The role-playing game Baldur’s Gate 3 sets new standards in gaming in 2023, also regarding somewhat unhealthy relationships with game characters. CNN has now spoken with a vampire-enthusiastic student who is familiar with Victorian literature and has developed a certain passion for Astarion.
This is what CNN believes: In an article by CNN , Astarion is described as a silver-haired vampire with a jawline that can cut through glass.
It is believed that Astarion is exactly the type of guy who is so broken that the modern woman today immediately thinks: “I can fix him!” Female players of Baldur’s Gate 3 are eager to penetrate his cool facade, which only serves as a defense to feel something “deep”.
Graduate student raves about the bloodsucker who is hard to conquer
So who do they interview? As an example of a woman who perhaps has a bit too much interest in Astarion, Rachel Stewart is brought up, an English student from Ohio who specializes in vampire literature and obtained a Master’s degree in English in 2022. She is currently working on her doctorate.
Stewart started Baldur’s Gate 3 a second time just to conquer Astarion: The first time he wasn’t into her “neutral good” playstyle and rejected her. According to developer Larian, Astarion rejected almost 100,000 people alone on launch weekend, which only made him more desirable.
On the second attempt, Stewart created a chaotic dark elf sorceress to conquer Astarion:
Whether one wants to marry Astarion, therapize him, project one’s own problems onto him, or simply indulge in fear – Astarion covers it all,” she explains. Plus, he’s just hot – but also the hardest companion to conquer.
A vampire like Lestat or Edward Cullen
This is how she explains the appeal of the vampire: The academic sees Astarion as a modern embodiment of the vampire as created by the poet Lord Byron: beautiful, frivolous, but also plagued by sorrow and an “ass to most people.”
A similar pattern was followed by Lestat from the novels of Anne Rice, Edward Cullen from the Twilight saga, or Damon Salvatore from the TV series “Vampire Diaries”.
These vampires, explains Stewart, would struggle with being a monster, but under all that blood, they have a heart.
But Astarion serves not only as an object of desire but can also function as a representative for the player: Especially people who have had experiences of abuse feel represented by Astarion. Because it was never his decision to become a vampire. His life choices were outside of his own control:
The ability to make a choice is something that is taken from us more and more daily, so his problems feel particularly relevant.
Authors have always used vampirism as a metaphor for addiction and sexuality, and the vampires represent society’s reservations about abnormal desires.
Why Astarion is so desirable right now can also be explained by Stewart: His popularity comes from the growing willingness to identify with a monster. It’s a “dangerous, dark fantasy” to help the vampire fight his own demons, but it’s also the reality for many people that they struggle with their own darkness.
Or maybe it’s just the jawline that can cut through glass.
MeinMMO author Sophia has also chosen an interesting companion in Baldur’s Gate 3:
To date the biggest clown of Baldur’s Gate 3, I rejected two of the hottest companions
