I'm so happy that we have the same opinion on Gale. HE DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER. The people who misconstrue his story line where HE is the abuser are literally insane.
i agree with you to an extent. but ill be honest with you, its really easy to see him as the abuser at first when he introduces himself as someone who is currently violently dying because he deliberately ignored his girlfriends boundaries after multiple times being told to fucking cool it. id wager the majority of people who stay in that spot are put off by his attitude and just never bother with him after that, since untill i was made aware of the fact that mystra is basically a serial groomer i had a hard time seeing her as the one in the wrong there. ive also just barely made it into act 2 and mostly just spoiled things for myself knowing i wasnt likely to see those bits organically.
@@xSaraxMxNeffx I totally get that. I was mainly meaning for the people who play through his entire story and then still think that we was in the wrong. I thought he was a bit weird in the beginning. When he first explains the whole situation to you at first, I was confused if I should like this guy or not. I'm in act 3 now and know a lot more about his character than before.
@@xSaraxMxNeffxthat’s also textbook behavior for grooming victims though, blaming themselves for what their abuser did and defending their abuser. And you’ll find that Gale blames himself and self-depreciates constantly, and that’s a learned behavior from how inferior Mystra made him feel.
Creepiest thing about Gale is that Mystra basically groomed him from childhood to be her lover/Chosen. It becomes especially creepy when you consider that Mystra is goddess of magic and is aware of magical prodigies even before they are born. So it feels like Mystra literally tailored herself a toy that she played with for a time and then got bored with. Gods are so much more powerful/cognizant than humans that any relationship of mortal/god feels very perverse. Power dynamic is skewed. And even in the best case scenario, when you die, you forget your mortal life and become one of the myriad celestial creatures in your god/goddesses service, forced to undergo many spiritual transformations from geometric shape to a furry. Like, Mystra most likely has menagerie of lantern archon ex-boyfriends who have been stripped of their intelligence and memory. Afterlife in DnD is rather... horrible, even and especially for good aligned individuals.
She'd known of him even BEFORE he was born?! 😟I know that grooming isn't only in regards to children but any vulnerable individual- including adults- and so even if Mystra had a 'romantic' or sexual relationship with him after a certain time, it would still be considered grooming because she's his deity and exploited him for his talents while controlling his lifelong passion for magic. But if she basically was already interacting with him before he was born, that's just a whole new level of effed up. I'm fighting Mystra in a Waffle House parking lot either way 😤
*creepiest thing about Mystra, gale did nothing wrong tho as a victim, also felt nice to imagine redempted durge able to showing off to her chilling with god gale or kelemvor (both are her ex) lmao, especially kelemvor because their relationship ends because their duty as god
I had no idea Gale was so controversial. I know people can find him annoying because he will keep pursuing the player even after rejection but I just thought it was agreed it was a coding problem. I find him so sweet and nerdy and drop dead gorgeous
@@callimaraI don't think it was, to this day he still pursues after I rejected him. It actually won me over tbh, i ended up cheating on astorian with gale because I felt bad for him it gave me the cut scene with him confessing he loved me and after mystra told him to blow himself up and I'm like okay gale you manipulative piss of shit. Fine I love you too, this was pure emotional manipulation gale.
@@Name.......... Chances are your game is still bugged or something esle is happening because when i freindzone gale, he understands and i simply get the friendship version of his act 2 scene. And he confesses because he realizes that he might not have much time left and wants to spend one of his possibly LAST NIGHTS ALIVE, with the one he loved (or in friendship version, the one who is his first ever friend.((apparently he didnt have friends prior to the game)))
as an autistic person, i see him as one of my own and i love him so dearly!!! i even have him romanced on my main playthrough and i've been met with nothing but golden retriever vibes! man just wants to please!! he wants to share his knowledge and make tav (avatar) happy!! that's an undiagnosed audhd boy if i've ever seen one!!!! i will not be taking gale slander that man is my husband and i will go to bat for him
I love the way he delivers the line “STOP LICKING THE DAMN THING!” I’d love it if you did Wyll, people seem to dislike him for reasons I don’t quite understand. I’m personally an Astarion fan girl but someone needs to stick up for Wyll.
my only problem with wyll is he is boring his one and only gimmick is his warlock pact, and the conclusion to his story is he either becomes a duke, or continues being an adventurer, both good endings with the only exceptions being him dying trying to leave his pact, or going to Avernus to comfort karlach, this leaves very little nuance to the character
Same. But with both of them it makes sense. Astarion is trying to manipulate you out of survival. Lae’zell recognizes your strength and grows to respect that.
so yes, an early access player here: Gale had a bad rep because in Early Access, he would come on strong to the player and UNLIKE THE FULL RELEASE (an important detail), would not mention Mystra or come clean about his condition early on. When he does - if romanced - he ends up implying that surely, unlike Mystra, you wouldn't leave him wouldn't you? It's unfortunately likely one of the main reasons for his bad rep, and I do think it's ridiculous cause Larian changed a whole lot for Gale's narrative, esp about how he's more honest about his condition and his past with Mystra - heck you can't even romance him until ACT 2 officially. But like you said, in the full release, he is more forthright in the full release. And then the whole OH GOD I DIDN'T EVEN TALK TO HIM AND HE CAME ONTO ME bug/issue :C (also bless for Wyll's and Gale's rewrite from EA to Full Release) It sucks because I adore Gale a whole lot. And that people will just... Not take what we know about him in Early Access to face value, it stings a whole lot. -shakes people to try Gale's Origin playthrough as well- and on him blowing up, the whole party is like "MYSTRA KINDA SUCKS TO TELL HIM TO BLOW UP". Everyone. Even Astarion and Lae'zel.
Astarion's "it's a waste of a perfectly good Gale, I suppose" is such an Astarion way of saying "it's not like I care but umm... I hope he doesn't do it... But I don't actually care what happens to him, totally don't care" I feel like they did over-do it on how forthright they made him for second time players... First campaign, fine, I took so many long rests it was fine. But the second campaign I have him telling me "we've been travelling together for a while now, haven't we?" and I'm like "IT'S BEEN LIKE AN HOUR, DUDE"
Gale, in my opinion, is the most romantic out of all companions. The man wears his heart on his sleeve and feels emotions very deeply (which honestly makes the orb situation worse because he's afraid to even get excited in fear it will explode). He's so dorky and the second I pulled him out of the portal I was gone XD. He starts infodumping about his passion for magic, how could I not? His sweet romantic lines turns me into a puddle every time ESPECIALLY the boat scene. ALSO THE GUY COOKS and has a pet cat/tressym. My favourite thing is that he's the camps cook. Yes, like all wizards he has a hubris, but you can persuade him otherwise. If you go romance route then his love for you matters more than anything else. All companions have layers and I don’t understand why some people just decide to base their judgement on him when they've seen only the surface. (Started watching the video and you basically said everything I written here THANK YOU GALE DESERVES ALL THE LOVE)
This video made me so happy. Like so much. I got really into this game recently, and being an autistic person, I looked directly at this man and went… ONE OF US. But seriously it took me one interaction. I love all the characters in this game for how well thought out and interesting their stories are. So far, my favourite interactions and parallels have been with Astarion, but Gale is such a close second because I understand this man SO deepy. I love comparing the two, there’s something about being bound to the life you can’t escape, whether you want to or not. The endless hunger cursed to you. Gale is so autistic, he’s a broken autistic gifted kid who was groomed into his current state in life- And in so many ways I compare Mystra to the people that almost changed me for the worse, the adults and those who held power over me who “wanted what’s best for me” and “encouraged my search for knowledge” until I was so burnt out and broken that they just… Threw me away. The power imbalance… It’s just *so* interesting, she’s so intrinsically intertwined with his special interest. And he’s so honest about everything that happened to him, he’s just… He’s just so willing to die because it’s all he’s known, and I relate to that. I understand that. I GET IT. I love this dumbass. Maybe it’s projection, but I love him so much. Thank you for seeing that part of him too, it’s nice to not feel insane about how much I love this character.
i love one (1) warlock-coded wizard (jokes somewhat aside, i was utterly gobsmacked when i found out that people didn't like Gale. he's my favourite BG3 companion and character; from the moment he was introduced to the various ends of his storyline. he's just so cleverly-written: simultaneously likeably charming and a bit dorky, deeply passionate not just about knowledge but also sharing it with others, genuinely a good person who still carries with him this dark sense of Faustian over-ambition. as i am myself a cat-loving academic who wants to kill god, i love Gale very much, and also i will play this game for 300-400 more hours if it means figuring out how to destroy Mystra and have him ascend to her position)
Wow i had no idea he was so debated about! I watched a lot of EA playthroughs and do think his offical release personality is way better. Strange that people would hang onto that or hang onto the behaviour caused by a bug. Great drawing, as always!
