Sideblog for my Baldur's Gate 3 fixation, mostly my obsession with one adorable disaster wizard. Writer, artist, former librarian. She/her, queer/ace, 40s (main: @sadiebwrites)
So it occurs to me that the title of this blog might imply that I'm "anti-Gale" or "Gale-critical," and I thought I'd set the record straight. My love for this wizard and his sad baby cow eyes is beyond normal. Any teasing of Gale Dekarios you'll find here will be of the fondest "bless his heart" variety.
The name is a pun on "critical fail" because, well... *gestures vaguely*
^ to be fair, this one was probably Astarion's fault.
UPDATE:
I finally posted my first fic in the fandom! Find me on A03 as Sadie1902.
thinking about how gale “yapper” dekarios told astarion that their walks together were only enjoyable in silence. do you know how atrociously annoying you have to be for gale of all people to tell you to shut the fuck up
The background story: Since I had no idea if or when Tim Downie would be guesting at a con I could actually go to, I took a page from @athelartistry's book, and asked if she could pass along a gift from me when she went to meet him in August. She graciously agreed, and I frantically went to work!
Camp Gale was (mostly) set aside for a month while I focused on this little side project, and I am beyond thrilled with how it came out. I tooled, dyed, stitched and distressed the leather all by hand; learned how to age paper (super easy, actually); discovered that painting faux wood texture is not my favourite (as opposed to faux metal, which I love); and got myself a very silly quill fountain pen for the purposes of inking the letter markings (fountain pens are SO SATISFYING to use).
I know I say this about all my Gale projects, because he just means SO MUCH to me, but this was such a labour of love, and a fun little prop diversion from the endless embroidery I've been doing. Even though this was created with the express intent of giving it to Tim Downie, it was hard to let it go! So I expect I'll be making another one for myself somewhere down the line.
Immense thanks to ulricsworkshop (IG) for the leatherworking guidance; to @elegantfeatherduster for modelling/printing the flute base, knob, and cord caps; and of course to @athelartistry for delivering the finished pouch to Tim (and capturing the moment).
Nexus Mods was acquired by Chosen, a company focused on growth and monetization of gaming startups.
Reddit thread
Dark0ne, creator and ex-owner of Nexus Mods, stepped down today in an update post:
NexusMods post
Users on Resetera were able to found out more about this sudden change of ownership:
Resetera thread
Victor Folmann, CEO of Chosen, published this "Gaming Startup Monetization Cheat Sheet" on his LinkedIn
Link to the post
Users are already sharing their fear of NexusMods allowing more bigoted mods in the future, and taking down inclusive ones to follow the current "anti-woke" trend in the gaming industry
Reseta threada bout their change in moderation concerning bigoted mods following Oblivion Remastered launch
Another User, this time on NexusMods forum, noticed queer and inclusive mods being removed following Dark0ne's post
Link to the forum post
It is also worth mentioning that Chosen and its CEO are seen using AI generated images on their website (including generated images depicting Tracer from Overwatch) hyping up ChatGPT on his Linkedin account, and are including "rewarding gamers with crypto money"
Users speculate that Chosen buying out NexusMods is to potentially train an AI model that generates mods
More about Nvidia's AI "RTX Remix" and future projects
i saw a discussion in the tags about whether or not gale killed anyone before and i wanted to add my own thoughts to it since i found the topic intriguing.
first off, i feel it's incredibly important to take into consideration just how much gale values life -- a human's, a drow's, a tiefling's, a tressym's, and... even a goblin's.
very indicative of this is that he approves of stepping between arka aiming a crossbow at sazza as well as his story in the aftermath of that confrontation:
caption: shield sazza from arka with your body (+8)
that's a whole eight approval points. that's more than you can net in some romantic scenes with him.
i find that approval in particular very, very telling, especially when the game often shows goblins as distasteful, disposable and evil. to most, arka shooting sazza would be absolutely nothing. she's just a goblin after all.
but gale does approve here.
then, he tells his own tale about how he soothed over a conflict in the yawning portal that could have easily turned violent, could have easily turned deadly. a lot of people do not trigger this dialogue or brush it over as one of gale's stories and his obvious delight in telling the story itself:
Gale: Believe it or not, but I witnessed a similar stand-off back at the Yawning Portal. Of course, an establishment like that invites all sorts of outlandish entertainments.
Protag 1: What's the yawning portal?
Gale: An inn, in Waterdeep. Never a dull moment. Adventurers come from all over Faerûn to try their luck down the well: Leads unto the Undermontain, you see, full of death, danger, and vast amounts of treasure. Hard to resist.
