Astarion Doesn't Trust Evil Tav! | A Video Essay

[@thecrackpotartist]

Yeah I tried the evil run. It sorta broke my heart. He deep down wants to be a hero. Even if he might dislike a few things along the way. I think his dislike is due to his trama and no one saving him.

[@kiterafrey]

He also dislikes you volunteering him for danger, he values you giving him bodily autonomy, as he hasn't had it in over 200 years.

[@thecheck968]

The goblin party interaction hurts me. I always theorized that Astarion started falling for Tav the first time they slept together. It might have been the first time in decades he had a partner that considered his own desires. And it was certainly the first time he woke up with someone at his side. This is the first moment Astarion has felt even somewhat safe in 200 years. But with an evil Tav, that moment is replaced with even more reinforcement that sex is a transaction, even when Cazador isn’t there to say that himself.

[@kiterafrey]

I personally always feel it is the moment we draw the scars for him. As someone with a rescue dog & who used to foster rescue cats, I recognized in that scene him relaxing into our help. For animal care, that first relax is moment they'll stop fighting help and love. My hubby said I was the same way, like a caged cat until one day I just accepted his compassion & care had no alternative motive & they didn't require an exchange of X from me. Then I just became relaxed around him all the time & stopped being so chaotic. When I first played his drawing his scars scene, I remembered the exact moment my hubby had referenced. But I do think with good tav even if he hadn't fallen for us, he felt safe with them. I agree, he'd never felt safe before. And his good Tav scene is the same as his X before the party, and before party X only happens if you only pick options supporting him & his vampire nature without judgment.

[@thecheck968]

@@kiterafrey Oh, I like your interpretation too. I find it very fun to plot out Astarion’s phases of crushing.

[@MarinaCorbi]

3:46 The dev notes state that he's drinking blood at the Goblin party, but only wine at the Tiefling party. It's either that the goblins have no care that he's a vampire... or the blood is from the tieflings.

[@kiterafrey]

Probably both TBH

[@Mithcoriel]

@@kiterafrey Yeah, and even if he isn't drinking blood: it's not the same wine. So it's not a contradiction that he (claims to) hate the wine the tieflings brought to the party but likes the wine the goblins had.

[@Mithcoriel]

Btw, where did you get these dev notes?

[@MarinaCorbi]

@@Mithcoriel I got it from a KZbin post from user AlexKhodja 4 months ago. There's also a Google Drive you can find that has a ton of notes. It won't let me post the link here, so look up BG3 Datamined Dialogue. The search results should show a Tumblr post with the link.

[@MarinaCorbi]

This is part of their post word for word: 🔶A scene of celebration and sex:❤❤❤ {“After the goblin hunt celebration party (whether the player helped the goblins or the tieflings), Astarion has made arrangements to get intimate with the player at night. For Astarion, this is a game of power - one he's played many times before in the taverns of Baldur's Gate, trying to lure people back to his master. He's an old hand at seduction, very self-assured at first, but the player might not go along with the script he expects them to follow. The next morning, the player wakes to see Astarion standing and getting dressed. They catch a glimpse of scars on his back - a sore point. The scars were carved into him by his old master. As far as Astarion knows, they're a poem, but he's never been able to read it (can't look in a mirror, after all)."} {“The player pushes off the tree, Astarion topples landing on his back--the player still on top. The player pulls their neck to one side, baring it. Astarion is almost flustered as his appetite kicks in. He rolls the player beneath him and bites down and the player's eyes shoot up, looking at the moon through the trees."} {“Astarion smiles, turns and lays the player down on the ground in one motion. Kissing their player on their chest, then the side of their rib. The player turns onto their side and Astarion slides in behind, ending with one long, kiss on the small of their neck before slideing his hand over the spot he kissed and inserting himself. The player responds with pleasure and their hand comes up to cover Astarions. Cut wide to show the imbrace, then a cloud passing over the moon."} 🔶They stood up for the Tieflings: {“After the party, Astarion is standing in a corner, bottle of wine in hand, in a bad mood. Everything's too merry for him, not hedonistic enough. But there's the possibility of a little hedonism with the player, if you both agree to meet up for a little 'fun' later in the night. That's a tantilising thought - there might be something to look forward to after al”} 🔶They helped the goblins: {"Astarion is enjoying himself at a party with the goblins. You've betrayed and slaughtered the tieflings and he's finally able to indulge his hedonistic side. He's drinking blood, but offers you wine. He or you can propose that you get together tonight and enjoy a little more hedonism when everyone else is asleep."} {"Peak of Astarion sexy toxicity."}

[@reddeadbec8749]

Omg no!! I totally noticed this as well. Ugh they did such a good job writing him !! AND Neil did an amazing job playing him!

