Gale has an ending that completely undermines any attempts at tragedy that Larian were aiming for with Karlach and the player character (if that player character wasn't an Origin character).
In my first play-through, I roleplayed my character as a cheeky Bard with a heart of gold who fell head-over-heels for Karlach. And I took every decision that I felt a truly good character would have made.
I saved the Tieflings. I converted Shadowheart and prevented her from killing the Nightsong. I convinced Astarion to kill Cazador, yet not go through with the ascension, thereby sparing 7,007 lives. Which meant as soon as the parasite disappeared, he lost his immunity to the sun, and had to retreat to the shadows. I freed Orpheus, thereby freeing the Gith from their tyrannical lich queen. Lae'Zel, probably the character my bard bonded with the least, got pretty much her best ending, flying off on her shiny new red dragon with new boyfriend Orpheus. As the Emperor would no longer play ball, someone had to become a Mindflayer to cast the final spell, so I took one for the team becoming a rubbery Cthulhu-cosplay reject. Oh, and I still don't get why the Emperor joins the Elder Brain in the final battle, despite you proving he's been played like a fiddle and that Orpheus is the best option for everyone.
And because Karlach said many, many times over that she didn't want to go back to hell, didn't want to become a Mindflayer and would rather blow up, and that she wanted me with her until the very end, I honoured her wishes.
So my ending, despite me doing what I thought was the best for everyone, was a real bummer.
I kind of accepted it, thinking "ah well, it's brave to show how even if you do the best by everyone, you can end up sacrificing everything".
And then I discovered that if Gale as the player character
becomes the Mindflayer then hands over the crown to Mystra, *POOF!*, she turns him human again.
And that made me very angry.
Why didn't I have the option of getting:
Gale to go full-Illithid instead of my character who had been fighting against it for her entire playthrough?
If Mystra can do that for Gale, why the hell can't she save Karlach (or any other character for that matter), by either magicking her back after she becomes a Mindflayer, or by simply magicking her engine away and replacing it with a heart?
I get what Larian were going for, but Gale's special circumstances undermine every other character's story and choices.
