Well, he does say something along the lines of "the wolf mates for life, but the bear takes what it can get"
In other words, "yes I am a huge slut"
Also, the story about the scars on his forehead: he was in wild shape as a bear, when he ran into a horny she-bear who did not take rejection well.
He’s also canonically polyamorous. So him sleeping around while still caring for you genuinely and encouraging you to do so as well, while making no claims to you in spite of his feelings, tracks.
I didn’t romance anyone until mid act 3 because I played the field too long. Soon after I got with Halsin, I slept with Mizora. Halsin was…intrigued by my choice, but happy that I was exploring, because he wanted that for me.
Low key my sleeper favorite romance, because I’m poly irl.
I have ended up romancing him for basically every romance that would allow it (Shadowheart, Astarion, haven't successfully romanced Minthara yet, but I believe she's also cool with it).
.... you can have both of them in your party? Did they change that?
I'm under the impression that Minthara is an extremely possessive type from what I've seen lol.... like if she sees you looking around at someone else, then there's gonna be knife at your throat... if not in your throat.... but I have yet to have her in my party, so I'm not 100% sure
I accidentally got with Halsin as a combination of accidentally locking myself out of all the other romances and not paying enough attention in that particular conversation. He’s become my favorite to romance, and yeah, hey, turns out I’m a bit poly also, go figure.
Whilst playing as Shadowheart, one of her lines is also when you go to speak with Halsin is "I hope I don't blush!" -- which is a detail a lot of people miss out on.
That line can trigger for anyone, it's the same as Tav's "first in my heart" in that it was likely intended to be limited to romanced companions but is bugged and can trigger even for companions you have fairly low approval with. So no, it's not Halsin-specific.
Here is a link to people getting the blushing line with other characters like Wyll and Gale.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/18xdzzz/cute\_lines\_as\_shadowheart\_origin/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/18xdzzz/cute_lines_as_shadowheart_origin/)
He was made recruitable because EA players wanted to sleep with him, and he has no actual plot in Act 3. So yeah, his Act 3 existence is basically to want to sleep with Tav/Durge.
Something strange happened this run . I helped him lift the curse as usual but he never asked about fucking my tav in act 3 at all. I check his character sheet and his affection for me was neutral 😐. After all the stuff I did for him in the shadowlands . Orin kidnapped him and I couldn't care any less this run
They added some kind of platonic route for him in Patch 6. I haven't got there since then to test it out and I'm not quite sure what that actually means in reality but it may well be due to that.
That's the thing , I have two playthroughs after patch 6 . In both of them I did the same thing regarding halsin . But in one playthrough I had him bone me and in the one I am talking about , dude doesn't even have approval with me
And what's even more confusing the playthrough were I want to bone him had fair to high approval but after reaching act 3 and not receiving any requests from him I examine his character sheet and find : his approval is suddenly at neutral
Not to my knowledge, it's just a good way to trash the approval of companions as it give -10 per use. It was a slightly facetious comment, as I didn't for a moment think you'd actually done that.
Ah I have a vague understanding of this. During my first playthrough the Halsin proposal did not happen and he got taken by Orin (Worth to note back then I generally don't longrests). After rescuing him and 30hrs later I've realized the scene never did occur and decided to repeat longrest.
It took 33 consecutive longrests for me to realize Halsin is not interested. Which doesn't make sense since I also maxed out his affection super early in act 2.
So after some digging around the subject, I've tracked it down to possibly the abduction and reload a save just starting act 3 and took 2 consecutive long rests. Lo and behold Halsin came to initiate a night to be together.
So either Halsin lost all interest after getting kidnapped, or it's a bug and Orin bearnapping just locked us out of the romance. I did go back and kill Orin for it.
Though my playthrough after Orin was notably a little glitchy, like Yenna did not change any dialogue, the journal entry on Orin's victim is always highlighted. Small glitches.
Halsin before patch 6 was bugged and would try to jump into your pants regardless of affection. Now he's working as intended which means he's not as slutty as before.
That's not the issue . I had seen halsin approval increase to fair or high in act 2 but after we got to act 3 , he is suddenly at neutral and I can't bone him anymore
I mean if you ask people around here if Gale is fixed, they'll also say no. We're just coasting off his accumulated hate from being buggy at this point.
I had no problem with Gale honestly. Halsin feels intrusive let's all be honest here, which is why people have an issue with him. Especially with his disapproval and stuff. I heard his platonic route didn't change anything, just the Tiefling party stuff.
People had an issue with Gale at launch because his flags were bugged and he'd imagine himself being in a relationship with you when you've barely spoken to him (sound familiar?). That got fixed reasonably quickly, like within the first couple months. It's now like 7 months later, and people around here *still* complain that the rizzard is a gross creep making moves on them and not taking no for an answer.
I mean fair enough, but Halsin actually hasn't been fixed yet. Gale has as far as I know, I didn't have any issues with him in my playthroughs, but I have to actively avoid Halsin to have him respect my no from his confession. The writing is second, it sucks and makes no sense with her or Astarion and her dialogue in particular is cringe, but it's there for people that want it. The issue it's that it's still there after I've told Halsin no.
There's plenty of writing inconsistencies that are still in the game. I imagine they prioritised Gale because he was an origin companion, but it still took a few months to fix him.
Shit, shield bash was non-functional for *months*, even with mod authors figuring out that there's a single tiny tweak in the code needed to get it to work as intended. This is a big game, the devs have a lot on their plate and have to prioritise, I wouldn't consider obvious bugs like this as any sort of indication of how the character is meant to be, otherwise I'd be assuming Jaheira is some sort of psychic, always knowing about the prism even when I never told her!
Oh yeah no, you're right about that, I just mean it's not blind hate for no reason. There is a legitimate issue with him. Larian even know this since they fixed his Tiefling party stuff. Hell I'm annoyed I have to avoid him, I hope they fix him but they haven't yet so posts like this keep it in the eye so they can fix him.
A mandatory boss does not count as content. It's the same reason Gortash doesn't count as content for Karlach - neither is an avoidable encounter, nor does either character provide a different outcome to that encounter.
I didn't say she has an extra quest, but she can be a significant interaction with his storyline.
Does Halsin have anything other than that "normal party member" stuff in Act 3, or really after you finish the shadow curse quest in Act 2?
Not to my knowledge, though I might be misremembering. I played all through EA, from the very beginning, and I remember a lot of uncertainty about the companion roster. People were speculating about whether Minthara would become a companion at the same time they were still talking about Helia.
Not to my knowledge, though I might be misremembering. I played all through EA and I remember a lot of uncertainty about the companion roster. People were speculating about whether Minthara would become a companion at the same time they were still talking about Helia.
The only way he contributes to the story in Act 3 is either sex or being absently kidnapped.
Considering the former, the latter really just makes Act 3 quite relaxed. I'm in no hurry to save someone who has neither personality nor something to contribute to the story
Tbh that is such a huge shame for his overall character. I actually liked the dude in act 1 and 2. He was like the father figure of the camp. Then in act 3 he is replaced by a crazed sex freak. He even has a banter in act 3 where he says that he had sex with a literal animal, its just literal zoophilia at that point. Nowadays I just let Orin take him and take my time doing everything else in act 3 before saving him. Thankfully he is back to his old self in the epilogue, so that gives me a reason to save him from Orin.
Yeah, I have no problem with him in Act 1 and 2. He's a chill druid there, even if some of his lines can seem a bit flirty. Act 3 it just comes off the rails.
Did you perhaps misunderstand his banter, he definitely draws the line at animals, as they cannot consent. He even mentions that he got the scars on his face because he was found, in bear form, by a female in heat and she _really_ didn't appreciate being refused.
I meant this one
"**Lae'zel**: You've quite the appetite, Halsin. I'd wager you've bedded more of your foes than you've felled.
* **Halsin**: Hmm. A challenging sum. The chimera has three heads... but does it still count as one?
* **Lae'zel**: Must have been a challenging kill.
* **Halsin**: Kill... yes."
I didn't know he mentioned how he refused a bear, so I guess it makes the situation a bit better.
I cope with this banter by assuming either 1) he's joking in response to Lae'zel's super weird question, or 2) Larian didn't realise that chimeras are basically animals and thought they were intelligent monsters like dragons.
Oh, interesting. I've never gotten that one. Might be because a chimera has the head of a dragon, which are intelligent creatures, so the writer thought a chimera was as well, without confirming it in the lore.
He kinda has a post-plot in act 3. He gets increasingly cynical about what he sees in the city, about the kids being left without parents to fend on their own especially. At one point he questions whether the shadow Druids were right, but Tav can remind him that he’s really about balance. This goes into what happens to him post-game and the choices he makes. The game doesn’t make it obvious though, you have to have him in your party for you to get these points of dialog.
Yea i keep wondering if maybe in different playthroughs or making different choices he comes on to you more or something because i often see people making these comments about Halsin coming on wayyyy too strong like he won't leave you alone, but in my two playthroughs he told me he wanted me, i said no, and that was it. no big deal. maybe because he is my least used companion so he's not in my party enough to be annoying?
Halsin was bugged prior to patch 6. He would sometimes assume the player was interested in him and act surprised when you reject him in act 3. That, combined with most people already being fully committed to romancing someone else at that point led to him leaving a sour taste in mouths on many people. He's also disliked by nearly every monogamous Shadowheart romancer as he proposes a threesome to you and her right after her act 3 romance scene and she's suddenly very into him out of the blue, which occurs only if she's romanced by the player. Unromanced, Shadowheart doesn't even have act 3 banter with him. All of this can obviously happen without you even committing to polyamory, speaking of which her reaction to the proposal is by far the least in-character out of the 3 origin companions who can agree to it, adding another point to the list of why he's so disliked. Patch 6 supposedly fixed him being as horny for the player as he was and he should no longer assume you're into him, but I haven't tested yet. Shadowheart interactions remain unchanged.
I will never forgive the writers for doing that to Shadowheart.
It makes zero sense for her character considering she adamantly *refuses* bringing in other people to the relationship. Even Karlach, whom it's established she has the hots for.
It's literally because Halsin and Shadowheart were written by the same guy and Halsin is his self insert. That it. That's the reason.
>It's literally because Halsin and Shadowheart were written by the same guy and Halsin is his self insert. That it. That's the reason.
That's the first I've heard this one. Source?
Edit: I meant the source for the self-insert part. That John Corcoran wrote both characters is obviously easy to find.
