#martyr gale

[sofancydancy]

𝓜𝓪𝔂 𝓲𝓽 𝓹𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓼𝓮 𝓜𝔂𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓪.

& he's done!!

#martyr gale #my art #gale dekarios #bg3 mystra #mystra when i catch you mystra #art #and yes his face was yeeted away because the style was not working with his facial features #I will probably paint his face at some point though lol #gale of waterdeep #bg3 fanart #baldurs gate 3 #bg3 #baroque influences #heavy Lucretia influence #original pose/body by Juan carreño de miranda in 1651 #st stebastion by Juan carreño de miranda #I like the less light more #gale fanart #bg3 gale #baldurs gate iii #gale of waterdeep fanart

[boilingheart]

I have well over 300 hours in this game. I'm so close to beating it. I didn't expect to get so obsessed with this wizard, nor for my problematic cleric to REALLY mesh well with Gale. I love them.

More skornweave memes. I have too many memes. Here's more below

(1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8)

#bheart edits #Gale of Waterdeep #Gale Dekarios #Lucius Skorn #skornweave #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 tav #tav x gale #how do i even BEGIN to explain to you the intense slowburn lucy and gale had #the YEARNING. the desperation for connection but not making a move. the charge gale is given in act 2 #how lucy as a cleric of ilmater felt conflicted about the sacrifice. feeling blasphemous to save him because he was too in love #and he's never been in love before #they both saved EACH OTHER #i can't even BEGIN to tell you what they've done to me #bg3 spoilers #implied at this point cause of my tags #went on that tangent bc the last image i posted works BOTH WAYS FOR THEM #lucius was ready to sacrifice himself bc what's a better more noble death than that of a martyr. #but the moment that was flipped........ ooooohhhh his worldview was changed

[merlinmerlot]

i finally finished bg3

and it only took me [looks at steam]

SIX HUNDRED HOURS

#merlin.txt #w/ the new computer the rest of act 3 went by super quickly #honestly i dont think my computer and my sanity would have survived all those cutscenes #ANYWAYS initial thoughts: #cried like a baby. ending credits songs really really good. i can't WAIT to start a new playthru. HOWEVER: #oh my god the ending felt so fucking rushed. i was expecting like a typical rpg ending slideshow at LEAST but nothing??? #like you only get One cutscene with your romanced partner (a short one too) but i don't get to see what everyone else is doing??? hello?? #gale is literally like 'lets celebrate' and we don't get to see the celebration??? or at the very least a chance to talk to everyone again #like in act 1 and 2???? #imo i think the most satisfying one was lae'zels. god i love her #also act 3 is hella buggy especially towards the end. a lot of broken dialogue. but ah well #OK NOW SPOILER THOUGHTS SAMMIE DONT LOOK: #the game Really wants you to turn illithid but i ended up just letting karlach do it ... i felt bad .. but like #i found the arc of my tav like. getting So close to going full power hungry and martyr and hero only to finally be humbled like - #'you dont have to always play hero' was really interesting. like doing that and then hearing the post credits 'the power' song. gshldgksmal #guy who is soo miserable abt the fact that all their cool illithid powers are now gone. has to go back to being normal #ALSO. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THE ENDING AST SCENE. HELLO? #HIM RUNNING AWAY FROM THE SUN. IT BEING COMPLETELY PLAYED FOR LAUGHS. SO MEAN #any other time i may have laughed but the fact that you dont really get epilogues made that Really sting. #THE FACT THAT THE COMPANIONS ARE NOT EVEN NICE ABOUT IT??????

[fruitzbat]

giada: *on her witchy paladin bullshit*

two thirds of the camp, apparently: i think i hauve covid

#anyway the romance route so far has been a mutual pining one with gale #because if there's anything she won't cop to sexually it's how much she thinks ambition is hot #want to commend giada on her ability to #in world after world #find a purple arrogant bastard with a martyr complex and fuck them out of their depression #bg3 #remy yells

[johnandrasjaqobis]

The Grymforge squad

Events in quick succession for my boy:

- Karlach Literally Dies in front of him (downed immediately after she killed Nere, subsequently shoved into the lava) and he has to pay peepaw to get her back, not traumatizing at all

- Elminster shows up and now he has to convince the wizard not to explode (recognition of the self in the other derogatory)

- Mentioning to Karlach that we did find some more metal and getting the "I'm gonna get a hug soon!!"

