#karlach has heard so much about gale that she is honestly convinced that there has to be a second one somewhere

[leiflitter]

Stupid O'Clock ft Els and Karlach

A teeny little sidescene from

"It's hopeless." Els sighed, her face turned to the glittering stars above. The sand beneath her crunched as she turned her head, looking at Karlach with a childish frown. "Absolutely hopeless."

"Nah, mate, you're just too subtle." Karlach's hands were cushioning her head. The fire in her chest flared and dimmed in time with her breathing. "You need to just grab that wizard by the collar and say, 'Gale, I beseech thee to ravish me in a gentlemanly fashion, posthaste, lest I perish of unrequited lust'. I don't speak Wizard, but I reckon that'd do it."

Els snorted, turning back to the stars. The two of them had been- rightfully- kicked out of camp because it was one of those nights. The kind of night when neither of them could sleep, and ended up following increasingly ridiculous tangents until their giggling woke everyone else up. Apparently nobody wanted to join in on their conversation about what animal it'd be worst to be polymorphed into, or if they'd rather have five arms or five legs. "He doesn't talk like that."

Silence hung between them.

"Alright, yes, he does talk a bit like that sometimes, but way less than he used to. Besides, I like it. I wouldn't be a bard if I didn't like words, and he knows a lot of 'em."

Karlach groaned. "Don't start getting all mushy again, Els, else I'll tell him."

"Noooooooo-" Els kicked her feet in parody of a tantrum, shaking her head from side to side. She'd have plenty of sand in her hair tomorrow. "You'd make it seem like I just want to have a go on his magic staff and scare him off- and then where would I be? Tadpole in my head and only mage hand for comfort."

Karlach rolled her eyes. "You're a sucker for punishment, Woodsley. Look around, mate, I reckon you could have Astarion or Wyll in your bedroll within five minutes if you wanted. Both, even. And yet you're making puppy-eyes at the most oblivious man in Faerûn."

Els snickered. "You're just as bad. Ooh, Shadowheart, you're so mysterious and cool, please let me carry your tent for you-"

Karlach's engine flared bright, setting Els into a fit of contageous laughter. It had them both howling in moments. From camp, Lae'Zel shouted something, but she was too far away to hear properly.

Eventually their mirth faded, leaving the two of them breathless on the beach.

Quiet reigned again- the soft lapping of the water, the shushing of the wind in the reeds. It was peaceful.

"Karlach?"

"Yes, Els?"

The half-elf reached out, setting her hand beside Karlach. The tiefling did the same- their hands side-by-side, close enough to sense each other but not enough to burn. "I promise that if we survive the goblins, I'll tell him properly."

"Good. Els, you're my friend and I love you, but if I have to hear much more sighing over Gale of Waterdeep I will strangle you in your sleep and put you out of your misery."

[wildissylupus]

I want to share what the dynamics of my BG3 party with my character, since I've nearly finished ACT 1. I will probably do this at the end of every act cause I am so excited to see how all these dynamics develop.

(Slight Spoilers for BG3 ACT 1)

Medea - My Durge character, often goes with the diplomatic approach, she's charismatic and hides her urges well (except with Alfira but everyone thinks it the tadpole). I'll probably make a separate post going into detail, this is more just to give context

Shadowheart - Second person Medea met, saved her from the Nautiloid, they both have an insane amount of trust in each other. Romance is also blooming between them. With Medea as the leader of the party, you could say that Shadowheart is her second in command. Medea is also getting a lot of bad vibes from what Shadowheart says about Shaar but is trying to be open minded while trying to subtly convince her that maybe she should leave and that what she's going through with Shaar isn't good. They also bond over their shared memory problems.

Astarion - Second person Medea met after the crash, pulled a knife on her when she went to help him, no blood was spilt though. After that they basically started bickering like siblings, Medea being the responsible one, Astarion being the bad influence, both of them chaotic. Also in my mind, since Medea is also an elf and has the same sleep schedule as Astarion, she was suspicious of him sneaking off at night. Though she didn't think he was a vampire, speaking of which, she will never not make fun of Astarion for trying to bit her even though she is literally the one other person who traces, meaning she was the worst person to bite from if he didn't want to get caught. Basically they act like siblings, also Medea has only heard the basics of who Cazador is and already wants to kill him.

Gale - Third person to join the party and the person Medea has the highest approval rating with. When she found out about Gale's condition she instantly sought out magical items that he could use, she was also very stunned when she found out about him a Mystra. Medea was never the studious type, even without a majority of her memories she knows she has a distaste for casting the magic wizards cast, however, casting that magic with Gale is different. She genuinely enjoyed it, and something tells her that he's the best teacher she's ever had. Honestly, even though this is act 1, I didn't expect Gale and Medea to become so close or like each other so much.

Lae'zel - First person Medea met (cause that's how the game goes) and honestly when it comes to her urges, Lae'zel is the one she thinks will take her out if needed. She's even considering telling Lae'zel about the urges. They have a lot of respect for each other even if they disagree on sertain situations, and they probably want the tadpoles out of their head the same amount as at this point Medea thinks her urges could be influenced by the parasite, so she wants it out. Honestly compared to the others there isn't much to say, mostly because I play in character, which means I choose which characters join me based on how close my character is to them or how important they are to the mission lore wise. Their dynamic will probably change in act 2 though.

Wyll - Medea and Wyll have had a slow burn to their friendship, though there is trust between them, they haven't known each other long enough to form a distinct bond (though I am tempted to get them a sibling bond because of what Wyll said after she said they will get his dad back). However, Medea does feel guilty about Wyll's dad being captured, feeling as though she could have done something. It's been added to her ever growing mountain of guilt (at this point she's dealing with the urges, she's killed Alfira, and she's killed Mayrina's brothers), she's also determined to help Wyll get his father back. She has also made it her goal to see Wyll dance.

Karlach - Her and Medea have not interacted much (that will change in Act 2), but so far I think Karlach is on the fence on whether to trust my character or not, because she says a lot of fucked up shit she doesn't mean in order to manipulate her enemies and Karlach tends to take it at face value so she obviously disproves of what Medea is saying. I like to think the displeasure shows on her face and every time Medea looks back at Karlach and gives a look of "I'm not actually going to do it".

Halsin - Like Karlach they haven't interacted that much but that will change in Act 2. As for now though they like each other and Medea wants to get to know him more.

And that's it for now!! I'm really excited to see how the game progresses and how these dynamics develop.

[fictionplumis]

Roche in BG3? 👀👀👀 I need to know more, please! would you share some screenshots? and maybe some thoughts on how he feels about his companions, the new experiences, etc.?

