"Fixers believe that Astarion becomes “Cazador 2.0” based on the fact that they are both vampires, and both utter the phrase, “You are mine.”"
I've personally notice a lot of fixers tend to attribute nefarious intentions and meanings to phrases like this ("you are mine"). This is the type of phrase you'll find in various romances.
Another one that I'll never forget is one fixer saying the line where AA says to Tav he can't wait to sequester them in his own palace and spend a decade or so in their arms, is proof AA wants to isolate Tav from the world and him being abusive or, at the very least, codependent. (I'm paraphrasing the line as I can't remember it exactly) What bullshit though. Again, this sort of line is something quite generic, something a lot of writers come up with when writing romance. It's not proof of anything abusive. LOL. (and if we're talking about codependency, well, the relationship with UA isn't free of that either)
The phrase “You are ‘mine’. Say the words.” can also be found in BG3 itself, in the Lae’zel romance (Lae’zel will say this to you if she is defeated in a romantic duel). And Minthara, in response to a request to kiss her, will say to you: “I am yours. Come to me.” “You are mine” or “I am yours” can be found in many romance novels, and in real life, these words have been, are, and will be said to each other by millions of people around the globe.
The phrase “You're mine,” spoken by Astarion to Tav, is a classic declaration of love in vampire novels and may have additional special meanings in terms of the connection between the vampire couple. “You're mine, of my flesh and of my blood” is a quote from Anne Rice's book The Vampire Armand (The Vampire Chronicles #7). The vampire Armand says this to his beloved Daniel, who was the first and only fledgling created by Armand. It is a declaration of love, possession, and connection, emphasizing their shared vampire existence and the idea that their bond is as deep as that of flesh and blood. The phrase “You are mine, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood” signifies a deep, intimate, and inseparable bond.
“You were drained dry, and at the height of your delirium, I granted you one drop of my own blood.”
“Don't you worry. You have supped of my blood. It will be no trouble to extend a fragment of my protection to you.”
“Of course I will, and you'll drink mine. I can't wait to taste your lips after you've tasted me.”
When Astarion makes Tav his Bride, he gives them his blood, “You're mine, of my flesh and of my blood.” The Bride is both his beloved and “his blood,” just like in the love story of Armand and Daniel.
“I wish we could retreat into our palace already, and spend a decade in each other's arms.”
Yes, it's also a beautiful romantic phrase. And, by the way, in OUR palace.
It's just that in “media-literate” minds, any beautiful romance is “love bombing”:
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 0 · Post by @marielle555 · 5 videos · “We are sovereigns. My sole endeavour is to make this world yours and mine alone." – A wo
Oh, about Daeran from Pathfinder, people on Reddit wrote that he is an “abuser” and ‘bombards’ you with love because he courts you by giving you a very “abusive” surprise—he fills the entire hall with roses for you. Maybe that's why we have such dull roleplay in BG3 romance, you can't say a single beautiful line to your LI, you can't give gifts (in some games you could do that, but in BG3 only Shadowheart - the “princess of God” can be given a flower, with other companions this wasn't implemented, but we have a bunch of “love triangles,” options for cheating, and lines for quarreling) — so that we don’t “love bomb” them, lol. They are like the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas (not quite, of course, the Grinch was cute and not at all “media literate,” forgive me, Grinch, for this comparison), they also try to steal magic and deprive fantasy games of beauty and magic, to destroy the enjoyment of romance. I would really like developers to label their games in the future with “for the media literate” — everything is immediately clear, you can walk right past it and not get caught up in this gray gloom of sadness and “lessons for real life.” Or, conversely, “media literacy free” (like on eco-friendly products, i.e., without chemicals) — with magic and beautiful romance. How convenient that would be...
I shared my observations on codependency in relationships with UA in this post (and the main post by an anonymous author, to which I responded, contains very sound judgments, in my opinion):
💬 2 🔁 5 ❤️ 28 · It's weird how obsessed this damn fandom is with equal relationships and trying to find such a thing in a relationship wit
I will try to explore this topic in more detail in the future—the UA path was too emotionally heavy for me on its own, and things like cheating with Mizora, for example, need to be dealt with separately. I admit that forcing myself to test all the bad things at once would be too much for me—I am a weakling, and my mental stability would have been threatened if I had added Mizora and Halsin to this playthrough for analysis. So I focused only on the moments that really cut me deep when testing the UA path without cheating (the brothel scene is on video, thanks to YouTubers, so you can avoid diving in yourself and still see everything).
