instead of doing oc-tober i have decided to become deranged

More thoughts about Gale and his abandonment issues

[Baldurs Gate 3 spoilers, not much of an analysis, just thinking aloud in case I want to return to these thoughts later during my playthrough]

Checking all the scenes of Gale on youtube so I can finally drag myself into the fucking hell of writing a fic of an early access game [can you reach lower? probably not] I keep wondering about all the layers that his character has.  The more I watch him, deeply unfolding the subtleties of the words he uses (because he doesn’t use any word lightly) I became more confident in the fact that, probably, he won’t abandon the MC if, of course, you don’t treat him like shit. 

He speaks about Mystra with certainty as something left in the past, as something he knows he was a mere plaything. Mystra destroyed his petulant wizard pride, taught him humbleness in the hard way, and basically was the cause that ruined his life ending with a tainted orb stuck in his chest. After which she abandoned him. He was not innocent, but that doesn’t mean he was guilty. Now, he is a more mature char, he knows a lot about limitations and the lack of powers. He finally learn about mensures.

He also speaks about embodiments. He doesn't put in doubt that Mystra is and always will be his muse when it comes to magic. It makes sense, without her, there is no magic at all. But he leaves a pretty clear room for doubts when it comes to love. She abandoned him when he needed her the most... so how much can he truly forget that? 

I bet there is more to his quest in which, through small details and situations, the MC slightly becomes the embodiment of mortal love. And by digging the datamining audios, there is a phrase that made me shift my opinion about a potential abandonment coming from him: “You are all too quick to abandon the one you promised yourself to. It’s not a quality I admire”. I have no idea the context, but it makes clear that, sure, Gale can bend his philosophy about certain aspects, but abandonment is not something he would be flexible. Leaving someone behind when they need help is something that reverberates in his psychology too much to be flexible on that matter.

There is another instance of abandonment/betrayal during the game in which Gale expresses his strong opinion: when you can hand over Astarion to Garadel. Gale was never happy to keep Astarion in the camp, he doesn’t like vampires like most humans in general. However, giving him to Garadel causes his disapproval. He even compares the situation with a friend of his whose dog got old and meaner, and such friend ended up putting the dog down. The whole conversation is tense and acid, showing that clearly these attitudes are not something he can bend, not even for a vampire! 

Now I’m more convinced he won’t abandon the MC [at least with all what we saw/listened in Early Access]. He may have done shit when keeping all his drama secret until sleeping with the MC to share it, but it makes sense for the dread he feels for abandonment. Abandoment issues are strong in his char. It would be extremely crappy and out of his character to do the same kind of abandonment that Mystra did to him but to the MC. It’s hard for me to picture it now. Doubts, grey sentiments, even poliamory? Sure, I can see all that in different degrees of potentiality. But leaving the romanced MC feels too out of character.

However, I still keep thinking about his comments after the party, they are mega crappy. xD They would look convincing for a teenager, but man, we are talking about two mature grow-up persons... I can’t stand the crappy cheesiness in the middle of the shit to smooth the situation. 

“How I could ruin the chance for us to happen?” wow, man. And that decision apparently was only yours to make, uh?. 

“I dont know what I did to deserve the magic you do.” Fucking cheesing shit completely out of place that causes cringe, get out of here, you fucking asshole. You have abandonment issues, my MC has trust issues, this crappy phrase wont fix a damn shit, damn you. 

“You are incomparable” Lol. That’s the biggest one. Accomplished scholar of fuckign Waterdeep, ex lover of Mystra, who watches Mystra’s profile every night, wants to convince the MC that he is not comparing the ex with them. All that stuff of “I’ve been thinking in the moment we shared in the Weave” can’t be done without thinking about how it was the experience with Mystra and with the MC, how that connection, unique and, until that moment, he only had with Mystra, now seems to be possible with the MC. Mystra IS the weave... fucker. Fucking lie. He has been comparing a great deal.

The final kiss. Like... the mood of the whole moment has been ruined. A small break of trust happened (reasonable, understandable, pretty easily forgivable given the context) but the bitter taste still is there... leaning in to the MC and kiss them... is weird. After some cheesy words everything is ok.... pft. Give them some days, or maybe one day since the tadpole is a rushing matter, but the whole thing was an icy bucket falling down, it can’t be ok.

It’s more annoying what Gale says to keep the situation smooth than what he truly did... I mean... talking about an ex lover in a deliberately bad time out of fear? Sure, happens (problem is that Gale gave enough hints to make the MC understand that Mystra is far from being over). Talking about a netherese orb after having enough intimacy because he is trying to exploit the acceptance recently earned? Sure, understandable with the abandonment issues he has (and to be honest, not so terrible if you think all of them have a tadpole and the looming potential of turning into a Mind Flayer, which is quite more dangerous in the harm they can do over different planes than a mere massive explosion of netherese magic). But all that charming prince crap going out of his mouth? oh, man. Stop it. xD