#ask bee

[powdermelonkeg]

Archwizard Gale lore???

Okay, SO! My personal headcanons for Gale's powers, both as archwizard and Chosen of Mystra, are based upon the following:

D&D makes a distinction between "archmage" and "archwizard," with the former being a spellcaster dedicated to the arcane arts and either: the counsel of royalty, a lich tyrant, or a reclusive hermit, all with multiple apprentices, and the latter being "an arcane spellcaster of extremely high power who successfully claimed a floating enclave," that specification coming from the time of Netheril.

Gale is NOT royal counsel, NOT pursuing lichdom, NOT a hermit (willingly), does NOT have apprentices when he first makes the claim, and does NOT have a floating enclave.

Despite these, he still claims "archwizard" as a title. This is significant, especially from Waterdeep, where the most powerful wizards in the world gather, including Laeral Silverhand (another of Mystra's Chosen, immortal to a degree, and Open Lord of Waterdeep) and Vajra Safahr (current Blackstaff and Archmage of Waterdeep).

Bonus points for his significance, he is Gale of Waterdeep. His personally chosen moniker marks him as outstanding among Waterdhavians. There might be a handful of people named Gale in Waterdeep, but there is only one Gale of Waterdeep. This is further backed up by Lorroakan recognizing him, with his only reason for Gale being lesser than someone who supposedly figured out immortality being that Gale was Mystra's discarded lapdog.

Gale is skilled in all manner of magic. This is confirmed directly in his epilogue, where you can question him about his choice teaching the School of Illusion, and he says that he wanted to teach ALL the classes there, but the staff told him no. That includes schools you wouldn't normally associate with him, like Divination and Necromancy.

Based on all of that, I've decided that "archwizard," as Gale means it, is a term referring to a wizard who's multiclassed into all their subclasses.

Does this make him overpowered? Yes. But he's an archwizard, prodigy, and Chosen, he's MEANT to be within the bounds of his own lore.

In addition, I also believe him to be an untrained Storm Sorcerer, based upon the following:

Sorcerers and wizards differ in that sorcerers know magic intrinsically, while wizards study it to use it.

When talking to Halsin as Origin Gale, you can tell him that as a baby, you summoned a whole pack of rabbits. Presumably, baby Gale was NOT reading and comprehending arcane textbooks.

Gale has an intrinsic understanding of the Weave, by his own admission, saying he could compose it rather than just control it. He was also casting third level spells like Fireball at eight years old.

Gale's theme is all about storms: his name is Gale, he occasionally says "A rough tempest I will raise" in combat, almost all his official art has him controlling lightning, and his robe is thunder purple. This continues into God!Gale's design, where he has literal glowing lightning bolts framing his eyes, and his outfit is lightning blue.

K'ha'ssji'trach'ash: On his own, the mephit is pretty self-contained; it's a magma mephit capable of revealing the true form of a True Ressurection scroll. However, the key to getting him to do this is to respond to the question "what is my name" in Ignan with the correct answer. After which, K'ha'ssji'trach'ash says "T'i n'uthrantha m'ahthra Gale." We don't know what this means, but it's clear that he's talking to us, about Gale, possibly thanking us or asking us to pass a message along. This implies that he doesn't speak Common, or else he would, because we answered correctly. Why do I bring this up? Storm Sorcerers have an innate ability called Wind Speaker, which allows them to speak Primordial (including Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran). Thus, Gale can speak to/understand K'ha'ssji'trach'ash, despite his known/studied languages being Common, Celestial, Giant, and Draconic.

Because he's untrained, and rather than Storm Sorcery being just a Lv1 flavor bit that does little, I've decided that Gale has access to the class features of Storm Sorcery without access to its spell slots or Metamagic, that way it's reflective of his power without training.

With both of these conclusions, both archwizard and sorcerer, I've decided to pick and choose which class features are from which iteration of both classes, because BG3 and official D&D have a few key differences that were mostly changed for gameplay reasons. I've then taken those and added more flavor to them, based on the already-given flavor of D&D and effects of BG3, doing away with the mechanical side of things for storytelling reasons.

On top of this, because the maximum level you can reach in BG3 is Lv12, and we know that the Orb consumes "the greatest of [his] talents," I've decided that the Orb consumes any ability beyond Lv12 until its removal.

