Comment on The Sun Also Rises

  1. miss_mina_murray on Chapter 10 Thu 25 Sep 2025 11:46AM UTC

    love it!

    i too think of astarion as some flavor of ace; i have Many Thoughts about this but tldr i agree

    Comment Actions

    1. lovemedaisydo on Chapter 10 Thu 25 Sep 2025 08:51PM UTC

      Thanks for reading!!

      I would love to hear your Thoughts 👀 (if you're comfortable sharing or feel like it of course)

      Comment Actions

      1. miss_mina_murray on Chapter 10 Fri 26 Sep 2025 04:32AM UTC

        sure! obviously astarion's sexuality is heavily impacted by trauma, but I'm particularly focused on a couple things. firstly, halsin and to an extent gale have trauma stemming from sexual abuse, but halsin and gale react really differently to it, halsin especially.

        halsin in particular is very sexual--he enjoys sex for its own sake. he doesn't mind being seen as a sexual person and he's openly sexually attracted to people. astarion in comparison doesn't have any of that--he's neutral to negative on the whole concept of sex, and while he comments on people's appearances, he tends to leave out sexuality when he does. for example, he talks about wyll in romantic terms, not sexual ones ('the sort of crush I'd have if i were 13,'). he talks about karlach's specific abilities and strength, both enviously but also admiring her ability to protect herself.

        astarion, unlike halsin, shows little to no independent, genuine interest in sex. he's just not interested in a sexual relationship, and if you use him as the player character, there's a couple dialogue options that express that.

        he doesn't seem openly sex repulsed, but it just doesn't seem appealing to him, which screams ace to me. tldr i love reading about ace astarion !

        Comment Actions

        1. lovemedaisydo on Chapter 10 Fri 26 Sep 2025 05:38PM UTC

          LOVE this! Thank you!

          I had thought of Halsin to show a bit of contrast in that regard, perhaps I'll still do it.
          As Astarion, do you mean for example the scene with Harleep? "I already lived an eternity devoted to pleasure, and it was rather dull." To me it was an interesting choice of words, because it doesn't refer to trauma, only indifference.

          Would love to hear any takes on the graveyard scene if you have 'em <3

          Comment Actions

          1. miss_mina_murray on Chapter 10 Tue 30 Sep 2025 12:21PM UTC

            aah the graveyard scene! to me astarion seems equally happy if not more happy to just chill with his love interest in the graveyard; to me it sort of seems like he's trying to convince himself that sex doesn't bother him and he does seem to want to have a genuine connection with his love interest, or at least sex that isn't transactional, but is happy to just hang out together.

            Comment Actions