#Also it's weird that certain other ex-cultists can get over their shit overnight

[y-rhywbeth2]

Interesting how the companions are all "I thought I saved you when I stopped Bhaal taking control of you that night you tried to kill me in Act 2."

Guys, I don't think one night of emotional support is quite enough to undo years of cult programming and a lifetime of a god stealing your autonomy and free will and trying to groom you from within your own mind. I know from the way Larian has written Durge's quest lines it might seem so, but it's really not. (Alright, yes, brain damage, but we don't know how much got knifed out; the player picking the dialogue options and personal interpretation still comes into it, but you still get little signs of the conditioning - especially if Duge isn't resisting and/or accepts Bhaal. "Father are you watching?" "They will all die for you" and "Father giving me heart failure is a sign of affection," indeed.)

At least Astarion's is worded so it comes off a little more resigned than as though he expected them to be "fixed"? As if he knew the whole “loving your chains” thing - as he phrases it if Lae'zel doesn't break free of Vlaakith's conditioning - was a possibility. Depending on past choices he'll add that he didn't consider Durge to have a choice in this scenario; dying to avoid becoming Bhaal's Chosen is not a legitimate option according to him. So it seems to be resignation to an unfixable situation rather than the "I can still fix you" you get from almost everyone else.