Mockingjay question

I don't know if it was directly his fault, but at the end when he's faced with Katniss for the first time since she's learned of Prim's death he is unapologetic. That just seemed cold. Katniss needed her friend but the guy who showed up was 'General So and So', so it was easy to blame Gale because he wasn't Katniss' Gale anymore, he was Coin's.

It's less "did Gale directly kill Prim?" - which, of course, he did not.

It's more how that event made Katniss confront how Gale had changed, a process that had been ongoing. Ever since Katniss went to the Games in book one, she and Gale had started down different paths.

They both grew more angry at the Capitol, but because of their different experiences, processed that anger differently, and changed in different ways.

The truth is, being a fighter in The Games, Katniss had experiences Gale could never understand. Her experiences colored her thoughts and actions, and Gale NOT living through the Games colored his actions (not to demean his hardships or belittle his experiences in the war, but they are different, and affect him differently). As far as the 'triangle' goes, it was never going to be Gale. Katniss fared best with someone who had experienced what she did. When we first start to know Finnick and his relationship with Annie in Catching Fire, and see it more completely in Mockingjay, you can see how they are a "Type" of Katniss and Peeta, foreshadowing their need for each other.

This would have happened without the bomb. However, the bomb put things in clear perspective.

Gale DID design bombs that were intended to lure in innocents and kill them.

Yes, he thought his bombs would only be used against the Capitol. Still, he designed bombs to use against humanitarian aid workers. And, no, we don't 'know' if it was a 13 bomb or a Capitol bomb that was used that day. I think it was a 13 bomb, and Coin placed Prim in that group to punish Katniss and/or make Katniss think it was snow to hate Snow even more, and therefore support Coin.

But really, 13 bomb or Capitol bomb, it is irrelevant. Gale was willing to sacrifice innocents for the cause. That perspective is not uncommon in war - it is not unique to him. Still, it demonstrates how Gale and Katniss both changed and grew apart.

I think that he knew he was defeated and didn't want to fight for katniss anymore. When the Capitol destroyed district 12 he made a point to save prim and her mom. He did care and I got the impression he was devastated by prims death but what could he do at that point. He knew katniss would never be with him after that and came across to me as deflated.

It was not Gale's fault.
First of all, that's kind of what you do in war. You create bombs to kill people. Is it right? Maybe not. Would Katniss or anyone else for that matter have cared if they were used against the Capitol. Nope. Would anyone have cared if it hadn't kill Prim and instead killed some other random person's sister? No.
Second of all, Gale never gave the order for that bomb to be dropped, and I don't think he ever intended for it to be used against the resistance.
Honestly, it was all just a ploy to end the love triangle - and a kind of sloppy one at that.

I am always Team Gale, and I don't believe he was to blame for Prim's murder. And yet I don't blame Katniss for thinking that. Gale was a rebel, he was trying to overthrow the Capitol, of course he didn't deliberately kill Prim, but when push came to shove, I think Gale just took it lightly because she was unfortuately one of the costs of war. And I think he knew from perhaps when Peeta was rescued and started healing and all that, that Katniss was never going to turn back to him (Gale). Gale understood that, and so didn't fight it when she pushed him away at the end.
Personally, I am sad Katniss didn't end up with Gale. but that's a totally different story.

Gale was WAY too trigger-happy at the last book. I don't blame him directly,but i can't imagine someone so violent having a life with Katniss,who's already full of fire herself.

It's not really about blame. It's about being conscious of the choices you make. He let anger guide him. And anger blinds the best of us. Katniss did what she had to do, but she was more aware of the unnecessary casualties. It wasn't just her sister. It was all the children Snow tried to protect himself with.
I could go back and forth over whether it was worth it. But the bottom line is Katniss felt it was a step too far and Prims death only escalates that. This was something I liked about Katniss. I probably would've let anger rile me too. And I would come to regret it.

I used to love Gale, I was team Gale all the way! But war changes people ang the new Gale was just so full of hate and revenge that I couldn't posibly imagine him having a life with Katniss. He was not the reason Prim died, as many of you said it, Prim was a casualty of war, but the way he handle the whole situation and how he acted towards Katniss made it so easy for Katniss to hold it against him. I don't blame him but I totally get Katniss.

Does no one else understand that the weapons Gale had made could be counted as a war crime today? Those secondary charge balloon bombs were meant to take out unarmed doctors and nurses! Imagine if a nation ordered its military to target the Red Cross! Think of the backlash! Gale made something pure evil with that weapon.

Coin's usage of the weapon, however, is even more horrific. She specifically targeted her own troops and humanitarian workers with a war-crime-worthy weapon in an effort to incite Snow's execution. The UN would have a heart attack if that kind of thing happened today.

Gale kind of deserved it. Katniss never liked the idea of the bombs, but Gale went and did it anyway with the rebels. And! it killed Prim in the process which made Katniss depressed and angry at Gale. So... I can see why she kind of didn't like him at the end.

I don't like Gale's character, but he was not to blame for Prim's death. That was all Coin!
Coin was the one who sent Prim out with the medical team and Coin was also the one who ordered the bombs to go off, knowing the catastrophic results.
Besides, put it this way, you blame the shooter of a gun, not the maker. You also blame the person behind a wheel of a car, not the person who made that car.

It's all the same concept!

I think that he knew he was defeated and didn't want to fight for katniss anymore. When the Capitol destroyed district 12 he made a point to save prim and her mom. He did care and I got the impression he was devastated by prims death but what could he do at that point. He knew katniss would never be with him after that and came across to me as deflated.

Nop

I don't blame him for Prim's death but his reaction, like Prim is just a normal price to pay for war, a casualty of war and acting unresmorseful made him cold. Gale didn't really try very hard to stay in Katniss's life when she had to say goodbye to him either.

I have never heard anyone blame Gale for Prim's death. Even in the book, Katniss didn't necessarily blame Gale either, it just would have been a constant reminder of her death if they stayed together because they were the bombs that he created.

I agree with Iris. He wasn't directly responsible but emotions are hardly reasonable, he made the bomb and then compounded on that by acting like a moron. I know when I was reading it and caught up in what was going on, I was angry at Gale.
If I made a bomb and it killed anyone's little sister I would feel awful and apologize never mind if it was my best friends little sister!

It really annoys me how a majority of the fan base blames Gale for her death. It was not his fault. He and Beetee designed the bombs to use against the Capitol. And that's another thing; Beetee had just as much of a part in creating the bombs as Gale did, yet no one blames him for anything. The bottom line is, Coin murdered those children, not Gale. And no one knows if it was even Gale's bomb! Suzanne Collins just added the whole situation to end the love triangle.

It was NOT HIS FAULT they should blame Coin not Gale

i don't think that it could hbe directly blamed on Gale - he was participating in the 'revolution' for the purpose of supporting what he thought was right. It's unfortunate that it happened, and just an awful coincidence, but that's the point i think since all of the other deaths (or most at least) were deliberate.

No, I don't blame Gale for Prim's death. It wasn't his fault but Coin's.

Now, I don't blame him, I just can't. It wasn't his fault. He'd never ever kill Prim! And that he did made the bomb, I don't remember it, should it be for innocent people or not?
I'm angrier about the people in the nut, because that was so his fault.
But at the end I blame the capitol. They changed him and made him do that.

I don't. Everyone else does because Katniss does. And I don't blame Katniss for feeling that way about it either. But from the outside, Gale did what he had to do and even though there were many dead that they didn't want dead, he did what had to be done. I didn't like the idea of Katniss with Gale anyway.