#dark!gale

[foxtatodreams]

"Lost in thoughts" Dark!Gale

Mod: Lilith's Armors

[waterdeep-weavemoss]

Goodness and Darkness: Gale Dekarios

Edit: this is a redo of a previous post for more clarity.

Gale is a good man with a lot of darkness inside him. On one level, literal darkness with the Karsite Weave rotting him from the inside. On the other, the darkness of ambition, and how it led to his current predicament.

On first meeting, Gale is kind and sweet and amiable. None of this is fake; he is genuinely all of these things, but he is also cunning enough to manipulate the feelings they elicit in others to his advantage. When he is in the stone, he's essentially helpless. He requires someone good to free him, and then he requires them again because without help his orb will overpower him. He makes himself useful immediately by volunteering as camp cook. Becoming indespensible is his means of survival.

Gale will approve of all the good things you do. It's difficult not to gain his approval to be honest, and then he confesses he needs your help. Fine, you think. He's a kind, sweet man who likes children and hates to see anyone innocent get hurt. This also serves a dual purpose in that while he has deemed you to be trustworthy, you've done the same for him and that makes his request for help, something that could potentially put you on the back foot, more palatable.

So you're helping each other. Gale has to be needed, because he doesn't feel worth anything otherwise. This arrangement is mutually beneficial! Then he tells you about the orb. Takes your hand, presses it to his heart, shows you the reality. Gale is hosting something monstrous, besides the tadpoles you share. It could level a city. He is scared and kind so you help. You like him. How could you not?

Gale is a good man who is deeply insecure at heart. And I think it's really interesting that he can be persuaded to stay if you massacre the grove. He hates himself for it but he will stay because ultimately, he needs the party. You persuade him by talking about how strong you are together, and he agrees that there is little stronger than survival instinct. Unlike Wyll and Karlach, he doesn't just leave. I think this is where the dark side of his ambitious nature comes in. Ambition is neutral, I think, because it can do good things, and terrible. He's travelling with someone powerful and who will do what they must to achieve their goals.

Even in Moonrise Towers on a good run, he considers creating a shadow lantern. He ascertains he can use it for the good of the party even if it is an objectively bad thing to do, so he has no qualms about it.

He's angry at Mystra for ordering him to kill himself, quite rightly. I'd be angry too. His motivations are not 100% pure, in that if you say essentially the 'fuck morality become a god' option in the act 3 scene he is SO HAPPY someone understands him! And it's the ambition talking. He is as blinded by it as Astarion is for power and both must be talked down and grounded and made to see sense.

This is what I mean when I say Gale is dark. I don't mean 'bad' even though he will do terrible things if he believes the ends justify the means. He is human and complex and even with the darkness in his own head and heart (the 'dread altar' as he so poetically put it) he is a wonderful, worthy, deserving man who only needs someone to love him and show him that more power is not the answer. Love is.

[dreamingofthewild]

I really want to speak about Gale's version of the new evil endings but no one is. More under the cut. Warning: spoilers for patch 7, please proceed with caution.

Gale's new evil ending feels like a powerful "what if," an exploration of what happens when his frustration, ambition, and disillusionment take over. I've always headcanoned that Dark!Gale emerges when the Karsite Weave corrupts him, and this ending supports that idea nicely.

It's a dramatic "screw you" to Mystra and could even pave the way for another of her downfalls or a major shakeup in the Faerûnian pantheon if the story were to be taken further. Watching him rip off that earring and seeing Mystra's statue topple was deeply satisfying, like watching a long suppressed storm break free.

In this ending, Gale isn't just angry at Mystra—he's furious with all the gods. His bitterness and jadedness come from viewing these deities as remote figures who manipulate and abuse mortals. This resentment grows as he witnesses how the gods have mistreated those around him and their consistent inaction. It’s like watching a pot simmer for too long until it inevitably boils over.

In the boat scene, Gale's bitterness towards the gods is palpable. Having glimpsed their celestial realms, he understands their power and is incensed by their refusal to intervene.

