#I have a lot of thoughts about gale

[waaterdeep]

It’s heartbreaking to me how easily Gale abandons his plans of becoming a god when you romance him, because it shows that he never actually wanted to become a god in the first place.

When you ask him how he’s feeling after discovering the crown of Karsus he tells you that he’s excited about what the crown could do to improve both of your lives. His plans aren’t clear but it’s obvious that he wants to use it for himself. Of course there’s some selfishness there, perhaps a desire to get back at Mystra, but there’s a good part of him that sees this as a way to impress you, to become worthy of you.

But to convince him to let go of the crown in Act 3 you simply need to tell him that he matters, that you love him for the man that he is not the god he wants to be. You need to convince him that he’s always been enough and that he always will be, so long as he stays true to who he is. And with high approval he accepts this without question. While he feels uncertain about putting all of his faith into one person, he’s still relieved and happy to do so.

You have opportunities before the Outer Planes scene to tell him that you care about him, most notably in Act 2, when you can tell him that you want to spend the night with Gale the man, that you don’t need him to wow you with cosmic sex. While this clearly means a lot to him it doesn’t translate as “I am exactly all that this person needs” in his mind yet.

But when you have the Outer Planes scene and he tells you of his plans, if you gently bring him back down to earth, kiss him and tell him he’s perfect, he’s wholly convinced. While Tara might have told him many times some variation of this, you are the first person, and most importantly the first lover, to tell him and show him. The fact that you met him with diminished powers and the Netherese orb and still fell in love with him speaks volumes.

It shows that his ambitions are not born from hubris, rather, from a profound insecurity that could only be the product of his defining of his life, his value, in relation to the literal goddess of magic and, obviously, falling short. Conjuring visions of Waterdeep and the Outer Planes, it’s all his way to convince you that he’s worthy of your affections, you who in most cases cannot do that at all. But he bases his worth completely upon his magical abilities, it’s no surprise then that magnifying them to infinite proportions is his way to remove his fear of losing you, since his greatest weakness, his humanity, is what drove his previous lover away from him.

And that’s absolutely heartbreaking.

[heph]

Food - More than Sustenance

[cybershock24601]

I ship Wyll and Gale for a lot of reasons, but the funniest one is imagining the post canon battle of the century between Ulder Ravengard vs Morena Dekarios (and Tara) on where their sons should settle down. Ulder is still working on repairing his relationship with Wyll and Wyll is his heir as Grand Duke so obviously Gale and Wyll should live in Baldur's Gate.

Meanwhile Morena is over here like, excuse me, my son has a well regarded academic career in Waterdeep and it would be unconscionable to make him give that all up just to move to Baldur's Gate. That woman is a force to be reckoned with and after Mystra played with her son's feelings she is more than happy to see Gale settle down with a nice, well mannered adventurer who treats him well and who Morena absolutely ends up mothering as well because that's her future son in law.

It turns into a huge back and forth between the two as they attempt to sway Wyll and Gale into staying in Baldur's Gate or Waterdeep because neither one of them is willing to give up easy access to the inevitable grandkids. Hells, I'm sure Ulder would even go so far as to sponsor a whole new magic school in Baldur's Gate to try to get Wyll to move back after Morena points out that there is no place in Baldur's Gate that offers the same prestige as Blackstaff Academy. It's a dirty underhanded affair as both parents do all they can to attempt to get their sons to live in their city. I can only imagine how much worse the eventual wedding planning will end up being.

[a2zillustration]

:)

| First | | Previous | | Next |

[[ All Croissant Adventures (chronological, desktop) ]]

[[ All Croissant Adventures (app) ]]

[printed-paws]

Presenting final girl billy loomis

Is this anything?

[forcedhesitation]

astarion origin playthrough worth it just for all the extra moments where he does the "sad wet cat" face

[messiahzzz]

the IGN article has already been addressed by several users, but imo the points of critique raised by others were still often misinterpreted, or ignored entirely.

