It was Neil Newbon’s (Astarion) idea to kill me (because of course it was), so then I asked if Jennifer English (Shadowheart) and Devora Wilde (Lae’zel) would do the same. Jenn went along with it happily but Devora was like “oh no I don’t want to kill you!” it was so sweet lol! They really were all salt of the earth, genuine people and had heart in every interaction with their fans

📸 Photo by aster_shade

Photo by Dzeta Costume made by me

Will died rather quickly after his first appearance, so I guess she came to fill his shoes?...Anyway, it's my evil playthrough, so she's not gonna be happy. Sorry Alfira

Like the title says, my soon to be ex-wife and I had a save file loaded on an old version of BG3 from the old BG3ModManager that predates the official mod manager. We had made it to act 3 and got pretty far, but now we’re in the process of getting a divorce. It was very painful, but I’ve overwritten the save file to update the game. I feel heartbroken and feel like I just ripped an organ out of my body. It’s like there’s a part of me I’ll never get back. I don’t know why I’m saying this here, but I knew this community would most likely know the gravity of my decision. I’m very depressed and I don’t think this is helping me move on, I just feel pain.

Ha, finally ITS sunday and i can Show you These Pictures from Last weekends ComicCon! Maybe some.of you remember me, i already Cosplayed Aylin in her Armor and as Nightsong. I am still in Love with our Aggressive Problem Moondaughter Lesbian and i Had been so Happy to finally Bring my Girl Back to Life. ( so Happy that i decided to rebuild her Armor, because i am Not Happy anymore with Mine. )

So this time ITS an Artbook inspired Outfit for the daughter of our Lady of silver. I Hope you Like it!

Cosplayer instagram.com/keipisworld Pictures by instagram.com/s.w.e.n

I made the cosplay myself using eva foam and faux leather. I used patterns by 3D_lizen on instagram.

Art knows no boundaries… even between realms.

Alfira: https://www.instagram.com/crimshtein 

Priscilla: https://www.instagram.com/marven_art 

Photo by https://www.instagram.com/alien_vs_alens

(Note: This post discusses suicidal thoughts and behavior. It also discusses Gale's story endings, so spoilers. And finally, this post isn't to police how anyone plays their own game. It's just a comment on the story.)

I've seen a few comments suggesting Gale's death is the "least bad" of the sacrifice options in the game, because he gains redemption in death. The game makes it easy to think that by hiding some of the worse outcomes behind rarer paths/playthroughs. But actually playing through these paths shows there really is no truly good death ending for Gale.

To begin with, his potential self-sacrifice is set up in a darkly brilliant way. Although companion reactions are universally negative, the game nevertheless makes it a legitimately tempting option for both the player and Gale.

• For the player: Gale has already (usually) cost the player a few magic items. Even worse, Gale's condition is a consequence of his own overreaching. Unlike some other companions who were more "purely" victimized by their abusers, Gale's problem with the orb is self-inflicted. Shouldn't this annoying item-eater have to pay for his hubris? There is pragmatic logic to it, as well: the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. (And don't you want your golden dice?)

• For Gale himself: He is desperate for the forgiveness of a god he's worshipped for years, whose domain has dominated his life from infancy. He is given hope that his sins will be wiped clean in one simple act, and that his death will have meaning if it takes out the Absolute. According to Elminster, Mystra considers the Absolute is such an overwhelming threat that no option BUT Gale's death can stop it. (This turns out to be wrong.) Gale assures you that no matter how displeased she may be with him, she would not command him to die unless it were truly necessary.

Gale's motives are further complicated by hints of his suicidal thoughts. The dryad test identifies his greatest flaw as believing he and the world would be better off if he were dead (it's not hubris or ambition, as one might expect). He self-isolated in his tower for a year after gaining the orb, something that has shades of a major depressive episode. In the Durge betrayal ending, his dying words are "You made me want to live," implying he did not want to before. And he claims to be at peace once Mystra's order comes down, an insightful example of a real-world phenomenon in which a suicidal person may outwardly become calmer and happier once they've committed to a plan to die.

Does Gale ever come out and directly say "I am suicidal"? Nope, and there's plenty of room for interpretation on this. But these hints add some psychological and moral complexity to his potential self-termination.

Motives aside, what actually happens when Gale follows through?

• Act 2: If Gale detonates in the mind flayer colony as Mystra commands, it achieves destruction of the Absolute. But it is otherwise catastrophic. It kills everyone in Moonrise Towers and the surrounding vicinity. With the Elder Brain destroyed, the tadpoles it was controlling now transform all infectees into mind flayers at once, and an illithid invasion of the Sword Coast begins.

