Baldur’s Gate 3 player reveals Astarion’s grisly fate if you don’t recruit him

Baldur’s Gate 3 players usually recruit all the available companions, but what happens if you don’t run into Astarion? One fan discovered exactly what fate awaits him.

Baldur’s Gate 3 gives players the opportunity to make choices that determine the outcome of the various companions they get throughout the game. Some of those can be bad, but a lot of the time, you are able to help your companions end up in a better place than they would have without you. 

As players get to know Astarion, they discover that he is a vampire spawn that is running away from the one who created him – Cazador. As you near Baldur’s Gate in Act 3, you can help Astarion take Cazador down and ascend (or not) to become more powerful. 

What happens if you don’t find Astarion in Act 1, though? Usually, players are able to recruit Astarion by finding him near the Nautiloid, but the game carries on as normal if you decide to let him go. 

Well, ‘Ok-Veterinarian-4209’ found Astarion as a puddle of viscera after defeating Cazador, and took to Reddit to ask about it. Commenters flooded to the OP’s thread to provide answers, and none of them proved good for Astarion. 

Simply put, if you don’t recruit Astarion in Baldur’s Gate 3, he is captured by Cazador. When he finds that he cannot control Astarion because of the tadpole in his mind, he kills him over and over again until he can’t actually be put back together in human form again. 

This event can actually be foreshadowed if you play as Astarion in the game. As one player put it, “ He can think about how if he hurries back to Cazador maybe he won’t get flayed like the last time he was late… so it’s not like this punishment is a one off because Cazador was especially p***d this time.”

Once Astarion is captured and Cazador gets his revenge, he is then able to use him for the ritual. If you have Astarion in your party and he shares some of his backstory with you, then you know he is the last piece of the puzzle Cazador needs to ascend. 

So, if you leave Astarion behind, you are essentially condemning him to die a pretty gruesome death. 

For more on Baldur’s Gate 3, read about how to get the Infernal Rapier and a player trick to one-hit-KO one of the hardest bosses.