I think it's kind of funny that people fixate on certain things without context, my number one biggest pet peeve: 1. Gale is the one who abused Mystra by stepping on her boundaries. This one infuriates me because people who use this tact often have very little understanding about DnD and the gods beyond Baldur's Gate 3 and they cannot even fathom how awful Mystra really is. Her non-con is off the charts people, she has historically taken and altered the powers of her Chosen without informing them or asking for consent. She possessed the body of a a woman in order to sleep with her husband and give birth to the Seven Sisters. Elué did not enthusiastically consent to this and was in fact reluctant to be possessed, this is a power imbalance. It's no different with Gale, there is a power imbalance therefore Mystra's relationship with Gale is and has been exploitative and conditional. The reason why Mystra gets labeled the victim in the Mystra and Gale dynamic is because she presents as female and Gale presents as male, that is the only reason, because only the male can be the abuser, but Mystra has a demonstrated history of disgusting behaviors, Gale has no such history. Mystra needs to be looked at as a god and gods exploit mortals. I think my second biggest pet peeve is: 2. Labeling Gale toxic because as a player you make certain hurtful dialogue choices while presumably romancing him. Twist the knife counter-clockwise why don't you? Is it dramatic to say he's going to blow himself up? Sure. Is it petty to choose the option that gets you that dialogue? Yes, so what do you expect to be the price of your unlawful pettiness? But also it's a cry for help and I don't think people realize that either, like at this juncture of the game the looming fear of having to blow himself up and likely everyone else in the process is jarring enough. You shred him after such an intimate and vulnerable scene with someone who is already emotionally on edge and certain of his death, of course it felt like another unnecessary blow. That's a player choice, not necessarily the A all and End all of the character himself. But also, also! Demonizing Gale for being toxic while lionizing Astarion is especially frustrating, because again depending on character choices he's one of the most toxic characters. Astarion's very well written and you understand his journey because hurt people hurt people, but that doesn't make him any less toxic. His MO for the vast majority of the game is to manipulate the party leader and the rest of the party for his own ends, you have to chip away at all of his -isms and fears and then choose the right path to get an Astarion that's redeemed. Why does Astarion get such a pass on his behaviors but Gale is toxic? Is it because Astarion's abuser presents as male? Is it because he balances his toxicity with the overwhelming force of his personality? It's likely a bit of column A and column B. Gale also inherited the bad rap from the pre-release for coming on too strong which is something you have to be able to compartmentalize because I understand the developers were trying to give us a taste for the game and it's romance mechanics. the fact that Gale acts a certain way in the game as well is a bug and not a feature, but come on people, Astarion is the one trying to jump your bones in Act 1. Lae-zel as well. It's the same for Gale and watching his arc. A man who is dealing with the consequences and guilt of his own folly and fall from grace, seeking repentance and purpose after having his entire identity and sense of self shattered. He gets this purpose when Mystra tells him he can save the day by blowing himself up and he runs with that for the slim hope that he might be redeemed in her eyes. He stops running with this once the scales fall from his eyes and that Wizard hubris and desire to live for something else consumes him. The reality is no one hates Gale more than Gale, because Gale Dekarios is not Gale Wizard of Waterdeep. Gale's journey is learning that Gale Dekarios is enough and that Mystra and magic are not the only things that define him. This is the moral of the story for so much of the cast, these powerful deities that have reigned chaos on the party and their lives, lied to them, deceived, them, used them, hurt them, taken from them are all really no better than the Absolute. The gods suck.
Perfectly said! This is what I mean when I say that people who villainize Gale are truly excusing abuse against male victims when it specifically comes to romantic relationships- it only seems that if a man has another male as their abusive ex or a woman has a male/female abusive ex, people are much more sympathetic and able to believe the victim. But the fact that Gale apparently gives people 'straight' vibes, so they label him as a "fuckboy" and act like Gale was somehow manipulating the female in the relationship, despite her having control over his entire life and access to magic. And because he's a man who has a lot of pride in his magic, he's labeled as a "mansplainer", which makes no sense because he doesn't talk down to women, but instead talks very openly to all genders of player characters about his passions. Some people can't even believe he was groomed, despite having all the traits of a victim. The fact that Gale himself doesn't realize he was abused and can't see the faults in Mystra for a while doesn't help the players' understanding of his situation/trauma- but it's strange that people don't clock the sus dynamic of an IMMORTAL GODDESS being a TEACHER to a mortal man and then making him her lover. People say Astarion is the most misunderstood character, and while I love him, Gale takes that title for truly having the most underappreciated story of emotional abuse. One where the abuser is ignored because they don't come off as obviously manipulative or evil (the way Cazador or Gortash do).
@@beccazach Lol I love that Gale gets labeled a "mansplainer" for his vast knowledge of magic. It's certainly not a man thing, it's a Wizard thing. Again this comes from the fact that those who play Baldur's Gate 3 and really do not have a grasp on DnD understand very little about the lore. Wizards know more about magic than any other class including Sorcerers. That's because Sorcerers use magic inherently, but Wizards study it, they are like the programmers and mathematicians of magic. Sorcerers are limited in the number of spells they can use, Wizards can use any number of spells and they have so much knowledge about the actual mechanics of the spells. I would trust a Wizard's knowledge about magic over any other class. It's definitely not mansplaining, and the fact that Gale has been locked in a tower with nothing but time and books on his hands just means he's got all of this curated knowledge rattling around in his head. The man has a degree in magic, he was favored for a reason. I played as a male Sorcerer and Gale still schooled me in the same way, it's built in dialogue no matter what gender you are, the fact that people who play this game and believe Gale is saying things to them because of their gender shows a very odd kind of mental conditioning. I mean we know what the conditioning is, it's words and concepts being used out of context so frequently that meaning gets lost. The fact that a male character with locked in dialogue that speaks to every character the same way is misconstrued as mansplaining when you play as a woman is mind boggling. Yeah, I love both Astarion and Gale, but if we want to talk about the title for most misunderstood character I'd argue you are right. Gale is way more misunderstood that Astarion. Astarion's, abuse is not understated or muddied in the slightest while the subtilty of Gale's abuse and the fact that the abuser is a woman leaves us with false narratives. Though I also think people who love Astarion blindly are willing to give him a pass on things because they don't want to acknowledge it. He's a great character with a tragic story and a lot of undeniable hurt, but he's still deeply flawed. That doesn't go away because of the trauma, he's also a Vampire spawn and part of his behaviors are intrinsic to what he is, not just because he's hurt. Vampirism in DnD latches on to the worst traits a person had in life and amplifies it, if you were a good person Vampirism twists good, so some of the things he's inclined to are owing to the fact that he's a Vampire and we see this the more he's indulged. Cancel Reply
@@beccazachI hate how you don't get the option to tell Gale "give the crown to Mystra, and then tell her to go fuck herself because she's a piece of shit. Don't go back to her."
