Ascension is his happy ending
"I've been out seeing the world, visiting cities charming dignitaries, and making friends up and down the Sword Coast. I'm spinning my web. Power grows slowly, but I have nothing but time now."
"But the important thing is I am doing wonderfully. Finally having a life that's worth living."
So Ascended Astarion feels quite happy and ready to live life to the fullest, without limiting himself in anything.
I see a lot of "analysis" about this being a bad ending, an unhappy one.
Astarion doesn't regret what he did. He also thanks Tav TWICE for helping him ascend.
They can travel together. Enjoy food, walk in the sun, without feeling terribly hungry. Their hearts beat. Is this an unhappy ending, in your opinion?
In my opinion, it's your headcanon that you consider this ending unhappy only to validate your spawn choice in the game. As if your spawn Astarion would suddenly become Ascended if you didn't try every day to come up with ways to denigrate the opposite ending. Accept that Astarion has two paths.
Yes, they're different, but he's still the same Astarion.
"Little love, whatever could be the matter?"
"Ask me anything, and it will be yours."
"Yes, my treasure?"
"You want to talk? Oh, that's very cute."
"Aeterna amantes. Lovers forever, until the world falls down."
"We are sovereigns. My sole endeavour now is to make this world yours and mine alone."
Is this how "abuse" look like? Really?
If you truly consider a couple of lines during a breakup to be abuse, then I congratulate you, you're a poser who knows nothing about real abuse. By claiming that Ascended Astarion is an abuser, you're downplaying the meaning of the word and belittling the victims of real abuse.
P.S. And I kindly ask you to stop projecting the real world issues onto RPGs. This is fcking Faerun, not our planet.
theartofmadeline
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amandla
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