Ooo, I should take some screenshots!

As far as companions go, he has the most respect for Lae'zel even though they butt heads a lot, because he's very used to being in command Lae'zel is stubborn in the beginning when she thinks he's superior to everyone else.

He also respects Wyll even if he thinks the kid is naive. Wyll reminds him of who he used to want to be when he was younger, before the realities of the world really jaded him.

Gale is lucky to be alive because it's not Roche's first instinct to touch a glitchy magic portal. Astarian is also lucky to be alive because it's Roche's first instinct to stake a vampire trying to bite him in the middle of the night. Shadowheart is way too obsessed with a dark goddess and Roche honestly tunes most of it out.

So far it's been my most... Violent run. And that's including my durge playthrough. If you're interested, a summary of my playthrough so far is below the cut. I'm just starting Act 3 of this run now.

It's just that Roche doesn't take well to threats, y'know?

And like. He arrives in the druid grove to see Zevlor laying into some idiot kid, and immediately clocks that Zevlor is a commander and the kid is being a jackass, so Roche lays the kid out. The commander to commander bonding is real but as much as he wants to help Zevlor, he has more important issues.

So he goes to talk to Nettie, only to then see some druids threatening a mother who just wants her kid back. He walks into the inner sanctum to see this other druid threatening a kid. Then Nettie tries to KILL HIM and at that point it's like, okay, fuck druids.

Through some strategic planning, he wages war on the druids with only one loss of tiefling life.

He saves Halsin, who hears about the druids and is like, "Well, it sucks, but it sounds like they left you no other choice. Unfortunately I don't have a cure."

So he decides to check out the creche, and on the way runs into the "Paladins of Tyr" and hears more about this evil devil. He believes them, since he also heard the same from Wyll. He's not the type to stop and talk to his enemies, so he strategically takes out Karlach. RIP

In the creche, Lae'zel blows up the machine. The doctor acts real weird about it so before she leaves the room, Roche kills her. They go to report the traitor in the creche, but can't talk to the inquisitor because this lady wants the artifact. So Roche kills her.

Now, he doesn't trust the dream visitor. So he DOES hand over the artifact to the inquisitor and agrees to kill the person inside as an excuse to just go there and confront this person on his own terms. The Dream Visitor (who looks uncomfortably like Foltest which pisses Roche off more) makes the mistake of kneeling down and offering his sword in some manipulative tactic of "look, see, I'm harmless"

Roche calls the bluff and stabs him. Lo and behold, the visitor doesn't die because it was a trick. But everything he said about the githyanki waiting to kill them outside the artifact regardless of the outcome is true, and he's not happy about that but he admits that maybe this dream visitor is right about some things. Just not about using the tadpole power, fuck that.

They fight their way out.

On to Moonrise, then. They go through the underdark, where they run into the fungi colony, who immediately telepathically threaten him and he's like >:( I'm not afraid of you.

They attack. They get slaughtered.

They head towards a boat and get ambushed by duegar. He convinces them not to attack, but then is like "your missing slave is a you problem, I'm not getting involved," so the duegar attack and get slaughtered.

Roche steals the duegar's boat. They get ambushed by another boat. Roche is very done with this, and he sucks at lying anyway so he doesn't bother, he just shoves the other duegar into the water and kills the others.

Grymforge. Wyll is immediately like, "Hey, uh... Maybe we should try to be diplomatic about this."

I have never ONCE had a companion suggest that, and this is my fourth playthrough. Roche tries. It works. And then Wyll hears that they have slaves and is like, "Actually. Maybe violence IS the answer." To which Roche says it's none of their business and they're not getting involved in that shit.

They hear about Nere. They figure Nere knows a way to get past the shadow curse. They figure Nere won't be very cooperative about it, so Roche is like, whatever, we can get the info from his corpse.

He notices not all the duegar are on the same page about Nere. He agrees to side with the rebels in a coup against Nere. They free Nere, they kill Nere, they get the info about the drider and they get the spider lyre and because Roche is annoyed at the prospect of letting Wyll down, he convinces the duegar to leave the slaves behind.

They go to the shadow curse land. Sure is a shame none of them have instrument proficiency and thus can't play the lyre.

On to Last Light, where Mol jumps in just in time to keep Roche from attacking Jaheira because he really doesn't like being threatened. Otherwise the infiltration plan seems pretty solid, it's a go.

When they get the lantern, Roche is like, yeah, I'm not letting the damn pixie out, we need this. They go to Moonrise. They conduct a prison escape with the tieflings and gnomes, mostly because he figured Zevlor would be among them. It goes without a hitch thanks to strategic assassinations of the guards without alerting any of the other guards.

He plays along with Z'rell like... Bare minimum. Then they're off to find Balthazar.

Roche tunes out most of Shadowheart rants about Shar because really? Seriously? Whatever.

Raphael shows up. Roche doesn't like his smarmy attitude. He's not close enough with Astarion to know about the scars at this point so there's no real reason for him to agree to what Raphael says.

They find Balthazar. He plays along with Balthazar just long enough to get some information, and then they kill Balthazar.

They find Yuigir. They agree to help Yuigir just because it would piss off Raphael.

It doesn't. Roche hates him even more.

They proceed to the Shadowfell and meet the Aylin. Unfortunately, Roche's solution to most problems is "kill it" and figures, hey, if she's the source of Ketheric's immortality, killing her gets rid of the problem. Do whatever you what Shadowheart.

Ten minutes later they're fighting a camp of shadowcursed Harpers and tieflings and he's like, "GODDAMMIT SHADOWHEART."

They kill Ketheric. They free Zevlor and Mizora. Roche stops Gale from blowing himself up because what the fuck man, I am RIGHT HERE. STAND DOWN, THAT IS AN ORDER.

They kill Ketheric AGAIN. They kill the god of death. Roche is so fucking done with the shadowlands. Halsin doesn't get helped because Roche is not about to prioritize healing nature over his own personal mission to get this damn tadpole out of his head and take down this cult.

And that's pretty much where I'm at.