Thank you! These are all my pet peeves too, especially 2 - I saw one person say that they did his romance scene out of curiosity and then the next morning when they "tried to break up with him he said they shouldn't say that to a guy with a bomb in his chest” - you tried to break up with him by insulting him? When you could have reloaded the save and not slept with him at all, or chosen the actual straightforward breakup/refusal option?? They're being wilfully unkind or dismissive and then blaming it on him, with no consideration of the immense life-threatening stress he's under, it's utterly bizarre. And claiming he's mainsplaining magic, oh my gods. If you play as a wizard or sorcerer when you enter act 2 and he starts to explain the shadow magic, you can literally say "I know it when I see it, you don't need to explain this to me" and he apologises and says he's still getting used to being amongst peers again. Acting like he's talking down to the player just by talking about something he's literally an expert in is, again, utterly bizarre. They so clearly just want a reason to dislike him and an excuse to turn bullying him into a sport.
@@indiefaerie Right, this is a man who is so emotionally fragile that he doesn't allow himself to get intimate with the PC until he's pretty sure he can control the detonation device. As the PC you are destabilizing him with your unkindness, this is someone who is kind of holding on by a thread and the player character is the one yoinking his feelings around, you really think that's the wise choice for someone who spent a good chunk of act one avoiding intimacy and powerful emotions because of what they could do to him. It says more about the person playing the game and becoming offended than Gale, honestly. And yeah, Gale is a wizard, he's not mansplaining, it's literally his job to know everything there is to know about everything there is to know about magical and arcane forces. He devoted the entirety of his being to this sort of thing and Gale has not been socialized for quite some time so of course he might experience some social faux pas. Like you said though, when he is among his peers he comes to recognize this, it's like, give the guy a freaking break.
Callie, I humbly request more Baldur’s Gate content please 😭🙏🏾 Edit: I’ve grown a bit of an appreciation for Gale since my first interaction with him saying I was a lesser spell caster as a warlock. But he’s cool. Except when he ate Karlach’s fire axe from my inventory. Seriously, fuck you Gale. Jk he’s fine
Bro I always liked Gale he was always gonna be my second choice for romance. (Astarion's #1 obvs) i didn't know ppl felt that way about him smh he seems like a cool dude. the goddess thing weirded me out at first but your explanation made sense. God all the companions need therapy
Finally, a good video about Gale that doesnt throw him in the mud, thank u! We love Gale here, he's a precious boy and must be defended. Gale girlies rise up!
3:20 *pfffffft* the idea of someone calling him a square and him getting defensive and using some lame joke to prove he's not one is killing me Edit: 7:17 I'm sorry what?! Why do people think that?! My first campaign I had a fucking love triangle with him and Astarion and had to turn him down in act 2 (damn past me for making my first character my old D&D character who was a slut) and I felt so bad for turning him down because he was so saaaad but never ever did I get the feeling he was saying he'd off himself for leaving him????? He was very gracious about it even though he basically got slapped in the face for opening up his heart to someone who was actually just leading him on in my campaign. He was groomed by a damn goddess since childhood and then had everything taken away from him by said goddess for daring to feel inadequate for her, and when he finally feels like he's actually loved for his own merits it's obviously gonna hurt his nearly nonexistant sense of self worth when he feels like he wasn't worthy of love again. But still he doesn't feel like Tav is to blame there! He thinks the fault is in him! So how is he an incel?!
While, yes, Mystra's relationship with Gale was pretty ooky... When Gale dies, by the way the D&D cosmology works, he WILL end up in the presence of Mystra, in her realm, forever. Whether he blows himself up or not. Him killing himself to save the world would literally be him "coming home" to her, not ceasing to exist.
I already liked Gale before this and I've been planing to romance him soon... but now I actually love him and I think you described him really well from what I've experienced with him so far. He is very sweet and I mean it's also kind of funny that he was down bad for me after like two conversations...
Gale is funny, gorgeous, confident, brilliant, kind, generous, grateful, and fiercely loyal. I don’t know what else a person could want in a friend or love interest 🤷🏼♀️
One of the dumbest things I came across when it came to people complaining about how Gale fell in love with them 'for no reason' was during a conversation the oplayer had with Gale in act 1 (I think it was the tiefling party). They ask Gale if he likes belly rubs (a dialogue option the player has when Gale mentions about how Tara hates getting her belly rubbed). According to the player, that dialogue option was 'vague' and they only meant it in a friendly way - but Gale fell for them based on that 'friendly' question. I'm sorry - but when was belly rubs considered a platonic act shared between friends? Gale isn't a cat/tressym - he's a human male, and belly rubs between adults is considered an intimate gesture. So, of course, Gale is going to think the player is hitting on him/returning romantic interest in him. A better example of a character falling for the player for no reason would be Halsin (at least, that's how it was in my playthrough. Didn't treat him any differently than I had when compared to other non romanced companions and he was not happy when I rejected his offer for a throuple).
Calli: Describes Gales' personality in detail Me: Listening intently Calli: "How could you not like him?" Me: Thinks about it for a moment 💡"Cause he's literally me!"
I love Gale honestly, I genuinely felt bad benching him for Karlach. He was so good in the goblin camp and helped me through reviving LITERALLY ALL of my party members in the aftermath. (I was stupid and didn’t get Karlach before the goblin camp so I essentially did it all on hard mode without realizing.) I love all the characters honestly,at least,the main companions.
Awwww people don’t like him? I think he’s adorable. I find his scene in Act 2/3 really beautiful. I like all of them to be fair. I like they are all flawed. It makes the player so much more invested!
I know this is a few months old now, but amongst all the noise of people bullying Gale for sport and wilfully misunderstanding his character, I really, really appreciate it. 💜
I'm ngl I really didn't like Gale in act 1 because he reminded me of men I know (lol), but I didn't really play with him that much either because my character is a wizard (and having two in the party is kinda wild). AND THEN, act 2 comes along. Mind you that I'm romancing Astarion, so I didn't get Gale's romance scenes. That said, he did proposition himself to my character, but after I rejected him, I just got sweet, actually platonic scenes that I didn't get with any other character, and I kind of love him now lol... He's definitely one of my favorites ones, and I never understood why people complain so much about him coming on too strong. Also I want to protect him because I fucking hate Mystra for literally grooming him and then wanting him to blow himself up...
First of all, lovely artwork 😍 That said, I never really realized that people don't like Gale that much. Like, I know that characters are Astarion or Karlach have much more following about them, which I mostly get (having a hard time with Astarion tbh, cause I fucking LOVE his VA, but he's just slimey in a way that doesn't sit right with me, especially early game, and of course he disapproves of everything I do), but with Gale... I have to admit, one of my friends was dating him first, and just from seeing pics of him, without playing, I was like "meh". But then when I met him, I went "huh, okay, he's nice" and then I got the scene where he tells his story from the Yawning Portal, and that was the moment I went "alright, you, sir, are funny and can tell a good story, and you have a nice voice, you will be my simp target of choice."
I don't know if anyone intended him to be autistic but I imagine that just from a bunch of videogame and dnd nerds writing characters based on what they know about people from their own lives, I'd be really surprised if no one ended up being basically autistic
I was pretty much thrown into BG3 without much knowledge, my Sister gave it to me as a present with a dozend Astarion Videos attached. so I started thinking that obviously im gonna start romance the brithish sexy Vampire Seductress. until there was Gale, and hes such a Dorky sweetheart, hes domestic and monogamous, hes a Cat dad, so how could one not love him
I got the wrong impression of him, and it was in full release and not due to the romance bug. I got the weird feeling that a) he was trying to sell me something, and b) he was banging a goddess and it wasnt enough, because he basically said so word for word. I was mistaken because first, what I felt was duplicity was actually a creaking mask of a man who wasnt socially fluid trying to keep up a relaxed, happy face whilst being up against depression, self esteem issues, raw terror about the orb, fear of abandoment, and the entire debacle with Mystra and the orb. I'd picked up on the falsity, but not the source. The other was that I assumed he had been a fully established, self realised adult wizard before all that stuff with Mystra went down, and he even says a goddess wasnt enough for him. Basically, I took his total lack of insight into his own situation at face value. The record scratch moment was when he told him to kys, and also finding out he'd love you even if you was a worm. But yeah Im very happy to have been wrong about this and he is now my favourite too for all reasons listed.
