Small disclaimer: Using the “Ascended Astarion Critical” tag not because there is hatred toward the character, but mostly so people who dislike critical interpretations of the route can filter it if they prefer.
Warnings: It’s the same old ramble I’ve probably repeated a million times already, but I need to put my thoughts down in writing. Otherwise the monkey in my brain won’t stop screeching. Sob. But hey, it’s the same old ramble with different words this time (more or less)! xD
So, I want to say a few words about a concept I’ve seen repeated over and over again here on Tumblr and elsewhere. This is the latest one I stumbled across. I rephrased the sentence, but it expressed exactly this concept.
"If Ascended Astarion is considered abusive, then Act 1 Astarion and Radiant Hopeful Astarion would logically be as well, with the latter simply lacking the same position of power and opportunity to express it due to his vulnerability."
To begin with, there is no such thing as an “abuser gene” or an “evil gene” hidden inside certain people from birth. Human behavior is far more complex than that. And this applies even in the case of a vampire, given that we are speaking within the context of Faerûn.
I would point to the figure of Jander Sunstar as an example—another elf, whose relationship with vampirism is completely different from that of others. A character who, in a way, even serves as a foil to the infamous and feared Strahd.
Jander Sunstar represents, in a way, the rejection of the idea that vampirism automatically turns someone into a monster devoid of conscience, empathy, or moral conflict. Not because he is “pure” or perfectly good — quite the opposite. Jander commits terrible acts, loses control, kills, gives in to despair and to the horror of his own nature; no one is immune to that. But his entire existence revolves around the fact that he never truly manages to fully embrace what he has become. And above all, to enjoy it. He fights, damn it, for his lost humanity (in the broader sense of the word).
A small, amusing detail — and surely a completely accidental one — is the parallel between the names Sunstar and Astarion, both connected to celestial imagery. Sunstar is literally “sun star,” while Astarion very clearly evokes stars as well, with that “astr/star” root that immediately creates an image of light, something almost delicate. And I find it interesting how both characters, despite being vampires, remain symbolically associated with light rather than absolute darkness.
And I’d also like to add that even the title Spawn Astarion receives at the end of the Radiant Hopeful route seems to reflect that inner light he still carries within himself.
“Astarion, who is banished by the sun itself for fear his spawnish soul might outshine it,’"says the heroic Minsc.
But to return to the point about Astarion supposedly being inherently abusive in every possible circumstance or outcome, the scientific literature openly contradicts that kind of approach.
Abusive, violent, or toxic behaviors are generally understood as the result of multiple interacting factors: trauma, environment, learned relational patterns, power dynamics, fear, emotional dysregulation, social reinforcement, personal choices, and sometimes even survival mechanisms pushed to destructive extremes. None of this functions in a purely deterministic way.
Not every traumatized person becomes abusive. Not every person who develops dysfunctional coping mechanisms is doomed to remain trapped in them forever, just as people without significant trauma are not automatically immune to cruelty or harmful behavior. Human beings can end up doing terrible things under the “right” circumstances: through power, fear, dehumanization, desperation, social reinforcement, or because certain behaviors gradually become normalized. I talked about this here as well.
Protective factors matter as well. For Astarion, these could include: a non-possessive relationship, genuine freedom of choice, respected boundaries, accountability without humiliation, repeated experiences of safety, and someone who does not reward him when he uses control, fear, or manipulation to feel powerful.
In other words, the question is not whether Astarion contains the capacity for harm — he clearly does — but whether his circumstances encourage that capacity, challenge it, or help him outgrow it.
And that is why I personally find the idea that “if AA is abusive, then Spawn Astarion must necessarily be abusive as well, simply without the opportunity to demonstrate it” rather reductive. To me, it flattens both version of the character and his narrative arc, turning him into something static and predetermined, as though there were one single “true” Astarion hidden beneath every possible path or development.
Without even considering, again, how this line of thinking implicitly frames Spawn Astarion as permanently submissive, powerless, incapable of acting simply because he lacks power — which is itself reductive, especially if one assumes that power can only be found through Ascension. It might even raise the question: what is true power, exactly? Or true freedom? Conceiving only a single version of either of them is extremely narrow.
So ultimately, I think it makes far more sense to speak in terms of potential rather than destiny. Astarion has the potential to become many things, including an abuser. Will he act on it? What he ultimately becomes depends on the journey he undergoes throughout the game alongside our character; whether someone believes that journey is well written by the developers or not is ultimately irrelevant. I talked about this more extensively here.
And no, the existence of Strahd or anyone else who behaves far worse, as I’ve seen some people argue, does not magically erase the possibility that AA may display problematic or abusive behaviors, attitudes, and so on. It’s not as though being less monstrous than Strahd automatically makes someone good. In the same way, treating my favorite spawn (or my vampire bride, for those who see it that way) impeccably does not automatically mean I’m not still a monster if I behave monstrously toward the rest of the world like enjoying the fall of Baldur’s Gate from atop the Absolute in the Bhaalspawn ending after taking control of the Brain or after sacrificing seven thousand souls to Hell, children included.
But importantly, this reasoning goes both ways for me.
And while I personally believe that by the end of BG3 Radiant Hopeful Astarion is a spawn determined to reclaim his humanity in a way comparable to Jander Sunstar, whereas AA has fully embraced his vampirism and become, in every sense, part of the cycle of Vampire Lords (destined to succeed one another in an endless cycle of pursuing power and killing for it — and in this context, I find the title Sunwalking Regent particularly evocative, i talked bout it here), that still does not mean these two versions of Astarion become static afterward. Monolithic.
Even Ascended Astarion could theoretically continue to change under different circumstances. Perhaps even redeem himself someday, rediscover something good within himself — or at least part of it — however difficult that might be.
Anyway, to me, the difference between the two endings lies less in the existence or absence of problematic traits (the predator instinct and vampirism affect both versions of him and always will), and more in the direction Astarion chooses to move toward afterward. In how Astarion chooses to relate to his vampiric condition.
In his Ascended ending, Astarion appears to fully embrace both his vampirism and the power that comes with it, openly indulging parts of himself that can become controlling, harmful, or destructive. His trauma does not vanish in the process; if anything, it seems redirected into a worldview where power, dominance, and control become the only reliable safeguards against fear and vulnerability.
Radiant Hopeful Astarion, on the other hand, remains a vampire spawn who still carries many of his flaws and unhealthy coping mechanisms, but who seems to have learned to live with his darkness rather than rule through it. He accepts the painful limits of his condition — including the loss of the sun itself — without turning that pain into a need to stand above others. He also seems to actively try — even without a partner — to reconnect with others, reclaim parts of his lost humanity, and carve out a place for himself within the world.
Again, like Jander Sunstar. Not a perfect person, not “cured,” and certainly not harmless by default. But someone who, in my personal interpretation, is at least attempting to move in a different direction.
People are not psychologically frozen in time. They can harden, soften, regress, heal, worsen, improve, or simply become different over the course of their lives. The two endings exist not to emphasize the difference between Astarion with or without power (which would honestly be quite disappointing and unrewarding for any player, as though their choices and relationships with the companions had no real impact at all), but rather to show how he can change over the course of the adventure precisely because of the experiences he shares with us as players.
Let’s remember that the game is designed to let us have fun and, for those who play the hero, to make us feel heroic. But not in a sneaky or manipulative way. In the most epic sense of the term, like in the tradition of epic fantasy storytelling.
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