[bloodiedrogue]

for the caompanion!tav ask:

general - 3 and 9

romance - 1, 3, 9 and 10

3. does your tav have any comments or advice when you recruit other companions?

yes! she definitely does. considering she has connections with a few of the other companions before the kidnapping, she has quite a bit to say about them!

on wyll: "ah, the old blade of frontiers. you know, he and i go way back, yeah? good guy. a bit too good sometimes but definitely someone you want at your side. you're lucky to have him."

on shadowheart: "oh gods, a shar worshipper? hope you're ready for doom and gloom galore! they're awfully depressing people and that's saying something coming from me."

on gale: "gale of waterdeep, huh? never heard of him, have you? because if you have you have to tell me. i don't want to look stupid in front of him if he's famous."

on astarion: "what do i think of astarion? ha! i trust him just about as far as i can throw him... and i'm pretty shit at throwing, so, uh... yeah."

on karlach: "i can't believe karlach's the one wyll's been chasing down all this time. i mean, have you seen her? there's no way he'd be able to kill her. she's too hot —i mean... strong."

on lae'zel: "i've met a few githyanki's in my time. none as bloodthirsty as lae'zel though. she's on a whole other level that honestly, i can't help but admire."

9. does your tav have any escalating conflicts with one of the other companions, like lae'zel and shadowheart's knife fight?

i wouldn't say there are any particular arguments necessarily. given the nature of zayis and astarion's relationship though, i'd say there's a lot more interactions specific to the two of them that the player can receive if they're both in the party at the same time.

with the pale elf quest specifically, zayis will often weigh in on a lot of the cazador talk, and if the player takes a long rest inside of cazador's manor, zayis will come talk to the player in the middle of the night, expressing concern for astarion's desire to ascend over cazador.

(i realize this doesn’t really answer the question but… i’m tired)

1. is your tav a romanceable character? are there any specific requirements to romancing them?

i definitely see zayis as a romanceable character but it'd definitely be difficult. similar to astarion, she's quite the liar when it comes to her true feelings, so it'd take a lot to get her to properly warm up to you. to do this, you'd definitely have to be honest with her at all times to show her that it's okay to open up.

3. are they a polyamorous or a monogamous option?

zayis is polyamorous with the (sort of) exception astarion. due to the nature of their past, zayis doesn't trust him in the slightest and thus can't accept a shared relationship.

(that is, unless the player has a very high approval rating with both characters and can trigger the appropriate dialogue to convince them to "get back together".)

9. how do they react if the pc has sex with mizora? the emperor? harleep?

considering zayis is poly she's fine with pretty much everyone but the emperor because she finds mind flayer's to be absolutely repulsive and cannot understand why anyone would want to fuck that.

10. will they join in with the pc and the drow twins, or no?

zayis will always join in but if the player has managed to enter a poly relationship with both her and astarion she will always disapprove, knowing astarion isn't really into it.

[riddlerosehearts]

decided i'm going to start posting my thoughts on baldur's gate 3 every so often as i make my way through the game, because it'd be nice to have some of this stuff about first playthrough written down somewhere! my tav is a half-high elf bard named elenion (he/they) who's neutral good-aligned, and despite being a bard he's very reserved and is always feigning self-confidence. also, he's a college of lore bard who honestly would've fit the sage background pretty well but i went ahead and gave him entertainer instead lol. i guess that actually gives me the opportunity to see more of the inspiration goals by not having the same background as gale! anyway though, here's a few thoughts about what i've done while still being very early in act 1:

at the point i'm at in the story right now, i was supposed to go look for halsin, but instead i decided to finally find karlach. i feel like i probably should've gotten her sooner, but once i got to the grove i didn't wanna venture too far from the main objectives--and the grove is where you recruit wyll and learn about karlach in the first place.

however, halsin sounds very wise and capable so i guess he can handle himself while he waits, and the mindflayer tadpole symptoms aren't progressing like they're supposed to, so why not just go off and act like we've got all the time in the world! maybe elenion is just easily distracted. they did waste quite a bit of time earlier when they found alfira and felt compelled to help her finish her song. and speaking of, i was not expecting such a beautiful cutscene for that?! or for the squirrels we talked to using speak with animals to be so mean and hate her song 😭 but i hope we get to see alfira again and that nothing bad happens to her, and i hope i don't eventually regret saying that!

also, wyll did say karlach is a danger to the entire sword coast, which makes hunting her down sound pretty important... and elenion has an interest in history so they recognized the phrase "advocatus diaboli" and were able to mention the blood war when wyll first talked about her. so maybe they're also interested in seeing if they can get a devil who fought in the blood war and is now wandering the material plane to answer a few questions before taking her down. anyway, point is we're leaving the druids and our quest for a cure hanging to go hunt a devil.

took me a bit to find her despite wyll's quest leading you to her, though. i have a horrible sense of direction, which i guess is okay because my horrible sense of direction did lead me to accidentally find scratch and now we have a dog!

eventually i did get to karlach, and elenion's mind connected to hers and gave him a much closer look at who karlach is and what she's doing here than he expected. naturally he convinced wyll to stand down because karlach does not seem evil. and then he tried to ask karlach some of the questions he had in mind back at camp, but she won't reveal anything until we hunt down the paladins that are still hunting her. understandable, i guess. i like her though! i should try and make sure to get her earlier on my next playthrough.

encountered mizora for the first time when i rested at camp, and i'm very intrigued by what's going on with wyll and i actually have been since way before i played the game and found out he was a fabled hero who was also a warlock. which is why i also think it's a huge shame that from what i've heard at least, he was given a lot less content for his quest and his romance than the other companions were.

wandered around the world a bit more and ended up freeing a poor guy who was being spun around on a windmill by goblins. then i got the scene with gale where he teaches you how to channel the weave, and it not only had bard-specific dialogue options but also had an option that specifically reflected my character's proficiency in history, which was all really neat to see. god, there must be an insane amount of different dialogue branches in this game. love that there was also an option to be like "yeah that was neat, but i could've done it myself lol" since a bard is already a spellcaster.

the range of these particular dialogue options is killing me LMAO

i had high enough approval with gale to trigger a very obviously romantic scene and then the game is literally like "okay, so do you want to kiss him or do you want his severed head on a spike" 😭 like wtf do you THINK?! i can't even imagine how i'd roleplay a character who would be cruel enough to get this far and lead gale on so much before picking to project an image of his head on a spike directly into his mind. and yet i am so curious about what happens if you do--but not curious enough to reload and try to find out. mostly because i cannot bring myself to be mean to gale.

anyway, i picked the romantic walk option. i thought elenion would consider the kiss thing to be a bit too forward. but that was such a sweet scene and i love flustered gale gets when he realizes how you feel about him. going into this game i really thought i'd wanna try for astarion or shadowheart's romances first, and i do like them a lot and want to keep learning more about both of them, but gale surprised me with how much i already liked him from his introduction. he's just really charming and funny and also fits well with the character i made, so i will definitely keep progressing his romance.

aaand i've been progressing a bit slowly because of irl stuff but everything about this game is so good that i wish i'd picked it up sooner! i've been spoiled on quite a bit of things about the story already, but there's also a lot that i haven't been spoiled on and i can't wait to experience all of it anyway.

