"I wish Wyll had gotten more content and a more fulfilling arc too": Larian writer laments Baldur's Gate 3's unlucky Warlock, who played a much bigger role in stories that got cut

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Larian had much greater ideas for the spellcaster

Wyll in Baldur's Gate 3
(Image credit: Larian Studios)

For as much as is in Baldur's Gate 3 – and it's a massive game – there's plenty that hit the cutting room floor or simply feel by the wayside. Wyll, the beloved warlock, was a victim of the latter, as devs at Larian had much loftier goals for his storylines before life prevented them from coming to fruition.

Kevin VanOrd, a senior writer at Larian, reveals he wanted more for Wyll during a Reddit AMA, saying: ""I wish Wyll had gotten more content and a more fulfilling arc too." He explains: "A lot of decisions came later in development than was ideal – and there was a key situation near Baldur's Gate that I intended to heavily involve Wyll in (the Red War College) that got cut.

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VanOrd credits Swen Vincke, Larian founder and Baldur's Gate 3 director, for Ansur's lair, and says that limitations meant the team could only really manage to give Wyll one dungeon of his own, with a singular boss. There's a cutoff point where they have to write and develop the story points and encounters.

"Wyll's content is sparser than I'd have liked as a result. He's also split into two stories, really – the Mizora story and the Ravengard story, and that might have been a mistake in hindsight," VanOrd adds. "I also wish I could [have] given him a stronger endpoint – it always bugged me that he can end up just as he started, as the Blade of Frontiers, without any meaningful difference."

But there's still plenty to enjoy about Wyll, and VanOrd remains proud of "his sincerity, his good nature, and his eager heroism," while still wishing things were different. "I'm truly sorry I didn't give you more quality time with him," he finishes.

Baldur's Gate 3 director says Larian had "all the freedom we needed" to make the D&D RPG but adapting the tabletop format provided its own "limitations."

Anthony McGlynn
Anthony McGlynn
Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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