levi ★₊˚ ☽' @loviatarwashere - Tumblr Blog

intro

about the blog

✶ he/him | 180 | croatian

︴Huge bg3 fan, I love the drow, and my favorite character is Astarion! 🕷️•.*。

🗡🌙 Follower of The Dark Maiden ⋅ ˚ ₊ ‧ ✦

Posting mostly my tavs, screenshots and logs from my bg3 runs ⛓

⌜tags ₊˚๑

✶ ➵ all posts

🛡 ➵ text posts

⚔ ➵ image posts

🗡 ➵ my art

🕸 ➵ tavs ⌟

⌜blogs ₊˚☾

✶ main blog ꜝꜝ

✶ leviathan [obey me]⌟

credits to @haonian for the sword graphics

#✶#🛡#⚔#🗡#🕸#intro post #new account #dnd #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

jananachipsart

Intro comic for my bg3 Tav, Reynili! Shes just a whimsical bard with big dreams and mommy issues.

I realized if you change Menzoberranzan to Vietnam and bard to artist and apothecary to pharmacy it's actually me fr 😔 I didn't realize it until after I wrote it

rielzero

Literally, I'm such a zombie as of late.. This package arrived and I was like. ''The heck did I buy,'' despite having a whiteboard with things written down to help me remember..

IS VAMPIRE HUSBAND!!!! HE HOME.

ascend ascend ascend

priestboy

⁺‧₊˚𓆩♱𓆪 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈˖༉‧₊˚🏰

grubstrate

These… “yankis”, they must be quite devout to pledge themselves Children of York despite being fully grown… A worthy ideal…

skipppppy

Baldur’s Gate 3 experience is going fine i guess

minui8

💜I could never get tired of them 💜

(compilation of little drawings)

recents

idk i think what is interesting about astarion to me is the fact that you have a guy who started out an asshole (normal type) and then spent two hundred years in a very carefully and specifically crafted (by the writers of the game) Become A Terrible Person Or Die nexus. like it wasn’t just a Torment Nexus, he wasn’t just in hell, i feel like this is very important not to forget, he was in hell but it was specifically a hell designed to, over time, kill the empathy of anyone trapped in it, kill their brain’s ability to prioritize other peoples’ survival, to numb one’s conscience.

and then he gets yanked directly out of that nexus and despite that the fact that he spent, again, two hundred years in a situation that was sort of a rock tumbler for the human soul, there’s still a pebble left in there. and it’s a pebble that can be grown if placed in the right environment and provided with a support network.

so i think it becomes interesting because it really does i think force you to start thinking about the limits of free will even on as basic a level as the human personality. i think the fact that he becomes such a different character based on player choice, that his end morality is so hugely dependent on player choice, is uhhh. a big part of what the devs were going for probably.

it makes a lot of people really uncomfortable to acknowledge some bad people would be good people if literally nothing changed except they had a good support network and different circumstances. especially because it means the opposite is also true. which is even more uncomfortable.

you know that part in the beginning of fellowship of the ring where gandalf is talking about how gollum is ultimately only like that because of the ring and gandalf thinks his story is sad? astarion is kinda like if they sexualized gollum.

nikomedes

Boy why you so 🥺

#✶#⚔#astarion x tav #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion #baldur's gate astarion #baldur's gate mod #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate screenshots #baldurs gate astarion #baldur's gate iii #bg3 screenshots #bg3

demilypyro

thinking about that sheet of elf drawings by ryoko kui and it's a Bunch of women looking amazing as hell and then there's like astarion really small in one corner and he looks like he was traced from the box art

pixeljade

And how her only comment on him is "Hrm, he's popular right now"

demilypyro

she doesn't give a FUCK about him it's so funny

himufanart

What I've lost, what I've gained - it's all so much.

michanvalentine

Of course, Astarion wants to ascend. He wants it so much, it’s as clear as day. He has never hidden how much he ideally likes the idea of power—to elevate himself from his current position, to ensure his safety, to bend others to his will (instead of being the one who is bent). And if he can also walk in the sun and never feel the hunger pangs again, even better!

But let’s not forget that Astarion has a limited worldview. Cazador himself says it in one of his confrontations with Tav/Durge: "He is afraid. He is afraid because all he has ever known is you and me, and without us, he is nothing."

