Lord. King. Master.

The vampires bride

Would Astarion renew the bite? Discuss. ♥

My boys...

Astarion's past as a magistrate and Astarion's scenes from EA.

“Who needs morals when you have good hair?” Astarion.

“Two hundred years ago, Astarion was a corrupt elite of Baldur’s Gate with a taste for power and a hunger for eternal life. It wasn’t long before these desires became a nightmarish reality. Transformed into the vampire spawn of a sadistic master, Astarion was kept as a slave to lure fresh noble blood to the palace of Cazador – all while subsisting on the putrid blood of rats. Astarion’s design is inspired by his story of indentured servitude and told through scar tissue and rogue garb. His leather armour still boasts the fine golden embroidery of high society, an aesthetic inspired by 18th-century libertines and European rock stars of the early ‘90s – two subcultures that echo Astarion’s desire to live a life without restraint. But beneath this costume is a constant reminder of the centuries spent enslaved, in the form of a poem carved into his flesh by his vampire lord.”

The first lines of the artbook tell us that our beloved vampire in the past belonged to the corrupt elite of Baldur and craved power and eternal life. And his desire for eternal life was fulfilled, but in a horrible, twisted form - in the form of his worst nightmare - Astarion became the spawn of the sadistic Kazador. In the final of Sun King (Astarion Origins), Astarion recalls how he judged the fates of others in the past. Now in the game we can learn very little about Astarion's past, although it is known that Astarion was a Magistrate. And references to his past are present in several scenes:

References to Astarion's Past as a Magistrate - BG3

The first mention of Astarion being a magistrate we can hear is if we ask Astarion to tell us about himself (“Tell me about yourself”), Astarion replies, “Oh, what's to tell? I'm a magistrate back in the city - it's all rather tedious.”

After a closer encounter (after the bite), we can also ask: “You must remember your life before that?” “I was a magistrate, working to keep the peace in Baldur's Gate. Imprisoning trouble makers, that kind of thing.” And he adds bitterly: “I can't remember much, truth be told. Centuries of torment will do that to you.”

And if you imagine what Astarion experienced during his years of slavery to Cazador, you can understand, why his past life became something distant for him, why many of his memories are lost. Also according to DnD lore, once a person is converted to a spawn, some of the memory of a person's past life is erased. That said, it's hard to say with that, how much Astarion even wants to tell Tav about his past. “Why do you insist on exhuming the past?” - Astarion sounds tense in this line, somewhat angry, he is distrustful and suspicious.

Three lines in the game in which Astarion talks about what happened to him on that fateful night when Cazador found him:

"I was attacked. A gang of vagrants, a tribe of wandering 'Gur', took issue with a ruling I'd made.”

“They beat me to death's door when Cazador appeared. He chased them off and offered to save me. To give me eternal life."

"Not him, no. A gang of thugs attacked me, angry about a ruling that I'd handed down as magistrate."

The reason the Gur gang attacked and nearly killed Astarion was because of his decision that Astarion made as a magistrate. The reason why the elf noble magistrate was in unsafe parts of the city, where he could be attacked by the Gur gang (this could hardly happen in the Upper City or in a safe neighborhood guarded by guards), and why Cazador happened to be around at the right time and place, is left out of the picture. Astarion also mentions that he had his own “history” with the Gur: “The point is I have history with these barbarians. Cazador's sending a message.” And most likely, this “story” with Gur had to do with the very decision that Astarion once made as a magistrate, and that caused Gur to hate him. Cazador may well have sent him such a “message” as well, and Astarion thinks so. (“My old master sent that vagabond after me.”) He is confident that more thugs will come after him, and we learn with him much later (when we meet Gur in Act 3) that the Gur are looking for their children.

“A Selunite necklace, if I'm any judge. And I am.” - Astarion's banter when finding the Selunite Necklace. Another reference to his past. Doing Wyll's quest (to find Ansur) you can get Astarion's opinion as a judge when we solve the “punishing the thief” puzzle.

In Astarion Origins, during his conversation with Wyll, Astarion also tells Wyll about his past as a magistrate (“I was a magistrate once, I could see if you missed any loopholes in your contract.”), offering to help Wyll find some loopholes in his contract with Mizora.