Protag 1: What about the standoff?
Gale: Oh, a drow, a dragonborn, and a cleric of Cyric walk into a bar. Your standard fare. Maybe someone was cheating at cards, maybe it was some weird lovers' quarrel. In any case, out came the crossbow, and a hush fell over the entire room.
Protag 1: What happened next?
Gale: I stood up and yelled: 'Shadowdark ale for everyone!' The crowd cheered, the tension drained into five dozen tankards, and soon all was well again. In a place like the Yawning Portal, the most powerful magic is calling for a round of drinks. Mind you, all I did was call for ale, you went and stood in front of that crossbow. I'll drink to that.
the conversation already lets you read between the lines here, yet if you look at early access cut content from the same conversation, the message here was even clearer with gale holding up a mirror the protag:
[if the protag stands in front of the crossbow and then steps away to let arka do as she pleases]
Gale: Arka's revenge has been sated, and the goblin welcomed death with open arms. All's well with the world one might argue. And yet there's something unsettling about witnessing an execution, no?
Protag 1: I take no pleasure in it, but justice has been served.
Gale: No one will mourn this goblin I suppose. Let's leave it at that.
the tone in the last line matters very much. it left you to question your decision.
Protag 2: Somehow that sounds a condemnation,
Gale: I condemn nothing – but a question can be a mirror: if it's guilt you see reflected, the condemnation is your own
and the third option:
Protag 3: I have no patience for the squeamish.
Gale: You imply a weakness. I say a critical mind is one of our greatest strengths.
at its core, the story he does share is that he is ready to give something -- be it coin in the yawning portal, or after the affliction with the orb, his own life -- to save the lives of others.
and that he appreciates that he found someone who shares that value of life with the protag.
he was an archwizard and he was moving undoubtedly in spheres that were often times dangerous and had to be navigated with caution and intelligence, but whatever his life as one looked like (and sadly, we truly do know nothing), i do think that gale is a character that is focused on valueing life instead of snuffing it out.
(and yes, that is a reference to the "how dare she snuff out life with as much thought as snuffing out a bloody candle?" line from gale the player gets if nettie tries to poison the protag.)
Not sure if you still do Gale meta asks so if you don’t, feel free to ignore me, but after replaying BG3 recently and getting to Gale’s third artifact explanation, I realized I’m actually a bit lost on his character on that slot.
I am of the opinion that Mystra groomed Gale and their relationship was unhealthy (I’m pretty sure you’re on agreement with that.) For a long time I thought Gale sought out to bring her the Netherese orb in an act of love and because he did not feel worthy or equal to her, but when he explained to me again I noticed at first his motives seemed to be based in the fact that Mystra closed veils to him despite how close he was to them while with her. So it leaves me a little lost because he also swore it was to serve her better, which I don’t get how that could be.
My current personal understanding is Gale, being with Mystra, was constantly looking into the “precipice” others could not access, and Mystra restricted that as she did with others. Gale, feeling like he wasn’t enough, desired to instead prove himself worthy in her eyes to access this knowledge. Perhaps it was still an effort to feel equal to someone he could not be? I’d love an explanation, ty!
thank you for your message!
yes, i am still doing them. i apologise for the wait, but they do take a lot of time, with the amount of research and time that goes into them (outlining, writing, putting together quotes and screenshots if needed). i hope you are still seeing this! 🖤
as for your confusion as to gale's motives:
i think the fault doesn't lie with you. i think the fault lies with larian.
the problem with re-writes and purging
i don't think your confusion is down to you not understanding, but rather it's larian's fault for their at times sloppy re-writes of early access in general to re-work it for the full version based on the fan feedback they received, as well as fitting the story they originally had planned within the scope of the possible.
they rewrote characters (gale, wyll, shadowheart, astarion, etc), they rewrote entire plotlines around factions and npcs while cutting others (halsin's and ketheric's relationship and how it pertained to the shadowcurse and isobel, cutting candlekeep and the astral plane, etc).
they softened up a lot of characters -- gale included -- and, important to your question, they sought to largely remove any dialogue that hinted at lingering feelings or had too many mentions of mizora from wyll and mystra from gale to placate players who felt upset by those mentions made -- even though it (imo) harmed the overall narrative for these characters -- both of which larian discussed prior to release and after release in their panels from hell and interviews, for example:
What is, in your folks opinion, is the funniest (and non-spoilery) addition or story that’s occurred because of either fan reception/feedback?