[mybg3notebook]

Gale Extensive analysis

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were written up to the game version v4.1.104.3536  (Early access). . As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information. Written in May 2021.

The majority of sources used for this article are in the game itself (this includes my Gale-solo playthroughs as well as a combination of the videos by munmomuu and selphie1999), and the dev’s notes provided by pjenn. Gale as origin is not taken into account since it’s not finished and has little Gale-related content. There will be little datamining content as well since pjenn said the game contained almost no gale-related notes (only in theWeave and in the Revelation scene).

The itemised list will show some instances of approval or disapproval as they are seen in the game. To make the reading of this article easier and shorter, you can skip them since they are basically the proof I use to sustain the introductory concept of each block. 

We can infer a lot of Gale by analysing what he approves and disapproves of. Sometimes, we can even lightly infer some information from his neutral reactions, but let’s be honest: this way of analysing a char is pretty poor since it leaves everything to speculation. Neutral reactions can only be analysed by contrasting the same situation in other contexts, and seeing what other options Gale approves or disapproves of. With these considerations in mind, we can proceed to describe this character.

Disclaimer: this is a meta with my personal interpretation of the character, sticking as much as possible to the facts and leaving little to “desires” or “projections” of what I want him to be. If I do so, I will state it explicitly in the text for the sake of analysis honesty. I want to be clear about what is canon (facts shown in bg3 EA), from what’s personal interpretation with little proof.

Also, this list is extensive, gathering as much as I could in my many playthroughs, but I’m sure it’s not absolutely complete. Some details may have escaped me, but honestly, I believe that any new approval will be easily fit in these blocks once the pattern has been seen.

Understanding Gale by enumerating his reactions and approvals

What we can do is combine what we know and make our deductions.

---Gale

[[1]] The most notorious aspect we see about his approval is that Gale supports all actions that prevent, via persuasion, intimidation, or deception, the unnecessary violence and bloodshed. His attitude can be summarized as “the means (as long as they don’t kill gratuitously) hardly matter if the end is worthy”. He will always prefer diplomatic and persuasive approaches, but he can be flexible when his main objective is to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. 

He approves of using intimidation, deception, or persuasion against Gimblebock, in the ruins of the Jergal Temple. 

He approves of intimidation or deception against the tieflings that have Lae’zel in a cage.

Gale approves of diffusing the tension between Zevlor and Aradin, using intimidation or persuasion. He keeps neutral if Tav uses violence to knock out one of the two. Once more, this shows he prefers any verbal approach before heading into physical violence.

He approves of dealing with Nettie without bloodshed after she poisoned Tav. Gale even has an extra comment on the matter praising such an approach since he says he would have not been able to do it himself. This is also the first time we see a glimpse of his support for the philosophy of “giving people their own medicine”. However, it's a comment made in the heat of the moment. He ends up praising a peaceful resolution of the situation.

He approves of saving Lae’Zel’s life when she attacks Tav in the camp. This can be done via deception, persuasion or knowledge [medicine] as long as it spares Lae’Zel’s life when she is feeling the first symptoms of the transformation.

He approves of any means that allow a peaceful entrance to the Blighted Village.

Gale approves of using persuasion/intimidation/deception against the goblins to avoid combat with all of them and to save the deep gnome tied to the windmill.

Gale approves of paying for Oskar’s freedom or using persuasion/intimidation, and then setting him free.

He approves of intimidating Spike (the goblin who is torturing Liam) to cooperate with you.

Gale approves of persuasion/intimidation options to pretend to be a True Soul in front of Dror Ragzlin, avoiding combat with him and all his goblin lackeys.

Gale approves of the persuasive approach with the githyanki patrol, promising to help them to find this weapon they are looking for. It’s clear that any other approach will end up in a fight and therefore, bloodshed. 

He also approves if you tell Lae’Zel to deal with her brethren while “playing along”. Again, the goal is to avoid fighting/bloodshed. 

He approves of intimidating Karlach, saying that “I heard you are dangerous, so I am”. Since Karlach is aiming at the group, he approves of diffusing the imminent violence.

In similar fashion, Gale approves of intimidating Rugan, once he presents himself as Zhentarim, to give you the chest. This can be interpreted as a way to prevent further violence from a Zhentarim. Since there is no approval when you use persuasion to have the chest, one is more inclined to think this approval is about danger-control than curiosity. Or it’s just a bug.

[[2]] As it was said before, we can assume that diplomatic approaches are the best ones in his opinion. They not only have a positive effect in the short term but also are means that may guarantee useful resources for the future: 

Gale approves of ensuring an encounter with Lorroakan in Baldur’s Gate via Rolan, establishing diplomatic relationships with what could potentially be a powerful useful ally.

Gale approves of promising to rescue the Duke Ravengard in the Moonrise, one of the most important figures in Baldur’s Gate.

Gale approves of managing a peaceful entrance to the Myconid colony. He highlights in a comment afterwards how useful it could be to have the Myconid as allies.

[[3]] Gale certainly is a great protector of life. Gale is against killing people just for fun, whether they are innocent or not. He will defend and respect the life of innocents without question, but he even will defend the life of dubious characters. 

Gale approves of helping the tieflings to get rid of Lae’Zel because “she is dangerous to innocent people ''. We can see here that like any human, he has his own (reasonable) biases about Githyanki, considering them dangerous. Only after meeting Lae’Zel he recognises a good ally with the possibility of access to a cure to their tadpole problem.

He approves of convincing Rolan to stay in the Grove and defend it. This can be interpreted as gathering resources to reduce the bloodshed and therefore, the loss of life when facing the goblin attack. After all, Gale believes that “a wizard is a mighty weapon to have in your arsenal”

He approves of stepping in front of Arka whose crossbow is aimed at the caged goblin Sazza. Due to the anecdote he shares after, we know explicitly that his approval is due to the prevention of murder. 

In his anecdote on the Yawning Portal, we know he prevented murder of three humanoids: a dragonborn, a drow, and a cleric of Cyric. The last two are highly morally dubious due to lore reasons, reinforcing this concept that Gale protects life whether they are innocent or not. 

He approves of inviting Wyll to their camp and team. He is a fighter and a good resource to add in order to protect the team’s life. 

He also approves of helping Zevlor when he comments about the Blade of Frontier’s plan of killing the goblin leaders.