- Vague flirting with Halsin ?? maybe he's confused about that

It's been a long couple days

#game mechanics glaze over it which makes sense #but GOD he would absolutely break seeing Karlach die #they didn't have Shadowheart they'd been doing okay without a healer And Then They Weren't #karlach is his bestie he adores her and she was suddenly just Gone #o u g h #i need to write something about it #also vic known martyr complex looking at gale preparing to blow himself up like Hm #waggy plays bg3

[hcadlesshuntcr]

Tags!!!

#🏹 [ HAUNTED ONE ] - VISAGE #🏹 [ CHARACTER SHEET ] - MUSINGS #🏹 [ SKILL CHECK ] - ABILITIES #🏹 [ BACKGROUND ] - HEADCANONS #🏹 [ INQUIRES ] - ASKS #🏹 [ THE GITHYANKI WARRIOR ] - LAE'ZEL #🏹 [ THE WIZARD OF WATERDEEP ] - GALE #🏹 [ THE DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS ] - SHADOWHEART #🏹 [ OUR FIREY FRIEND ] - KARLACH #🏹 [ THE BLADE OF FRONTIERS ] - WYLL #🏹 [ THE PALE ELF ] - ASTARION #🏹 [ THE ARCHDRUID ] - HALSIN #🏹 [ LOLTH'S CHOSEN ] - MINTHARA #🏹 [ THE WITCH OF THE WOODS ] - IMANI #🏹 [ THE PALADIN OF CONQUEST ] - MARTYR #🏹 [ THE PORTSIDE DEVIL ] - JAAQUN #🏹 [ THE WHITE LION ] - KODA #🏹 [ THE MOTHER OF MONSTERS ] - BRONAGH #🏹 [ THE DRAIG BORNE ] - MAKARA #🏹 [ THE REPOMAN ] - HANAE #🏹 [ THE HANGNED MAN ] - ENNUI #🏹 [ THE KING OF THIEVES ] - WAYLON #🏹 [ THE LOST BARD ] - SHRAVYA #🏹 [ THE BLOOD COUNTESS ] - TOMOE #🏹 [ A BIT OF CRACK ] - CRACK #🏹 [ THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE ] - DASH COMM. #🏹 [ A TALE OF WOE ] - IN CHARACTER #🏹 [ NATURE ] - AESTHETICS #🏹 [ HUNTER'S QUARRY ] - TAG GAMES

[galesleftearring]

Thinking about how sadly realistic Gale's romance arc is right now, and how in different ways this applies to each of the BG3 companions but especially his:

His whole life he's been told or felt for some reason or another that what he has to offer isn't *quite* enough. That being himself is not going to earn him love and companionship, and that those are things that he has to earn in the first place. Even his cat and his mother, who he clearly adores, have not managed to dissuade him from this.

Then he falls for this goddess; she is quite literally everything to him. She is his muse, the literal magic running through his veins. He *worships* her. And she takes his love, because it's flattering or it's there or it's something to do, and gives him very little in return. She certainly doesn't love him. She just loves the control, and he doesn't know the difference.

And then this inevitably collapses, this love built in hubris and self depreciation, and he is left feeling hopeless. Who could love him as he is when nobody else has been able to? Willing to? Surely the problem must be *him.* Surely the things he wants--companionship, adoration, reciprocity--just aren't things he can have. Or maybe they just don't exist.

Then he meets the player, and he finds himself falling again into these desires and he's scared, he's so scared, because he's now living on borrowed time and as much as he wants to give himself to Tav and have them give themselves back, why would they? Why would this person be different from every other form of love he has ever known? And on top of it all, who would want to pledge themselves to a dying man?

Monogamy isn't for everyone and that's fine but it is for him. He wants to give of himself completely and for that to be reciprocated, he wants to love deeply and truly and completely. He wants to find home in another person and give that person a home within himself. He has to wait until he's sure that he's safe, or until he's sure he's unsafe enough that it doesn't matter--his last night, at least he can die knowing he *tried,* Godsdamnit, and if he wasn't enough in life then maybe he can be enough in death.

But Tav loves him. Simple and ordinary and selfless, or incredibly selfish--not wanting him to martyr himself if they could just keep him there with them, keep loving him. They have taken the broken pieces of this man and said that those broken pieces are enough. They don't want to fix him and don't want him to fix them. They have taken his hand in theirs and given him the love that they have. No more, no less. No grand illusion, just themselves.

But he can't quite believe it, because why would he be enough now if he never has been before? So he tries to earn Tav's love, tries to give them what he *could* be, what he wants to try to be for Tav, what he'll never stop trying to be if it earns Tav's love. Love is transactional. And Tav says no, you were already enough, and I want from you what you want from me. Companionship, togetherness, just us, just me, just you. How could he believe it? How could he truly fall into this steady rhythm of everyday love?