By the way, this shows that Astarion's legal experience did not disappear anywhere and remained with him. And Astarion had definitely studied the terms of the deal with Mephistopheles regarding the Ascension ritual, which was so important to him (Raphael's tale, the description of the ritual in The Necromancy of Thay, the Vellioth's scrolls - he had three sources of information during this time), and he knew exactly what he was doing. Those who claim that “Astarion found out about the ritual five minutes before it started”, or that Astarion is a silly scared kid, who just this second suddenly decided to do the ritual out of fear, simply don't know the game's plot well.

Final of the Sun King (Astarion Origins). Narrator's line:

“It’s been a long time since you’ve stood in judgement over others, holding their lives in your hands. But after everything you’ve done, doesn’t this feel right?”

In this finale, Astarion seems to reclaim his past self, only becoming much stronger, more powerful, and more majestic… His story began as a magistrate, he aspired to the top, fell, went through hell, broke free, took revenge, and rose again, only now to a much higher peak. This looks like the fulfillment of his wishes and the victorious conclusion of his story. And Ascended Astarion in the epilogue also says, “I'm who I always wanted to be. I have everything I ever wanted.”

In Astarion's Character Sheets, his backstory is told as follows:

“Astarion prowled the night as a vampire spawn for centuries, forced to follow the orders of his sadistic Master, Cazador: Seduce every fool with a pulse, and lure them back to my lair. Free for now, he will do anything to keep his life in the light. He can see but one way to ensure his liberty for good: become many times more powerful than his old abuser even could dream of being.

His body is forever tainted by the intricate, patterned scarring Cazador carved upon his back, and the elder vampire seems set on sending waves of hunters seeking to capture his lost spawn.”

Personal Traits:

“Astarion drips with charm before everyone he meets. How much of it is an act, even he himself isn’t sure of any more”.

Ideals:

“Freedom almost tastes finer than blood, and Astarion will do everything he can to secure it”.

Flaws:

“While he has hoiled seduction down to a fine art, and can quickly win over almost anyone, keeping and trusting a new-found ally is another challenge altogether”.

Sure, I would have liked to see more of Astarion's backstory revealed within the game, but that's not going to be realized. For me, as a fan of this game, the biggest regret was the Astarion scenes from EA, which were made and were in EA, but they were not included in the game after release, now you can only see some of Astarion's banters from those scenes. For example, Astarion's nightmare can now only be seen in his Origin, and in EA we could talk to him about it. In those scenes Astarion was revealing himself wonderfully, he was bright, expressive and very emotional. But, fortunately, the authors of youtube channels, who went through the game in EA, saved his scenes, and we can still admire Astarion in them and have a deeper look at his character.

Astarion about the "little death" (Early Access patch 4):

“Astarion often uttered the phrase "Little death" and I started looking for information about this expression and I came across a quote in which for me it is still the essence of the relationship with him.

The French expression for orgasm, la petite mort ("little death"), implies an orgasmic loss of oneself that destroys the pain of separateness — the lonely Self disappears into the resulting We." © AlexKhodja (channel Arts&Games).

Also, the “little death” scene complements Astarion's line at the Tiefling party: “Not at all! I was hoping for companionship and - well, maybe a little death. Figuratively speaking.”

“Who needs morals when you have good hair?” (Astarion and Gale monster hunter conversation):

Astarion's comment on Goblin Sazza:

Astarion doesn't suffer weak minded fools - (Patch 4) Fisherman Conversation:

"Sweetie, you can't murder 'vermin'":

Astarion wants to stay and party with the goblins! - Patch 4 Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access:

I managed to catch a shot of Astarion looking frustrated at having to search for some druid instead of having fun at the party:

And then those satisfied, sly eyes:

Astarion about slaves of myconids [Baldur's Gate 3] [Early Access] [Patch 5]:

Astarion Comments on Mayrina's Situation (Astarion just has an adorable laugh in this scene):

A collection of Astarion's heavy emotional reactions - when he's angry or scared, but it's so strong, it's just impossible to watch indifferently:

It's heart wrenching and makes me want to comfort him as soon as possible, but it's such a strong and impressive range of emotions that it just knocks you off your feet. It's hard to understand why most of these dialog lines were removed in the release version. Neil played incredibly well, Astarion is so alive that watching these scenes you feel fear, when you see his fear, and pain for him, when you see his pure rage. When Tav insults Astarion, he responds (2.51): “There has to be a way you know what, separates us from animals, - choice. I choose to travel with you, a dog would do it on instant to fulfill, a need. Disrespect me again and I won't choose to kill you. I'll do it on instinct to fulfill my need to hear you scream”. And what a huge contrast to that practically devastated, emotionally repressed Astarion, who on the “path of redemption” in the graveyard scene dutifully accepts insults from his “partner,” replying, “I will endeavor to please” or “If it has, it might be for the best” with his head down.

