#bg3: morgana

[lordbhreanna]

I need to YELL about this because I am feeling not just the BG3 brainrot, but the Tav/Dream Visitor brainrot happening.

Some Act 2 spoilers and stuff about the DV's real identity. And a lot of fangirling and nonsensical squealing.

Let me preface this by saying that I did get spoiled about the DV's identity. I know he's a mindflayer, and The Emperor at that. I don't know anything else about why he's inside the Astral Prism, what his title entails, or how he got the dirt of Vlaakith or anything about his role in the story with the Absolute cult and such.

And me being me, that makes me ship them *EVEN MORE*. Seriously, the dynamic between them speaks to me in a way I can't describe yet, I find it so fascinating and I can't put into words why yet. Maybe it's the "he's in your head and visits you in dreams, and seems to have chosen you in a way", the phenomenal performance, the small bits of intimacy. But IDK, there are just a lot of checked boxes.

Also Larian letting you choose his appearance??? Galactic brain move!!! Brilliant, geniuses!! It works perfectly because it allows for you, the player, be swayed more easily because your DV directly caters to you and what you may find attractive/trusting.

One thing I find very compelling about the relationship is that the shadow of doubt is ever present, but he truly comes off as an honest ally that is trying to help you. It's probably gonna be something along the lines of Solas Dragonage, in that he's keeping a big secret from you and "lying" but not overtly, and whatever he's planned it's NOT GOOD and it involves a certain deal of treachery, but it does seem that he... cares? Genuinely? AM I FOOLING MYSELF?

But seriously, when you meet him in the Astral Plane he sounds so sad believing you have accepted Vlaakith's orders and are going to kill him 😩

Is this the face of a oniric presence in your brain that it's just manipulating you? (This might come back to me in the ass later on). It broke me a little.

I am so looking forward to more interactions. I know they are fewer than actual companions, because I have seen some fans asking Larian for more, and even though I have still a long way to finish my first playthrough, I hope they listen!!

Seriously, there is so much untapped potential here!!!

I am loving every minute of the Astarion romance, and I love him as a character, and how everything is unfolding, and he checks a LOT of boxes on what I like in a romance story/character development - but... I think I'm gonna be partially a mindflayer girl by the end of this game because I won't be strong enough not to smooch the Emperor, tentacles and all, when the option shows up.

The fact that he's monster romance material sparkled with a lot of interesting dynamic is just too appealing and I am weak. We're not given this chance that often.

Like!! He get on his KNEES TO HAND YOU THE SWORD SO YOU CAN KILL HIM!!!

I am also expecting this to be a minor ship in the fandom, which... I'll be honest, may drive me more to do fanart/fic when I finish the game. I hope so, at least, because I need that hyperfixation kick to get more creative.

[catalyswitch]

Some sketches for the ShadowZel enjoyers based on the wonderful fic by @mermaidandthedrunks , to feel love (like a sinner). It's gays on their worst behavior so of course I highly recommend it.

[mando-cyare]

Ok so Gale.

I was playing before he got fixed and was still madly in love with me no matter what I did. It took me ages to settle on a Tav that I kept up with. And when I did, Gale was fixed and I got this WONDERFUL scene! 🥰

Gale is still so vulnerable in a platonic scene, and I really wish I could have hugged him. (You let us hug the "Dream Guardian", let us hug everyone else!)

And this line in particular. "Damn you for giving me so much to care about."

He LOVES his friends. Him wavering on his decision to do what Mystra says is because of how much he loves his friends, because he feels alive again. Before this, he's so animated about discovery and magic and such.

And he's willing to toss it all away until he looks around and realizes he has FRIENDS. These are his people and they'll fight for him! They have faith in him!

I love Gale SO much and I will defend him till the day I die.

[morgana-ren]

Has your opinion/understanding on Astarion's character changed much as you play through the full game?

Actually, yes! Big spoilers again btw.

So, I will admit, my perception of characters is always slightly biased. It's always tilted in favor of my own predilections and desires, so I tend to see things in a skewed way. The less information I am presented, the more my brain will fill in the gaps thusly.

In the early access, Astarion is presented as a selfish vampire spawn clawing for his own survival from the vicious vampire lord that spawned him and has held him captive for centuries. It should be noted that he is one of the only companions open to the idea of abusing the tadpoles rather than removing them and only seeks to cure them if they cannot be controlled. It becomes apparent that he craves power above all else. He dislikes altruistic speech options, tends to veer directly towards ones that bolster said power, especially at the expense of other people. He seems the closest to a stereotypical 'chaotic' follower that you really get.

However, he isn't evil. He's a very rounded character despite his inherent selfishness. He is manipulative and vicious, but he is also desperate and afraid and slow to trust. Most of what he does, he does for his own survival and comfort rather than active malevolence-- though that isn't always the case.

You get an alright idea of him in the early access, as in enough to know if you're going to want to keep him around and invest time into him as opposed to just dropping him at camp perpetually. You catch glimpses of the man he is behind it all, but mostly he appears flamboyant, resourceful, flirtatious, and of extremely dubious morality. Fun, right?

Very, very wrong, actually.

