa!!!!! *the skirts of my dress blow in the wind to reveal several conceled weapons*