#back on my Gale hate

[bastards-gate-3]

this is supremely stupid i dont know what else to say

[disteal]

It’s so funny to me that Tara can basically end up as your shitty mother in law

[cozmic-ash]

imagining Tav laying her head on his chest, trying to listen for the orb, feeling Some Type Of Way about her walking nuclear bomb of a boyfriend she's achingly in love with and fiercely protective of

(also read my little fic. it's got Gale being a pathetic sopping wet kitten, what more could you want)

[sangrefae]

anyone else think about gale and how his trauma is consistently minimized, dismissed, or exploited throughout the series. how he is just as affected as katniss is from the poverty he's lived in and the trauma of losing not only a father but also having to basically become one at 13, but no one seems to care. he was literally whipped!! he had to watch 12 being bombed right in front of him and was helpless to save more than the tiny amount he had. how do you think that affected him? was it constantly in the back of his mind in 13, a neverending anxiety about being underground with no way of escape? were his actions in 13 a desperate attempt to rid himself of the survivor's guilt and find an explanation for his surviving when so many did not? and yet there isn't really any consideration for his mental state like there is for katniss's, he's literally made to reenact the events of the bombing for propos and given none of the grace that katniss gets. then to top it off the fandom largely ignores all of this and acts like because he wasn't in the games, he had no reason for his less than stellar reactions

[pinksiames]

Can we get some commotion for the black hair?!

[cheriboms]

a wizard and her kitten 🔮

[brightestplanets]

thought about gale suddenly and how we're not quite sure when mystra came to him but, he was decently young and she chose him because of his power amd potential with the weave, how he could devote himself to her. she shaped, she groomed him.

the moment she leaves him, abandons him, gale dekarios who has devoted himself to her, is after the orb drains much of his original power. he's no longer an incredibly powerful archmage. if you look at his behavior, his eagerness to please and talk to tav/durge/whatever origin character, he wants to he useful. he wants to be useful so bad because he devoted himself to mystra and when he was no longer powerful, when he was weakened by the orb...she took her "love" for him away.

was gale smart for the orb business? not particularly. was he at fault? sure, basically. But you try begging for someone to love you when all they love is the power they have over you, rethink gale.

[saturdaysky]

So… the God of Curiosity! How does he relate to the Lords of the Golden Hill? Is he invited in, is he seen as an interloper or usurper? Absolutely adore these two!

What a great question! I spent the morning refreshing myself on the Lords of the Golden Hills, which is the 5e gnomish pantheon, if anyone's unfamiliar. They are more active in the lives of their followers than other gods.

Also, sorry, this is where I reveal my superpower of being unable to write short answers to anything.

what's a god to a mayhew

Mayhew's parents are historians who take the name "the Forgotten Folk" as a personal insult, so he was weaned on myths and histories of the Lords of the Golden Hills. The Lords set Mayhew's expectations for what gods should be: invested and actively working to make things better.

(couldn't resist drawing mayhew and mamahew)

In game, Mayhew ran into many awful situations that he thinks good gods could have fixed, but didn't. Refugees slaughtered for sport, children locked in Cazador's dungeons for eternity, families enslaved and used as hostages, children murdered by Gortash's Steel Watch, you name it. These people surely prayed, but gods did not save them. Do gods who do nothing deserve worship?

Not to Mayhew. He was FULLY on board with Gale's astral boat scene logic of "we will be gods but BETTER because we CARE and DO STUFF." Mayhew is not a long-term thinker, especially if people are hurting right now, right in front of him. He sees only trees, never forests.

He views himself and Gale as being on their own side. All of his post-ascension decisions are based on them being an inseparable pair shaking up the system. He's not interested in being part of Lords of the Golden Hills.

what's a mayhew to a god

The Lords probably have mixed feelings about him. They would not invite him into their brotherhood. However, his goals often align with theirs, and as long as Mayhew didn't rock their boat too much, they'd be tenuous allies. More about Godhew and other gods under the cut!

Mayhew himself has many Glittergoldian qualities about him -- he's an elusive tale-teller and a sneak, and if you pried his coping mechanism sense of humor from him, he'd probably die on the spot -- so I think he'd get on with Garl Glittergold and Baervan Wildwanderer. Mayhew's not easily flustered, and he'd find it a hoot to be pranked by Garl, so I expect he'd pass any test of character Garl might run an upstart godling through.

Baravar Cloakshadow, god of illusions and deceptions, would be interesting. Mayhew is a born liar (deception is his second-highest skill after history) who cares deeply about protecting others, so on paper they're aligned. However, Baravar counts Mystra among his allies, so this alliance would be a strained one.

But the biggest reason Mayhew isn't interested in becoming a Lord of the Golden Hills? They're concerned primarily with the welfare of gnomes. As a god, Mayhew has broader designs than that.

a god for whom?

Mayhew cares about everyone, especially people who are unimportant. He was a latchkey kid who wandered all over the city from a very young age, poking his nose everywhere it shouldn't be and talking to people just to hear their stories. He probably even made friends with the sewer kobolds, despite historical bad blood between gnomes and kobolds. Most of the alliances Galehew make after ascension are Mayhew's doing. Gale is always grander and more powerful, but Mayhew is better-liked and better-loved by gods and mortals.