When someone is used to transactional love, how do they learn to accept unconditional love?

#screams into the void #bg3 gale #gale dekarios #wizard of waterdeep #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate #gale

[gendervapor14]

martyrdom was a rose-tinted white flag. his smiles were rose-tinted fangs, and his love was a rose-tinted lie. the truth was a bloodied, broken beast. the truth was pointing a gun without any lead, without any heart. he preached martyrdom but he didn’t save that boy. he lost the boy, lost his mind, bit the wrong hand, stabbed the wrong back. martyrdom. tonight, he’d learn true martyrdom.

~

frozen gales whipped against open wounds but nothing could sting anymore. no bullet could hurt, no chains could bind. tonight, they would be free. rose-tinted lenses shifted blood red. it was always going to end like this. it must be this way. there was never hope in his brother, but a light remained. the boy, saved by the lies that dug his grave. no more lead in his heart. tonight, he would be free.

artwork by @attyattlaw ♥ ~ prompt: martyr

previous prompt can be found here

thanks for hosting this event @corazon-week !

#corazonweek2023 #one piece fanart #one piece #genwrites #donquixote doflamingo #doflamingo #donquixote rosinante #corazon one piece #corazon #donquixote corazon #coraweek with atty & gen #you get two blurbs and a colored illustration because we skipped a day #every time i write about this scene #i lose 8 years of my life

[stars-and-inkpots]

Promise Me | Gale x Reader

Gale accepts his fate so eagerly, and you don't understand why. You don't understand how he can leave everything- how he can leave you behind without hesitation.

Pairing: Gale/Reader

Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, can be read as platonic

Notes: I don't have much to say about this one other than that I love Gale a lot and the fact that he just agreed to this in game makes me so sad when I think about it too deeply

Ao3 Link: Promise Me

Word Count: 1,415

When Elminster showed up, in the Underdark no less, to tell Gale that he could earn his Goddess’s forgiveness by effectively killing himself, you could hardly understand it. What made you even more confused, was Gale’s apparent acceptance of the task.

You had tried to interrupt them. You tried to explain how irrational the whole idea was, but Gale only waved away your attempts. He was accepting the task, seemingly eager to be a martyr. 

You expect Gale to change his mind once Elminster leaves. You expect him to tell you that he only agreed so he could get the orb under control. But when Elminster is gone, Gale affirms his choice once more. Nothing you said could change his mind, and he refused to talk on the matter any more for the rest of the night. 

It was cruel of Mystra to ask this of him, and you can’t understand how Gale can’t see this. 

The next morning, Gale acts as though the whole interaction never happened. 

He’s still smiling, still full of sarcastic comments that always seemed to lighten the mood while you all made your way through the Underdark. The next day is much the same. 

Everytime you try to talk to him, he’s conveniently out doing something else, or so busy with his studies that he “absolutely cannot spare a single moment.” As much as you care about him, it’s starting to annoy you just how long he’s willing to continue ignoring you. 

“Glaring at him every time he’s not looking isn’t going to accomplish much, my dear,’ Astarion says quietly. You’ve been walking back to camp for the better half of an hour, and you know you should be paying more attention to what’s around you given how dangerous the Underdark can be. 

“I know,” you grumble. 

“Have you talked with him about it?” The two of you are quiet enough that Gale won’t hear you. 

“No. He’s been avoiding me.” 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Astarion hums. “I imagine he’s scared.” 

“Of me or blowing up?” You joke, maybe in poor taste, but it’s the first smile you’ve had in a while and Astarion appreciates the humour given the situation.  

“Both, definitely both.” Astarion smiles. “You can be quite scary when you’re angry. Maybe he thinks blowing up will be easier than answering to you.” It’s an awful thing to joke about, you think again, but you laugh anyway because there really is nothing else you can do. “I mean it though, that’s probably why he hasn’t said anything about it. As much as I hate to defend him, I’m sure he’s just trying not to think about it.” 

“You’re being strangely thoughtful, Astarion; dare I say considerate,” you tease. Astarion raises a hand to his chest in mock pain. 

“You wound me, pet. Am I not such a beacon of empathy all of the time?” 

“Alright, alright,” you laugh, loud enough this time for the whole group to hear. You wait a few moments before speaking again, sure that no one is still listening. “I’ll talk to him tonight then. I promise I won’t be too mean to him.” Of course, you couldn’t be mean to the man if you tried. You could be annoyed with Gale all you wanted, but you know that you would never be able to voice that anger. You know the look on Gale’s face would be too much, and you would immediately feel terrible. You know your anger is not truly anger. It’s fear, and it’s sadness. 

