We're just gonna spend a little time here.
---
Look at mingled effort and anguish
---
The sadness fading into cold resolution.
---
That last look at the point of the dagger as he brings it towards himself, every instinct fighting to do the exact opposite.
---
One last hard swallow. Raising the dagger in defiance. Turning his eyes upward, looking up at the target, at the goal. At the reason he's here, now.
He's an ant before a giant. But an ant that's going to win.
---
Winning - defeating the Absolute - at the cost of everything he's ever wanted. Everything that was so close, even that morning when he woke up.
This wasn't how he thought the day would end. Wasn't how he thought his life would end. This was not supposed to be the ending to his story.
There's sadness and hurt and mourning on his face as he steels himself and drives the dagger home. The scream of defiance shifting to one of pain and so much anguish.
Pain and anguish being driven off his face momentarily by defiance, mixed with anger this time.
Angry at the Absolute, angry at fate, angry that this is the end...
---
Sadness and pain ripping back control, the tears in his eyes as he squeezes them closed. A silent moment of mourning for everything that could have been, all the possible futures he'd dreamed of for himself winking out.
No more Gale Dekarios or Gale of Waterdeep. No more Tara in his lap, his beloved tower. No more bantering around the campfire while he makes dinner for the party. No more you.
The exhausted, despairing relief as the end starts to claim him, as the burning of the orb in his chest starts to spread. We know the orb glowing like this usually means he's in pain... between the dagger and the orb, he's got to be in agony.
But it's almost over.
He has nothing left to do now, all that's left is to wait for it all to be over. It's done. There are just seconds left to him, but the pain makes them feel like eternity.
Last thoughts, last memories. A last image of you flitting through, perhaps a sweet caress or a remembered parting goodbye.
and then...
it's all over.
Just adding that we know what his face looks like from the Act 2 version of the orb detonation scene;
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AND I'M BACK WITH MORE ANGST AND PAIN.
Purely for the pain; a gif-dump analysis of Gale sacrificing himself to defeat the Absolute in Act 3.
The brave face. That soft smile of affection and sadness as he begins. That tiny nod of goodbye to all of you. The way he vanishes you all as quickly as he can. This is the moment he's been dreading, has been dragged towards relentlessly and it's here.
All he can do is face it bravely, so he does.
---
2. The instant anguish and sadness when he's alone. Again. For the last and hardest time. The way he steels himself instantly to do what must be done, physically turning away from the spot you vanished in.
Putting what he could have had behind him to save the world.
To save you.
---
3. Facing the daunting task before him, literally looking up at the challenge ahead of him. For a man who craves companionship on a subatomic level, he's got to face the hardest action and greatest sacrifice he could ever make entirely alone.
---
4. The determined stride.
He knows what he's about to do and he's accepted it. Embraced it, even because he's had a long time to fear this outcome and he knows why he's doing it.
It's not for his goddess, not anymore. It hasn't been for some time.
---
5. A tiny moment of wishful regret and despair, the moment his hands touch what he has to climb and the cold reality of the situation really sinks in.
This is it.
So much beauty, so much wonder in the universe... and his part in that is about to be over.
Gale Dekarios the Ambitious, gone in one last blaze of unwitnessed glory.
---
6. The anguish. The memories. The dying flicker in his eyes of dreams that could have been.
A last goodbye to the happiness he found on the journey, with all of you.
With you.
---
7. Shoving all that hurt and broken hope down inside because he's got a job to do. One last task, one last mission. Knowing his reward is death.
---
8. And climbing anyway, just radiating defiance of self. Wanting to live, choosing to die. Weighing the sacrifice and making it willingly.
---
9. The little foot slip and determined way he keeps going. The sheer scale of what he's facing down, alone and afraid, but doing it anyway.
---
10. Standing up and looking around. Perhaps a little dazed by the height, I know I would be. I got sweaty palms just making the gif.
---
11. Getting his bearings and heading for his goal. No time to marvel at the genuinely incredible sight, only a relentless march towards the end.
---
---
12. AND HE'S STILL FUNNY. The dialogue happens while he's tiny on the screen, but can we acknowledge he's still objectively witty in the face of his own kamikaze death?
---
We're just gonna spend a little time here.
Look at mingled effort and anguish, that mixed relief and well there's no stopping now on his face. (GODS Y'ALL TALENTED LARIAN)
---
The sadness fading into cold resolution.
---
That last look at the point of the dagger as he brings it towards himself, every instinct fighting to do the exact opposite.
One last hard swallow. Raising the dagger in defiance. Turning his eyes upward, looking up at the target, at the goal. At the reason he's here, now.
He's an ant before a giant. But an ant that's going to win.
---
Winning - defeating the Absolute - at the cost of everything he's ever wanted. Everything that was so close, even that morning when he woke up.
This wasn't how he thought the day would end. Wasn't how he thought his life would end. This was not supposed to be the ending to his story.
There's sadness and hurt and mourning on his face as he steels himself and drives the dagger home. The scream of defiance shifting to one of pain and so much anguish.
---
Pain and anguish being driven off his face momentarily by defiance, mixed with anger this time.
Angry at the Absolute, angry at fate, angry that this is the end...
---
Sadness and pain ripping back control, the tears in his eyes as he squeezes them closed. A silent moment of mourning for everything that could have been, all the possible futures he'd dreamed of for himself winking out.
No more Gale Dekarios or Gale of Waterdeep. No more Tara in his lap, his beloved tower. No more bantering around the campfire while he makes dinner for the party. No more you.
---
The exhausted, despairing relief as the end starts to claim him, as the burning of the orb in his chest starts to spread. We know the orb glowing like this usually means he's in pain... between the dagger and the orb, he's got to be in agony.
But it's almost over.
He has nothing left to do now, all that's left is to wait for it all to be over. It's done. There are just seconds left to him, but the pain makes them feel like eternity.
Last thoughts, last memories. A last image of you flitting through, perhaps a sweet caress or a remembered parting goodbye.
and then...
it's all over
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