— so i’d like to talk about it.

beforehand, it is important to mention that it remains everyone’s respective responsibility to curate their own online experience. you shouldn’t purposefully expose yourself to topics that cause you distress or trigger you. however, general discussion should always be valid and welcomed. you have every right to voice your opinion on the matter and to be upset about this. please don’t feel guilty about venting and expressing your emotional response.

we also need to differentiate this specific interview from the fandom’s overall treatment and interpretation of gale. several of the posts i’ve seen on the subject tend to derail into the latter, without addressing the valid points many have raised or glossing over them entirely. this isn’t about the usual “haha gale eats shoes” joke or whatever new meme fandom comes up with. this is solely about the developer’s treatment of gale, the character, and about a specific, internal bias that has been prevalent throughout the entirety of the game, as well as their social media. this particular interview merely adding to the amalgamation of points mentioned.

yes, it is certainly unrealistic to expect larian to address every single companion in detail and to touch on every nuance possible, in an interview that broadly focuses on the game’s narrative and gameplay. there are, however, specific character sections. each companion received a headline that was reflective of their overall character archetype or provided quick insight into their development.

Karlach: 'The Labrador of the Party'

Lae'zel: 'She's So Young'

Halsin: 'A Creative Risk'

Shadowheart: 'The Jason Bourne'

Wyll: 'We Lost a Little Bit of Narrative Room'

Astarion: 'Much of What He Does Is Out of Fear'

Minthara: 'It's Not a Redemption Arc...But She's Got a Lot of Love'

and last but not least:

Gale: 'The Guy Who Starts Off Annoying Everyone'

what followed was a brief discussion about their respective storylines, each being addressed with a certain level of respect, empathy, and consideration. except for gale. all that was mentioned in regard to his character was the narrative impact of gale’s suicide. talking about the overall logistics of this ending, the visuals of the cutscene, and how, to them, his sacrifice felt like the right ending and how in many ways, it is.

Chrystal Ding, Lead Writer: On a very human level, you have the guy who starts off annoying everyone, he's constantly asking you to give him your most treasured possessions to eat, otherwise he's in trouble, and at the end, he gives himself for the world. Sven Vincke, Founder: And he had the choice already once before where he wasn't ready for it. So it's a very powerful ending, and it comes in different permutations.

gale is the character who is initially annoying companions and players alike. he is verbose, enthusiastic and has a tendency to break out in long-winded rants. he repeatedly asks for your assistance, to help him manage his condition. to spare himself and his surroundings from an untimely, explosive death, he must consume items that you’ve carefully collected. gale is, essentially, a liability. a ticking time bomb. he already had the option to have his life be a meaningful sacrifice, but he wasn’t ready to die yet. now, that the party has reached the end, he has another chance to give himself up for the world.

short after, gale’s section of the interview quickly diverts into a more general discussion about the difficulties of playing as a wizard and other classes.

larian claiming that there is a universal “right ending” in a game with many branching paths and choices very much contradicts the definition of a role-playing game. where it is solely in the player’s hands to decide what direction to take and what outcome they deem to be the right one. moreover, it is important to remember that the interviewees weren’t just any developers, but consisted of two lead writers and larian’s founder himself. some of them industry veterans who are, to an extent, pr-trained. we all know that fandom often sees statements from developers synonymous with word of god. as such, the implications and impact are truly unfortunate.

if larian was referring the SA survivor and stated that “the right ending” for him was to return him to enslavement or to hand him over to the gur. that for all the death and misery he (involuntarily) assisted, his sacrifice would at least grand them a slither of justice.

astarion caused death, perpetuated racism, and now that you have handed him over to the gur hunter, he is offered a chance to give himself back to the world.

it is then deemed the right choice for him because it is the most narratively satisfying/impactful/powerful outcome in the context of the overall story. the majority of us would agree that such would be a rather tactless statement, no? not specifically for mentioning it in relation to astarion as a character or his influence on the narrative — he is fictional, after all, but because of the real-life implications and the very real stigma the affected face. we can't deny that it would be hurtful to irl victims. maybe we would even fault the writing altogether for such biases. after all, why should astarion be the only character whose redemption and healing are considered to be significantly less important in the grand scheme of things?

