I think what really bothers me about fanon!Astarion isn't just the woobification. That happens to every problematic white boy. It's annoying, but not news. It's that almost every trait that the fandom assigns him is something that is already explored through a different character in this very game

You want a character that's too focused on the task at hand to want to stop and help innocents? That's Lae'zel! Astarion is cool with dicking around, but Lae'zel spends most act 1 actively in a panic about the tadpole and pushes you to just find a cure already

You want a trauma survivor that is mostly self-serving but can't help but care about people in a similar situation? Well, Astarion disaproves of you helping slaves, but Shadowheart really wants you to look out for kids! Even when she gets tortured for it!

You want someone who is prone to sympathizing with the monstrous? Despite being a monster hunter, it's Wyll that has that covered! Astarion doesn't even like you sympathizing with a recently orphaned goblin kid

You want a proper courtship with a prince charming? That's literally Wyll's romance!

You want a character that tries very hard to be bad, but deep down enjoys doing the right thing, and starts to accept that over the course of the game? Shadowheart again! A massive part of her story is just that

You want the angst of a character still having been a minor when entering their abusive situation? That's the case for literally everybody except for him and maybe Karlach! He was an adult with a job

None of this is meant to be an attack on Astarion as a character, but pushing all those traits on him does the game a massive disservice. All these character's storylines exist in conversation with each other, they all benefit from the existence of the others. To instead pretend all those things apply to one character, is just

Well, it's incredibly boring

Asking BG3 characters to pick you up pads: Round 2

I really love BG3 ships because they all be canon if you want thanks to the Origin Companions being playable. Like back in my day if you wanted Fenris and Anders to kiss you needed to mod things or write fic like a chump. But I can just make Astarion and Wyll kiss and nobody can argue that it's unrealistic or that they wouldn't do that. Cuz look! They're doing that! What are you gonna do about it?

baldur’s gate 3 really is the game of all time for the gays who want to celebrate both sad pathetic wet men AND women’s wrongs

Very oddly specific thing I’ve been enjoying with the explosion of signalis art: People drawing elster with broad/wide shoulders

As a fellow wide shoulder having bitch like myself it’s really cool to see a female character not only having really narrow shoulders and broad hips. Some girls just built like a hell-treading, trauma compartmentalizing, badass like elster signalis

EMRYS TARIAN. human, acolyte, paladin, oath of devotion & follower of tyr.

born to peasants in a village a ways outside baldur's gate, emrys was sent as a child to be raised under the priests of tyr at a nearby temple. intended to become a cleric, there she studied law, history, religion, and martial skills. at the age of eighteen, she was sent to further her education in baldur's gate. she returned home to find her home in flames, & the last of raiders pillaging the small village. there, she swore an oath, promising to uphold the tenets of tyr and her oath, of justice, honor, loyalty, if he give her the power to smite down the ones who ransacked her home. ever since then she's upheld her oath, though she feels the ever-present stirrings of rage inside her. impulses toward violence, deception, and uncharitableness take hold of her in low moments, and she feels her faith faltering with every instance of mortal cruelty she comes across in her journey. she directs her anger toward those she feels deserve it most, and tries to adhere to the ideas of the greater good, though it's only a matter of time before she slips.

⊱ ODETTA • D'PAVENSEI — the spider-blessed

It was Odetta's father who taught her the lesson about trust. "It's a liability," he said, making his daughter watch as he sliced the throats of her childhood friends in front of her. "You are strong only if you are alone." But the girl was never alone. Indeed, there it was, deep under the family estate; something Other, sleeping, seething, waiting. It was capable of love, that kind of love only found in dark and rotting places, smelling sweetly of death. And yet, to Odetta, it was hope. And as she got older, her hope grew - all teeth and nails. As a dutiful daughter would, Odetta decided to show her father just how well she had taken all his lessons to heart - right before tearing his heart out.

My feelings towards ao3 this morning.

counting bodies like sheep

What crack did Larian put into the drow

Please keep your romanticised zealotry out of the tags.

If you think Gale is the only character in BG3 who has not been abused by a higher power, then you have seriously missed a key theme of the entire narrative of the game. Especially Gale's story and character arc.

One of the biggest themes of the game is power and the cycles of abuse. Specifically, those with power controlling those 'underneath' them and using them for their own gain. Even the games villains are just pawns for a god or a devil.

Sincerely, a Gale fan who is tired of people saying he wasn't abused because he is a man and Mystra is a female goddess.

We're not jealous because he has an ex fml.

Mystra does not love Gale. She has a history of sleeping with her chosen and using her charms to convince them to become her chosen. I'm not saying she is solely responsible for what happened ( I'm looking at you, Elminster), but she is the (for want of a better word) abuser in Gale's case. What reasons would a goddess have for sleeping with her chosen when they don’t feel as mortals do?

It's also important to point out that Gale did not know that the orb was of netherese origin. He thought he was helping her by returning a piece of the weave to her, that is canon. And he did so because he thought he was losing her favour. Gale had no one in his life to stop him (look how easily Tav can convince him not to go for the crown or blow himself up). He just wanted to earn back the favour of his goddess.

Gale's situation might not be as clear cut as the other origin companions, but that doesn't mean that his storyline doesn't follow the same themes and he wasn't groomed, used, abused and discarded by a god.

If you want to read some Mystra lore and how it relates to Gale, the following Tumblr accounts have posted some amazing metas in the past: messiahzz & galedekarios (I'm not going to tag them directly here).

lives were literally changed.

[disciple z'rell opening up durge!tav's mind]

disciple z'rell @ astarion: damn bro your gf is literally a fucking freak who wants to bathe in the blood of her enemies and kill everything that walks. also she wants to comb your hair and kiss you stupid????

literally astarion:

I don't wanna be mean or nothing but whenever Shart references having casual sex and many previous lovers she totally doesn't care about I just can't take her seriously.

Like sure hon. Yup you totally had sex. For sure you did that. And he put his thingy into your you-know-what. And it was totally cool and a thing that happened.

going thru the baldur gate tag puking and throwing up bc you all only care abt astarion