astarionās character development is incredible to me because of the sheer amount of detail and accuracy. he doesnāt change entirely as a person after he kills cazadorā he mentions himself that he keeps thinking about it, even though itās all over. which makes sense, since 200+ years of trauma isnāt going to go away after a night.
but after killing cazador, and giving up ascension, heās so much lighter. the usual harshness he has in his tone of voice is dulled, if not entirely absent in certain dialogues. he still has a long way to go in terms of healing, but heās finally secure enough to start that process. heās still him, but a weight has been taken off his shoulders, so heās finally able to live without constant hyper-vigilance, looking over his shoulder for danger.
even the way that he refers to cazador changes: in almost every instance prior to completing his personal quest, he speaks cazadorās name with hatred. viciously. afterwards, he says his name like itās just that. a name. someone thatās gone, and inconsequential, who canāt hurt him anymore.
i think my favorite callback is that, in the conversation you have with him after long resting, whether you romanced him or not, he thanks you for talking him out of it. now that heās out of that hell, heās able to see just how much continuing down that pattern of abuse would have changed and ruined him. specifically, the last line he says is āthis is a gift, you know. thank you - i wonāt forget it.ā which is the exact same line he says after you allow him to drink your blood way back in act one.
as someone with ptsd and some pretty specific trauma, astarion means quite a lot to me as a character, so iāll always admire just how much love was put into the way he grows over the course of the game. and, of course, this is a huge reason i can never bring myself to ascend him. heās easily earned a spot amongst my favorite fictional characters ever and i cannot stress enough how glad i am that a story like his exists.