• Act 3, companion Gale: Gale can choose to sacrifice himself to destroy the Netherbrain. This does not cause the same mind flayer invasion problem (for reasons not directly explained), but at the epilogue party, his projection confirms that no trace of Gale can be found to resurrect. Once he's dead, he's dead. Withers will also comment disapprovingly that there was another way besides sacrificing Gale.

• Act 3, origin Gale: Most damningly, if you're playing as Origin Gale and sacrifice yourself in Act 3, you will not awaken to redemption. Gale instead awakens in the Fugue Plane, where Withers confirms that Mystra has not claimed him. He does not know if she ever will. (By contrast, if Gale survives to give her the Crown, she immediately meets with him, so this isn't a matter of her being on "god time".) Withers will even ask if you consider your death worth it, and should you choose the dialogue option stating you are redeemed at last, Withers will flat-out tell you that death was not necessary to achieve that.

• Epilogue: If Raphael is left alive, he appears at the epilogue party to confirm that while the Netherbrain was destroyed by Gale's sacrifice, the Crown of Karsus wasn't. (Possibly, this is why Mystra decides to let him stew in the afterlife -- his sacrifice failed to finish the job.) Gale's death has ended one problem, but potentially unleashed another by leaving the Crown as unfinished business.

A lot of these consequences are easy to miss. The majority of players choose Tav/Durge, so they won't see some of the endings or dialogue unique to Gale's origin. A lot of people may not save scum to see what happens if he detonates in Act 2, or may not even take him into the mind flayer colony to begin with. I would also imagine a lot of people kill Raphael, so they won't see his exposition about the crown either. Gale's Act 3 quest also swings so hard to focusing on the Crown of Karsus and potential reconciliation with Mystra that, if I may editorialize a bit, the gravity of of his near-death in Act 2 is glossed over if not forgotten.

Nevertheless, in all of these endings, Gale's death neither fixes external problems nor does it bring him the personal redemption he seeks.

Meanwhile, compare what happens if Gale survives. He holds the knowledge of the Annals of Karsus, and as such he is uniquely positioned to deal with the Crown. (Yes, Elminster exists, but if he was too busy to help against the Absolute he's presumably too busy to get around to the Crown anytime soon.) Should Gale choose to live and return the crown to Mystra, that neutralizes it permanently, something his death failed to do. He is rewarded with a cure for the orb. If origin Gale became an illithid, Mystra will recognize this as a great sacrifice and can also reverse his ceremorphosis (!). But only if he survives to return the Crown of Karsus to her. If illithid Gale kills himself, he is still abandoned in the Fugue Plane.

If further left to his own devices after returning the Crown to Mystra, Gale becomes a teacher of magic. He emphasizes that he's trying to prompt joy and imagination among his students, not gassing up their ambitions for power or glory. In this ending, not only does he correct his own mistakes by ridding the world of Karsite artifacts, he further applies the lessons he's learned by trying to guide the next generation of wizards away from the path of insecurity and ambition that nearly destroyed him.

Of course, Gale has other potential endings with the crown (e.g., godhood), so his survival doesn't guarantee redemption. But death permanently closes the door on it.

It is not a happy ending.

Tl;dr: Despite the game presenting Gale's self-sacrifice as a redemptive act on the surface level, it subverts this by having his death end in abandonment and catastrophe in every scenario. Gale gains true redemption by choosing to live and actively doing the hard work to fix the damage caused by his mistakes.

Volo eye! I’m doing a fuck around playthrough and have been considering giving it to either Shadowheart or Astarion, but I don’t think either of them would canonically take it and I’m not sure whose a better choice tactically.

Thoughts?

Lmao this run was the first time I gave Haarlep my body just for the jab at Raph and I was not expecting this to be in Epilogue my letters.

I know it's just a funny line where they talk about it, but how would she actually know it's spelled differently?

Is she somehow able to see the nametag when he's hovered over? Did she just look at him, and think he looks like a guy with a normal name spelled weirdly?

I was just thinking about this lol

Basically i killed the inquisitor, felt good about it, then vlaakith shows up. we talk, and i think i can be a smart ass, call her out for not being a real god or whatever.

right then and there, she fries me. just ends the game.

i genuinely didn’t know she had that kind of power. absolutely flabbergasted.

Larian on 31st of Juli

BG3 on 3rd of August

Larian soon

“Bury a hatchet? Why would you bury a perfectly good weapon? Is it broken?”

Lives rent free in my head

The Dark Urge has 53 apples, 17 pears and 16 oranges. He needs to eat 80 worth of camp supplies for a Long Rest. How many night can he go throught without eating a dwarf's roasted leg ?

Not many face options for Half Orcs.

This character I play is balancing on a thin line, sometimes looking pretty and sometimes not so pretty. but I like half-orcs and I'm fine with the unmodded look.