What Is Your Take On Astarion's Relationship With His Siblings?

larian writers, with hands placed on astarions shoulders like a proud parent: this is a thoughtful and touching narrative about male victims of abuse

fans: hey, thats fuckin sweet! do you have any more of these stories in your game?

larian writers, grimacing as they turn their heads towards wyll and gale: okay so, in our defense, it gets kinda murky when its a hot white woman doing it

gale stans: wasnt he groomed?

larian writers: but he liked it? his ultimate goal is to get back with her :)

wyll stans: isnt it kinda gross that the devil who owns his soul keeps blatantly sexually harassing him in front of everyone as a form of humiliation-based punishment?

larian writers and also whoever the fuck wrote that christmas animation (you motherfucker, when i fucking get you i stg): i know canon says otherwise, but he secretly wants her. dont you want her? you can fuck her if youd like

halsin stans: hey, so, uh-

larian writers, sprinting out of the room:

He's such a silly goose 💚

[From the game's datamined dialogues, described as "voice barks for Astarion as the player interacts with the screen"]

I cannot take Gortash seriously for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that he has anime hair

Finally made my version of Batstarion! Because I love both bats and Astarion.

He is a scary and powerful vampire, as you can see. (I think I made him way too innocent-looking. Imagine him with little angry eyebrows, maybe)

Made mostly of felt/wool. I modeled him after a northern ghost bat rather than a vampire bat, sorry. Someday I'll make a more realistic, fully articulated version (perhaps a vampire bat), but bats are harder to make than I thought. Hope you like him!

Ways I Show a Character Is Secretly Lonely (Even When Surrounded by People)

I love writing characters who insist they’re “fine” while clearly radiating the desperate energy of a dog left home alone for eight hours with no enrichment activities.

They laugh too loud at jokes that aren’t funny. And not just a chuckle—like full-blown sitcom audience laughter. Because if they laugh hard enough, maybe no one will notice the hollow echo inside.

They overshare weirdly fast. First conversation? Congrats, you now know about their third-grade trauma and their mom’s weird obsession with Tupperware. It’s like emotional diarrhea: uncontrollable, messy, and a cry for connection they don’t even realize they’re making.

They get way too invested in minor social interactions. The barista remembered their name? That’s the emotional highlight of their month now. They’re writing about it in their journal tonight.

They cling to any group or friend who gives them an ounce of attention. Book club? Bowling league? Interpretive dance class for introverts? They’re signing up just to hear someone say, “See you next week.”

They’re the ultimate “life of the party” but go home feeling like they were never actually seen. Because if you're entertaining enough, nobody looks too closely at the emptiness.

Their texts are weirdly enthusiastic at 2 a.m. "OMG WE HAVE TO HANG OUT!!!!" followed by weeks of silence. It’s not flakiness, it’s a tidal wave of loneliness crashing into a wall of shame.

They constantly post selfies, group photos, “Having so much fun!!” posts… and yet, somehow, you can smell the loneliness through the screen. (If you could bottle that vibe, it would smell like stale wine and unsent texts.)

They stay in bad relationships just to not feel alone. Red flags? They’ve knitted a full quilt out of them. Because someone is better than no one, right? (It’s not.)

They sabotage good relationships because vulnerability is scarier than loneliness. "If I push them away first, they can’t hurt me!" - them, crying alone on a Friday night, claiming they're just "enjoying some me-time."

They have this glazed look when people talk about “close friends.” Like they know what it’s supposed to feel like, but they’re running on Google Image results and secondhand memories from coming-of-age movies.

Bats! This is a very self indulgent post for me and it’s an excuse to draw bats lol. Close ups and some facts below 👇

So some of these are based on vibes but there are some interesting reasons I chose some of these.

So Cazador is actually based on an extinct species of bat which is basically a massive vampire bat which are about 30% larger than a common vampire bat

Astarion is of course a common vampire bat . I couldn’t find much info on the existence of albino ones but I based him off the few images I could find

To add, Dalyria is from a species that has wings that appear pinkish due to lack of pigment, which is my personal theory for why she has that pink tone in her skin, she’s really pale

Leon being a fruit bad just made sense in my head (Maybe baby bat Victoria is under his wings lol)

Petras being a Pallid bat made sense because of course Pallid=Pale=Pale Petras

I love the idea of Aurelia being a little brown bat because I feel like I HC her as having a more diminutive and reserved personality and I feel that goes with little brown bats

Yousen is a species of Microbat which of course are some of the smaller bats in the world

I feel like Violet would be very proud of her long ears

An exhaustive list of everything wrong with Wyll:

He likes clowns

Nothing else

He was mean to Astarion a few times but we can forgive him for that

In the spirit of the "two cakes are better than one" sentiment, in regards to fanfic, I would happily read 100,000 different versions of a scene where magic is used (Mirror Image or something) to let Astarion see his face for the first time in 200 years.

