Baldur's Gate 3 writer's explanation of Astarion's 'bad' ending is a wake-up call for players lusting over RPG characters

gamesradar.com:

A Baldur's Gate 3 writer has shared the thought process behind Astarion's 'bad' ending, reflecting on the impact that community infatuation with a character can have on the character themselves.

This article contains spoilers for Astarion's storyline in Baldur's Gate 3.

Discord comments from Larian senior narrative designer Baudelaire Welch concerning Astarion and his 'bad' ending were shared on Reddit. That ending hinges on the decisions you make in Astarion's companion quest in Cazador's Palace. If you stop him from Ascending into a powerful vampire lord, you'll get the 'good' endings, but if you let him Ascend, he'll offer to bite you, turning your character into his vampire spawn. 

Assuming you accept that bargain, Astarion becomes a far more possessive character, pushing you to accrue power for yourself at the expense of everyone else. In that ending, if you read Astarion's thoughts, Welch says you'll get the line "he will always see you as degrading yourself if you continue to be with him… but perhaps that's what you like."

Welch says that that 'bad' ending is "ultimately reducing your relationship with him back to being a kink/form of gratification. Which is a fine thing to enjoy as a fantasy, but it's very much admitting that you failed to think of him beyond a sex object. You're so attracted to him, you'd also turn yourself into [a vampire]."

"It's perfectly nice to fantasise about that," they continue, noting that they wrote one of the most outwardly erotic scenes in the entire game. "But it isn't something that I think is a lesson for real life. And I wanted the bad ending to really make you feel 'I failed to see this video game character beyond my own fantasies. The game was more real than I ever expected