Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Justice for Gale

First let me say that is so nice to see actual character discussion here. It was a treat to open this threat and be greeted by scrolls of text.

Concerning the relationship of Gale and Mystra, to throw in a third take, I didn't take it completely literally.

When Gale first introduces us to Mystra, it is as a concept, not as a person. She is magic but she is also his whole universe, nothing matters to him more than magic. If you participate in his magic lesson, you get a sense of what the Weave feels like and I wonder if I am the only one who thought this description of harmony and well being felt positively addictive? You can take the scene as a step to start a romance with him and I figured that his romance with magic began in much the same way.

From Elminster's letter we know he was a sensitive child who cried over a rose bush he accidentally set on fire, from his stories we can suss out that he was probably also quite lonely, after all his best friend is a tressym whom he summoned. Imagine what the Weave as described in the magic lesson scene must feel like to that lonely boy, it's a place of refuge, of beauty, of creation and of what ever feels most harmonic to you in the moment. Additionally magic probably was a place of confidence for little Gale because he was apparently always very good at handling it. Mystra as an entity does not have to be a seductress for magic to be a seducer.

So Gale loves his craft, is devoted to it and yearns to be ever better at it, to a point where he does everything to push its boundaries and his own limits in handling it. The result is that Gale ends up with a dark vortex in his chest that devours all his magic and still needs to be fed even more magic, so that he cannot simply rest because that would be his death. All of his life up to this point has been filled with his craft and his academic success and suddenly he cannot deliver anymore. To me that very much sounds like artistic - or in this case magical - burnout and a very skewed work-life-balance.

Here also the place where Gale never being told that he as a person is valuable comes into play. Both Elminster and Tara clearly love Gale but they never actually tell him (unless you go down the God path ironically) it's always "you have a good head on your shoulders" or "examine the problem as a proper wizard should" and I assume it was never different for him. Tara especially is a very bossy cat-auntie, telling him what to do frequently, did you eat enough, your camp is a well appointed ditch, shave that beard, your mom worries ... When she has her emotional outburst after Elminster's visit one of the versions that the scene can end is that she tells you that the two of you shouldn't cause a scene. This sense of what he should do, is very present in much of Gale's dialogue. When you talk with him about Sharan Shadow magic, he sounds tempted to give it a try and sees nothing evil within it but that Mystra forbids it.

I think that part of why he relates to the Tiefling children so much is because he yearns for that time when he could break rules without dire consequences, now as an adult the result of his (perceived) transgression against the rules is firmly lodged in his chest and is killing him. So why is that? Because he was greedy and power hungry? Or because he was made to believe that he only mattered if he was the best, most skilled that is, wizard possible?

If Astarion is "the body" who gets exploited and mistreated as a sex-object, Gale is "the mind", the skilled worker who gets exploited for his abilities and is then shamed when he can no longer deliver. In Act 2 - which generally deals with the characters' believes and faith - Astarion realises he does not want to be seen as an object of sexual desire any longer and Gale realises that he does not want to die for his craft. If he tells Mystra that he does not want to die and that there is more for him in life, (I like his Origin version of the audience much, much better than the companion version, it can have so much more nuance to it.) he is given a way out. Giving away the crown is putting that burning hunger for recognition aside, while taking it and becoming the God of Ambition, is "powering through" but apparently loosing all the love he once held for his craft and its beauty. It's blind, purposeless ambition, seeking fame for fame's sake. I like how in the good ending of his origin, Mystra seems to be genuinely pleased to let him go and have him start his new life. He and his beloved craft are friends again. That's nice and lovely.

So would I say it is a story of abuse - of adults and gifted children alike - yes, but a story of how society ruins skilled, talented people not a story of sexual abuse, that side of the coin is Astarion's. How much Mystra as the goddess of magic is responsible for the toxic atmosphere in wizard academia however, that's another topic.


I think it depends how you define ambition. Maybe saying that he has a bit of an over-achiever mindset fits it better? In his human professor ending he wanted to teach all the subjects at first after all, but the academy wouldn't allow it. That sounded very Gale to me.

In my two completed saves I chose the adventurer ending for him, partly because in both saves he ended up with Astarion and if you romance Spawnstarion you always seem to be flagged as adventuring by the game. In both versions (the origin and companion version) he seems to be very much at ease with himself, but also pursuing knowledge. Most of his personalised lines in the origin are about learning spells. To Halsin he mentions delving into dungeons, taking out rogue shadow mages and studying magical tomes - and in my special case he discusses searching a cure for vampirism with Minsc (and Boo). His companion-adventurer ending sounds the least traditionally ambitious to me. Gale puts more emphasis on learning from life than from books in this one, he takes time for his artistic interest (Which now included knitting, which I absolutely love because it's such a thing for people with a logical mindset and of course there is this connection to creating something with one strand of yarn, just that it isn't weaving it's a different thing.) and Tara scolds him for putting his traditional studies aside. He cares very little for public recognition in this ending but he still likes for his partner to recognise his magical skill.

An artist can be passionate and ambitious about their craft, but they can be both ambitious in an unhealthy and a healthy manner. I think Gale's approach to magic was very unhealthy in the beginning and before that start of the game, in the human endings he has a better approach to magic and life in general. He still seems to be very passionate about it and I have an inkling that his "spot of knitting" results in him producing the most complex lace shawls for the sheer fun and enjoyment of it.

Of course that seems very tame in comparison to the Archwizards you mentioned and I think we don't disagree in content but more in word definition.


You are probably right in that begrudging is the wrong word. I'd go as far as to say that he probably isn't completely comfortable with the whole concept himself yet. If you click the mental-health-tracker in the romance dialogue, he says how making decisions with someone else and not trusting in himself alone is still a very new notion for him. He is much more comfortable with it in the epilogues, especially in the adventuring one.

There were other things I wanted to comment on but I think I'll better post this now as it has already gotten very long and I am unsure for how long my lucky dice for forum posts last today. So just let me close by saying that I very much enjoy this conversation.