„Astarion ending as the Vampire Ascendant is the correct ending for him, because it is what he wants.”
That is a claim I’ve been seeing pop up more and more often these days. And I think it’s both a very bold and a very odd claim to make.
But first things first: Hello, I’m a licensed social worker! So far, I’ve worked with children, refugees and youths with behavioural issues stemming from bullying and or abuse.
Please be aware that I will be mentioning different kinds of abuse, coping mechanisms, and victim/abuser relationships. If any of this is difficult for you, don’t force yourself through it. My jabbering about a traumatised vampire is not worth your wellbeing, not ever.
I will, however try to stick to Astarion and not use other examples. If, in any case, I do use a non-Astarion example, I’ll add a warning beforehand so that you can skip the part. And I’ll make it clear what will be discussed in the next bit, so that you have a chance to skip it entirely.
This is an effort to make this as accessible as possible for everyone that wants to indulge on a mad woman’s rambling – and I know there’s a few people that like this sort of stuff!
And, uh, there's obviously spoilers for all three acts. Serious spoilers, even.
This analysis is wonderful about Astarion’s trauma, but I will never understand why the ascended choice is wrong for him.
Both endings work for Astarion. But when you include Tav (aka you as the player) it becomes “what version works for you” because Astarion (to me) is an immoral/chaotic neutral/lawful evil and if you’re lucky to romance him, he’ll stay be your side regardless if you do a good/neutral/evil play through.
Also, the reason why both endings work is because the main goal is “kill Cazador”. Cazador’s death is the solution or beginning of ending his trauma. The aftermath of those choices, will obviously have different outcomes and behaviors. Everyone overcomes trauma based on what works for them.
As an ascended fan, my reason for choosing that option wasn’t to fix him and help him overcome his trauma because that will always be there, but because that’s something he wanted. Also, even though you can persuade him not to ascend, you have to make sure your intent/reason for not ascending him isn’t just for your own moral benefit because that’s when it turns into manipulation/coercion, which is hard to do in irl.
But overall both choices are good for Astarion if you’re romanizing him (I don’t care if it for evil or good play through because went the good chaotic good/true neutral route as non/durge).If you’re playing as him…then it’s up for debate.
Hey there! Great to get a pro-Ascension point of view in here, I loved seeing how you view ascended Astarion. I hope you don't mind me hopping onto your reply to offer up some more babbling.
(And please, don't take this as me berating you or correcting you, that is never my intention. I'm really just a slut for healthy discussions!)
I do absolutely agree with you that both ways work for Astarion, and both endings make sense in their own right. And I do, in fact, like the ascended ending exactly for what it is - the bad ending, where we couldn't save him. I wouldn't even go as far as calling it the "wrong" ending either, because it's really not a question of right and wrong. It's truly more a question of good and bad. And if we go by that, ascension is the bad ending for him. Because, and I think a lot of people forget this, Astarion doesn't just "ascend". He becomes the vampire ascendant. That means he turns into a true vampire and ascends. He's basically a Vampire+ now, and that is an important factor in how we should regard ascension.
To see why, I think we need to look at how DnD (and, in turn, bg3) treats vampires, since it's less the type of vampire we see in modern popculture. As in, less Damon Salvatore and more Dracula.
In DnD, true vampires are deeply twisted beings. Everything that was once lively and pure about the person dies upon, well, death. Their needs turn into physical cravings, and overall, they want but one thing: power. They want a lair, spawn, and people they can own and control.
"Friends" are mostly no longer close, beloved people that you trust and care for. With vampires, it's more likely that they view their friends as something "useful". They can use their affection to get them to help and support them. There's also likely to be envy or jealousy towards what was formerly considered a friend (and personally, I wouldn't put it past them to turn their friends into spawn as some form of power play).
Love is similarly twisted since it's no longer the deep feeling of love we know. Love for vampires is a heavy, dark obsession. They don't love and care for a person any longer, they just want to have them; to own them, and to play with them until they're bored of them.
Stradh von Zarovich is a perfect example here. His obsession is a woman called Tatyana. A woman he couldn't have in life or death, that he is still so obsessed with that he later tries to kill and turn another woman, Ireena, into his spawn consort, simply because she looks exactly like Tatyana and he believes that she is Tatyanas reincarnation. (She may or may not be, but Stradh doesn't have definite proof of that.)
That behaviour can be seen in ascended Astarion as well. He wants to own Tav, and he will take them by force if given the option. And to him, Tav is no longer considered an equal either. Sure, he still talks like they are, but his true opinion slips through every now and again if you listen close enough. He constantly puts himself above them and he makes it very clear that they'll be nothing but his consort.
Tav will sit beside him as he rules. Nothing more.
Taking all this into account, we can already sort of make out why ascended Astarion is the bad ending.
Ascended Astarion is no longer Astarion. He looses himself - or rather: he throws himself away - because he's deeply deeply terrified of being hurt. Astarion craves safety and believes he will find it as the vampire ascendant.
And maybe he will.
Vampires are already hard enough to kill.
But he'll find it only at the cost of his own person.
This is also where the crux of the argument "Astarion wants to ascend" lies.
It is true that Astarion thinks he wants to ascend.
But he is, as I said originally, blinded by fear.
Astarion is deeply afraid of being abused further, for obvious reasons, and he thinks the only way he'll find peace and solace is as a true vampire - or, better even, the vampire ascendant. He doesn't think about the consequences of his actions or where his path will lead him, he just thinks about safety. Survival.
Ascension is his form of running away. Astarion is running, and he is running hard from something he probably can't explain, and the finish line is "safety" aka "ascension".
Tav can now choose to either take him by the hand and show him what exactly he is running towards - that where he sees safety, others see loneliness; where he sees solace and warmth, others see nothing but cold emptiness - or they can let him keep on running.
If they choose the latter, Astarions fear wins. It overpowers him, drowns him, and Astarion is no more.
He is safe, but he's lost all he once was in the process.
Is that the wrong choice? Not necessarily. Right and wrong are deeply nuanced labels that everyone will view differently.
But is it the bad choice? Very likely, yes. And not only that - it's an extremely sad choice as well.
To me, letting Astarion ascend feels like I'm giving up on him. Like I'm showing him that he himself is not enough and that he needs ascension to live a happy, safe life.
And yes, that is very likely the social worker in me crying because we could've helped him get better without this. We could have helped him save himself. But after ascension, he's beyond our grasp, and all we can do is watch shit go down eventually.