He approves of helping the tiefling called Guex to improve his technique with the sword. More chances for him not to lose his own life. 

Approves of helping Auntie Ethel when she's confronted by Mayrina’s brothers when Tav’s perception check fails. This is because neither Tav nor Gale perceived her as a Hag until the brothers called her such.

Gale approves saving Mayrina from the hag’s clutches. If Tav deals with the Hag, accepting her power and saving Mayrina, Gale will remain neutral (he is displeased with sparing the hag, but it’s nullified with the fact that Tav ended up rescuing Mayrina.) He will disapprove of giving Mayrina to the hag and accepting her powers instead. He is always approving of saving Mayrina’s life and killing the Hag, saving more potential innocents in the future. He explicitly says that hags should be extinct due to their malice.

He approves of avoiding a fight by convincing the man to let the party pass into the Zhentarim hideout.

He approves of saving Rugan’s life in the hideout. This reinforces again the concept that Gale values life including the morally dubious ones’.

Gale approves of saving Benryn’s life, the man screaming during the fire in the inn at Waukeen’s Rest.

Gale approves of accepting to rescue the Duke Ravengard, and probably saving his life.

Gale approves of saving the deep gnome in the windmill without asking compensation, just for the sake of saving his life. 

Gale approves of attacking the goblins that are throwing stones to the caged bear. (He does it whether he knows that bear is Halsin or not)

Gale approves when Tav shields their memory and denies the access of the location of the grove to Minthara.

Gale approves of killing Minthara, the greatest danger for the tieflings and all lives in the Grove.

Gale approves of killing the Duergar slavers Gekh Coal and his company. 

He approves of killing the dying hyena which is giving birth to a gnoll. This is a way to protect innocent lives in the long term.

He approves of using the tadpole against Flind, commanding her to devour the other gnolls. Gale approves again if Tav orders her to kill herself. 

He approves of helping Baelen from escaping the trap of poisonous inflammable flowers he is surrounded in the Underdark.

[[4]] He dislikes greed and likes offering help without asking for a reward, just for the sake of helping.

Gale approves of helping Zevlor with the refugee situation.

Gale approves of incorporating Wyll in the group and of helping to get rid of the problems of the grove. 

Gale approves helping Alfira in composing her song.

Gale approves of saving the tiefling kid Mirkon from the harpies.

Gale encourages Tav and approves of meddling into Mayrina's troubles when they see her being mistreated by the Hag. 

He disapproves of asking for compensation after saving the deep gnome at the windmill. Gale approves of saving him and telling him “you owe me nothing”. 

[[5 ]] He has a consistent approval of treating kids in a compassionate and forgiving way. There is a line he says after Arabella’s scene that sums up his position with kids (and adults too): “She was not innocent, but that doesn’t mean she is guilty.”

Gale disapproves of not interfering in Meli’s situation, the tiefling child who stole Barth’s medallion. Using intimidation against Barth at this moment doesn’t give approval penalties. Not doing anything does. 

When Tav’s perception prevents them from being pickpocketed by one of Mattis' associates, the child immediately starts crying. Gale Approves of telling this child “Relax. I won’t get angry. You didn’t manage to steal anything from me”.

He approves of telling Arabella's parents that the druids overreacted. This approval is explicitly explained later by gale: one should be more kind and forgiving with the transgressions of youth. Here there is a bit of self-projection of Gale on the situation.

He approves of saving Arabella with active persuasion/intimidation. He disapproves of not doing anything during the tense situation with Teela. 

He approves of choosing the option “Only a monster would threaten/kill a child” when speaking with Kagha the first time.

Gale approves of helping Mirkon. He disapproves of scaring him.

Gale approves of telling “I’m sorry for your loss” to a goblin kid whose parents were killed by the adventurer they are kicking. 

[[6]] He is an animal lover in general, so treating animals in a good way will always earn his approval. 

We know he has a cat. When he was a child, he used to have a Tressym (winged cat).

He approves of convincing Scratch of joining the camp via speak with animals.

Gale approves of petting Scratch.

Gale approves of leaving the cave of the Owlbear mother and her cub without combat. Or he approves if Tav can speak with animals and convinces her not to kill them. 

After killing the owlbear mother, Gale approves of sparing the owlbear cub’s life.

Gale approves of convincing the goblin Krolla to hand over the Owlbear cub. Paying for it will not earn his approval. 

Gale approves of feeding the owlbear cub at the camp. However, Gale will state that it's a dangerous pet. Gale approves of feeding the owl afterwards, offering a funny phrase that may be more meaningful for his character: “The hand that feeds is the hand that’s loved, now he wont leave your side”. I personally found it funny since he is the char that Tav is feeding with artefacts.

Gale approves of petting the owlbear.

Gale approves of attempting to heal the Owlbear cub in camp.

He disapproves of shooing the Owlbear cub.

Gale approves of freeing the spiders in the goblin camp. This can be interpreted as well as a tactical advantage for the battle.

Gale disapproves of suggesting to the goblins to use sharp stones at the caged bear so they can inflict more damage. He also disapproves again if Tav joins them in throwing stones.

He approves of helping the bear to attack the goblins. (This happens whether Gale knows that the bear is Halsin or not)

Gale approves of leaving flowers at the grave of the dog Myrna in the Underdark.

[[7]] Therefore it is only natural to see that he disaproves of animal cruelty

He disapproves of kicking and killing the squirrel Timber when entering the Grove.

He disapproves of prodding to death the bird that Nettie was healing

He disapproves of killing the owlbear cub once the mother was killed.

Gale disapproves of suggesting the goblin kids to use sharp stones to hurt the caged bear.

He disapproves of Tav throwing stones at the bear.

Gale disapproves of attacking the owlbear cub once it went to the camp.

[[8]] Since life is valuable for him in general, he will always disapprove of gratuitous killing, murder, and bloodshed. In short, he disapproves of unnecessary death.

Gale disapproves of asking the fishermen to hand over their values. This situation ends up in bloodshed.

He disapproves of joining Lae'Zel against the Tieflings that had her caged.

Gale disapproves of not helping Zevlor, knowing the tieflings will be massacred by the goblins.

He disapproves of telling Rolan to leave the grove before the arrival of the goblins. Without this wizard the tieflings have more chances of failing at the resistance. 

He disapproves of helping the goblin Sazza to escape. This will guarantee that Minthara knows the location of the Grove.

He disapproves of telling Zevlor that Tav won’t help the Blade of Frontiers against the imminent massacre of the tieflings.

