Oona [Radiant Hopeful] YT

Let it be forgiven of Oona that she isn't the sharpest in the first hours of her new existence.

All the impressions, new and yet familiar, must first find their place in her brain. Be rearranged, reassessed, and recategorized anew.

And when someone is born as a fully developed, already grown adult on an alien ship in hell, the question of what one's own nose might look like can hardly be inappropriate and very important.

Let it be forgiven of Oona that she isn't the sharpest in the first hours of her new existence.

All the impressions, new and yet familiar, must first find their place in her brain. Be rearranged, reassessed, and recategorized anew.

And when someone is born as a fully developed, already grown adult on an alien ship in hell, the question of what one's own nose might look like can hardly be inappropriate and very important. 

Muscle memory in the heat of battle reveals what her daily life must have been like. Without a second thought, her body follows an instinct that feels like home. But is it anything special? Doesn't every living creature possess a survival instinct? Too many questions, no room for more informations.

Thank everyone who joined in 🥰.

Especially thanks to my amazing friend @judasiskariot aka @bhaal-battle-beer-bard 💜.

The party started outdoors, thanks to the beautiful weather. Miriael brought along her animal friends, who caused a bit of chaos🙈. But the cake was saved from a turtle thanks to the quick intervention of the Astarions ! Ofelia @xxnashiraxx decided to climb onto the table and start loudly singing "Happy Birthday" to Aristen🎶. Zafeiria (@/parkouringrabbit.bsky.social) decided she needed to eat the all ice cream quickly before the animals ate them 🤣 . Rav (@/sp4rr0wsw3nch.bsky.social) decided that a ride on the eagle was a great idea! The other guests (Elysia @obsessedwhyyes , Nightingale @/crmytheuntamable.bsky.social, Kes @/lyraksylva.bsky.social, Nimriel @wasted-sam , Amarie @/varisia.bsky.social) started petting to the animals ❤️.

When it got dark, the party moved to the terrace. Arrovan @bloodless-sandpiper decided that it didn't matter where he was - stealing was a must 🤣! Astarion didn't notice he had been robbed because he was more interested in the fact that Aristen had received beautiful flowers from Xylara @xystarion 💐. Innirith @crimzonrite and Odilia @justdebzong are going to offer their best wishes to Aristen 🥰. One of the guests summoned a demon (to this day, no one knows who it was!), and Saulus @bhaal-battle-beer-bard decided that dancing with a demon would be fun - fortunately, the demon thought so too 🤣! But Astarion was not exactly thrilled that his beloved comes up with ideas like that😅. Keith @cursed-nyxan, Ziraun @moonlitspider, and Tav'ven @fantalpacca struck up a conversation. Freckles and Oona @oonalovesastarionssimpleplan decided to take a nap - in Freckles's case, it’s because he is a hyena and isn't really into parties like that 😅 , while Oona fell asleep because she probably enjoyed certain drinks a bit too much 😅. Seraphina @rdekarios is trying to find a way to banish the demon, but first she must face Saulus, who has already named the creature and considers it her new pet😂.

Time to dance 💃 🕺! Withers decided to drop by the party with his whole crew of musicians and singers to liven things up 🤩! So, we have two violinists - Mia (@/luminiari.moe on BS) and Lyria (@/vj-amalea.bsky.social) and one flautist - Celeste @optimisticgrey. Tavania @shkura2011 plays the lyre and sings 🎶. We also have two other singers – Anastasia (@/pwnelope.bsky.social) and Cormac @ladydarkka. The rest are partying on the dance floor - Rynda @/ryndathegalemancer.bsky.social, Luna @goodgirlgonebard , Imara @saucy-scribbler , Amara @/a-ancunin.bsky.social, Miss Fortune @missfortunetherogue , Faersi @/trobadourbard.bsky.social, Ellith @litsenn .

After all that dancing, it's time for a drink 🥂! Valora @blacklodge13 began conjuring up a mage's hands to pour alcohol for the guests - Kallista @cobalt-cactus really liked this idea! Saulus’s Astarion is still holding up and singing shanties, while Aristen’s Astarion has collapsed by the bar 😂 - though Aristen doesn't even notice, as she is busy goofing around with her sister 🙈. Raphael come to the party, but the drinks got the better of him 🤣. The rest of the guests are talking and savoring the taste of the alcohol - Maeva @denesmera , Vera @/gcolquhoun.bsky.social, Melody @mercymaker , Bella @/whirlinginroses.bsky.social, Tav @nora-darling , Syanna @yennefer-of-vengerbergs , Caedus @theya-art 🎊

Thank again to everyone who joined in !

Don't ask how long it took to make these shots 😅 - a lot, very lot of time😅.