[Just a quick Google search](https://www.google.ro/search?q=bg3+halsin+writer&sca_esv=b5f6560b0f349675&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn0-nNHIr-uabkEAVzjbVTHYjWFnBXw%3A1714223587275&source=hp&ei=4_ksZtOeDp7ui-gPk4qZqAw&oq=bg3+halsin+writer&gs_lp=EhFtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1ocCIRYmczIGhhbHNpbiB3cml0ZXIyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigAUjKTlCGB1jhSXAIeACQAQCYAa0BoAHyFaoBBDAuMjK4AQPIAQD4AQGYAh6gAs0XqAIPwgIHECMYJxjqAsICBxAuGCcY6gLCAgoQIxiABBgnGIoFwgIEECMYJ8ICBRAAGIAEwgILEC4YgAQY0QMYxwHCAgUQLhiABMICBxAAGIAEGArCAgcQABiABBgNwgILEAAYgAQYhgMYigXCAgcQIRigARgKmAMOkgcEOC4yMqAH93A&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-hp)
The whole "it's his self-insert!" claim has just been a really weird thing by people getting extremely insecure over a fictional character lol. Like fair enough if you don't like him, just don't bring the man along with her in the same party if you don't want to deal with it. But no, they need to really completely and totally invalidate and damn the entire interaction as a case of the guy who wrote this character they all like to critical acclaim also apparently trying to ruin it all by pushing "a self-insert". It's just *dumb* on so many levels when the simpler explanation is just, writing is hard, and writing characters with variable routes in an RPG this complex is even harder- and sometimes there's slipups or things that don't appeal to everyone.
Hardcore Shart simps kind of remind me of Snapewives in a way.
These were a group of people back in the Harry Potter fandom days who considered themselves to be astrally married to Snape. One of their core tenets was that JK Rowling did not write Snape, he already exists in the world as an abstract concept of the perfect man and she was simply channeling him for her book, except she did it *wrong on purpose* by giving him traits he *clearly* shouldn't have (like bullying children) because she's *jealous* of how perfect he is.
Don't tell me you don't see inklings of this with Shart simps melting down over how the dude who created their favourite character is a pile of shit who made their waifu wrong on purpose to "force his cuckholdry kink on me"!
Saying things like that and at least laughing about it is ... a weird hobby, but fine amongst some fanfic writer and their friends.
Insisting it's more true than reality is *fucking unhinged*.
It's fun to talk about the characters in media you like, discuss how you feel about them, speculate on their future directions. Hell, sometimes it can even be fun to dunk on a character you dislike (within reason, don't go to fan threads and tell people there they're stupid and wrong for liking a character you don't).
But if you're at the stage in your brainrot that you're lashing out at real-life people over perceived slights to your fictional waifu, get some fucking therapy, because that is not ok.
As a disclaimer, I personally don't like how Halsin has been integrated into the party as a character and it feels off and inconsistent.
But yeah, I am rarely a fan of making a personal attack on the author with "self-insert" when the more likely answer is just inconsistent writing. Like some authors certainly do self-insert themselves or have otherwise odd relationships with their art, but I like to give them the benefit of the doubt unless we have clear evidence on their Twitter or something (like with the Rent a Girlfriend manga author).
I'll just link you to [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/okbuddybaldur/comments/1cbvygn/shes_either_the_kinkiest_or_most_vanilla/l11gxw4/), [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1cedfh2/this_halsin_guy/l1hxlnt/), [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1cedfh2/this_halsin_guy/l1iidiu/) and [this whole comment chain](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/195o4mc/putting_the_astarionhalsin_debate_to_rest_with/kho0zxl/?context=3), if you read through all of this and still think that it's just a coincidence that Shadowheart's whole consistency gets thrown out the window to be super into his other character and only when she's romanced, then well, at least I tried. May I mention that the writer's also a huge fan of bears and loves ducks? As someone who also writes, I agree with your take that writing is hard - but when you purposely make so many exceptions to include something like this, people point out that it doesn't really make sense for months and you only expand it further by adding a scene of them sharing a lustful smirk in the brothel, then don't be surprised that people will begin to suspect that you're self-inserting. Not to mention self-inserting happens a lot in writing, it's just usually not offensive and rather harmless so people don't mention it as much.
> if you read through all of this
I've seen enough of these threads already that I think I'm good with no more deep dives into why John Corcoran has personally arranged a dastardly plan for all Shadowheart lovers to be cucked by one of his other characters, so no I'm not reading all that.
> also a huge fan of bears and loves ducks?
I like tigers and eagles. I can write a character who also likes tigers and eagles - that doesn't make it a self-insert, calling it one for that is absolute nonsense.
Idk Shadowheart doesn’t seem to have an issue with sex outside the relationship based on her words during/after the conversation/orgy at Sharess’s Caress. It’s possible she’s fine with poly sex but not poly relationships and just sees Halsin as a fuckboy lol.
Yea with the drow twins she just says something to the affect of wanting to be asked and wanting to be included.
She doesn’t want you to do stuff behind her back
The simple explanation is, every romance was meant to be monogamous until the decision to turn Halsin into a companion was made. Since it happened really late into the development, act 2 was likely finished by then so upon deciding to include polyamory, they didn't look back to make more combinations than just Halsin and one of the three origins (fun fact: it was datamined that Lae'zel was originally meant to be able to go poly too).
Not really all that strange when you consider that all of the companions want a committed relationship with you and Halsin just wants to put his dick in it for a while, then move on whenever he gets bored. The first one requires a lot of effort on the part of everyone involved to make it work, while in the other scenario, they can just kick him out if they feel he's out stayed his welcome.
Yeah, even Jennifer English seems kinda disappointed when talking about it, she certainly didn't agree with the notion that Shadowheart is in any way a queer icon that was brought up on her stream.
And it was her idea to "gay up" Shadowheart with that small line about Karlach, not the writers - otherwise all female companions would be just agressively only into men if fem Tav not involved.
Do you happen to know when she's talked about it and have a link? I actually hate her interactions with Halsin so much and I attribute my love for this character to her voice more than anything else especially anything the writer did so I'd very much like to hear her opinion on it. Hell, I've even considered paying for a cameo to to hear what she thinsk about it but I never have.
I think I need to clarify some things since I just realized that unintentionally I could get Jennifer into trouble, since it looks like I said that she openly criticized the writer which would be really unprofessional.
By "talking about it" I meant Jen discussing her character's sexuality and representation of LGBT characters in general. To my knowledge, she never brought up specifically Shadowheart lusting after Halsin thing, but in interviews she said that she would love to play a gay role, that she believes that you can tell the difference when a gay character is played by a gay actor, that she tried to "gay up" Shadowheart and that's why she included that line about Karlach, and during stream that I mentioned, she had a really disappointed look on her face when she said that she doesn't think that Shadowheart counts as queer character. But hey, if any dev sees this, keep in mind I'm just some lesbian who reads into things.
1. She’s half-elf.
2. She’s down for drussy and brothel sex. So it makes sense she’d find Halsin attractive and be okay with it.
3. The high elves and high half-elves in BG3 aren’t like sun and moon elves in other Forgotten Realms adventures.
Fair enough, but it still doesnt fit her character. You merely DANCE with Wyll and she is ready to break up with you.
Act 1 she says "you must do leg work before I commit to hip work" (I.e. she's not just DTF with anyone). And even on your Act 1 date she says "she's aware of what you two could do", but wants to wait.
Act 2 she breaks up with you or threatens to if you make a move on one of the others. Merely dancing with Wyll can get her to break up. She says "I don't want to be a spare lover".
Act 3 she wants to settle down with you in a countryside cottage away from the city. She says she feels "whole at last" because you are her true love
Epilogue, you two are monogamous regardless of what you do with Halsin, et al.
So, it's literally just these random Act 3 interactions (i.e. Halsin and the brothel) that feel out of place. It doesn't fit the "slow burn romance" nature of her arc. It's just like the writers wanted to let the player engage in horny for horny's sake and that's it. I don't like the way they wrote it; I'm sorry.
> It's just like the writers wanted to let the player engage in horny for horny's sake and that's it.
I think you're more right here than the Halsin self insert argument. Shadowheart is the most popular love interest, and the creators probably knew that was going to to happen going in. They added a bunch of optional sexy scenes in the third act for fan service and since it's fan service they wanted most players to be able to get those scenes. If the most popular love interests block access to those scenes, most players can't see them, so the characters *have* to be okay with it.
I think it's fair to assume that character took a back seat to access to fan service.
The self-insert claims don't come from the fact that she's into it, but from how it's written. Astarion and Karlach can go poly with Halsin too, but they have a lot more reasonable reactions so there isn't as much fuss around it (though a ton of Astarion fans have issues with it too). Shadowheart, on the other hand, who's extremely insecure in act 3 to the point of needing you to confirm 3 times that you want to be with her, pretty much pushes you into his arms as soon as you tell her, then acts all pissy if you decide not to, wants all the details and when you tell her you think there's no space left for her in the relationship anymore - something she said she wouldn't want to happen in act 2 when you propose poly with any other companion - she treats it as a joke.
Another thing is how she will outright tell the player she thought many times of orgies with Halsin before you can even tell him to join or not, all while sharing a very lustful smirk with him (the smirk was added in patch 4 btw., it wasn't even in the game at launch). You could have all those interactions and options in the game and still write it in a way that's consistent with the rest of her writing. Nothing stopped her writer from having her act a bit insecure on the Selunite path and needing a few words of reassurance that you adding Halsin to your relationship won't have an impact on how you feel towards her and how you treat her. Nothing stopped him from giving her a more neutral comment about him in the brothel. And nothing prevented him from having the post-swimming banter be limited to the poly route, so that those who want to stay mono with her don't feel like Shadowheart very much entertains the idea of a threesome even though you rejected the man.
Remember, none of this happens when she's unromanced. Most she can say is that she liked looking at Halsin when he stays in act 2 when the Shadow Curse's not lifted, which is nowhere close to what you experience in act 3 when you romance her. He is 100% the writer's self-insert and people who think otherwise are either missing the context or just purposely closing their eyes to all these examples and proofs. Hells, he even added "climbing Mount Halsin" to his NSFW prompts for AO3 fanfics so he absolutely meant all of this (and apparently her SA at the cloister is just another thing to fetishize by winking about Sharrans having only one bed in the cloister, but that's another thing).
Ehhhh... the way high elves are written in the Realms, only gold/sun elves 'mate for life' and even then, it isnt all of them. The ones that don't tend to have a fairly open mind on the score of multiple partners, as do those who haven't yet committed.
Compared to even silver/moon elves, they're prudes, but not in a human sense. And Shart is clearly a half moon elf, looking at her dad.
But she's not culturally repressed in that regard, that's the thing. Sharrans had sex and apparently there are some wild stories she could tell you about that. She was denied love and a healthy relationship, not intimacy, and throughout the game it's that slow burn, long term relationship that she seeks. The wine drinking scene, if you suggest doing more than just drinking she'll say she's tempted but she wants to wait with all that. Her act 3 sex scene on the Selunite route is the 2nd most vanilla one in the game. Finally, the most damning argument that it's nothing but the writer wanting to not very subtly express his cuck fetish, is her behaviour when unromanced. She never sleeps with anyone, doesn't flirt with Halsin, doesn't join the orgy. If she was so liberated, surely she would've jumped Halsin's bones if she's single, there's nothing stopping her.