Imagine the orb feeding on his ambition and hatred, possibly spurred on by Astarion, Shadowheart, or Lae'zel. It's easy to see how he could end up on this dark path. This isn't the natural progression of his storyline, but rather a tragic twist where his indignation and fury at the gods consume him.

In this ending, he starts off as a hero with noble intentions but falls into darkness. He believes he is liberating everyone from the whims of the gods, when in reality, he will only cause chaos. It's reminiscent of a Greek myth, where the hero's flaws lead to their downfall. He still technically has good intentions, at least from his perspective, but in reality it's chaotic and will likely end in ragnorak. His ambition and ire have blinded him. He looses himself to them.

This ending delivers everything I wanted from a darker portrayal of Gale. While it may not be his best or my favourite ending for him, it’s undeniably cathartic and epically tragic.

Tl:Dr in summary Dark!Gale in his evil ending decides to wage a war against the gods. He uses his mind control powers to make everyone angry with the gods. They topple Mystra's statue and I presume they follow him through the tear in the sky he made to the heavens. He sees this as liberating them. But the scene ends there so we don't know what happens.

Alexa play Black Parade.

[morticianart]

The Wizard

[vespaer77]

Her Dark Avenger

[scrapsovereign]

Sitting at my desk today, trying to work but all I can think about is Dark!Gale negging me about coming and to work for him instead, that the only one who should be receiving my comforting words is him.

But really, I shouldn’t trouble my pretty little head if I said the right thing or not because my mouth is good for only one thing and it isn’t talking…

[alpydk]

Creator. Destroyer

Not my best, but considering where I'm at right now, meh. Also, a little dip into some dark!Gale. Sort of.

Gale reflecting over the attack on the grove.

---

Harpists of the weave… Gale watched his hands dance through the air as he lay on the hard bedroll within his tent, the swirling trails of light left in the wake of his fingertips. The dancing lights had always brought him comfort ever since he was a boy, crying over ashen roses, but that peace was not finding him tonight as he saw the flashes of the day's events within the spell. He couldn't help but notice the dried blood embedded under his nails, blood that for hours he had tried to scrub away, blood that he was unsure was even real anymore. Did it even matter what his reality was at this stage? He couldn’t go back to the person he was, or had he always been this person and just hid it so well? Arrogant, ambitious, power hungry.

It was easy to blame the one who had led them to kill so many, but Gale himself had made the choice to stay, and he had been the one to cast the spells. But the orb. A pitiful excuse. Gale had been fine for a year alone, or he could have left with Wyll and Karlach. Instead, he chose to stay. He was as much to blame as any of them for what had happened.

Darkness fell over him as he turned onto his side, an empty bottle of wine rolling away across the blanket with the bat of his hand. How many times had he tried to find his innocence within the glass? Dark eyes peered back at him, but he knew not the man he saw in the reflection, a man who had made mistakes but was trying to do the right thing. What had happened to him? Had he been lost with the beatings as a boy, or had that innocence been taken with Mystra’s ‘love’? He didn’t let the thought linger too long, closing his eyes to deny the judgement and, most of all, guilt that whispered in his mind.

“Ignis” The spell left Gale’s hands, the druid closing in on him giving him no choice but to fire off the spell. No choice? Always a choice. The screams rose around him, the white and purple flowers he wished he could have stopped to smell withered under the descent of smoke and flame. The statues he longed to research were spattered with blood. The druids, the tieflings, the goblins. Anyone who stood in their way, dead at their… his hands.

Rolan would have made for a great apprentice, his siblings living happily with him as a family in Baldur’s Gate. Alfira would go on to sing so many ballads, make so many smile with her voice alone. Mol, with her troupe, could rival the guild given the years. Years that would not come. But they shouldn’t have stayed at the grove. Kagha gave them the chance to leave. They knew the consequences of their actions.

The tiefling child banged on the stone door, the runes not reacting to his small red hands, his eyes wordlessly pleading for salvation. Did he scream? Could he scream? He screamed. Gale heard the terrified cry as he rounded the corner, watching as the goblin skewered the boy without remorse, and with it followed another spell, another death, another choice.  

