Baldur’s Gate 3 Easter Egg Confirms Ascended Astarion Makes You a Vorlog, Not a Vampire

Baldur’s Gate 3 is full of small details that are easy to miss if you aren’t looking for them. But some Easter eggs have major lore implications if you have D&D background knowledge. Like the fact that Ascended Astarion makes you a Vorlog, not a normal Vampire Spawn.

How Ascended Astarion Turns Tav into a Special Vampire Spawn

Looking at the works of Rudolph van Richten in Dungeons & Dragons 2e, we can see that Tav might be a completely different — and incredibly rare — type of creature. Not actually Vampire Spawn.

After letting Ascended Astarion turn you into his spawn, you can ask him about the process. He explains that he drained you of blood. But at the final moment, just before you were dead, he gave you a single drop of his own blood.

Although he explains it as a way to protect you and impart some of his powers to you, the ritual he describes sounds a lot like the Dark Kiss from 2e.

The Dark Kiss Dungeons and Dragons Ritual Explained

The Dark Kiss is the ritual vampires use to create a Vampire Bride or Groom. However, the genders for this ritual don’t matter and are interchangeable.

The official Dark Kiss involves a Vampire biting its bride-to-be three times, draining her blood to the point of near-death. At this point, the Vampire feeds its bride some of its own blood, which triggers the transformation.

The bride falls into a coma after consuming the Vampire’s blood, and when she wakes up, she’s a Vampire Bride. More specifically, she’s a rare type of creature called a Vorlog. She isn’t a full, normal Vampire, but she isn’t mortal either.

Altogether, it sounds awfully like the process Astarion describes to Tav in Baldur’s Gate 3. It would also explain his insistence that Tav is his Consort instead of his Spawn — or a special type of Vampire.

How Does a Vorlog Differ From Normal Vampire Spawn in BG3?

In this state, Tav won’t understand how to be a normal Vampire because she never actually died and came back to life. As such, she depends on Astarion to understand when and how to feed.

That confers to how she understands any other abilities, too. Additionally, Astarion can’t magically make her obey him. A Vampire Bride keeps their free will, unlike a Spawn.

Another difference between a Vorlog and a normal Vampire Spawn is that a Vorlog isn’t destroyed by the sun. It can’t stay in sunlight indefinitely, but it has much more time to seek safety in darkness than a normal Vampire.

When its health hits zero, it becomes a pool of tears. But it can move to safety in this form and regain its regular shape after a long rest. Vorlogs are also immune to the effects of garlic and holy water like normal Vampires.

So, Ascended Astarion doesn’t make you a normal Vampire Spawn in Baldur’s Gate 3. Instead, it seems like he makes you into a Vorlog, which has the strength of a Vampire, but not every downside that comes with it. I love that Larian added such a subtle detail like this and that new Easter eggs are always being found. From here, check out our BG3 guides hub for topics like the best late-game spells or the best magic items in the early and late game.