---

“Gale, I wanted to talk with you.” You watch as Gale freezes, hand reaching for the book he wasn’t quick enough to pick up before you arrived. 

“Ah, my apologies, I was just about to-” Gale trails off when he finally looks up at you. 

You don’t look angry, you look like you’re already grieving. You can feel the tears that already threaten to fall, and you know they likely will soon. “Gale,” you whisper, because you know your voice can’t handle any more than that without faltering. “Please. I just want to talk.” 

“Alright,” Gale relents. He lets you inside the tent first, sitting down across from him on the organised mess of blankets surrounded by books. He looks guilty when he looks back at you, but he doesn’t say anything yet; you know he’s waiting for whatever you have to say. You can’t bring yourself to look at him yet. 

“I’m sorry,” you start, and Gale is both surprised and confused. “I haven’t been very fair to you. I was so caught up in how I felt about everything that I didn’t consider how you might think of it.” 

Gale expected you to yell; to show some sort of resentment for his apparent acceptance of the terms of his ‘apology’ to Mystra. 

“I know I can’t change your mind. If you decide you want to go through with this, it’s your decision. I just want you to promise me something.” You finally look up at him, and Gale can see you’re crying now. 

“I can try,” Gale answers honestly. He’s never been fond of promises, especially when they could be so easily broken. 

You make a pained sort of noise. “Please. Promise.” You move closer to him, close enough that your knees are touching his. 

“I promise,” Gale decides. He’ll keep this one. If there are any promises he will keep, it has to be this one. You look relieved, but the frown creasing your brow hasn’t left you yet. The expression doesn’t suit you, Gale thinks, having grown accustomed to seeing you smiling so often despite everything. Knowing that he’s the reason for it only serves to make him feel worse. 

“Whenever you decide you’re going to do it, whether you decide that morning or the night before, you have to let me say goodbye. You can’t just leave when no one is looking. You have to tell me. You have to say goodbye to me.” Even though Gale already promised, it still feels like you’re begging him for this. The thought of never knowing when the last time you would see him would be made you sick. If he was going to go through with this, he had to give you this. You had to have the opportunity to say goodbye to him. To see him one last time. 

Gale doesn’t know what to say. He’s made the promise, but he knows it will be easier for himself if he leaves before he can change his mind. He knows that he has to leave well before anyone can hope to catch up with him if he wants any chance that they would be safe from the aftermath. He knows that if he has to face you before he leaves, he’s not going to be able to go through with it. You’ll only make him remember how much he truly doesn’t want to die- how terrified he is of death. 

So instead of saying anything, Gale leans forward and hugs you. 

You’re quick to wrap your arms tightly around him, clutching at the back of his shirt like he’s already about to leave. He lets you sob into his shirt, only just holding back tears himself. 

Is this what it’s like? To have someone care about you so completely- unconditionally. Someone who cares for not only your safety above all else, but would beg you for just the chance to say goodbye before you leave. You had assured him there had to be another way, and at the time, Gale assumed it was simply because you didn’t want to risk being caught in the crossfire. But now he knows that it wasn’t that at all. The thought of Gale’s death scares you just as much as it does himself. 

“I’m not leaving,” he says quietly. “You said we can find another way. We’ll find it.” 

“I don’t want to stop you from doing what you want to do. It’s your choice, Gale, but you have to know that it’s unfair of Her to ask this of you. You don’t deserve this.” You don’t want him to change his mind because of you. You want him to change his mind because he understands his life is worth it. His life is worth more than the forgiveness of a Goddess who doesn’t care about him. 

Gale’s arms tighten around you. He may not believe your words just yet, but it’s a start. 

It’s a promise. 

#baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate gale #gale x reader #baldurs gate 3 x reader #gale x you #x reader fic #gale dekarios

[sofancydancy]

*slams fist on table* more body hair and more light--

#wip #my art #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 fanart #bg3 art #gale bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #baldurs gate iii #cw: blade #cw: martyr #st sebastian by juan carreño de mirana #Lucretia inspired #baroque inspired

[aldryrththerainbowheart]

Another BG3 companions appreciation post, this time after the tiefling party. (Updated ver.)

When I say I love all the companions what I mean is I love all their traits, even the negative ones.