Gale's eyes flicked open, the taste of copper and bile lingering on his tongue, the deep ache of the orb, ever hungry, declaring its presence, now merged with a loathsome sensation he wished to bury. Leaving the tent would cure his ailments, the stars absolve him of his sins as they had so many times before. He was as innocent as the souls that drifted aimlessly across the Fugue Plane in search of salvation, just as he did on Toril. He just had to keep focussing on what mattered, on finding a cure, on becoming stronger so everything could be righted once again.

As darkened clouds passed over the glimmering lights above, he knew all hope was lost of ever finding who he used to be. Lost was the child, the chosen, the lover. Now all that remained was death, inside and out. Nothing but the creator of flame, and the destroyer of the world he once loved.

[croginski]

Day 4- Dark AU

{not going to lie I really struggled with this one, I knew I wanted to incorporated my inspiration for my Tav Holly Mac. Which is my original dnd character I’ve been playing for a few years now Halyveil Macmargot, who has a much darker origin story. The trick was trying to decide how Gale fit into that world…}

Also, I kept this one simple, with just the sketch version. Perhaps I’ll do a full color and detailed one later on.

This piece just has a simple title:

“I’ve caught you, thief…”

[zookie-art]

Finally painted a tribute to BG3 ~

[foxtatodreams]

Dark!Gale can burn you only with his eyes.

More Dark!Gale | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

[waterdeep-weavemoss]

Hi! I'd love to hear your thoughts on Dark Gale! I feel like the concept I'm thinking about (read: gnawing at the pulp of my brain) is OK, but could be better. Any insight you have is greatly appreciated!

Hello! Thank you for asking about dark Gale! Do you have a snack and a drink? Alrighty. So.

Gale to me is a pretty dark character already. His ambition becomes obsession, and he seeks to cross boundaries he should not cross out of (well placed) anger and a deep insecurity.

On first meeting he is sweet, kind of bumbly, personable. The first thing you do to help him out is take his hand and wrench him from a portal. It’s a far cry from Astarion holding a knife to your throat, Lae’zel pointing a sword at you, Shadowheart judging you for keeping Lae’zel’s company. First meeting Wyll, he says he needs to kill a devil. You meet Karlach because you’re trusting him that she’s a devil and needs to die. All of them have some kind of violence attached to them whether that’s from being martial themselves or in Karlach’s case the huge amounts of blood you follow to get to her.

Gale? Nah. He’s just stuck. He needs help, you pull him out, he shakes your hand, assures you your kindness will be repaid. If you send him to camp instead of recruiting him then and there, he says he’ll cook for you! And what he’s done here is ingratiate himself with Tav, make himself as indespensable as possible by volunteering an essential task, and he’s offered knowledge regarding ceremorphosis.

Later in camp, you can talk to him about what’s going on and he’ll compliment you (‘you’re a good sport’ / ‘spot on’) and if he’s a little arrogant well that’s because he has the skill to back it up and he is kind and he does cook, so you forgive it. You get to the grove and if you’re a good aligned Tav you step in front of Arka’s crossbow, you save Arabella, you rescue Mirkon from the harpies. Gale approves. Alright then, he’s a pacifist? He likes kids. This is a safe guy. And you can forgive the magic item consumption because well. He’s a good guy and he wouldn’t hurt anyone and he’s useful around camp and you seem to get along well. That’s fine. It’s like a chronic illness. We can manage that.

And then he can’t keep quiet anymore. The consumption of the weave hardly has an effect now. His guilt compels him to be honest, so he gathers everyone together. He calls himself a walking shadow, he admits to being a magical prodigy and his relationship with Mystra. Alright then. He used to be far more powerful than he is now, well so was everyone. The man clearly resents Mystra for not allowing him the kind of power he felt entitled to.

He kneels in front of Tav- kneels, this powerful mage, because is is trying to get them to see- and lets them into the dark. All this time, he has been walking around with parisitic magic in his chest, dark magic, something corrupting. He’s not said a word about the danger he poses not only to the party but to a good chunk of the surrounding area.

