#but actually doing so and speculating means altering how Gladio behaves in canon

[phoenixwithapencil]

Gnashing my teeth while thinking about all the things that could have been done with Gladio- all the things I could possibly write- Gladio worrying over not being able to keep up with Noctis, worrying over his own health (because permanent damage to himself makes him less fit to be a shield), trying to balance his devotion to Noctis with his devotion to what a king should be, Gladio being a guard dog of a man, Gladio understanding Prompto’s chronic anxiety over expendability, Gladio also being a strategist- just one who deals in quick thinking and fighting on the back foot where Ignis gets time and information and plans and contingency plans, Gladio feeling the looming dread of failure at succeeding at the things you built your whole life and self image and self worth around (because you were always able to be Noctis’s shield. Why are you so damn weak all of a sudden?)

But most of that is at best only minimally present in the text and a lot of it isn’t actually there at all and honing in on it will make me feel like he’s being ooc even though in my mind, these are all reasonable extrapolations of ‘we were not friends until recently And Also I’m your shield And Also you are fighting gods- I can’t save you from that. Let me save you from that’

(Yes I am still screaming about Gladio. Yes I will continue screaming about Gladio until I fully pick him apart and put him back together or until I stop fixating on this damn game again)