Yet Another Fandom Blog

I finally got around to play Baldur's Gate 3 and would like to talk about some of the running themes I've noticed. Specifically how the game repeats stories of people in or escaping dynamics where making choices regarding their autonomy puts them into contact with the evil (as defined in DnD), controlling and machiavellian. A lot of whom get their way by turning people into their thralls, and don't even need literal mind control through tadpoles, giant brains or magic to abuse those they have under their thumb.

Spoiler warning for major plot points throughout the game.

Raphael: Hope is a farce

There's no group of characters that understand these themes more than the devils of BG, who seem to always prefer making deals with people who are desperate, rather than someone with the power and autonomy to negotiate or even refuse. And the best example is part time devil, full time Disney Villain Raphael.

And when it comes to us, he has a key for our 'cure', the hammer, as soon as the game starts, but holds out until the very moment that all our other choices, the ones that don't give him control, are eliminated or undesirable. By the time he meets us he's already confident that he will be able to ensnare us when we're most desperate sooner or later.

He has already made the choice for us.

He emphasizes this when he's talking to us about Mol, described her as an apple ripe for plucking, and as someone who has the unconditional freedom to make the only choice she has left.

Mol at this time has just been separated from all her systems of support, community, autonomy and safety, from the Grove to the deadly Shadowlands, with the dire responsibility to shepherd her crew of (also) children to safety, and the inexperience to know better than to think her control is unconditional. She's desperate to regain what she's lost, and perfect for exploitation. And Raphael is very willing to give her what she wants in return for who she is, what I call autonomy and what he calls hope.

Mystic carrion: I rented you your body

A more literal example in the story are the cases of necromancy in the game. Mystic Carrion is a super prominent example of someone who is essentially using and even creating thralls to use as slaves. He sees them as objects or even artifacts that he owns, not people. He's even quoted stating that he gave them their own bodies (that he took from them in the first place), therefore he feels owed the right to dictate, and even destroy their lives, as he sees fit. And as soon as the thralls begin to take autonomous choices, Mystic Carrion simply sends us to retrieve them, with no consideration for the conditions that would have made escape from a harsh master the only option.

The one that gets memed on a lot but also ties into this is the zombie husband in the hag quest, who depending on your choices can be given to Mayrina, who never really sees past her grief enough to stop and consider if her husband would have wanted to be brought back, her focus is mainly on what she has lost, including his utility as a husband and father.

Cazador and Astarion: Togethaaaaa as Familyyyyyy

The most popular dynamic that recreates this is between Astrion and Cazador.

Cazador considers Astarion to be, and I quote, "made to be consumed" (to hear this dialogue, you need to stop the ritual without destroying it, then you need to pass a dialogue check in which you convince Astarion not to ascend). And Cazador uses more than the vampire spawn dynamic to maintain his chains over Astarion.

Cazador sees his spawns as tools, and himself (based on what we can glean from his relationship with his own master) as an unfeeling, efficient higher being. Which is just a tool with extra labels attached. Cazador also has the extra narcissistic layer of warping words to his own ends, calling the brood he controls and abuses a "family", and scolding Astarion for "abandoning them" when in reality Astarion broke free of the tightly controlled setup Cazador had, undermining his previously absolute control.

Astarion internalizes this and mimics Cazador's behaviour at first (despte his repulsion toward the trauma he has suffered under the man, and a clear understanding of the physical component of the abuse he endured). His entire undead life he has been taught the lesson that he can only use or be used. Which is also why he disapproves of altruistic acts, moves in a selfish and power hungry manner, and is pretty careless with himself and his autonomy (shown when you can convince him to drink the blood of a drow by saying it's so that the team can get stronger) because he ties his self worth and safety to power dynamics; that is his utility as an object or his power as a vampire with no in between.

Depending on our choices we can either reinforce his ascent into darkness (literally and figuratively), where he internalizes the lessons of his predecessors, or teach him to embrace salvation and life, shown by how he falters when it comes to sacrificing his siblings, and finally chooses a new path free from the cycle of power and violence (as much as is possible in a DnD game that is).

Lore: A qunari whose parents died in the fade under mysterious circumstances. The child, found by Watchers, was raised to be a warrior class who dealt with combat problems for the watchers but also trained in the principles of watchers such as procedure and bedside manner for spirits and philosophy regarding life and undead. Rather than being one with the undead, he has a preference for the Mourn Watch because he finds purpose in protecting the border between life and death for both parties, and will often choose protecting life over undead if it aligns with this.

Personality: Driven and pragmatic, but restless and awkward, sometimes off-putting. Straightforward except when there's an opportunity for dark humor. Problems with authority he doesn't agree with. Awkward because of his extended time in the Necropolis and is better at making friends with ghosts than people. How they meet Varric: Varric needed an expert on spirits to protect him, help him track down Solas and deal with any emerging demons. The Mourn Watch offered Rook as a bodyguard and consultant. They figured Varric's experience would temper Rook's restlessness after he quelled the civil war in the underworld (it did not). I like to think that now he has something to prove when the story's events kick in and he's tasked with managing a team trying to kill the elven gods when the first lead dies. That his first coup wasn't a reckless, youthful fluke.

