#This is not what Larian intended: I do not care I am in love with this explanation now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

y-rhywbeth2 · 2 months

Text

While replaying BG2, I had sudden moment of inspiration regarding a headcanon on how my Durge could be elven while tying it back to the first games (could also apply to half-elven). Throwing ideas around: Back in BG2 Irenicus tried to join the Seldarine by draining/fusing himself with the Tree of Life, an avatar of Rillifane Rallathil, claiming his divinity for himself and becoming a god... The act of draining the tree also had the side effect of killing and draining the life out of every elf in the city of Suldanesselar, but hey.

The second time he did this he had the stolen soul of a Bhaalspawn, which means that for a time the essence of Bhaal, the essence of an elven god, and the divine essence of Corellon/Elven-ness were all intermingled in an act of mass murder. Titans can be created entirely by accident; it could be possible for some of the divine essence of the Seldarine/Rilifane to be carried back to Bhaal, or even for Durge to have been born as a consequence of Irenicus' attack on the Tree.

There were these things, parasites formed from dark magic that the elves didn't recognise that Irenicus used to drain the essence from the tree (they were also kind of cute, imo, but that's beside the point): if those were, in some roundabout fashion, the "flesh" of Bhaal, slain, then reanimated and shaped into elven form by the stolen divine essence of one of the Seldarine... it would put Durge's birth in 1369, probably sometime in Kythorn (June-ish).

... It also sort of makes Durge part tree and maybe gives them two or three parents (Bhaal and Rillifane, and maybe Irenicus if you want to be cruel).

Also might make Queen Ellesime their half-sister or something (I'm not entirely clear on how she's related to the Leaflord, just that she's descended from him).

The Seldarine probably wouldn't be terribly comfortable with such a child existing (Sehanine might make an attempt at kindness as she does with Eilistraee and Shevarash, but when things don't fit into their ideal, things get very uncomfortable in this family). The elves wouldn't be keen on them either once/if they worked out what the infant was, what with them being both a reminder of a horrific and traumatic crime against them, and also a Bhaalspawn. They don't like those: "None of the elven forest folk want to be near me." - Charname, after being ushered out of Suldanesselar and out into a world where Bhaalspawn are being subjected to witch hunts, shortly after saving said elves and their city. Even if they are an elf.

#The Leaflord owes the Lord of Murder over a century's worth of child support.#Astarion can possbily enjoy rubbing his filthy mormhaor hands over a bastard child of the Seldarine in my canon #Irenicus might quality as a third father #This is not what Larian intended: I do not care I am in love with this explanation now #Updating Vel's backstory to include homelessness in Athkatla after too many incidents #His tendency to be drawn to nature and Ranger abilities also take on another layer #Might change him from Sun Elf to Wood or Green Elf though: makes more sense for Rillifane #Unfortunately this means I have to spend time trying to work out what to do with the racism all over the Sy-Tel'Quess lore #/durge #babbling #bg2 spoilers #long post

22 notes · View notes

ellie-shy · 6 months

Text

Tav-insert Epilogue banter with Halsin 🐻

Very self-indulgent of what my Tav, Salju, would banter with Halsin during the epilogue party.

P/S : no, I haven't finished the game with Salju yet :')

===========

Salju : *sees Halsin drunk dancing*

Salju : Oh, look at you! You're dancing, my love! Ha-ha!

Halsin : I uhh-- it seems the drink has started to kick-in, I suppose.

Salju : Hahaha! How adorable! *laughs*

Halsin : That's the laughter that I always strive for. Heh.

==========

Halsin : I wonder how the children are faring. Hopefully... they are well.

Salju : They will be fine, love! They have grown and learnt so much under your care. Besides, I trust Taruna will be a great big brother to all of them. He did say he wanted to teach them about meditation.

Halsin : Oh, to have your confidence, my heart.

Salju : Where would you be without me?

==========

Salju : You know, it's been a while since we were afforded a time like this. We should really spend it wisely, won't you agree? *winks to Halsin*

Halsin : Indeed, I still have yet to talk to Wyll. Wonder if he has any adventurous stories to share for--

Salju : I meant us, my Halsin. We should... enjoy ourselves... intimately. After this. Amongst nature, perhaps?

Halsin : Oh- How foolish of me. *chuckles* Of course, my heart. The thought has been... a recurring image tonight. We will slip away soon.

Salju : Glad I've read your mind.

============

Halsin : You are still as beautiful as the day you freed me from the goblins' prison... *totally drunk*

Salju : And you sounded as drunk as ever!

Halsin : I love you so much, my heart... I-- LOVE YOU! *stumbling in his feet trying to embrace Salju*

Salju : Gods... at least you said those words to me.

Jaheira, from the corner : We know! Now go somewhere private!

============

Salju : *talking with the girls*

Halsin : *walking towards the river, away from everyone, dazed and drunk*

Salju : *spotted him mid-conversation* Hm?

Halsin : *turns into a bear*

Salju : *looks into the camera like in The Office*

=============

Salju : Halsin, when we return, would you kindly help in cleaning the treehouse where the children played before we left? It has been... untidy for a few days now.

Halsin : The treehouse? The children have been playing in there?

Salju : Yes... and I'm afraid they may have found your wooden duck collection, judging by the quacking sounds I've heard. Perhaps 'Daddy Halsin' would like to intervene?

