Summary
One of my pet peeves withBaldur’s Gate 3is that a couple of companions, namely Lae’zel and Astarion, disapprove when you aren’t comically evil. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fine to have a diversity of opinions within a party, and I would understand these reactions if these two were evil characters, but that’s simply not the case.
Both Lae’zel and Astarion have reason to be abrasive and standoffish; the former essentially grew up in a militant cult, and the latter is a victim of psychological and physical abuse. If you talk to these two, it’s clear they aren’t goody-two-shoes, but they also aren’t particularly immoral (unless Astarion ascends, that is). Even Minthara, who is certainly far more evil than the other two, has a softer side.
He Just Loves to Complain
However, according toa Reddit post by Uldinepriest0rbfa, Astarion isn’t as disagreeable as you might think. An unnamed Baldur’s Gate 3 fan compiled every morally good choice the player can make during the game’s first act, and found Astarion only disapproves of 27 per cent of them. In fact, he actually approves of a couple of “good choices.”
Now, a non-reaction to something doesn’t necessarily mean Astarion has a heart of gold, either. He’s just neutral on a lot of the choices the player can make, especially the ones that don’t negatively affect his chances of survival.
The choices he does disapprove of tend to be centred around forgiveness, or the foregoing of rewards for good deeds. Astarion holds deep grudges because of the vile actions taken against him, so it’s only natural that seeing the player forgive those who have wronged the party annoys him.
“People are confused because, more than anything, Astarion likes complaining about doing good deeds. Including (especially) ones he approves of,” writesNoMoreMonkeyBrain. At his core, Astarion is just a whiner. He’s not necessarily against helping others, so long as he can complain about it afterwards.
I still don’t necessarily think every negative reaction is warranted, but I appreciate the complexity of Baldur’s Gate 3’s characters. There are even choices that Astarion does approve of, but he will still verbally say he doesn’t approve. There’s an assumption in games (and other media) that characters are most often telling the truth, but that’s not necessarily always the case, as we can observe with the contrast in Astarion’s true feelings and his public persona.