I love Gale who flexed big words and magical knowledge and his connections to Mystra since day one. Call me crazy but without knowing the background I AM impressed by his achievements and knowledge. Of course, his ambition led him too close to the sun, and like the fabled Icarus, he fell. But he's trying to make amends. He's completely surrended to the idea of finding an empty lonely spot for himself and dying alone in excruciating pain and filled with regret. Not even once did it cross his mind that Tav or others would want to continue journeying with him after he confesses about the orb. The moment he told me about his cat I stared at the screen in disbelief because I knew I'm suck his di-

I love Lae'zel who could've killed me right away on the Nautiloid but instead shared all the information with me, helped me fight my way through, tolerated everyone else, and from what I've seen from others Githyanki is actually really nice. She never lets Shadowheart's sneers get to her, offers Gale to teach him to fight, and answers all questions Wyll asks her about her culture. I was genuinely surprised when she not only complied when I ordered her around during the interrogation of Zorru or the confrontation of the Githyanki patrol but also thanked me for stepping in. Her honest, no-nonsense attitude is so refreshing in the story where everyone has secrets and you always know only half of the information if any at all. Everyone in the camp is hiding something from Tav except her. Say what you want but with Lae'zel, what you see is what you get and I really, really like that.

I love Shadowheart because she tries to be a bad guy but that just isn't her. Despite her church's teachings and her secretive and prickly attitude. At the end of the day, she's just a lonely, scared, and lost young woman who was put on a dangerous mission and is expected to deal with it alone. I don't know much about her yet but it's clear from her talks about Sune and various scriptures I found in the game about Dark Justiciars and clerics of Shar... and in all those stories, when they finally got the recognition of their goddess or they've completed their task, all that awaited them was emptiness... That's no way to live for Shadowheart. I can see the small glimpses, just like in Lae'zel, of desire, curiosity and so much want. She was forced to live in a place that forbade any individuality or anything except blind obedience. To just be a pawn for the big guy. But both she and Lae'zel could be so much more than that. Drinking up everything the world has to offer. I really wish that for them.

I love Wyll because...it's Wyll?!? I cannot stress enough how much I am fond of characters that are just good, kind, and selfless. I never get tired of heroic characters who honestly are in it just for helping people. Wyll was living a life of leisure and could be the prodigal son for the rest of his life. Instead, he picked up his sword, donned his stupid superhero name, and went on saving lives. He even went as far as making a deal with the devil just so he could be the hero of the people, not because he enjoyed the fame but because of his ever-present need for charity. He doesn't let anything, not even the tadpole or Mizora get in his way. He could've been one of those Martyrs who blindly follow the black-and-white definition of good and bad, killing Karlach right away. But he spared her, even if all it gained him was punishment. There's something so pure about him in the way he just wants to believe. I'm pretty sure he saw his fair share of fucked up shit while adventuring but he still wants to uphold these ideals of heroism. The boyish chuckle when I insisted that I wanted to dance with him... I'm not smiling like an idiot you do!

I love Astarion not for being the seductive vampire fantasy I thought him to be, but for the absolute chaos gremlin menace he truly is. He's the orange cat, the possum screaming at you from a garbage can, the raccoon hugging a chewed piece of moldy bread. His snark is impeccable, and his over-the-top mannerisms never fail to make me grin like a maniac. I'm strictly good-aligned but I watch him run around causing Situations and I'm like "Yes, you do that sweetheart. You deserve it." There are already many long detailed posts that describe shit he's been through so I'll only say this. I never pitied him or felt sorry for him. I admire him. Sure his path to recovery is nothing short of a mess. He hasn't had much chance at a good ending. But he took every fight kicking and screaming, not willing to give up and he has my respect for that. Because sometimes hope comes in the form of spite and anger. I love watching him rediscover himself at all points in life. I love Astarion the way he is (little shit) while simultaneously believing he can get better, and if that's wrong I don't wanna be right.

Ugh. I'll edit this later and other companions, I'm too tired now.

#bg3 #bg3 spoilers #baldur's gate #baldur’s gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #baldurs gate #baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate iii #wyll ravengard #bg3 wyll #baldurs gate wyll #shadowheart #baldur's gate shadowheart #bg3 shadowheart #bg3 gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #baldurs gate gale #laezel #lae'zel #bg3 lae'zel #baldur's gate lae'zel #astarion #bg3 astarion #astarion ancunin

[possumteeths]

Not to sound insane but Gale bg3 is p similar to Cullen dragon age.

groomed from a young age into religious indoctrination

naivety abused by an older woman figure who they’re painfully disgustingly devoted to

Sort of a golden boy, well known for being ~the best~ child prodigy

Has a complicated relationship with ex abuser, still loves them and feels personally responsible for something that was out of their control

Feels that they couldve done better when said abuser p much willingly set them up to fail

