11 Signs of Astarion's Happy Ending (Based on Quotes from the Game).
Just for fun.
1. He will enjoy the luxuries of the living.
2. The arousals and appetites of man will return to him.
3. Нe will have no need of a parasite to protect him from the sun.
4. The gnawing pain in his stomach is gone.
5. Не can feel his strength in his body and new power at his fingertips.
6. The pounding of his newly reborn heart! (You can see this in his Origin)
7. “I'm free. I'm finally free! Oh it feels delicious.”
8. Не have a “brand new world to explore”.
9. “It's... me. The ritual gave me back my reflection - after all these years...”
10. We'll be able to celebrate this in “the most hedonistic establishment in this city, and you are going to have a night that will go down in legend!”
11. “And together, we are unstoppable. So Heavens help the fool that tries to get in our way.”
Behold Catstarion, he requires pets and scritches. As you can see in the drawing below, he was supposed to have lil paper batwings but I couldn’t quite make them work. So his Fluffiness will remain wingless for now.
I've always thought it’s a pity that there isn't a werewolf origin story in Baldur's Gate 3. It would be fun to have a werewolf/vampire romance with Astarion. It’s such a missed opportunity. But at least there are cool mods to play as one, so for my 2nd playthrough I made a wolf girl to romance Astarion: Andriel Nightwolf, my resist durge. I had a lot of fun playing as her, so I wanted to write about some of my headcanons.
I use the Dark Urge origin just to roleplay werewolf urges/bloodlust and to have extra scenes and dialogues with Astarion that are very fitting for roleplaying a werewolf. Especially that scene where she loses control at night and tries to kill him, and he has to tie her up.
However, I’m not a big fan of the durge story, because I don’t like the idea of my character being created by Bhaal and all that, so I have my own headcanon for her story (maybe I will write more about it later). Basically, Bhaal is trying to use her werewolf nature to push her into losing control and becoming a murderous mindless monster that would destroy the world and everything she loves, including Astarion. To avoid this, she must get rid of Bhaal and learn to control her inner beast.
Andriel is an Elven Werewolf, a Moon Druid. She is fierce and tough but beneath that she has a soft and sweet heart. Her main wildshapes are a dire wolf and a werewolf with dark red fur like her hair. She is stronger in these wildshapes than in her elven form, so she prefers to fight in her wolf forms. She has heterochromatic eyes: the gold eye represents her werewolf nature and the purple eye her elven origin.
At first, Andriel and Astarion don’t trust each other, and he is a bit annoyed when she wants to help and save every stranger they meet. I like to headcanon that they discover each other’s nature when Astarion tries to bite her while she rests. She gets angry when she discovers the vampire sneaking up on her, and Astarion realizes she's a werewolf when she growls, her eyes glowing gold as she prepares to transform. But she calms down when she sees his sad face; she can’t help but feel sympathy for him when he says he needs blood, and she doesn’t want to hurt him, so she lets him drink her blood as a way of building trust between them.
After that, she lets him feed on her blood every night and they slowly start trusting each other. Astarion is intrigued by this fierce wolfgirl with a soft heart and realizes that maybe she can also be kind to him and protect him, so he tries to seduce her after some time travelling together. When he first invites her to spend the night with him, Andriel plays hard to get because she doesn’t want to admit her feelings for the vampire, but eventually she gives in to his charm at the tiefling party, especially when he teasingly calls her “cheeky little pup” (I love that it's a very fitting pet name for a werewolf), and they begin to grow closer.
In Act 2, when Bhaal makes her lose control and tries to push her into murdering him, Astarion helps her control her werewolf urges by tying her up and staying with her through the night, calming her and comforting her. When she growls and tries to bite him, he calls her cute and pets her hair until she calms down, making her feel safe under his care even while she is tied up and vulnerable. What could have ended in horrible bloodshed and heartbreak instead becomes the moment when they both realize how much they care about each other and their bond only grows stronger. She asks him to tie her up at night because she is afraid of losing control again and hurting him, but also because she is very sweet and submissive with him. She enjoys it when Astarion binds her while they cuddle at night, as it relaxes her to be tied up in his arms while he takes care of her, stroking her hair and her body. When she isn’t restrained, she likes stroking his hair too, especially behind his ears.
She also loves to lie down next to him in her dire wolf form, resting her head on his lap while he pets her and comforting him when he is sad, especially after his confession, when they decide to stay together without sex until he feels comfortable. This is her way of showing him that she cares about him and is happy just cuddling with him, letting him pet her for as long as he wants. They both find comfort and emotional support just being together like this. She shows this submissive side with him, but she is also fierce and wild, and would rip apart anyone who dares to hurt Astarion. With his help, she slowly starts learning to control her beast and use her werewolf form to protect instead of mindlessly killing. She promises to protect him and help him kill Cazador.