Astarion was a deeply traumatized person, but he was strong, and he knew how to snap back. And he could bite. He was not one to give up easily. And it was all the more valuable to earn his trust and the opportunity for Tav to become a close person to him. It's a pity, if Larian decided to “soften” such a magnificently evil character by not including his strong and vivid emotional reactions in the release version. It would have been much better, in my opinion, to reveal his softer side by enriching the roleplay and adding those lines and actions for Tav that would have helped Astarion feel better and start to trust Tav more, an emotional, multifaceted and complex character is a true diamond for any game, capable of making you fall in love and bond with him. Of course, they did a lot of good things in the release version too, in particular I really like Astarion's appearance in the game, all the little wrinkles on his face that make him even more alive and real.

I think Astarion's EA scenes are an important part of his story too, and thanks for having them. I'd certainly like to see a director's version or a gold edition that includes them, but it's unlikely to come true. These scenes added and deepened Astarion's character for me in many ways, and allowed me to understand him even better.

For dragons are fire made flesh, and fire is power.

The idea of creating a coat of arms and heraldic symbols for Ascended Astarion has been growing in my mind for quite some time. Every self-respecting vampire lord should have their own emblem — especially someone as ambitious as Ascended Astarion.

At the center of the entire composition, I envision the sun — a crucial symbol that runs through his entire narrative. He ascends and no longer fears the daylight, transforming the vampire’s greatest curse into a triumph. He proclaims himself the Sun King, and in the epilogue, he holds the title of Sunwalking Regent. To make the solar disc the emblem of a vampire is truly bold, provocative — and entirely in his character.

Astarion: This is it. The hopeless dream dreamt by all of my kind.

Against the backdrop of the sun — a red dragon. In the finale of the game, Astarion wears a magnificent outfit adorned with an embroidered red dragon, and to me, this image feels deeply symbolic. The dragon is a representation of power, destructive force, and ambition.

I also want to mention legends from A Song of Ice and Fire, like this one:

«A trader from Qarth once told me that dragons came from the moon,» blond Doreah said as she warmed a towel over the fire.

Silvery-wet hair tumbled across her eyes as Dany turned her head, curious. «The moon?»

«He told me the moon was an egg, Khaleesi,» the Lysene girl said. «Once there were two moons in the sky, but one wandered too close to the sun and cracked from the heat. A thousand thousand dragons poured forth, and drank the fire of the sun. That is why dragons breathe flame. One day the other moon will kiss the sun too, and then it will crack and the dragons will return.»

The evil chromatic dragons in D&D are primarily united by their greed and egocentrism. They have an insatiable thirst for wealth, which permeates all their actions, plans, and manipulations. These dragons are convinced that worldly treasures rightfully belong to them, and therefore they claim others' riches, disregarding all others whom they consider guilty of "stealing" what is theirs. Dragons are not interested in commerce and do not seek to use their wealth for trade; they accumulate treasures solely for the sake of possession.

Every chromatic dragon considers itself the most powerful being, worthy of ruling over all. A central element of each such dragon’s worldview is the firm belief in their inherent right to dominate and control.

Red dragons are among the most arrogant and the most greedy for treasure:

«No other dragon comes close to the arrogance of the red dragon. These creatures see themselves as kings and emperors, and view the rest of dragonkind as inferior. Believing that they are chosen by Tiamat to rule in her name, red dragons consider the world and every creature in it as theirs to command.» © Monster Manual (2014)

It's nice to see this symbol — recognizable, almost archetypal — appear on the clothing of my favorite character in the game's finale.

And you, consorts… how do you envision Lord Astarion's coat of arms? What symbols, in your opinion, should be on his banner, and what motto?

"I HATE Ascended Astarion..."

(People are so afraid to face the truth that they came up with a headcanon about losing his soul, which was completely debunked by the developers.)

A few months ago, I created a new Tav, Evara, to go specially with Ascended Astarion. I didn’t think but I really fell in love with their story and I like this couple as much as the one formed by Lyra and Spawn Astarion.