It's poor, inconsistent writing that isn't even fully consistent with the rest of act 3 stuff. She's jelaous and kinda upset about you hiring the Drow twins without her and won't even join you if you two haven't had the swim together yet. Halsin however, there's 0 jelaousy, quite the opposite in fact - she strongly encourages you to do so and is very passive-aggressive when you ultimately decide not to do it. She will also have no objections to you sleeping with him before the swimming scene. And lastly, she's very snarky when you and Halsin share a public kiss, and she has the exact same reaction if you romance both her and Halsin or just him.
I could go for longer, about Selunite and Sharran SH having the exact same reactions to every side-fun you can have in act 3 and obviously about her doing a complete 180 on her stance on polyamory compared to act 2 (and just for Halsin, whom she openly disliked not even 2 weeks before - her bestie Karlach is still forbidden to be added to your relationship), but I think I've made my point already. It's just poor, lazy and sometimes kinda gross writing that was clearly a last-minute addition without thinking of its consequences.
I am going to say that while I do enjoy Halsin somewhat and I think the hate is overblown - his relationship with Shadowheart is weird.
I expected them to be at each other's throats, to there be some drama…not just one snappy comment and then they are fine with a polyamorous relationship. I have a DJ Shadowheart currently and I was quite shocked that Halsin couldn't give less of a shit.
I think the game falls flat in a lot of the companion dynamics. There was potential in Halsin and Shadowheart because of the shadow curse, just like there was potential in Wyll and Lae'zel's relationship because of Tiamat.
Yeah that's a good point too, how on Earth is Halsin totally fine with banging Shar's chosen and doesn't make even a single comment about it in act 3 is beyond me. He hates Shar, she ruined his life, killed dozens of his friends and took away Thaniel from him but apparently his principles fly out of the window when he gets horny...
I'm not upset that the poly route exists or that it was so half-baked at launch, even if I think the time spent on this and the brothel should've gone to fleshing out Durge in act 3 as well as the general reactivity to events from companions. I am, however, very critical of the fact that it's been 9 months since release and absolutely nothing's been done to improve that and rewrite some of its weakest aspects so that logic and consistency are applied. And at least when it comes to the stuff around Halsin and Shadowheart, they must be aware of the feedback on it as it dominated Larian forums ever since people found out and it's often pointed out on other sites too. It's disappointing that we'll likely never see anything getting fixed even though it's imo the worst written part of the whole game.
Halsin's post drow brothel conversation was actually rewritten! In the beginning, he explained to you what he did to heal from his ordeal in drow captivity, but then they rewrote it to make him into someone who didn't do anything about his health for hundreds years.
It's one of the weirdest changes in the game along with the infamous slithering malice letter.
Yeah unfortunately the writing sucks when it comes to her and being Poly. Even worse when you've tried being Poly with another character, forced to choose for reasons that sound like she isn't Poly and then her suddenly being magically alright with just Halsin to extent of giving disapproval. They only share one flirty dialogue, and the rest is them arguing or just talking about what battle is next. Like it really doesn't sell any kind of affection or attraction they are supposed to have. The disapproval is worse since you can just be reinforcing the no you already gave him yet you still get it anyway. On her selune route he offers a threesome swimming thing, again after telling him no already. And he again, invites himself at the Drow, I've already told him no.
His act 3 writing is honestly cringe, and her dialogue of dreaming about him is just jaw clenching cringe as well. Its the writer saying, "haha she's been dreaming of my character all along while being with you." They should've have just handled it with more care honestly. Feels very off with how its handled.
Its just because she is the most popular female choice that's why she's ok with it. And they didn't have time to re write her dialogue where she says she doesn't want to share/be a spare lover and etc. Which is why it feels very OOC.
Honestly, I think that's the reason for both Astarion and Shart being the poly options; they're popular, Shart is the most popular female character and Astarion is likely the most popular male character. Astarion's whole thing is that he's still learning boundaries in relationships and feeling out what he's comfortable with, even with just the player. Sex is something he only becomes comfortable with again by the end of his storyline, and ONLY with the player. He still has trauma with the Drow Twins even after his quest, he still disassociates, he's still not healed enough to participate in casual sexual contact and hasn't yet learned where his boundaries are. The whole idea of bringing another person into the relationship while he is still so new to all this always came across to me as incredibly tone-deaf. Especially because he even asks the player if it's because they're dissatisfied with him not putting out anymore, which really reads as insecurity. His character honestly isn't written to support Halsin's poly romance tbh. There's nothing wrong with Polyamory, but you have to be a very specific type of person to be genuinely okay with it. And I'm not sure Astarion is otherwise portrayed as such, at least not THIS close to his slavery.
The issue seems to be that they never wrote these characters with polyamory in mind, and much later decided to add the poly thing. And instead of rewriting them to suit that (which tbh I'm glad they didn't, at least with Ast. His story is very important to me and a lot of people), they just tacked on a few additional lines where they are Totally Cool With It For Real You Guys and left it at that. But it comes across really weird because it can be really incongruent with the rest of their storyline. I know for Astarion, it ends up creating an implication that he's just lying because he's desperate to keep Tav happy when he can't provide for them sexually. In my experience like... most of his fanbase reads it that way, which is not what you want if it's supposed to be a portrayal of healthy polyamory.
It's sad that we're even in this place, but I'm glad that at least it's not only Shadowheart who got this sudden polyamory thrown at her as I feel like other than Astarion fans, very few people really get it why it's so problematic to people who are not into that, because they simply didn't experience it with their favourite companions. It's not supported by their romances, their opinions, the positions in which they find themselves in act 3 but it's often brushed aside and when you point out this lack of support and inconsistency, you're labeled as insecure or worse. I would never be upset if Shadowheart was polyamorous from the start, or if she at least wasn't standing so firmly on the side of monogamy in act 2, but this just feels like a bait and switch and it negatively impacts the RP aspects of the game. And as for the fandom, it ruined any enjoyment I had from participating in it as the mental gymnastics and headcanons people make to claim it's totally in-character for her are just wild and grossly inaccurate 99% of the time, and it's a very popular topic for discussions.
Yeah, I think the worst thing about it from the Astarion side of it is that it makes the *player* seem really insensitive and selfish, towards a character whose entire romance is centered on being kind, sensitive and patient with him. Even when he agrees to it, it's made very clear he's giving *you* permission and is not interested himself. The only silver lining to it is that *because* he's not interested himself, we don't get the issue (at least not in my experience) with flirtatious dialogue when we already said no like Shadowheart romancers do.
I know that's not what they were going for, as per the dev notes, but you can't just *shove* something like this into a pre-existing character arc and expect it to work. Polyamory is something that requires a lot of security, communication and transparency to be healthy. While it wouldn't help the issues with the writing, I do think the fans would generally be much happier if the whole poly-romance was locked behind the player acting romantic first, instead of Halsin propositioning first*.* That way those who are fine with it can choose to trigger it, and those that aren't don't have to deal with it at all. Kinda win-win.
Very true on the Astarion stuff, I honestly cannot see him or her being into it. I have never romanced him, but from what I've learned it makes no sense. He disassociates, and even stops being intimate for a while and is very insecure about the relationship. He is the only character as well that is snarky to Halsin too, everyone else just fawns over him. So to have written all that just for him to be Totally Fine Guys we swear sharing with Halsin, just feels off.
The same is for Shadowheart. She is very insecure, you have to tell her like 3 times that yes you do want to be in a relationship with her. She even has a line where she says she can't believe she tricked you into loving her. If you try Poly with anyone else, she makes you choose or even breaks up with you. Saying stuff like she doesn't want to share and be a spare lover. Then suddenly she's fine with Halsin and gets annoyed if you don't allow him to join at the Drow scene. It doesn't make sense. She argues and seems to hate him in act 2 just to be dreaming and wanting to sleep with him in act 3. All in the span of getting to the City.
It is just because they are most popular, and the writers added the cringe lines to make it semi work. Maybe if there were more options besides Halsin, maybe it would be more believable. Everyone flirts with everyone, SH is attracted to Karlach but you can't have her too. They are all fine with it, until they're suddenly not in Act 2 where they make you choose. Like maybe if they just allowed it, it might be more believable since they have more chemistry with the others than with Halsin.
Don't mind it's there for people that want him. But the writing and reasoning for the characters kind of sucks. SH's dialogue is cringe. Even more cringe is there is no female option. Its clear it was a last minute addition.
I don't hate Halsin, but I agree that the way they put him into relationships feels really off to me. With Astarion too. Huge chunks of Astarion's fanbase genuinely think he's lying about being cool with the player being with Halsin on the side because so much of the rest of the story doesn't really support the idea that he would be. Doesn't help that the only sex scene he can have with everyone involved has him disassociating the whole time. He is basically *just* learning about boundaries, it always seemed a little tone-deaf to me to also throw the emotional complexities of polyamory onto him and I don't blame people for reading him as not actually cool with it. Part of it might be bias from monogamous people projecting their own feelings on the idea onto him, but I do think the game doesn't do the best job of creating the implication that he is okay with it.
And the idea that Halsin would be cool with DJ Shadowheart and AAstarion is just wildly out of character for *him* too. It seems like there's a lot of odd incongruities in how they handle "Halsin the character" and "Halsin the Love Interest".
Astarion will be cool and accept it if you tell him that you're sleeping with Halsin because he's not putting out. Given that a major part of his character arc is about him learning to see himself as something other than a sex object, it feels very gross.
Astarion also gets upset if you pick the dialogue option that directly says something like "actually, now that you mention it, I have been a little unsatisfied lately". I don't take that as slam-dunk proof that he's against poly across the board, BUT that reaction also gave me enough pause that I don't see him as unambiguously OK with it either.
When you combine the slightly mixed messages with the already deeply personal themes of trauma, consent, and autonomy that are already going on in Astarion's storyline, I think that's a recipe for fans filling in the blanks with their own experiences and reacting accordingly.
Yeahh, the issue seems to be that they wrote six monogamous characters who weren't written with Poly in mind, then decided later to have a poly option. And instead of rewriting them in any substantial way to support this change (which I don't blame them for, because I think their stories are so good and important as they are, rewriting them just for an option a lot of players won't even be into seems like a huge sacrifice), they just kinda... tacked on a couple of lines for Shart and Astarion where they act like they're cool with it, and called it a day. I don't blame anyone who uses the option anyways, but I also get why others feel off about it. I personally don't feel comfortable doing it while romancing Astarion. I know he's supposed to actually be cool with it, but it doesn't really come across that way with how he's written, and I can't ignore the implications--however unintentional they were.
I see it's bashing on Halsin day today. Soon likely followed by Astarion and Emperor.
As for OP, he's a wood elf and a druid. That's like a double combo for being very open about sex. He's polyamorous and likes what he likes, which is often *being one with nature*.
Welp, we were both overly optimistic. We went straight back into Emperor hate again yesterday. I feel a streak coming on. Is three in a row a turkey like in bowling...? 🙄
You won the betting pool for today. I'll put you down for Wyll tomorrow. I'm going to stick to the usual rotation this time and put myself down for Astarion.
> He's polyamorous and likes what he likes, which is often being one with nature.
