Every companion in Baldur’s Gate 3 has their own desires and ambitions – and if you want to be “good,” you essentially have to save each one of them from their fantasies. This is particularly true for one companion, according to the community: Astarion.
Spoiler Warning: This concerns the endings of various companion and origin quests that you will learn about during Act 3.
What kind of decision is this?
- At the end of Astarion’s personal quest, you must defeat the vampire Cazador (which ironically is easier if you don’t take Astarion along).
- Cazador is currently performing a ritual to ascend to a high vampire. If you successfully defeat him, Astarion has the opportunity to ascend instead.
- However, it’s not the best idea to grant Astarion this wish – just like with almost all the other companions.
Why is the decision so evil? On Reddit, the community discusses whether Astarion’s ascension might be the most evil act in the entire game. And indeed, it’s at least very close.
To ascend, the aspiring vampire must sacrifice 7,000 souls. These do not simply pass away and go to the afterlife or to Jergal, who accompanies you, but go directly to a greater devil: Mephistopheles, Raphael’s father. Astarion would thereby become irreversibly evil, just as Cazador was before him.
Mephistopheles uses the souls for an eternity of torment and cruel experiments. The 7,000 people are not just killed, but condemned to endless suffering, and you are to blame. Not to mention that Astarion is a real jerk as a vampire.
In the over 400 comments, users discuss the most evil decisions, and Astarion’s ascension is high on the list, but for many, not the peak of wickedness.
“Only surpassed by taking over the world”
There are still some other decisions that rank higher on the personal lists of some users, such as:
- Returning scratches to his old mistress who abused her dogs
- Using mind control on Minsk to make him stab Jaheira
- or handing Shadowheart over to Viconia as a Selûnite so she can torture her
However, the absolutely most evil act, according to many players, is the end of the Dark Urge, which, as you find out, is the child of the murder god Bhaal himself.
The “Embrace Durge” ending has you take control of the elder brain and turn all of Faerûn into a world of murder and bloodshed. Blood literally floods the streets, and no one is safe until nothing lives in the world.
The question of whether 7,000 souls in endless torment outweigh the murder of an entire world is probably difficult to settle even with morality. When you reach the point where you have to choose between these two things, it probably won’t matter anymore. And there are apparently many fans who have no problem embracing their dark side: Baldur’s Gate 3: Players explain why it’s so good to be evil
