Although the Baldur’s Gate 3 The cast became very popular collectively, Astarion proved to be a standout at the party, so much so that actor Neil Newbon won the Game Award for Best Performance in 2023 for his role as everyone’s favorite Vampire Spawn. Astarion has been reprized in many animated shorts Dungeons and Dragons one-shots and even a parody ad for “Just Fangs.“He’s always liked it when he’s around, but there’s so much more to him than his cheeky charm, great hair and somewhat feline personality – in fact, Astarion appears to overcome his own prejudice.
Like many other party members who serve as origin characters in BG3There are two places players can take Astarion’s bow. This is similar to Shadowheart, for example, who remains loyal to Shar or discovers her past as a Selûnite. In the case of Vampire Spawn, he either takes his master’s place as an Ascended Vampire and embraces his evil tendencies, or grows as a person and kills his master as an offspring.showing that he is better than the monster that tortured him for centuries. One way to see this growth is through your opinion of gnomes.
Astarion seems to hate gnomes in BG3
He’s almost racist towards gnomes
For any reason, Astarion seems to have problems with gnomesas shown by the content creator DragonsDreamvideo on YouTube (above). He is shown disregarding the gnomes repeatedly for no apparent reason, as it is not as if the gnomes have harmed him much at any point. If so, Astarion never seems to mention it. Comparatively, he shows a dislike for the Gur, but this makes sense as he is a vampire, and the Gur hunt monsters, which often include spawn like Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Astarion also shows a dislike for goblins, although this is more justified as they are generally enemies in Act 1. The gnomes never seem to actually cause any conflict until Act 3 of BG3and At this point, Astarion has already expressed his problems with the gnomes enough.
In Act 1, he states near Grymforge that he understands how to save a drow (the character being True Soul Nere in this case), but Don’t want to dig rocks to save gnomes. This is a pretty blunt observation considering Nere is far from a friendly figure.
Spawn Astarion changed at the end of the game
He becomes a leader for Cazador’s victims
Astarion starts out as a rather selfish and somewhat power-obsessed individual, but if the player completes his mission and convinces him to remain as Spawn, he will become his own man, no longer living in fear of his master. Sure, he can’t walk in the sun anymore, but he can form genuine connections with people. When Tav and his team meet six months later at Wither’s party in BG3, Astarion becomes the leader of Cazador’s victims without ruling them forcefully, as a Master Vampire would normally do over his offspring.
When players encounter Astarion again at the Wither party, he will comment that he hopes those he cares for in the Underdark haven’t killed another gnome. The Astarion of old would probably have actively encouraged the death of a gnomebut this Astarion is a more responsible man who clearly has more heart. It may have taken three acts of death-defying adventure, killing Cazador in BG3and six months of reflection, but it seems that Astarion has finally overcome his gnome discrimination.
Why Astarion May Have Changed His Mind About Gnomes
He’s a much better man at the end of the story
Astarion has always been a man who follows. He was forced to follow Cazador and then Tav due to Tadpole and his Illithid powers in BG3but he always longed for freedom and independence. With the adventures and all the good he ends up doing (assuming he remains a cub and makes it to Wither’s group), he ends up becoming a man who enjoys the company of others and is much less selfish. Astarion becomes a man who can lead rather than just followand this maturity probably means he values ​​life in general more.
This maturity also extends to his valuing the lives of the gnomes, or it could just mean that he no longer finds tormenting them funny. It could also be because Astarion didn’t like Yousen, one of his “brothers“ who happens to be a gnome, but now that he is in charge, he can no longer be prejudiced towards Yousen. Knowing Baldur’s Gate 3 and his attention to detail in the narrative, could be a combination of several reasons; however, all that really matters is that Astarion is a layered character that players would love to see more of.
Source: YouTube/DragonsDream