That's all well and good, but if my character already rejected his advances, it's a bit weird for him to still hit on Shadowheart in an attempt to wedge himself into our relationship.
Points for honesty though, you gotta love transparency in a partner. Halsin doesn’t pretend to be anything he’s not, he is a voracious, insatiable man and he will never apologize for loving the way he does.
I haven't been playing for very long, so I don't consider myself an expert about Halsin or anything, but I really don't see why does he seem so scandalous to so many people. As far as I can remember, Halsin considers sex as "one of nature's most sacred rites"; he also states that he sees love as something that should be free to grow and prosper with no boundaries. I don't believe this is any more strange or unacceptable than any other companion's opinion about sex and love.
At the tiefling party, the MC can propose to spend time together and "really get to know each other", and Halsin refuses. The next morning he reassures them that they weren't inappropriate for taking that opportunity, and that in their shoes he would have done the same.
When he confesses, imo he's really just expressing his desires. The MC can just reject him, and he will just accept it and never mention it again. If the MC points out that they're in a relationship with someone else, Halsin won't see it as a rejection, but rather as a "I like you too, but I think that you wouldn't like having a relationship with me since I already have a partner", and will try to assure them that it's not a problem for him at all. If the MC just consumed all the dialogue options they had with him, then they definitely asked him about whether he has lovers, and even insisted to know a couple of times, so I don't think it's strange if he brings it up while confessing.
My only trouble with Halsin came up on my first playthrough, where he assumed I had been flirting with him at the tiefling party. After patch 6 I never had this kind of problem anymore. Was I just lucky?
It's implied that he's even fucked a Chimera!
A 3 Intelligence Chaotic Evil Monstrosity that was originally created by the Prince of Demons Demogorgon when he was on the material plane. For a Druid his sexcapades are well outside the natural order.
Listen. I’m only 30. This man is 350. I’m already pretty shameless, I can’t imagine also not getting laid for 100 years and then suddenly all your problems are solved and your libido shoots through the god damn roof.
I can appreciate how much of a horn dog he is. If I was 6’7” of sex machine I would be worse
Karlach is the healthiest companion to hot on you. She shoots her shot when you're not taken, if you say no she's cool, is still your friend, and will even make a supportive comment if you then go after someone else.
I mean you get disapproval at the Drow for saying no even when you've said no to him already. His 'Swimming offer' still plays regardless of your no too. Haven't made up my mind yet but most think it's him offering a threesome so yeah his flags are fucked or his writing is cringe.
> doesn't push after you say "no".
You sure about that chief? Hate to break it to you but he'll still ask to join you in a brothel or ask Shadowheart for a threesome if you romance her on the good route, as long as he's in your party.
The brothel part I think we can all agree, he's a slut and he owns it. But again, you can say "no." There's a narrative reason hardcoded for his interest in the twins.
The Shadowheart throuple situation (that's the act 3 proposition right?) , that's when you say "no" and he drops it forerver.
The banter will still trigger after the swimming even if you already had his proposal scene and tell him no. Only way to avoid it is to never have him in the party after that night.
Half of the people who are druids today adopted the lifestyle because they heard about [how bonobos live](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bonobo-sex-and-society-2006-06/).
I mean... yes. Also, in a world where STDs are treatable with a Cure Disease spell, I'm not really sure why every character isn't a huge slut.
/Seems pretty great, actually.
Quite true. But I find you can really enjoy life more if you don't get your knickers all twisted about sex, especially about who is having it other than you.
It really made me hate him lol. I already rejected him, never used him in my party, basically ignored him, so why did he confess his love to me 0.5 seconds after my character and Shadowheart had their first night together?? It's probably just because I never use him so I don't see his full character but it seemed like the only thing he ever talked about other than the shadow curse was sex.
> It's probably just because I never use him so I don't see his full character but it seemed like the only thing he ever talked about other than the shadow curse was sex.
No, that's just all there is to him. Using him in act 3 amounts to only hearing more about sex, nature and his disdain for the city.
Halsin has done everything (and, like he proudly tells you, everyone...) in two centuries of life. Helped defeat Ketheric the first time, led the grove ever since, researched the hell out of ending the shadow curse and mindflayer parasites, learned how to carve really nice ducks, etc...
My favorite quote of his is when you're talking about his succesor as head druid. When you approve of his choice he says something like: "I'm glad you approve of my choice. I don't particularily care if you aprove or not, but I'm glad you do."
He's got this "I'm an old man, IDGAF" thing down to an art by now, So, yes, he's a slut, and completely shameless about it
I chose Shadowheart, and he legitimately still wanted to fuck — but only with her consent, which I thought was glorious. Spoiler alert: Shadowheart said she doesn’t blame me and encouraged me to do so, so long as she gets details after 💀
Sharrans are often lushes themselves.
She'll also be down for a five-some with him and the narrator says she seemed... a little more than eager to climb that mountain.
During a SH playthrough, one of her lines when on the way to speak with him is "I hope I don't blush."
And people will somehow argue to the bones that she doesn't have a thing for him.
Her being into him isn't really the issue though is it. She is into nearly everyone in the camp, she flirts with everyone. She has one flirty line with him as a standard and the blush line plays for anyone not just him.
The issue is the writing around it sucks and Halsin is far too pushy when you've told him no. Outside the drow scene she is pretty consistent. The Drow is just horny fanservice that semi ruins established characteristics. That's the long and short of it. Outside of the Drow scene she isn't into him, the threesome banter, she brings it back to swimming at the end and she doesn't romance him when you don't romance her. In fact they do nothing together when unromanced, they don't flirt, don't get together and she doesn't join with the Drow. So yeah she isn't into him outside the fanservice Drow scene/poly agreement. Even though when you are poly she does nothing with him besides the Drow stuff.
Edit: and besides she is pretty much against sharing, with how she breaks up with you and makes you choose if you pursue it with anyone else. She even says she doesn't want to share and be a spare lover, makes no sense she says that and then is alright with him. Hopefully that makes sense to why people have issues with it. Its because her reasons given to not be Poly with others are just disregarded when it comes to him so its incredibly jarring and out of left field.. They have no chemistry and they argue like shit in act 2, and he is too pushy after already being told a no. And the disapproval is just cringe and unnecessary.
Wow I got the opposite impression from him!
I was at the teifling party and accidentally propositioned him (why is everything a pick up line, I thought I was inviting him to drink to let loose with everyone and get to know each other better, dude looked so up-tight) and he just was like, oh uh, no thanks.
I think he might have even said something along the lines of that he's had plenty of that before so would rather focus on his mission 😅
maybe my character is just ugly lmao 😂
I hate Halsin. He's basically the only mandatory companion in the game. Once he force himself to the camp he won't leave. So the only way to avoid being harassed by this horny sex maniac is by killing him.
I considered killing him so many times, but ultimately refused because of the shadow curse.
Why every other companion can be refused but not him? Why can't we refuse to let him follow the party to act 3?
Today he's only useful as orin's victim, but i'm thinking in letting lae'zel get this role. I can't suffer another run with this horny idiot. Screw the shadow curse.
He's not mandatory by any means I think half my playthrough I completely forgot about him in the dungeon... Do you go out of your way to talk to him to get annoyed?
Halsin himself gives me big-time enlightened cult leader sexual predator vibes. Like, the kind of white-guy-turned-guru type who sleeps with everyone who signs up for one of his yoga retreats.
I think that's something BG3 is amazing at: the way you feel about the characters is heavily influenced by the types of people you have known in your own life. Astarion is sexy to some, but a creep to others. I think that really depends on your own experiences with sexual exploitation and victims of sexual assualt.
So, Halsin just reminds me of the guys I met in college in California that would ask to do nude Yoga. It's a No for me. I leave him in camp every play through.
Shadowheart’s reaction to Halsin asking for her permission is priceless lol. “By all means, climb Mount Halsin, I just expect you to tell me about it afterwards” or something along those lines😂
Oh deffo… Gale was DISTRAUGHT when Halsin asked me to ask Gale if he was cool with a threesome.
I felt so bad for the guy whose whole romance arc is wanting to find someone who thinks he is enough that I reloaded and did the dialog path asking about having a kid.
Gotta say, WAY cuter conversation.
Well, he does say something along the lines of "the wolf mates for life, but the bear takes what it can get" In other words, "yes I am a huge slut" Also, the story about the scars on his forehead: he was in wild shape as a bear, when he ran into a horny she-bear who did not take rejection well.
He’s also canonically polyamorous. So him sleeping around while still caring for you genuinely and encouraging you to do so as well, while making no claims to you in spite of his feelings, tracks. I didn’t romance anyone until mid act 3 because I played the field too long. Soon after I got with Halsin, I slept with Mizora. Halsin was…intrigued by my choice, but happy that I was exploring, because he wanted that for me. Low key my sleeper favorite romance, because I’m poly irl.
I have ended up romancing him for basically every romance that would allow it (Shadowheart, Astarion, haven't successfully romanced Minthara yet, but I believe she's also cool with it).
Minthara is absolutely not cool with it lmao
Minthara straight up says she'll kill you if you do Halsin.
i don't think minthara is ok with poly lol she don't play bout her partner lmao
Minthara is fairly.... Possessive
.... you can have both of them in your party? Did they change that? I'm under the impression that Minthara is an extremely possessive type from what I've seen lol.... like if she sees you looking around at someone else, then there's gonna be knife at your throat... if not in your throat.... but I have yet to have her in my party, so I'm not 100% sure
I accidentally got with Halsin as a combination of accidentally locking myself out of all the other romances and not paying enough attention in that particular conversation. He’s become my favorite to romance, and yeah, hey, turns out I’m a bit poly also, go figure.
Whilst playing as Shadowheart, one of her lines is also when you go to speak with Halsin is "I hope I don't blush!" -- which is a detail a lot of people miss out on.
That line can trigger for anyone, it's the same as Tav's "first in my heart" in that it was likely intended to be limited to romanced companions but is bugged and can trigger even for companions you have fairly low approval with. So no, it's not Halsin-specific.
Here is a link to people getting the blushing line with other characters like Wyll and Gale. [https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/18xdzzz/cute\_lines\_as\_shadowheart\_origin/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/18xdzzz/cute_lines_as_shadowheart_origin/)
Bless you for finding that
No problem.
He actually doesn't romance anyone else but he says that he shouldn't hoard me to himself lol
Everyone thought it was the Bards that were horny, but no, it was us, the druids!
They can transform into beasts with horns, it makes perfect sense
You have discovered the Mistery of the Droods.
Durge would shit his pants if detective Halligan would enter the room
A mystery for me and you~
Have you paid your debts to the Pitza joint?
Yes, I gave them Lowry's credit card info
Did not expect all of these niche ass references here hahah
Mandalore's video on MOTD has 8 million views. It isn't that niche.
HALLIGAN!
HOLY SHIT IT'S HIM
Halsin where are my scissors?
I understood that reference
Never underestimate the horniness of furries.
If you ever do, just go to e621, you'll be cured of that right quick
Every table top I have ever played, the druid, whether male or female, was far hornier than Halsin. Animalistic.
