Summary

• Astarion's Ascended ending is widely considered evil, undoing his character growth.
• Shadowheart's Dark Justiciar path can be seen as more evil than Astarion's Ascended route.
• Shadowheart's justification for her actions as a Dark Justiciar is particularly sad and troubling.

It’s well-accepted among Baldur’s Gate 3 players that Ascended Astarion is one of the more evil endings for companions. Once the vampire has taken the place of his master in the Vampire Ascendant ritual, the growth he’s learned throughout the game is suddenly undone. Though he spends much of his dialogue telling Tav his plan to take Cazador’s place, going against his spoken wishes is what creates the circumstances for Astarion’s character arc.

Even Larian Studios agrees that letting Astarion ascend is an evil option if Tav's default reaction is any indicator. Players have resorted to a mod to get their character to smile while kissing Astarion post-ascending, as this is the only way for Tav to get Tav to outwardly approve of the continuation of his evil cycle. But it seems Astarion may have a rival in the competition for most evil character development when Shadowheart’s Dark Justiciar path is considered, as pointed out by Reddit VioletGardens-left.

In a post, the Reddit details how, in the epilogue, the player’s “conversation with Shadowheart scares me more than Astarion's would.” Each companion character has a variety of endings they can reach, depending on the various choices players make as they play, but as ViolentGardens-left points out, Dark Justiciar Shadowheart is particularly evil when her post-game purpose is put into context.

Shadowheart’s Epilogue Dialogue After Becoming A Dark Justiciar Is Concerning

She Shares With Tav How Grateful She Is For The Carnage

Helping Shadowheart on her journey to becoming a Dark Justiciar (a path that requires the player to kill her parents in front of her) will give the cleric everything she says she’s ever wanted. Her time post-Netherbrain battle is spent recruiting new followers to Shar’s cause — with a special focus on those harmed by the Absolute’s failed conquest. Shadowheart is now one of Shar’s most trusted worshipers, making her blind to the harm her goddess causes.

During the epilogue, Shadowheart will tell the players they have “plenty to celebrate,” though her biggest win is what the carnage has given the church of Shar. “The Absolute washed the Sword Coast with blood and tears — it is now fertile ground for her message to flourish,” she tells the player, sounding almost happy for the bloodshed the Absolute brought on the people of Faerûn.

Even when the player character tries to make her see the exploitation she and her fellow worshipers are committing in the name of Lady Shar, Shadowheart fires back with a simple “everyone is exploited.” She defends her goddess’s exploitation, arguing that becoming a worshipper of Shar grants these people food, shelter, and “purpose.” “They have already been tempered by loss. They were meant to become her instruments,” she says.

Shadowheart’s Dark Justiciar Ending Isn’t Just Evil — It’s Particularly Sad

Shadowheart Was Once A Worshipper Of Selune

The cleric’s justification of her actions makes for one of the saddest endings of a companion character in the game — especially knowing that had the player helped her uncover her missing memories, she would’ve ed that she’d once worshipped Selune. Shar’s followers kidnapped Shadowheart when she was only a child, erasing her memories and converting her into a follower of the Dark Lady. This is an experience that’s parallel to what happened in the Shadowfell following Ketheric Thorm’s rise to power.

As players explore the Underdark in Act 2, they’ll find remnants of life before the Shadow Curse took hold. The people under Ketheric’s rule, when he was only the Governor of Reithwin, were worshippers of Selune. Following the death of his wife and daughter, Ketheric turned to Shar and eradicated all evidence of the Moonmaiden from the land. As he sank further into his grief, Shar aided him, suggesting he build an army of Dark Justiciars who were tasked with slaying Selune’s daughter, Dame Aylin, repeatedly as she was trapped in a prison made by Balthazar.

By the epilogue, Shadowheart is so consumed by her work recruiting the former cultists and homeless refugees to worship Shar that she has little time for anything else. Even players who romance the cleric will find her more consumed by her faith than anything else, leaving them unable to pursue a further romance. But it’s not even her inability to lead a life with some autonomy outside of her worship that makes Dark Justiciar Shadowheart particularly scary — it’s how willing she is to use others’ misfortune as a reason to recruit.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is built to allow players to explore different paths of moral ambiguity — it’s why the Dark Urge (with all their evil impulses and extra gorey content) is a playable character. There are plenty of “evil” options players have the freedom to pursue, and Ascended Astarion is far from the worst. Shadowheart’s Dark Justiciar arc is one that feels particularly scary to see come to fruition, enabling the companion to let the cycle of exploitation her story is meant to break from continue.

Source: VioletGardens-left/Reddit