I love the Crack headcanon someone said once that Gale always had such a high trip whenever he consumed a magic item that he imagined a whole life with your Tav and didn't know anymore wether it was just a bad trip or a real occurance... especially with your Tadpoles doing Gods know what with you as well :'D
IDK why people say Gale is annoying. Heck! Early on in my current playthrough, Gale lent me a hand! Such a helpful man! I still have it too! Jokes aside, Admittedly, I don't have much experience with Gale because first playthrough was (Attempting to be) the LE, must get rid of GAIHK tadpole Githyanki (slowly turned towards morally grey, against Vlakiith) when he revealed he was dangerous with the boom orb, I sent him away. (Because hey. drain on resources, and CHARACTER didn't know if it would even help. And then... the reveal that he would be aiming to go into the underdark and blow up midnflayers... another bonus for my githyanki.) And then my current durge playthrough... uh, yeah. the joke above is what I did. But I will say that from what clips I've seen of him, he is endearing. If you (as a red flag in an actual relationship in general...) convince him to join you with the twins, he creates a duplicate to study it or something. When you ask him if it's okay you have a night with halsain, he takes the 'another person in our relationship' to mean a child, so he's loyal in that regard, as that's what he thinks of first. Plus, another possible association with Gale that might be annoying is moreso on larian for misleading choices, but I remember at least one person being blindsided by the phrasing of his proposition for an intimate moment after taking care of the goblins. The phrasing being something like 'wanna see a magic trick?' which they took to be... actual magic trick (and so would be platonic) and not an intimate moment thing from what I recall. Honestly, the coming on too strong thing was more a problem with Wyll I believe in my experience. because I had a scene that really seems like it was meant to be a romance scene.... but at that point, I was in a relationship with Lae'zel. so like... hes seen me very often with Laezel. and he's like 'wanna be my dance partner in this moonlight?' Of course yeah, there was the condescending stuff in EA, mocking you for not being a wizard, and he still sorta talks down to you if you still are a wizard, or something like that in EA, IIRC. I just remember at least some talking down to you if you were like a sorcerer.
I'm not gonna lie, I haven't been able to play the game yet, but from what I've seen of him, there's just something about him that makes me wanna bully him... Like, the clips of seen of him getting kinda huffy are just hilarious and I wanna keep poking at him, lol, is that weird?
Gale frustrates me He is the sweetest I want to like him and I enjoyed his romance... until the end I also experienced the insisting Gale even nowadays, which afyer so many updates makes me wonder if it's actually a bug Second of all he either is not as nice as i thought or some of his dialogues are not updated to romance because he can be very pro Mystra singing her praises kn the tabernacle, say he doesnt know if he still loves mystra, then immediately have the boat scene... Also I picked up the book of Karsus as Gale and that somehow made Gale believe I accepted his plan of the crown and really got angry and insulted me (on a Gale way of course , blind, delusional etc.) For changing my mind or whatever His ending is so sweet and I want to like him, but these bugs have beem present for so long... I wonder of they actually are bugs
just letting u know that yt had this in my recommendations towards the bottom of the page when i'd scrolled really far, i also didn't know about your other recent upload until i clicked on your channel and found it from there. gl getting views up girlie idk y yt is doing this to u
The format of the story really screws Gale over. Every companion has a main plot and they have to exposit their backstory for the player. The problem is that Gale's involves an ex, and lots of people read idolizing your ex as a red flag (myself included tbf). Even when that ex is a goddess. But Gale's constant talking about Mystra is also a gameplay thing. It's not just obsession, it's also exposition and plot. He 100% gets over it and treats YOU like a god/goddess if you let him, but some ppl get scared away by the red flag and are then creeped out when he still tries to romance them. It's the same with the orb. Sometimes he mentions it in random conversations, which is a gameplay thing to remind you that Chekhov's gun is still on the wall in case you haven't played the game in a few months. But the line of dialogue is him saying (in a romantic scene that doesn't go his way) that stress might set it off reads as a threat. Ppl think he's saying if you break his heart you'll all die, so you have to stay with him. It's a bad faith reading of his character, but the dialogue really set him up to be misunderdtood. Plus, he eats items, and ppl don't come to this kind of game to get rid of loot. If we do trash magic items, it's to sell them so we can buy cooler items. Gale eating them feels like a tax, so ppl resent him for taking their fun out of the game. On top of that he's asking for items while he's still a low level Wizard, so he really hasn't proven his worth yet and he's already asking for a huge investment too early. I love Gale with all my heart, soul and chakras. But the format of this story really works to his dissadvantage. He's been set up to be disliked by the structure of the game, which is a shame because he's a handsome golden retriever boy who talks real fancy and dresses even fancier.
I went into the game thinking I was going to romance Wyl. Nope... Nope. Goofy Gale won my heart. Not quite finished wit the game. we are in the lower city . been thinking about doing an evil run and will prob focus on Astarian and Shadowheart. I hope they like sharing! LOL
When you are done with baulders gate and if you want to do more modern versions of fantasy characters could you maybe do the dragon age followers whether you want to do( orgins/awakening/the stone prisoner) (2/exiled prince/) ( inquestion)
@callimara it's a little on the dark side but it's not as bad as bloodborn word of advice if you ever do it get a strategy guide also be prepared for ridiculous hats if you are playing a mage also also there is a dog and if you can't get a strategy guide use the Fandom wiki it's just as good
Hey Callimara, I dont know if you're tired of talkign about Yansim, but there's a massive story going on now, pretty serious acusations with a bunch of evidence and ofc the fans covering up for him (even the victim)
@@callimara uh yandere dev after all the suspicious stuff he did and said it finally came for an end and a conclusion which is ................ fricking grooming a 16 year old fan that he started chatting with from when they were 9 year olds anx is watting for to turn 18 to do some disgusting stuff with ........... just like ew absolutely disgusting !
imo, the reason why jokes go over gale’s head is because he’s incredibly intelligent. even without a ‘tism, people like that often struggle to banter on the same wavelength as “normal” people
In my personally opinion i don't really like him, i watch you video and all but i still don't like him, if you like him that.cool i respect you opinion,
I'm so happy that we have the same opinion on Gale. HE DESERVES SO MUCH BETTER. The people who misconstrue his story line where HE is the abuser are literally insane.
They probably don't even play the game at all or just never bother with his storyline 😭
@@callimara probably. but personally, I couldn't imagine ignoring a characters story line because I love literally every companion.
i agree with you to an extent. but ill be honest with you, its really easy to see him as the abuser at first when he introduces himself as someone who is currently violently dying because he deliberately ignored his girlfriends boundaries after multiple times being told to fucking cool it. id wager the majority of people who stay in that spot are put off by his attitude and just never bother with him after that, since untill i was made aware of the fact that mystra is basically a serial groomer i had a hard time seeing her as the one in the wrong there. ive also just barely made it into act 2 and mostly just spoiled things for myself knowing i wasnt likely to see those bits organically.
@@xSaraxMxNeffx I totally get that. I was mainly meaning for the people who play through his entire story and then still think that we was in the wrong. I thought he was a bit weird in the beginning. When he first explains the whole situation to you at first, I was confused if I should like this guy or not. I'm in act 3 now and know a lot more about his character than before.
@@xSaraxMxNeffxthat’s also textbook behavior for grooming victims though, blaming themselves for what their abuser did and defending their abuser. And you’ll find that Gale blames himself and self-depreciates constantly, and that’s a learned behavior from how inferior Mystra made him feel.