That being said, beyond whatever spells and slots you care to give him, the powers I think Gale has pre-tadpole are:

Abjuration

Arcane Ward: When Gale casts Abjuration spells, residual magic shields him from the worst of incoming hits

Projected Ward: Gale can extend Arcane Ward to someone nearby instead of himself

Improved Abjuration: On short rest, Gale can strengthen Arcane Ward to sustain itself beyond a single hit

Evocation

Sculpt Spells: Gale can control his Evocation spells and keep them from harming allies

Potent Cantrip: Gale can force enemies that resist his cantrips to take half damage from them anyways

Empowered Evocation: Gale's Evocation spells are particularly deadly (based on +INT modifier to damage rolls)

Necromancy

Grim Harvest: Gale can harness the power released when a spell kills a creature to heal himself, UNLESS it's undead or a construct

Undead Thralls: Animate Dead: Gale can reanimate a corpse

UT: Additional Undead: Gale can efficiently harness the power it would take to reanimate one corpse to reanimate two corpses with Animate Dead

UT: Better Summons: Gale's reanimated dead can take more of a beating than others' dead

Inured to Undeath: Gale's been exposed to necromancy enough that he's resistant to necrotic damage, and his life force capacity can't be reduced (this one in particular helps with the "Netherese bile" flowing through his veins)

Conjuration

Create Water: Gale can call forth rain at will (BG3's feature over D&D's to align more with storm sorcery)

Benign Transposition: Teleport: Gale can teleport up to 30ft, and can use that to swap places with an ally

Focused Conjuration: Gale's concentration on conjuration spells can't break due to pain

Enchantment

Hypnotic Gaze: So long as Gale holds eye contact with someone, he can charm them into stopping everything they're doing and staring at him in a daze

Instinctive Charm: Reflexively, Gale can make a split-second charm attempt to redirect an attack at someone directly nearby

Split Enchantment: Gale can efficiently harness the power it would take to enchant one person and instead enchant two targets at once

Divination

Portent: Gale can focus and gain split-second glimpses into the immediate future (such as the next blow about to be thrown in a fight)

Expert Divination: Casting divination comes naturally enough to Gale that he can cast divination spells using a lower spell slot

Third Eye: Gale can increase his powers of perception and gain a very limited Darkvision/Ethereal vision at will, as well as read any language

Illusion

Improved Minor Illusion: Gale can cast illusory effects with incredible ease

See Invisibility: Gale's experience with illusions lets him detect invisibility spells at work, focus on them, and see through them

Illusory Self: Gale can create an identical double of himself reflexively to confuse opponents

Transmutation

Experimental Alchemy: Using transmutation magic, Gale can more efficiently refine potion ingredients, occasionally enough to create a second potion

Transmuter's Stone: Gale can lock some of his transmutation magic into a stone, granting whoever holds it an effect of his choice from the following: Constitution proficiency, Darkvision, extra speed, resistance to acid/cold/fire/lightning/thunder damage

Shapechanger: Gale can polymorph himself once a day without consuming a spell slot (only into beasts with a CR of 1 or less)

Storm Sorcery

Wind Speaker: Gale can speak, read, and write Primordial (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran)

Tempestuous Magic: Gale can summon gusts of wind around him immediately after casting a spell greater than a cantrip. These winds are strong enough to propel him in flight for ten feet

Heart of the Storm: Gale has resistance to lightning and thunder damage. In addition, whenever he casts a spell that deals lightning or thunder damage, the magic that erupts is stormy and more powerful than other kinds of magic at equal level

Storm Guide: Gale can subtly control the weather around him, causing rain to stop falling in a 20 foot sphere centered on him, or wind to blow in a different direction in a 100 foot sphere centered on him

Feats

These are based on what I, personally, think make the most sense for him pre-tadpole:

Ability Increase: +2 to INT score

Elemental Adept: Thunder: Spells/attacks ignore resistance to thunder, and when a spell he casts causes thunder damage, it can't critically fail

Elemental Adept: Lightning: Spells/attacks ignore resistance to lightning, and when a spell he casts causes lightning damage, it can't critically fail

Okay, so Gale's crazy powerful, right? What could he have possibly lost that's greater than all this?

Well...

Abjuration: Spell Resistance: Gale was in tune enough with the Weave that he could resist spells (as well as gaining advantage on saving throws against them)

Evocation: Overchannel: Gale could deal maximum damage on a 1-5 level spell without ill effect on first cast, but suffered unresisted necrotic damage when using it again

Necromancy: Command Undead: Gale could bring undead made by other wizards under his control

Conjuration: Durable Summons: Gale could give anything he summoned a temporary shield against damage (30 temp HP)

Enchantment: Alter Memories: Gale could make someone unaware they were charmed by him, as well as make them forget something that happened during that charmed period

Divination: Greater Portent: Gale used to be able to predict more split second decisions ahead with ease

