#also sebastian romancers out there can you like... explain? genuinely can you explain the appeal? i'm curious | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

bhaalble · 7 months

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just want to say yr astarion meta is goated! the head writer being explicit abt it being a narrative decision from above re: good end/evil end for companions explains a lil abt why the conclusion feels two-dimensional and limited. but the fetishisation interp feels so lacking. esp given what could be his place in the meta narrative of the game - the poor little meow meow effect!! fandom fav whose behaviour is boiled down to a good/bad end rather than the journey. which is a lil disconcerting when he is arguably one of the most opportunistically fantasy racist of the partyz disclaimer: i’ve enjoyed astarion and wanted to enjoy him more, but some of discussions around him. BONKERS. cheers for putting yr thoughts out there

Thank youuu I’m glad its resonating. I really was genuinely so baffled when the fetishization read hit because. Beyond just being an incredibly simplistic read of his character and the various poor coping mechanisms he has I also felt it was completely disconnected from the actual experience of playing the game. The idea that you’re doing this only to sate some horny vampire dom fantasy is honestly, slightly batshit (no pun intended) unless you presume the reader is going in already knowing what the endings will be and the specific relationship dynamics that will inspire. The average player going in completely blind doesn’t have a lot of reason to assume “this will probably make him my sexy vampire master”. Particularly when you can ascend him without romancing him! Which in fairness to the writer: is why we don’t go off discord screenshots for literary analysis most of the time.

Genuinely I don’t have an issue with the Ascended ending being considered the “bad” ending! It’s not a good person choice to make. You’re killing 7000+ people. Even beyond that logistic concern it's very clear from the entire journey there how much Astarion’s own fear and trauma are weighing on him making this decision. You can see it most clearly when you find Sebastian. He’s suppressing a lot of horror and a lot of his empathy to focus entirely on getting back at Cazador in the most intimate way he knows how. Even if I think there’s more good that comes with it than people give it credit for its not a problem for me that this ending is canonically “the bad one” and also that most people would prefer to avoid it. Not everyone is going to be in for the toxic yaoi bullshit I have a bottomless appetite for.

My problem primarily is. Ok so I don’t particularly subscribe to the “power fantasy” view of gaming. I think its far, far more useful to understand rpg gaming as an exercise in collaborative storytelling. Players may go for outcomes they would want irl, but they are just as likely to go for what sounds interesting or makes them feel good or sound fun to play. But pretending for a moment that I do believe that worldview: Literally every choice you make in a game can be argued to sate some kind of fantasy. GOOD ending Astarion, at least from how a lot of people who are really attached to it talk about it, seems to definitely appeal to a lot of player fantasies about Fixing Someone, about taking a partner who’s devastatingly attractive and making yourself invaluable to them by virtue of being their emotional support. And there’s nothing wrong with that fantasy! There’s a reason it has its appeal. But my question then becomes: why is only one group of players being put under scrutiny then? Why do players who prefer to explore a version of Astarion who is firmly attached to his ideas of power and security have to reflect on how they view him, but players who fixate on making him a better version of himself “just doing what’s best for him”? The kind of relationship Ascended Astarion has to the player would be deeply unhealthy in real life. In real life, though, people who are deeply fixated on therapizing their partner and finding someone to “fix” can also be their own brand of toxic.

To be clear: that’s intentionally a bad faith reading. I don’t sincerely believe people who like Astarion’s good end are all secretly control freaks who want to make their partners emotionally dependent on them. I don’t even believe that’s necessarily what they want for Astarion! No matter how many “I can fix him” jokes there are I don’t actually believe trying to talk him out of Ascending is in some way taking away his agency (largely because. He doesn’t have agency. He’s lines). But why pick and choose. Why problematize one fantasy over the other, particularly when problematizing that fantasy can lead you to make some pretty severe assumptions that may not be entirely accurate.

Returning to your other point, that really is the crux of it. People understand Astarion as a flawed character, they understand him as closed off and mean and rude and selfish. But because those traits are trauma informed, they tend to push the responsibility for dealing with that onto the player character. Its our job to fix him, its our job to make him feel safe and know there’s a better way and model kindness so he knows how to show it to others. And none of those are WRONG things to do. They’re just also not necessarily things every player signed up for, and certainly not every player character. Interacting with a traumatized person doesn’t come with a binary choice of “be their full time mommy/therapist and be actively invested in solving their every problem” and “don’t give a shit about them as a person and hope they explode”. Wanting Cazador out of Astarion’s life doesn’t have to come part and parcel with wanting to wrap Astarion in a blanket. Calling him a jackass when he’s racist to gnomes or Gur or kobalds or goblins doesn’t exclude also enjoying his commentary on other matters. When I build a PC I’m building a relationship between two people with independent wants, needs, flaws, and biases. My gith sorcerer is vocal in pointing out when Astarion is being an asshole as a defense mechanism; they also will secure him pretty much any power he wants because to them that’s part of their internal directive to protect him. By contrast my human wizard tends to align more with his self-interested choices. The worm’s in our heads, there’s no time to help strays if we can’t help ourselves. But its also why they’ll eventually be the one to talk him out of ascending. Don’t we deserve some peace after all this? Don’t we deserve a chance to retire and not trade one war for another? Aren’t you sick of this place, and of him?