Creepiest thing about Gale is that Mystra basically groomed him from childhood to be her lover/Chosen. It becomes especially creepy when you consider that Mystra is goddess of magic and is aware of magical prodigies even before they are born. So it feels like Mystra literally tailored herself a toy that she played with for a time and then got bored with.
Gods are so much more powerful/cognizant than humans that any relationship of mortal/god feels very perverse. Power dynamic is skewed.
And even in the best case scenario, when you die, you forget your mortal life and become one of the myriad celestial creatures in your god/goddesses service, forced to undergo many spiritual transformations from geometric shape to a furry.
Like, Mystra most likely has menagerie of lantern archon ex-boyfriends who have been stripped of their intelligence and memory.
Afterlife in DnD is rather... horrible, even and especially for good aligned individuals.
She'd known of him even BEFORE he was born?! 😟I know that grooming isn't only in regards to children but any vulnerable individual- including adults- and so even if Mystra had a 'romantic' or sexual relationship with him after a certain time, it would still be considered grooming because she's his deity and exploited him for his talents while controlling his lifelong passion for magic. But if she basically was already interacting with him before he was born, that's just a whole new level of effed up. I'm fighting Mystra in a Waffle House parking lot either way 😤
*creepiest thing about Mystra, gale did nothing wrong tho as a victim, also felt nice to imagine redempted durge able to showing off to her chilling with god gale or kelemvor (both are her ex) lmao, especially kelemvor because their relationship ends because their duty as god
I had no idea Gale was so controversial. I know people can find him annoying because he will keep pursuing the player even after rejection but I just thought it was agreed it was a coding problem. I find him so sweet and nerdy and drop dead gorgeous
It was a bug, but most people don't seem to be aware that it is and just think he's like that intentionally
@@callimaraI don't think it was, to this day he still pursues after I rejected him. It actually won me over tbh, i ended up cheating on astorian with gale because I felt bad for him it gave me the cut scene with him confessing he loved me and after mystra told him to blow himself up and I'm like okay gale you manipulative piss of shit. Fine I love you too, this was pure emotional manipulation gale.
@@Name.......... Chances are your game is still bugged or something esle is happening because when i freindzone gale, he understands and i simply get the friendship version of his act 2 scene. And he confesses because he realizes that he might not have much time left and wants to spend one of his possibly LAST NIGHTS ALIVE, with the one he loved (or in friendship version, the one who is his first ever friend.((apparently he didnt have friends prior to the game)))
I've always liked Gale. Makes me sad whenever people are mean to him. I just love his energy, and he always makes me smile.
He has such good vibes
as an autistic person, i see him as one of my own and i love him so dearly!!!
i even have him romanced on my main playthrough and i've been met with nothing but golden retriever vibes! man just wants to please!! he wants to share his knowledge and make tav (avatar) happy!! that's an undiagnosed audhd boy if i've ever seen one!!!!
i will not be taking gale slander that man is my husband and i will go to bat for him
I love the way he delivers the line “STOP LICKING THE DAMN THING!”
I’d love it if you did Wyll, people seem to dislike him for reasons I don’t quite understand. I’m personally an Astarion fan girl but someone needs to stick up for Wyll.
my only problem with wyll is he is boring
his one and only gimmick is his warlock pact, and the conclusion to his story is he either becomes a duke, or continues being an adventurer, both good endings with the only exceptions being him dying trying to leave his pact, or going to Avernus to comfort karlach, this leaves very little nuance to the character
It's a shame that part of Wyll's depth got shafted due to time (and his Early Access rendition not going over well).
Astarion and Lae’zel come onto you the fastest, like most the time I get both their confessions BEFORE clearing out the goblin camp.
Lol same
Same. But with both of them it makes sense. Astarion is trying to manipulate you out of survival. Lae’zell recognizes your strength and grows to respect that.
Yup. Lae'zal hit me with the "I will taste you." before anyone else even looked at me. LOL
so yes, an early access player here: Gale had a bad rep because in Early Access, he would come on strong to the player and UNLIKE THE FULL RELEASE (an important detail), would not mention Mystra or come clean about his condition early on. When he does - if romanced - he ends up implying that surely, unlike Mystra, you wouldn't leave him wouldn't you?
It's unfortunately likely one of the main reasons for his bad rep, and I do think it's ridiculous cause Larian changed a whole lot for Gale's narrative, esp about how he's more honest about his condition and his past with Mystra - heck you can't even romance him until ACT 2 officially.
But like you said, in the full release, he is more forthright in the full release. And then the whole OH GOD I DIDN'T EVEN TALK TO HIM AND HE CAME ONTO ME bug/issue :C
(also bless for Wyll's and Gale's rewrite from EA to Full Release)
It sucks because I adore Gale a whole lot. And that people will just... Not take what we know about him in Early Access to face value, it stings a whole lot.
-shakes people to try Gale's Origin playthrough as well-
and on him blowing up, the whole party is like "MYSTRA KINDA SUCKS TO TELL HIM TO BLOW UP". Everyone. Even Astarion and Lae'zel.
Astarion's "it's a waste of a perfectly good Gale, I suppose" is such an Astarion way of saying "it's not like I care but umm... I hope he doesn't do it... But I don't actually care what happens to him, totally don't care"
I feel like they did over-do it on how forthright they made him for second time players... First campaign, fine, I took so many long rests it was fine. But the second campaign I have him telling me "we've been travelling together for a while now, haven't we?" and I'm like "IT'S BEEN LIKE AN HOUR, DUDE"
I stopped folowing EA early, but wasn't Gale one of the hardest to romance back then, because high aproval made his romance cutscenes skip?
Gale, in my opinion, is the most romantic out of all companions. The man wears his heart on his sleeve and feels emotions very deeply (which honestly makes the orb situation worse because he's afraid to even get excited in fear it will explode).
He's so dorky and the second I pulled him out of the portal I was gone XD.
He starts infodumping about his passion for magic, how could I not?
His sweet romantic lines turns me into a puddle every time ESPECIALLY the boat scene. ALSO THE GUY COOKS and has a pet cat/tressym. My favourite thing is that he's the camps cook.
Yes, like all wizards he has a hubris, but you can persuade him otherwise. If you go romance route then his love for you matters more than anything else.
All companions have layers and I don’t understand why some people just decide to base their judgement on him when they've seen only the surface.
(Started watching the video and you basically said everything I written here THANK YOU GALE DESERVES ALL THE LOVE)
This video made me so happy. Like so much. I got really into this game recently, and being an autistic person, I looked directly at this man and went… ONE OF US. But seriously it took me one interaction. I love all the characters in this game for how well thought out and interesting their stories are. So far, my favourite interactions and parallels have been with Astarion, but Gale is such a close second because I understand this man SO deepy. I love comparing the two, there’s something about being bound to the life you can’t escape, whether you want to or not. The endless hunger cursed to you.
Gale is so autistic, he’s a broken autistic gifted kid who was groomed into his current state in life- And in so many ways I compare Mystra to the people that almost changed me for the worse, the adults and those who held power over me who “wanted what’s best for me” and “encouraged my search for knowledge” until I was so burnt out and broken that they just… Threw me away.
The power imbalance… It’s just *so* interesting, she’s so intrinsically intertwined with his special interest. And he’s so honest about everything that happened to him, he’s just… He’s just so willing to die because it’s all he’s known, and I relate to that. I understand that. I GET IT.
I love this dumbass. Maybe it’s projection, but I love him so much. Thank you for seeing that part of him too, it’s nice to not feel insane about how much I love this character.
i love one (1) warlock-coded wizard
(jokes somewhat aside, i was utterly gobsmacked when i found out that people didn't like Gale. he's my favourite BG3 companion and character; from the moment he was introduced to the various ends of his storyline.
he's just so cleverly-written: simultaneously likeably charming and a bit dorky, deeply passionate not just about knowledge but also sharing it with others, genuinely a good person who still carries with him this dark sense of Faustian over-ambition.
as i am myself a cat-loving academic who wants to kill god, i love Gale very much, and also i will play this game for 300-400 more hours if it means figuring out how to destroy Mystra and have him ascend to her position)
"as i am myself a cat-loving academic who wants to kill god" omg slay bestie
@@callimara what can i say? he's just like me fr
Wow i had no idea he was so debated about! I watched a lot of EA playthroughs and do think his offical release personality is way better. Strange that people would hang onto that or hang onto the behaviour caused by a bug. Great drawing, as always!