Halsin : *gasp* M-My collection... Ah, those ducklings.

============

Salju : Oh, have you heard how wonderful the new little tiefling boy played the violin? I just taught him the strings, yet he sounded amazing! Definitely a bard at heart.

Halsin : Hah! Indeed. Although, I did saw him hugging a tree one day. And he also managed to upkeep a poppy bloom flourishing. I can sense a druidic talent in the child. Perhaps, some more tutoring...

Salju : Not unless I tutor him first, dear.

============

Halsin : Your eyes seem locked onto me. Is something the matter?

Salju : You are enjoying yourself... I'm glad. *sniffles*

Halsin : Ah, my love, I can see your drink has made you melancholic. Come here...

Salju : I love you so... *sobs*

Halsin : As I do you, my heart. *embraces her*

[Salju succeeded a Performance check in being dramatic to get Halsin's attention]

=============

Salju : *performing for everyone in the party*

Halsin, under his breath, smitten : Thank you Oak Father for allowing me into her heart.

=============

Halsin : I am eager to have you, my heart.

Salju : As am I. You are not allowed to sleep tonight.

Halsin : I intend not to.

=============

Thank you Larian for giving us Tav and Halsin living their domestic parental life with bunch of adorable children and their owlbear 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #bg3 halsin #halsin #bg3 tav #tav x halsin #my oc #my post #Please this is very self-indulgent but i have to get it out of my system

21 notes · View notes

eff-plays · 8 months

Note

can we get more of your feelings about the durge/astarion stuff pretty please?? because i feel SO vindicated after reading your thoughts and am almost resentful of durge/astarion stuff having everyone so "they're made for each other!" and "they're canon!", it feels so invalidating towards tav/astarion. i really don't like durge either; i have one canon character when i play rpgs and dark urge does not fit them in the slightest 😓

if i wanted to put an understanding spin on it, i guess that's the trade off for having your own custom character with a back story you've created, and at least astarion is so incredibly loving towards tav and talks repeatedly about how incredible they are and how much he cares for them. but i do absolutely have SO many created scenarios in my head where my tav breaks down with their own traumas and ptsd, and astarion is there to comfort and help them through it, because god knows we don't get any of that in the actual game 😭 (i hope this made sense omg, i just love your opinions and want to hear them all)

Honestly I am not generally in the business of having too many opinions on things I haven't personally tried or experienced, so what you've seen so far of my opinions on Durge/Astarion is basically the extent of it, and my reasoning for deciding not to try it in the first place.

However, I can offer some further vindication in that I think saying "they're made for each other" or "they're canon" is such a dipshit and factually incorrect take that it's pretty much not worth getting upset over. People can say and think whatever they want, that doesn't always make it true, particularly not when it comes to RPGs that are meant to be played as you want them. People who say this are fundamentally misunderstanding the concept of an RPG, and they're probably stupid, and their opinions aren't worth considering or taking seriously. Or, they're just trying to upset you and they feel smug about their own choices, in which case you should still ignore them.

Like, I hate Ascended Astarion, but I'm not gonna say Spawn Astarion is canon. If I do say it, I will clarify that it's canon for me, because it is, but canon in general? It would be literally, factually untrue. So why would I say that unless I'm wilfully obnoxious and smug about my choices? Or just dumb? Which I am, but not like that.

Iirc Larian encouraged people to play custom origin for their first playthrough, and people did, and most people tried going for Astarion. That means that, statistically, a shitton of people have Tav/Astarion as their main pairing. Why would they encourage this if it's apparently not canon? Why shoot themselves in the foot by offering an apparently inferior experience first?

Also, just because one writer wrote stuff for one character because they had the time to do so, does not make it somehow the definitive answer. It was clearly not intended to be the only romance where Durge gets a specific variation, I doubt Larian would do that, so it's basically an accident, or at least unintentional.

That being said, even if it was intentional, who's to say it's a good thing? Harkening back to my Dragon Age days, I remember people saying that Andrastian human was clearly the intended experience, and the game struggled to accommodate any other race/class. Does that make it canon? Or just bad game design/writing?

Obviously not saying Larian did a bad job, clearly they did a good job if people are going to bat for it this obnoxiously, but the logic is equally flawed.

I do have issues with Durge in general as a concept (mostly cuz I just don't understand the logic behind including it aside from ... previous game fanservice?) but I haven't even graduated from gamer school yet so I won't get into that.

Also, one thing abt Tav I love that Durge misses out on is just the sheer ballsiness and comedy of rocking up to Bhaal's secret temple and killing all his guys and just not even being involved in any of that shit at all. Durge gets all that angst and drama, sure, and Orin is soo important apparently, but she died in two rounds for me. TWO. Imagine being just some fucking guy who fucks up your shit so bad that you have to restart everything. That amuses me to no end.

So ... there's that, lmao.

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #cazador was a harder fight than orin lmao #all that buildup and then she just fucking croaks #misogyny tbh #but also i thought she was so annoying tbh so it was still fun to kill her #more fun that it was so undignified #like yaas girl go give us nothing #durge: ouhgh ... orin ... my enemy. tav: lmao yeah some rangom crazy bitch i shanked #tbh all the villains in bg3 are kinda mid there i said it #cept for maybe the emperor he can hang

14 notes · View notes