That's a great take bringing Earthsea's Ged into Gale's story, he is certainly a vain person, brought low by hubris, but I think when we meet Gale in our story he's been humbled. Like all of our characters he's given a choice of back sliding into resentment and doubling down on that hubris or in coming to terms with the consequences of his actions. I'm curious to know how much of his attitudes and responses change based on which direction you foster through out the playthrough.
I'm also not sure how much of a Jungian overlay we can transpose onto the the orb as much as we can Ged's Shadow, but that's neither here nor there.
Having him make his great sacrifice and then being saved after this act of total devotion seems like a perfect happy ending for him.
I also think that Gale's desire to be more powerful, might have actually come from a place of true affection. Gale is in a relationship with a serious power imbalance, one that he thinks will only continue if he can meet Mystra on more equal terms. If I remember correctly, what spurred his reckless action was knowing that his great romance was on the way out. I've never really agreed with the take that Gale is a self-serving manipulator, self-aware or otherwise, and I don't think we're not supposed to take his self-assessment at face value. Especially considering that without any interence from my Tav, he seems to default to the route of selfless sacrifice.
As for 'lampshading' I'm glad you enjoyed that @KillerRabbit, it seems I find it more and more in stories I see, and I'm not sure if that's just me looking for it, or if writing is just getting more 'meta' "This is the part of the story where you make a great sacrifice hero!"
Does anyone know how much knowledge about Gith politics the residents of the Sword Coast have? Players can have metaknowledge that the Gith help keep the Mindflayers from taking over the multiverse, but would our characters know that? I asked earlier, and I'm not sure if my comment was missed, or if people don't know. I'm really curious.
I think if people know about Mind-Flayers, they know about their ancestral enemies who exist in the Aether. It probably isn't common knowledge, but it isn't going to be completely unknown. There's is supposedly a starjammer port at Waterdeep, though they're not supposed to fly in. I personally find that pretty contrived, but so is a lot of the FR.