fiction functions as an abstraction and simulation of our social experience. we are supposed to get invested, to explore the meaning, examine the parallels, or maybe just to enjoy stories for the sole purpose of indulging in the occasional escapism. perhaps a way to temporarily forget about one’s limitations and the prejudices we face. in many ways, chronic pain/impairment, suicidal ideation, and autistic traits appear to be disorders & symptoms that are perhaps less relatable to some, and that they are maybe not as sympathetic to.

it truly would’ve been nice to see larian approach this interview with more professionalism. opting for a simple, diplomatic “actually, there is no right ending. the sheer variation in choices makes such a distinction impossible” would’ve more than sufficed.

this isn’t asking for larian to touch on every nuance possible, in an interview that largely resembled the flow of a regular conversation. it’s about asking for the same level of consideration and care that was granted to the rest of the companions. it’s about addressing gale’s particular brand of trauma with the same level of basic human decency. maybe we even could’ve received some new bits and pieces of insight on gale’s development, rather than the regurgitation of every shallow reddit/tiktok take we’ve seen up to this point. alas..

[tomlivingspace]

Your brains so fucking large and I also think it’s awesome seeing ur takes on peeniss. There’s such a lack of just even headcanon discussions on how fucked Katniss and peetas entire relationship up until the very end of the story was created and dragged along.

I enjoy thinking of happy ending stuff, But Also, getting to talk about how their shared trauma doesn’t make them purely perfect for each other and how it leaves more room for hidden resentment and hatred and guilt is so so discussion worthy. Especially for katniss and especially when ur applying that dynamic to ivypool (i am insane for both) thank u for this meal

[floodgates opened] LITERALLY LITERALLY LITERALLY like first and foremost even BEFORE mockingjay peeta falls in love with katniss before knowing ANYTHING about her, and when she acts in a way that doesnt fit in with how he imagined her, he gets frustrated. in general he seems to have a very low opinion of her (im drawing them as cats so its relevant to this blog). he throws the shit his mother said in her face as if she had any control over it . she gets drunk ONE TIME and he focuses his criticism on her instead of HAYMITCH

he agrees to be friends with her and then he says that shit like "yeah i have nightmares but theyre just about losing you............ i feel better when i see you when i wake up......................" and katniss is like "i know he doesnt mean to make me feel bad" BUT ITS LIKE. WELL IF HES SO WELL SPOKEN THEN LIKE I THINK HE DOES????? I THINK HE KNOWS EXACTLY HOW IT COMES ACROSS WHEN HE SAYS SHIT LIKE THAT

and then AFTER mockingjay. first and foremost his personal trauma is being brainwashed into essentially dehumanizing her and believing that she was genetically engineered to torture him. so even in recovery for that shit, like. theres no way his nightmares don't heavily feature katniss as the antagonizing force. AND VICE VERSA. BECAUSE HE LITERALLY TRIES TO KILL HER TWICE. like i cannot wrap my head around how they would get together when katniss much flinch every time he reaches towards her like its fucking crazy to me. not to mention that the awful shit he said to her is so personal and so clearly shit katniss thought about herself .

none of this is to say katniss is perfect like she obv doesnt give half a shit about peeta 9 times out of 10 but idk. anyway. tl;dr:

but yeah katniss and ivypool are like. so similar in so many ways its very fun to apply my thoughts about one onto the other.

[spider-gem]

One thing I absolutely love about the Wizard of Oz is how each of the main characters have to go on a journey in order to gain something they already have.

I did a rewatch of the film after seeing Wicked: Part One, and surely enough my Wicked brainrot melted (ha. hehe. pun unintended at first. but not anymore) and blended with a newfound Wizard of Oz brainrot. Because of this, I’ve been thinking about both a LOT and wanted to share an epiphany I’ve had for a while.

The Scarecrow claims that he is brainless and can’t make up his mind or come up with an intelligent thought because of this. And sure, he has straw stuffed in his head, not brains. However, his actions in the movie show otherwise. We seem him effectively come up with a strategy to taunt the trees into throwing their apples they weren’t willing to give up, effectively giving Dorothy the food she needs. Later on in the movie, it’s his idea to cut down the chandelier in order to get away from the Wicked Witch’s guards. He has multiple clever ideas throughout the film, and if you know what happens in the second act of Wicked (don’t worry, no spoilers here if you don’t) you know the extent of his intelligent plans.