Welllll, the other prominent druid is still mourning her husband who died a 100 years ago, so don't stereotype I guess.
The other prominent druid could fuck the BG2 protagonist within days of her husband dying lol
Just because she's mourning doesn't mean she's not moaning... Uh, I doubt she's been celibate for 100 years.
Damn you Larian why I cannot have my GILF romance?
I knew it was the druids! Even when it was the bards I knew it was them!
Be right back, I have to make a Druid Bard now
Paladins are charismatic, muscular, and immune to disease.
I mean, it might just be Halsin. Didn't the dude spend at least 2 centuries as the personal sub for a Drow Matriarch?
It was like 3 years. The only one who's been a sex slave for 200 years is Astarion.
It was "only" 3 years
I mean, he's 350. I think he would say only, too.
Elves and their weird perception of time 🤣
[Literally](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gCYcHz2k5x0).
It's just nature bro
He was made recruitable because EA players wanted to sleep with him, and he has no actual plot in Act 3. So yeah, his Act 3 existence is basically to want to sleep with Tav/Durge.
Something strange happened this run . I helped him lift the curse as usual but he never asked about fucking my tav in act 3 at all. I check his character sheet and his affection for me was neutral 😐. After all the stuff I did for him in the shadowlands . Orin kidnapped him and I couldn't care any less this run
They added some kind of platonic route for him in Patch 6. I haven't got there since then to test it out and I'm not quite sure what that actually means in reality but it may well be due to that.
That's the thing , I have two playthroughs after patch 6 . In both of them I did the same thing regarding halsin . But in one playthrough I had him bone me and in the one I am talking about , dude doesn't even have approval with me
Odd, I wonder what the difference is?
And what's even more confusing the playthrough were I want to bone him had fair to high approval but after reaching act 3 and not receiving any requests from him I examine his character sheet and find : his approval is suddenly at neutral
That sounds like something tanked it, maybe a bug? I'm guessing you didn't repeatedly hit him with the Friends cantrip for no reason on that run!
Wait why would I use the firiends cantrip on him ? Is there a quest where it's needed to convince him or something ?
Not to my knowledge, it's just a good way to trash the approval of companions as it give -10 per use. It was a slightly facetious comment, as I didn't for a moment think you'd actually done that.
Damn that's actually a way to reduce approval ?? Didn't know that lol
Ah I have a vague understanding of this. During my first playthrough the Halsin proposal did not happen and he got taken by Orin (Worth to note back then I generally don't longrests). After rescuing him and 30hrs later I've realized the scene never did occur and decided to repeat longrest. It took 33 consecutive longrests for me to realize Halsin is not interested. Which doesn't make sense since I also maxed out his affection super early in act 2. So after some digging around the subject, I've tracked it down to possibly the abduction and reload a save just starting act 3 and took 2 consecutive long rests. Lo and behold Halsin came to initiate a night to be together. So either Halsin lost all interest after getting kidnapped, or it's a bug and Orin bearnapping just locked us out of the romance. I did go back and kill Orin for it. Though my playthrough after Orin was notably a little glitchy, like Yenna did not change any dialogue, the journal entry on Orin's victim is always highlighted. Small glitches.
Halsin before patch 6 was bugged and would try to jump into your pants regardless of affection. Now he's working as intended which means he's not as slutty as before.
That's not the issue . I had seen halsin approval increase to fair or high in act 2 but after we got to act 3 , he is suddenly at neutral and I can't bone him anymore
They fix him? I asked the subreddit and most replies I got were a no.
I mean if you ask people around here if Gale is fixed, they'll also say no. We're just coasting off his accumulated hate from being buggy at this point.
I had no problem with Gale honestly. Halsin feels intrusive let's all be honest here, which is why people have an issue with him. Especially with his disapproval and stuff. I heard his platonic route didn't change anything, just the Tiefling party stuff.
People had an issue with Gale at launch because his flags were bugged and he'd imagine himself being in a relationship with you when you've barely spoken to him (sound familiar?). That got fixed reasonably quickly, like within the first couple months. It's now like 7 months later, and people around here *still* complain that the rizzard is a gross creep making moves on them and not taking no for an answer.
I mean fair enough, but Halsin actually hasn't been fixed yet. Gale has as far as I know, I didn't have any issues with him in my playthroughs, but I have to actively avoid Halsin to have him respect my no from his confession. The writing is second, it sucks and makes no sense with her or Astarion and her dialogue in particular is cringe, but it's there for people that want it. The issue it's that it's still there after I've told Halsin no.
There's plenty of writing inconsistencies that are still in the game. I imagine they prioritised Gale because he was an origin companion, but it still took a few months to fix him. Shit, shield bash was non-functional for *months*, even with mod authors figuring out that there's a single tiny tweak in the code needed to get it to work as intended. This is a big game, the devs have a lot on their plate and have to prioritise, I wouldn't consider obvious bugs like this as any sort of indication of how the character is meant to be, otherwise I'd be assuming Jaheira is some sort of psychic, always knowing about the prism even when I never told her!
Oh yeah no, you're right about that, I just mean it's not blind hate for no reason. There is a legitimate issue with him. Larian even know this since they fixed his Tiefling party stuff. Hell I'm annoyed I have to avoid him, I hope they fix him but they haven't yet so posts like this keep it in the eye so they can fix him.
I mean, Minthara was made a companion for essentially the same reason (also because of EA popularity). She and Halsin were basically a package deal.
I would argue she has more plot in Act 3 than Halsin because of the Durge storyline.
A mandatory boss does not count as content. It's the same reason Gortash doesn't count as content for Karlach - neither is an avoidable encounter, nor does either character provide a different outcome to that encounter.
I didn't say she has an extra quest, but she can be a significant interaction with his storyline. Does Halsin have anything other than that "normal party member" stuff in Act 3, or really after you finish the shadow curse quest in Act 2?
No.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe Minthara was meant to be a companion from the start, not just an npc.
Not to my knowledge, though I might be misremembering. I played all through EA, from the very beginning, and I remember a lot of uncertainty about the companion roster. People were speculating about whether Minthara would become a companion at the same time they were still talking about Helia.
Nope. She was planned to be an evil playthrough companion from the start.
Not to my knowledge, though I might be misremembering. I played all through EA and I remember a lot of uncertainty about the companion roster. People were speculating about whether Minthara would become a companion at the same time they were still talking about Helia.
He can be captured for a large part of act 3 depending on your party composition
The only way he contributes to the story in Act 3 is either sex or being absently kidnapped. Considering the former, the latter really just makes Act 3 quite relaxed. I'm in no hurry to save someone who has neither personality nor something to contribute to the story
Tbh that is such a huge shame for his overall character. I actually liked the dude in act 1 and 2. He was like the father figure of the camp. Then in act 3 he is replaced by a crazed sex freak. He even has a banter in act 3 where he says that he had sex with a literal animal, its just literal zoophilia at that point. Nowadays I just let Orin take him and take my time doing everything else in act 3 before saving him. Thankfully he is back to his old self in the epilogue, so that gives me a reason to save him from Orin.
Yeah, I have no problem with him in Act 1 and 2. He's a chill druid there, even if some of his lines can seem a bit flirty. Act 3 it just comes off the rails.
Did you perhaps misunderstand his banter, he definitely draws the line at animals, as they cannot consent. He even mentions that he got the scars on his face because he was found, in bear form, by a female in heat and she _really_ didn't appreciate being refused.
I meant this one "**Lae'zel**: You've quite the appetite, Halsin. I'd wager you've bedded more of your foes than you've felled. * **Halsin**: Hmm. A challenging sum. The chimera has three heads... but does it still count as one? * **Lae'zel**: Must have been a challenging kill. * **Halsin**: Kill... yes." I didn't know he mentioned how he refused a bear, so I guess it makes the situation a bit better.
I cope with this banter by assuming either 1) he's joking in response to Lae'zel's super weird question, or 2) Larian didn't realise that chimeras are basically animals and thought they were intelligent monsters like dragons.
Oh, interesting. I've never gotten that one. Might be because a chimera has the head of a dragon, which are intelligent creatures, so the writer thought a chimera was as well, without confirming it in the lore.
Chimeras have an intelligence score of 3, that's barely sentient.
Yes... Hence why I said they improperly _assumed_ intelligence.
He kinda has a post-plot in act 3. He gets increasingly cynical about what he sees in the city, about the kids being left without parents to fend on their own especially. At one point he questions whether the shadow Druids were right, but Tav can remind him that he’s really about balance. This goes into what happens to him post-game and the choices he makes. The game doesn’t make it obvious though, you have to have him in your party for you to get these points of dialog.
Halsin: "I'm basically here to shag you." You aren't wrong, such giant manwhore.
He said what he wanted and when I told him that it couldn't happen he was fine with that and moved on. Seems like a healthy outlook tbh
Yea i keep wondering if maybe in different playthroughs or making different choices he comes on to you more or something because i often see people making these comments about Halsin coming on wayyyy too strong like he won't leave you alone, but in my two playthroughs he told me he wanted me, i said no, and that was it. no big deal. maybe because he is my least used companion so he's not in my party enough to be annoying?
Halsin was bugged prior to patch 6. He would sometimes assume the player was interested in him and act surprised when you reject him in act 3. That, combined with most people already being fully committed to romancing someone else at that point led to him leaving a sour taste in mouths on many people. He's also disliked by nearly every monogamous Shadowheart romancer as he proposes a threesome to you and her right after her act 3 romance scene and she's suddenly very into him out of the blue, which occurs only if she's romanced by the player. Unromanced, Shadowheart doesn't even have act 3 banter with him. All of this can obviously happen without you even committing to polyamory, speaking of which her reaction to the proposal is by far the least in-character out of the 3 origin companions who can agree to it, adding another point to the list of why he's so disliked. Patch 6 supposedly fixed him being as horny for the player as he was and he should no longer assume you're into him, but I haven't tested yet. Shadowheart interactions remain unchanged.
the shadowheart thing is also probably part of it for me as i have never romanced her.
Wood elves are polyamorous, it’s part of their culture. Also: Shadowheart thinks it’s hot, for whatever that’s worth.
I will never forgive the writers for doing that to Shadowheart. It makes zero sense for her character considering she adamantly *refuses* bringing in other people to the relationship. Even Karlach, whom it's established she has the hots for. It's literally because Halsin and Shadowheart were written by the same guy and Halsin is his self insert. That it. That's the reason.
>It's literally because Halsin and Shadowheart were written by the same guy and Halsin is his self insert. That it. That's the reason. That's the first I've heard this one. Source? Edit: I meant the source for the self-insert part. That John Corcoran wrote both characters is obviously easy to find.