Baudelaire Welch: We mercilessly purged any references to Gale or Wyll being hung up on their exes.
the fandom in general has talked many times about larian and their tendency to compromise their stories and characters over fan feedback so i won't rehash it at this point once again.
however, i'm of the opinion however that these "purges" often left scars in the stories and character, and they left old traces that lead to a poorer characterisation for it, they messed up timelines, motivations or caused inconsistencies in characterisation and lore.
the "purging" and re-write of gale included not only changing aspects of his personality, but removing scenes that were very much integral to his character and to understand not only what happened to him and mystra, but also the direness of his situation, the sheer loss of power and status he suffered -- from a waterdhavian archwizard able to wield silverfire to a, essentially, level 1 adventurer struggling to hold onto a fraction of the control he once held over the weave.
these two "purged" scenes are the loss scene and the deer stew scene, as well as a rewrite of the first romance scene, which then took place during the tiefling party.
i have detailed many of these scenes and cut dialogues in my series re: early access gale's cut content. if you wish to read it, you can do so here.
early access gale vs full release gale: why did he seek out the orb?
the loss scene and the tiefling party scene revealed early access gale's intentions: he sought the orb to proof his love to mystra and to win her back after she abandoned him.
it was the actions of, as he puts it, a very young and very naive man, who was in love for the first time, lost that love and tried to win it back.
i think it's very important to keep in mind here also that originally, gale's entire story was set on different premise than the full release version storyline. i, and others, have speculated that he was physically even more affected by the netherese orb housed inside of his body to the point of where auntie ethel was able to smell the rot on him. i have written another meta on that original storyline here.
but back to the dialogue explaining why gale sought the orb as it was in early access:
i have written down and edited here a part of the tiefling party scene after the protag and gale spent the night together, which is when he would reveal the full extent of what happened mystra, after having hinted at it in the loss and in other smaller dialogues before:
Gale: Once upon a time, not quite that long ago, there lived a wizard in a tower. The wizard was what one might call a prodigy, who from an early age could not only control the Weave, but compose it, like a musician or a poet. Such was his skill that it earned him the attention of the mother of magic herself. The Lady Of Mysteries, Mystra.
Protag: What did Mystra’s attention feel like?
Gale: Love.
Gale: Perhaps it was not quite love, but you see, the wizard was but a very young man. It was most certainly love to him. Mystra showed him the secrets behind the veils. The gossamer veils first, draped across the Weave. The delicate veils next, draped across her body. ‘Chosen One’ she whispered, as she slipped them off completely.
Protag: The veils draped across the Weave?
Gale: Indeed. What most wizards perceive is but the ripple of the Weave’s surface. Untold wonders lie beyond. I enjoyed them for a while, as we enjoyed each other.
Gale: Alas it was Mystra’s interest that didn’t last. One day all too soon, the whispers stopped. The goddess spurned the mortal. The veils were drawn once more, and the wizard was left behind heartbroken.
Protag: Poor wizard
Gale: Poor wizard. Silly wizard too, for he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Protag: What happened next?
Gale: Like so many of the heartbroken, he did something infinitely foolish. One has to think big if one seeks to win back a goddess. So the wizard thought big.
Protag: Define big.
Gale: Here goes; once upon a time, very long ago, a mighty lord lived in a tower. A flying tower to be precise. I’ll save his story for another time, but the gist of it is that he sought to usurp the goddess of magic so that he could become a god himself. He almost managed but not quite, and his entire empire – Netheril – came crashing down around him as he turned to stone. The magic unleashed that day was phenomenal, rolling like the prime chaos that outdates creation. A fragment of it was caught and sealed away in a book. No ordinary book, mind you; a tome of gateways that contained within it a bubble of Astral Plane. It was a fragment of primal Weave locked out of time – locked away from Mystra herself. ‘What if’, the silly wizard thought. ‘What if after all this time, I could return this lost part of herself to the Goddess?”
Protag: What was the answer to his question?
Gale: The answer was to try, and the outcome was to fail. Here. Place your hand over my heart. Let me show you.
Narrator: You feel the tadpole quiver as you realise Gale is letting you in. Into the dark. You see through Gale’s eyes, staring down the corridors of a dread memory. A book, bound, then suddenly opened. Inside there are no pages, only a swirling mass of blackest Weave that pounces. It’s teeth, it’s claws, it’s unstoppable as it digs through you and becomes part of you. And gods, is it ever hungry…
Protag: Yank your hand away.
