He can think like his prey making him a good hunter, but also manipulative in his relationship with K, which is his most important relationship. He has no problem killing innocents, just like the Capitol he hates. idk maybe I just don’t like him?

lol well it just sounds like you don’t like him, which is fine.  that last is just a fact about gale — but his hatred of the capitol is far more than about killing innocent people because the capitol does more than kill innocent people.  the war for gale isn’t just about the games.  it’s about far more than that, and that’s why he and katniss argue so much in mockingjay, because she (and fandom, really) sees the war and the games as one thing and it is much, much bigger than that.  gale understands that; katniss doesn’t.  that’s why they fight.  he is, for the record, correct.  vilified by the text, but strategically and militarily correct.  whether we agree or disagree with his decisions is a different matter.  but i find it disheartening that fandom is so critical of gale when this is just the way that he is.  i recognize that i have no problem stanning brutal assholes as long as they’re done properly, and gale actually is done properly, and i know that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and i don’t expect it to be.  but i am confused as to why gale is as vilified in fandom as he is, because i genuinely just don’t think it’s merited.  but i have rarely minded the brutal kind so long as they are textually recognized as such, and as gale is, i am cool with him.

it’s a rebellion; in rebellions, people die.  you kill people.  this is how war works.  and everything gale does fits within just war theory no less, so it’s even justified.  i get that the books vilify him, i get that katniss is uncomfortable with it, i get that i’m uncomfortable with all the YA series in the world that try to make war into something that’s able to be done pretty when it by necessity can never be pretty, but i just don’t think that hating gale for his actions in mockingjay makes sense, in text or out of it. 

blowing up district 2 is a necessary strategic decision, and it helps win them the war.  it’s the last stronghold of the capitol.  they can either prolong the war and more people can die or they can take out the last military position of the government and move on from there.  that’s how this works.  that collins shrunk away from the truth of that is definitely not gale’s problem.  it’s the problem of children’s literature’s tendency to brush away the true nature of violence because purportedly children can’t take it.  they can.  they should and must know what this looks like.  idealism never suited this series; i don’t know why it tried in the end.

then again, i don’t think he is manipulative with katniss and this appears to be another common issue with him and i just don’t think that’s the case.  i think he’s brutally honest and difficult with katniss.  but i gale’s not savvy; he doesn’t know how to manipulate unless he’s manipulating the state.  that’s peeta’s job, and that’s why i love peeta, but gale is a blunt instrument.  and i have read the scenes that people view as manipulative and i vehemently disagree with that assessment.  i just think he’s an asshole; let’s not give him more credit than he deserves.  i think he’s jealous, brutal, raw, angry, hurt, knowledgeable of her.  i think he tells her things she doesn’t want to hear.  i also think he’s right, and so does katniss — so does peeta, for the record.  gale is often right, and that’s his problem — i don’t mean morally right in this case, i mean correct about the facts of a situation.  righteousness isn’t my purview in fiction; i’m not interested in it.  i think katniss and gale are brutal to each other.  i think they fight because they’re made of fire and i think it doesn’t matter because in mockingjay she’s still referring to gale as the person who knows her best and i am going to trust katniss on that one.  which is part of the reason why they fight.  because they’re supposed to be able to withstand anything until the one thing they can’t.

and i don’t think i understand your first point i don’t think gale thinks like a deer and if he did i don’t see the issue.

anyway, you don’t have to like him.  but i’d rather fandom just start saying ‘i don’t like him’ rather than ‘i don’t understand him’ because for every time i see ‘i don’t understand him,’ i feel the need to explain him, and that’s a different conversation than me trying to get someone to like him.  if you don’t find him to your liking, that’s fine.  most people don’t like the people i like; i like assholes who make difficult calls that make people uncomfortable.  that is my type.  i’m used to it.  but this ‘gale’s not a character’ and ‘i don’t understand gale’ business has got to stop (unless you really don’t, in which case i will happily break him down for you), thg fandom, because this is a fandom that stans johanna, who is on page for approximately twenty seconds with only the barest character traits revealed.  i like johanna too, but i don’t think it’s asking too much for a little consistency.

this post is brought to you by a week’s worth of passive aggression from this fandom, its rage is not directed at you.  i love you.  i’m just tired.