Gale is deeply self preserving. He can be persuaded to stay after massacring the grove by saying there’s strength in them staying together, in the survival instinct. By contrast Karlach just ups and leaves. His morality is grey and it’s what makes him interesting. In the grove, if you say it sounds like he has something to confess, he pointedly asks Tav if they’re without vice or sin, and then says no. He doesn’t think they’re quite that boring. He will bend the rules or break them if needed, it doesn’t take much to nudge him onto the darker path. He is just like Astarion in that his insecurity manifests as hunger for power and control. Unlike Astarion however, Gale is a rich boy who voluntarily isolated himself, and where Astarion becomes gentler as his story goes on, Gale becomes insistent and obsessive and even possessive. He says he’s getting that crown ‘for us’ in his act 3 scene, and… no he’s not. He’s still doing it for himself, it’s just now he can tell himself it’s for something greater because he’s in love. Just like Astarion insisting that ascending will keep him AND Tav safe. No. They’re both wrong, and frankly they’re two sides of the same coin.

Nevermind his combat lines, all misconceptions about him being a pacifist are utterly shattered when he admits to Tav that it turns him on to see them post battle, sweaty and bloody. He clearly revels in it all. I don't think it'd take much for him to go seeking a fight just for the thrill of it.

And if you happen to dump him, well… he reminds Tav of the bomb in his chest. He says maybe it’s best not to shake such a vessel as himself. The threat is subtle, but it is there. Hells, if you take him to meet Astarion alone he threatens to incinerate the vampire if he uses that knife on Tav. He’s not a gentle person and he’s created this incredible persona that hides it well under layers and layers of politeness, kindness, amiable chat, a willingness to take important tasks off Tav’s hands.

This isn’t to say I don’t absolutely love the guy. He is wonderful in many, many ways, but that undercurrent of darkness runs deeper than first appears.

[rhymewithrachel]

The Dark Urge giving gale heart palpitations in balders gate three

[kirain]

My favourite bit of BG3 lore is that Withers is legitimately responsible for the Dead Three, but he's probably too embarrassed to tell you, so every time you ask him to elaborate he just gives you a very stern, "Noooo."

I also love that the reason he's responsible for their uprising is because he got bored. He literally got bored of his position as Lord of the Dead and wanted to retire, so when these three morally questionable humans came looking for godhood he was like, "Hmmm. Yes, okay. Here. Take my portfolios. Fight over them. I don't care. I quit."

So after bowling with skulls in a friendly competition to decide who would get what portfolio, they took up his powers and wreaked havoc on the world. Only at that moment did Jergal, AKA Withers, AKA our precious Bone Daddy think, "I'm just now, internally, asking myself, in quite a worried way, whether I might've made an error."

So he joins your merry band and watches your escapades, calmly twiddling his fingers while you clean up his mess. He's happy to lend his aid, even to the point that he'll bring Durge back to life if they reject Bhaal, even though he technically shouldn't. But he's Withers. The rules don't apply to him. If Ao doesn't like it, he can descend from the Heavens and say it to his rotting face.

And the reason he saves Durge isn't necessarily because he likes them or because he's a morally good entity (though one certainly could make that argument), but because he wants to add insult to injury. He steals Bhaal's child with a big smile on his face, dubs them his Chosen, and praises them for rejecting all the power they were promised. But of course, he still doesn't tell them who he is—or rather who he was.

Then, when all is said and done, he throws Tav and their companions a cute little party. No one knows it's probably half a thank you party and half a "Withers is bored again" party. And if anyone misbehaves, he'll get irritated and whisk them away. Because how dare they? He put a lot of work into that.

And at the end of it all, he walks up to a mural of the Dead Three and basically goes, "Lmao. Thou didst fuck around, and thou didst find out." Just savagely roasting them.

And then poof!

He waves them into non-existence.

[vespaer77]

Dark!Gale got me in a choke hold...

I have a fic to finish but boy do I have a plot for a multi-chapter that's burning a hole through my brain...

[ejoym]

This is my Act 3 experience in a nutshell.

[colinarcartperson]

baby boy actually thought he was subtle...