My last post about bloodweave was pretty negative (though necessarily so imo) so I wanted to talk about the little things about the bloodweave dynamic that I DO like and want to see more of in fic (under the cut).
- the orb means Astarion can't start their relationship transactionally. Gale can't give Astarion blood, and also can't have sex with him (and presumably would refuse casual sex anyway). How would the relationship develop without Astarion being able to rely on the give-and-take, forced instead to just trust Gale will watch his back? Astarion isn't a plans guy, I imagine having to come up with something on the spot (considering none of the other companions are reeaaaally an option either) would lead to a lot more emotional vulnerability as he tries to take a route he has much less experience with. Not to mention that the flirty and standoffish front isn't exactly going to endear him to Gale, who approves of the capable, loyal, and righteous. How long can Astarion pretend to be invested in Gale's wellbeing before it becomes true?
- they both have bad ascension endings, but different natural outcomes. Gale is considered the more morally upstanding one, but in their solo states (without the player's influence) Gale will go through with ascension and Astarion won't. Would they goad each other on? Gale disapproves of Astarion's ascension, using arguments that could apply to himself about the personal sacrifice and loss of the soul. Would Astarion flip them around, become defensive? Their dynamic could mean the power hungry character ending up discouraging the pursuit of godhood, or the two of them hurtling over the edge together. Or, maybe, Astarion encouraging Gale to ascend and having to trust him to return.
- they're the party members with the most life experience, and they're also both pretty well-educated (even if Astarion's law qualifications may well have expired by the events of the game). He spent his time under Cazador sewing (like Gale in his Baldur's Gate epilogue) and learning languages (of which Gale knows four). They have enduring common interests beyond their circumstances. Gale can help Astarion rediscover the latent nerd potential he lost when he died, and lord knows he would love to pick his brain for a first hand account of the mid-to-late 12th century.
- Astarion recently regained hope for his future when the tadpole freed him, Gale recently lost all of it. While act 1 is a continuous series of positive discoveries for Astarion (tadpole frees him from cazador -> ceremorphosis is held off by the dream visitor -> tadpole can be controlled), Gale's life gets worse with time as his treatment stops working. It's a dynamic that could give Gale hope, force Astarion to practise empathy, or put them completely at odds.
- Astarion's all-encompassing desire to reclaim his life could be inspiring to Gale. Moreover, I imagine seeing just how passive Gale is about his death would infuriate him. To have so little regard for his real, mortal, free life? It's a great source of angst, and also a great starting point for Gale to start wanting to live again. Because after learning about Astarion's past he would agree, he'd recognise how much value a mortal life was supposed to have. He'd think himself ungrateful or impolite for entertaining the idea of throwing it away when Astarion would give anything to have what he had. This would lead to guilt, and potentially self-loathing, unless someone was there to help pick up the pieces.
- If Astarion meets Oblodra before Gale's act 2 romance scene, (or for a fanfic plot, just before Gale is confident enough to confess) they most likely won't have sex until the graveyard scene in late act 3 (or the post-ascension equivalent). It means that rather than the fuckfest we so often see from bloodweave fics, the relationship is almost entirely a slow-burning, emotionally intimate affair. I'd really love to see that play out, the progression from semi-horny yearning on both parts as the orb keeps them apart, to two love confessions that are followed by the both of them experiencing non-sexual intimacy for the first time in years. I doubt Mystra was one to hug her chosen, after all, or hold their hands.
I just love a bg3 ship that forces the characters to take different actions than they do in canon. It makes me feel like I'm developing a broader understanding of the characters, you know?
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ok alien stage fans dont hate me for what im about to say im just throwing the IDEA out there okay. but just listen
you know how we have these two promo images of ivan and till?
("observation" and "decision" by vivinos)
paralleling their young selves and their current selves. young ivan sits with till and happily watches him sing, older ivan stares more seriously at till as they're about to enter the contest, having just made some sort of decision (we don't know what exactly that means yet. to lose? to not compete? to tie? to... win? given his convo with sua that might be the "nicer" option in his mind)
and now the promo art for round 6 dropped, "cure"
its OBVIOUSLY playing on paralleling these shots again. this time it seems to be after till got punished and is asleep or unconscious (or maybe he just has his eyes closed, but i dont think hes awake- he's not the type to be so chill about the face touching)
what if... its also meant to parallel a "future" shot? just like the previous two?
if till ends up dying this round (SAD!) we could end up seeing the second half of it. with ivan's hand on till's corpse. but this is pure conjecture, not super likely. im just saying is all.
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being an Artemis Fowl fan since 2022, and disappointed about the movie, i was so delighted when i found out about Number Five from Umbrella Academy, who has a very similar personality to Artemis.
i started watching Umbrella Academy just yesterday evening and Five is obviously now my favourite character… three years too late, though, hehe
if you enjoy one of the shows/books but haven’t heard about the other, i highly recommend doing so! look below for a quick almost spoiler-free synopsis on both!
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Artemis Fowl is a 13 year old criminal mastermind. Yes, you heard me right. He has an IQ above 200, but follows in the footsteps of his father by getting money on the wrong side of the law. ‘Aurum est potestas’ (Gold is Power) is his motto. He decides to dabble in the stealing of fairy gold one day, and though things don’t go wholly his way, he’s not disappointed by his haul. READ THE BOOK SERIES NOW-
The Umbrella Academy is a group of children born at exactly the same date and time, and bought by an old guy called Mr. Hargreeves. These seven children all have magical powers that allow them to fight bad guys. Mr. Hargreeves, their ‘father’, gave them all numbers from one to seven, and got their ‘mother’ to give the children real names. Two of the seven children are now gone—Ben Hargreeves passed at a young age, and Five Hargreeves/Number Five (I think he’s unnamed, but idk I only watched the first 3 episodes so far) went missing after an argument with his ‘father’ about the former wanting to time travel. Five later comes back (obviously, what else would happen?), and is apparently 58 years old stuck in the body of a 13 year old. (Time travel. Don’t question it.) He’s now a little shit to the rest of his siblings, but that’s kind of reasonable because the apocalypse is coming and ‘wE dOn’T hAvE tImE fOr ThIs!’. NOW GO WATCH IT IT’S ON NETFLIX OR YOU CAN READ THE ORIGINAL COMIC VERSION YAY
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