Originally Posted by Shlamorel
Originally Posted by DiscountCanadian
Just to poke at little, could this not be considered a crisis?
He is, after all, under constant threat of losing control over the Netherese orb and leveling a city-sized area on the Sword Coast while ALSO dealing with a tadpole that could, at any time, spontaneously change him into a Mind Flayer. Personally speaking, I think that very much defines a crisis.

I don't think he is a narcissist because he is able to handle criticism (he criticizes himself a fair bit) and will admit when he has felt he's done something wrong. Honest reflection and self-critique aren't things you find in narcissists. Now, do his actions foretell something sinister? Hard to say, though I will give him the benefit of doubt. He is guarded and we aren't able to ascertain much of his motivations, that much is certain. That said, I don't believe that is enough to deem him a sinister figure just yet, but I will agree that it would be best to be wary. He is a bit of an unknown factor, which could be good or bad, but lack of clarity/understanding tends to provoke the worst fears in people, whether it is deserved or not.

Touche, though I meant an existential crisis and should have been specific. He seems pretty stable in his sense of self.

Not responding @ you but to OP in general: I think of Gale kinda like an egocentric teenage boy. He thinks about the gravity of his situation in how it affects him only, really. I don't have a word for it but I wouldn't call it narcissism. He's egocentric but not on a grandiose or delusional level (assuming what he's shared with us is true, which seems to be so until the story says otherwise). And he would only be a scumbag imo if he intentionally withheld information from you because he thought if he told you you wouldn't sleep with him.

He doesn't seem unaware of these things. it's just more like he cares only about how his tragedy affects him.

Let's think about what he has told us about himself so far:
he was a magical prodigy at a very young age, likely became an archmage likely in his late teens to early twenties, and got the attention of the goddess of magic. As I have said, he suffers from his past. His prodigal abilities likely isolated him from a normal life where he could learn to think about others more, gained immense power in a very short period of time (which might take other wizards decades or longer to accomplish), and had a very intimate relationship with a goddess. I can understand why he might be so absorbed in himself. You aren't treated the same when you are gifted and thus miss out on key socializing experiences that would be needed for proper development. That isn't to say Gale doesn't have proper social skills, but those might have come much later in his life, which might mean his ability to think beyond himself might be less mature. And just thinking about how grandiose his life has been, it would be hard for any of us not to get so absorbed in our own plight were we in his position. He became a powerful archmage in Waterdeep with enough wealth to keep his condition under control up until now and was a Chosen of Mystra. On top of that, when he has a ticking bomb that could wipe out his home city, that too would make the plights of others seem much less significant.


If I may provide a counter, instead of not telling Tav about his condition because he thought Tav wouldn't sleep with him if they knew, what if Gale told Tav after because he felt he could finally open up and or trust them with that information? That does not justify him telling Tav after the fact by any means, but I think that plays into his social short-comings after (what I would guess) being an isolated genius for most of his life and his emotional wounds caused by mistakes of a younger self.

Last edited by DiscountCanadian; 31/03/21 05:10 PM.