Had an incident with too much magic, now said magic is killing them. Theyre both magic addicts

Desperately wants to redeem themselves, hoping to be some kinda martyr but then catches feelings and then has to rethink to their previous resolve to DIE

Tower (I say as a joke)

charming outwardly, self depreciating humor, polite, definitely finds their own jokes oh so funny

fancy hair, stubble

Soggy wet pathetic so used to mistreatment that they’d fall in love with a leaf if it smiled at them

#if cullen could fuck andraste or whatever he would #case in POINT #dai #bg3 #dragon age #gale dekarios #cullen rutherford #Gale would fkn hate cullen tho lmao #and cullen would be sus of the magic bomb for sure

[karniss-bg3]

Gods and Goddesses usually have some type of portfolios attached to them. I love the idea that last anon had with your femme!Tav helping out Kar'niss molting... What about any events after that moment? What kind of Goddess do you think he would see Tav as? It's interesting too how every deity he has worshipped has also been feminine coded---if Lolth demanded cyclical strife and the Absolute demanded utter subjugation to feel her embrace...

What would he see that good-aligned Tav as? A goddess of mercy? A martyr? A saviour?

OoOOoo y'all out here feeding me filet mignon. *rubs hands together*

A good-aligned female Tav would be a radiant force, a beacon of brilliant light shining across a dark and stormy sea. Kar’niss is trapped in a violent monsoon, assaulted by ferocious gales and unforgiving rains, scarcely treading the water that holds him hostage. Kar'niss has no shortage of dark clouds brewing above, a swirling miasma of trauma and abuse that follow him around anywhere he goes. At first she would struggle, running into invisible walls at every turn. She may even witness Kar'niss being swept away by the tides of his own self-loathing, bashed against the jagged rocks of the shoreline, so close to salvation yet always just out of reach.

She would be the only one who could provide a lifeline to prevent him from being swept out to sea by the torrential waves slated to drown him at a moments notice. Little by little she would pull him closer to safety until the line inevitably comes under pressure and snaps, yanking Kar'niss away mere inches from grabbing her outstretched hand. This push and pull would be a constant point of contention between the pair. It would become easier to find compromise as Kar'niss learned to trust her incandescence to be a good thing rather than another woman poised to strap a yoke around his neck.

Until one day after months of strife and struggle, Kar'niss breaks free from the cyclone of doubt and conjures every ounce of strength he has left to reach for that hand of mercy. His palm claps into her own to hold on for dear life, the sea threatening to take him back at every turn. She yanks him away from the whirlpool he'd been trapped in for so long, dragging him to sandy shores where he might know true respite. The thunderous clouds that had suffocated his vision for eons finally part and reveal a beautiful landscape once obscured from his sights. Rolling hills of green, lush fields of wildflowers, towering oak trees thick with supple leaves, things that had been there all along but he could never see. Exhausted, worn down yet relieved, he finds the courage to look up at his savior, the one who never gave up on him even when all hope seemed lost.

From his lowered position on the sand he sees her. She is not shrouded by the crimson tendrils of Lolth, nor is she consumed by the dark violet fog of the Absolute. Rather, she is bathed in golden light, aided by the rising sun over the horizon. Her expression is warm and inviting, her touch is delicate and gentle, her honeyed voice akin to an angelic choir, unworthy for the ears of mortal men. She is salvation incarnate, mercy untold, love everlasting. Her very aura radiates warmth and security, hypnotizing him, drawing him to her like a moth to the flame. Her glowing silhouette burns into his retinas to cement her as his new Goddess, his only path to ascension and acceptance.

She has done the one thing neither Lolth nor the Absolute dared to—love him. She loved him without strings, she loved him without the demand for subservience, she loved him regardless of his misshapen form, she loved him through his trauma, and she loved him when the storm was at it’s worst. Her beacon never flickered, never waned, never threatened to extinguish even through the heaviest downpour. Her strength motivated Kar’niss to find his own, to pull himself from the riptide that thrashed him around his entire life. Kar’niss would follow her to the ends of the earth and back again. His sweet nightingale of benevolence and truth.

His Majesty.