[@raelaurenmccoy803]

The first time I heard the Teifling line I had to put my controller down... Like this man is made of PIXELS!!! Why must you sound like Tim Curry?! I can't take it! Okay.... That aside, I totally agree with your take. He's definitely more guarded at the Goblin Party. The subtle tone shifts. Neil Newbon did an awesome job!

[@ElyCos]

This is so cool. I actually noticed the difference in lighting between saving the grove and siding with the goblins… But I had not considered the actual depth of meaning behind it. I figured it definitely had some, just didn’t come to any specific conclusion.

[@nerilei29]

Of course he doesn't trust the evil Tav. Plus, it's very easy be friend with him and romance with him when you playing as good Tav. A good character who does good things and makes good decisions can easily do it with him. It makes sense that he doesn't trust a evil character. After escaping from Cazador, Astarion is looking for a sense of security and needs it. And he won't have it where someone hurts someone else for no reason. He's experienced this for 200 years, so how can he trust someone who behaves like that. He's cynical etc. beacuse of what he went through as a slave, but he's not evil and doesn't seek out evil company. He's a little mean, a little sarcastic and distrustful, but he's a good person. He's afraid of evil company and loses confidence, which makes sense when you look at his story. I like how the game presents this. The story doesn't throw it in our faces, but the change in Astarion's behavior is visible and it's very interesting.

[@karumina]

Yeah. I mean Astarion is intelligent. There's no way he wouldn't be guarded around an evil character. They could turn his back on him any second.

[@Mithcoriel]

While what you say about him not trusting an evil character makes sense: are you sure it's easier to make him like you if you're good? He usually disapproves of heroic acts and approves of cruel acts.

[@nerilei29]

@@Mithcoriel Yes, I'm sure. Astarion changes throughout the game and his approach to action - you can see it, for example that he starts to care about the rest of his companions (and for example, he doesn't approve of killing Alfira, and when it comes to Yenna, he doesn't approve of taking her to the camp, but he approves of giving her food). At the beginning, he complains a lot when Tav helps everyone in need, but it's not because he's evil, but because he's afraid. He escaped, he has to look back all the time, he's been through a real nightmare, no wonder he doesn't want to waste time helping completely random people. No wonder that after everything Cazador did to him, he wants to ensure his own safety. But it's really easy to make up for it, and in every good game I played, I always had a high relationship with him that he offer me a night together before I even reached the goblin camp. Apart from that, in act 2 and 3, it's even easier to become friends with him. Looking at all this, I'm not surprised that he's a bit distant from a typically evil character, he knows he can't let his guard down, life has taught him that. Spawn Astarion isn't evil and doesn't feel good around evil friends, and he has reasons for that, he's just a bit cynical etc., and he's afraid, because any stop to help a stranger could result in Cazador catching him. But in the first act there are a few actions that you can take to ensure a high relationship with him, even playing a good run. It's quite easy.

[@Mithcoriel]

@@nerilei29 Nice to hear

[@littlelady79KK]

And thats why i don't play complete evil. Meanwile i have no problems to kill Afira anymore. Or become the unholy Assassin.😅. I m not too bad but not longer to good. 😂

[@MissAppolonia]

I romanced him on a pragmatic good run - meaning, I didn't do everything nice and heroic, my character was a drow so quite a lot of trickery, but did choose the tieflings and the Nightsong and so on and so forth. Was quite easy. One thought I always had - aside from helping NPCs, the PC helping the other companions heal also likely shows our pale elf that this treatment is not meant only for the one who offers themselves to the leader, that intimacy is just one expression of closeness, nothing less, nothing more.

[@h-anthe]

There are some nice other moments where he shows serious distrust of evil choices, even if he doesn't disapprove. His comment to you if you convince Lae'zel to stick with Vlaakith is a good one -- the suspicious, doubtful look and tone. And if you deliver good Shadowheart to Viconia, maybe every character does the 'look at you incredulously then quickly look away' movement in the scene, but he also says afterward that your betrayal of allies makes him nervous. It all screams 'I'm not safe here but I'm stuck'.

