Baldur’s Gate 3 pairings featured prominently in AO3’s 2024 shipping rankings, led by Astarion/Tav at No. 4. The list ranks relationship categories—not individual fanfiction works—and the accessible reports disagree on how many BG3 pairings made the top 100.
Which Baldur’s Gate 3 pairings made the 2024 ranking?
Esports.gg’s account of AO3 Ship Stats 2024 lists six Baldur’s Gate 3 relationship categories. Here, Tav means the player character; “Reader” is a reader-proxy category. The ranks below are positions in the reported 2024 top 100, not measures of how far apart the pairings were in activity.
| Reported rank | Pairing | Category type |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Astarion/Tav | Character and player character |
| 31 | Gale/Tav | Character and player character |
| 45 | Astarion/Gale | Two BG3 characters |
| 52 | Astarion/Reader | Character and reader proxy |
| 56 | Astarion/The Dark Urge | Two BG3 characters |
| 85 | The Dark Urge/Enver Gortash | Two BG3 characters |
Esports.gg’s ranking coverage lists all six. Game Developer’s March 27, 2025 report instead says five BG3 romances made the top 100, while also highlighting Astarion/Tav at No. 4 and Dark Urge/Enver Gortash at No. 85. Because the linked AO3 report could not be opened, the discrepancy cannot be resolved from these accounts; six is the number of pairings Esports.gg names, not a confirmed total.
What the rankings say—and what they do not
Astarion/Tav’s fourth-place position is the clearest headline result. The other listed BG3 categories appear at ranks 31, 45, 52, 56 and 85. Those positions show where the categories fell in the reported annual list; the accessible coverage provides no verified work counts, engagement totals, percentages or methodology details. Rank spacing therefore cannot establish how much more activity one pairing received than another.
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The figures concern AO3 and its 2024 shipping-category ranking. They do not measure the entire BG3 audience, all fanfiction platforms, game sales or player numbers, and they do not establish what the game’s writers intended.
Why game developers took notice
Game Developer reported that BG3 writer Alexa Ray Corriea discussed the rankings during a GDC 2025 talk about using fandom as one source of insight during character ideation. Corriea said: “Looking at how your fan base is consuming your game, or how your players are consuming other games you admire…can help with your own character ideation phase.”
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That makes fan activity a possible creative prompt, not a validated way to predict which characters will succeed. The rankings offer a view of shipping activity on one platform; interpreting them requires that narrower context.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read the “Top 100” headline
AO3’s 2024 list, as described by the accessible coverage, ranked relationship pairings rather than individual stories. So the result is not that a particular BG3 fanfic placed fourth: it is that the Astarion/Tav category was reported at No. 4. These are historical 2024 rankings, not a live chart or a statement about current AO3 activity.
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