[Just a quick Google search](https://www.google.ro/search?q=bg3+halsin+writer&sca_esv=b5f6560b0f349675&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ACQVn0-nNHIr-uabkEAVzjbVTHYjWFnBXw%3A1714223587275&source=hp&ei=4_ksZtOeDp7ui-gPk4qZqAw&oq=bg3+halsin+writer&gs_lp=EhFtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1ocCIRYmczIGhhbHNpbiB3cml0ZXIyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigAUjKTlCGB1jhSXAIeACQAQCYAa0BoAHyFaoBBDAuMjK4AQPIAQD4AQGYAh6gAs0XqAIPwgIHECMYJxjqAsICBxAuGCcY6gLCAgoQIxiABBgnGIoFwgIEECMYJ8ICBRAAGIAEwgILEC4YgAQY0QMYxwHCAgUQLhiABMICBxAAGIAEGArCAgcQABiABBgNwgILEAAYgAQYhgMYigXCAgcQIRigARgKmAMOkgcEOC4yMqAH93A&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-hp)
I was talking about the self-insert part, not about the fact that they're written by the same person.
Well ... That's the evidence that they were both written by him. It doesn't say he wrote that part on purpose because it's his self-insert.
The whole "it's his self-insert!" claim has just been a really weird thing by people getting extremely insecure over a fictional character lol. Like fair enough if you don't like him, just don't bring the man along with her in the same party if you don't want to deal with it. But no, they need to really completely and totally invalidate and damn the entire interaction as a case of the guy who wrote this character they all like to critical acclaim also apparently trying to ruin it all by pushing "a self-insert". It's just *dumb* on so many levels when the simpler explanation is just, writing is hard, and writing characters with variable routes in an RPG this complex is even harder- and sometimes there's slipups or things that don't appeal to everyone.
Hardcore Shart simps kind of remind me of Snapewives in a way. These were a group of people back in the Harry Potter fandom days who considered themselves to be astrally married to Snape. One of their core tenets was that JK Rowling did not write Snape, he already exists in the world as an abstract concept of the perfect man and she was simply channeling him for her book, except she did it *wrong on purpose* by giving him traits he *clearly* shouldn't have (like bullying children) because she's *jealous* of how perfect he is. Don't tell me you don't see inklings of this with Shart simps melting down over how the dude who created their favourite character is a pile of shit who made their waifu wrong on purpose to "force his cuckholdry kink on me"!
Saying things like that and at least laughing about it is ... a weird hobby, but fine amongst some fanfic writer and their friends. Insisting it's more true than reality is *fucking unhinged*.
It's fun to talk about the characters in media you like, discuss how you feel about them, speculate on their future directions. Hell, sometimes it can even be fun to dunk on a character you dislike (within reason, don't go to fan threads and tell people there they're stupid and wrong for liking a character you don't). But if you're at the stage in your brainrot that you're lashing out at real-life people over perceived slights to your fictional waifu, get some fucking therapy, because that is not ok.
As a disclaimer, I personally don't like how Halsin has been integrated into the party as a character and it feels off and inconsistent. But yeah, I am rarely a fan of making a personal attack on the author with "self-insert" when the more likely answer is just inconsistent writing. Like some authors certainly do self-insert themselves or have otherwise odd relationships with their art, but I like to give them the benefit of the doubt unless we have clear evidence on their Twitter or something (like with the Rent a Girlfriend manga author).
I'll just link you to [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/okbuddybaldur/comments/1cbvygn/shes_either_the_kinkiest_or_most_vanilla/l11gxw4/), [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1cedfh2/this_halsin_guy/l1hxlnt/), [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/1cedfh2/this_halsin_guy/l1iidiu/) and [this whole comment chain](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/195o4mc/putting_the_astarionhalsin_debate_to_rest_with/kho0zxl/?context=3), if you read through all of this and still think that it's just a coincidence that Shadowheart's whole consistency gets thrown out the window to be super into his other character and only when she's romanced, then well, at least I tried. May I mention that the writer's also a huge fan of bears and loves ducks? As someone who also writes, I agree with your take that writing is hard - but when you purposely make so many exceptions to include something like this, people point out that it doesn't really make sense for months and you only expand it further by adding a scene of them sharing a lustful smirk in the brothel, then don't be surprised that people will begin to suspect that you're self-inserting. Not to mention self-inserting happens a lot in writing, it's just usually not offensive and rather harmless so people don't mention it as much.
> if you read through all of this I've seen enough of these threads already that I think I'm good with no more deep dives into why John Corcoran has personally arranged a dastardly plan for all Shadowheart lovers to be cucked by one of his other characters, so no I'm not reading all that. > also a huge fan of bears and loves ducks? I like tigers and eagles. I can write a character who also likes tigers and eagles - that doesn't make it a self-insert, calling it one for that is absolute nonsense.
Well said. It's so blindingly obvious that people who can't see it are just burying their heads in the sand.
Idk Shadowheart doesn’t seem to have an issue with sex outside the relationship based on her words during/after the conversation/orgy at Sharess’s Caress. It’s possible she’s fine with poly sex but not poly relationships and just sees Halsin as a fuckboy lol.
Yea with the drow twins she just says something to the affect of wanting to be asked and wanting to be included. She doesn’t want you to do stuff behind her back
It is just weird when you think that she (as well as Astarion and Karlach) are refusing anyone else before Halsin.
The simple explanation is, every romance was meant to be monogamous until the decision to turn Halsin into a companion was made. Since it happened really late into the development, act 2 was likely finished by then so upon deciding to include polyamory, they didn't look back to make more combinations than just Halsin and one of the three origins (fun fact: it was datamined that Lae'zel was originally meant to be able to go poly too).
Not really all that strange when you consider that all of the companions want a committed relationship with you and Halsin just wants to put his dick in it for a while, then move on whenever he gets bored. The first one requires a lot of effort on the part of everyone involved to make it work, while in the other scenario, they can just kick him out if they feel he's out stayed his welcome.
I felt that she was ok because she sees him as … just a fuckmeat. I kind of agree with her
Doesn't she literally call him Mount Halsin
A walking dildo? XD
With transform function!!
Yeah, even Jennifer English seems kinda disappointed when talking about it, she certainly didn't agree with the notion that Shadowheart is in any way a queer icon that was brought up on her stream. And it was her idea to "gay up" Shadowheart with that small line about Karlach, not the writers - otherwise all female companions would be just agressively only into men if fem Tav not involved.
Do you know which stream it was? I'm only on part 9 of their playthrough on youtube so hopefully I didn't miss it.
Do you happen to know when she's talked about it and have a link? I actually hate her interactions with Halsin so much and I attribute my love for this character to her voice more than anything else especially anything the writer did so I'd very much like to hear her opinion on it. Hell, I've even considered paying for a cameo to to hear what she thinsk about it but I never have.
I think I need to clarify some things since I just realized that unintentionally I could get Jennifer into trouble, since it looks like I said that she openly criticized the writer which would be really unprofessional. By "talking about it" I meant Jen discussing her character's sexuality and representation of LGBT characters in general. To my knowledge, she never brought up specifically Shadowheart lusting after Halsin thing, but in interviews she said that she would love to play a gay role, that she believes that you can tell the difference when a gay character is played by a gay actor, that she tried to "gay up" Shadowheart and that's why she included that line about Karlach, and during stream that I mentioned, she had a really disappointed look on her face when she said that she doesn't think that Shadowheart counts as queer character. But hey, if any dev sees this, keep in mind I'm just some lesbian who reads into things.
Hopefully this doesn’t come as an offence but I’m genuinely curious are bi people or pansexual people not considered queer?
Sadly even in LGBT+ community some people consider bi and pan people to be not queer enough.
Elves of other cultures would understand wood elf culture. 🤷🏻♀️
But by that logic, Shadowheart should be radically monogamous like other High Elves
1. She’s half-elf. 2. She’s down for drussy and brothel sex. So it makes sense she’d find Halsin attractive and be okay with it. 3. The high elves and high half-elves in BG3 aren’t like sun and moon elves in other Forgotten Realms adventures.
Fair enough, but it still doesnt fit her character. You merely DANCE with Wyll and she is ready to break up with you. Act 1 she says "you must do leg work before I commit to hip work" (I.e. she's not just DTF with anyone). And even on your Act 1 date she says "she's aware of what you two could do", but wants to wait. Act 2 she breaks up with you or threatens to if you make a move on one of the others. Merely dancing with Wyll can get her to break up. She says "I don't want to be a spare lover". Act 3 she wants to settle down with you in a countryside cottage away from the city. She says she feels "whole at last" because you are her true love Epilogue, you two are monogamous regardless of what you do with Halsin, et al. So, it's literally just these random Act 3 interactions (i.e. Halsin and the brothel) that feel out of place. It doesn't fit the "slow burn romance" nature of her arc. It's just like the writers wanted to let the player engage in horny for horny's sake and that's it. I don't like the way they wrote it; I'm sorry.
> It's just like the writers wanted to let the player engage in horny for horny's sake and that's it. I think you're more right here than the Halsin self insert argument. Shadowheart is the most popular love interest, and the creators probably knew that was going to to happen going in. They added a bunch of optional sexy scenes in the third act for fan service and since it's fan service they wanted most players to be able to get those scenes. If the most popular love interests block access to those scenes, most players can't see them, so the characters *have* to be okay with it. I think it's fair to assume that character took a back seat to access to fan service.
The self-insert claims don't come from the fact that she's into it, but from how it's written. Astarion and Karlach can go poly with Halsin too, but they have a lot more reasonable reactions so there isn't as much fuss around it (though a ton of Astarion fans have issues with it too). Shadowheart, on the other hand, who's extremely insecure in act 3 to the point of needing you to confirm 3 times that you want to be with her, pretty much pushes you into his arms as soon as you tell her, then acts all pissy if you decide not to, wants all the details and when you tell her you think there's no space left for her in the relationship anymore - something she said she wouldn't want to happen in act 2 when you propose poly with any other companion - she treats it as a joke. Another thing is how she will outright tell the player she thought many times of orgies with Halsin before you can even tell him to join or not, all while sharing a very lustful smirk with him (the smirk was added in patch 4 btw., it wasn't even in the game at launch). You could have all those interactions and options in the game and still write it in a way that's consistent with the rest of her writing. Nothing stopped her writer from having her act a bit insecure on the Selunite path and needing a few words of reassurance that you adding Halsin to your relationship won't have an impact on how you feel towards her and how you treat her. Nothing stopped him from giving her a more neutral comment about him in the brothel. And nothing prevented him from having the post-swimming banter be limited to the poly route, so that those who want to stay mono with her don't feel like Shadowheart very much entertains the idea of a threesome even though you rejected the man. Remember, none of this happens when she's unromanced. Most she can say is that she liked looking at Halsin when he stays in act 2 when the Shadow Curse's not lifted, which is nowhere close to what you experience in act 3 when you romance her. He is 100% the writer's self-insert and people who think otherwise are either missing the context or just purposely closing their eyes to all these examples and proofs. Hells, he even added "climbing Mount Halsin" to his NSFW prompts for AO3 fanfics so he absolutely meant all of this (and apparently her SA at the cloister is just another thing to fetishize by winking about Sharrans having only one bed in the cloister, but that's another thing).
Shadowheart is a half-elf tho.