[@kiterafrey]

If you do enough distrusting choices he will leave you too. Though I've seen it I've not done it.

[@kairaaitken938]

Astarion is evil up until you finish his questline, and then depending on what you decide he gets more evil as ascended or he goes into a more chaotic good/neutral as a spawn in the epilogue. But the thing is when somebody else is evil, you don't know if they're evil with standards ( i.e ride or die loyal to their chosen allies, as long as that loyalty is reciprocal ) or if they're power hungry, will sacrifice even their loyal allies to gain power type of evil. Or worse will murder those they care about for fun evil. He doesn't know what category of evil you are. But if you're good, then you're out to save people and generally not betray people. So I wouldn't say ACT 1 Astarion fully trusts good Tav ( pre confession scene from Yurgir or Araj ) but he does trust them to act a certain way, because of their goodness

[@joshuawalter6116]

larian really spoiled us

[@stormieisabeast]

Can you please tell us what the approval mod is? Thank you!

[@kiterafrey]

Both the original PAK file and the new version on PS5 are in the linktree in my bio

[@stormieisabeast]

@ I swear I’ve been learning to mod just for this game lol! I played Skyrim for a decade without any and a week into my first playthrough, I was like, these approvals are too stressful. They are worse than combat lmfao. Thank you so much, I didn’t see it!

[@kiterafrey]

@@stormieisabeast You're welcome

[@Vegeta241]

I think how one reviews these scenes depends on your perspective. To me, I would disagree with what you said about the two parties, but WOULD agree about spending the night with him. I mean, Astarion clearly says at the teifling party “I hate it. This is awful”. In my three playthroughs that I’ve done (which I admit were ALL goodie two shoes runs) most of my good decisions were disapproved by this man. Where as in the goblin camp… regardless of if it’s an act or not, to me he seems more comfortable there. The whole “looking at you as a target”, I’d disagree and say he looks at you that way during both parties. He doesn’t fully trust you yet. I’m sorry if this comes off as a joke, but honestly maybe the reason he complains about the wine at one party and not the other… the goblins could just have better liquor? I mean did you SEE how hard those little bastards were partying? As for the scene after sex, I think that Astarion in the moment sees you as a target and a means to an end regardless, he just sees you as an EASIER one if you saved the teiflings. I’m not saying “do another full Astarion playthrough” but I feel like something interesting to do would be to do a whole run with the party at all times being Tav or Durge, Astarion, and two hirelings. That way when you get to the conversations where companions interject, Astarion will always be the one to speak up. I’ll always remember when he complained that it would take hours to kill all the goblins and that we should just abandon the teiflings.

[@kiterafrey]

Someone else brought it to my attention. The dev had a note on social media that at the Goblin party, he added blood to his wine because there were dead bodies at the party to do so with. Edit: I've played games with only him. I think I had the beginning of one as a stream before I decided I didn't enjoy being live. Aside from a couple of missing lines here or there, it doesn't change much, and often, he'll still talk like we have other people with us because the script was written in those places to be without companion names. Slaying your other companions does unlock some unique dialogs, though.

[@Moonkin444]

I don’t think Astarion would openly let his guard down this early, even if he trusts you already, that’s why he still stays in character (the zynical vampire that doesn’t care about being altruistic) but that doesn’t necessarily mean that this is what he thinks deep down. With his background in mind, it just makes sense that he’ll feel more uncomfortable at the Goblin party, because he just witnessed how Tav / Durge decided to slaughter and betray completely innocent and mostly helpless people. Without any reason. So how could he be sure that he won’t end like this as well eventually? But at the Tiefling Party Tav / Durge shows they have a good heart and will fight for helping the weaker ones. He is one of the „weaker ones“ himself, or at least sees himself as that. So Tav will probably fight for him as well. All the approving of evil choices and the mean comments he makes are just a mask to protect his softer side. It’s a not so uncommon coping mechanism. And this is paired with him being actually zynical because he feels like he was abandoned, no one to help him in all those 200 years. This is of course only my opinion, but given the story behind his character, the body language, and his tone of voice, I really don’t think he’s more comfortable at the goblin party

[@karumina]

He's being efficient 😂 honestly if Astarion was a gamer he'd be the type to skip all the side quests and go straight for the finale

[@kiterafrey]

@@karumina@karumina Asterion is the physical embodiment of "Not My Monkeys, Not My Circus."

[@karumina]

@@kiterafrey exactly