It's so sad that it sullied people's perception of him so badly
I think it's kind of funny that people fixate on certain things without context, my number one biggest pet peeve:
1. Gale is the one who abused Mystra by stepping on her boundaries. This one infuriates me because people who use this tact often have very little understanding about DnD and the gods beyond Baldur's Gate 3 and they cannot even fathom how awful Mystra really is. Her non-con is off the charts people, she has historically taken and altered the powers of her Chosen without informing them or asking for consent. She possessed the body of a a woman in order to sleep with her husband and give birth to the Seven Sisters. Elué did not enthusiastically consent to this and was in fact reluctant to be possessed, this is a power imbalance. It's no different with Gale, there is a power imbalance therefore Mystra's relationship with Gale is and has been exploitative and conditional. The reason why Mystra gets labeled the victim in the Mystra and Gale dynamic is because she presents as female and Gale presents as male, that is the only reason, because only the male can be the abuser, but Mystra has a demonstrated history of disgusting behaviors, Gale has no such history. Mystra needs to be looked at as a god and gods exploit mortals.
I think my second biggest pet peeve is:
2. Labeling Gale toxic because as a player you make certain hurtful dialogue choices while presumably romancing him. Twist the knife counter-clockwise why don't you?
Is it dramatic to say he's going to blow himself up? Sure. Is it petty to choose the option that gets you that dialogue? Yes, so what do you expect to be the price of your unlawful pettiness? But also it's a cry for help and I don't think people realize that either, like at this juncture of the game the looming fear of having to blow himself up and likely everyone else in the process is jarring enough. You shred him after such an intimate and vulnerable scene with someone who is already emotionally on edge and certain of his death, of course it felt like another unnecessary blow. That's a player choice, not necessarily the A all and End all of the character himself.
But also, also! Demonizing Gale for being toxic while lionizing Astarion is especially frustrating, because again depending on character choices he's one of the most toxic characters. Astarion's very well written and you understand his journey because hurt people hurt people, but that doesn't make him any less toxic. His MO for the vast majority of the game is to manipulate the party leader and the rest of the party for his own ends, you have to chip away at all of his -isms and fears and then choose the right path to get an Astarion that's redeemed. Why does Astarion get such a pass on his behaviors but Gale is toxic? Is it because Astarion's abuser presents as male? Is it because he balances his toxicity with the overwhelming force of his personality? It's likely a bit of column A and column B.
Gale also inherited the bad rap from the pre-release for coming on too strong which is something you have to be able to compartmentalize because I understand the developers were trying to give us a taste for the game and it's romance mechanics. the fact that Gale acts a certain way in the game as well is a bug and not a feature, but come on people, Astarion is the one trying to jump your bones in Act 1. Lae-zel as well.
It's the same for Gale and watching his arc. A man who is dealing with the consequences and guilt of his own folly and fall from grace, seeking repentance and purpose after having his entire identity and sense of self shattered. He gets this purpose when Mystra tells him he can save the day by blowing himself up and he runs with that for the slim hope that he might be redeemed in her eyes. He stops running with this once the scales fall from his eyes and that Wizard hubris and desire to live for something else consumes him. The reality is no one hates Gale more than Gale, because Gale Dekarios is not Gale Wizard of Waterdeep. Gale's journey is learning that Gale Dekarios is enough and that Mystra and magic are not the only things that define him.
This is the moral of the story for so much of the cast, these powerful deities that have reigned chaos on the party and their lives, lied to them, deceived, them, used them, hurt them, taken from them are all really no better than the Absolute. The gods suck.
Perfectly said! This is what I mean when I say that people who villainize Gale are truly excusing abuse against male victims when it specifically comes to romantic relationships- it only seems that if a man has another male as their abusive ex or a woman has a male/female abusive ex, people are much more sympathetic and able to believe the victim. But the fact that Gale apparently gives people 'straight' vibes, so they label him as a "fuckboy" and act like Gale was somehow manipulating the female in the relationship, despite her having control over his entire life and access to magic. And because he's a man who has a lot of pride in his magic, he's labeled as a "mansplainer", which makes no sense because he doesn't talk down to women, but instead talks very openly to all genders of player characters about his passions. Some people can't even believe he was groomed, despite having all the traits of a victim.
The fact that Gale himself doesn't realize he was abused and can't see the faults in Mystra for a while doesn't help the players' understanding of his situation/trauma- but it's strange that people don't clock the sus dynamic of an IMMORTAL GODDESS being a TEACHER to a mortal man and then making him her lover. People say Astarion is the most misunderstood character, and while I love him, Gale takes that title for truly having the most underappreciated story of emotional abuse. One where the abuser is ignored because they don't come off as obviously manipulative or evil (the way Cazador or Gortash do).
@@beccazach
Lol I love that Gale gets labeled a "mansplainer" for his vast knowledge of magic. It's certainly not a man thing, it's a Wizard thing. Again this comes from the fact that those who play Baldur's Gate 3 and really do not have a grasp on DnD understand very little about the lore. Wizards know more about magic than any other class including Sorcerers. That's because Sorcerers use magic inherently, but Wizards study it, they are like the programmers and mathematicians of magic. Sorcerers are limited in the number of spells they can use, Wizards can use any number of spells and they have so much knowledge about the actual mechanics of the spells. I would trust a Wizard's knowledge about magic over any other class. It's definitely not mansplaining, and the fact that Gale has been locked in a tower with nothing but time and books on his hands just means he's got all of this curated knowledge rattling around in his head. The man has a degree in magic, he was favored for a reason. I played as a male Sorcerer and Gale still schooled me in the same way, it's built in dialogue no matter what gender you are, the fact that people who play this game and believe Gale is saying things to them because of their gender shows a very odd kind of mental conditioning.
I mean we know what the conditioning is, it's words and concepts being used out of context so frequently that meaning gets lost. The fact that a male character with locked in dialogue that speaks to every character the same way is misconstrued as mansplaining when you play as a woman is mind boggling.
Yeah, I love both Astarion and Gale, but if we want to talk about the title for most misunderstood character I'd argue you are right. Gale is way more misunderstood that Astarion. Astarion's, abuse is not understated or muddied in the slightest while the subtilty of Gale's abuse and the fact that the abuser is a woman leaves us with false narratives. Though I also think people who love Astarion blindly are willing to give him a pass on things because they don't want to acknowledge it. He's a great character with a tragic story and a lot of undeniable hurt, but he's still deeply flawed. That doesn't go away because of the trauma, he's also a Vampire spawn and part of his behaviors are intrinsic to what he is, not just because he's hurt. Vampirism in DnD latches on to the worst traits a person had in life and amplifies it, if you were a good person Vampirism twists good, so some of the things he's inclined to are owing to the fact that he's a Vampire and we see this the more he's indulged.
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@@beccazachI hate how you don't get the option to tell Gale "give the crown to Mystra, and then tell her to go fuck herself because she's a piece of shit. Don't go back to her."
Thank you! These are all my pet peeves too, especially 2 - I saw one person say that they did his romance scene out of curiosity and then the next morning when they "tried to break up with him he said they shouldn't say that to a guy with a bomb in his chest” - you tried to break up with him by insulting him? When you could have reloaded the save and not slept with him at all, or chosen the actual straightforward breakup/refusal option?? They're being wilfully unkind or dismissive and then blaming it on him, with no consideration of the immense life-threatening stress he's under, it's utterly bizarre.
