Dreamer’s RecoveryDiary

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so i mentioned in a previous post that i might venture to discuss Astarion's lack of care for the deep gnome slaves at grymforge... the time has come.

I wandered over to the myconoid colony after I defeated Nere (who is still a little bitch, by the way) and spoke to the leader of the mushroom people. I turned around and saw one of the formerly enslaved gnomes with spores surrounding her and fungal flakes boring out of her head. the gnomes with her were talking about how they couldn't believe that would be her end, that she would be a shell of who she was. Astarion's line after this made all the slave apathy click. he says:

"They're just husks. I couldn't care less if they're slaves or building material."

this has provided such a revelation to me. so much so that i immediately opened tumblr dot com to discuss this finding.

Astarion sees these gnomes as husks of themselves. it would seem that the implication here is that slavery took their personhood from them.

in my ramblings about Astarion, i regularly emphasize (try to, at least) that he doesn't care about people who are weak. he sees them as worthless, meaningless, empty. this certainly matches the husk comment. Astarion's lack of empathy is because he doesn't see slaves as equals. he's finally free, finally elevated from his former misery, and finally has a position of equality with those around him. he's a person again. and to empathize with a slave would be to deny his rediscovered personhood.

[this doesn't make it right. Astarion is still an asshole. i'm not attempting to excuse his behavior, just to understand where his psyche is at.]

this ideology about freedom and empathy holding hands with weakness makes sense given his appreciation for tav's recognition of his agency, and his line about "i never stopped thinking like a slave." he doesn't want to help those who are weak because to be weak is to be less than a person.

it could be why he's so sensitive about others knowing his weaknesses. if they know he's not powerful, he'll become a slave again: less than them. unequal. undeserving. ignored and abused.

+

But also…

(Depending on the version you’re talking about he could be either a former prince or a king depending on legitimacy)