Ascension Is Astarion's Canon Ending
When it comes to Astarion and the ritual, and failing the gaslighting persuasion checks meant to steer him away from his TRUE WISH ascension, he tends to say what he ACTUALLY feels about being a spawn — and it is ALWAYS negative. He talks about powerlessness, hunger, humiliation, fear, and limitation. Meanwhile, his reactions to ascension are consistently framed in positive terms: freedom, power, safety, LIFE.
Even in scenes where he briefly expresses guilt about condemning the 7,000 spawns, and his siblings, to be tortured in hell he STILL ultimately wants to complete the ritual.
After all, it's "best they serve a purpose".
In scenes where the player kills Cazador themselves, outright refuses to help him, or stops the ritual midway he can become PISSED — sometimes murderously so.
If JUST killing Cazador were freedom enough for him, denying him the ritual would NOT provoke that level of rage and devastation.
It's so OBVIOUS that Astarion's TRUE happy ending — REAL freedom — is his evil ending: ASCENSION.
He even constantly lampshades this by saying "TRUE freedom" in his scenes going forward.
Quite tellingly, Spawn NEVER says this after the Rite.
What he DOES say, if you break up with him after the brain is defeated, is: "How dare you break up with me after all I sacrificed!"
SACRIFICED? What could he POSSIBLY be talking about, spawn fans?
Up until that point, wasn't he saying how you saved him from himself?
But the truth slips out, even after the reassurance he gives the player earlier, and he then accurately let's spill that he views giving up ascension as a sacrifice.
Even earlier, Astarion STILL makes comments such as, “I am—well, not happy with how things turned out. But this does feel right,” and another remark, “I’ll have to (live with it). But that doesn’t mean I have to like it.” These lines even more concede that his REAL FEELINGS over giving up the ritual still find their way into his words.
In essence he told you what you wanted to hear, and not actually the TRUTH about how he REALLY feels about you talking him out of ascension — UNTIL he doesn't even have you anymore.
Basically, he's filtering himself the same way he always has in order to maintain approval, affection, and stability.
Because the truth is EVERYTHING he has a cutscene about losing since being turned into a vampire — the sun, his reflection, the taste of wine, freedom from the never-ending hunger, power, safety, wealth — he ONLY gets back through ASCENSION.
As a mortal, Astarion was a wealthy, hedonistic magistrate, and the Ascendant path is the ONLY route in which he regains the power, status, security, and freedoms that defined that life.
"Unmaking what you made me."= A slave, a prostitute, a walking corpse cursed with never-ending darkness and hunger. An un-life.
"You have given me EVERYTHING."= HIS LIFE BACK.
Once he learns of the rite, he NEVER stops wanting the TRUE freedom it brings. His arc then stops being about JUST killing his abuser once the ritual comes into play.
Again, he wants his LIFE back, and ASCENSION gives him that.
His spawn ending is so OBVIOUSLY a FAILED QUEST that the devs have tried to gaslight players into thinking it's a happy ending via patches because the spawn fans got pissed.
If you go to Cazador without knowing about the ritual, he point-blank tells you about it, and what Cazador HIMSELF says about why even he wants to do the Rite is quite damning and gives even more fuel for picking the Ascension route for Astarion. Additionally, he also mentions missing his mortal life if you use Detect Thoughts on him while he is in his coffin.
Cazador was MISERABLE as an undead.
He had wealth, influence, and the power that comes with being a TRUE vampire, yet he still HATED his existence enough to spend two centuries working toward the Rite of Profane Ascension.
He was willing to uphold a bargain with one of the most powerful demons in Hell and condemn 7,007 souls, all for the chance to escape the curse of vampirism and LIVE again.
But sure—Spawn is “happy” if you talk him out of Ascension. And sure, you’ll find a cure for him, even though a powerful vampire lord couldn’t manage it and had to resort to extreme, morally horrific measures just to get close.
There is no such thing as a choose-your-own-adventure story because the bias of the humans who made the game is always going to seep through, and they will punish players if they don't choose what is secretly the true canon the devs want you to follow.
And the strongest way they usually do this is through lack of content for the failed-quest side, and the smorgasbord of content that opens up for the side they secretly want you to follow.
This exact phenomenon happens in the Spawn and Ascension paths.
Spawn stops existing as a character after the graveyard scene (and is still living in the past), yet if he ascends, it's written like the natural conclusion to his arc.
The SHEER amount of content he gets just explodes.
a longer, more visually romantic love scene that the devs EXPLICITLY describe as him being FREE. They do not say this about Spawn AT ALL.
an abundance of soulmate-like dialogue and scenes
multiple detailed answers in the "what are we to you?" dialogue tree compared to Spawn's one short, bland one
an abundance of unique kiss scenes and animations
the ability to turn and MARRY the player
his own army helping in the final battle
scenes of him joyfully talking about his future, whether romanced or a friend (while as a spawn his dialogue is depressive and again still stuck on Cazador and the past)
visible confidence so he doesn't need to filter himself or live in fear anymore
a prophecy saying he and his spouse will live and love one another until Faerûn itself burns to stardust
several unique breakup dialogue trees showcasing his pain
the option to rule the world together (spawn can only be a slave, run or die)
if a friend, after the Netherbrain, he mentions wanting to partake in wine again since it will taste good now instead of like vinegar (spawn gets to burn)
if romanced strong implications of a marathon session with his wife after the brain falls (again spawn gets to burn)
a NEW outfit reflecting his station, wealth, and reclaimed identity—something he was denied for centuries (Spawn instead retains an Early Access outfit tied to his former enslavement, and even one of his “brothers” wears it).
dialogue in which he responds to companion criticisms by centering trust and love in his spouse, which also serves as a conclusion to his personal arc.
getting to travel for the FUN of it instead of searching for a cure (that you would have already HAD if you’d let him ascend)
the ability to bask in the sunlight FOREVER
The vanilla game—and even the patches— treat his Ascension as the TRUE continuation of his story. This is because the developers are obviously far more interested in exploring his future as the Ascendant than his life as a Spawn, which further reinforces that this path is his REAL ending.
Even more evidence that the rite IS intended as his TRUE happy ending is the sheer JOY Neil brings to Astarion’s voice and body language every time he has scenes after Ascension.
Now contrast that with how DEPRESSED he sounds and looks from the ritual onward when he stays Spawn.
In any scenes afterwards, he just sounds so subdued, uncertain, and sad.
Even the patch endings for him have a melancholic air to them.
They carry a severe overcurrent of adaptation rather than fulfillment.
He also weirdly only seems to have any semblance of ''I'm fine'' if he's NOT in a relationship with the player in the epilogue.
Being a mercenary, or being a leader in a hovel with other spawns, seems to get some minor comfort out of him then actually being with his lover.
And I find that contrast even more striking when compared to how, whether in the epilogue or not, he's openly affectionate, gushing, and ecstatic in the ascended route with his bride.
In general, whether friend or romanced, his happiness is INFECTIOUS and OBVIOUS as a Lord.
Neil plays Astarion as triumphant and euphoric with his life back.
Because THAT'S what ascension gives him.
Basically, this CLEARLY evil, selfish, power-hungry, narcissistic guy—who was like this throughout ALL THREE ACTS—gets his ACTUAL happy ending by committing an atrocity. By contrast, the developers PUNISH Astarion if the player tries to make this clearly evil character a good guy, i.e., through the Spawn route.
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