The person I was

Leave my gremlin alone! Y’all are gonna hate me perchance, lol, but while I appreciate spawn and AA lovers alike I really prefer we appreciate Astarion’s character for what it is. I don’t need all the characters I love to be perfect shining examples of morality, and this guy ain’t. He exhibits trauma responses and patterns that many people live their whole lives with, and no one is saying he can’t change at all. I’ll go ahead and cover: no one is saying he doesn’t love you, that he can’t have some form of fulfilling relationship, etc.—but he ends up a very different character than spawn and I don’t like it when people babygirlify AA for player wish fulfillment. There are pros and cons to this choice that should stay intact.

I’ve been seeing people talking about creating a more “immersive” ascended Astarion romance mod. One where he won’t force you to become his spawn. One where he won’t say this line to you when he turns you.

I’m sorry but what 😭

I feel like if you want to change his romance lines you don’t respect his characterization much ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but I find people often don’t, I suppose.

To be clear, I’m not trying to dunk on anyone specifically. This is part of a larger trend I see with people insisting that he would never treat their character the way that he acts in the game, and I just don’t like it. Obviously people can head canon whatever they want, but I really struggle with narratives that run counter to the game’s characterization personally so I will be analyzing why these choices are core aspects of the character that I don’t agree with changing because I have autism.

Let me get something out of the way—I find Ascended Astarion to be interesting, from a story telling perspective. He breaks my heart a little, and he makes me mad, haha, but I can absolutely see that it’s still him. He’s still a character I care deeply about. Those parts of him were always there—in some ways, he even resembles act 1 Astarion more than the spawn ending version, in their shared values. I don’t agree with people who say that “nothing of the Astarion we knew survives,” but he is different than spawn. He’s theatrical; he suppresses all vulnerability in favor of demonstrative power seeking and wish fulfillment. He got everything he wanted, and he wants you to know that.

He insists he’s happy with what he made of himself. Sometimes he can even believe that. He’s Not Traumatized, actually, he’s having a great time! In some ways, I believe him. The world yearns to kneel and offer their necks, after all, and he has the power now. But he’s still frightened and in need of reassurance from Tav/Durge, and he’ll never relinquish control to the extent that would allow him to heal fully. It's so obvious, the moment he is threatened in any way.

HAVING SAID THAT. This man absolutely will demand that you tie yourself to him irrevocably. That is who he is. He lives in fear of being abandoned. He’s holding on with his claws and his teeth. Like, congrats you found a loophole that you can go fight the brain directly after completing his quest and not giving his arc closure, I guess, go off—but I’m wholeheartedly opposed to the concept because I find it fundamentally counter to his whole thing and I am a whore for story.

Ascended Astarion needs Tav/Durge desperately, and craves control and certainty to the degree that he cannot abide a relationship where he does not have some degree of Power Over. He simply doesn’t trust you’ll stay unless he holds the leash. Maybe in time he can learn, but I find it doubtful.

Just look at how he treats Karlach, when he realizes he can’t turn her into his spawn.

Without control, he often turns mean and scared. (Which is kind of why people saying ascension is the only way he can be free makes me wheeze—this desperate clawing for control is the opposite of true freedom in my mind, sunlight or no.)

This version of Astarion and my durge Nerys would never work. They had in common that they lived desperately fighting against the chain around their neck, and now he seeks to replace it with his own.*

And that is fine—I can understand that there are different types of characters out there for whom this arrangement would be preferable to losing him, or even a relief. There are so many awful fates one can end up with in the forgotten realms. Surely being kept on a long leash by someone who grants you everlasting life is better than some...(like your soul becoming a brick in Kelemvor’s faithless wall? Good grief. Probably better to be tied to a guy that negs you every once in awhile if you live in luxury, I guess.)

Some characters crave someone to control them, someone to keep them safe (because if you do what he wants, he absolutely does do that, I think. It’s only when you consistently contest his wishes that you see how nasty he can get). I don’t really see how so many boss bitch resist durge and drow baddies end up kneeling for this man—seems kinda counter to the character arc—but I digress 😂 (not all of them as I am about to demonstrate, but certainly seems counter to some of their characterization as presented.)

My point is THERE ARE CHARACTERS FOR WHOM THIS RELATIONSHIP MAKES NARRATIVE SENSE. That’s fine. My embrace durge Ciaran was one such character, in fact. He was used to obeying, and wasn’t particularly threatened by the theatrics. He liked the power play.

unfortunately it didn’t end up particularly well for them when that drive to obey the call of his blood turned out to be stronger than the one tethering him to his lover.

ANYWAY. If you grant Ascended Astarion that control over you and you’re “wonderfully obedient,” he grants you a fairly long leash and plenty of treats! No argument there. As long as he thinks that you will continue to be his beloved pet and never leave him, he’s fairly content with his lot.

If your character is “wonderfully obedient,” I’m not discounting they could be happy! Maybe you failed an insight check. Maybe it’s exactly what you want. There are a lot of reasons a person might like to be controlled. It can feel like caretaking for some. It can help relax a restless mind that is certain they will make all the wrong choices.