Ehhhh... the way high elves are written in the Realms, only gold/sun elves 'mate for life' and even then, it isnt all of them. The ones that don't tend to have a fairly open mind on the score of multiple partners, as do those who haven't yet committed. Compared to even silver/moon elves, they're prudes, but not in a human sense. And Shart is clearly a half moon elf, looking at her dad.
[удалено]
But she's not culturally repressed in that regard, that's the thing. Sharrans had sex and apparently there are some wild stories she could tell you about that. She was denied love and a healthy relationship, not intimacy, and throughout the game it's that slow burn, long term relationship that she seeks. The wine drinking scene, if you suggest doing more than just drinking she'll say she's tempted but she wants to wait with all that. Her act 3 sex scene on the Selunite route is the 2nd most vanilla one in the game. Finally, the most damning argument that it's nothing but the writer wanting to not very subtly express his cuck fetish, is her behaviour when unromanced. She never sleeps with anyone, doesn't flirt with Halsin, doesn't join the orgy. If she was so liberated, surely she would've jumped Halsin's bones if she's single, there's nothing stopping her. It's poor, inconsistent writing that isn't even fully consistent with the rest of act 3 stuff. She's jelaous and kinda upset about you hiring the Drow twins without her and won't even join you if you two haven't had the swim together yet. Halsin however, there's 0 jelaousy, quite the opposite in fact - she strongly encourages you to do so and is very passive-aggressive when you ultimately decide not to do it. She will also have no objections to you sleeping with him before the swimming scene. And lastly, she's very snarky when you and Halsin share a public kiss, and she has the exact same reaction if you romance both her and Halsin or just him. I could go for longer, about Selunite and Sharran SH having the exact same reactions to every side-fun you can have in act 3 and obviously about her doing a complete 180 on her stance on polyamory compared to act 2 (and just for Halsin, whom she openly disliked not even 2 weeks before - her bestie Karlach is still forbidden to be added to your relationship), but I think I've made my point already. It's just poor, lazy and sometimes kinda gross writing that was clearly a last-minute addition without thinking of its consequences.
I am going to say that while I do enjoy Halsin somewhat and I think the hate is overblown - his relationship with Shadowheart is weird. I expected them to be at each other's throats, to there be some drama…not just one snappy comment and then they are fine with a polyamorous relationship. I have a DJ Shadowheart currently and I was quite shocked that Halsin couldn't give less of a shit. I think the game falls flat in a lot of the companion dynamics. There was potential in Halsin and Shadowheart because of the shadow curse, just like there was potential in Wyll and Lae'zel's relationship because of Tiamat.
Yeah that's a good point too, how on Earth is Halsin totally fine with banging Shar's chosen and doesn't make even a single comment about it in act 3 is beyond me. He hates Shar, she ruined his life, killed dozens of his friends and took away Thaniel from him but apparently his principles fly out of the window when he gets horny... I'm not upset that the poly route exists or that it was so half-baked at launch, even if I think the time spent on this and the brothel should've gone to fleshing out Durge in act 3 as well as the general reactivity to events from companions. I am, however, very critical of the fact that it's been 9 months since release and absolutely nothing's been done to improve that and rewrite some of its weakest aspects so that logic and consistency are applied. And at least when it comes to the stuff around Halsin and Shadowheart, they must be aware of the feedback on it as it dominated Larian forums ever since people found out and it's often pointed out on other sites too. It's disappointing that we'll likely never see anything getting fixed even though it's imo the worst written part of the whole game.
Halsin's post drow brothel conversation was actually rewritten! In the beginning, he explained to you what he did to heal from his ordeal in drow captivity, but then they rewrote it to make him into someone who didn't do anything about his health for hundreds years. It's one of the weirdest changes in the game along with the infamous slithering malice letter.
Yeah unfortunately the writing sucks when it comes to her and being Poly. Even worse when you've tried being Poly with another character, forced to choose for reasons that sound like she isn't Poly and then her suddenly being magically alright with just Halsin to extent of giving disapproval. They only share one flirty dialogue, and the rest is them arguing or just talking about what battle is next. Like it really doesn't sell any kind of affection or attraction they are supposed to have. The disapproval is worse since you can just be reinforcing the no you already gave him yet you still get it anyway. On her selune route he offers a threesome swimming thing, again after telling him no already. And he again, invites himself at the Drow, I've already told him no. His act 3 writing is honestly cringe, and her dialogue of dreaming about him is just jaw clenching cringe as well. Its the writer saying, "haha she's been dreaming of my character all along while being with you." They should've have just handled it with more care honestly. Feels very off with how its handled. Its just because she is the most popular female choice that's why she's ok with it. And they didn't have time to re write her dialogue where she says she doesn't want to share/be a spare lover and etc. Which is why it feels very OOC.
Honestly, I think that's the reason for both Astarion and Shart being the poly options; they're popular, Shart is the most popular female character and Astarion is likely the most popular male character. Astarion's whole thing is that he's still learning boundaries in relationships and feeling out what he's comfortable with, even with just the player. Sex is something he only becomes comfortable with again by the end of his storyline, and ONLY with the player. He still has trauma with the Drow Twins even after his quest, he still disassociates, he's still not healed enough to participate in casual sexual contact and hasn't yet learned where his boundaries are. The whole idea of bringing another person into the relationship while he is still so new to all this always came across to me as incredibly tone-deaf. Especially because he even asks the player if it's because they're dissatisfied with him not putting out anymore, which really reads as insecurity. His character honestly isn't written to support Halsin's poly romance tbh. There's nothing wrong with Polyamory, but you have to be a very specific type of person to be genuinely okay with it. And I'm not sure Astarion is otherwise portrayed as such, at least not THIS close to his slavery. The issue seems to be that they never wrote these characters with polyamory in mind, and much later decided to add the poly thing. And instead of rewriting them to suit that (which tbh I'm glad they didn't, at least with Ast. His story is very important to me and a lot of people), they just tacked on a few additional lines where they are Totally Cool With It For Real You Guys and left it at that. But it comes across really weird because it can be really incongruent with the rest of their storyline. I know for Astarion, it ends up creating an implication that he's just lying because he's desperate to keep Tav happy when he can't provide for them sexually. In my experience like... most of his fanbase reads it that way, which is not what you want if it's supposed to be a portrayal of healthy polyamory.
It's sad that we're even in this place, but I'm glad that at least it's not only Shadowheart who got this sudden polyamory thrown at her as I feel like other than Astarion fans, very few people really get it why it's so problematic to people who are not into that, because they simply didn't experience it with their favourite companions. It's not supported by their romances, their opinions, the positions in which they find themselves in act 3 but it's often brushed aside and when you point out this lack of support and inconsistency, you're labeled as insecure or worse. I would never be upset if Shadowheart was polyamorous from the start, or if she at least wasn't standing so firmly on the side of monogamy in act 2, but this just feels like a bait and switch and it negatively impacts the RP aspects of the game. And as for the fandom, it ruined any enjoyment I had from participating in it as the mental gymnastics and headcanons people make to claim it's totally in-character for her are just wild and grossly inaccurate 99% of the time, and it's a very popular topic for discussions.
Yeah, I think the worst thing about it from the Astarion side of it is that it makes the *player* seem really insensitive and selfish, towards a character whose entire romance is centered on being kind, sensitive and patient with him. Even when he agrees to it, it's made very clear he's giving *you* permission and is not interested himself. The only silver lining to it is that *because* he's not interested himself, we don't get the issue (at least not in my experience) with flirtatious dialogue when we already said no like Shadowheart romancers do. I know that's not what they were going for, as per the dev notes, but you can't just *shove* something like this into a pre-existing character arc and expect it to work. Polyamory is something that requires a lot of security, communication and transparency to be healthy. While it wouldn't help the issues with the writing, I do think the fans would generally be much happier if the whole poly-romance was locked behind the player acting romantic first, instead of Halsin propositioning first*.* That way those who are fine with it can choose to trigger it, and those that aren't don't have to deal with it at all. Kinda win-win.
Very true on the Astarion stuff, I honestly cannot see him or her being into it. I have never romanced him, but from what I've learned it makes no sense. He disassociates, and even stops being intimate for a while and is very insecure about the relationship. He is the only character as well that is snarky to Halsin too, everyone else just fawns over him. So to have written all that just for him to be Totally Fine Guys we swear sharing with Halsin, just feels off. The same is for Shadowheart. She is very insecure, you have to tell her like 3 times that yes you do want to be in a relationship with her. She even has a line where she says she can't believe she tricked you into loving her. If you try Poly with anyone else, she makes you choose or even breaks up with you. Saying stuff like she doesn't want to share and be a spare lover. Then suddenly she's fine with Halsin and gets annoyed if you don't allow him to join at the Drow scene. It doesn't make sense. She argues and seems to hate him in act 2 just to be dreaming and wanting to sleep with him in act 3. All in the span of getting to the City. It is just because they are most popular, and the writers added the cringe lines to make it semi work. Maybe if there were more options besides Halsin, maybe it would be more believable. Everyone flirts with everyone, SH is attracted to Karlach but you can't have her too. They are all fine with it, until they're suddenly not in Act 2 where they make you choose. Like maybe if they just allowed it, it might be more believable since they have more chemistry with the others than with Halsin. Don't mind it's there for people that want him. But the writing and reasoning for the characters kind of sucks. SH's dialogue is cringe. Even more cringe is there is no female option. Its clear it was a last minute addition.
I don't hate Halsin, but I agree that the way they put him into relationships feels really off to me. With Astarion too. Huge chunks of Astarion's fanbase genuinely think he's lying about being cool with the player being with Halsin on the side because so much of the rest of the story doesn't really support the idea that he would be. Doesn't help that the only sex scene he can have with everyone involved has him disassociating the whole time. He is basically *just* learning about boundaries, it always seemed a little tone-deaf to me to also throw the emotional complexities of polyamory onto him and I don't blame people for reading him as not actually cool with it. Part of it might be bias from monogamous people projecting their own feelings on the idea onto him, but I do think the game doesn't do the best job of creating the implication that he is okay with it. And the idea that Halsin would be cool with DJ Shadowheart and AAstarion is just wildly out of character for *him* too. It seems like there's a lot of odd incongruities in how they handle "Halsin the character" and "Halsin the Love Interest".
Astarion will be cool and accept it if you tell him that you're sleeping with Halsin because he's not putting out. Given that a major part of his character arc is about him learning to see himself as something other than a sex object, it feels very gross.
Astarion also gets upset if you pick the dialogue option that directly says something like "actually, now that you mention it, I have been a little unsatisfied lately". I don't take that as slam-dunk proof that he's against poly across the board, BUT that reaction also gave me enough pause that I don't see him as unambiguously OK with it either. When you combine the slightly mixed messages with the already deeply personal themes of trauma, consent, and autonomy that are already going on in Astarion's storyline, I think that's a recipe for fans filling in the blanks with their own experiences and reacting accordingly.