At the beginning, Astarion wanted to manipulate her and use her to have a strong werewolf protecting him, but he also starts falling in love with her, caring for her while he helps her control her beast. After learning about the ritual, he starts thinking about taking that power for himself. He confesses he wants a real relationship with her and says he wants to ascend so he can protect her and make sure they are both safe forever. Andriel is hesitant about that ritual, but she doesn’t want to deprive him of making his own decision in something so important for him and she trusts him. Astarion always supported her, so she wants to help him too. She doesn’t mind if he becomes more powerful than her and more dominant, she just wants him to be happy and feel alive again, and she doesn’t want him to suffer an eternity as a vampire spawn with all the weaknesses and no real power. Also, as a vampire ascendant he would be stronger to protect both of them and could help her control her inner wolf better, so she wouldn’t have to worry about hurting or killing him.
After helping him ascend and become a powerful vampire lord, Astarion wants to turn her into his vampire so they can be together forever. Andriel is hesitant at first because she is not sure if she would lose her werewolf nature; after all, it's part of her and she would feel vulnerable without it because it's her strongest form. But she wants to stay with him forever, and rejecting him would break her heart. So in the end, she agrees to be his forever and gives herself to him completely, letting him turn her into his vampire. She realizes later she is not just some common spawn, but his vampire bride, sharing a deep love bond with him. After he turns her, my headcanon is that her purple eye turns red like a vampire, but the gold eye remains unchanged, which means she is still a lycanthrope. With his new powers, Ascended Astarion can turn her into a werewolf/vampire hybrid, with the strengths of both and without the vampire weaknesses because he let her drink his ascended blood.
Lord Astarion looks into her eyes after turning her: gold and red. A reflection of her new hybrid nature: half werewolf, half vampire, bound forever to her beloved Master.
Andriel helped him ascend to give him the full life he wanted and make him happy, but she doesn't want to become the Absolute even if Astarion tries to encourage her to do it. She just wants to get rid of the tadpoles and spend eternity in his arms, loving each other.
After destroying the Elder Brain, I like these two paths for them: travelling the world just enjoying being together, a more neutral path that doesn’t have to lead to world domination. Alternatively, ruling together while she sits in his lap is also very appealing, especially because I imagine Astarion as the Lord and Master of vampires, and Andriel as the Lady of wolves and werewolves.
"Astarion can be vulnerable and tender, namely when he's exploring the concept of non-sexual intimacy."
and
"Astarion is a selfish and hedonistic vampire who has a penchant for evil."
are all statements that are true at the same time. Get you a man who can do it all.
I don't understand this black and white, flat way of interpreting Astarion's personality. He can be selfish and vulnerable. He can be hedonistic and do good deeds. He can be loving and cruel. All at once. All in different situations and in different ways. For different reasons and different people. Just like all the other characters in the game, Astarion isn't locked into one list of personality traits that follow strict rules based on which ending you choose. I'm so confused by players who praise the game for its depth in narrative and emotional response from characters YET also treat Astarion's endings as if they're just:
Hidden Heart of Gold trope guy VS a mustache twirling villain in an 80's cartoon. Or Zuko VS Christian Gray.
Viewing his endings that way just completely flattens out his entire canon personality in ALL routes.
Astarion isn't as different in his endings as some seem to think. It's just really baffling to me to ignore entire parts of his background and personality for more "favorable" ones. It's always fine for roleplay, but to say those things were never there canonly or can't be there for other players is the most bizarre behavior to me.
THIS! Shouting this from the rooftops!!! And this doesn't just happen with Astarion's character. This is a common theme across all genres of fictional characters. You do any character a great disservice when you ignore things about them that you don't like, or to fit into a head canon.
A well written character will have complexity. They will have flaws that aren't cute, and that can't be romanticized away. They might have contradictory beliefs. They might not always be consistent. They will make mistakes. They might have misguided views. They might change their minds about things without explicitly stating "Hey reader, I changed my mind because of X, Y, and Z!" Two things can be true at once. It doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. That's what makes them a well written character. It's what makes them feel like a real person even though they are not. They're characters. And this is a story. I could make an entire dissertation about the flattening of characters that some readers participate in.
I've said this before but I'm going to say it again: Spawn vs Ascended Astarion have nearly identical reactions, dialogues, and behaviours in most situations save for a line or two. It's not nearly as stark of a difference as some people like to paint it as. It's two facets of the same character. You can't stuff the Ascended ending into the "Evil" box and you can't stuff the Spawn ending into the "Good" box without erasing huge aspects of his character.
Also, fighting over which ending is better is just ridiculous when Act 3 as a whole is riddled with plot holes and underwritten content. (I will say this until the day death claims me, I think.)
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