If you’re not obedient…good luck. He won’t let you break up with him. Again, perhaps you’re leaning into the dom/sub of it all and you’re okay with that, or maybe you like the angst! Sometimes I do. I have a weakness for AA/spawn Gale, which subsists on the preexisting characteristics of someone who in some ways likes to be used, to worship his partner. I’m not judging you for the relationship dynamics, I just prefer they be rooted in the character and that we don’t pretend this dynamic doesn’t exist!

ANYWAY. As for “own your body, kill your mind,” well. If you succeed the insight check, you find out that he believes you to be degrading yourself if you accept his offer. This makes sense; becoming a spawn degraded him. It’s unsurprising he thinks this way, especially at this point, even if it makes you uncomfortable to hear it. He might be able to see this differently in the future, but he only just got free.

Even if he doesn’t do to you what Cazador did to him (and tbh I don’t think he would ever go that far personally, although the game does seem invested in calling him Cazador 2.0), you are becoming less than an equal to him, and that is absolutely an intentional part of the choice in the text, no question. Many people in real world and fictional relationships make choices like this all the time—prioritizing someone else over themselves, or making sacrifices for love. Stop trying to mod out good storytelling!

Deep down, Ascended Astarion doesn’t have a high opinion of his own self worth, either, and without the healing arc that will be challenging to shift. As it probably should be, for someone who condemned 7,000 souls of spawn just like him to the Hells. By staying with him, bowing for him, you become less than him, and that’s critical to his sense of self. He needs to be more than to feel loved and safe. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you, in his way. But it’s the only way he knows how to love, in this version, and let’s not pretend this is an easy breezy uncomplicated kind of love. Or that this man will ever be able to experience the full range of intimacy with a partner. I’d argue that sex largely stays what it was to him in this route—a means to an end. A tool to exercise power over, if an entertaining one.

A means to mutual pleasure, surely, but not the kind of soul baring exercise it can be when the concept of power is stripped away entirely. Compare the spawn romance scene—this is kind of a CORE DIFFERENCE!

(shout out to @adrielmancy for filling in the gaps in my screenshots here—the mvp as usual)

tl;dr I understand the urge to restore cut content, make hugs longer, give players a second romance scene with Minthara….all well and good. But I fundamentally disagree with cutting dialogue you don’t like in ways that drastically change the game’s characterization, and I’d argue that these are pretty significant.

...and ultimately, if you want a sweet kitten?

…He's right there waiting for you. A little less grand, perhaps, but all the stronger for forsaking the path of least resistance and accepting himself as he is. It feels like some people are doing a lot of mental gymnastics to justify avoidance of his “weakness” in the spawn ending. (I could write a whole other post on that concept 😅)

*a side note about my OC, Nerys, and Ascended Astarion

In Nerys’ one and only AU, Nerys refuses to help Astarion ascend. Gale steps in and helps his companion instead—they share that ambition for power, after all—and they separate. Can’t bear to kill him, but can’t bear to see him much, either. Her self destructive tendencies and longing result in them sleeping together a few more times, but it only causes her more heartache.

@oonalovesastarionssimpleplan created a new blog and made a post that had absolutely nothing to do with those people, the toxic fans, or Ascended Astarion in particular. There isn't a single mention of AA in the tags, either.

The blog is called"ithinkmynameisoona"— a fairly typical blog name. Plenty of people use the "my name is…" format, so there's nothing unusual about it. Yet some people used the blog's name as a pretext to launch personal attacks and, once again, attempt to manipulate anyone who happened to come across the post.

Here's the original post. I'll simply show you the comments someone left underneath it.

The comments quickly gained support, as shown by the sudden spike in likes appearing in almost identical numbers within a short period of time. This makes me wonder whether the author’s post was discussed and shared within certain circles, almost like a bone thrown to the wolves. Another wave of bullying from some AA fans. Moreover, I believe this fake account was created with that purpose in mind.

This fake account, of course, left comments completely unrelated to the topic of the post, lol. Do we really need any more proof after that? What’s even more ridiculous is that these bullies don’t seem to realize that by dragging the blogger’s name into such situations, they are only damaging their reputation and even creating the impression that the blogger themselves encouraged this kind of behavior and pushed them into bullying.

It’s clear that @mobfromcosmos is attempting to provoke the author rather than engage in a genuine discussion. This is a typical pattern of AA trolling.

This fake account even made a repost (pay attention to the tags) specifically to launch a bullying campaign.

Besides this, the fake account has another post on its profile (again, pay attention to the tags). This is the only thing this account is used for, so its purpose is quite obvious.

This kind of rhetoric, of course, feels very familiar :)

It is also worth noting that they had previously organized an attack on this author's channel. Why? Because the author's vision of Ascended Astarion differed from their own.

Here's the link: https://t.me/master_astarion/1/110607 It’s quite ironic that these tags perfectly describe the exact situation they keep creating over and over again:)

We can and should talk about toxic people. We can and should also address the fact that insulting other people’s interpretations, their Tavs, and forcing your own 'happiest' and 'correct' ending onto everyone else, even placing it above the author’s vision is not acceptable. It is completely fair for people to call out these issues, because this kind of behavior reflects poorly on the fandom.