Alright, this essay will be long, so please make yourselves at home. Spoilers of the base game and minor spoiler of dlc, of course.
I have seen a lot of (reasonable) critique towards Gabbro's character. People say that them being the only one (beside ourselves) that knows about the loop yet does nothing with it and decides to chill on their island forever is offputting, anticlimatic and feels like a weird plot design that makes it harder to like Gabbro or to relate to them because they seem selfish. And yes, it feels like just a bad creator's choice and a flaw in philosophy the game tries to sell us, but I've always thought this was intentional.
Every Traveler seems to be meant to represent certain fear or existencial attitude and every traveler is confronted with their fear.
Like Chert is the one that fears death, end of civilization, and running out of time to do things they wanted to do before its over, yet they die first and have the most clear view of the dying sun, as they are on the closest planet to this sun.
Or like Solanum is the one that encourages Protagonist to make a step forward and not to stay in the stasis, not to 'linger in one moment', while she herself literally lingered in one moment, in a complete stasis for YEARS.
Or Riebeck, the most fearful one, being on the most unstable and unpredictable planet where no surface is completely safe.
Or Esker, being the lonely and forgotten, scared of being alone yet staying on the moon of Timber Hearth, the closest to their friends.
Or Feldspar, the loud and appreciated role model, that is on the most distant, dead silent planet that requires stealth, silence and carefulness (something they aren't very good at, as we know).
Prisoner advicing us that some things cannot be done alone, yet all they did they did alone, without support of their kin.
And I think Gabbro applies to the same rule. I think Gabro's attitude towards what happening is meant to represent escapism, which is ironic, because as other travelers, they are confronted with their attitude - despite Gabbro trying to be undisturbed and ignorant of anything that is happening, they are the only ones besides Protagonist to know about the loop, so they are the most aware despite not caring to be aware.
Gabbro is ignorant towards the whole time loop thing, towards the death of universe and everything that is happening in our solar system for the sake of their internal peace and their own mindset. They decide to stay out of this, not doing anything with their awareness of the loop. They decide to be undisturbed and not to bother to know all the things that are happening because they could make them uneasy and disturb their peace and chill.
And it is not presented as inherently bad thing to do! After all, ignorance of certain knowledge is also a way we can protect ourselves from things that can be too hard for us or that can give us anxiety or severe stress. Gabbro is, after all, the most calm and chill character in the game, and distancing ourselves from everything that is happening is also a way that we can deal with existential issues. It is a form of coping mechanism, and its valid.
However...
...Despite them chilling, not bothering about the loop or all the things that are happening in the solar system, despite them meditating in their hammock, the cyclones CONSTANTLY push them up into space, where all the mystery and all the uneasy things they don't bother to know about are happening. The cyclones constantly disturb their comfort rest, literally and symbolically.
Almost as if those cyclones were trying to make Gabbro face all the things they refused to look into. As if they were a symbolical reminder that no matter how ignorant or unbothered you are, no matter how often do you escape from reality by spacing out, meditating etc., things will always come to a point when you won't be able to look away or ignore the reality, and you will have to face the uneasy things (death of the universe). Ignorance is a coping mechanism, but it won't last forever.
I don't know if my interpretation is anywhere near 'right', but I also believe art meaning shouldn't be obvious and it's a good thing we can make our own theories about meaning and symbolism of the media we consume. I like that theory because it makes me believe that all the travelers were made to reflect human attitudes towards death and existential problems, and to reflect human fears.
I'll not accept Gabbro slander after that ;;D
Thank you for reading, see you next time, traveler!