#also reminds me of gomens' fandom reaction to aziraphale making a very flawed but very in character decision at the end of s2

[magnetic-rose]

i think some people reaction's towards gale also like... has a lot to do with how fandom perceives redemption, which has increasingly become in a more negative light in recent years. there's so much talk about "x character doesn't deserve redemption because they did the bad thing" but it's like... at what point does that become too extreme?

because what gale did was shitty, yes. but his punishment was to isolate himself from society while slowly dying with a bomb in his chest. and when he's told that he needs to die to redeem himself, he readily accepts it. at no point does he blame anyone but himself for his mistake, and he accepts his impending doom pretty gracefully.

and i've been in fandom for a long time. i've seen how fans treat morally flawed characters, characters who make huge mistakes, villainous characters who try to turn their ways around. there's a very weird push back against it from a certain crowd. and what's interesting about gale is he's one of those characters who we meet AFTER he committed his big sin. he's been living in penance for it. he's accepted the punishment, he's willing to die, he even says that mystra is in the right. he makes no excuses for himself.

and yet that's still not redemptive enough for some people. he's still an asshole who deserves death. idk, i feel like sometimes i'm playing a different game lmao.