Beast (Baldur's Gate III story)

Beast was a multichaptered Halstarion fanfic written by molmor on Ao3. It was, for most of 2023, the highest kudo'd fanfic of the Baldur's Gate fandom, as well as of the Astarion/Halsin pairing. It eventually lost this place to Ravenous and subsequently Perceived Impressions by Acinonyx1 but remained one of the most kudo'd fics of the fandom until it was deleted, on 27th of December 2023.
The fic was controversial due to the author's use of it to promote their original book, High Rise. The author themself also revealed that the fanfic itself was a re-writing of their linked original story, with the names changed.
In spite of all of this, it was one of the first fanfics of Baldur's Gate III, not just of the Halstarion pairing, being published just 18 days after the game had come out. Having left quite the mark, fans felt its absence when it was deleted without warning.Twitter (X) post by cant_be_caged13 noticing the deletion and wondering what had happened to the fanfic
==Summary==
==Direct Advertising and Reverse Filing Off The Serial Numbers Controversy==
The fanfic was controversial on two fronts. Firstly, because it openly advertised (specifically on chapters 2, 9 and 18) the author's original book on amazon, which is against Ao3's Terms Of Service of No Direct Advertising. 
Due to this, and with fear of imminent deletion, the fanfiction received comments from concerned readers, asking the author to remove the promotional links and text (which at a certain point involved a chapter completely dedicated to the amazon link where the book could be bought), even offering suggestions of how the author could stop breaching the TOS and still give their book some attention. Some readers also mocked the commenters warning molmor against Ao3's Terms of Service in the comment section during this time. The author eventually removed some of the promotion text but left the links up.
At a certain point, the author ended the story abruptly at chapter 18 with an author note that lead readers into consoling the author in the comments. Eventually this was completely replaced with a promotion for the author's book with a link to amazon (chapter 18). When it became a promotion-only chapter, chapter 19 was posted, explaining that the author had had a bad moment, and several readers thanked the author for finishing the story.
Secondly, because the author admitted to the fanfic being an edited version of their book, in a rare case of reverse Filing Off The Serial Numbers with the main characters' names changed to Astarion and Halsin, openly stating:
This, the fact that the multichaptered story was finished in less than a month and OOC behaviour from the characters also lead many to wonder if the author had created the fic purely as advertisement for the book. Some fans also wondered if the odd comments mocking fans efforts to warn the author of the TOS breach were written by the author under a guest account. 
It is uncertain if the author deleted the fanfic because they had gotten the traction needed for the sales, TOS breach, fear of getting a warning or something else.
==References==
Category:Baldur's Gate
Category:Slash Fanfiction
Category:2023 Fanfiction