Illusion: Illusory Reality: Gale used to be able to pull shadow magic together into illusions and make them, temporarily, real. He can still do a limited version of this, but only via concentration to keep the threads together (hence the "anatomically correct" illusory wizard in the Drow twins scene; shadow magic is NOT the same as the Shadow Weave)

Transmutation: Master Transmuter: Gale could consume magic stored in his transmuter's stone in one go, using it to transmute one object into another, remove curses, diseases, and poisons, raise the dead, or reduce a creature's apparent age by up to 30 years

Storm Sorcery: Storm's Fury: Gale could react with lightning damage when struck physically Wind Soul: Gale was immune to lightning and thunder damage, could fly at a speed of 60 feet, and could reduce his flying speed to 30 feet for 1 hour to make four additional people fly

Yeah. Ouch. And that's not even including his former Chosen abilities.

Gale's Chosen abilities

Silver Fire: Gale could command pure energy of the Weave in the form of silver-white flame, which, at his command, could destroy anything in its path, banish dead magic areas, restore torn Weave, purge external magic and psionic effects from his own body, teleport without error to the last location he used the ability at, or cast spells without verbal, somatic, or material components

Mantle: Gale could cast the dangerous Mantle spell without suffering any ill effects, while other wizards casting the spell would suffer a drain of life force as long as it persisted

Weave Detection: Gale could detect magic's presence without the use of a spell

Weave Tapping: Gale could cast high level spells repeatedly without losing a spell slot, although this was discouraged by Mystra

On the page for Mystra's Chosen abilities, it says that sometimes her Chosen gained an immunity to magic, as well as disease and poison. I don't think Gale was so lucky, however; in the House of Healing, he mentions that he once turned himself in to a hospice in Waterdeep for a "bout of ruddy pox." Him having turned himself in implies he was an adult at the time, and should, therefore, already be Mystra's Chosen.

All that to say: behold, Gale of Waterdeep, in his original splendor. How the mighty have fallen.

#bg3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #long post #ask bee #the neat thing about the storm sorcery stuff is that it's JUST close enough in proximity to what gale's already capable of #that he probably didn't even give it a second thought #he can fly at lv18? he could fly at 8yo. doesn't matter #lightning and thunder immunity? well mystra's chosen get magical immunity sometimes. must be that! #his lightning/thunder spells are stronger? they're his specialties! he studied those! #i love it

[be-with-me-so-happily]

Can you write a fic were it’s reader asking Harry if he would still love her if she were a worm 😭😂 I just find it so hilarious

I wrote this in like 10 minutes. Hehe, it was fun! I'm so sorry it took me so long to respond to your ask. Hopefully you're still around and you like what I wrote for ya. Love you all 🩷

Sitting in bed, your phone in hand, you look over to the man beside you. He's sitting comfortably against the headboard, his tattoos canvased across his bare torso, and a book in hand. His bottom lip is pinched by his index finger and thumb, and his brow is furrowed in deep though as he absorbs the words on the page in front of him.

Your gaze flickers down to your phone for a moment, and you smile, trying hard not to giggle with the knowledge of what your plan is.

"Hey, H?" Your voice is quiet, and solemn, hoping you're letting off a more serious demeanor.

"Yes, love?" He responds, lowering his current read and turning his head over in your direction.

"Umm, well, I was just wondering..." You start off, wondering if your hesitation is persuasive. "Would you still love me... if I was a worm?"

"Why? Planning some major life change, are you?"

"Would you?"

"Look, when I said we should spend more time in the garden, I didn't mean-"

"Harry!" You giggle, unintentionally breaking the facade you were determined to hold up against his charm.

"Is this because I teased you about your dance moves yesterday? Because I think this is taking it a little too far." He smiles, twisting to face you and lifting his palms to squish them against your face. "You don't have to turn into a worm for me to love the way you wiggle..."

"Will you please answer the question."

"Well, I'd be very sad if you were a worm..." He replies, a mischievous smirk instantly digging into his cheek. "I don't want you to sleep in the dirt..."

"Oh, just forget it." You roll your eyes. Clearly he knows what you're trying to do, which means he's not going to give you a straight answer.

"Plus, if I was a bluebird..." He utters, pressing his lips gently against yours for a quick kiss. "It wouldn't turn out very well for you, little worm..."

"You're horrible." You pout, pushing away, turning your lamp off, scooting down, and pulling the covers right up under your chin. All in a false tantrum that he only chuckles at.

Harry slides over next to you, wrapping his arm around your waist and nuzzling his face into your neck.

"I'd rather us both be rabbits."

"What? Why rabbits?"

"So we can fuck like bunn-"

"Oh my god, Harry!"

