#i do like the juxtaposition of a gale who has found peace and salvaged the ruins of his life vs a gale who has ascended who has reached

[galedekarios]

What do you think of their decision to make Gale a teacher in his good ending? Earlier in the game, he says his attempted students’ ineptitudes irked him. Do you think he’s made enough of a change to make a good professor?

thank you for your message, anon! 🖤

i'm of two minds about it:

i am going to be transparent here and say that i am a teacher myself. i studied, i did my teacher training, and i have been teaching for a good bit now - and some people are meant to be teachers, and some are not. it's one of those professions that you have to be born for, imo. it requires an immense amount of patience and perseverance, a certain intuition when it comes to your students, among many other things.

i have said before that i can see gale as a professor, but less so in a teaching position and more in a sort of research role.

so looking at this, i think what larian is trying to convey is that gale has settled into this new life he leads, that he's found his place in life. that he's finally worked to salvage that life instead of reaching for the stars.

he's content now, more than he's ever been before. he has returned to the home he missed so very much. he's spending his time surrounded with the people he loves. tara, morena, the player, his friends. and he's dedicated himself to the study of magic.

that feeling of being content, happiness and security and love, as well as the journey he's been on, too, may have quelled the things that caused him to feel so irked by his students prior to his journey, perhaps it has given him a new perspective on things, the low lows and high highs he experienced.

but i also think that larian does listen to community feedback - imo too much at times - and this was a intensely popular headcanon for gale.

i have taken a look for you at the files for the epilogue and the notes in it seem to echo my thoughts overall:

His default state is that he returned to Waterdeep and became a professor of Illusory magic at his former school, Blackstaff Academy. General vibe here is that this a Gale who's found peace with himself - he's a great teacher, one his students are mostly in awe of.