And claiming he's mainsplaining magic, oh my gods. If you play as a wizard or sorcerer when you enter act 2 and he starts to explain the shadow magic, you can literally say "I know it when I see it, you don't need to explain this to me" and he apologises and says he's still getting used to being amongst peers again. Acting like he's talking down to the player just by talking about something he's literally an expert in is, again, utterly bizarre. They so clearly just want a reason to dislike him and an excuse to turn bullying him into a sport.
@@indiefaerie Right, this is a man who is so emotionally fragile that he doesn't allow himself to get intimate with the PC until he's pretty sure he can control the detonation device. As the PC you are destabilizing him with your unkindness, this is someone who is kind of holding on by a thread and the player character is the one yoinking his feelings around, you really think that's the wise choice for someone who spent a good chunk of act one avoiding intimacy and powerful emotions because of what they could do to him. It says more about the person playing the game and becoming offended than Gale, honestly.
And yeah, Gale is a wizard, he's not mansplaining, it's literally his job to know everything there is to know about everything there is to know about magical and arcane forces. He devoted the entirety of his being to this sort of thing and Gale has not been socialized for quite some time so of course he might experience some social faux pas. Like you said though, when he is among his peers he comes to recognize this, it's like, give the guy a freaking break.
Callie, I humbly request more Baldur’s Gate content please 😭🙏🏾
Edit: I’ve grown a bit of an appreciation for Gale since my first interaction with him saying I was a lesser spell caster as a warlock. But he’s cool. Except when he ate Karlach’s fire axe from my inventory. Seriously, fuck you Gale.
Jk he’s fine
DONE
Bro I always liked Gale he was always gonna be my second choice for romance. (Astarion's #1 obvs) i didn't know ppl felt that way about him smh he seems like a cool dude. the goddess thing weirded me out at first but your explanation made sense. God all the companions need therapy
I love the game designs of those guys but something about those modern redesigns makes my heart beat faster
They feel closer to reality this way 😔
Finally, a good video about Gale that doesnt throw him in the mud, thank u! We love Gale here, he's a precious boy and must be defended. Gale girlies rise up!
So happy to see a video of Gale getting love!
3:20 *pfffffft* the idea of someone calling him a square and him getting defensive and using some lame joke to prove he's not one is killing me
Edit: 7:17 I'm sorry what?! Why do people think that?! My first campaign I had a fucking love triangle with him and Astarion and had to turn him down in act 2 (damn past me for making my first character my old D&D character who was a slut) and I felt so bad for turning him down because he was so saaaad but never ever did I get the feeling he was saying he'd off himself for leaving him????? He was very gracious about it even though he basically got slapped in the face for opening up his heart to someone who was actually just leading him on in my campaign. He was groomed by a damn goddess since childhood and then had everything taken away from him by said goddess for daring to feel inadequate for her, and when he finally feels like he's actually loved for his own merits it's obviously gonna hurt his nearly nonexistant sense of self worth when he feels like he wasn't worthy of love again. But still he doesn't feel like Tav is to blame there! He thinks the fault is in him! So how is he an incel?!
While, yes, Mystra's relationship with Gale was pretty ooky... When Gale dies, by the way the D&D cosmology works, he WILL end up in the presence of Mystra, in her realm, forever. Whether he blows himself up or not. Him killing himself to save the world would literally be him "coming home" to her, not ceasing to exist.
I already liked Gale before this and I've been planing to romance him soon... but now I actually love him and I think you described him really well from what I've experienced with him so far. He is very sweet and I mean it's also kind of funny that he was down bad for me after like two conversations...
Gale is funny, gorgeous, confident, brilliant, kind, generous, grateful, and fiercely loyal.
I don’t know what else a person could want in a friend or love interest 🤷🏼♀️
I keep forgetting and getting reminded of the art room when I watch her videos
i really like the rendering on the headshot! i like both your artstyles
Thank you
One of the dumbest things I came across when it came to people complaining about how Gale fell in love with them 'for no reason' was during a conversation the oplayer had with Gale in act 1 (I think it was the tiefling party). They ask Gale if he likes belly rubs (a dialogue option the player has when Gale mentions about how Tara hates getting her belly rubbed). According to the player, that dialogue option was 'vague' and they only meant it in a friendly way - but Gale fell for them based on that 'friendly' question.
I'm sorry - but when was belly rubs considered a platonic act shared between friends? Gale isn't a cat/tressym - he's a human male, and belly rubs between adults is considered an intimate gesture. So, of course, Gale is going to think the player is hitting on him/returning romantic interest in him.
A better example of a character falling for the player for no reason would be Halsin (at least, that's how it was in my playthrough. Didn't treat him any differently than I had when compared to other non romanced companions and he was not happy when I rejected his offer for a throuple).
Gale is beautiful and kind😍 I'm glad to see him finally getting the love he deserves ❤️ 😊
Calli: Describes Gales' personality in detail
Me: Listening intently
Calli: "How could you not like him?"
Me: Thinks about it for a moment 💡"Cause he's literally me!"
I love Gale honestly, I genuinely felt bad benching him for Karlach. He was so good in the goblin camp and helped me through reviving LITERALLY ALL of my party members in the aftermath. (I was stupid and didn’t get Karlach before the goblin camp so I essentially did it all on hard mode without realizing.) I love all the characters honestly,at least,the main companions.
Ello! Its my birthday today! I hope evryone is feeling good today!
Happy birthday!
GALE CONTENT
I’m so happy.
Also, I didn’t know people misconstrued his storyline to call him the abuser….glad I never met them. 😅
Awwww people don’t like him? I think he’s adorable. I find his scene in Act 2/3 really beautiful. I like all of them to be fair. I like they are all flawed. It makes the player so much more invested!
I know this is a few months old now, but amongst all the noise of people bullying Gale for sport and wilfully misunderstanding his character, I really, really appreciate it. 💜
I'm ngl I really didn't like Gale in act 1 because he reminded me of men I know (lol), but I didn't really play with him that much either because my character is a wizard (and having two in the party is kinda wild). AND THEN, act 2 comes along. Mind you that I'm romancing Astarion, so I didn't get Gale's romance scenes. That said, he did proposition himself to my character, but after I rejected him, I just got sweet, actually platonic scenes that I didn't get with any other character, and I kind of love him now lol... He's definitely one of my favorites ones, and I never understood why people complain so much about him coming on too strong. Also I want to protect him because I fucking hate Mystra for literally grooming him and then wanting him to blow himself up...
Hi! It's good to see you're still making videos!
I've been consistently making videos?? Are they not showing up on people's recommendations?
@@callimara No, sorry for alarming you! I just haven't been watching your videos lately- but I'm planning to start watching them more again!
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I THINK UGHH the amount of gale hate is crazy. 😭
First of all, lovely artwork 😍
That said, I never really realized that people don't like Gale that much. Like, I know that characters are Astarion or Karlach have much more following about them, which I mostly get (having a hard time with Astarion tbh, cause I fucking LOVE his VA, but he's just slimey in a way that doesn't sit right with me, especially early game, and of course he disapproves of everything I do), but with Gale...
I have to admit, one of my friends was dating him first, and just from seeing pics of him, without playing, I was like "meh". But then when I met him, I went "huh, okay, he's nice" and then I got the scene where he tells his story from the Yawning Portal, and that was the moment I went "alright, you, sir, are funny and can tell a good story, and you have a nice voice, you will be my simp target of choice."
I don't know if anyone intended him to be autistic but I imagine that just from a bunch of videogame and dnd nerds writing characters based on what they know about people from their own lives, I'd be really surprised if no one ended up being basically autistic
people 100% don't listen or don't bother with him and I so ma. i love Gale so much
Gale has been my romance choice litteraly every playthrough xD
i think he needs more flowers in his hair
I was pretty much thrown into BG3 without much knowledge, my Sister gave it to me as a present with a dozend Astarion Videos attached. so I started thinking that obviously im gonna start romance the brithish sexy Vampire Seductress. until there was Gale, and hes such a Dorky sweetheart, hes domestic and monogamous, hes a Cat dad, so how could one not love him
I found Wyll comes on to you out of nowhere. You have to work to get Gale
I got the wrong impression of him, and it was in full release and not due to the romance bug.
