I understand how & why people were really into (sexually &/ romantically) BG3's Astarion. The character concept of a pretty, sarcastically witty, flirtatious, emotionally tormented and physically tortured vampire being appealing really isn't new.
However, personally, when I watched a couple playthroughs of the game, while I enjoyed Astarion as a character, I can't say he particularly appealed as a traditional love interest. He started talking about his sad backstory and I was like, "OH, I wish I could introduce this guy to the concepts of aromanticism and asexuality."
Not really because I was like, "100%, this guy is for sure aroace," but more because he seemed like he could really use an umbrella community where people are strongly like, "Yeah, you have to do none of those behaviours and actions ever again if you don't want to. Even if you ARE romantically or sexually attracted to someone, you don't have to do anything about it. It doesn't even have to be the trauma (and BOY, is there classic vampirism trauma here re: abuse, dependence, bodily autonomy, etc.), you can just not really feel like it. Ever. It doesn't have to be a big thing," you know? (While acknowledging that if you tried to be this nice with him about his trauma, he WOULD probably be an evasive dick about it, no matter where you are in the timeline.)
So, yeah, happy for people enjoying themselves playing an RPG and all that. Personally, my headcanons run more along the lines of: "Free this fandom 'sexy man' from the choking grip of allonormativity."
