The award-winning Baldur’s Gate 3 has made huge waves in the gaming industry for just about anything fans could imagine. It’s approach to adapting the Dungeons & Dragons 5e system, character writing, and narrative are all superb, but there’s one crucial thing that too many fans are missing out on – Wyll Ravengard.
While every companion featured in Baldur’s Gate 3 has their fans, Wyll is often overlooked in fandom discussions, and while many have made an effort to push for his inclusion in many corners of the internet, he’s still grossly underrated, and we’re here to tell you why you need to give the Blade of Frontiers more love.
Wyll Embodies the Classic Folk Hero Archetype With a Tragic Twist
When Wyll is first introduced in the first act when the player stumbles across the goblin ambush at the Grove, he receives a perfectly executed introductory cutscene that tells the player exactly what he’s all about from the get-go: flashy heroics, and classic do-gooding. Plus, regardless of his title as the ‘Blade of Frontiers’, Wyll is a total sweetheart, and remains extremely humble despite how many of the tieflings faun over him and his abilities. When players get officially introduced to him as he assists in training the tiefling children, he’s stuck in a situation much like everyone else in your party: he was infected with a Mind Flayer parasite.
It’s apparent rather quickly that Wyll isn’t all he appears to be, since he reluctantly tells the player he managed to get infected while pursuing a devil in Avernus – not the typical job the classic storybook hero type like Wyll would usually be up to. Additionally, his stone eye suspiciously looks like a Sending Stone – a magic item in Dungeons & Dragons that allows for long-distance communication. Regardless, he’s happy to join you on your journey as long as you promise him you’ll do something to aid the tieflings in finding safe passage to Baldur’s Gate, and help him kill the devil he’s been tracking. This opens up his personal quest line: The Blade of Frontiers.
As players grow closer to Wyll, his backstory begins to unravel. He was the one and only son to the very famous Duke Ulder Ravengard from Baldur’s Gate, and while he was raised among the city’s other noble families, Wyll always has always possessed a rebellious streak, and would run off spending time with the kids outside his socioeconomic circle, and training with his father. From the time Wyll was very young, the expectation was placed on him that he should live up to what his father wanted for him: take Ulder’s position in the Flaming Fist, succeed him in becoming the next Duke Ravengard, and continue his legacy as a champion of the city.
Wyll’s world fell apart, though, when he was only seventeen-years-old. Watching his father be named Grand Duke at such a young age and seeing him off to Elturel to assist in settling on of the many political disputes at the time, Wyll began to hear haunting whispers in the night that demanded he traverse alone to Dusthawk Hall. There, Wyll swears that he saw Dragon Cultists attempting to summon the vicious, devastatingly powerful being Tiamat to destroy the city. Young, desperate, and powerless to stop the onslaught on his own – Wyll was suddenly approached by a cambion named Mizora, who offered him the power to save the city he adored so much. His city, his father’s city – the place his family vowed to protect.
Wyll made the pact, trading his soul for the power to save the city. Much to his dismay, when his father returned from Elturel, he didn’t see Wyll’s choice as a noble sacrifice. Instead, his father was heartbroken and angry, casting Wyll out of his home, and the city he traded his soul to protect.
Wyll Doesn’t Need You To Fix Him – He Just Needs You In His Corner
Much like the other companions featured in Baldur’s Gate 3, Wyll is a victim of circumstance. He’s a victim – a young man that was taken advantage of and easily manipulated by doing what, at the time, he truly believed was an act of heroism to protect the place that raised him. That said, when looking at Wyll compared to some of your other companions – especially those that you meet extremely early on, Wyll doesn’t have many – if any – ulterior motives in joining you. He didn’t know that the “devil” he was sent after, Karlach, was actually a tiefling forced into Zariel’s service, and he’s well aware of how evil and calculating Mizora is.
Plus, despite the fact he’s clearly being constantly threatened by his Warlock patron and worried sick for the safety of his father in spite of their rocky relationship, he never makes you feel responsible for making him better. From the very first moment the party becomes aware that Wyll’s patron is a cambion working for Zariel, he swears to protect them, and that he’s the only one responsible for dealing with Mizora’s wrath. He’s even more than willing to selflessly give up a second chance at life in Baldur’s Gate to follow Karlach back into Avernus to fight alongside her so she can continue to live and search for a cure to her infernal engine troubles. Wyll, despite the reputation Warlocks often have, truly possesses a heart of gold. While everyone has their character flaws, it’s so effortless to root for Wyll and want to do what’s best for him while navigating his personal quest line, and we desperately wish that the game had more of him for players to experience.
Wyll Ravengard proves that despite everything that happens to you, if you carry your head up high and keep moving forward, you can be a hero.