#anon ask #ask bee #send it to bee #harry styles #harry styles blurb #harry styles one shot #harry styles fan fic #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles fanfic #harry styles imagine #harry styles concept #harry styles story #harry styles writing #harry styles fluff #harry styles x you #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #harry styles x yn #harry fic #harry blurb #harry one shot #harry fluff #harry fanfic #harry fan fiction #harry imagine #harry styles fic #harry edward styles #harry x reader #harry x you #harry x y/n

[gallawitchxx]

Omg honestly, there is art being posted & just not being acknowledged. There are posts from artists I have been following for years that I’ve seen bomb quite honestly. & I’m not knocking the anon, maybe they haven’t seen it or it’s not their vibe, but there is so much going unloved. I’m not an artist but I just can’t imagine how this feels after spending probably days on a piece. I’m sorry I’m just rambling here & this isn’t your prob I just get upset at seeing GOOD shit by GOOD people flopping!

LOUDER ANON! THIS IS THE TRUEST SONG I’VE EVER HEARD 🔊🔊🔊

you’re right. you’re absolutely right. & i was trying to sing it gently in that last ask because there has been a slow down in terms of the frequency that people were posting & also in users that are active FOR SURE. but to then finally put out a piece to have it bomb fucking S U C K S! & it’s happening to everyone. even, like you said, some of the ones who’ve been around the longest.

a general rule of thumb: if you like seeing more & new art, engage with the art as it comes! let the creator know that you loved it! hype them up! it takes guts & effort to put shit out!

but also what a great opportunity to shout-out some recent faves:

art for honeycomb by @heymrspatel

@deathclassic & @mikhailoisbaby are regularly making art, as well as running "draw this in your style" challenges. check out molly's for ian (round-up post) & harvey's for mickey + pup!

@doodlevich is constantly putting out art & gave us a whole ass week of art for gallavich week 2023

@steorie made gorgeous art for @palepinkgoat's gorgeous fic, restoration!

@suzy-queued put out this SPICY MOTHERFUCKER just today!

FEEL FREE TO ADD TO THIS LIST/POST! xx

#i'm gonna go reblog some shit right this second #i'll get a queue going! #hype artists so they make more art! #thanks anon you've never been wrong a day in your life #shameless fan art #ask bee #answered

[beeextraordinary123]

When will the next chapter for WWS be out?

How kind of you to ask, Anon! It’s out… TODAY!!!! Go go go!

What Was Stolen, Chapter 19

#ask bee #sonamy fanfiction #fanfiction #sonamy #what was stolen fic

[triangulummm]

O olmazsa sevinemem gülemem eğlenemem gibi geliyor o olmazsa hayat olmaz gibi geliyor bazen...

#ege ve izmir #egesözü #maça kızı 8 #egeninincisi #ömer ege zorlu #ask bee #beyzaalkoc #bora karabey #dilarapamuk #kitap alintisi

[thelightintheattic]

Did the rice recipe work?

tastayyy

#i added some eggs. soy sauce. and some shrimpies cooked in carmelized garlic and onion! #ask bee

[spinteresting]

how did you like both mota books? do you recommend them? thinking of purchasing both because my library doesn’t hold either but i’d like to get the opinion of someone who’s read them

I listened to the audiobook for Masters of the Air. It is a big picture history of the 8th Air Force with specific stories sprinkled throughout. It’s a fantastic book. I feel like I understand so much more about the WW2 Air Force and the politics surrounding it. It also had some great insights about the European theater in general. It is a history book, so know that going in. I would definitely recommend it and I enjoyed the audiobook.

A Wing and a Prayer is Harry Crosby’s memoir of his experiences in the 100th Bomb Group. It’s a much more personal account and is structured more narratively. It covers so much more than the show did. I LOVED this book. It’s incredibly well written. It has a lot of heart and reflection in it, but Crosby can also be quite funny. I couldn’t put this book down. Highly recommend! I read an ebook and plan to purchase a physical copy because I loved it so much.

#masters of the air #a wing and a prayer #harry crosby #bloody 100th #ww2 history #book recs #ask bee

[mickeyheartian]

Hi Bee!

I always feel silly sending you these mid convo but here we are.

🎶💖when u get this put 5 songs u actually listen to, publish. then, send this ask to 10 of your followers 💖🎶

ASHHHH 💖 Sorry I'm 5 months late 💖

ok ok so (in no real order)

Backseat Serenade - All Time Low

Cut To The Feeling - Carly Rae Jepsen

High Hopes - Panic! At The Disco

I Believe - Jonas Brothers (never left my Jonas era ok)

Check Yes Juliet - We The Kings

#ask bee

[deadhoneybee]

(Slides into your inbox bc I love hearing people talk about fanfic ideas)

Do you have a favourite wip/fanfic idea/au that you’re writing/have bouncing around your brain

(Thank you so much omg)

Do i ever oh my gods,,, ive currently got two floating around in my docs and man oh man. Im filled with joy and also frustration.