Astarion does not have a well-developed sense of self, and by default, he also lacks many of the skills that a well-adjusted adult should possess. So, to navigate life, he can either rely on the worldview presented by Cazador (power, power, power, and more power—to place himself above others) or the one offered by Tav/Durge, assuming they are a heroic figure. Otherwise, the only perspective left is that of power, and Ascending becomes almost natural in an evil playthrough (which I myself did in my villain run). Ascending Astarion in a good playthrough, however, seems completely contradictory to me, but whatever…

Let’s not forget that power is not Astarion’s driving force—power is only a means to an end. His real driving force is fear, as both Cazador and Scleritas emphasize. He would do anything to feel safe (like becoming a half-Illithid if scared enough by Tav/Durge—even though he rejects that idea with every fiber of his being, and yet…). The scene with the dryad, Naoise Nallinto, in Astarion’s origin run makes it crystal clear: when she uses her power on him, among all the possible choices (wealth, respect, power, etc.), Astarion’s personal wish is to feel safe, not power—even though power is explicitly one of the options. But it’s not his!

Oh, and Astarion himself spells it out, right before the final decision between Ascending or not. His exact words: "One final thrust, and I'll be free of you. I will never have to fear you again. And if I complete the ritual you started, I'll never have to fear anyone. Ever."

Everything revolves around fear, which is once again emphasized in the insight check—where it becomes obvious what is driving him and what is simultaneously holding him back from making a rational decision. Because while it’s true that he wants to ascend, he also wants to redeem himself. Well yes, it's shocking, folks, but two completely opposite desires can exist within the same person. They're called internal contradictions, and we all experience them every day or almost ("Oh, damn, I want to go out with my friends tonight, but I also want to just lie on the couch and watch TV").

Let’s not pretend this character is one-dimensional and that all these dialogue lines don’t exist when discussing Astarion. Of course he wants to ascend—he wants it so badly. The point is understanding why he wants it. And then questioning whether giving in to that fear is truly worth it, considering the consequences and what he would be giving up (because even Ascending comes with its own sacrifices, and I’m not even talking about his soul or the 7,000 people).

That’s why, if they choose to, Tav/Durge can intervene and make him reflect on the alternative (which, depending on how you play your Tav, could have been introduced to him from the very beginning of the adventure—it’s not something that just comes out of nowhere, unless you’re playing completely incoherently).

And it’s Astarion himself, in one of the most beautiful dialogues in the entire game, who explicitly states this lesson he has learned. When Durge is overcome with despair and fear—just like him—and tries to end the relationship, Astarion says: "This little adventure of ours has taught me that we can't let our lives be ruled by fear, or else we'll never truly live."

He has understood. He has grown. He has accepted that uncomfortable emotion and has decided not to be consumed by it—to choose for himself without letting fear dictate his actions. And I couldn’t be prouder of him.

One last thing, because I’ve seen it repeated a lot on social media: Ascending is not Astarion’s lifelong dream—it is Cazador’s dream. Astarion didn’t even know this kind of ritual existed until five minutes before it happened, so no, Tav/Durge is not cruelly ripping away his lifelong dream just for the sake of moral superiority. And above all, they are not forcing him to give it up—but I’ve already talked about this before, and I’m not going to repeat myself.

cosmiccockatrice

Not many people understand how much the existence of Astarion has impacted me. Who was going to tell me the cunty little vampire ends up being a major comfort character for me. At first I wasn't entirely sure about him, but the more videos I saw the more I fell in love.

His story was extremely compelling and while I cannot relate to him in that way I adored how Larian portrayed him and the way he responds due to his trauma. The way his story unfolds and the more you find out about him, the more it compels you, even if you cannot relate.

I am not one of those fans that infantilizes him or romanticizes his ascension ending. I love the real Astarion. The messy, hurt, yet still undeniably strong Astarion. I love the Astarion that finally realizes that he doesn't have to be all powerful to feel free and safe. The one who breaks the cycle. Not the one who continues it.

The spawn Astarion ending in my opinion is his true ending and I will stand by that. The real Astarion in my opinion is cunning, sarcastic, yet has a soft side to those he has grown close with. He is capable of love and he deserves it.

I feel as if this character has rewritten my brain chemistry and will continue to do so. Two years of him and I'm still going strong. He has grown to be a major comfort character for me and probably will stay that way. I don't think I can move on from such a compelling and gripping character like Astarion.