I got the weird feeling that a) he was trying to sell me something, and b) he was banging a goddess and it wasnt enough, because he basically said so word for word.
I was mistaken because first, what I felt was duplicity was actually a creaking mask of a man who wasnt socially fluid trying to keep up a relaxed, happy face whilst being up against depression, self esteem issues, raw terror about the orb, fear of abandoment, and the entire debacle with Mystra and the orb. I'd picked up on the falsity, but not the source.
The other was that I assumed he had been a fully established, self realised adult wizard before all that stuff with Mystra went down, and he even says a goddess wasnt enough for him. Basically, I took his total lack of insight into his own situation at face value. The record scratch moment was when he told him to kys, and also finding out he'd love you even if you was a worm.
But yeah Im very happy to have been wrong about this and he is now my favourite too for all reasons listed.
I love the Crack headcanon someone said once that Gale always had such a high trip whenever he consumed a magic item that he imagined a whole life with your Tav and didn't know anymore wether it was just a bad trip or a real occurance... especially with your Tadpoles doing Gods know what with you as well :'D
IDK why people say Gale is annoying. Heck! Early on in my current playthrough, Gale lent me a hand! Such a helpful man!
I still have it too!
Jokes aside, Admittedly, I don't have much experience with Gale because first playthrough was (Attempting to be) the LE, must get rid of GAIHK tadpole Githyanki (slowly turned towards morally grey, against Vlakiith) when he revealed he was dangerous with the boom orb, I sent him away. (Because hey. drain on resources, and CHARACTER didn't know if it would even help. And then... the reveal that he would be aiming to go into the underdark and blow up midnflayers... another bonus for my githyanki.)
And then my current durge playthrough... uh, yeah. the joke above is what I did.
But I will say that from what clips I've seen of him, he is endearing. If you (as a red flag in an actual relationship in general...) convince him to join you with the twins, he creates a duplicate to study it or something. When you ask him if it's okay you have a night with halsain, he takes the 'another person in our relationship' to mean a child, so he's loyal in that regard, as that's what he thinks of first. Plus, another possible association with Gale that might be annoying is moreso on larian for misleading choices, but I remember at least one person being blindsided by the phrasing of his proposition for an intimate moment after taking care of the goblins. The phrasing being something like 'wanna see a magic trick?' which they took to be... actual magic trick (and so would be platonic) and not an intimate moment thing from what I recall.
Honestly, the coming on too strong thing was more a problem with Wyll I believe in my experience.
because I had a scene that really seems like it was meant to be a romance scene.... but at that point, I was in a relationship with Lae'zel. so like... hes seen me very often with Laezel. and he's like 'wanna be my dance partner in this moonlight?'
Of course yeah, there was the condescending stuff in EA, mocking you for not being a wizard, and he still sorta talks down to you if you still are a wizard, or something like that in EA, IIRC. I just remember at least some talking down to you if you were like a sorcerer.
I'm not gonna lie, I haven't been able to play the game yet, but from what I've seen of him, there's just something about him that makes me wanna bully him... Like, the clips of seen of him getting kinda huffy are just hilarious and I wanna keep poking at him, lol, is that weird?
He is very funny when he gets huffy 😂😂
Gale frustrates me
He is the sweetest I want to like him and I enjoyed his romance... until the end
I also experienced the insisting Gale even nowadays, which afyer so many updates makes me wonder if it's actually a bug
Second of all he either is not as nice as i thought or some of his dialogues are not updated to romance because he can be very pro Mystra singing her praises kn the tabernacle, say he doesnt know if he still loves mystra, then immediately have the boat scene...
Also I picked up the book of Karsus as Gale and that somehow made Gale believe I accepted his plan of the crown and really got angry and insulted me (on a Gale way of course , blind, delusional etc.) For changing my mind or whatever
His ending is so sweet and I want to like him, but these bugs have beem present for so long... I wonder of they actually are bugs
just letting u know that yt had this in my recommendations towards the bottom of the page when i'd scrolled really far, i also didn't know about your other recent upload until i clicked on your channel and found it from there. gl getting views up girlie idk y yt is doing this to u
i have not plaid BG3, but i always got the Himbo aura with Gale
He reminds me Aaron Taylor Johnson vibes
omg
You should do another Lila redesign but with her short hair and the hawkmoth miraculous
The format of the story really screws Gale over. Every companion has a main plot and they have to exposit their backstory for the player. The problem is that Gale's involves an ex, and lots of people read idolizing your ex as a red flag (myself included tbf). Even when that ex is a goddess. But Gale's constant talking about Mystra is also a gameplay thing. It's not just obsession, it's also exposition and plot. He 100% gets over it and treats YOU like a god/goddess if you let him, but some ppl get scared away by the red flag and are then creeped out when he still tries to romance them.
It's the same with the orb. Sometimes he mentions it in random conversations, which is a gameplay thing to remind you that Chekhov's gun is still on the wall in case you haven't played the game in a few months. But the line of dialogue is him saying (in a romantic scene that doesn't go his way) that stress might set it off reads as a threat. Ppl think he's saying if you break his heart you'll all die, so you have to stay with him. It's a bad faith reading of his character, but the dialogue really set him up to be misunderdtood.
Plus, he eats items, and ppl don't come to this kind of game to get rid of loot. If we do trash magic items, it's to sell them so we can buy cooler items. Gale eating them feels like a tax, so ppl resent him for taking their fun out of the game. On top of that he's asking for items while he's still a low level Wizard, so he really hasn't proven his worth yet and he's already asking for a huge investment too early.
I love Gale with all my heart, soul and chakras. But the format of this story really works to his dissadvantage. He's been set up to be disliked by the structure of the game, which is a shame because he's a handsome golden retriever boy who talks real fancy and dresses even fancier.
I went into the game thinking I was going to romance Wyl. Nope... Nope. Goofy Gale won my heart. Not quite finished wit the game. we are in the lower city . been thinking about doing an evil run and will prob focus on Astarian and Shadowheart. I hope they like sharing! LOL
I feel like a lot of the comments dunking on Gale is a joke though. He's like that friend that's fun to tease (It's me, I am that friend)
I suppose it's very fair to question if a mortal could ever meaningfully consent to a god
Awww your're dog is so cute. What's he's/she's name?
When you are done with baulders gate and if you want to do more modern versions of fantasy characters could you maybe do the dragon age followers whether you want to do( orgins/awakening/the stone prisoner) (2/exiled prince/) ( inquestion)
I've never played Dragon Age before! :o
@callimara it's a little on the dark side but it's not as bad as bloodborn word of advice if you ever do it get a strategy guide also be prepared for ridiculous hats if you are playing a mage also also there is a dog and if you can't get a strategy guide use the Fandom wiki it's just as good
Hey Callimara, I dont know if you're tired of talkign about Yansim, but there's a massive story going on now, pretty serious acusations with a bunch of evidence and ofc the fans covering up for him (even the victim)
What happened?
@@callimara uh yandere dev after all the suspicious stuff he did and said it finally came for an end and a conclusion which is ................ fricking grooming a 16 year old fan that he started chatting with from when they were 9 year olds anx is watting for to turn 18 to do some disgusting stuff with ........... just like ew absolutely disgusting !
imo, the reason why jokes go over gale’s head is because he’s incredibly intelligent. even without a ‘tism, people like that often struggle to banter on the same wavelength as “normal” people
He talks down to you if you're a non-wizard caster...
Got here 5th!
I thought Gale was a nitwit
*menial - MEAN-i-el
In my personally opinion i don't really like him, i watch you video and all but i still don't like him, if you like him that.cool i respect you opinion,