He disapproves of not doing anything to help Arabella 

He disapproves of Tav ignoring his need for artefacts because “there is more at stake than his own meager life alone”. He disapproves of this decision that puts many innocents in danger, but he keeps appealing to Tav’s good side, encouraging them to do the “right thing”. 

He also disapproves of killing Crusher when he is begging for his life after the “pungent poetic justice” of kissing Tav’s feet.

Gale disapproves of killing Rugan in the Zhentarim hideout when Zarys orders to.

Gale disapproves of killing Ellyka, the tiefling who was watching the githyanki patrol from a distance. 

He disapproves of opening the gate for the goblin raiders.

Gale disapproves of joining the goblins in massacring the tieflings. During the party he will attempt to leave the group. Only a high persuasion or insight roll will keep him in the group. It requires a DC 15.

Gale disapproves of helping Glut to destroy Spaw, the peaceful leader of the current Myconid colony. Doing this will end up in the massacre of the Myconid.

He disapproves of abandoning Baelan surrounded by poisonous inflammable flowers in the Underdark.

[[9]] He doesn’t like gratuitous humiliation or torture of any kind, whether psychological or physical. Once more, it’s shown that he disapproves gestures of cruelty and unprovoked violence. 

Gale disapproves of telling Elegis (tiefling on the gates of the grove) that she is pathetic for fearing the goblins.

He disapproves of pocketing the ring when Mattis (tiefling kid) asks you to choose heads or tails.

He disapproves of using intimidation against Pardima, threatening her to break her neck (she is the tiefling who is paralysed inside the small building). 

He disapproves of smashing Alfira’s lute

He disapproves of telling Kagha that Arabella’s death was “quite a show”. This is related to Astarion’s concept of “fun” that Gale will bring into conversation subtly in an option during Mayrina’s quest.

Gale disapproves of psychologically torturing Lorin (wood elf trapped in Ethel’s house).

When Tav kills Connor, Gale will lament about the tragedy of the couple. He is sad for the story of lovers being over due to the whim of a hag.

Gale disapproves if after reviving Connor, Tav decides to keep him as a combat pet.

In the post before the Goblin camp, Gale disapproves of Tav smearing dung on their face. Gale has a sense of confidence and pride that he prefers to see in Tav as well. He is neutral if Tav throws dung against the goblin guards. On one side he probably approves of Tav’s pride transpired in that rebel action, but on the other hand, he doesn’t approve of provoking the goblins, since in the beginning of the scene he warned Tav that they come by the dozen, implying that they likely will be outnumbered.

He disapproves of obeying Crusher and kissing his foot, or licking it as a prank. 

Gale disproves of volunteering to torture Liam inside the defiled temple of Selune.

Gale disapproves of siding with the Goblins in general. Once done, in the party, he disapproves of telling him to stop whining after the massacre when he is sharing his regret of having participated in it. He answers "You really are heartless".

(Datamining) In the Duergar encampment, Gale disapproves of killing the slave gnomes under the command of the True Soul Nere.

[[10]] Despite showing some signs that he may support some bias commonly spread in Faerun, he keeps open minded and quite self-critical about his own slips on different races.

During the meeting he uses the Rashemi group as a synonym for lack of intelligence. I personally see this as a foreshadowing detail of future frictions with Minsc.

He approves killing Lae’Zel in the cage if Tav supports the fact that she is dangerous to innocent people. This situation may suggest that Gale considers most Githyanki as dangerous (acceptable conception lore wise)

When talking with Aaron (the halfling merchant of the grove), Gale disapproves of saying that the tieflings can deal with their problems because they have devil powers. 

Despite goblinoid races being despised by most people in Faerun, Gale recognises their powers, culture, magic, and ability to bond and love.

He is a human of Waterdeep, his human-centric vision slips in his line (with a non-human Tav): “Now more than ever, it's important to recall what makes us human. Well- you know what I mean.” He immediately noticed it and acknowledged it. 

[[11]]He is against slavery:

Gale disapproves if Tav pays Oskar’s freedom to get him as a slave. He approves of leaving him free by any means: paying for him, intimidation, or persuasion.

Gale disapproves of helping Gekh Coal (Duergar) to find the slave gnome who stole the boots in the Underdark.

Gale disapproves of handing over Astarion to Gandrel. This action can be interpreted as a way to not support slavery (because the story of Cazador), even though a better interpretation is related to Gale’s abandonment issues (see bellow).

(Datamining) In the Duergar encampment, Gale approves of helping Beldron in using the explosives to get free of the Duergar slavers.

[[12]] There are several elements related to acceptance, forgiveness, compassion, kindness and acknowledging of mistakes deeply entangled in his character. Gale wants these values for himself as well as for others. Examples of this can be seen in the following approvals:

[[12a]] Acceptance: of his persona, which means respecting his privacy, boundaries, and needs 

[Privacy/Boundaries] He disapproves of every use of the tadpole on him. He has been more than clear from the first moment about his privacy and secrets, promising that he will eventually share, given the circumstances (he clearly leaves open the possibility of trusting in Tav and never denies having secrets). This behaviour of him is also understood later not as a whim but as part of his abandonment issues: he explicitly says several times that “some truths are more difficult to share than others”. We need to remember that his secret is directly entangled with Mystra, her abandonment, and the mistake of the orb. See the post about "Gale Hypotheses- Part 1", section: "Abandonment Issues" for further interpretation.

[Privacy/Boundaries] During the scene of the stew, he disapproves of using the tadpole again. He attempts to leave the group for the breach of trust. A persuasive or insightful comment will keep him in the group, excusing the natural mistrust in Tav (Gale will always respond better to reasoning and negotiations than anything else). Once more, Gale forgives Tav’s intrusion.

[Privacy/Boundaries] During the death protocol, he approves of telling him that he can keep his secrets until he is ready to share them, despite the many questions that the whole event arose. 

[Privacy/Boundaries] During the scene of Loss, he approves of letting the topic of the loss rest. However, at this point, even if Tav keeps pushing, Gale will approve and will share a bit more about his folly with Mystra. 

[Needs] He approves of Tav with each artefact he receives. This can be understood as an action of caring for Gale and his life as well as for preventing the death of innocents.

[Acceptance] Accepting to share the experience of the Weave with him is key in his relationships with Tav. Magic equals Weave, and Magic is his life, so he is sharing in that moment a strongly meaningful part of him with Tav. Acceptance of the event is a direct acceptance of Gale as a person for a future deep friendship or romance.

