Halsin should have self image issues and be wildly insecure.
Please appreciate what I did there.
In all seriousness, hear me out. Halsin, jacked and hunky though he may be, is not exactly a "good" example of an elf according to 5E lore.
Slender, graceful, short, beautiful. All words I would apply to Astarion, save perhaps short. Not Halsin. I believe somewhere it also clarifies they shouldn't have body hair. Yet for better or worse, we know Halsin does.
Now, when discussing female beauty standards it's pretty commonly understood that someone who doesnt fit the ideal mold is going to grow up with some internalized issues over it. Why wouldn't Halsin? Imagine growing up his size, alongside a whole bunch or Astarion's. Kids making mean comments about how he's more of an orc than an elf after he hits a growth spurt. The absolute mortification that comes with growing "excessive" body hair when nobody else is.
I could honestly see something like that inspiring one to take up an interest in being a druid simply because he felt more at home as a bear than as an elf. Bears are big and burly and hairy, and nobody expects them to be otherwise. I mean, just the fact he identifies most with a bear feels like a comment on how he views himself. And on the surface that's fun and cute. But I think for an elf, it could have serious implications of self-worth issues.
Maybe not now, after he's clearly committed to life as a druid and has figured himself out. But I could see him being a pretty insecure teen/young adult. It could still have lingering affects on his romantic life as well.
Im fully imagining him as a kid with his mom making well intentioned shitty comments about if he *really* wants to eat that. "Maybe you should just have the salad."