#baldur's gate 3 #kar'niss #drider #bg3 #karniss #baldurs gate 3 #answered #my writing #kar'niss x tav #female Tav #I think I blacked out because I read the ask and when I blinked again I had a wall of text #where did all that come from? #inspiration is a hell of a drug

[itsabardknocklife]

By no means trying to start an argument but I don't think it's fair at all to say people hate Mystra because she's a woman. Even if Gale wasn't a minor- she was his teacher, his goddess, she took advantage of the power she had over him, tossed him aside when the orb situation happened, and only comes back into his life to tell him to off himself- this has nothing to do with her being a woman. Am i not allowed to hate Zariel for abusing Karlach? Cazador for torturing Astarion? Shar for manipulating Shadowheart? Vlaiikith for lying to Lae'zel and the entire githyanki race? Mizora for trapping Wyll in his contract? - they are the abusers of characters I love. And equating that to petty fandom misogyny for the sake of ships isn't really fair imo

Nowhere did I say that you couldn't hate Mystra for what she DID do. I agree that she abused her power and manipulated Gale. I also think saying she tossed him aside is Unfair; the Orb in Gale's chest would LITERALLY EAT HER and she tells you as much in a Gale Origin run. She just got back from the dead and now the man she TRUSTED as her CHOSEN has run off in search of the very thing that killed the first Mystra without any sort of foresight or research into what he might find.

If you were in that position, what would you do? It doesn't matter that his intention was "good;" how could you trust someone who went chasing after consume you whole? Especially when the last person who used it intended to do just that? Especially when the moment Gale learns about the Crown of Karsus, he immediately begins to talk of replacing her?

I'm sorry, but I don't think what Mystra's done is on the same level as Cazador, Mizora, Zariel, or Vlaakith. I think there's a whole lot of Unreliable Narrator happening when it comes to the whole "tossing aside" thing. Gale ASSUMES that she stripped him of his power; she did not - the Orb consumed them and he's lucky it didn't consume more. He ASSUMES she's casting him aside when she tells him to go martyr himself; she is not - she's afraid of what he'll do if he gets his hands on the Crown of Karsus, and not without good reason.

I personally think the worst thing Mystra did was fail to communicate and trusted that Gale was smart enough to know what he was doing. He was not. This is not as one sided of a situation as the fandom makes it out to be. Gale dug himself a series of holes and when he hit rock bottom, he looked around and focused on the fact that he'd hit rock bottom without considering WHY he was there.

I understand that people want to see Gale as a Good Person - he wants to see himself that way too! But he's not. He's REALLY not. He's complicated, ambitious, power hungry, and most importantly, human. He has blind spots and biases and quite frankly, it doesn't take much to influence him. He's so close to becoming Karsus 2.0 and he refuses to see it because He Knows Better. He's a Good Person.

So yeah, I think it's extremely fair to chalk this up to fandom misogyny, actually. The fandom acts like the sun shines out of Gale's ass and that he is a perfect good boy who did nothing wrong, and that is, objectively, not true. Gale did many things wrong, and with your encouragement, he can do even more wrong things! Both people in this equation fucked up!! Stop putting the blame solely on Mystra's shoulders!

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #mystra #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #bg3 gale

[fallingtowers]

on the planet of serpent cults, where heat lightning always flickers on the far horizon, the queen of swords roams.

a thief, a reaver, a slayer: she is all these things and more. she embraces danger like a lover, and makes a fool of fate. she knows the five secret ways into the cursed temple, where one false move means death. she does battle with skeleton warriors while the stormclouds gather and the rising wind whips the tresses of her hair, which is black as grief or bright as gold—whatever works best for you.

1929, 1932, 1939—the year of publication is irrelevant; the queen of swords is always in her prime, and never grows old or infirm. if she dies, she will die by the sword, and that will never happen as long as she has an audience, and on the planet of jungles and ziggurats the golden age of pulps never ends. she is often wounded, but there is always a hut with dried herbs hanging from the rafters and a kindhearted peasant daughter to nurse her back to health, until the wound is just another scar.

she has so many scars.

she wears a bikini of bronze scales, which is the expected outfit for a woman in her line of work, but she would have worn it even if it wasn't, because she enjoys showing off. her body is muscular and sword-marked. her girlbulge is considerable. her pupils are dilated and her teeth stained red from chewing a root she got in the silver city, where every building is a generations-old repurposed spacecraft, and all the inhabitants are telepathic, and drugs grow freely in every garden. the root improves her reflexes as well as having an aphrodisiac effect, which is a useful combination on the planet of tombs and warlords, where lascivious sorceresses lurk behind every corner.