As you progress through the game, you come to understand him better, and it's... tragic.

The first thing to slip is his explosive temper. He is confused, bitter, and frightened. He expects Cazador around every corner, stalking in every shadow, watching and waiting to sling the collar around his neck and yank once more. Paranoid. He has mystery scars painstakingly carved into his flesh that he cannot see because of his condition, in a language he cannot read, with horrible memories he doesn't want to recall. He is angry, and he isn't in the company of people he trusts even remotely at first and literally cannot remember the last time he was in centuries. He bottles up all those emotions to avoid the devastating vulnerability of showing emotion and shoves them down beneath his posh and nonchalant facade, and eventually, it finds a way out.

Occasionally, he snaps. He becomes enraged and has these moments of intense anger.

And then, there is what you might think to be a moment of connection.

Astarion, once he decides that he approves of you, will make a move to seduce you. Should you accept, you might find that he says something along the lines of "Isn't that why you came? To lose yourself in me?"

It seems like typical seduction dialogue at first, but this is very deliberate. The wording is very deliberate as is everything he does. Like a choreographed waltz that he has danced again and again and again--

Until it comes as natural as breathing.

After your night together, he evades a conversation that would take anything any further. No relationship, no nothing. Just a one off that turns you into the equivalent of ye olde fuckbuddies. He stays by your side, of course, but nothing changes between you other than him acknowledging what happened.

So, you progress a little more.

Eventually, both through necessity and happenstance, he does end up opening up little by little. And you find out bits and pieces about him. But there's one that stands out to me:

The crazy blood bitch in Moonrise dehumanizes him, speaks down to him, and refuses to even acknowledge his personhood. She only speaks to you, and makes you an offer regarding your 'property.' An invaluable potion for a moment with 'your pet vampire spawn.'

And he has a visceral reaction to this.

If you have a fucking heart and you don't make him do this, he comes to speak to you later and confides in you. Cazador had used him essentially as a honeypot, forcing him to use his body to lure unsuspecting citizens back to the vampire's den-- against his will. He was so degraded, so dehumanized, and so looked down on for so many years that he has genuinely come to believe that it's the truth. He thanks you genuinely for considering him and viewing him as a real person with emotions and feelings, but is also... confused. He doesn't understand, because that rotten, stagnant belief is still a truth to him: That he is nothing but a tool and a means to an end; that he doesn't matter. That he is a filthy thing to be used and cast aside when convenient. He doesn't understand why you didn't make him do it when it was only his comfort on the line.

And if you ask him to drink from her, he will. He stiffens his upper lip and drinks despite the fact that something is wrong and he knows it. He does it because you command him to. Because that's what he has done for so long that you don't have to have the lord's control over him anymore for him to follow orders.

There is a moment of stark, dreadful realization that sex and seduction have an entirely different meaning to him but he has still been doing it. That the love and connection that he truly needs might be support and a friend and not a bedfellow. That his agency and personhood have been stripped away for so long that he doesn't even recognize them anymore. He is bitter and mean but vulnerable and confused and terrified and he doesn't know how to seek comfort, so he resorts to what he knows while simultaneously distancing and degrading himself.

He does not believe that he is worth loving or caring for, or anything but being an object to be molded. Used. Discarded. He suffered for so long that this is a fundamental truth to him. He is a monster. A filthy vermin barely a step above the rats he's been fed.

You do what you should do: You give him the power. You try to build him back up. Try to help him understand that he isn't a monster or a tool. He is a man; he is a person, and he deserves a say in his own fate. His wants and desires matter. What he wants matters.

If you've done things right, he will take a gigantic leap of faith. He will be with you-- truly be with you. It's slow and he doesn't understand, but he knows he wants it, and you take it as slow as he needs-- but he's still hurt. He is still scarred.

In the Sharess Caress, there are a pair of Drow twins that will attempt to seduce you into what is essentially a foursome. If Astarion is there and he is a love interest and you attempt this, he will say "I'm really not ready for this." while looking extraordinarily uncomfortable, and almost panicked. The scars are still there, and they're barely healing over, and still so, so tender. Easy to tear right back open. Easy to push back into his shell to never come out again, because he tried vulnerability and it burned him.

He does not think he is worthy of love or happiness. He doesn't get to have a loving partner who adores him. Even slipped free of Cazador's yoke, his claws are still stuck steadfast in his soul. He is taking it slow and barely learning to trust another being again, leave alone put his neck out and care for one. He wears his misery as a shield because it cannot hurt him that way. He is a monster who has done horrible things and deserves to be alone forever. And even if that isn't the truth, then Cazador is still lurking out there, waiting to strike-- to rip away that newfound happiness.

Astarion is, above all things, a truly tragic character, and one that I empathize with. It makes my adoration for him slightly guilty. I'm not all the way through the game quite yet, but what I have seen hurts my heart something dreadful. With my character, he is slowly learning to trust and love again, but it's painfully apparent that he thinks he doesn't deserve this, and he is simply waiting for something to fall apart and send him back into the spiraling black chasm that is his life. He still believes all these miserable things about himself. He was forced into immortality, and he believes he's going to spend it alone, reviled, and wretched - not to mention enslaved.