So, is he truly brainless?

The Tinman claims he doesn’t have a heart, and therefore cannot feel love, joy, etc. And sure, bang on his chest and hear for yourself: it’s hallow. However, it’s hard to buy that he can’t feel emotions when he so clearly does throughout the movie. If you plan on watching the movie, pay attention to his face. Our metal friend is crying in almost every situation. He cries when Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion fall asleep in the poppy field, he cries when Dorothy and Toto are taken by the flying monkeys, he cries when he meets the Wizard. You can even see he even cries after the Wicked witch melts. Seems very sensitive for someone without a heart and the ability to feel. He also immediately agrees to help Dorothy get to the Emerald City after seeing the Wicked Witch threaten her ONCE.

So, is he truly heartless?

The Cowardly Lion claims that he has no courage. This is easy to believe when we see how frightened he is at all times. However, courage isn’t measured by how reckless someone is. It’s measured by doing the deed that frightens you. This is something we see the Lion do every time he’s on screen. He’s terrified of leaving the forest, but he does it anyway. He almost turns away from meeting the Wizard, but he does it anyway. He’s scared shizless of facing the Wicked Witch- they ALL are- but he does it anyway. He doesn’t want to let down Dorothy, but he puts aside his fear to save her.

So, is he truly missing his courage?

And finally, Dorothy searches for a way home. It is revealed at the end of the movie that she had the power to return home with her all along, on her feet. So why was this journey necessary and why did Glinda wait until the end to tell Dorothy this?

The group of four seek out the Wizard for something he was never able to give them. He’s a fraud, of course, but that’s beside the point. The point is, they already have what they yearned for. The Scarecrow has intelligence, Tinman has human emotions, the Lion has courage, and Dorothy has the power to get herself home. The journey seems like it was all for nothing, but that is simply not true.

If Dorothy never started her journey, the Scarecrow would still be tied to that post and would never learn that he had the intelligence he yearned for if he never used it. The Tinman would still be rusted and frozen, never learning that he does have the ability to feel and care for others. The Lion would still be alone in his habitat and never be encouraged to face his fears. And Dorothy would have never learned that there is strength and power that she never knew is within her. She’s no longer just a little girl from a farm in Kansas - she is a hero and she is the reason she can get back home.

And THAT is an important message of the Wizard of Oz. You’ll never find your strength if you don’t look within yourself and test it. You just need to step out of your comfort zone in order to find yourself. In turn, you can help others do the same. And yes, sometimes it takes the power of friendship and encouragement to find your intelligence, empathy, courage, and power.

[mendellyill]

Baldurs gate 3 spoilers about gale (and rolan kinda) under the cut

If you take gale and karlach with you to the counting house in the lower city, they have a conversation about how neither of them have ever had much money and I find that for gale, that provides some fascinating context for his life.

How much did his mother sacrifice to send him to university? Of course hes a mama's boy, getting him into magic college was probably her main priority for most of his childhood. How difficult was it for him to get learning materials? Gale loves libraries, which is a standard nerdy thing but as a kid whose family might not have been able to afford the books he needed to learn about magic? Libraries would have been his one connection to the world of magic. Every scrap of magical material would have been precious and hard won.

Mystras attention would probably have been absolutely life changing for him. If he doesn't have a fortune to fall back on, like lorroakan, having the attention of the literal embodiment of the weave is probably the only way he was ever going to get anywhere in his field. Speaking as someone who works in academia, it doesn't matter how smart you are if you can't get funding. Their relationship is already deeply one sided, but man if gale feels like his opportunities for success are because of her? Fuck.

We see a sort of similar (please for the love of God bear with me) situation with lorroakan and rolan. Rolans poor, reasonably talented, and loves magic more than almost anything besides his family. He was, up until the enslaving dame Aylin plan, willing to put up with lorroakans abuse and whims because he wanted to be a wizard so bad. Now gale has several in universe advantages compared with rolans situation, but it's clear that the Wizarding profession is not a profession you can easily get into if you don't have funds or a very rich patron.