Ive got a short one thats been almost done for like two months now but i keep revising it, its the fist fic ive ever properly written and it started because i was just sooo tired of the miss communication in all the wolfstar fics id read till then. I titled it “Look at Me, Just Love Me” Its about 5k words right now, and its a first kiss fic that takes place in the marauders 6th year after a quidditch match. Its really honestly my baby.

The second is more just,, alot of planing and vibes with some first drafts floating around. I posted a snip of it earlier :)) its a wolfstar college au, strangers to friends to lovers. Lots of pining, lots of jokes and nonsense, lots of healing. The current title is “And Youre Broken, But Baby Ill Piece You Back Together” but its subject to change :) My pinned post was actually born from this wip and if the first is my baby this one is my full pride and joy :,) even if i dont finish it.

Im really glad i got back into this fandom because it really resurrected my love of creating and thats been a blessing tbh <3

#asks #ask bee #my fics #and wips #of course its wolfstar #i just love them so much

[powdermelonkeg]

just saw ur gale/mystra analysis post. im new to the game and dnd lore and honestly… ur take on their relationship feels like the most natural/compelling one??? esp since its all too easy to simplify topics that have many facets and nuance….

thanks for sharing i love analysis and reading people’s takes on narratives : D

My pleasure! (Bee from the future here: congrats, you spawned another meta!)

I love complicated characters, WAY more than I like a clear cut-and-dry case. Flaws, to me, are what make a character compelling and lead to interesting stories about them with choices that can get them into situations. I'm both writing a fanfic and running a campaign where I'm playing as Gale, and in the interest of portraying him properly and in-character, I've gone into SUCH a deep dive into all the decisions and facts that make him him.

It helps to, y'know, also be in love with the fictional wizard, but I digress

The thing about Baldur's Gate 3 is that no character in there is perfect. I've seen a couple analyses about the theme of continuing cycles of abuse vs breaking out of them, but in my mind, in terms of the characters themselves, it goes like this:

The origin characters have just come out of the lowest situation of their lives (Lae'zel being the exception; being tadpoled is a gith's worst nightmare. You're seeing that lowest situation in real time).

Not the lowest point, mind. Gale's lowest was probably the day after he got the Orb. Wyll's was probably the day his father cast him out. Karlach's was the day she lost her heart. But the lowest, accepted normal for them is what they've just left.

They're then thrown out of their depth and forced to rely on you to live. That's #1 priority: living. We get the extremes of these characters before we get their nuances, because they're quite literally at their breaking points.

Then once we get to know them, we see their wants, their hopes, their fears, as they open up to us. Every companion's story is at their own pace, but they all have a moment where they ping-pong between despondency and desire. Sometimes that desire is what we know isn't good for them, like Shadowheart wanting to be a Dark Justiciar. Sometimes that despondency is only for a flicker, like Astarion's realization that he's condemned 7000 people to a half-life of tortured spawnhood for as long as he's been a vampire.

Romance lets us crack all that open more, because if you pursue a romantic partner, they see you as their closest confidant. They WANT to trust you, so they're more willing to explain how they see the world and what decisions they want to chase.

And then their endings. Those often get simplified as good/bad, continuing the cycle vs breaking away from it. But how is Duke Wyll on the same platform as Ascended Astarion? He's not evil, he's not even entirely unhappy. He might even have broken out of his abusive cycle with Mizora, if you played your cards right. And Ascended Astarion is overjoyed, even if he is remarkably more cold.

I think that the endings are less a dichotomy of "this is good for them" vs "this is bad for them," and more one of "bringing out their best traits" vs "bringing out their worst."

Wyll's worst trait is being willing to sacrifice his own wants for whatever people desire of him. His best is standing for what he believes in and ensuring people are safe. Duke Wyll leans into that necessity to turn the other cheek in the name of people who count on him, while the Blade of Avernus has seized that moral compass of his and forged it out of mithral.

Shadowheart's worst trait is blind obedience at the cost of her individuality, while her best is her desire to be kind to things that don't deserve to be hurt. Mother Superior Shadowheart's whole life is defined by Shar. Selûnite Shadowheart's life is defined by her hospitality, especially towards animals.

