There's a difference. Becoming a Mindflayer means loosing your soul. Gale has a means to make sure nobody has to loose their soul and the crown is destroyed for good by using the orb, why should he offer the far worse solution?
He says that entering the pact with Maryzora/selling himself was his proudest moment. If selling his soul for the Sword Coast, becoming a devil for Karlach and becoming Maryzora's eternal slave for his dad's life is acceptable to him, than saving the whole world should be the accomplishment of his life. If he's such a self-sacrificing hero that he claims to be then he should want Gale to survive, just as Gale wants Tav and the others to survive. What the game actually shows us is that Gale is more heroic than the self-proclaimed hero.
Originally Posted by t1mekill3r
Because Karlach has to be special it would have made sense for a hero and making sense wasn't a priority for lead writers.
Of course, Karlach and the game's forced sympathy for her. I feel more sympathy for the guy who was trapped for a millenium and was used while being paralysed than for her with that mere decade or so with Zariel where she couldn't get jiggy with anyone.
Originally Posted by Amirit
Gale actually does say "There is still my option with the orb!" but the game does not allow you to act on it unless you play as Gale. You are still supposed to turn someone into a mind flayer.
You can avoid the tentactes by doing specific things, as shown here, but your chara glitches out for a sec and appears as a MF:
I feel more sympathy for the guy who was trapped for a millenium and was used while being paralysed than for her with that mere decade or so with Zariel where she couldn't get jiggy with anyone.