Not really sure where I'm going with this. I saw a post about gale joking about how his tower was never cleaner than after he lost the orb and I just. For a kid who grew up in a low income situation, his tower is 100% a point of pride and something he identifies with very strongly. To have had to literally devour his tower to stay alive, to have had to literally destroy everything in the life he built for himself as a result of the orb. That must have been horrifying for him.

[galedekarios]

The people going "it's not a big deal" confuse me. What other character gets shit on by everyone unwarranted and unprompted? What other character is told to not be themselves, because that would be terrible advice for them specifically? None of the devs or writers say that Astarion should be handed over to the Gur hunter and killed by them because as a vampire he's a monster anyway and this way it's a good end and he won't hurt anyone anymore. Lae'zel is brutal and aggressive, but instead of going "haha yeah isn't that so annoying, boo 👎" the devs defend her and say that audiences would not be saying that if she was a man instead. Shadowheart always has something to say, too, about Shar and Selune, and other things, but they don't call her annoying about her religion. Astarion can feed on PC and give you a negative buff, but that's fine. Gale needs a trivial color spray trinket, one of only three(!!) trinkets, and god he's just the worst. And that isn't even the end of it, that's just where I'm choosing to stop this already long message. After a certain point, if the ONLY place where Gale doesn't get shit on is when you're talking to him directly and choosing the nice options, then yeah I feel like there's a problem behind the scenes there. Especially when his story is about forgiveness, belief that you're enough, allowing yourself to love and be loved again, accepting and asking for help, and learning that you deserve to live, but the devs say that an ending where all of that is thrown away and even after telling him that he's enough you still have him sacrifice himself is good... then it's like what would have to happen for people to realize that Gale is treated differently than the rest? And what do they have to say for others to realize that they're going against their anti-suicide message? Because I don't get it. Is the world going to end? No. But that doesn't mean this isn't weird and hurtful. Escaping the cycle of abuse and becoming better is great is the basis of their game, unless your name is Gale.

i really have nothing to add here.

[rexcaliburechoes]

gale is ambition, so he has both crippling self doubt and debilitating pride in his work.

gale is ambition, so if a character tries to undermine him by one-upping him, he'll think he's not nothing left. more else can the orb destroy that it hasn't already?

gale is ambition, so if a character tries to undermine him by one-upping him, he'll vehemently deny that. he's the wizard of waterdeep. he was mystra's chosen. he was her lover. who could be any better than that?

gale is ambition. it's his greatest flaw and his greatest asset.

[alienoresimagines]

So hard to brainstorm an AU in secrecy because all I want is to talk about it with y'all here 😭

[jb-nonsense]

Personal headcanons for Gale I use when writing, willing to share with others as usual. This is just a bullet point list with me throwing out some basic ideas, to maybe expand in the future.

He is around 39 years old during the game

Mystra returned to the Forgotten Realms in 1479 DR and current year is 1492 DR.

Gale would've been born around 1453 DR and then would've been around 26 when Mystra returned.

He would not start a romantic relationship with Mystra until he's around 29 years old.

He would have started under her tutelage, though, shortly after her return as he had, by that time, already learned quite a bit that he could from mortal studies.

Gale was "popular" and social due to his ability in magic and being a wizard prodigy. People hung out with him to hopefully get some of that to rub off on them and magic is how Gale knew to make connections. They all, of course, abandoned him when he fell from grace.

When he was younger and showing off/trying to impress for his "friends," he could really be insufferable.

He is a middle child, with me discussing my ideas for his siblings in this post

His father was a sorcerer, and I went a bit more into it in this first post discussing possible siblings

More to add when I decide to, of course, but this is just to give background for when I write him in my stories.

[emmavakarian-theirin]

maker help me but tonight i might have a dragon age fanfic written for the first time in 8 years

EDIT: tomorrow for sure

EDIT 2: I'M WORKING ON IT I SWEAR (i'm getting very carried away and telling myself it's too much etc.)

[what-is-it-to-be-pk-esque]

My partner finally finished BG3 but has no idea that his ending was actually bad cause he was a pro-Vlaakith githyanki who rode off with Lae'zel but got NO EPILOGUE where Withers points out y'all died im 😭😭😭

they have no idea what happened with Gale or anyone else (who was still alive) after flying away 🙃🙃🙃