Karlach's worst trait is how willing she is to accept that things are (to quote her) fucked, letting despair override hope. Her best is her durability in the face of horror. Exploded Karlach would rather die than try to work out a solution in the Hells, because she's terrified of facing Zariel alone. Mindflayer Karlach has accepted her fate and decides to give up her heart and soul to go out a hero, losing who she is. Fury of Avernus Karlach is willing to keep fighting for a solution, and by the time the epilogue happens, she's got her sights set on one.

Astarion's worst trait is his desire for power over people. His best trait is using the tools he has to his advantage. Ascended Astarion has let his powerhungry nature and paranoia lead all of his decisions, with his sights set on dominating mankind. Spawn Astarion has embraced what he is, and carved out a life for himself where he can do as he pleases.

Lae'zel's worst trait is her blind fanaticism, while her best trait is her individual dedication, making her loyalty a marriage of the two. Ascended Lae'zel is a meal for the lich queen, turning a blind eye to all Vlaakith's tried to do to her and literally being consumed by her fervor. Champion of Orpheus Lae'zel has turned her loyalty into something productive for diplomacy. Faerûnian Lae'zel has seized her individuality by the throat and decided her own future.

And then Gale. Gale's worst traits are his hubris and, paradoxically, his low self worth. His best traits are his creativity and wonder for the world. God Gale is the embodiment of ambition, having burned away all but that in pursuit of perfection. Exploded Gale has let his remorse blot out all hope for a redemption in which he does not die, because he thinks he's earned it. Professor Gale leads his life by embracing the school of Illusion and letting his creativity thrive, teaching others to do the same. House Husband Gale has multiple creative projects he's working on, and Adventurer Gale is always finding new sights to see and wanting to share them with you.

There are arguments to be made on which ending the origins are happiest in, certainly, or which one benefits them the most, but each ending represents the extreme of a facet they possess.

So with all that, there's a sort of malleable method to figuring out the ins and outs of a character.

You take their endings—all of them, all variables they can have—and reverse-engineer the flaws and details they carry. Then you start to notice how those work into their approvals for minor things: Astarion approving of your taking of the Blood of Lathander, or Shadowheart approving of standing up for Arabella. Getting a list of approvals and disapprovals is helpful, but having those endings on hand tells you why they react like that to a majority of their decisions.

You take their romance-route explanations of how they act, and apply those to earlier decisions. Astarion's confession to manipulating you and Araj-prompted admittance to using himself as a tool brings to light how he reacts to your decisions, regardless of his actual opinions on them. Wyll's fairytale romance and love of poetic adages speaks to his idealistic nature, and why he takes a sometimes-blinded approach to decisions in which the "right" answer isn't always the smart one.

You take their beginning reactions to stress and use that to measure how future decisions impact them. Lae'zel locks down and gets snappy when she's scared, while Gale immediately turns to diplomacy. Shadowheart has gallows humor, while Wyll turns to quiet acceptance. If they break from these and seem even worse, you know the situation is more dire in their minds than having seven days to live.

And then you factor in all their fun facts and dialogue choices and backstories.

A wizard falls in love with a goddess and her magic, attempts to retrieve a piece of her power for her, is scorned for his attempt and is cursed to die.

Give that backstory to a Tav. Look at how it changes.

A chaotic good wizard fell in love with a goddess, thought retrieving a piece of power for her would be a showy bouquet of love, and was punished for not thinking things through.

A lawful evil wizard fell in love with a goddess's power, snatched the most precious thing she owned, tried to use it to barter his way through to the secrets she kept, and was given a swift retribution.

Same backstory. Same class, same act, same goddess. Wildly different connotations. Wildly different conclusions as to who is in the wrong.

If you take all there is to Gale, all that the game shows us makes up his character, and apply it to this backstory, you get what really happened:

A wizard, enamored with magic, fell in love with a goddess. His desires led him to want more than she was willing to give. In his well-buried fear of inadequacy, he concluded that the reason she wouldn't indulge his ambitions was because he just hadn't proven himself worthy enough. So he tried to prove himself, but he lacked the context for what he was proving himself with. And the goddess, seeing a weapon that had killed her predecessor, saw this ambitious wizard as losing his way and coming for her just like the weapon's creator had. She was angry, she withdrew his link to her, and he didn't know why. So he drew the conclusion that she took his powers to punish him, and let that encompass his fall from grace.

Was he wrong to reach for what was out there?

If you knew that the answers to everything you cared about were not only known, but kept by someone you loved—someone who adored you—what would you do to ask to see them? What if your curiosities were if there were other planets with life out there, or how dark matter worked, or whether or not we could one day travel in the stars? What if it was the potential cure to an illness that's little-understood, or the way to make a program you dreamt up, or the scope of the true limits of your artistic talents? Would your answer change?

