Apparently Gale has a very punchable face.
He is a generic "Happy nice guy" and this attitude seems irritating these days also. ^^
So when the AI see's him, its only natural all want a piece of him.
Even without Mirror-image he rarely goes down in my runs. I just put many characters in between him and enemys. But I give him Magearmour too yeah. Just in case something flys by.