Anyways. You. Probably were not looking for a full-tilt essay only broadly related to your points. I just have a lot of thoughts on this guy. He’s a character I’ve been looking for in media for a very long time and its actually pretty frustrating to watch a lot of the meta in fanon be so simplistic and also, generally pretty condescending to both the character and people who want to engage with him in a way more complex than “do you want him to be a good healthy boy or a bad unhealthy boy?"

#sat on this for days #watching my brand rapidly tilt towards astarion centrist #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #astarion #baldurs gate 3 spoilers #long post

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slashingdisneypasta · 4 years

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Well, I might just have completely fallen in love with your yandere Offender. May I have something about him and his so interacting with his brothers? I‘d love to see their dynamic and how he acts as a yandere in front of others! thank you

Oh, thank you!! I love him too, haha.

Let’s break this into parts, because this’ll be easier to explain like this then in a oneshot. I hope this is coherent! I kind of went into a tangent. I love these characters, haha.

Also, yes I know that gif is Grell and he has nothing to do with this request but there aren’t gifs of Offender and I have to get creative and Sebastian and Claude weren’t cooperating with me! And Grell has sharp teeth, so…

~~~

Slenderman:

Due to Slenders general feelings of iffiness about humans in general and, also romance in general, preferring to stay away from it all rather then put himself in the way of communication, he has won the spot at the bottom of Offender’s threat list. Slender doesn’t even like being in the same vicinity as humans- leaving the killing intruders to his forest mostly to his Proxies. He doesn’t tease or play with his food, either like most other demons and eldritch beings (And definitely Offender himself) which Offender has… never understood. But, accepts and believes, anyway. He’s spent a few centuries trying to figure out what it is stopping Slender from liking to see the fear in a humans eyes, like if he can figure it out then he can change it and Slender will like what he likes (Because he really just doesn’t understand Slender’s aversion when he loves it so much. The sexual stuff, he understands not everyone likes. But this? Unthinkable!), so he knows Slender is never going to change. That’s written in stone.

So, he doesn’t worry when you’re around Slender. If anything, Slender’ll hurt your feelings by abandoning you if you try to talk to him. Or insult you.

Both of which Offender is okay with, because it makes you closer to him by default.

If he ever had to hand you over for protection or whatever to someone, it would be Slender.

Trenderman:

Trender is so much more personable, and generally likeable then Slender. And, the thing is, its genuine. Trender is just plainly nice, and not too pushy (Well, unless it has to do with fashion. Then he’s pushy because 9 and 99/100’s out of 10 times, he’s right) and people like him. Including Offender, because that’s his twin and in his way he loves him, but you cannot. He’s very cautious (Not that you can tell. He’s spent his entire lifespan putting together this chill, yet cruel vibe and he’s not about to lose it) about you having any genuine friendships (Or relationships of any kind. This includes family) that are just plainly good, and clean, apart from his own with you. He’s totally tempted to keep you all to himself, and he will be the only meaningful, humanoid relationship in your life. Or to manipulate you to think he’s the only one looking out for you.

But, he wants you to be happy, as well. So, he keeps himself in line, but he is constantly on his toes when you’re around Trender and he’s is always warning Trender not to get too close. Trender is happy to agree to the rules, because you’re very nice and he likes you, but you’re just friends and he isn’t about to get in a fight with his brother over you. He likes hanging with you, and that’s it.

There are rules for Trender, that you aren’t aware of. Like, you can only meet with each other (You and Trender) once a month and never without Offender’s presence, and other logical, often numerical stuff like that.

Splenderman:

Now, with Splender… Offender has a secret opinion on him, that causes him to not see his older brother as a threat in this situation. It isn’t that Offender doesn’t know he’s tough, and smart, and cool in his own way (Because, of course he is! Offender knows that. In fact, he would never like to get into a physical fight with Splender because he would lose unless he played dirty. And, Splender is in a way his favourite brother! They fight way less than he does with the other 2, and Splender accepts him way easier. Plus, he’s funny as hell.).

The thing is, Splender isn’t cool in his way. And to a narcissist like Offender, that’s important.

Offender is the dark horse. Sharp teeth, broad shoulders, dark clothes, even darker humour.

Splender, is on the complete other end of the spectrum. He’s sweet, he’s happy, and he lives to make other people comfortable because he genuinely cares about them.

Basically, they’re so different that Offender kinda looks down on him in a way (A secret way. Smaller than what he admires about him but still there. Overhanging everything else) and doesn’t see any possible appeal in him.

Still, Splender’s nice and he makes you smile so there has to be boundaries (He’ll just kinda distract you, pointedly when he feels like that’s too much happiness from Splender. Not threaten him or warn him like with Trender) because he just wants to be the only one to make you really happy. He doesn’t trust Splender quite as much with you as he does with Slender, because of that, but way more than he does with Trender.

#Splenderman #Offenderman x Reader #Offenderman #Slenderman #Trenderman #Slender Brothers #Slender Bros

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