[Acceptance] If Tav is a Wizard or a Cleric of Mystra, Gale approves the praise options: "I quite agree. There is no greater deity than Mystra" and “Praise be that Mystryl was reborn as Mystra.” Despite the abandonment, Gale still remains a great devotee of her, and accepting her is an indirect way to accept a big part of his own life.

[Acceptance] He approves even more if this acceptance has romantic connotations (this means, options of kiss/holding hands in the Weave or “more than friends” during Loss).

[Acceptance] When Tav resurrects Gale, he doesn’t approve the resurrection per se, but the “welcome back” comment, implying that he values the action a bit more when Tav is glad for his own persona to be back.

[Forgiveness] He will approve acceptance of his own persona and forgiveness of his secrecy after the party.

[[12b]] Forgiveness for others: He approves of forgiving kids [5] or all those adults who show honest regret by their past mistakes. This can be understood as a projection.

When Tav first meets Gale, he states he is a reserved person. He disapproves of the use of the tadpole even though he understands the drive of curiosity. He forgives Tav who acknowledged their mistake. 

Gale approves of telling Arabella’s parents that the Druids overreacted, that Arabella “is just a child”. Once Arabella is saved, Gale will explicitly emphasise later about forgiving the transgressions of youth.

After finding evidence that Kagha is working with Shadow Druids, Gale approves of exposing her while making her see her own mistakes. A path to redemption is granted with this action, and this resounds deeply in Gale. 

Gale himself wishes Mystra’s forgiveness for the mistake done in his youth. Despite wishing for it, he is quite resigned to never receiving it. 

If Tav uses the parasite powers a third time despite having agreed with the rest of the group not to, Gale will approve a sincere apology, as long as Tav acknowledges the mistake. He will answer that he knows about weaknesses and will recommend to stay stronger from that moment on. He forgives and passes no judgement, understanding Tav’s mistakes due to his own experience (to be fair: all companions with the exception of Astarion forgive this slip into the powers of the tadpole).

Taking Silvanus' idol may potentially end up in killing the druids. If this is the case, Gale will be affected by this tragedy since it was a lot of unnecessary death he doesn't like [1,3,8], and shares the burden that those deaths caused him since he suggested taking the idol as last resort, expecting to save more lives due to his bomb-condition. We see that he wants to survive and protect others from the orb, but not “at whatever cost”. He reflects with a heavy heart “at what cost” a greater evil was prevented. He speaks about “what’s wrong is wrong”, implying with all this scene that forgiveness, in this case, may be not possible. 

He approves of being forgiven/supported in his friendship/romance despite the mistake of holding the information of the orb and Mystra. At this point it is strange that Tav has not realised all of this alone, unless the player had a bug that prevented them from seeing Gale’s scenes. (Gale’s scenes suffer the lowest priority in the triggering list).

When Gale explicitly apologies in the morning after, he approves of telling him “It's fine. In the end I'm glad you told me.” The other options have no approval penalties. Once more it’s seen that a compassionate, forgiving attitude increases his approval. This can be seen as a direct result of his traumatic and constant present fear for abandonment (Check the post of "Gale Hypotheses- Part 1", section: "Abandonment Issues").

[[12c]] Compassion and kindness: He approves of most actions based on compassion and kindness (on him or others) and disapproves quick judgement on others when the whole story related to them is not completely known.

Gale disapproves of telling Arabella's parents that the situation is their fault. This can be interpreted as a quick judgement when they still did not listen to the other side.

After saving Arabella, Gale has a special comment related to the “transgressions of the youth”, about mistakes, and about innocence and guilt.

In Waukeen’s rest, Gale is neutral about keeping the dowry as a payment, but he approves of giving it to Benryn (the man rescued from the fire who found his wife dead). This could be considered a gesture of compassion.

He approves of most compassionate options when he is speaking of Mystra during the scene of Loss. It doesn’t matter if Tav doesn’t understand the whole situation; he always appreciates receiving support. 

Instead, he disapproves if Tav considers arrogance as the cause for his pain and loss (later we will know his folly was not because of arrogance but because of young love/devotion). He doesn’t approve judgement in this instance (since the whole story has not been said yet) but he will not disapprove Tav’s judgements later during the scene of the Revelation, where he receives the most aggressive words without approval penalties. 

Curiously, during the goblin party, he explicitly says that these two aspects of his persona (compassion and kindness) are affected by the shadow within (the orb) and the shadow without (the revealed Evil-Tav).

[[13]] Gale is a man of the City who indulges in the fine pleasures that urban life and some degree of privilege can offer. This is quite reasonable in terms of lore, since he is from Waterdeep, where humans hold the political and social power, plus his wizard profession. Wizards tend to come (even though it’s not exclusive) from high income families or from nobility since wizardry studies are quite expensive: 

He comments about the hardness of the wilderness.

He missed the civilisation: soft beds, home cooked meals, minstrels, and scented baths.

Gale approves of giving Oskar (the slave painter in the Zhentarim hideout) 200 gold to fight the “discomforts of the road”. He is the only companion who approves this action.

Gale disapproves of participating in the pain ritual with Abdirak. I personally prefer to interpret it in relation to his dislike for evil entities, but it can be also interpreted as a statement: pain “is not his cup of tea”.

In the same way, during the Weave, he disapproves of the image of being kicked in the gut.I know this should be common sense: if someone kicks you, you disapprove. The detail I see here is that, judging by his reaction, it seems to hurt him more than the image of the severed head. Maybe he has an extra sensibility to pain as the result of living with the orb stuck in his chest. The orb seems to be an ever present fear/pain (one can assume pain due to the extreme facial gesticulation in Gale when the process of absorption happens)

[[14]] He may disapprove of worshipping dubious or evil gods. This seems coherent since Mystra is a neutral good entity.

Gale disapproves of participating in the pain ritual with Abdirak. He explicitly says that pain is not “his cup of tea”, but it’s possible to interpret this scene as a disapproval to worshiping evil gods. Loviatar is one whose followers offer pain to celebrate her. In all options of this dialogue Abdirak explicitly says this is a ritual to offer pain to Loviatar, so it can be understood as a form of worshipping her in the moment. 

Gale disapproves if Tav accepts to be a Chosen of Booal.

He approves of Tav claiming that they don’t need of Booal’s powers, “I'll just kill you and claim it for myself”

When Shadowheart confesses being a worshipper of Shar, Gale will share a comment that displays his discomfort.

Gale approves of purging the evil in the dying hyena when a good-aligned Cleric blesses them.