(when she was just a boy, her entire village was put to the sword. now she scatters deathblows the way a sower scatters seeds, and plumes of blood sprout in her wake. there is nothing wrong or unhealthy about this. it's the natural order of things, on the planet of conquest and savagery.)

the queen of swords, who dances on the razor's edge, who flouts the laws of men and gods! the horse she rides is always rearing; she is always backlit by lightning; her cloak snaps in the boreal gale. vallejo, frazetta, norem—everyone who is anyone has painted her. her name is whispered in the city of knives, where thieves hide in every cellar and hounds of bone and black smoke stalk the roofs, and in the city of sails, and in the city of broken idols. they speak of her even in the city of jeweled thrones, the greatest of all the cities of men, where sleep martyrs take stimulants that keep them awake until it kills them, and sarong-clad princesses burn for her touch.

though she has visited a thousand cities, she has no home. though she has taken a thousand lovers, she has never married. she lies awake late into the night, turning her melancholies this way and that like puzzle boxes.

on the planet of dust storms and pterosaurs, where every swamp teems with lizard-men and eight-foot-tall arthropodal reavers from beyond the stars descend in dropships made of steel and crystallized honeydew, there is always another adventure. but afterwards, in the silence after the clash of steel, she leaves empty-handed. the jewels slip between her fingers, and when her latest woman asks her to stay, of course she cannot accept. there is always another adventure, another forgotten dungeon or distant beckoning city, and as long as she has an audience, the queen of swords must roam.

yes, hers is a lonely life, but look, look: as she trudges through the violet sands of the southern wastes, drops of rain begin to fall, fat and blood-warm, stirring the hot dust—and the desert blooms around her.

#my writing #hither came conan

[gottawritesomething]

She was chosen

Gale's internal monologue confronting the brain under Moonrise.

TW: Suicidal ideation

------------------------------------------------

The ground trembled beneath their feet as the massive elder brain rose from the briny depths below Moonrise. However, long after the tremors had ceased, Gale still shook. He stabilized himself, as best he could, on the rocky outcropping their troupe had hidden behind. He gazed up at the monstrosity they beheld; cruelty seemed to emanate from every cursed surface of the beast. Elminster's words began ringing in Gale's ear, only just drowning out the sound of his own racing heartbeat.

"-threatens the gods, the Weave, the very fabric of the universe itself-"

As a wizard, reasonably, there was no greater purpose one could have than ensuring the preservation of the Weave. So many years of devotion and dedication to learning its every facet, devouring every esoteric tome of its secrets. It'd been his life, and now his life was being given in service of that. That was nothing to say of the undoubtedly countless lives that'd be saved in the process. This was the kind of universe-balancing math the gods did every moment of existence. To end a single mortal life for the certainty of the eradication of the threat. Every life that would be ended if he did not destroy the brain here and now would be on his hands. It had seemed so clear and apparent when he'd explained it to Tav. She'd fought him bitterly, of course, distraught at his apparent apathy when it had been, in fact, determination. Determination that seemed to be sorely lacking at the present moment…

"This is it. I must do as Mystra commands."

He announced it, more for himself, hoping that it'd prompt action. He felt Tav's hand slip softly into his own. For the briefest of moments, he resisted the urge to look to her. She'd been such a source of strength and guidance throughout this journey; it took all his strength to turn away from her for even that moment. He desperately wanted to look into her face as his last act as a man and not a martyr. But as terrified as he was of what he was about to do, he feared what he'd see in her eyes. Finally, he could avoid her no longer; as their eyes met, the fear reflected in her eyes killed him faster than the orb ever could.

Fear for herself, fear for him, for their friends. It occurred to him that he'd never imagined this moment for others. In his darkest moments, he'd taken solace in that she'd miss him, that she'd mourn him, but to actively shatter her heart while watching it happen was never what he'd wanted. He'd never wanted her to be afraid; he'd wanted her safe. That's why he was doing this, for her, for the Weave, for the world, but she didn't look relieved; she looked afraid.

"I love you." She reached for him, speaking so softly. The terror still swirling in her eyes with tears gathering in the corners, he realized with horror that she was attempting to be brave in the face of her fear. Brave for him. She believed it to be the end, and she'd reached for him, consoled him… She'd given him a night of hope and love, and how had he repaid that? Frightening her, killing her? The hope she'd given him had, in turn, made him frightened to lose it or her.

He couldn't. He couldn't do as he was asked.

He stayed fixed on her and felt his tenuous resolve dissolving; he wished he could ask her for all the things he wanted. He wanted her to hold him, to prove to him it would be alright, tell her every distraught thought he'd had throughout this ordeal, and let her sooth those worries away. But instead he said,

"I love you too. Much more than myself. More even than Mystra. Very well. Whether I condemn this world or not, I choose you."

Perhaps next time, she'd be safe.

#baldur's gate fanfiction #gale dekarios #gale x tav #bg3 gale #gale of waterdeep #baldurs gate gale #gale x oc #fanfic #baulders gate 3