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We’ve all heard of method actors, but Gale’s voice actor in Baldur’s Gate 3 has taken things to a new level. He’s incorporated his character’s love of books into his very person, offering book recommendations to fans via social media since the game’s release. However, he may have gotten a bit too into character when he was traveling with so many books that airport customs had to get involved.

Tim Downie, who plays Gale in the hit video game, dropped that bit of trivia during the Heroes of Baldur’s Gate panel at MCM London in October 2024 when a fan asked him what part of Gale he’s taken with him since recording the Wizard of Waterdeep. During a trip home from abroad, Downie was pulled aside by UK Customs agents due to the contents of his luggage. It wasn’t the recording equipment or the laptop that caught their eye – no, it was the fact he was traveling with a suspiciously large number of books.

“I got stopped by customs for having a suspicious amount of books,” Downie explained. “I buy these books and they ask, ‘What’s all this?’ and I’m like, ‘They’re books! They’re books on Italian witchcraft!’” Despite that entirely innocent-sounding explanation (who hasn’t traveled overseas with a suitcase full of arcane tomes before?) Customs agents still had to scan the books for themselves before Downie could return to the UK because it is apparently strange to travel with that many old books at one time. Who knew?

Don’t worry, though; the story has a happy ending. Tim Downie was able to live his best Gale life and bring the offending books back home where they can be read and loved as Mystra intended.

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