[[15]] Gale is a scholar, and therefore, quite an open-minded char, who advocates for unconventional ways to solve problems:

He approves of considering the Creche solution for their tadpole’s problem, incorporating a githyanki to their group.

Gale approves of considering Gut the Priestess as another option. 

Despite his years studying The Arts, he is not judgemental or dismissive to Warlock/Cleric/Paladin Tavs who acquired the ability to cast magic thanks to the gift granted by superior entities.

Gale approves of saying “Then fix it, or die at my hand” to Raphael, quite an aggressive option for his usual style.

Gale suggests outsmarting Raphael; his logic is reasonable: these tadpoles are powerful and unusual, and Raphael probably wants them instead of their souls. If he is right, a good deal can be established. He knows that cambion’s deals tend to be unfair but he wants to exploit the fallible (human) side of Raphael for their benefit.

He is neutral when accepting the solution offered by the Hag. He probably doesn’t disapprove completely because, like a good scholar, he is waiting for the empirical result. He knows beforehand that Hags are twisted and evil entities that hardly could give them a good deal. In this case, he is not even proposing to outsmart her. 

Gale approves of giving the wand of control of Connor to Mayrina so she can find a solution in Baldur’s Gate. Despite this is an unconventional way to fix this situation, I personally feel there is a bug around, since his following comment is more consistent with a disapproval.

[[16]] He doesn’t like rushed decisions without thinking about all the possibilities. He encourages logical and reasonable discussions, free of biases or misconceptions as a scholar does. This aspect can be also understood as a reflection of his own past mistakes. Taking the orb after Mystra’s abandonment was a rushed decision of his youth which made him pay a big price.

During Raphael’s scene, he disapproves of the option “I’ll do anything to get rid of the tadpole”. That fast answer would only cause troubles.

He approves during Raphael’s scene the option that allows reflection: “I need to think this over.”

He encourages Tav to not discard the option of looking for the priestess Gut so quickly. He knows how magic is called among the goblinoid races and how much they value healing for being a culture of war.

Although he disapproves of the intrusion into his mind with the tadpole during the scene of the stew, reasonable arguments using persuasion/insight can be enough to prevent him from leaving the party. He reinforces the idea that he “may have spoken in haste” and he has reconsidered to stay despite Tav’s transgressions.

[[17]] He usually disapproves of using unknown magic in an irresponsible or careless way. This can be interpreted as a way to prevent mistakes similar to the one he did with the orb.

Gale disapproves of Tav reading the book of necromancy or giving it to Astarion. The reader will have access to the “forbidden knowledge” tag. Gale thinks himself more adequate for it since he is wiser than before, his experience with the orb book has taught him a great deal. He approves of giving the book to him.

Gale disapproves of accepting the brand of the Absolute. In the moment Tav accepts it, they learn that it has a unique magical effect that only True Souls can notice. Gale suspects this magic may cause mind control on goblins. "Charged with magic? Perhaps that explains the ease with which these goblins submit to True souls."

He approves of being cautious with the powers of the tadpole once they start seeing that its usage has physical and psychological (dreams) effects. 

He disapproves of using the tadpoles after seeing a dangerous pattern with the dreams.

[[18]] He approves of poetic justice, and he seems to follow the philosophy of “give others their own medicine” when he is attacked or harassed.

Gale approves of dealing with the situation with Nettie without bloodshed. However, Gale states that having been him, he would have handled it in a different way, recognising that he may have forced Nettie to pay with the same coin. “A taste of her own medicine is what she deserves.”

Gale encourages and approves of reinforcing a “pungent poetic justice”, making Crusher kiss Tav’s foot. 

Gale approves of helping the Myconid in killing the Duergars. “Wicked killers deserve wicked ends”

[[19]] He supports or at least doesn’t easily judge acts of self-preservation, but not at any cost. This follows his line “one respects life by fighting for it, and one respects death by fearing it”

Gale disapproves of keeping Astarion in the party after the bite scene. This happens if you use two options: “you can leave option” or “he won't hurt us”. Keeping Astarion is a danger in his eyes.

Gale approves of convincing/deceiving Lae’Zel not to kill the party during the night of apparent transformation into mind flayers. If those rolls fail and Tav kills Lae’Zel, Gale will remain neutral in the forced action that they had to take due to self-preservation. He describes the situation as “brutal” and shows pity and sadness for the tragedy. Then he asks Tav how they are doing with the experience: he is sympathising with Tav, not judging them.

Gale approves of dealing with Nettie without bloodshed but he states that he would have fought in order to preserve his own life.

When Tav speaks to Kagha after Arabella’s death, Gale keeps neutral to the comment “You protected your own without hesitation - my compliments.” However, Gale would only approve expressions related to calling out Kagha. Gale can understand the self-preservation sentiments, but his line is drawn when life is taken gratuitously.

Gale approves of pretending to be a True Soul in front of Dror Ragzlin and avoiding a fight when they are outnumbered.

He approves of being cautious with the powers of the tadpole once they start showing that they can endanger their own lives.

He suggests stealing the idol of Silvanus as a way to keep his condition in check (which is more than just self-preservation due to the massive destruction it may cause). If Tav killed the druids to obtain it, Gale shows regret. He embodies the sense of survival, but not at any cost. He suffers with the consequences, but he also endures them since they are the lesser evil. He prefers to cause the least harm possible if there is no choice in avoiding to hurt a side. 

This can be better seen during the goblin party. The only arguments that Tav can use to convince Gale to stay in the team are those related to self-preservation: “We make each other survive” and “You don't stand a chance alone”, both statements that Gale can accept only after a high DC 15, but always regretting his need and the excess of blood.

[[20]] Gale’s secrecy about Mystra and the orb have a clear source: he has serious abandonment issues that can be easily seen in his most apparent “strange” approvals/disapprovals:

Gale disapproves of handing over Astarion to Gangrel, even though he dislikes and mistrusts keeping Astarion as part of the group during the bite scene. This is quite surprising since Astarion is seen by Gale as a danger.

Gale approves twice defending Astarion against Gangrel. If Astarion is not in the group, the first approval happens when Tav recognises that Astarion is part of their companions/friends (therefore, they care about them). The second approval is when Tav reinforces their loyalty to Astarion insisting that they won’t give his location. Although Gale will explicitly question if this decision was right, he secretly approved it (meta-knowledge that only the player sees). We can interpret this as Gale seeing in Tav a person who will never abandon someone they care for, even if that person endangers them. 

During the scene of Revelation, Gale approves of not being abandoned/pushed away by Tav despite his “secrecy”.

This post was written in May 2021. → For more Gale: Analysis Series Index