What Happened To Baldur's Gate 3's Most Underrated Origin Companion?

One of Baldur's Gate 3's strengths is its in-depth character stories, so it's inevitable that some characters will be slightly less popular than the rest. But when it comes to Wyll, a large proportion of fans dislike him. However, there may be a reason why he is so pushed to the side despite being a main character relating to his time in development. Could Larian have saved Wyll's popularity?

Wyll Had A Huge Change After Early Access

Wyll Was Originally Written With A Very Different Personality

Those who played Baldur's Gate 3 whilst it was in early access might remember Wyll in a much different light. In the official release of the game, Larian made major changes to Wyll's personality, which also involved changing his voice actor from Lanre Malaolu to Theo Solomon. However, this was more to do with Lanre not being available to record the new lines after the rewrite. Though in the current game, Wyll is a kinder and more open character, he was originally going to be more aligned with the Dungeons & Dragons stereotype of a sly and charismatic warlock.

Larian made these changes to Wyll due to feedback received after early access, where players noted disliking his personality. The current Wyll is based more on the "Prince Charming" archetype, whilst the original Wyll was more flawed. It is quite a shame that Wyll's character suffered this, as it's likely that he simply would have followed the same kind of plotline as the other characters. Astarion, Lae'zel, and Shadowheart also start the game with a somewhat rocky relationship with the player but can be influenced into becoming better people.

Many Baldur's Gate 3 players have noticed that Wyll has significantly less content than the other recruitable characters in the game. Wyll is often considered to have the worst romance route purely because of his distinct lack of content. He and Karlach have the least number of cutscenes, with Wyll only having two romantic ones. This pales in comparison to characters like Astarion, who has six romantic cutscenes. Karlach was also planned to have more content in Avernus and the Upper City, which were both scrapped, so it's probable that this disparity is due to cut corners.

There Were A Lot Of Cuts To Wyll's Storyline

Such Big Changes Forced Larian To Cut Corners - Wyll's Popularity Was Doomed Early On

A comprehensive Youtube video uploaded by ContrivanceDissever shows much of Wyll's original content. In theory, Wyll should be the companion with the most connections to other areas in the story. As the son of a Duke in Baldur's Gate, in a pact with one of Zariel's closest confidants, Wyll should shine in BG3's third act. Yet, many still prefer characters like Halsin, who can only be recruited after a difficult quest and is only romanceable in Act 3. However, this video shows Wyll with many more ties to the overarching story from the start.

In early access, Wyll had more to his backstory that players could explore. He had a distrust of the Flaming Fist and a more complicated relationship with his father outside of being resented for his pact with Mizora. Players saw more of a morally gray side to Wyll. When asked why he left noble life behind, he would tell the player that he had "sticky fingers" and stole something he wasn't supposed to. In retaliation, Ulder Ravengard then sent him to work with the Flaming Fist to try and mold him into more of a model frontier.

Players will probably remember Fezzerk as the goblin boss who captures Barcus Wroot, but the scene where players met him was originally quite different if Wyll accompanied them. Fezzerk was going to have somewhat of a history with Wyll. In early access, the sight of him filled Wyll with "paralyzing rage," and he would insist on forcing information out of him relating to the goblin who originally took out his eye, Spike, and freeing Barcus later, a stark difference from the compassionate and level-headed Wyll players got.

Could Wyll Have Ever Stood A Chance On Popularity Polls?

With Such Little Content, Wyll Struggles To Keep Up With The Rest Of The Cast

The main complaint that many players have about the current Wyll is that he feels "bland" or has a boring personality. This may be down to those players not giving him much of a chance; after all, his questline is directly linked to the Emperor and ends with fighting an ancient skeletal dragon, but his lack of content certainly doesn't help him in this regard. It's unfair that Wyll gets sidelined in favor of the characters who have more potential to be "evil," but it's clear that the BG3 fanbase loves the companions who follow that narrative structure.

As well as not being a part of evil runs in BG3, Wyll's having the least romance scenes in the game definitely hinders his popularity, given that the romance routes are some players' main motivations for playing the game. Something else different in Early Access Wyll's story compared to release was his relationship with Mizora being more intimate - she was originally going to intervene with his romance route in a scene cut in the full release. This implies that more content could've been planned to develop a relationship with Wyll that didn't make it into the final release.

It's hard to say whether Wyll's character should've stayed following the direction he took in early access. The Wyll in the current Baldur's Gate 3 is iconic, and the cast could've felt repetitive if his story was more similar to the other characters. Wyll and Karlach's bond is quite significant to their plotlines, and players could've missed out on it if they had a colder Wyll. If one thing's for certain, though, it's that Wyll got the short end of the stick in Baldur's Gate 3 and deserved some more attention.

Source: ContrivanceDissever/Youtube