As fun as it is to have a sexy, dark, controlling Astarion, I don't think it's necessarily true to his character as he is presented if you choose to do things right. He isn't evil - he is a complex, tragic man who desperately needs to be able to see his own reflection in a way that isn't horrifically warped by everyone else's eyes.

Vampire. Monster. Killer. Slave. Pet.

It's been so long he's lost track of himself. Of Astarion the man.

He needs to find himself and find peace. He asks to view himself through your eyes, maybe because he's looking for something-- anything-- within himself to hold onto.

If you ask me again in a few days, I'll probably have a fully fleshed out idea of his character, since I'll probably have completed the game or at the very least gotten a bit further, but this is what I have at the moment. Doesn't mean I'll stop writing Astarion as I adore, but I've always openly admitted that my writings on characters are skewed despite their actual content lmao.

[emperorsgf]

Navigating the storm, you reach the nexus of her mind. It is a wound, bleeding raw emotion and shattered memories.

[sketchymj]

Still obsessed 💜

Ref 👇

[violet-moonstone]

Pick your fighter:

Violent, emotionally-damaged dark-haired lesbian?

Or: blonde, pansexual vampire with a tragic backstory?

[mjwiththefangs]

Trickery & Daggers Masterlist ✦

Morgana is no ordinary half elf. Aside from her shock of violet hair, Morgana is a warlock and her patron an unaligned Archfey, who knows much more about her past than they let on. Throw an ex-magistrate, runaway vampire spawn and some deadly parasites in the mix and some harsh truths will be dragged to light while they seek a way to survive.

Also available on AO3

Rated M. Eventual smut

Warnings: (to be added)

Centres on my Tav, Morgana, an Archfae Warlock. I might be a bit obsessed with her.

Entirely self indulgent.

Game retelling, with my own flair added. Tavstarion. Found family trope and camp shenanigans.

Chapter List:

Chapter 1 - Tumblr / AO3

In which we meet (almost) everyone.

Chapter 2 - Tumblr / AO3

In which we encounter the emerald grove and greet some residents.

Chapter 3 - Tumblr / AO3

In which a snake is dealt with, and a nice night around the bonfire is had.

Chapter 4 - Tumblr / AO3

In which a hot tiefling is collected, and some campmates spar.

Chapter 5 - Tumblr / AO3

In which we get to know everyone a little more.

Chapter 6 - Tumblr / AO3

In which a hungry vampire comes calling.

Chapter 7 - Tumblr / AO3

In which we play a questions game.

Chapter 8 - Tumblr / AO3

In which studying happens, and we voice a reflection.

Chapter 9 - Tumblr / AO3

In which we tackle arachnophobia

[deromanus]

fuck it. we bhaal

[lordbhreanna]

I have gained Inspiration from latest hyperfixation✨I wanted to practice drawing my Tav, Morgana, and now I'm regretting giving her the rose tattoo 🥹

[fondofcowboys]

Uaaauurgrhhh putting them in my blender.

dad tav and dad halsin upon ye

[mando-cyare]

Morgana, Act 1

Lost her eye to the hag, adopted Scratch and Owlbert.

Act 2

Too tired and stressed out to bother with her hair or make-up. Everything is dark and creepy as shit. But Astarion said some very soft things so it was kinda worth it.

Act 3

Made a new pact with Baba Yaga, got a fancy new eye color and haircut. Started a second relationship with Halsin. Plans on freeing Orpheus by stealing the hammer from Raphael after throttling Cazador

[morgana-ren]

Do you think Raphael is as bad at sex as his succubus says he is?? I want to say no but there's also something so good about him being so charming and arrogant but absolutely awful in bed

I think that Raphael is a lot like most devils.

I think he is selfish.

I don't think he's bad in bed; I think he's bad in bed when he has no incentive not to be. He's incredibly self-obsessed to the point that he makes his succubus take his own form to fuck.

It's all about Raphael Raphael Raphael.

Haarlep says that Raphael is bad in bed, but to Raphael, Haarlep is a toy. Stress release. Not someone to please or impress or even care about, but a pleasure doll to use on his whims.

Here's the thing: Anyone can be wretched in bed if they're selfish and self-absorbed. Sex is about reciprocation, and I wouldn't call what Raphael and other exceptionally selfish people have sex. It's masturbation using another person. Two-pump-chump shit because you're not here to impress anyone or take their pleasure into consideration.

I'm guessing he's like most devils, which is to say he has many skillsets under his belt and uses them as need be. If he needed to seduce someone, he probably could. He might be able to make you see the face of God, if we're honest. He's been around for a while, and he's been in hell. I'm sure he's been privy to the study of pleasure and its intricacies.

But why would he? Especially in his own home with his own succubus? It's not about reciprocation at that point. It's self-indulgent self-masturbation that happens to use another person/being.

[emperorsgf]

I am the chain they will use to bind this world. But...I cannot bind...you.

[alcidence]

I have no idea how to explain this Morgana inspiration got ahead of me, i guess?

[sketchymj]

Happy Dadstarion day ?