Was she wrong to cut him off?

If you were once hurt, and the person you loved—the person who adored you—brought the thing that caused it to your door, believing you'd want it, how would you react to seeing it? What if that thing was someone you thought you'd broken contact with, like a friend or family member you'd been trying to avoid? Would your answer change?

That's the sort of scope that needs to be applied to this, on both sides. You have to take the perspectives of each party, and apply two analogies instead of one.

Gale saw the vastness of the universe, untold wonders, the solution to every question he could ever dream up, and saw Mystra as withholding this from him because she thought he just wasn't worthy enough. To claim Mystra knew his perspective does her a disservice.

Mystra saw a cruel weapon she thought long gone, in the hands of someone who could use it, brought right to her, and thought Gale was willingly following the path of Karsus. To claim Gale knew her perspective does him a disservice.

Should Gale have researched his prize more, so he knew just what he was obtaining? Should he have kept his hands off a cursed book that would devour him? Of course he should have.

Should he have given up on chasing his dreams?

Should Mystra have understood that Gale's pursuit of power was nothing like Karsus'? Should she have communicated when she was angry instead of giving the cold shoulder? Of course she should have.

Should she have given him the benefit of the doubt?

That's the root of their falling out. That's what leads to hurt being inflicted. Understandable, human reactions to the situations they perceive. Unhealthy, unwise choices made afterwards.

You work backwards from this to figure out their dynamic as Chosen and goddess. You work forward from this to understand more of where Gale and Mystra are during the events of Baldur's Gate 3. Gale reached too high, and understands this. His goddess hates him, and he regrets this. Mystra isolated Gale, and understands this. Her Chosen wants redemption, and she wants to make it happen.

Just like we took Gale's character into account, we also have to take Mystra's.

A goddess is faced with a problem. She uses someone who's desperate for approval to solve it, by telling him to kill himself.

An evil goddess is faced with a threat to her reign. She sees someone who's unfailingly loyal and hates himself, and elects to have him tear himself apart rather than do anything about it.

A good goddess is terrified of the future. She sees someone who tried to hurt her, who's going to die anyways, and tells him to use it to save the world.

Same story. Same act, same power, same pawn. Different character. Different perspective. Different outlook on whether or not this is the right thing to do.

Mystra has died, multiple times, to people trying to stake claim to her domain. Someone appears with the very thing that could do it again, right as she's regained her stability.

She does not see mortals the way mortals do. She is timeless. She is eternal. She has a duty to protect billions of people, and one person lost to protect that number is more than worth the sacrifice.

People like to bring up the Seven Sisters as proof of Mystra's cruelty. For those unaware, Mystra asked permission to, then possessed, a woman, used her to court a man (with dubious consent from the woman), and bore seven children, all of whom were capable of bearing Mystra's power as Chosen without dying. The woman she possessed was killed in the process (reduced to no more than a husk, then slain by her now-husband, hoping to end her suffering), and the husband was horrified by the whole story.

Mystra needed Chosen in order to restore herself in the event that she was killed again, to prevent magic as a whole from collapsing and wreaking havoc on the mortal realm, like it had in the few seconds Mystryl had been dead. Elminster, Khelben Blackstaff, and the Seven Sisters contributed to this. The more Chosen she has, the better; what happens if Elminster dies? She can't afford to have all her eggs in one basket.

Mystra has Volo (yeah, that Volo) as a Weave Anchor, imparted with a portion of her power to prevent the Weave from shredding itself to pieces in her absence. All Chosen of Mystra are Weave Anchors by nature. The creation of Weave Anchors was mandated by Ao, the Overgod, and Chosen are the best way to make sure those anchors aren't drained by ambitious people hoping for godlike power. Chosen can, and will, defend themselves, unlike static locations (which Mystra also has). The anchors are why the Weave wasn't completely obliterated during Mystra's last death, when the Spellplague rose up, because they stabilized the Weave around them.

Everything Mystra does is in the name of the big picture, to prevent a catastrophe like the fall of Netheril from happening again. Her restriction of magic, her numerous Chosen, her creation of Weave Anchors, her destruction of those who would claim her power, it's all in the name of the stability she's been charged with. Dornal Silverhand's grief and Elué Silverhand's death, while regrettable, were worth it to bring seven more anchors into existence to save all of the Material.

So someone appears with the Crown of Karsus, potentially powerful enough to try to kill the other gods in the name of the Dead Three. She can't risk being a target of them. She can't risk the destruction of magic again.

Gale is going to die. He lives in fear. He begs for forgiveness.