I wanted to do something simple and cute for my first fanart of them, referring to the parallel made in the game between Astarion and red dragons. They are known for wanting more and more, being pretentious, believing themselves above all forms of life and to watch jealously over their treasure... Doesn’t that remind you of a certain vampire Lord ? 🙃

The fact that Astarion calls his love « my treasure » is not a coincidence and I love to see how the developers have really thought of everything ! So here is the vampire ascendant and his most precious treasure... I pity anyone who would try to steal it 🫣

Ascended Astarion reaction to “I'll do it. I'll become a mind flayer”.

One of the interesting moments in Astarion's Ascension arc – in scriptural and cinematic point of view - is when Tav informs Astarion that they is not afraid of becoming an illithid.

(for Astarion, illithids are “it”. Justified by lore they lose all personality when they become one, except in the rarest of cases, it's Illithid roulette where the chance is far from 50\50)

Astarion clearly expresses that he doesn't want this and partly in an ironic (sassy) way.

And then this happens:

NodeContext: Trying to be assertive, but faltering

He looks at Tav straight in the eye, but then he thinks for a second, “if not… If it's unavoidable”. puppystaron

A whole body language here is just as brilliantly done.

There are many gestures in this scene before these two phrases, he suggests using the hammer with a pointing gesture “look, we have this other option.” But I'll focus my attention on these two. In the beginning Astarion “indicates”, he wants to show authority and say “no” clearly, then he “crosses out” in the air with his index finger such a suggestion, clenching the fist of his other hand. He's also outraged - he waves his arms around - no, no this all won't happen. That's his emotion. Then he realizes that it is simply impossible to say “no” to this, it is necessary to solve this problem, Astarion opens his palms as if to say “wait”, “then we will think”. Here, too, he wanted to be confident, assertive. And this is his faltering moment, his left hand clenches a couple times for seconds. Realizing that he's confused he wants to pull himself together, clenching both fists again already from his desire to be firmer, confident.

“We'll figure it out. I am sure”.

Next part main analytics of what he's talking about and how deep it is.

He's faltering exactly on the word “I”. Maybe it's here because: And who am I? A worm, weak and pathetic - who never amounted to anything. Astarion heard this throughout the 200 years of his torment. Cazador had insinuated it to him all along - the helplessness and doom of his condition. He's used to a position where he just has to resign himself to it. It's the aftermath of his deep wound.

And then it clicks “no”. We won. Cazador is dead. And I am Lord. We'll figure it out. “I am sure of it”.

He wants to, very much, his feelings here play colors and all the developments that have taken place. But the practical side of the situation… which he realizes inside makes him have feelings and think thoughts he would never want to think about - loss. And what kind of loss? His love.

I've written about the “We” part of the big analytics here before. Astarion uses it many times. This moment is special and precious because he uses "We" in a stressful and dangerous situation, when his confidence after a grand victory and freedom is suddenly shattered again. And his wound is open.

Astarion is used to no one helping him. His usual phrases are “trust no one”.

I remember in situations of danger, he showed only distrust that anyone could help him except himself. That's quite a lot.

When the emotional contact happens in act 2 his feelings with Tav become deeper and true. (although in Act 1, Astarion felt something that was just building up to wanting real and more)

This moment is important because:

- he expresses his “I”.

- that he doesn't just say “We” when he's proud and puffed up. “We rule, we are beautiful.” He says “We” when a problem needs to be solved. That's what makes this We special. And under stress that he's even stuttering (!). It's a huge step, as if to say, he doesn't push Tav away, his first thought on how to solve this problem - relies on us. It's also a comfort to him. In addition, his tone becomes very soft - he's trying to calm Tav down so they can figure something out, too. Including “wait” gestures are the soothing “take your time, calm down, we'll think about it” movement.

As soon as he felt the pain from his wound, he remembers the most important. It's his trust and confidence in each other.

We can do it together.

At the end, I suggest enjoying Astarion against a backdrop of blue space nebulae.

Ascended Astarion in fanon: A deranged psychopath, Cazador 2.0, who locks Tav/Dark Urge in the basement and tortures them from time to time, perpetuating the cycle of abuse. The ✌️ cycle of abuse ✌️ in canon:

Kneel

Ascended Astarion and how he's not like Cazador