I’m still on my first playthrough and I’ve been pulling Astarion along the entire now-100-hour journey, ofc kinda sad because I’m incapable of cruellty.

happy for you

I’ve been with my wife since we were 16 (now 40+). We are not the same people. We’ve grown up together. Every day I’m grateful we met so young - lots of time with my best friend!

There's also the community angle. If you're immortal, you're going to want an immortal support network pretty desperately at times

Your progenitor isn't just a partner, they're a gateway to immortal society. How long would it take to make connections that would survive a breakup? It'd be one thing if there were vampire nightclubs going on, but that's a pretty bad way to maintain secrecy

Some interesting power dynamics come into play

In the game Oblivion and the movie Near Dark there are people who get turned to vampires as kids. They hate being stuck as kids, because they are old, and wise, but people still treat them like dumb kids.

Then again, some people are over weight and out of shape in their 20s and get things together later in life ¯\_(ツ)_/¯