In Mystra's eyes, she's offering him the best outcome. She'll let him die in service to her, to save Faerûn, and she'll forgive him. He's going to die anyways, and if he does this, she'll give him everything (she thinks) he could ever want in her realm. She's asking him to do what (she thinks) is the right thing.

"She would consider what she considers to be forgiveness."

Notably, she leaves the decision in his hands. She doesn't have Elminster lead him to the Nether Brain. She doesn't activate him as soon as he's there. When he lives yet, she doesn't revoke the charm that keeps him stable. And when he declines, when he lets it go and starts pursuing Karsus' path, she doesn't smite him on the spot.

She is (she thinks) being incredibly patient. If Gale is going to try to be Karsus II, she's ready for him. If he decides to walk off and keep the Orb, he's dug his own grave in the Fugue Plane (those who don't have a god to claim them roam endlessly as husks and form a wall of bodies around the City of Judgement).

From her perspective, she's not being unreasonable. But from the perspective of a mortal, she absolutely is.

"Now, I have a question for thee: what is the worth of a single mortal's life?"

This is a question she cannot answer properly.

I think a lot of characterization is lost whenever someone paints one of them as being totally in the right. But I also think you have to be invested in them as characters to want to see that characterization. If you want to write about Mystra, you have to try to get into her head, analyze the decisions she made, figure out why she thinks she was right, and follow the pattern.

Gale's sacrifice is a very predictable thing for her to ask for.

#bg3 #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #mystra #long post #like really long post holy hells #did not expect this to go on for this long #swearing tw #< for karlach #oh yeah #astarion #karlach #wyll ravengard #shadowheart #lae'zel #ask bee

[gallawitchxx]

when it's his turn to be passenger princess and get driven around by his husbandt

("storms brewin mick i can smell it")

ray, i'm fucking losing it over here LOOK AT HIS SERIOUS FACE. staring down all those other cars on the road -- bugs, really. they're all so low to the ground & he's so high & powerful. especially with his HUSBANDT behind the wheel. look out everyone, look the FUCK out.

but then you had to go & write that dumb perfect magnificent line of dialogue for him.... shit that's funny. HE CAN SMELL IT. honestly it was probably part of his ROTC training. leftovers from his days of learning to spot the enemy from a mile away in a sandstorm. the man is nothing is not knowledgable & prepared.

god i can't stop looking at him!!!!

#ray baby i love you #i'm so glad you sent this to me #seeing you in my ask box is always a delight #but this one hit just right #aslkfhalsfkhshj #it's a gift #you are a gift #this is a ray stan blog #ask bee #answered

[beeextraordinary123]

Hi! I'm a big fan of WWS and I just wanted to ask when are you planning to release the next chapter? Of course take all the time you need, I'm just curious and really appreciate your work, because it's incredible!

And sorry if this question seems impatient or rushing!

Oh my gosh, a BIG fan? So kind!! Not at all do I mind you asking. Look out tomorrow or the day after for a special announcement about the next chapter straight from the Rose Kingdom!

#ask bee

[triangulummm]

Gök gürültüsü sesi tek benim hoşuma gidiyor olamaz herhalde dimi çevremde ki herkes korkuyor bence çok hoş sesi var

#gökyüzüne not #ay benim gece senin #ege ve izmir #egesözü #maça kızı 8 #egeninincisi #ömer ege zorlu #ask bee #beyzaalkoc #bora karabey #dilarapamuk #kitap alintisi

[otomes-and-tears]

Omg someone else who's addicted to otomes, goes by the name bee, pronouns she/them, É BRASILEIRA and got into xod around the same time I did??? Gurl where have you been all of my life🥹

Jokes and coincidences aside, I wanted to know if you perhaps receive requests for Bae (XOD)?

AND YOU’RE INTO SPIDERVERSE?!? OMG WE HAVE TO BE FRIENDS!!!

I’m sorry but you just got yourself a new bestie. No take-backsies.

And to answer your question, YES I would love to write about him, but I haven’t gotten any requests yet. Regretfully, since he’s one of my favorite love interests. To be fair, don’t really get a lot of Xoxo Droplets requests in general ausbsh

I think I have one in the back burner that one of my friends sent me (I was BEGGING for XOD requests in the server) but none aside from it. It’s a shame, buuuut it’s kind of what I expected from a dead fandom 😭

#bee rambles #ask bee #xoxo droplets

[thelightintheattic]

A curse of your house comes alive and it isnt that big of a deal but hes like an insufferable movie bro and you cant watch anything in him anymore because he criticizes and critiques it the whole time

fuck that guy. I crawl under your bed and watch my lame shows on my phone

#vera tag #bee.txt #ask bee