In particular, bleeding heart Mayhew is an ally and protector of children. Troublemakers, especially. The most common name he ends up being known by is the Children's God. In 5e, there doesn't actually seem to be a god FOR children, simply gods with "family" as part of their portfolio. To me, that reads as a god for parents. But Mayhew adores kids! In game, he looked out for all of them and spoiled them shamelessly via the barter menu. All the urchins got cash, clothing, trinkets, snacks, protective magical items, etc. He bought soup from Yenna every day. He gave Mattis 2000 gold (😭) for a key he never even used (😭)...and gave the amulet of greater health (😭)...and some grenades because all children should have a chance to make bad decisions...

To kids, he's like an imaginary friend who'll help you out of a tight spot, aid your capers, and shield you from terrors. When a child ages out of needing an imaginary friend, he's there as the God of Curiosity -- and what is curiosity without drive? Perhaps they'll follow their dreams in the footsteps of his partner, the God of Ambition. Completely unintentionally, Mayhew probably ensures the longevity of the Galerian religion this way.

Not all of Mayhew's ideals survive ascension, though he goes in with good intentions. He loses some of himself, but his love for people is the core of him. It doesn't change.

[genghisthebrain]

gale being the prim reaper is the most hilariously incorrect take I’ve ever heard in my life

[spiderwarden]

Minthara deserves an ascension option, let her have the choice to become Lolth's Chosen. Let her have a chance to fully lose her humanity that she's developed herself that we all love her for and becomes the equivalent of a Lolth mindless murder machine.

[inmydrcams]

Casual reminder that if your team peeta implies hating on gale I don't want you here

[momo-the-ace]

Meredith Traventawny, A Wild Magic Sorcerer Bard. They are incredibly infatuated with Gale in an academic rivals to lovers kinda way.

They were "Adopted" (and I use that word liberally) by Raphael and raised as a little rich kid until they were introduced to the whole slave thing (very sheltered, never knew about the slaves until they were 10, thought it was wrong, met an enver who was 2 years older than them. threw a spectacular fit at Raphael to the point Raph thought turning his "adopted" child into a slave was the perfect punishment. and they became somewhat friendly with enver.) Enver made a plan to escape while Mered thought about how to force Raph to let Enver and them go properly. Eventually, Enver threw Mered under the bus and escaped, and Mered got some extremely severe punishments in his place until Raph realized that Mered had nothing to do with Envers' plan. Mereds slave era ends after that, and they "go back to being the rich kid." Raph raised them to be as a shitty apology attempt. Meredith's scars were removed, but they still experience cronic pain from the punishment.

And after a good 10ish years, the nautiloid ship plucked them right out of hell, and the worm party began.

[mashedpotatosinacup]

this movie is stupid and I hate it

[wizardlyghost]

i can't keep my silence anymore so i'm gonna say it: i do not get the gale-is-hot hype. like i'm happy for all of y'all but that man loves the sound of his own voice so much. i enjoy him as the annoying talking animal friend but i cannot see the sexual icon that has inspired so much of the fanart i'm sorry.

[shadow--writer]

Why is the hardest part about this game deciding what romance route I’m gonna go with

[bananastarion]

I used to be a Certified Gale Hater since the moment I first met him in my game, literally everything he said rubbed me the wrong way. I just found him really pompous and cocky, while simultaneously being kind of desperate and pathetic and not in an endearing way, more like in the way I've seen in IRL men who I steer clear to avoid. He just gave me 'homeschooled Nice Guy with unwarranted self importance' vibes. And also 'forever alone r/iamverysmart redditor' vibes. Idk, he just gave me the ick but I kept him in my first playthrough just to see if he got any more tolerable... and I just ended up hating him even more (the whole wanting to be a God despite knowing what happened to Karsus thing gave me major, MAJOR ick). It got to the point where every time he had dialogue, I'd be yelling at the screen telling him to stfu. The final straw was the shitty comment he made as Astarion was burning alive at the end of the game. I wanted to punch him through the screen.

I realize Astarion is also a heap of red flags, but this is just how my brain works. Astarion can somehow do no wrong, and Gale is a douchebag. Idk, that's just my emotional gut reaction lmao. Honestly, it's probably because Gale is more like a Normal Real Man and Astarion is a beautiful fantasy, worlds apart from any actual man I've had the misfortune of knowing.

In my second playthough, I kicked Gale out of the party toward the end of act 1 and sent him off to go kill himself in the Underdark. I felt slightly bad and kinda missed him.

Fast forward to now, I am inexplicably crushing on Gale and want to start a new game where I romance him. Idk what happened, I just did a total 180 for no good reason. I think after having horny fantasies about Astarion 24/7 for months my brain is just in need of a brief intermission. All the sudden I'm noticing that Gale might actually not be a horrible person and in truth we have a ton in common? And also he's cute tho?? And he looks really warm and cuddly like if you crawled into bed with him you'd just never want to leave. I just want to invite him over and introduce him to my parents and my cats. I'm not particularly into bloodweave, but I might have to play as Astarion just so I can resist the temptation of romancing Astarion instead (all of my attempts to resist romancing Astarion so far have completely failed). Idk tho, I'd rather romance him as an OC tav but i just know that will end in me romancing Astarion instead. Damn it all, can't I have them both?