Me, a sex worker, just trying to find one fic where he isn’t written like a 16 year old girl:

Pre-epilogue release I was pretty 50/50 on which ending I wanted, and I mostly chose to convince him not to take the crown because I'd heard that he'd leave you at the end if he ascends, and that it was implied he would die before achieving godhood. Now that we have the epilogue though, and we know he can succeed and comes back to the player like he promised, I really don't see it as a bad ending.

Astarion's ascended ending was bad because it came at the cost of 7000 innocent lives, and because after being ascended it genuinely changed the way he thought about and treated a romanced PC. He thinks of them as a weak, pitiful, slave. He lashes out if they argue with him. He is canonically soulless. It's a continuation of a cycle of abuse.

Gale's ending doesn't really have that. Sure Tara and Morena are upset, but they also miss him if romanced Gale and the PC continued adventuring, and Tara will be annoying about sharing him regardless. Beyond that, Gale's ascension takes no lives, and he still values and loves and comes back for his partner. He offers them godhood so that they can be equals, and if they refuse he breaks up with them. It's specifically rejecting the god/mortal dynamic of his relationship with Mystra, where Astarion's ascension mirrored his relationship with his master. Correct me if I just missed it, but I don't think there's anything in Gale's epilogue that shows his "true feelings" the way using detect thoughts on ascended Astarion does.

Imagine killing your rebellious child and then 6 months later having to watch them strut into the pantheon as a fellow god bc his lover used the very artefact you wanted your child to use to destroy the world with, to instead make them both gods. Unparalleled situation

Bhaal @ Durge: Get the crown and use it to kill everyone

Durge, writing it down: Get the crown and become gods with the boyfriend, got it

Bhaal: That's not what I said-

Durge: If I don't succeed the first time, I'll just try again, got it!

Player: Gale Dekarios… I think I like him more. Gale: You like so many things about me I’d have sooner discarded… Your generosity is quite wonderful. Gale Dekarios likes you too. Very, very much. Though let's keep his existence between us for now.

bonus:

“What fools these mortals be-“

(Trust Gale to quote Shakespeare-)

Thinking about how Gale is the undisputable "most monogamous" of your romanceable companions. That he'll approach you if you flirt with someone else and have this heartbroken tone and make you choose between him and someone else. That if you ask for an open relationship he gets genuinely hurt and asks that this is never discussed again. That he sets firm boundaries and feels the need to apologize for being "old-fashioned" and that he describes giving you his whole heart and being incapable of sharing yours.

And then I think of his relationship with Mystra, the GODDESS, and I get this uneasy feeling. I know that there was no possible way Gale could've communicated exclusivity with her, an immortal Goddess who is known for her interest in young Wizard boys/men (which is already so fucking weird but we don't need to get into those implications for Gale rn).