Shadowheart

Shadowheart 🖤

‘Ooooh Shadowheart and Lae’zel is so enemies to lovers’

Listen. Of course they are. Shadowheart has been tasked by her goddess to retrieve the Astral Prism, a Githyanki artifact that Lae’zel is sworn to protect. They try to kill each other at one point.

But that’s not All There Is To It, you feel me? Like that’s not the sole appeal. It’s not even the main appeal.

It’s about them having parallel character arcs. It’s about them being so very different but so fundamentally the same; having their lives stolen from them and molded into the design of an uncaring Goddess. Being a true believer, devout, ready to die for their cause. Only to realize the deception, to feel lost, aimless, without purpose. And having no choice to make their way forward.

It’s about the fact that they’re not *really* enemies, they never were. Rivals, perhaps. At odds at times, certainly. But at the end of it? The conflict between them was built on lies.

It’s about them finding solace in the only other person who knows their struggle; each other. It’s about them learning how to let down their guard and be vulnerable. It’s about them raising Xan together because they’re both free now.

what do u call this ship im obsessed w it... flaming spider?? ?? ??

I follow some people who talk about baldurs gate 3, and the way the fandom almost largely goes out of its way to babygirl everything astarion does while refusing to give the same leniency to the far less evil characters is baffling.

I feel like Gale, Wyll, and Lae'zel are the ones who often make this the most clear. Under the cut.

Whether it's because of the glitch pre console release or just a general refusal to engage with his story, people like to paint this picture of Gale being some Narcissistic abuser who is only ever power hungry. I've seen people try and justify mystra's actions. Now even if Gale was a young adult when Mystra came to him, Mystra is his goddess. She's in charge of the weave. She had so much more power over him, student/teacher and boss/underling relationships are so looked down upon because of that inherent power imbalance. And I think there's also an implication that this is relatively normal for all versions of mystra to do to younger men.

Elminster isn't free of criticism because he actively brought a young Gale to be groomed into becoming a pawn for Mystra. Gale gets discarded by mystra for his seeming ambition and wants to move on, but is also still desperate to please her in anyway he can, and she tells him to kill himself. I don't understand how people go through his plotline and see him believing the only way he's useful is dead and then just assume he's just power hungry. Is he a bit full if himself? Yes. He's a wizard. They're like that. But he's not the worst person in the world, and he's definitely not the one people should claim as the abuser in his relationship with Mystra.

People call Wyll boring, some paint this idea of him being holier than thou/looking down on everyone around him. Since he was 17 Wyll has given his whole life to protecting people and trying to be a hero. He's self sacrificial, thrown out by his father for making a pact he only made to save the city he adores. Wyll talks so much about baldurs gate. He wants to return.

Wyll has his body altered unwillingly for doing the right thing and yet he never once regrets it. He's made into a devil, the creatures so many of the npcs and companions loathe, for his kindness. He's constantly tricked and mocked by Mizora who we know from the game was sent by Zariel to corrupt a good hearted person. Even still, Wyll is a kind and honest man. He's charming and a bit cheesy but that's fine. Wyll can be incredibly self sacrificial and stubborn in his morals, but if you're running around doing mean things to impress Astarion, you can't blame Wyll for not liking your character and judging you. He's a hero of the people, of course he'd stand with them. We also need to remember he got so heavily redone that he has barely 6 hours of in-game content now. Which is abysmal compared to everyone else.

Lae'zel was raised by a cult, a cult that spans all her people where they're taught to bow and serve a lich queen who promises them glory if they're good enough. She can be harsh and unfriendly, but we need to remember she's the one most aware of what the tadpole can do and with that in mind we know she's very desperate to get things done and cure herself. Next to astarion she's the most evil aligned origins companion, and even still so much of that is due to being brainwashed into a certain belief.

Lae'zel in canon is the youngest companion, very early 20s and it often shows. She's a skilled warrior who doesn't see the need for statements that are already obvious. She's been beaten into shape and filled with ideas that unless she's perfect as the creche commands then she is worthless. She's scared and alone in act 1 with people who most likely don't care about it the same way she does. Lae'zel is imperfect like all the other companions, but if you're willing to accept that astarion is soft under all his bluster, why can't you do the same for Lae'zel?

I don't hate Astarion, I liked him a lot my first playthrough, he was my main romance. But the way the fandom ignores that he's definitely evil in act 1 and 2 because "I just don't see him that way", how people act like he's the only character in the cast who was abused when abuse and the cycles of it are the main theme of the game, how people willfully misunderstand his ascension ending and paint it as his good one when the writers state repeatedly it's not, the way the fandom will insult and demean other characters for jabbing at astarion's trauma but applaud him when he does the same exact thing, when they ignored his racism towards gnomes and gur (which is anti Romani racism repackaged). There's also a chance that in his time, Astarion was a corrupt politician, something making his death more complicated but also adding interest to it that a lot of his fans want to ignore to make him pure.

Astarion isn't perfect, none of the companions are. And they're not supposed to be. But his special treatment by fans is becoming so incredibly tiresome to see.

Wyll Week

A week long festival from the 17th to 23rd of March dedicated to the warlock to whom we all contractually owe our hearts - the Babe of Frontiers, Wyll Ravengard.

Create fanworks! Try out all his new kisses! And send feedback to Larian so that they know how much you love, appreciate, and desperately want to see more of him.

We've got prompts for every day of the week, including NSFW, but don’t think you have to follow them - we want to see all your Wyll centric fanworks. Use #wyllweek or #wyll week to tag your works.

And remember to submit feedback to Larian here so that they know we the people want to see more of our hero, our Duke, our good friend and sometimes lover, Wyll Ravengard.