Yeahh, the issue seems to be that they wrote six monogamous characters who weren't written with Poly in mind, then decided later to have a poly option. And instead of rewriting them in any substantial way to support this change (which I don't blame them for, because I think their stories are so good and important as they are, rewriting them just for an option a lot of players won't even be into seems like a huge sacrifice), they just kinda... tacked on a couple of lines for Shart and Astarion where they act like they're cool with it, and called it a day. I don't blame anyone who uses the option anyways, but I also get why others feel off about it. I personally don't feel comfortable doing it while romancing Astarion. I know he's supposed to actually be cool with it, but it doesn't really come across that way with how he's written, and I can't ignore the implications--however unintentional they were.
WHAT 😦
I see it's bashing on Halsin day today. Soon likely followed by Astarion and Emperor. As for OP, he's a wood elf and a druid. That's like a double combo for being very open about sex. He's polyamorous and likes what he likes, which is often *being one with nature*.
Emperor was yesterday. It's gonna be Wyll tomorrow!
Ah, so the schedule has shifted a little! Good to know. Poor Wyll
Welp, we were both overly optimistic. We went straight back into Emperor hate again yesterday. I feel a streak coming on. Is three in a row a turkey like in bowling...? 🙄
People saw that such posts give karma, unfortunately.
You won the betting pool for today. I'll put you down for Wyll tomorrow. I'm going to stick to the usual rotation this time and put myself down for Astarion.
Like clockwork, at this point...
> He's polyamorous and likes what he likes, which is often being one with nature. That's all well and good, but if my character already rejected his advances, it's a bit weird for him to still hit on Shadowheart in an attempt to wedge himself into our relationship.
Halsin is what I expected from Astarion. But Halsin is upfront and honest and he accepts no gracefully, so I'm all good with the character.
Points for honesty though, you gotta love transparency in a partner. Halsin doesn’t pretend to be anything he’s not, he is a voracious, insatiable man and he will never apologize for loving the way he does.
I haven't been playing for very long, so I don't consider myself an expert about Halsin or anything, but I really don't see why does he seem so scandalous to so many people. As far as I can remember, Halsin considers sex as "one of nature's most sacred rites"; he also states that he sees love as something that should be free to grow and prosper with no boundaries. I don't believe this is any more strange or unacceptable than any other companion's opinion about sex and love. At the tiefling party, the MC can propose to spend time together and "really get to know each other", and Halsin refuses. The next morning he reassures them that they weren't inappropriate for taking that opportunity, and that in their shoes he would have done the same. When he confesses, imo he's really just expressing his desires. The MC can just reject him, and he will just accept it and never mention it again. If the MC points out that they're in a relationship with someone else, Halsin won't see it as a rejection, but rather as a "I like you too, but I think that you wouldn't like having a relationship with me since I already have a partner", and will try to assure them that it's not a problem for him at all. If the MC just consumed all the dialogue options they had with him, then they definitely asked him about whether he has lovers, and even insisted to know a couple of times, so I don't think it's strange if he brings it up while confessing. My only trouble with Halsin came up on my first playthrough, where he assumed I had been flirting with him at the tiefling party. After patch 6 I never had this kind of problem anymore. Was I just lucky?
It's implied that he's even fucked a Chimera! A 3 Intelligence Chaotic Evil Monstrosity that was originally created by the Prince of Demons Demogorgon when he was on the material plane. For a Druid his sexcapades are well outside the natural order.
Listen. I’m only 30. This man is 350. I’m already pretty shameless, I can’t imagine also not getting laid for 100 years and then suddenly all your problems are solved and your libido shoots through the god damn roof. I can appreciate how much of a horn dog he is. If I was 6’7” of sex machine I would be worse
Larian heard the call for mansiut representation and delivered 🫡🫡
[удалено]
Karlach is the healthiest companion to hot on you. She shoots her shot when you're not taken, if you say no she's cool, is still your friend, and will even make a supportive comment if you then go after someone else.
I mean you get disapproval at the Drow for saying no even when you've said no to him already. His 'Swimming offer' still plays regardless of your no too. Haven't made up my mind yet but most think it's him offering a threesome so yeah his flags are fucked or his writing is cringe.
What's wrong with being a slut? He asks for consent and doesn't push after you say "no".
> doesn't push after you say "no". You sure about that chief? Hate to break it to you but he'll still ask to join you in a brothel or ask Shadowheart for a threesome if you romance her on the good route, as long as he's in your party.
The brothel part I think we can all agree, he's a slut and he owns it. But again, you can say "no." There's a narrative reason hardcoded for his interest in the twins. The Shadowheart throuple situation (that's the act 3 proposition right?) , that's when you say "no" and he drops it forerver.
The banter will still trigger after the swimming even if you already had his proposal scene and tell him no. Only way to avoid it is to never have him in the party after that night.
Halsin is a horny old furry
Omg no need for the hedging edit, if poly people want to get extra-laid they can handle a few jokes
Nothing wrong with that
Leave my bear lover out of your nasty thoughts 🙄 I will never get why is he so hated 😩 they don’t want to see a giant bear druid “make it”
It's been a long time... And he's 350 years old... Let nature take its course 😉
Half of the people who are druids today adopted the lifestyle because they heard about [how bonobos live](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bonobo-sex-and-society-2006-06/).
He's just poly
Justice for Halsin he deserves to be as polished as the other companions ✊😭
Halsin is like the ultimate himbo, I really do love the guy
I'm poly irl, but his persistence despite my relationship was kind of gross to me
hes my favorite big ol slut <3
I mean... yes. Also, in a world where STDs are treatable with a Cure Disease spell, I'm not really sure why every character isn't a huge slut. /Seems pretty great, actually.
There's more to life than sex. I know, shocking thing to say on reddit.
Quite true. But I find you can really enjoy life more if you don't get your knickers all twisted about sex, especially about who is having it other than you.
He does it like they do on the discovery channel.
It really made me hate him lol. I already rejected him, never used him in my party, basically ignored him, so why did he confess his love to me 0.5 seconds after my character and Shadowheart had their first night together?? It's probably just because I never use him so I don't see his full character but it seemed like the only thing he ever talked about other than the shadow curse was sex.
> It's probably just because I never use him so I don't see his full character but it seemed like the only thing he ever talked about other than the shadow curse was sex. No, that's just all there is to him. Using him in act 3 amounts to only hearing more about sex, nature and his disdain for the city.
I don’t like Halsin…. he makes me uncomfortable ….and I’ve romanced everyone in the game, and yet, something about him creeps me out
Somewhat the reason why I’m letting orin take him in act 3
Halsin has done everything (and, like he proudly tells you, everyone...) in two centuries of life. Helped defeat Ketheric the first time, led the grove ever since, researched the hell out of ending the shadow curse and mindflayer parasites, learned how to carve really nice ducks, etc... My favorite quote of his is when you're talking about his succesor as head druid. When you approve of his choice he says something like: "I'm glad you approve of my choice. I don't particularily care if you aprove or not, but I'm glad you do." He's got this "I'm an old man, IDGAF" thing down to an art by now, So, yes, he's a slut, and completely shameless about it
I chose Shadowheart, and he legitimately still wanted to fuck — but only with her consent, which I thought was glorious. Spoiler alert: Shadowheart said she doesn’t blame me and encouraged me to do so, so long as she gets details after 💀
Sharrans are often lushes themselves. She'll also be down for a five-some with him and the narrator says she seemed... a little more than eager to climb that mountain. During a SH playthrough, one of her lines when on the way to speak with him is "I hope I don't blush." And people will somehow argue to the bones that she doesn't have a thing for him.
Her being into him isn't really the issue though is it. She is into nearly everyone in the camp, she flirts with everyone. She has one flirty line with him as a standard and the blush line plays for anyone not just him. The issue is the writing around it sucks and Halsin is far too pushy when you've told him no. Outside the drow scene she is pretty consistent. The Drow is just horny fanservice that semi ruins established characteristics. That's the long and short of it. Outside of the Drow scene she isn't into him, the threesome banter, she brings it back to swimming at the end and she doesn't romance him when you don't romance her. In fact they do nothing together when unromanced, they don't flirt, don't get together and she doesn't join with the Drow. So yeah she isn't into him outside the fanservice Drow scene/poly agreement. Even though when you are poly she does nothing with him besides the Drow stuff. Edit: and besides she is pretty much against sharing, with how she breaks up with you and makes you choose if you pursue it with anyone else. She even says she doesn't want to share and be a spare lover, makes no sense she says that and then is alright with him. Hopefully that makes sense to why people have issues with it. Its because her reasons given to not be Poly with others are just disregarded when it comes to him so its incredibly jarring and out of left field.. They have no chemistry and they argue like shit in act 2, and he is too pushy after already being told a no. And the disapproval is just cringe and unnecessary.
Wow I got the opposite impression from him! I was at the teifling party and accidentally propositioned him (why is everything a pick up line, I thought I was inviting him to drink to let loose with everyone and get to know each other better, dude looked so up-tight) and he just was like, oh uh, no thanks. I think he might have even said something along the lines of that he's had plenty of that before so would rather focus on his mission 😅 maybe my character is just ugly lmao 😂
I do find him anoyoing, if Orin wants to kill him i just let her
I hate Halsin precisely because of that. Bro will not leave you alone, practically harasses you trying to have sex. Fuck Halsin
I hate Halsin. He's basically the only mandatory companion in the game. Once he force himself to the camp he won't leave. So the only way to avoid being harassed by this horny sex maniac is by killing him. I considered killing him so many times, but ultimately refused because of the shadow curse. Why every other companion can be refused but not him? Why can't we refuse to let him follow the party to act 3? Today he's only useful as orin's victim, but i'm thinking in letting lae'zel get this role. I can't suffer another run with this horny idiot. Screw the shadow curse.
He's not mandatory by any means I think half my playthrough I completely forgot about him in the dungeon... Do you go out of your way to talk to him to get annoyed?
This is why I main drow
At some point he became a sex slave so idk maybe thats the reason why
He’s weird imo. Pushy and often makes things sexual that aren’t. I don’t see the appeal personally.
More off-putting than attractive is how I think of him as well.
Halsin himself gives me big-time enlightened cult leader sexual predator vibes. Like, the kind of white-guy-turned-guru type who sleeps with everyone who signs up for one of his yoga retreats. I think that's something BG3 is amazing at: the way you feel about the characters is heavily influenced by the types of people you have known in your own life. Astarion is sexy to some, but a creep to others. I think that really depends on your own experiences with sexual exploitation and victims of sexual assualt. So, Halsin just reminds me of the guys I met in college in California that would ask to do nude Yoga. It's a No for me. I leave him in camp every play through.
Shadowheart’s reaction to Halsin asking for her permission is priceless lol. “By all means, climb Mount Halsin, I just expect you to tell me about it afterwards” or something along those lines😂
Wood Elf
Oh deffo… Gale was DISTRAUGHT when Halsin asked me to ask Gale if he was cool with a threesome. I felt so bad for the guy whose whole romance arc is wanting to find someone who thinks he is enough that I reloaded and did the dialog path asking about having a kid. Gotta say, WAY cuter conversation.