Fans of Baldur's Gate 3 are discovering what happens when one ignores Astarion in the first act

Oh, Astarion, one either adores him - and I truly mean adores him - or despises him. A companion in Baldur's Gate 3, who not only introduces himself with a knife at your throat but also attempts to drink your blood after approximately 24 hours of shared time, is akin to Marmite. So much so, that some fans might prefer to lean towards ignoring him altogether and bypassing the rogue directly when one is supposed to actually encounter him.

As expected, this hardly ends well for the vampire - but it is actually worse than one would assume. Far from merely struggling to survive on his own in the world, he actually ends up back in the clutches of his old master, Cazador. Surprise, surprise, he does not survive this reunion.

TikTok user Sol has taken care of the dirty work for us and simply bypassed the area that would typically trigger Astarion's introduction scene. Others have mentioned that you can do this and recruit him as late as the second act, so you must ensure that you don't accidentally come into his line of sight for a while. But as long as you manage to do that, you can simply rush into Cazador's hideout without him and kill the vampire who once turned Astarion. After all, he is quite the villain.

At first, it appears as though nothing has changed. But then, Sol stumbled upon a pile of bones named "Zombie Astarion." Clearly, Cazador wasn't particularly impressed by Astarion's little excursion and simply used it as an opportunity to bolster his own power.

Oh, but that's not where it ends. Another player who encountered Zombie Astarion went as far as bringing his body back to camp and even attempting to revive him. The results are... not impressive. He has a resting animation where he reads a book, but that's about it. He's simply a mass of flesh shaped like a humanoid creature. He doesn't even have his elven ears! Tragic. And no, you can't even speak to him.

Therefore, as much as Astarion would reluctantly admit it, encountering him has ultimately been very helpful for the player. Unless, of course, upon the initial glance where he regarded you as a midnight snack, you decided to drive a stake through his heart. That's understandable, I suppose. But come on, a man has to eat, right? Oh well, many players love him anyway, so he's likely safe in most playthroughs.