Gale: Terrifying isn’t it? And that is only the beginning
This Netherese taint... this orb, for lack of a better word, is balled up inside my chest. And it needs to be fed. As long as it absorbs Weave it remains stable – to an extent. The moment it becomes unstable, however...
Protag: You will die, obviously..
Gale: Rather worse, actually. It will erupt. I don’t know the exact magnitude of the eruption, but given my studies of Netherese magic, I’d say even a fragment as small as the one I carry… It’d level a city the size of Waterdeep.
Gale: It is my truth, finally revealed. It is this folly that led Mystra to abandon me completely. I can only hope you won’t abandon me as well. After all we’ve been through... After the night we spent together. Surely we can brave even this side by side.
the reason for the full release version of gale is curiosity and thirst for knowledge and wanting to feel equal to mystra:
Gale: Such was my skill that it earned me the attention of the mother of magic herself. The Lady of Mysteries. The goddess Mystra. She revealed herself to me and she became my teacher. In time, she became my muse, and later, even my lover.
Protag: Are you telling me you made love to a goddess?
Gale: Oh yes. We enjoyed each other's company - body, mind and soul. But even so, I desired more. You see, no matter how powerful a wizard we mortals can become, we never scratch more than the surface of the Weave. Mystra keeps us in check. There are boundaries she doesn't let us cross. Yet every time I was with her, I stood on the precipice, gazing into the wonders that lay beyond. I sought to cross her boundaries.
Protag: How exactly did you try to cross those boundaries?
Gale: I tried to convince her. I pouted, I pleaded, I swore my ambition was only to serve her better. But she only smiled and told me to be contented. As inconceivable as it seems to me now, I shared a bed with a goddess and yet I wasn't satisfied. So I sought to prove myself worthy to her instead. We come now to the crux of my folly. Shall I share the story behind it, or would you rather head straight to its sordid finale?
Protag: I'm intrigued. Tell me all.
Gale: Very well. Here goes: Once upon a very long time ago, a mighty lord lived in a tower. A flying tower, to be precise. I'll save his history for another time, but the gist of it is that he sought to usurp the goddess of magic so that he could become a god himself. He almost managed, but not quite, and his entire empire - Netheril - came crashing down around him as he turned to stone. The magic unleashed that day was phenomenal, roiling like the prime chaos that outdates creation.
Even the Weave itself could not withstand the onslaught. It fractured, then shattered, and all magic was lost to the mortal realms until the day Mystra returned. She restored the Weave, reuniting all its scattered shards. Or so I thought, until in the course of my studies I learned of a book. A Netherese tome in which a piece of the fractured Weave had been sealed beyond her reach.
'What if', I thought, 'What if after all this time, I could return this lost part of herself to the goddess?'
Protag: So your grand plan was akin to emptying a cup of water in the sea. Brilliant.
Gale: I certainly thought so. Sometimes there is great strength to be found in symbolism. I was certain that this deed of raw power draped in romance would convince Mystra to take me by the hand and welcome me into her hitherto forbidden domains. I was mistaken. I obtained the fabled book and took it into my study. As for what happened next... Here. Place your hand over my heart. Let me show you.
Narrator: *You feel the tadpole quiver as you realise Gale is letting you in.* *Into the dark.* *You see through Gale's eyes, staring down the corridors of a dread memory. A book, bound, then suddenly opened.* *Inside there are no pages, only a swirling mass of blackest Weave that pounces.* *Its teeth, its claws, it's unstoppable as it digs through and becomes part of you. And gods, is it ever-hungry...*
in conclusion, early access gale did it out of love for mystra as a young man, as a chosen, and as a romantic trying to win back his lost first love, however naive and grand (and ultimately doomed) the gesture was, which was then cut to appease those who thought gale was "too hung up" on mystra, and changed around, purging some scenes and dialogue while keeping others.
(on a tangent: this also once again shows, imo, how ultimately it's completely futile to try and appease these sort of demands/complaints since this is still very much a big complaint that is levied against gale's character.)
it's now more about power, curiosity, knowledge and a desire to be equal, while the new narrative of the full release version still to some extent kept the relationship with mystra intact.
with the removal of the deer stew scene, of the loss scene, and all those little dialogues, purging and cutting away to re-write gale's devotion to mystra as the embodiment of weave and his first true love, while still leaving in some of that, with lines from those very conversation, is where your (as well as other's) confusion is coming from.
i'm only rambling now so i will stop and say that i hope this was at least somewhat helpful for you!
Which way to the nearest library? @criticalgale - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