Gods I just love that Astarion is pansexual. I love seeing images of him kissing both men and women. I love that he is flamboyant and that so many women find him sexy. I love that his queerness wasn’t sidelined to make homophobic gamers comfortable.

And I will fight any of those dumbasses who insists that he’s actually gay, because miss me with that stereotyping bullshit. He makes my little bi heart so happy.

THIS. You actually read my mind.

I'm not interested in people being needlessly pedantic over whether or not he literally "lost his soul" in ascension, because he very clearly lost something crucial to his being. He burned a bridge between himself and the future of healing and redemption he could have had. AA is not "free" in a meaningful way, and he shackled himself to Cazador's legacy forever, trapping himself in a state of non-healing. Of course he's not "just another Cazador", maybe he's even "not as bad". But that doesn't mean he's good. He chose to turn away from the good in himself. As Neil Newbon said, becoming Lord Astarion solidifies all of all the worst in him.

Being able to walk in the sunlight won't make him happy. Having no vampiric hunger won't help him heal from the trauma he's choosing not to face. Being able to see his reflection won't absolve him of his crimes. Being a vampire lord won't give him back the identity that was stripped from him. The Spawn ending isn't all sunshine and rainbows, but its a new dawn. Radiant and hopeful. Full of love and support for the long road of healing ahead.

"Ascended Astarion is what happens if trauma wins - he’s the desensitization to violence after centuries of torture and cruelty, he’s the false facade of confidence and superiority shielding a weak sense of self, he’s the belief that the only way to not be a victim is to be the abuser."

"He may not act exactly like Cazador but he has embraced the belief that to be safe is to be powerful at the expense of empathy and care for others, and with that it is inevitable his hunger for power will grow more and more sadistic consuming every good and tender part of Astarion just like it did to Cazador"

Flawlessly put. Actually perfect.

Some fans think Ascended Astarion is free from the curse of vampirism because he can walk in the sun and see his reflection and he isn’t hungry for blood, but he has just replaced all that for a far more sinister and consuming hunger. Vampires crave power the way they crave blood, insatiably and beyond their control. They are a metaphor for abusers, trapped in their futile struggle to feel fulfilled by harming and dominating others. That is part of their curse, the darkest and most isolating part. If we read Cazador’s thoughts, we find that he doesn’t identify with this monster he has become and deep down wants to just die. He is consumed by the curse of vampirism, everything from torturing his spawn to the ascension ritual were part of this vampiric hunger for power that made Cazador what he became. If Astarion ascends, that is what he will become.

He may not act exactly like Cazador but he has embraced the belief that to be safe is to be powerful at the expense of empathy and care for others, and with that it is inevitable his hunger for power will grow more and more sadistic consuming every good and tender part of Astarion just like it did to Cazador. Cazador was once a young Spawn who reached out to a friend and was impaled for a decade straight because of it. From Cazador’s perspective, he was a “loving”, “paternal” Master compared to Vellioth but that’s just the distorted mindset of the abuser. Just like every abusive parent thinks they aren’t abusive because their parent was “worse” to them. Cazador was different from Vellioth and Ascended Astarion would be different from Cazador but they’re the same beast. There’s no denying that the nature of vampirism and Master/Spawn relationships are abusive and the only way to free yourself from that cycle is to reject the poisonous allure of vampiric power.

Spawn Astarion cannot see his reflection or walk in the sun, at least not yet, but he can live and he can heal. He knows it’s safe to be loving and kind, that there’s more to the world than an endless cycle of power and pain which was all he experienced for 200 years as a slave to Cazador’s sick, undead mind. Spawn Astarion has won something Cazador never could, and that’s his soul back. Cazador died a power-hungry husk who didn’t recognize himself from the boy he once was with everyone he claimed to “love” relieved he was dead - Spawn Astarion won’t suffer that fate. Ascended Astarion is what happens if trauma wins - he’s the desensitization to violence after centuries of torture and cruelty, he’s the false facade of confidence and superiority shielding a weak sense of self, he’s the belief that the only way to not be a victim is to be the abuser. Spawn Astarion is bittersweet but hopeful and free to be himself, he is not consumed by what trauma and vampirism wants him to be. He is free to heal and find out who he is. That will take time, but it’s finally possible.