I think too many people fundamentally misunderstand the sort of character archetype that Gale's story is supposed to represent, hence all the comments about him being so full of himself. Sure, the whole orb thing is a sort of "consequence of hubris", but both his motivations and his starting point wasn't some Tony Stark egotistical prick.
No, I think Gale's story more than anything represents the Gifted Kid concept, one that a lot of neurodivergent people will be all too familiar with. He was singled out from a young age as a prodigy, told he was special not just by the people around him but the damn GODDESS OF MAGIC HERSELF. And the thing is, they were right, he was in fact incredibly gifted, so being confident in his abilities isn't arrogance, it's simply fact.
However (as some of us can attest to in our own lives), being fed those lines about how gifted you are doesn't necessarily mean you'll end up turning into a Shit-Don't-Stink Specialest Boy. Instead, it wires you to be constantly seeking that approval, to overvalue your gifts as the only thing that's important in your life and that you have to offer your loved ones, to be incredibly hard on yourself for any mistakes you make, to just outright avoid attempting to learn new skills you can't immediately master. The result of Gale's treatment wasn't the haughtiness you see so often in powerful wizard stories, but instead soul-deep insecurity and desperate longing for approval and acceptance.
Throw in the whole "being literally groomed by a deity" thing with Mystra and it's absolutely no surprise that he went out and found some crazy Forbidden Magic to bring back to her in an attempt to impress her. And when it backfired, the first thing the orb did was strip him of all his gifts, a literal kind of burnout, and fractured his relationship with Mystra. Everything he's ever known and valued about himself was just ripped away.
Add in the ticking time bomb and threat to autonomy of the tadpole and it's no wonder he so openly accepts the fate of self-destruction that Mystra presses him into, because to him it's a final act of Doing Something Right to prove himself. It also contextualizes how he gets swayed from that path by the affections of Tav, someone who sees him not as the grandiose "Gale of Waterdeep, famed archwizard", but just Gale, the low-level wizard in muddy robes they've been trudging through the wilds with, helping those in need in concrete ways and unraveling the tadpole mystery. All he ever wanted was to be seen as a complete, complex human, valued for more than just his prodigal talents. Because being "Gifted" is all too often a double-edged sword.
jacobvanloon
gummygunk
stormborns
