Just a “short” post to add my two cents to @michanvalentine excellent post. Please, if you haven’t read it yet, do it:
💬 9 🔁 26 ❤️ 129 · Astarion’s body language in one of the harshest scenes in the game. · Well yes — that scene with Raphael revealing Astar
[TW: mentions of Astarion past abuse]
Astarion’s powerlessness in this scene hits hard. And it’s the first time the PC can see him in such a vulnerable place, which makes it even more striking.
I personally tend to read Astarion’s “god damn it” line as something like “not again!”, because even if being forced to undress and being humiliated still hurt deeply, he’s ‘used to it’, numbing his own emotions with a certain kind of surrender. As @michanvalentine said: “it never turns into real opposition”, probably because he knows it would be useless.
Interestingly, in the dev notes, the stage direction given to Neil reads "Fed up with shit". For the recall, those indications are for the actors so he could know how to say the line, and they by no mean reveal what the character has in mind or how he exactly feels. So basically, his tone is supposed to express a sharp annoyance at being naked, but it says nothing about how humiliated and/or disappointed he could feel, or anything else. All the rest relies on one's personal interpretation.
Astarion probably said “Don’t touch me” to Cazador a thousand times, and it never changed anything. And Astarion is smart enough to understand that Raphael is more powerful than Cazador… so why bother begging and “making a fool of himself” so to speak?
IMO it’s not just a question of pride, it’s also a question of control. Since the beginning of the adventure, Astarion has been crafting a specific image of himself for the PC and the other companions (especially if you’re not particularly close to him) – that of a confident, dangerous seducer, that of a predator and potential assassin too; he won’t let that devil ruin it all by making him beg or sloutch or cover himself!
As was said in the post I refer to, he knows Raphael controls the situation, but Astarion wants to keep the tiny bits of control he can hold onto, if only to not lose face in front of the group (if the PC romances him, we know he doesn’t want them to have a look at his scars).
And it’s true: Astarion has a plan. He’s been thinking about finding Raphael since you’ve reached the Shadow-cursed land - he tells you about it if you know about his scars. therefor, he has to “play cool” with the devil and accept whatever humiliation Raphael is inflicting.
As usual, Astarion works through transactions: Raphael gets the pleasure to humiliate him, the group will kill the beastie, and in return, Raphael tells him what he needs need to know. It’s part of the deal, and Astarion is ready for it, willy-nilly.
He’s used to it. At this point, that’s all he knows about “relationships”: nothing is free, no one helps for free. You always have to sacrifice a part of yourself, of your dignity, to get what you need.
His readiness to bargain and his view of the world as relying on transcations, also find its echoe in the EA nightmare scene (act 1). It remains quite relevant on this matter, even if it has been removed (you can still get it though, thanks to HyperspaceTowel’s mod)
He’s making a sort of bargain here too: for the sake of the power granted by the tadpole, he’s ready to accept the nightmares and ptsd.
According to him at this point, the harshness of the nightmares, but also humiliation and pain, are worth it if it means he can get something "powerful" out of it. Whether it's the tadpole power or information from Raphael.
It's exactly the same with Araj.
He explicit says he can grit his teeth through an unpleasant experience if it means he'll get something useful out of it.
besides, the fact he downplays it with the PC after the meeting with Raphael kind of reminds me the first act line about pity. I mentioned it here,: “this isn’t about sympathy” he said, and it can imply so many layers of denial + pragmatism.
Astarion wants to be realistic; that's what he said after the Araj scene: No time for pity and tears, just do what you have to do to survive.
That’s at least, how I interpret it, but it’s up to discussion, as always.
Also, this too is pure speculation, but I tend to believe that Raphael already knows more than what he’s willing to tell about Astarion’s scars. After all, he’s the son of Mephistopheles and we know he’s been sneaking around his dad’s stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if he already knows something about Cazador’s ritual, even before Astarion tells him about his scars. I tend to think the devil had prepared this “staging of Astarion’s humiliation”, imagined the most perfect way to dehumanize and degrade Astarion publicly. Because he can, because he knows Astaruion needs him and won't fight him.
@michanvalentine mentioned the echo of Cazador’s infantilization and scolding voice, and I agree; Raphael’s paternalistic tone reflects that of Cazador, which tends to make me believe that the devil knows what is at stake in the Crimson Palace. He knows what he’s doing, how to do it and why.
I like the idea previously mentioned of Raphael reading the scars as a story to tell: Raphel is indeed theatrical. There’s a world in which he could have been a bard. Everything is a juicy story to him, and he delights in dramas, no matter how much it can hurt the people involved in it. Raphael could be that kind of content creator who makes aesthetic reels on Instagram about someone’s death, and adorn it with pretty visuals, lofi music and flashing effects.
More seriously, Raphael and Cazador have a lot in common concerning their respective perception of “art” – Raphael can even mention is fondness of the “sanguine art” when he meets Durge.
“Sanguine” is not a random word, it refers to the color of blood, and comes from the French word “sanguin” which is directly related to blood (the French word for blood is “sang”). There's an obvious parallel with Cazador, and Astarion didn't miss the cue.
We also have that same emphasis about poetry, but @michanvalentine talked perfectly about it, so I’m not going to linger on that point. I just want to add that Astarion is perfectly aware of their similarities and that’s probably one of the reasons which could explain why he thinks Raphael is best person to ask about his scars: because he too likes “poetry”, and because he knows what to expect from people like Raphael, like Cazador. He's used to deal with such persons.
So when he first plan to ask the devil about his scars, he knows he'll deal with someone who resemble Cazador. Just like he used to accept Cazador's treatment in order to survive, he will accept Raphael's humiiation in order to get what he so desperately needs.
As I said in the comments of that post post : I appreciate the way you insist on the “don’t slouch before me”. I mentioned it somewhere else but I found this line very interesting for the contradiction it implies: Astarion must not slouch – that is, he must pose a someone proud, elegant and snob, while being treated like “pure shit” every night. And it’s typical of abusers to treat their victims like that: whatever they do, however hard they try to do it right, it’s never enough to satisfy the “master”.
Astarion knows since day one that Raphael will not treat him kindly (he's not stupid), but he's ready for it. Again, he's used to it, and no matter how daunting it might be, he's ready to dance the devil's dance because in act 2; he still believe that one can get something only if they negotiate and accept the transaction.
He's only strating to realise that he's getting tired of those transactions, and it's up to PC to encourage him to follow one path or another.
Anyway, I just felt like adding my two cents to this brilliant post. And to reassert that this character is masterfully written (and so is Raphael).