Romance quest: Taash. Their bluntness feels like clarity, and their fierceness like excitement and familiar valor. He does not notice that they are neurodivergent until another member of the party points it out. Solas: He puts aside his grievances with Solas to collaborate, even relates to him at times. But he also cannot overlook Solas as a threat to the border between life and the fade. Bonus pictures:

Context: This was feedback to this excellent article on building a "relevance/cultural microcosm" by one of the top African game devs right now. it's called:

The Cultural Gravity Model: How African Gaming Can Build Its Own Global Market

My feedback:

"I have feedback on this so brace for paragraphs.

This was really excellent and a wonderful read. What I'd add is there seem to be some gaps that need to be filled-in so that it's a complete framework that can be implemented and replicated more seamlessly.

For example it heavily aligns with the community framework for fandom (a cultural ecosystem centered around a specific interest such as kpop or hiphop or rock or a certain video game) just from an entrepreneural perspective.

Find your rhythm → create the content

Activate your people → build the fanbase

Build a world → establish the lore

Multiply from strength → monetize the loyalty

This was really excellent and a wonderful read. What I'd add is there seem to be some gaps that need to be filled-in so that it's a complete framework that can be implemented and replicated more seamlessly.

For example it heavily aligns with the community framework for fandom (a cultural ecosystem centered around a specific interest such as kpop or hiphop or rock or a certain video game) just from an entrepreneural perspective.

Find your rhythm → create the content

Activate your people → build the fanbase

Build a world → establish the lore

Multiply from strength → monetize the loyalty

Fandom eventually matures into subculture, which is where you get identity centered around a brand, ideology or product, punks, goths, Queen bees under Beyonce, furries, or kpop stans (who aren't necessarily the same as fans of Korea the country), or Otakus (who aren't necessarily fans of Japan or Japanese people)

The key gap I've seen is how the games reach the audience exactly (complete infrastructure) and how the audience can reciprocate and participate in the process beyond spending. For example anime blew up because of deals way back when between cartoon studios in America who needed more content to keep up with demand, and studios making anime in Japan (with the governments in the middle), took up and localized animations from Japan to children who eventually became otakus who spend but also cosplay and make fan content.

Also, that aspect of identity could be deeper and more comprehensive as outlined earlier, for example people are drawn to hiphop because the stories and and imbued emotions of struggle and resilience resonate with their own personal strife (the book Understanding Comics by Scott Mcloud explains this well with why silent protagonists work, you can also look at FD Signifier's videos on kayfabe and the history of hip hop). I also think each stage needs contingencies, like: What do you do when the diaspora doesn't show up? What are other cultural ecosystems that could buffer?

Finally you could also repackage this into smaller-scale, cleaner unit of the framework, such as the way there are smaller communities who gather around individuals (Markiplier, vtubers), indie animations like Ebony Witch (which is a Kenyan webtoon), Knights of Guinevere, and mini-brands... Also forgot: There also needs to be online and offline that feed into each other because online fandom forms rapidly but are unstable (can degrade or be coopted and appropriated) without material buffers (hence also the audience participation beyond spending). So for example the game can have the virtual or even simulation aspects and also merchandise or events (like cosplay) to ground it in the material world in the long term. So you have an online ecosystem for vitality, and an offline ecosystem (working with the cosplay community and giving fans means to wear their identity that's tied to the brand through compatible merch like ita bags for example) for stability. This is different from inspiring your community but also pre-planning what they will do.

This is an ita bag by the way. It's a really good example of people "displaying" and expressing their identity/fandom through merch and people will even have multiple for specific franchises or characters and it's hardly the final form of that feedback loop between online fandom and offline.

A good way to look at this is how perfume companies are able to hold a market because they don't have the main way to access the product (making people smell it) so they brand around identity e.g. "Only this certain kind of person uses Hugo boss and this is the world they live in (worldbuilding)"..."

"...Other example of people who aren't necessarily constantly purchasing but will make content aka marketing material for your brand out of interest ir alignment (your brand or art aligns with what they're already making). They can also make content that isn't locked into a specific wanted behaviour but which benefits a recognizable brand regardless. For example your game might not be about baking but people make videos with food that resembles the characters or try to recreate the fictional food and drink in it..."

"...So this video specifically has pulled in multiple demographics like bakers, people with casual interest in watching the process of cooking, people who like anime casually, and people who are hardcore fans of the genre of food anime. Being able to signal and satisfy all these groups is creating the views that she's getting..."

"...Okay I found someone who explains it well:

Also this:

His is more anecdotal an has holes in it but it's a good comparative framework because there's a lot that he discovered through sheer experimentation that the other creator compiled into a manual from a totally different stream and community.

I think content creation has far faster cycles than video game development but it's still the creative cycle condensed into the smallest possible unit of the production/development cycle for the ever evolving and fast paced ecosystem of the internet.

I also think the sweet spot is between the conventional method of preperation and iteration. Where you're preparing material and then testing it then feeding the results back into preparation. So if people don't respond to a project it's not failure, it's data..."